Category Archives: Story Segments

One Month to Go. Plus, Titles!

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At the end of the month, I am to hand over a first draft of “The Rabbit Trap”, volume one of “The Rabbit Saga” to Akosua Brown of What’s Your Story Author Services, my editor. She is going to give it a manuscript review in early November. Time to write! Designing the animation of the book trailers can wait until then.

However…

I have figured out the names of all three volumes, and of the series!

Meet… The Rabbit Saga. It is the story of intelligent rabbits and the humans they meet… in many different ways.

Volume One: The Rabbit Trap.

This volume covers Red being rescued by the rabbits’ agents, his learning about the rabbits, and his taking up residence in their hidden city. In this volume, Red meets Darlene, and they start a family while living in the city. But Darlene and then Red start noticing that things aren’t quite right. They escape, but then Red goes back in to start a revolt and maybe free some of the other captive humans he found there. Will he succeed?

This is actually the second volume written. It incorporates events and writing going back to 1999! Akosua suggested a major rearrangement, and now it is Volume One.

We are tentatively planning an on-sale date of mid-March 2027.

Volume Two: The Rabbit Hole.

This volume follows the life of Peter, Red and Darlene’s son. He is born in the rabbit city, and in childhood adopts many of the rabbits’ mannerisms, as much as a human can. But then he and his family escape the rabbit city, and he must adapt to life among ‘feral’ humans in Kingston, Ontario. It doesn’t go well. Peter is never accepted by the other students at school, and home life is full of tension.

Red goes back to rescue humans trapped in the rabbit city, putting Darlene and Peter under even more stress. After violence at school, Red flees Kingston, going back to the rabbits, the only place he ever felt accepted. The rabbits grudgingly take him in, pretending that he is welcome while they figure out a use for him. Which could be as simple as their next meal. Will he survive?

This was the first volume written. It started as the short story The Rabbit Hole, published in the compilation “Nineteen Tales of COVID-19” (Kipekee Press; 2021), but it rapidly grew. The events in the short story are now just a minor episode in Peter’s life. Or so everyone thinks…

We are tentatively planning an on-sale date of mid-October 2027.

Volume Three: Dawn, Born of Monsters

Peter survives his life with the rabbits, after being betrayed and left for dead. After hospitalization, he takes up life as a hermit in the woods near Bancroft, Ontario. And for the first time in his life, he is living in his own world, not looking to others for approval. He heals.

And then the rabbits contact him. Their city is in ruins, their people are refugees, and revolution may be brewing. Can Peter help?

This volume is still in planning. It will take place mostly in the future, ending up in 2095, possibly when the ruins of the rabbit city are being declared a World Heritage Site. Edit 2026-10-07: I’m extending the title a little, after a huge think about the book during work today. The other titles may change. More to come.

We are tentatively planning an on-sale date of mid-March 2028.

A wonderful writer’s retreat!

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On the weekend, I went to a wonderful writer’s retreat, my first, where many members of the Write Now Club were, plus a few more writers! It was organized by the incomparable Akosua Brown, and was hosted at The Carriage Loft in Hamilton, Ontario.

The Carriage Loft is in an 1870s garage, basically, set up as an event space. It’s beautifully restored and comfortable, with the upstairs set up as a large open working space. 

The hosts provided amazing food and arranged comfortable sleeping quarters. We had discussions and presentations and lots of writing time.

And on the Saturday evening, we went to Supercrawl in Hamilton. I was expecting a couple of pubs and maybe a burger. But no! It was a huge exuberant crowded street festival, somewhere between the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair and the CNE Midway, arranged along James St. I saw a lot of literary and artistic booths.

It was a wonderful weekend. 

I had great food, met great people… and got the rough draft of Volume One of my book done!

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Stepping back to write

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For the next few months, I will be stepping back a little from social media to concentrate on writing. It’s time to finish my novel!

My editor (Akosua Brown) and I have come up with A Plan. I have been working on a three-book science fantasy series set here in Ontario, involving a family that grows up in authoritarianism, and then flees. (And then their son wants to go back?!!! Also includes a hidden city under Algonquin Park and lots of cute bunnies.)

This started as a short story, “The Rabbit Hole” (included in the recently published “Rabbit Trap Sampler”) and has grown into a three-volume epic.

Our plan for Volume 1:

* July 1–Sep 1: Create draft 1 (rough, for Scott only).

* Sep 1–Oct 15: Create Draft 2 (shareable version).

* Oct 15–Nov 15: Manuscript review.

* Nov 15–Dec 31: Final manuscript.

* Jan 2027: Design. This is when the cover will happen, plus things like trope cards.

* Feb 2027: Uploads.

* Target Launch: March 15, 2027.

Volumes 2 and 3 will follow at six-month intervals.

Story Outline of Volume 1:

* Red is rescued from an abusive home by apparent social workers. He recovers in a guest home. One of the workers introduces him to the intelligent speaking rabbits who actually run the place. He is invited to live in the rabbits’ home, a great underground city.

* Red meets Darlene there, and they form a family. They live in the rabbit city, enjoying a rich if regimented existence… but then they starts to notice things that seem a bit off: strange conversations overheard, odd video programs in the distance, things suddenly hidden by the rabbits as they approach.

* Then Red and Darlene discover the enslaved humans…

I’ve gone through my outline for Volume 1 and identified at least 18 writing segments in the story that I need to create or expand. This means that I need to do three segments per week to get the draft done by the first of September.

I’ll also be working on two limited-animation book trailers.

Let the writing begin!

After some time

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Yes, I’m back. Work on The Rabbit Trap continues, and things have been seriously rearranged (not to mention it’s now three volumes).

But! I have created a writing sampler to tide people over until I can get Volume One out there! Here are the front and back, and the unboxing of 25 rush-printed examples at my book club’s summer barbecue!

I am setting the paperback and ebook up on IngramSpark for wide distribution. It’s only been a week, and the ebook is already available through Amazon, Kobo, etc.

I am now trying my own direct book sales too, so the paperback is available through Booksby, and the ebook is available through Gumroad:
https://books.by/scott-robert-dawson-books
https://srdbooks.gumroad.com/l/the-rabbit-trap-sampler
THese links are now on my store too, https://shop.srdbooks.ca.

Scene turns

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So I’ve gone over the outline for Volume One of The Rabbit Trap and explicitly called out scene turns for the major scenes, as suggested by (among others) Jennifer Ellis in her blog. This is something I’ve never tried before and it’s a little eye opening. There are vast stretches of time that may be just skipped over, and then there are sections thick with events. This is giving me an idea where I need to concentrate my next writing efforts. (That and finishing the outline for Volume 3… writing it backwards from a desired ending as suggested by Charlène A Bagcal in her Threads post.)

Crappy Drawing Tuesday!

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The first drawing is an attempt at working out how the fancy rabbit restaurant “Tastes of Human” might work. This is one of the few rabbit restaurants that has human servers. It’s a special treat for the rabbit rulers to see the subservience of humans.

I think I’m going to make another break with the canon of the old writing group and give the rabbits an upright bipedal gait, where they can carry things. It will make things so much easier. (This was handwaved past in the old group.)

The second drawing is a sketch of the moment where Darlene realizes the rabbits are Not Her Friends. She was rescued from a crappy life that included being leered as a waitress in a crappy donut shop, and now the rabbits want her to serve again?!!

Diane Visits Algonquin Main

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The Bunnies decide to let a few carefully-selected Humans visit their home.

This is a segment that may or may not make it into the final version of “The Rabbit Trap”. It’s really part of the backstory, explaining how the conditions arose that let Red and his family live in Algonquin Main.


It was happening! Diane was excited. Caramel had bounced up to her during the weekly closed-doors Rabbit Meeting and announced the news. She, Diane, had been selected to visit the rabbit city of Algonquin Main!

It wasn’t going to be a long visit. Caramel had said that the warrens were thinking of expanding their contacts with human society — carefully-selected parts of human society, anyway — and this visit was a trial run.

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A segment from The Rabbit Trap!

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Linda of Funny Face Fiction has featured a segment from The Rabbit Trap on her blog!

The story is about a family who escapes a totalitarian nightmare — and what happens when one of them wants to go back.

This segment provides a view of the Great Revolt, where enslaved humans desperately try to escape captivity. It is draft text that may or may not make it into the final book.

The Rabbit Trap

Funny Face Fiction is the publisher of Hollow Edge by Frankie Cameron.