Writing When Writing Isn’t Your Job

So here’s an update: my book isn’t long enough.

I’ve been working on The Mega for what feels like forever (it’s been about 2 years) – and now, only three steps remain:

1.Expand it from 53k words to 57-58k words.

2.Go through proofreading one more time

3.Get the book into the world.

So, some of you might now, but writing isn’t my job. I work at an advertising agency. It’s no big secret, bills have to be paid, right? I have an apartment, a car, a dog. I even cook dinner most nights and brown-bag my lunch every day. But I’ve been hard at work on this story, re-writing the beginning, the ending, trying to quicken the pace. When writing isn’t your job, you can’t be afraid to take your time, to get into that headspace where you can let the rest of your stuff drop away and get back to your characters and the story at hand.

The Mega is the story of Cole Cofield. He loves comics, loves horror movies, and loves flying under the radar. After 4 years of high school, he’s perfected the art of going unnoticed. His best friend, William Pinkerton, not so much. William wears his geekdom like a black eye for everyone to see. There’s also a girl, Marissa Glove, whom Cole has pined after for years. Marissa is that girl in high school that was already half out the door to college. She’s got an old soul. During their senior year of high school, a sudden a violent series of crimes break out in Harpoon, a pretty idyllic suburb. As the crime wave hits closer and closer to home for Cole, affecting his friends, and his way of life, he does something pretty insane. Drawing on his influences from discount comic books, he becomes a homemade superhero – The Mega, who isn’t much of a superhero at all.

I wrote this to combine my two favorite things – I wanted a superhero origin story with a very John-Hughes-esque outsider vibe. Growing up, I spent time in comic shops, playing video games, and watching movies. I never really felt heroic, and I was so desperate to leave my town. I guess now, without knowing it, my town in New Jersey wasn’t a bad place to grow up. That’s what this book is about – coming to terms with not only who you are, but where you are. It’s about not hiding from yourself.

And look, write as much as you can when you can. If you have a story you believe in and characters you like, that’s the most important thing.