Chase Gamwell's Blog, page 3

On Being Published

Yesterday, I responded to an agent’s tweet about how subjective publishing is; my comment got far more traction than I expected, so I wanted to expand on what I said. Because the comment only barely scratches the surface of how I’ve been feeling about writing, and publishing, lately.

For the longest time – and even now, to an extent – traditional publishing has been the logical conclusion of writing. Toward that end, I’ve written a book a year since I started in 2013. And I’ve rewritten books from scratch, multiple times, to make them better in hopes of eventually breaking through.

If you’ve spent any kind of time on my blog, you know that I love writing. I have a sort of unfailing optimism when it comes to the path forward – I’m going to get there; I’m going to be published; it’s going to happen with this next book. That’s fine. It’s great, actually, because it helps me stay sane in the sea of so much rejection.

For the last few years, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want out of writing. Do I simply want to write? Do I want to be published? Do I want to make money?

The answer is a fourth option that’s always been there, but I never really took seriously. I want exactly what I said in that tweet yesterday: I want someone, anyone, to think one of my books is the best book they’ve ever read.

Sure, being published would be nice. Making lots of money would be nice, too – who wouldn’t turn down (tiny) bags of cash? But what really makes me get up in the morning and put words to paper is the idea that someone out there is just as passionate about what I’m writing as I am. They just don’t know it yet. So, I’m going to keep churning out books until I find them. Or they find me. It could be days from now. Weeks. Years. Decades. But I don’t want to let that person down.

At the end of the day, this won’t change much about what I’m doing. I’m still going to write. I’m still going to revise. I’m still going to submit to contests. And I’m still going to query. I’m just going to do all those things knowing that each is an opportunity for someone to fall in love with the words I’ve put to paper.

Now, I just have to find them…

On Inspiration – Remembering Worlds of Pure Imagination

Today, I wanted to do something a little bit different by sharing some of the novels that have stuck with me throughout the years. Not all of these are favorites, but each has something about them that still lingers in the back of my mind to this day. Tidbits of the story or ideas that refuse to dissipate years after reading. So, here goes nothing:

The Faded Sun Trilogy by C.J. Cherryh

Honestly, this probably my favorite sci-fi trilogy of all time. I first read it when I was young enough to consider it dense. And I distinctly remember not being able to wrap my adolescent brain around some of the concepts and scenes described in the books. So, when I got a little older, I read it again. I’m pretty sure I read it a third time at some point. The bottom line is that this trilogy of novels is absolutely fantastic.

It beings at the end of a war between humans and regul, and focuses on the fate of the last of a race of warriors called the Mri. It is told through the eyes of a human and a Mri – two people from vastly different races and cultures that have to learn to coexist if they are to survive what’s to come.

I never planned to be a writer, but as soon as I started putting words to paper back in 2013, I knew that this was the kind of sci-fi I wanted to write. The richness of the world, the depth of the narrative, and the complexity of the characters are all things I’ve been clawing my way toward ever since. And I’d be immensely proud of myself if I was able to achieve a tenth of what Cherryh has put forth in this trilogy.

The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson

First, I’d like to state that I find Stephen R. Donaldson’s writing as troublesome as it is fascinating. If there’s a trigger warning to be had, you can bet it’s in his novels. I stopped reading the first book of The Gap Cycle because it was basically rape fantasy. Which…gross…

Unfortunately, similar themes crop up in the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, as well. The series follows Thomas Covenant, a writer with leprosy. He’s lost the ability to feel physical sensation, but is miraculously transported into a fantasy world where he can feel again. And he does a very gross thing before going on to eff everything else up.

Now, I wound up starting the series with The Second Chronicles, so I was missing quite a bit of context about what was going on. I knew he had been transported to the fantasy land for a second time to fix things because they were totally messed up, but I didn’t realize until much later – after going back and reading the First Chronicles – that he’s the one who effed everything up. He’s responsible for everything shitty that’s happening in this fantasy land.

The first two chronicles of Thomas Covenant are extremely polarizing works of fiction; I’ve never been so disgusted and enthralled in my entire life. Thomas Covenant is a despicable character; he’s self absorbed, self serving, and pathetic. He’s definitely not the hero the fantasy land he’s transported to wants or needs. And, often, he’s carried along by all the characters around him that relentlessly believe in him – or what he represents – even though they shouldn’t.

Warning: Begin potential spoilers…

Yet, at the same time, I’ve never rooted so hard for someone so horrible to succeed in their quest. Yes, he’s terrible, and he’s effed everything up, but that’s why I need him to succeed. I need him to make up for all the wrongs he’s visited on those around him. And so, when he does succeed, the payoff feels well earned. Not because he succeeded, but because such a lacking hero was able to do what needed to be done to ensure the best outcome was achieved, despite everything.

End potential spoilers…

Aside from Thomas Covenant, however, there’s plenty to love about Donaldson’s fantasy world. There are dozens of things I could mention, but the most interesting were the giants. In these novels, giants became a seafaring race after losing their home long ago. And they make their giant ships out of stone! While there was a lot more to the giants in the novels (like their love of song, and resistance to fire, and their ability to understand all languages, etc.), this particular detail was quite fetching. Even more so since it featured heavily in the novels.

Even after all these years, I find myself thinking back to all the little idiosyncrasies of the the fantasy world Donaldson created – especially those in the second trilogy. I’ve tried to read the third series, but find it somewhat dry compared to the first two. It’s missing some of the same magic as those first two. But now that I’ve written this, maybe I’ll go back and give it another try…

Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clark

This is another one of those unexpected sci-fi novels that’s stuck with me over the years. The novel is remarkably short, but there’s a lot packed into it. And it winds up going in very unexpected directions. Honestly, I can’t say too terribly much more about it without spoiling anything, and it’s one of those novels that’s best enjoyed without any expectations going in. In fact, I think that’s most of the charm of the novel. I read it without knowing exactly what it was going to be and came out the other side with a head full of thoughts that took me a while to process. I haven’t read the book since, but I still vividly remember how it made me feel. And I still avidly suggest it to anyone looking for a quick read.

Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard

Warning: While I don’t give away any specific details of the novel, I make a comment that some might consider to be spoilery or could impact the reading experience.

The movie adaptation of this novel was so bad, that it won eight Golden Raspberry Awards and won “Worst Film of the Decade” in 2010. It was so bad that everyone knew about it. It’s not often that something is so prolifically bad, so when I ran across the nearly 1500 page tome in my college library, I couldn’t resist the temptation to give it a try.

To say that I was pleasantly surprised is a massive understatement. Often, readers like to make the point that “the book was better than the movie”, but in this case, that statement is criminally true. There is a depth and complexity in this novel that never makes it to the screen. And there is just as much internal conflict facing the main character as external, which I didn’t come to fully appreciate until years after reading the novel.

The book is definitely a sci-fi epic, and some parts of it are a slog to get through, but it’s a worthwhile read that goes very unexpected places. I think what stuck with me the most was the ending of the novel. To me, it had a distinctly melancholic feeling that resurfaces every time I think about it. That fact, alone, is enough for me to add the book to this list.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Warning: I make a comment that some could consider a potential spoiler

This is an interesting pick, isn’t it? Not at all like any of the others on the list. And probably unexpected.

I was less-than-thrilled when the book was assigned in high school english. As an avid SFF reader, I had no interest in anything terrestrial. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I found the book actually interesting. Raskolnikov was, and remains, and interesting character. The deep dive into his initial justification of murder and the mental consequences of actually carrying out the deed is riveting. Of course, a lot more happens in the book, but I was always struck by the sincerity of the analysis. And I still occasionally consider the themes this book explores when thinking about how to approach my own writing.

Dune by Frank Herbert

I read this book about the same time as Battlefield Earth, and never have I had a book blow my mind in such a spectacular fashion. While all these other books have stuck with me throughout the years in one way or another, none has so thoroughly shifted my understanding of what sci-fi could be.

Up to this point, I’d only really ever read assigned books, Star Wars novelizations, and fantasy. So, to me, sci-fi was a very popcorn-action, serialized affair. That’s why Dune hit so hard when I finally did read it. There’s a compelling complexity to the world of Dune that stretches to every corner of the imagination. It involves politics, and religion, and culture, and commerce, and everything in between. It feels like a perfect amalgam of everything mashed together in just the right way to create a texture of enjoyment that has remained unmatched by any other novel I’ve read, ever (though, The Martian by Andy Weir came pretty close for very different reasons).

For me, Dune was an inflection point. As a reader, as I’ve already said, it blew my mind. But as a future-writer, it set a bar that I hadn’t yet realized even existed. As much as I strive to craft something like The Faded Sun Trilogy (because of how much I so dearly love it), Dune stands as an, as of yet, unreachable pinnacle for me. I’m sure it’ll be years yet before I near anything even remotely skillful as Frank Herbert’s Dune, but I’m on my way. I’m making progress. And I don’t plan to stop any time soon.

So, those are the novels that have stuck with me throughout the years. Now it’s your turn. What novels have grabbed you and never let go? Let me know, so I can check them out!

Write Mentor Showcase Results and What’s Next!

TL;DR Unfortunately, I didn’t get any requests, but that isn’t going to stop me from querying the crap out of this novel! And writing other things!

Getting into the Write Mentor Summer Mentoring Program this year was a complete shock. I submitted The Ones Inside on a whim, but never expected it would actually get picked. And I didn’t expect to spend all summer working with the best mentor I could have ever asked for – Sarah Daniels. She helped me polish The Ones Inside into the novel I always knew it could be. By the end of the summer, I was Ready for the showcase.

Query packages were submitted to agents on Friday, September 2nd, and we had to wait all the way until Saturday, September 10th for the results. I went into the showcase with a level head, making sure not to expect anything from the agents participating. Especially considering the current state of publishing. As expected, I got zero requests.

The outcome was disappointing. But for the first time in a long time, I felt a glimmer of hope instead of the typical crushing dread that accompanies rejection. Sure, I didn’t get any requests, but someone believed in my book enough to spend four months working with me to make it better. And just because no one requested my book in the showcase, doesn’t mean there isn’t another agent out there that would absolutely love it. After all, it only takes a single “yes” to offset every single “no” I’ve gotten over my nearly ten years of writing (ten years next year, actually).

So, I plan to send a small batch of queries out to a few agents I’ve been keeping my eye on. I’m also going to send the manuscript off to a few beta readers and continue polishing it, since most of my querying will likely take place next year, because a lot of agents are already starting to close for the year (I don’t blame them; publishing is a mess right now).

In the mean time, I’ve starting tip-toeing into the first chapter of Where the Fog Falls. Depending on how things go with my world building document and the outline, I might have the novel done by the end of the year and ready to send to critique readers.

Fingers crossed, and stay tuned for more soon!