The Process# 2

To continue where I left off:


I spent the next few years compiling notes that I took on pieces of cardboard boxes on job sites and storing them in a writer's journal. I also started typing the book on my computer. I starting thinking about the reasons why the main character was in prison. Objects from different time periods and dimensions starting coming to mind. The list of objects kept growing. The simple story quickly turned into 10 stories.


The next step was trying to figure out how to get Daniel (the main character) to the different places. He obviously couldn't take a plane to another dimension. No, it had to be something extreme. I love art. I have always loved drawing and have dabbled in painting and sculpting. What better way is there to travel than through a painting? Milo, who is the keeper of the curse (that's all you need to know about him at this point), is the painter as well. He paints worlds and then makes the come to life with a secret solution. That is the only thing "magic" that I let into my book. I didn't want Daniel to be a magician. I wanted him to be a ordinary human being with the drive to do extraordinarily hard things.


Well, I don't want to give away too much of the story before it is published. Hopefully these little tidbits will get you all excited to read it so that I can tell the publisher, look I have a bunch of followers on my blog and twitter (@MortenCDaniels) that really want to read this book!


Anyway once I had the story flowing and my first book written and printed out, the path to being published began. I sent it into a few traditional publishers. Finding a publisher is an interesting process. Both writer and publisher are in the "selling themselves" business. The author wants to pick a publisher that suites their story, background, etc. and the publisher wants to make sure the author feels comfortable with the authors art. I chose publishers that were more or less local and ones that I thought I could trust with my book. I got one letter back saying that that particular publisher wasn't taking new manuscripts, I found out that two publishers were actually working as one...oops, and I don't remember hearing anything from another. Finally, I got a letter back from a publisher saying that they liked the manuscript but wanted to know if I would be comfortable changing a few things. YES! They weren't major plot or character things that needed to change. It was more a condensing and editing process and I was more than happy to oblige.


I should probably save some of the story for another post later....