Encouragement and extra work

Well I had the pleasure of speaking with a far more established author than myself today to get some advice and guidance on bringing my ideas to another market in the form of developing stories/a story suitable for dyslexic readers. It was agreed pretty early on that Footprints is not something suited to that particular audience with both its length and complexity and as I was speaking to them I realised that the world I have fabricated for my children fits perfectly.

I have always wanted to translate my idea of The Magdon into a story but struggled to taper my writing style for an audience younger than myself. Taking the advice and guidance most certainly reminded me that the Magdon story is perfectly suited and will require less of my sometimes over-articulate and embellished creativity and force me to produce something far more succinct and compacted (with a target of 11,000 words that’s some 10% of what I wrote for Footprints and aim to write for Whispering Shadows.

 

Thankfully though I have been living, and forcing my boys to live, the story and world of the Magdon so in reality the leg work has already been done and I know the story inside and out. It is I suppose just a matter of getting it from in here to out there and there lies the challenge.

Whispering Shadows however remains the priority at the moment as my aim is tom complete Part I before I begin a full edit, brainstorming for that during which time I can pour myself into collating the Magdon story with bombarding my head and giving me enough to time build the story for Part II. It sounds terribly confusing when I see it written down but in truth it doesn’t daunt me probably as much as it should.

I’m still busy scribbling away in my red book of ideas and have had some nice feedback from another reader who has enjoyed Footprints. As I said to them I didn’t write for fame or money (which is a good job as I have neither!) but I wrote because I enjoyed it. The fact it was able to be published is a bonus and the fact people have entered my creation and enjoyed it is a very good feeling. To know other people have invested their time and imaginations to enjoy what I have to offer really is pride and payment enough really. Although I won’t say no to fame and some money…..even a Hollywood approach to bring Jack James to life would be a dream come true! A very distant dream I know.

So really I find myself scribbling and tapping more often but even my wife seems keen and very encouraging of getting the Magdon story out there as she has always said, along with many other parents I know, that the story is very vivid and has most certainly caught my boy’s imaginations. In reality I will be heartbroken when thy grow up and realise it isn’t real but for now they do and that brings me all the magic to keep the story going.

The world I have created for the Magdon is so real we had a treasure hunt and found the Magdon swords on a wet summer morning solving riddles and searching through the graves _ Theokoles and Athena (the swords are named)

So really I’d just like to say you know who Jack James is by now and if you don’t……well get yourself a copy of Footprints On The Other Side and find out what you’re missing.

I suppose though I should introduce you to the Magdon protagonist, I introduce to you an aged gentleman, an ancestor of my own who long ago passed away but his story and adventures have remained unheard until now. I introduce to you the man that is Archibald Barney Skevington and his life is the story of an ancient evil that has been forgotten by history yet has lived with us since the dawn of time, the creature that is The Magdon.