Broadening and double hatting

Well since my last post I have completed and submitted the 10,488 length “short story” or novelette that is currently all under wraps title wise. It was submitted to a small local publishing house that deal with books written and produced for dyslexic readers which I felt would be a good avenue for spreading my story but also allow me to focus my story to a level that could also be appreciated by my children at the same time as helping others achieve an enjoyment from books and stories.

It has been submitted by the founder of the publishing house to their chief editor and I am taking no news as good news as it’s been a week and they’ve not sent me the obligatory “sorry but you needn’t have bothered” email. Always a good sign…..hopefully.

I have embraced the project so much that I have upgraded my rough notebook and gone and ordered two more of the infamous Italian Leather small journals I have liked to use for my bigger projects. Each book has a different coloured journal so I know where to write the ideas and already I’m pouring lots and lots of ideas into the pages which tells me the story is there for telling.

Forgive the purposeful blurring but some of the pages (well actually all of the pages) contain spoiler and the world isn’t quite ready for knowing everything! Not yet!

As for Whispering Shadows it continues to perplex me as I desperately try write a linking chapter that will tie across from an element introduced in Footprints On The Other Side but also bleed into the story across Parts I and II in Whispering Shadows. The only issue is it sits aside from the main story but adds a lot to the background and momentum of things that happen behind the main story. Typically I have rewritten it half a dozen times now and still struggle to get everything across in a way I think moulds with the story and narrative.

In all honesty there are two or possibly three chapters left of Part I Whispering Shadows so once they are done it’ll be a full edit which means one month free of all Jack James reading, only idea collating and then to rad and edit what I have done. Of course that fits to give me time to start on the next part of the Origins Of The Magdon Series.

As for Origins Series I foresee there being a minimum of FIVE instalments in this part of the series which will chart across the globe and hopefully provide a lot of mythology and entertainment for my audience.

In all honesty it is very nice to write the Magdon stories in a way I know the children will enjoy and hopefully allow other children to appreciate the little world that I have made for my kids and let them enjoy and help me develop. My middle son enjoys the whole affair so much we were walking home the other day from Beavers and he suggested something that I ran with and by the time we got home I had developed a whole new character and sub-plot that he instantly bonded with when I told him it. The fact that he enters the stories with such passion gives me the motivation to believe that what I am writing therefore is on the right level.

The biggest challenge will be merging the world I have centred around my children to make the whole story feel real but also keep it independent enough so they can enjoy it when they read it. For that part if I go beyond the Origins aspect it will bring it to the modern time and to the adventures “technically” of my boys so some artistic camouflage will be put in place. True to the word of the story though I have had to keep some aspects of names but avoided overuse to keep any friends of the boys who read it to be clear that the family names really don’t matter too much!

So really it’s an update to say I’m still here and still furiously pouring my crazed ideas into hopefully what will be a load of coherent books for a new audience and continue the story for those that have invested and want to see where Jack James is going.

I’m not giving up! I’m in this for the long haul.