The Story Behind the Story
What is now two 450+ page novels came from humble beginnings and traveled a very long road. It started in 2001 as a short-story about an alien encounter on a lonely stretch of highway in the Wyoming desert. I had a hunch then that there was a lot more to the story than this one scene, but I didn’t know what. Time passed. I wrote another novel and four non-fiction books, but always in my mind that one scene played over and over. Six years passed before I felt it was time to develop that short-story into a full-length novel. I started writing about an extraterrestrial father and his daughter living among humans and providing ideas to a technology firm. I liked it, but after nearly a year of writing and twenty-six chapters, I hit a snag. It occurred to me that I had started too far into the story; thus, requiring too much back-story. Reluctantly, I put the unfinished work in a box and started over. That was in 2008, seven years after the story first came to me. After another year of writing, I finally had the completed manuscript to what I then realized would become a three novel series. I spent the next year editing, rewriting, and querying it out to publishing houses. No takers, so I began searching for an agent. After nearly a hundred rejections, I got a bite; not a promise, but a very interested agent. It was the first time someone who did not know me believed the story held promise. After seven months of correspondence which resulted in trimming 200 pages from the original manuscript, the agent informed me that her agency decided not to represent me. She was very disappointed, as was I. By then it was April of 2011 – exactly ten years after my original short-story.
In May of 2011, I called a writer friend I knew from high school to tell her my sad tale. It just so happened that she was starting a new business coaching writers how to publish their own work. I agreed to be one of her first clients. She led me through the process of setting up my own publishing business and creating a social media platform. Meanwhile, she formatted my manuscript and uploaded it to Amazon’s Createspace. In August 2011, we published BLACKWELL: The Encounter Begins. Little did I know the hard work was only just beginning.
I immediately went to work on BLACKWELL 2, the novel I thought I was writing in 2007. At the same time, I set out to promote BLACKWELL 1. As my readership grew, I started seeing my story in a different light. It was no longer just a little story I tinkered with in my spare time; it was now a second job. Readers from across the country and as far away as Europe started asking me when the next book would be available. BLACKWELL was growing up, and I was becoming an author.
I completed the manuscript to BLACKWELL 2 in November 2012. By then my publishing coach had grown her business, fine-tuned her techniques, and was helping many more aspiring writers publish their books. And I was no longer a stranger to the process. Knowing exactly what needed to be done, we went to work like a well-oiled machine. We enlisted a critique group, found an amazing artist, and incorporated brand new promotional tactics. In May 2013, we published Defying Gravity: Blackwell 2.
It’s been an amazing ride so far, but we’ve only just started. We’ve got another book to write, a world of readers to meet, and exciting new projects in the works. I had no idea in 2001 that after twelve years I would still be working on that little story about an alien encounter. And I never could have imagined the impact it would have and the people it would reach.
If you connected with any part of this story behind the story or want to know more about writing, we’d love to hear from you.
Check out my friend and coach, Alane Pearce at Alanepearce.com
Meet my novel friends at www.gunterbooks.com/defying-gravity
Visit me at gunterbooks.com
