The First Synesthete Hero
Wade of Aquitaine NaNoWriMo 2005. That's National November Writing Month in the year I was most prolific. Like my friends, I was sharing my work live as I wrote it in the world's largest writing community. As far as I could tell (then and now) my synesthesia and my disabilities had sparked a completely fresh idea in the realm of fiction--the first synesthete hero. Not a character who incidentally HAPPENED TO BE a synesthete. There had long been several of those, but a protagonist (actually two of them) with exceedingly rare forms of synesthesia combined with a set of disabilities and a calling that made them superheroes because of it.
Thus was born my Wade of Aquitaine series.
And a lot of my friends said, "Must you do this? Must you share it and risk people stealing your work?"
I explained that in the modern era that's hard to do. The minute writing hits the page anywhere it's copyrighted, especially if it is published to a website. It's too traceable to steal.
"But what about your ideas?" they asked. Those are not copyrightable."
That's correct, and very quickly there were a couple of people who popped up and said they loved the idea wanted to use the same concept. But I knew two things:
1. Eventually someone was going to have the same idea anyway; and
2. If others started doing this, that would make it a category. That would make it a *thing.*
Besides, I wanted FEEDBACK! As it happened, I put out 30,000 words and had a tremendous, wildly enthusiastic response. Then I retreated to my lair and slowed down, taking two years to perfect the first book. Unusual as my protagonists were, the first edition became a Kindle bestseller. It's now in a beautiful second edition. But that's not at all the point of this blog post.
After many hospitalizations and and years gone by, I finally finished the trilogy and I came across something called Listopia. It turned out that there was not only a category but a rather big category of synesthete heroes today. And my novel that seems to have started it all, was not on the lists! Now that the third book is coming out to a lot of fanfare and people are rediscovering Wade of Aquitaine, that irony did not last long.
Thus was born my Wade of Aquitaine series.
And a lot of my friends said, "Must you do this? Must you share it and risk people stealing your work?"
I explained that in the modern era that's hard to do. The minute writing hits the page anywhere it's copyrighted, especially if it is published to a website. It's too traceable to steal.
"But what about your ideas?" they asked. Those are not copyrightable."
That's correct, and very quickly there were a couple of people who popped up and said they loved the idea wanted to use the same concept. But I knew two things:
1. Eventually someone was going to have the same idea anyway; and
2. If others started doing this, that would make it a category. That would make it a *thing.*
Besides, I wanted FEEDBACK! As it happened, I put out 30,000 words and had a tremendous, wildly enthusiastic response. Then I retreated to my lair and slowed down, taking two years to perfect the first book. Unusual as my protagonists were, the first edition became a Kindle bestseller. It's now in a beautiful second edition. But that's not at all the point of this blog post.
After many hospitalizations and and years gone by, I finally finished the trilogy and I came across something called Listopia. It turned out that there was not only a category but a rather big category of synesthete heroes today. And my novel that seems to have started it all, was not on the lists! Now that the third book is coming out to a lot of fanfare and people are rediscovering Wade of Aquitaine, that irony did not last long.
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