fanfic of the week:
An Intense Spark

author:
sandikarr

main OC:
Sandi Jones

description:
Sandi is just trying to keep her kids safe during the end of the world--is that too much to ask? She meets a crazy ex-Sheriff's Deputy and has to decide if it's worth taking a chance on love--or if they're better off alone.

Sandi Jones has managed to keep her children alive so far after the dead started walking. She lost her husband to a psychopath and hasn't been able to let go or had the time to grieve. She and her children, Kayla, Annie, Kira, and Jordan are alive but she can't say they are truly living. After meeting Rick Grimes and his son Carl, they are taken to a safe zone to live.

Sandi helps plan war and bring together the perfect team to allow her the revenge she needs for her husband's death. She and Rick navigate their attraction to find out if living and loving again is possible after losing almost everything.

what we like:

challenging the author:

fanfic status:
ongoing

scoring the story:

plot - 4/5

character development - 3/5

grammar - 4/5

originality - 4/5

from the author:

I'd been contemplating writing for a while and finally decided to start with a Walking Dead fanfiction before attempting a stand-alone novel. I've read so many and there just aren't enough Rick Grimes stories out there, in my opinion. As I was debating the kind of story to tell, I knew I wanted to make it unique, not just following the same exact storylines with an OC threw in there. I knew I'd be changing some things up.

One night I had a very intense dream, one of the scenes in this book that kind of kicks the story into a higher gear. It was the scene in chapter 5 when Rick is very bluntly honest with Sandi about something, so I hope you'll read it to see what he says to her! The strange thing is that I very rarely remember my dreams, but this one stuck. I wrote down the basics of it, but I still had no idea the form the story was going to take or how she'd arrive in Alexandria.

A few nights later, I dreamed again, fleshing out what I'd call the middle of the story at this point. It covered various things in chapters 14-21 but mainly focused on 20-21 and some of the major events there. At that point, I had a better idea of where this story was going and I just had to fill in all the bits in between, right? I started writing in April and while things were very slow-moving, to begin with, I just hit a major milestone, 1k reads. I do truly appreciate everyone who has taken the time to give my little story a chance. I try to keep humor in it and I'm having a lot of fun writing it--sometimes I giggle maniacally as I write and my family wonders what's up! I hope it's fun and enjoyable for any of you who decide to check it out. I'm always very appreciative of all comments and feedback. I truly want to know what people think I've done well along with what I can do better.

I'm preparing now to write an original fantasy novel for NaNoWriMo this November and any critique people are willing to give me on this story will only help me improve.

:) Thanks! Sandi