It all started with reading; it usually does.
Unfortunately, I shall have to be somewhat vague here as there is still the possibility of something happening with this property, but suffice for now to say that there was an incredibly fun series that I was a big fan of. It was a pulp-style, 70s-set, series of e-book-only novellas starring an entertaining character in a crazy world where it seemed like anything could happen.
They were fantastic, and a lot of fun, but unfortunately a lack of interest caused the series to come to a close eventually. This disappointed me, but it was not unforeseen. A niche product like that will be limited in its appeal, but if it - by chance - finds that target audience then it can really take off. This one didn't (quite).
Some time later, I (who have always been a writer since my youth, even if I had never sought out publishing in any way before) contacted the creator of this series and wondered if he would be amenable to me sending a spec manuscript over to him. I knew the likelihood of the character making a return was low, but I figured I may as well give it a shot - I had a couple of vague ideas for what I would like to do if given the chance.
To my surprise, the creator messaged me, saying that he was actually considering a hardcopy collected version of the stories, and would like some new novellas to be included so as to make the paper version appealing even to those who already owned the stories electronically. And he was willing to take a look at my submission!
Energized by the possibility of being published even by a small press like this one (especially one whose works I had been such a fan of) I set to writing straight away, using the concept that most interested me out of the few I had conceived. I finished a 20,000 word story quite quickly, and sent this first draft off to the man in charge.
And this is where things fell apart. For various reasons, the project was now not a priority in any way - and although he was enthusiastic about the parts of my story that he read, he never finished it or got back to me with any notes. The book was dead in the water, and took my story with it.
(Or so it seemed: there remains the possibility - I am told - that the book could still happen, so watch this space for news.)
I had fun writing it, though. A lot of fun. Indeed, I had so many ideas for subsequent stories in this property that I would have loved to have taken over publishing the stories myself - even at a schedule of one novella per month (I thought). Despite having had a couple of ideas for novels in my head for a few years (which will be written... eventually) I had never seriously tried to write something for publishing. Or self-publishing. But now...
The existing IP was something out of my hands; I knew this. But what if I invented my own pulp novella series, that I could put out there myself. Would such a thing be possible?
Indeed it was (a quick bit of internet searching later on showed me) and I spent the idle hours of one day at my job thinking about the possibilities. Immediately, my love of old-fashioned pulp SF made me think of a concept involving a Victorian gentleman having adventures in outer space. Perhaps it could be called Josiah Kensington: Space Adventurer? Or maybe The Star Journeys of Dr Jeremiah Fotherington-Smythe?
Anyway, fast forward to six months later (during which I had also written a couple of other novellas or short stories) I completed the series with Book 6: "The Free World". As expected, it had not found its audience and, much as I adored the character and his world, I wrapped up the story. I had ideas about where the story could go later on, should it unexpectedly find a late following, but for now it was done. (A paperback and eBook collected version was later released.)
Quite disheartened, I decided to treat all of the previous time as warm-up. Like it didn't happen. I wanted not to think of that as wasted effort, but instead as little more than rehearsal. The real writing, the real career, would start now.
Looking for something that could theoretically be commercial but that I would still be just as in love with, I devised a series of Young Adult novels called The Sleepwar Saga. In it, a group of six teenagers who don't know each other would find that, when they slept, they were together in another part of the country. Fighting evil, questioning their reality, learning to work together.
Other books fight for idea space in my head, however. There's the fun Lawyers vs Zombies: The Legal Dead which I can't quite forget about, ever. The Universe Device was actually plotted out to a great degree and ready to be written, until I decided that I needed more novels under my belt before I could attempt that one. (The structure is more complex than I feel I can do justice to yet.)
I also have a Christian thriller in mind, a sci-fi murder mystery, and a few horror shorts that I began but lost track of when I didn't feel I was quite hitting the mark. (I'll get back to them later.)
I love writing. I love self-publishing. I hope someday I can focus on it as a career, instead of that thing that takes up all of my time when I'm not at my "real" job.
But it never would have happened if I hadn't been inspired to contact the creator of a book series I loved and asked about writing for his characters. I'm so glad I did.
Some links for people looking into self-publishing:
Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing
CreateSpace for the paperback version
Draft2Digital or Smashwords (which I haven't used, but are important if you don't want to be Kindle-exclusive)
You're very good at it and very dedicated. I've loved watching this little spark ignite in you.
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