Novel Publication: HERITAGE, a young adult fantasy
It's been a long road littered with potholes, some as wide and deep as craters, but I am pleased to announce that Tyche Books accepted The Gairden Chronicles, my young adult (YA) fantasy series, as of early afternoon yesterday, 7/30. You can buy the first book, Heritage, in July 2014.
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The story of how Heritage FINALLY got picked up is almost as interesting as the story told over Heritage's 300-some pages! For one thing, Heritage is my first YA fantasy novel, as well as the first book I wrote. In fall 2005, I signed up for a creative writing course at Kent State University Stark Campus. Our teacher required us to submit three short stories at regular intervals. Realizing that some of his students aspired to write books, he permitted us to submit the first three chapters from our novels in place of short stories. I had been amassing ideas for Heritage since the previous Christmas and took my professor's invitation as the opportunity to sit down and put words on paper.
I began the first draft in August 2005 and finished that November. It's changed a great deal since then, and all for the better. First drafts are good for kindling, and first drafts of first books aren't even worthy of that dubious honor.
Another cool bit of history: I met my future wife, Amie Kline-Craddock, in January that same year. I shared the idea for Heritage with her that summer when we started dating. The conversation went something like this:
Amie: "What's your book about?"
Your Humble Author: "Um... it's about a sword."
I've gotten better at synopses since then, but not by much!
I submit Heritage as an example of how hard work and perseverance can pay off--not just for writers, but for anyone driven to succeed in any field. I've given this a lot of thought, and I would like to record the making of Heritage on this blog. I've fantasized (and cringed) at the thought of digging up old journal entries to show how the story evolved from "what if this prince had this magical sword?" idea to finished product. Even better, I could share what I learned over nearly 8 years of revisions and dumb mistakes. (I was so excited I'd written a book that I submitted draft 1.5 to a publisher, convinced they'd pick it up and sign me to a multi-kajillion dollar contract. Don't... don't do that.)
Heritage is also the byproduct of writing lessons learned in the trenches of feast-or-famine freelance writing. Once a year, I took everything I'd learned about writing over the past 12 months and poured it into Heritage. I could have resigned Heritage to the proverbial trunk, a mass grave piled high with not-quite-good-enough novels that serve as stepping stones to the diligent writer's eventual triumph.
But Heritage was better than a trunk novel. I believed in the story. My writing simply needed time to catch up. Slowly, VERY slowly, I found the story's soul, the reason for its existence. This, I thought, is no trunk novel. But it can serve as a lesson to other writers struggling to write, clean up, and sell their first novel--be it their very first, or the one they must see on shelves (digital or otherwise) because they believe in the story too darn much.
Yes, I think I will share the making of Heritage with you. But not right now. Right now, I just want to bask in this news. It's like springtime sunlight on my skin, and the sun was a long time coming.
--
The story of how Heritage FINALLY got picked up is almost as interesting as the story told over Heritage's 300-some pages! For one thing, Heritage is my first YA fantasy novel, as well as the first book I wrote. In fall 2005, I signed up for a creative writing course at Kent State University Stark Campus. Our teacher required us to submit three short stories at regular intervals. Realizing that some of his students aspired to write books, he permitted us to submit the first three chapters from our novels in place of short stories. I had been amassing ideas for Heritage since the previous Christmas and took my professor's invitation as the opportunity to sit down and put words on paper.
I began the first draft in August 2005 and finished that November. It's changed a great deal since then, and all for the better. First drafts are good for kindling, and first drafts of first books aren't even worthy of that dubious honor.
Another cool bit of history: I met my future wife, Amie Kline-Craddock, in January that same year. I shared the idea for Heritage with her that summer when we started dating. The conversation went something like this:
Amie: "What's your book about?"
Your Humble Author: "Um... it's about a sword."
I've gotten better at synopses since then, but not by much!
I submit Heritage as an example of how hard work and perseverance can pay off--not just for writers, but for anyone driven to succeed in any field. I've given this a lot of thought, and I would like to record the making of Heritage on this blog. I've fantasized (and cringed) at the thought of digging up old journal entries to show how the story evolved from "what if this prince had this magical sword?" idea to finished product. Even better, I could share what I learned over nearly 8 years of revisions and dumb mistakes. (I was so excited I'd written a book that I submitted draft 1.5 to a publisher, convinced they'd pick it up and sign me to a multi-kajillion dollar contract. Don't... don't do that.)
Heritage is also the byproduct of writing lessons learned in the trenches of feast-or-famine freelance writing. Once a year, I took everything I'd learned about writing over the past 12 months and poured it into Heritage. I could have resigned Heritage to the proverbial trunk, a mass grave piled high with not-quite-good-enough novels that serve as stepping stones to the diligent writer's eventual triumph.
But Heritage was better than a trunk novel. I believed in the story. My writing simply needed time to catch up. Slowly, VERY slowly, I found the story's soul, the reason for its existence. This, I thought, is no trunk novel. But it can serve as a lesson to other writers struggling to write, clean up, and sell their first novel--be it their very first, or the one they must see on shelves (digital or otherwise) because they believe in the story too darn much.
Yes, I think I will share the making of Heritage with you. But not right now. Right now, I just want to bask in this news. It's like springtime sunlight on my skin, and the sun was a long time coming.