book part three

In my last post I talked about how writing allowed me to create a universe and fill it with characters of my own choosing. It is like a (much more sophisticated) game of sim life. To me these characters are real, with their own life stories, concerns, etc.

When I finished the first book I immediately began writing a sequel to capitalize on the hard work I had done in creating this world. I was able to pump in so much more energy into the story (since I wasn’t putting into developing the entire world.) And IMHO the second book is a much better story, with deeper characters and more plot lines. The characters get revealed better because I had a better understanding of them.

At this same time I tried to get my first book published only to yield to the cliche’ of numerous rejections without any sense of what was wrong about it. I decided that writing was far more fun than selling the book and I put all my energy into writing the next two novels. The last one was not a sequel but a completely different type of book. It is an adventure type novel describing a bunch of castaways and their struggles when they crashlanded on a deserted island.  And instead of a first person story it is told from multiple points of view in the third person.

BT Dubs–I wrote this way before LOST came out, they ripped me off!! 😉

The actual publishing of the book is more good luck than skill in  that I met a publisher that did me the favor of reading the book and taking a chance on it. Shout out to Craig Schenning and Old Line Publishing.

Currently I am involved in editing a fascinating true life story of a world war 2 hero. I hope to submit it to the publisher by the end of the summer.

storytelling

When I began writing stories I discovered how much fun it was to layer story lines, to hide the plot, to place red herrings, and drop hints throughout the book. It took me finishing the first book to believe I could tie it all together at the end. ( and the jury is out as to how successfully I accomplished that).

My first book has four or five layers. There is the straightforward who-done-it with the damsel in distress, then there is the heavy emotional baggage of her tragic mother’s death and the subsequent distance that it placed between the protagonist (Yolanda) and her dad. Then there is the personal struggle Yolanda has with her own twisted personal history. She almost killed two kids while driving drunk and her recovery remains fragile––how will the stress of  being on the run and hunted by killers affect her sobriety? Furthermore, her only ally (no hints) recently lost his wife to a drunk driver.

And finally there is the travelogue. I researched New Zealand and as Yolanda  encounters different locations, part of the history and magestic nature of New Zealand is expressed through a variety of characters.

Then there is the ability to create a variety of characters and try out different behaviors and actions than what I would personally do.

In short it is like creating my own personal universe filled the exactly the characters I want. What  a playground!

More later.