Milestones on an open road
Hi everyone,
With the publication of my first novel, EDDIE, just before Christmas I felt I had achieved a huge milestone. They first started using milestones back in the days of the Roman Empire to help with troop movements. They marked not only how far you had come but also how far you had to go to arrive at your destination.
I felt like that when I put the very last full stop at the end of the last sentence of EDDIE towards the end of last year. Lots of endings, but not really. I deliberately left the mystery of Technician hanging, ready to pick up and carry it into the next book. Kind of like at the end of the Fellowship of the Ring when the characters you have come to know and love part ways in the most cliff hangy of circumstances and you just have to turn to the first page of the next book to follow through and find out what happens next. I love that kind of book.
It was awesome to see my book finally in print, but even more amazing is the thought that the journey hasn't finished yet . EDDIE goes onto to another big adventure. As a matter of fact, there are several adventures that I have set up for EDDIE, the next being EDDIE and the Haunted Mansion.
For me the fun of reading is about going on the journey. You never quite know what's going to happen to the characters you like, and you really want just uppance to come to the baddies. But the best part is enjoying yourself along the way.
I recently re-read Treasure Island. I hadn't visited it since I was a boy, and although the story was familiar, it was refreshing to sit back and once again follow Jim Hawkins on his adventure to the Island. All the things I'd forgotten about the story were new again, and although I liked John Silver, I didn't.
Just as you go on the journey as a reader, you also go on the journey as an author. The best part about writing a book is maybe having some idea of where you want the story to go, but find the story has its own ideas and you wander off down a rabbit hole, a bit like Alice, and suddenly the Mad Hatter is in charge of the tea party and things got a bit more interesting and exciting than you through they were going to.
Those are the bits I really enjoy. At the end of the day I put my pen down and I say, wow, that was amazing. Where to now?
That's what keeps me reading, and it also keeps me writing. I want to know what's around the very next bend. What dangers will EDDIE face? What happens to Crafty and Mrs McKenzie?
For a long time, when I was younger, I carried a quote from Robert Louis Stevenson in my wallet. It went something along these lines:
The untended Kosmos my abode,
I pass, a wilful stranger:
My mistress still the open road
And the bright eyes of danger.
Open roads are exciting, you never know where they will take you. Put Google maps to sleep and follow along just to see where you end up, that's the real fun of it.
With the publication of my first novel, EDDIE, just before Christmas I felt I had achieved a huge milestone. They first started using milestones back in the days of the Roman Empire to help with troop movements. They marked not only how far you had come but also how far you had to go to arrive at your destination.
I felt like that when I put the very last full stop at the end of the last sentence of EDDIE towards the end of last year. Lots of endings, but not really. I deliberately left the mystery of Technician hanging, ready to pick up and carry it into the next book. Kind of like at the end of the Fellowship of the Ring when the characters you have come to know and love part ways in the most cliff hangy of circumstances and you just have to turn to the first page of the next book to follow through and find out what happens next. I love that kind of book.
It was awesome to see my book finally in print, but even more amazing is the thought that the journey hasn't finished yet . EDDIE goes onto to another big adventure. As a matter of fact, there are several adventures that I have set up for EDDIE, the next being EDDIE and the Haunted Mansion.
For me the fun of reading is about going on the journey. You never quite know what's going to happen to the characters you like, and you really want just uppance to come to the baddies. But the best part is enjoying yourself along the way.
I recently re-read Treasure Island. I hadn't visited it since I was a boy, and although the story was familiar, it was refreshing to sit back and once again follow Jim Hawkins on his adventure to the Island. All the things I'd forgotten about the story were new again, and although I liked John Silver, I didn't.
Just as you go on the journey as a reader, you also go on the journey as an author. The best part about writing a book is maybe having some idea of where you want the story to go, but find the story has its own ideas and you wander off down a rabbit hole, a bit like Alice, and suddenly the Mad Hatter is in charge of the tea party and things got a bit more interesting and exciting than you through they were going to.
Those are the bits I really enjoy. At the end of the day I put my pen down and I say, wow, that was amazing. Where to now?
That's what keeps me reading, and it also keeps me writing. I want to know what's around the very next bend. What dangers will EDDIE face? What happens to Crafty and Mrs McKenzie?
For a long time, when I was younger, I carried a quote from Robert Louis Stevenson in my wallet. It went something along these lines:
The untended Kosmos my abode,
I pass, a wilful stranger:
My mistress still the open road
And the bright eyes of danger.
Open roads are exciting, you never know where they will take you. Put Google maps to sleep and follow along just to see where you end up, that's the real fun of it.
No comments have been added yet.
