#4 The Viking Vixen Quest

I hadn't planned on adding anymore TSB novels to CHYOA, but I figured I might as well. The Viking Vixen Quest isn't a story that I'm happy with, and it will undergo a major overhaul when I revise these novels. I blame several factors for how it turned out. First, I got fairly sick for several weeks last December, shortly after I began it. Second, I also started Honey Hollow 2 around the same time, which didn't go well at first. Finally, I didn't know much about LARPing and started to doubt whether I could write a story in that setting. So, I ended up compromising, and it turned more into fantasy playacting. This case probably feels more like an adventure than any other. Also, I overcreated a location for the LARPing. My initial idea was a few small buildings, building facades, and tents, combined with a lot of imagination from the LARPers.

Any rewrite would return to that imagination-focused setting. Additionally, Violet Tipton has been planned as a prominent character from the earliest creation of Those Snooping Brats. She's supposed to be a high-strung school actress prone to getting way too into characters, and a thorn in Phinn's and Jake's sides. That's not how she turned out. I guess you could say she's playing a character in this case, but I need to correct this mistake.

While I'm not happy the story got away from me, it was a learning experience, and readers might still enjoy most of it. I don't think it's a bad story; just not what I wanted. So if you'd like to see our pair of detectives as fish out of water, give it a read.

PS: Chapter 1 wraps up a minor loose thread from The Rummage Revenge Affair.

(As always, I'd recommend avoiding the cast page until after a half dozen chapters or so.)