January update

After seeing that yet another edited version of the book was released with errors, I realized that my brain had decided to correct my work as I was reading. When you spend so much time creating something, such things can be overlooked. So I decided that it would be best to let the book sit for a while.

I did continue to write and ended up creating a trilogy. They are rough drafts at the moment, however I am starting to create the second draft of the second story. It is my intent to finish the second draft of the second story and then edit the first book. I will most likely do so again, going back and forth until I have the vision that I want to share.

What gets me the most are those that criticize grammar at the expense of creativity. It is as if there is an attempt to discourage others from writing by putting them down. I agree that mistakes can cause a reader to have issues but when it comes to writing in the way that people speak today as opposed to proper grammar, that is when history takes my side.

We do not write as Shakespeare, in fact the very mistakes that we make in every day conversation changed the language to what it is today and it is continuing to evolve. Those, such as myself, embrace creative writing to help illustrate the story that is in my mind. To sacrifice creativity for proper grammar that would alienate a majority of readers that don’t grade English papers would be silly. However to have gross mistakes is worse as it is cheating them out of a quality product.

I attempted to work with an editor however that didn’t work out too well. So I have established what I call a writing package. I schedule myself to read a grammar book for an hour, read a book that is far from my genre to spark my imagination and then to begin writing. I figure that reading the grammar book continuously will allow proper grammar to become natural while reading a book that is completely different would keep the creativity alive.

To all of the Grammar Nazis, one piece of advice, don’t criticize and belittle if what an author’s work is very creative or original. We are supposed to support each other so perhaps correct one mistake that is prevalent throughout the work and let them learn.

For my soon to be readers, I have several short stories that I will be editing soon and giving away for free. They all tie-in to the books from the perspective of those that are off to the side of the main characters. It is my desire to eventually have animations of these stories for here and YouTube, I will keep everyone informed!  

Divorce Illegal

This is one of the situations that one of my main characters have to contend with. It was not an intent on presenting a political or religious opinion, it only contributed to the plot.

There is a lot of conservative push for certain laws such as this that sparked my imagination and wondered, what could happen if society decided to go in this direction. So a future America where if you are married, you are stuck till death.

That is what one of the main characters have to deal with without the spouse realizing what they had been turned into. It really turned out well I think as the entire family was affected not only by the changes that two family members were going through but also the disaffection that lead to an attempt to get out of the marriage via death.

International Affairs

What I wanted to do was provide a context for the world that the United States is in. Some of the actions of the book depend on this and plays a greater part in the sequel. One of the deaths in this book will have an important arc in the second. In fact the events that are mentioned will play a much greater role in the second book that shall bleed into the third one.

What I envision in this book is the eventual dismantling of NATO, the Mediterranean area becoming more stable and practically equal in power and cold like war in the Persian Gulf area. Why? Because it makes the story more interesting, nothing more. It plays into the vision that I have for a great story that Methuselah and April will take advantage of.

Novel’s Universe

 

The first thing that I knew I had to do was create an environment for these characters. I thought about what would be the most scariest thing to happen for the United States. The answer I came up with was what if the political far-right got their way in most of the United States? What if corporations got their way as well?

This lead to divorce being illegal, states granted more power, certain federal institutions dissolved, unemployment has become illegal and corporations have power at all levels of government.

Why would I do this with the far right? The possibility for a dystopian future is greater should their aims become perverted. This book shows just how far the perversion can go where not only are the mutated people and bugs are monsters, but normal people as well.

What is presented to you, the reader, is a story where when you are finished reading it, you might have been rooting for a monster. 

Welcome

To my 5 readers I would like to say welcome and thanks! Writing this novel has been a lifetime dream of mine. What I can say is that I already know the ending for these characters, however I can make so many adventures for them and the world that they live in.

There is no message in my story, just an exaggeration of what could happen. I don't like vampires so I created a more realistic blood drinkers that would perhaps be more rooted to reality, which I think is much more scarier.

The one thing that I have noticed and wasn't my intent, was that I was rooting for the unsavory characters. Who exactly is the "bad guy" in all of this? Well, I will leave this to the reader. Hate them or not, the story is what matters and happy endings is not necessarily the happiness that the characters want.