Monday 14 January 2013

So it begins

Fingers to Keyboard
I can't remember, at this point, in which year I started to write Presenting.  It was probably around late 2005.  I do remember missing my weekly dose of Joss Whedon created shows,  Rewatching them on DVD was still good, but not as great as watching a show I'd never seen before.  Just for fun, I decided to write my own entertainment.  Although I figured that this project, like so many others I'd started, would only make it to a few pages, something about this story kept me going..  Today The Presenting Saga is a four book journey (one finished and 3 in first draft) with characters, scenes, and places that I love, and I can hardly wait to share the whole story with others.


First Idea
Presenting started with a simple idea.  For me, one of the most romantic images ever, is one where the guy is standing under a girl's window at night, and calling her to come out.  The twist I put on that scene is not quite Romeo and Juliet, but I had so much fun writing it, that I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did.  From there I thought about the setting.  Jackson's Point is a real place in Southern Ontario, where I spent a two week holiday one year.  While there's no Miller's Landing, or pond there that I know of, the trees, cottages, and lake helped me to build an imaginary estate, and write what would happen to the characters as move around it.



Jackson's Point
Giving the Characters Dimension
In creating the characters, here I have to partially credit the inspiration of Whedon again.  No, none of mine are based on any of his, but what I loved best about the ones he created for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly, was how well rounded all of them were.  The heros had quirks and flaws, as well as their strengths, and the villans had redeeming qualities sprinkles in between their evil deeds.  The supporting characters all had their own unique personalities and back stories as well.  While I know I haven't done it nearly as well as Joss can, I tried to round out my own characters too.  In Presenting, the main characters, Kaylee and Will, go through the broadest range of emotion and activity, but it doesn't stop there.  Through the series, what happens to Kaylee, Will, and everyone close to them, brings out different sides of everyone's personalities, and all of their back stories are revealed.


Releasing the Story
So now you may wonder why its taken me so long to release these books.  Well the first reason is the I'm not a full time writer, so I only get a couple of hours a night to work on them.  Secondly, I decided to write the whole series out in first draft before I started to polish.  I did that, well, because I wanted to make sure I followed through with the whole series before I let anyone read the first installment.  In a way, it was my own method of self motivation.  The other reason was that I hoped to get these books out faster than a year apart.  If there one one thing that drove me crazy as a reader, it was waiting a long time for the next installment of a series.  I'm not sure how long it will take to get all four books out, but I'll try very hard to make sure it's months and not a full year that passes between them.

If you read Presenting, and any of the installments that follow, I hope you enjoy them.

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