Captain Random and the Rainbow Chasers - Behind the Book
Blimey. March 2021 and yet another Captain Random story is about to be published. If you'd have told me ten years ago that by the next decade I would have found the determination, self-discipline and stamina to be releasing a book a year I'd have laughed in your face!
But really, what occurred after I had finished my previous book, THE LURKING, quite surprised me.
In the past, I have allowed quite a lengthy gap between finishing a project and starting a new one. I find as a self-published author that ones obviously greater scope controlling one's deadlines, so if I'm a little pooped after finishing a novel, from planning to publishing this process has taken me a year or two in the past, I'm allowed to relax, right?
Well in 2019 I turned 30, and having recently got married, I started to think seriously about my writing career. If I wanted to keep the momentum going, with all the life changes to come, maybe I should just keep going?
Sure, I would risk burnout, but then again if the ideas were there, I should make hey while the sun shined and so after a few weeks creative holiday, I was back at my laptop and working on the next in the Captain Random series.
Considering the second installment in the Randomverse, THE EATER OF SOULS, was a more serious story in tone (all the best sequels are, in my opinion) I initially planned a lighter caper for Random and his friends this time out.
The plan was to have them crash land on an alien world filled with rainbows and have them rescued by a band of archaeologists who are on a quest to find a mythical artifact. But with all story ideas, that's really just the skeleton.
What I really wanted to do was to explore how three books in Anji and Jake are adapting to a life of adventure and at the start of this new book, the answer is not very well.
Random himself is a frustrated individual when we catch up with them again. Not only is he annoyed that his friends just seem to want to stay out of the way of adventure for a while, but the two voices he has had in his head since the very beginning of his life. Since only Skateboard knows of these demons, who seem to be playing upon his conscience to go home and fulfill his destiny on the planet Rodas, this adds a little friction to proceedings. That is, until, an adventure falls in their laps that is just too tempting to turn down.
So that's the muscle added to the plot, but the real meat on the bones was to be the added characters this time out. That's the magical thing with writing science fiction. You can take your main cast and transport them anywhere and you get to play with a whole host of new individuals for them to interact with, and that in turn helps develop their characters further. The trio of intergalactic archeologists, Lon, Auger and Etherton, are pursuing a rival called Strakonis, who has drawn them to the rainbow world of Spectronia and hidden what is really the most powerful source of energy known to the universe...THE ZEDRON FLUX. Lon's motives are even greater since Strakonis is an old enemy of his and the Flux was snatched from right under his nose.
Add into the mix the peaceful Spectronians, led by their beautiful Queen Solenia (who has been brilliant captured on the cover, but I'll talk about that shortly) plus a race of Egyptian gods called the Osirons and you've got a fairly multi-layered narrative going on.
What with the twists and turns that come along the way, THE RAINBOW CHASERS certainly changes Random's friends lives forever...and one of them will remain changed for life...
So over the months that the book was written, this story developed into something bigger and better than what I had originally devised, with many layers of plot going on. Of course, it is called THE RAINBOW CHASERS because everything is chasing rainbows in this, trying to obtain seemingly impossible things. But this is science fiction, and all is possible in science fiction.
The writing process was fairly intense. I sat myself down to write roughly 1-2,000 words a week at the start. But as the world suddenly became gripped in a pandemic, and we were forced to scale back our lives, I found myself writing in bigger, 4,000 worded chunks that led to my actually finishing the first draft in early April 2020. Having only started the previous September, this was by far the quickest turnaround for a first draft of a CAPTAIN RANDOM novel. So by now I felt unstoppable, not even a global pandemic could slow down my creative streak! Although after a few weeks of rest again I went straight into Captain Random 4, by the August THE RAINBOW CHASERS was redrafted three times and proofread and it was ready for some artwork.
Which I must say, Anthony Moorin has really excelled himself with this time. We discussed a psychedelic feel to the cover this time out and as we are both fans of psychedelia ourselves, this proved a treat to pitch and conceive. Having chosen a similar style to a Jimi Hendrix poster (which I wholeheartedly approved of as a base!) the flowing spectrum of colour that is Solenia and the star scape captured in her features wouldn't have looked out of place on the walls of a sixties hippy den or on the cover of King Crimson LP!
We also wanted to try and capture the Egyptian elements of the story. The Osirons are borrowed from my favourite Tom Baker Doctor Who story, PYRAMIDS OF MARS, but different of course, and the archaeological slant added to the influence that my fascination with the Egyptians and the curse of Tutankamun I had at the age of eight. So the back cover has the Osiron's fleet of pyramid ships descending in formation on Spectronia and again, it's marvellous work. Not to mention the character posters, which I hope to print out and put on the walls of my office soon!
My method of writing changed this time out. Instead of writing in silence, or with a tele or radio on in the background, I actively sought out artists who could help me concentrate and pass the time while I wrote. Musicians such as Peter Gabriel (Shaking the Tree is my favourite writing album now!), Kate Bush and her greatest hits, The Whole Story, HAIM, Tame Impala, The Weeknd and Childish Gambino helped immensely in the writing process. As did old Carry On movies that were on in the background during periods.
I should also thank those who helped proofread the book and their words of encouragement, my wife, Sophie, Nicola Gent, Tom Savill-Owen, Stephen D'Costa, Ingramspark books, Anna Brown and of course Anthony Moorin. To think that by December when the final copy came through my letter box another Random adventure was ready and waiting for you all to enjoy...and I very much hope that you do!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Captain-Rand...
But really, what occurred after I had finished my previous book, THE LURKING, quite surprised me.
In the past, I have allowed quite a lengthy gap between finishing a project and starting a new one. I find as a self-published author that ones obviously greater scope controlling one's deadlines, so if I'm a little pooped after finishing a novel, from planning to publishing this process has taken me a year or two in the past, I'm allowed to relax, right?
Well in 2019 I turned 30, and having recently got married, I started to think seriously about my writing career. If I wanted to keep the momentum going, with all the life changes to come, maybe I should just keep going?
Sure, I would risk burnout, but then again if the ideas were there, I should make hey while the sun shined and so after a few weeks creative holiday, I was back at my laptop and working on the next in the Captain Random series.
Considering the second installment in the Randomverse, THE EATER OF SOULS, was a more serious story in tone (all the best sequels are, in my opinion) I initially planned a lighter caper for Random and his friends this time out.
The plan was to have them crash land on an alien world filled with rainbows and have them rescued by a band of archaeologists who are on a quest to find a mythical artifact. But with all story ideas, that's really just the skeleton.
What I really wanted to do was to explore how three books in Anji and Jake are adapting to a life of adventure and at the start of this new book, the answer is not very well.
Random himself is a frustrated individual when we catch up with them again. Not only is he annoyed that his friends just seem to want to stay out of the way of adventure for a while, but the two voices he has had in his head since the very beginning of his life. Since only Skateboard knows of these demons, who seem to be playing upon his conscience to go home and fulfill his destiny on the planet Rodas, this adds a little friction to proceedings. That is, until, an adventure falls in their laps that is just too tempting to turn down.
So that's the muscle added to the plot, but the real meat on the bones was to be the added characters this time out. That's the magical thing with writing science fiction. You can take your main cast and transport them anywhere and you get to play with a whole host of new individuals for them to interact with, and that in turn helps develop their characters further. The trio of intergalactic archeologists, Lon, Auger and Etherton, are pursuing a rival called Strakonis, who has drawn them to the rainbow world of Spectronia and hidden what is really the most powerful source of energy known to the universe...THE ZEDRON FLUX. Lon's motives are even greater since Strakonis is an old enemy of his and the Flux was snatched from right under his nose.
Add into the mix the peaceful Spectronians, led by their beautiful Queen Solenia (who has been brilliant captured on the cover, but I'll talk about that shortly) plus a race of Egyptian gods called the Osirons and you've got a fairly multi-layered narrative going on.
What with the twists and turns that come along the way, THE RAINBOW CHASERS certainly changes Random's friends lives forever...and one of them will remain changed for life...
So over the months that the book was written, this story developed into something bigger and better than what I had originally devised, with many layers of plot going on. Of course, it is called THE RAINBOW CHASERS because everything is chasing rainbows in this, trying to obtain seemingly impossible things. But this is science fiction, and all is possible in science fiction.
The writing process was fairly intense. I sat myself down to write roughly 1-2,000 words a week at the start. But as the world suddenly became gripped in a pandemic, and we were forced to scale back our lives, I found myself writing in bigger, 4,000 worded chunks that led to my actually finishing the first draft in early April 2020. Having only started the previous September, this was by far the quickest turnaround for a first draft of a CAPTAIN RANDOM novel. So by now I felt unstoppable, not even a global pandemic could slow down my creative streak! Although after a few weeks of rest again I went straight into Captain Random 4, by the August THE RAINBOW CHASERS was redrafted three times and proofread and it was ready for some artwork.
Which I must say, Anthony Moorin has really excelled himself with this time. We discussed a psychedelic feel to the cover this time out and as we are both fans of psychedelia ourselves, this proved a treat to pitch and conceive. Having chosen a similar style to a Jimi Hendrix poster (which I wholeheartedly approved of as a base!) the flowing spectrum of colour that is Solenia and the star scape captured in her features wouldn't have looked out of place on the walls of a sixties hippy den or on the cover of King Crimson LP!
We also wanted to try and capture the Egyptian elements of the story. The Osirons are borrowed from my favourite Tom Baker Doctor Who story, PYRAMIDS OF MARS, but different of course, and the archaeological slant added to the influence that my fascination with the Egyptians and the curse of Tutankamun I had at the age of eight. So the back cover has the Osiron's fleet of pyramid ships descending in formation on Spectronia and again, it's marvellous work. Not to mention the character posters, which I hope to print out and put on the walls of my office soon!
My method of writing changed this time out. Instead of writing in silence, or with a tele or radio on in the background, I actively sought out artists who could help me concentrate and pass the time while I wrote. Musicians such as Peter Gabriel (Shaking the Tree is my favourite writing album now!), Kate Bush and her greatest hits, The Whole Story, HAIM, Tame Impala, The Weeknd and Childish Gambino helped immensely in the writing process. As did old Carry On movies that were on in the background during periods.
I should also thank those who helped proofread the book and their words of encouragement, my wife, Sophie, Nicola Gent, Tom Savill-Owen, Stephen D'Costa, Ingramspark books, Anna Brown and of course Anthony Moorin. To think that by December when the final copy came through my letter box another Random adventure was ready and waiting for you all to enjoy...and I very much hope that you do!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Captain-Rand...
No comments have been added yet.
