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About writing
Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice,
and is never the result of selfishness.
- Napoleon Hill
I've always been a storyteller. Our tales define our lives; with them, lessons learned are not forgotten and lost friends remain with us.
When I was two years old my parents moved from the suburbs to a remote mountain cabin. Our nearest neighbor with kids was a mile away, leaving me, as an only child, isolated. In that environment, I taught myself to read; it was a clumsy thing at first, I memorized the shape of words but didn't know the alphabet. Still, the love of a well-told tale was planted within me.
Love of reading and the desire to write often go hand in hand. Over the years I've met many people that want to write a book, but that task is more difficult than most believe. Getting it written and edited such that it is intelligible and entertaining takes enormous perseverance.
One does not simply sit down one day and write, "A man walked into the room…", because an author has to know who he is, why is he there, and what he's planning to do. You have know his background, how he speaks, what his goals and motivations are, and what he seeks to accomplish in life. Characters have to live in the mind of the author before they can be accurately written.
Then of course there's the story itself. Ideally, it has to proceed like a brick tossed out of a multistory building window; which isn't easy because characters can be cantankerous with backstories and desires that when woven in, can tangle the tale.
Yet still, I love writing and am deeply grateful to everyone that picks up and reads any of my books. If any here have read and enjoyed my work, placing a review on Amazon would be deeply appreciated. Amazon reviews boost my position in their search results.
Recently the last book of my Extinction Series was published. The story behind that series had a lot to do with discussions I had with Hippy friends back in the 1960s. It was also heavily influenced by Arthur C. Clarke's book 'Childhood's End', and Isaac Asimov's 'I Robot' and 'Foundation' series. Obviously, the Extinction storyline has been wandering around inside my head for several decades; now it's finally out and complete and I can get on to writing something else.
What's next is another novel of course, and the plot outline and character profiles are already complete.
Like Extinction, it's another dystopian tale. For those unfamiliar with the word, 'dystopia' is the opposite of 'utopia'; dystopian novels are usually set in a collapsing world falling into anarchy. Sadly, with all that's recently gone on in our nation and the world, dystopian novels often foretell coming events.
The tentative title for this next book is, 'Afterworld: The Reaper and the Raven'. The characters in this story are decidedly unlike those in my Extinction Series; they're broken, dark, and angry. The male character, the Reaper, is an assassin that specializes in creating especially gruesome murder scenes, and the female character, the Raven, is the head of a police force that arrests and murders citizens that speak out against the government. The arc of these character's development is toward redemption.
That's the way things stand today; stay tuned here and on my
Facebook site (www.facebook.com/IndyRoads)
for updates.
Once again, if you've read my novels, I'd appreciate a review.
Thanks again!
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