Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Almost There

Currently, I am working on the (hopefully) final edit of my novel with only 37 days remaining until my self-imposed deadline.  This has been one heck of a ride, especially these last two months.

Many, many years ago this story took root in my imagination.  It took a few years more before I worked up the courage to put the story to paper, or computer screen.  On my way to that point I read several books about writing and even tossed in a class or two that helped me along the way.

I suppose what really kickstarted this journey was a creative writing class that I took in college.  I was encouraged by fellow students and the professor after a couple of short stories were critiqued in class.  The prologue to the book is actually based on a short I wrote for that class.

I began with several character sketches and shorts involving these characters.  It still amazes me how the characters took a life of their own as I wrote about them.  At the risk of sounding a bit off my rocker, the characters dictated to me how they responded to situations that I put them in.  Tarimot is one of those characters that I created who refused to fit the mold I had imagined.  He holds several of the traits that I gave him, but he refused to be the character that I wanted him to be.  He showed me who he was and though I didn't much care for it; he has become a better character than what I envisioned.

When I completed the second edit a couple of years ago, I began the search for a viable outlet.  In my research for agents, I found that my book was not likely going to get published in its current form.  You see, this story has always been a multiple book story.  It simply could not be compressed into a single novel, and believe me I tried.  After several failed attempts to end the story, yet leave it open for continuation, I gave up and began a stand alone book.

Condr is the main character of that book and the concept is another passion of mine.  I wanted to create a character that would return in other stand-alone novels in a serial type format.  The Adventures of sort of thing.  I suppose Indiana Jones would be the best example of the type of single story return characters.  As much as I wanted this to work out, my attention kept turning back to the original manuscript.

As documented in this blog, earlier this year I stumbled upon the catalyst for this new adventure.  Thus, in 37 days (or less) I will become an Independent Author.  In one sense, this is something that I never wanted to do.  I am, by default because of my age, of an old school frame of mind.  Self-publishing has always been the kiss of death for aspiring writers.  A lot has changed in the book world over the last few years.  The big six continue to charge too much for their e-books, which has opened the door wide for the independent author.  I know several Indie's who have been offered book deals after having pursued the independent route.  This was all but unheard of ten years ago.  So, no longer is the self-publishing route the kiss of death.  On the contrary, I believe it is fast becoming the norm and this belief, in my eyes, was substantiated by Terry Goodkind just a few weeks ago when he self-published his latest novel.

So, here I go.  In 37 days (or less), my writing career officially begins.  It has been a long ride of ups and downs, but I would buy a ticket for that ride again.  At this point, I am happy with manuscript's progress and I look forward to seeing what other's think of it.  But don't think that I will just sit back and wait; book two has already begun.

For now, I am almost there.

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