Every story has to have a beginning, and there are a few classic ones. The most famous, of course, is 'In the Beginning...', but there's also this one, that sparked a global franchise: "A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...'. Of course, that one's pretty specific, and not really suitable for general use.
But 'Once upon a time' is iconic. I mean, it's the start of almost every fairy tale ever written. It's even the title of a TV show that was all about fairy tales coming to life. And it speaks of something fantastic, something special, something that will transport you to another world, a place where the impossible can happen, where people can accomplish amazing things, where people like you and me can be, just for a few pages, someone important, someone more than what we seem.
But this story isn't about those people, it's about me. And my story doesn't quite fit the fairy tale mold. But it is still my story, and the best part of this story is that it's just beginning. You see, I'm a writer.
I've always been one, really. I wrote some silly little stories when I was a kid, and I wrote in high school because I refused to read a boring book that I'd already read in a prior grade. I told the teacher, 'I can write a better book than this.' She challenged me to prove it. So, I tried.
I didn't do a great job, and no, you'll never see what I wrote back then, because it was an LotR rip-off mixed with some blatant D&D tropes (long before I knew what a trope even was). It's rotting in some landfill in Ontario by now, and I don't miss it. But still, I had the bug. I eventually finished a book and sent it off to a publisher. They turned it down, of course. And for a while, I gave up on the idea of being a professional writer. But it never quite went away. I wrote the opening to a mystery novel when I was in college (I'll get back to that), and I wrote fan-fiction stories for various games (Alternity, Diablo II, etc.). It was fun, but I didn't take it seriously. I especially didn't consider it something that could actually make money, even though I did win a small publishing contest for Hero Games and got paid for a magazine article.
Fast-forward a lot of years, and I discovered the Pulp Revolution. I didn't even know what that was; I'd had virtually no experience with pulp fiction (not even the movie of that name). But while reading about Appendix N (if you're a gamer, you know exactly what that means), I came across an author's website, the great Dean Wesley Smith, who talked about the myths of writing. These are things that writers have been taught for decades, things that have always been assumed to be 'the way things are,' and things that were completely wrong.
And I believed every single one of them.
Through Dean's website, I learned about Heinlein's Rules of Writing, Pulp Speed, and indie publishing, and how it was indeed possible to make money as a writer. In fact, there are a lot of writers making very good money. And I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that I could do that, too. And I also knew that I wanted to. Very, very badly. So, I started doing what he recommended. I started tracking my writing; I stopped rewriting everything to death. And I started truly enjoying what I was doing.
Fast-forward to today. Or rather, this past January. That mystery book I started writing back in school thirty years ago? I finished it last September. And on January 6th of this year, I published it on Amazon. It's called Final Exam, and it's the first of my Cameron Vail mystery stories. And, because I had so much fun doing that and seeing people actually buy my book right in front of me, I skipped ahead in my plans and wrote the second one, The Missing Magnate, also available on Amazon.
Mysteries aren't my first love for writing, but I've always loved Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, and other masters of the genre. So, I'm writing them, along with other books, because I have a lot of genres that I love very much and want to contribute to. Sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, sports, steampunk, superheroes, and other fun stuff. No erotica or anything like that, though; I believe that kids should be able to read what I write.
So, that's the short version of how I got here and why I'm doing this. I hope you'll stop by once in a while; I've got some big goals, and some bigger dreams, and I would love to share them with you.
But 'Once upon a time' is iconic. I mean, it's the start of almost every fairy tale ever written. It's even the title of a TV show that was all about fairy tales coming to life. And it speaks of something fantastic, something special, something that will transport you to another world, a place where the impossible can happen, where people can accomplish amazing things, where people like you and me can be, just for a few pages, someone important, someone more than what we seem.
But this story isn't about those people, it's about me. And my story doesn't quite fit the fairy tale mold. But it is still my story, and the best part of this story is that it's just beginning. You see, I'm a writer.
I've always been one, really. I wrote some silly little stories when I was a kid, and I wrote in high school because I refused to read a boring book that I'd already read in a prior grade. I told the teacher, 'I can write a better book than this.' She challenged me to prove it. So, I tried.
I didn't do a great job, and no, you'll never see what I wrote back then, because it was an LotR rip-off mixed with some blatant D&D tropes (long before I knew what a trope even was). It's rotting in some landfill in Ontario by now, and I don't miss it. But still, I had the bug. I eventually finished a book and sent it off to a publisher. They turned it down, of course. And for a while, I gave up on the idea of being a professional writer. But it never quite went away. I wrote the opening to a mystery novel when I was in college (I'll get back to that), and I wrote fan-fiction stories for various games (Alternity, Diablo II, etc.). It was fun, but I didn't take it seriously. I especially didn't consider it something that could actually make money, even though I did win a small publishing contest for Hero Games and got paid for a magazine article.
Fast-forward a lot of years, and I discovered the Pulp Revolution. I didn't even know what that was; I'd had virtually no experience with pulp fiction (not even the movie of that name). But while reading about Appendix N (if you're a gamer, you know exactly what that means), I came across an author's website, the great Dean Wesley Smith, who talked about the myths of writing. These are things that writers have been taught for decades, things that have always been assumed to be 'the way things are,' and things that were completely wrong.
And I believed every single one of them.
Through Dean's website, I learned about Heinlein's Rules of Writing, Pulp Speed, and indie publishing, and how it was indeed possible to make money as a writer. In fact, there are a lot of writers making very good money. And I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that I could do that, too. And I also knew that I wanted to. Very, very badly. So, I started doing what he recommended. I started tracking my writing; I stopped rewriting everything to death. And I started truly enjoying what I was doing.
Fast-forward to today. Or rather, this past January. That mystery book I started writing back in school thirty years ago? I finished it last September. And on January 6th of this year, I published it on Amazon. It's called Final Exam, and it's the first of my Cameron Vail mystery stories. And, because I had so much fun doing that and seeing people actually buy my book right in front of me, I skipped ahead in my plans and wrote the second one, The Missing Magnate, also available on Amazon.
Mysteries aren't my first love for writing, but I've always loved Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, and other masters of the genre. So, I'm writing them, along with other books, because I have a lot of genres that I love very much and want to contribute to. Sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, sports, steampunk, superheroes, and other fun stuff. No erotica or anything like that, though; I believe that kids should be able to read what I write.
So, that's the short version of how I got here and why I'm doing this. I hope you'll stop by once in a while; I've got some big goals, and some bigger dreams, and I would love to share them with you.
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