I've been looking forward to this
For just under two years, I've been working on my first fiction novel, and it is finally complete. It's actually with an editor right now...words I wasn't sure I would ever write...but the story that once only existed in my head is now real and other people can read it.
Writing this blog signifies that the book is actually done, and I am actually going to release it to the world.
Discipline and a pandemic
I once read that nobody wants to be a writer; they want to have written. I can attest to this. The satisfaction of putting my story on paper, and it is actually coherent, is an amazing feeling.
Contrast that with the discipline required to sit down and write every week, while also attending to a full time career and caring for my family, and I understand the statement completely.
Why write a blog?
I figured I should start this blog with some sort of introduction. At least a little more than what you can read in my Bio. But, for now, who I am is only important to the context of the book. I hope you're here because you read the book, or are reading the book, and would like to walk the story with me chapter by chapter. My influences will become apparent if you follow this blog.
I've always enjoyed "how it's made" stories. VH1 Behind the Music, DVD extras showing how movies are made, and documentaries looking back at how popular culture has changed our lives have always been interesting to me. I run around with a short mental list of very specific questions I would ask Trent Reznor, Dr. Dre, Brian Michael Bendis, George Lucas, and Jon Favreau if I ever run into any of them (among many others).
I love the idea that someone out there cares at all about my motivation and intent with this book. Of course, if they don't, they can simply read the book and enjoy a nice little "slice of life story" about people and a stray dog.
Dude, what decade are you living in?
So, there are roughly 93 things in the above paragraph that date me considerably. People my age are nodding their head to some of the references, while anyone under 25 is probably scratching their head at most of them.
As my Bio states, I am a child of the nineties. I really only mean this from a popular culture standpoint though. Music, comics, movies, TV, and toys from that era highly influence and inform my creative side. This is important when you approach the book, as I chose to place the story somewhere in the nineties. A reference or two in the book reveal this, not to mention the obvious lack of cellular phones and internet in the story.
Though I am very much a technology geek, and I work in high-tech, removing technology from this story greatly simplified it for me as a writer, and hopefully for the reader. Think of it as an "unplugged" version of a story that really could have been set anytime in the past 30 years.
Ha..."unplugged"...another reference from the nineties that some of you may not get.
Okay, that's enough
Well, this post is long enough. I hope you come back for more though. I hope you want to know where the title of the book is from (though shrewd children of nineties alt-rock will figure it out - let me know on Twitter @ethanhuntwriter, and in the Comments below!).
I hope you'd like to understand why mental health and anxiety are drivers of the story and narrative. I hope you enjoy the "soundtrack" I've compiled for the book, and that it informs your imagery of the different scenes just as it did while I conceptualized and wrote the book.
So be sure to subscribe to my newsletter to stay informed about more content, and leave some questions and comments. Until next time, see you in the movies.
Preview the soundtrack on Spotify