Now that I've described where the idea for a book series like "Star Angel" came from (previous blog), where did I get the idea for the story itself?
Interestingly, from a dream.
Once I decided the criteria for the story I would write, I began the work of fitting the pieces of that puzzle into a coherent structure. I knew the story would feature a young heroine; I knew it would be sci-fi; I knew it would be an all-ages read, with a an emphasis toward Young Adult readers; I knew I wanted lots of action but with a strong romantic thread; it needed to be epic, with a big back story that set the stage for the unspooling of grand events; the beginnings needed to be humble, preferably set right here on Earth in order to anchor everything that would unfold to some common reality ...
Hm. What to write?
While mulling this over I had a dream. Nothing exactly like the eventual story, and certainly not very coherent (what dream ever is?), but the elements were there and they led to what eventually became "Star Angel". In fact, the dream sequence in "Book One: Awakening" is taken almost exactly from one part of the dream. Which then ties in to dreams the main character, Jessica, has off and on in subsequent books. Which, of course, ties together the overall arc of the story and her journey toward self discovery.
In the dream, as in the story, there was a girl, lost in a strange land with an overpowered hero who had no recollection of who he was or where he came from, and all of this sort of gelled in the days after I awoke to form the basis of the "Star Angel" saga.
If you're here or if you've read this far, you may also have browsed the Team Star Angel site (TeamStarAngel.com). If so then you've seen that, while the site has everything to do with the books, it also has a mission of its own.
In my next post I'll go over the origin of Team Star Angel.
#TeamStarAngel
#MakeItBetter
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Background
We'll start this blog with some background. For years I've been working on a number of books, mostly parts of two series; the Saga of Ages and Star Angel. Early on in the Saga of Ages series the first book was published, but as I went back to writing and mostly ignored (or half-assed) my duties as an author to actually promote the book ... it never really got traction. Unrelated but significant, the publisher later went bankrupt and at that point I was officially out of the selling game. I became fully devoted to one thing:
Writing.
Of course at some stage that strategy gets you nowhere. If no one is reading your stuff you tend to go a little crazy with an imbalance of creative energy. Somehow it needs to be fed.
Around that same time various self-publishing options became much more attractive, and so I took the two Saga of Ages books (by then I'd finished the second) and self-published. This time I devoted more time and effort to the endeavor, made a decent website, went on book-signing tours, attended conventions and so on. It was actually going rather well. The third book was underway, it looked like I might actually be able to make something of this and ... I got off on another tangent:
Screenwriting.
That consumed many years, led down many paths, saw some amazing opportunities materialize and dematerialize, and in fact still holds possibility but is no longer my prime focus. Another opportunity has come up with novel writing and, once again, I'm going to give it my all.
During the ups and downs of the screenwriting journey I continued working on the novels of my other series, Star Angel. Somewhere along the way a friend and I had a discussion about why certain things seem to sell better than others, and a bit of a philosophical look at the subject of "selling" in general. Where did selling violate artistic integrity? After all, shouldn't you create the "art" as you see fit, regardless of whether it will sell or not? Then hope it's well received?
As a writer I, of course, leaned in this direction. I'd always written what I loved. That seemed the best course, but at the same time gave no thought to whether anyone else would like it too; a key thing to consider if you're going to make any money. Making money, however -- for the whole purpose of making money -- equated in my mind with "selling out". I wasn't prepared to think that way.
Then I read something. A little anecdote by Robert Kiyosaki, the guy who writes the Rich Dad Poor Dad series. I don't recall it well enough to quote, but here's the gist:
He was being interviewed by a college student, a writer. She was incredibly talented, but was having trouble getting her stuff published. Robert suggested to her that she tailor her writing for the market. Basically, write what people wanted to read. Of course she was against the suggestion. Doing something like that would violate her artistic integrity. Robert told her that was her choice, and she was a fantastic writer who certainly deserved to be heard, but he pointed out this: He showed her the cover of one of his books and said, Look. This doesn't say "bestwriting author". It says "bestselling".
That was kind of an eye-opener for me. I realized you could still go for quality, artistic integrity, while turning an eye toward the market and what would actually work.
To that end I began looking. What I discovered (at the time) was that:
- There was a definite surge in Young Adult books
- There seemed to be more girl readers than boys
- There was a huge trend -- almost a movement -- toward young female heroines
Since that time these trends have continued, almost to the point that the young female heroine is no longer unique in the least. There are tons of books and series following this paradigm. However, though we're reaching the point of saturation they haven't yet fallen out of favor. I think there's still a lot more to be done with girls in leading roles.
Which is good, because I set out to write Star Angel based on those things I discovered years ago and, well ... it's a little late to go back and change five long novels. : )
And so, armed with the above discoveries, I set out to craft a story that would both fulfill my interests as a writer of action/adventure, sci-fi and fantasy, and yet hit the strongest notes I was seeing in the market.
In essence, I fully preserved my artistic integrity, all while selling out.
Unexpectedly, the result is one of my proudest creations. Writing Star Angel I felt the action and the epic sci-fi badassery I love and, more than that, I came to root for the very characters I was putting in peril, and now, after five books and nearly a million words, I feel like they're family.
I'm so happy most of them made it! : )
In my next post I'll go over where I got the idea.
#TeamStarAngel
#MakeItBetter
Writing.
Of course at some stage that strategy gets you nowhere. If no one is reading your stuff you tend to go a little crazy with an imbalance of creative energy. Somehow it needs to be fed.
Around that same time various self-publishing options became much more attractive, and so I took the two Saga of Ages books (by then I'd finished the second) and self-published. This time I devoted more time and effort to the endeavor, made a decent website, went on book-signing tours, attended conventions and so on. It was actually going rather well. The third book was underway, it looked like I might actually be able to make something of this and ... I got off on another tangent:
Screenwriting.
That consumed many years, led down many paths, saw some amazing opportunities materialize and dematerialize, and in fact still holds possibility but is no longer my prime focus. Another opportunity has come up with novel writing and, once again, I'm going to give it my all.
During the ups and downs of the screenwriting journey I continued working on the novels of my other series, Star Angel. Somewhere along the way a friend and I had a discussion about why certain things seem to sell better than others, and a bit of a philosophical look at the subject of "selling" in general. Where did selling violate artistic integrity? After all, shouldn't you create the "art" as you see fit, regardless of whether it will sell or not? Then hope it's well received?
As a writer I, of course, leaned in this direction. I'd always written what I loved. That seemed the best course, but at the same time gave no thought to whether anyone else would like it too; a key thing to consider if you're going to make any money. Making money, however -- for the whole purpose of making money -- equated in my mind with "selling out". I wasn't prepared to think that way.
Then I read something. A little anecdote by Robert Kiyosaki, the guy who writes the Rich Dad Poor Dad series. I don't recall it well enough to quote, but here's the gist:
He was being interviewed by a college student, a writer. She was incredibly talented, but was having trouble getting her stuff published. Robert suggested to her that she tailor her writing for the market. Basically, write what people wanted to read. Of course she was against the suggestion. Doing something like that would violate her artistic integrity. Robert told her that was her choice, and she was a fantastic writer who certainly deserved to be heard, but he pointed out this: He showed her the cover of one of his books and said, Look. This doesn't say "bestwriting author". It says "bestselling".
That was kind of an eye-opener for me. I realized you could still go for quality, artistic integrity, while turning an eye toward the market and what would actually work.
To that end I began looking. What I discovered (at the time) was that:
- There was a definite surge in Young Adult books
- There seemed to be more girl readers than boys
- There was a huge trend -- almost a movement -- toward young female heroines
Since that time these trends have continued, almost to the point that the young female heroine is no longer unique in the least. There are tons of books and series following this paradigm. However, though we're reaching the point of saturation they haven't yet fallen out of favor. I think there's still a lot more to be done with girls in leading roles.
Which is good, because I set out to write Star Angel based on those things I discovered years ago and, well ... it's a little late to go back and change five long novels. : )
And so, armed with the above discoveries, I set out to craft a story that would both fulfill my interests as a writer of action/adventure, sci-fi and fantasy, and yet hit the strongest notes I was seeing in the market.
In essence, I fully preserved my artistic integrity, all while selling out.
Unexpectedly, the result is one of my proudest creations. Writing Star Angel I felt the action and the epic sci-fi badassery I love and, more than that, I came to root for the very characters I was putting in peril, and now, after five books and nearly a million words, I feel like they're family.
I'm so happy most of them made it! : )
In my next post I'll go over where I got the idea.
#TeamStarAngel
#MakeItBetter
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