Possible new stories

I’ve had a number of emails from readers asking me what I’m writing next, and the answer to that is I don’t know—  yet. In the past, when I was with a traditional publisher (Berkley) my contracts generally told me what story was next, even if (as was usual) I only had the vaguest of ideas what the story would be about. But now I’m free to write whatever I want, and so I’m trying to decide. 

Will I begin a new series, or will I write several stand-alone novels that at this stage won’t be connected — though they also might be? Depends on what my imagination throws up.

So I’ve been flipping through my notebooks, the ones in which I “scribble” drafts of scenes and ideas and questions I’m asking myself about the story  I was writing at the time, and to my surprise, I’ve come across the scribbled start of three new possible stories — yes three!

Two of them I had no memory of even writing—I seem to have dashed them down in a moment of pure inspiration and then gone back to writing Marcus — but I like them all, and in each case they’re the start of — or possibly a scene  in — a story that looks intriguing.

So I’m wondering — would you prefer shorter, stand-alone novellas, or a whole new series of longer books?  No promises about whether I’ll follow your advice, but it’d be interesting and useful to know.