Oh, Covid, you insufferable bitch. You were the snowball to start the shit avalanche known as 2020. When I read an article in early January of an unknown pneumonia in China, I had no idea it would turn into the coronavirus pandemic. I watched the few news reports trickling out of China, but the gravity of the situation wasn’t clear until the Chinese government shut down Wuhan. As a business owner, I knew I had to understand the impact on my company’s future and mitigate any risk. Unfortunately, no one had any specifics on projecting the virus’s potential damage. I followed every medical health care expert, epidemiologist, and epidemic specialist I could find online. By the end of the month, their collective outlook for the world was bleak.

Based on my life experience, I erred on the side of caution. I sold part of my 401(k) to defend against the potential loss if the global economy took a dump (which it did). It wasn’t a massive change since I already planned to sell a small part of my 401(k) later in 2020. But this black swan event forced me to sell another chunk in early February as the crisis escalated. Even if the more notable predictions were halfway accurate (one projection was 100 million US cases over an 18-month period), I predicted an economic slowdown. Most people, when faced with uncertainty, save their cash. And I expected the strong job market I planned to enter around the June timeframe would now be weak.

While I may stress over my personal and company’s future, my heart goes out to anyone who does not have the resources to weather this once-in-a-lifetime event. I cannot imagine what it feels like for a family of four trying to make rent where both parents lost their jobs. Or a retiree who has to curtail all activities to avoid a potentially fatal contagion when they were looking to enjoy a well-deserved retirement. Or a recent college graduate saddled with crushing debt entering an inhospitable job market for fresh outs. Just like how 9/11 changed the world forever, so too will Covid leave its mark. We will forget what was normal and transition into a new life living with the coronavirus.

After pushing through the Line Edit for A Rift at the Ruins, I sent the manuscript to my Beta Readers before taking a well-deserved vacation. My brain was fried. Yes, money was tight, but I needed a break to avoid burnout.

Refreshed and invigorated after vacation, I hired an editor to perform the first round of professional editing called an Editorial Assessment or Editor Letter. This report focused on macro fiction elements (the skeleton) such as Plot, Setting, Character, Theme, Conflict, Pacing, Dialogue, World building, and Author Voice/Tone. While she was working, I hammered away at the remaining tasks for the business startup.

As you have read the earlier blog posts, no journey was without setbacks. During the Editorial Assessment, I discovered I needed to change the opening to A Rift at the Ruins. My entire plan to have a novel excerpt, ready to entice a future audience, will be delayed until I rework the beginning of the book. However, all was not lost. While I planned to give two freebies away, one would have to be sufficient.

Read the FREE exclusive behind-the-scenes story of how my fantasy world map evolved from this:

to this:

If you are reading this sentence, it means I completed the startup of my company Three Beast Media and began promoting the Vos Drath Saga. Woo-hoo. It has been an epic struggle (yes, pun intended) to bring my conception of a fantasy world to completion in the World of Wildamar. Over eighteen years, I’ve pushed through countless obstacles, challenges, and the unexpected (hello, Covid-19. I’m looking at you, you little bastard) with unrelenting zeal. 

I hope you enjoyed The World of Wildamar in Retrospect. You probably found it dry at parts, maybe a smidge long, but I assume you finished because you are curious to see what happens.

I invite you to join me on the next step in this Grand Adventure as fans, as readers, as explorers. Wildamar is no longer a singular experience. You now have the chance to become part of something new, something exciting, something magical.

I look forward to the opportunity to prove I am worthy of your enduring support.

Check me out on Facebook or Twitter. Not on social media? You can drop me an email at your earliest convenience via my Contact form.

Thank you for giving me your time and attention. It is always much appreciated.

And, as you may have noticed, Goethe said it best about Life:

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

Begin it now.“

Join me on a Grand Adventure through the magic and wonder of Wildamar.

Lost your place? Here is a quick link reference list for your convenience.

The World of Wildamar in Retrospect Blog Post Series.

Introduction

Year 2003-2004

Year 2005

Year 2006-2007

Year 2008-2009

Year 2010-2011

Year 2012

Year 2013

Jan 2014-Jun 2014

Jul 2014-Feb 2015

Mar 2015-Dec 2015

Jan 2016-Sep 2016

Oct 2016-Dec 2017

Jan 2018- Dec 2019

Jan 2020-Apr 2021

The post The World of Wildamar in Retrospect: Jan2020-Apr2021 appeared first on JP Indigo.

When I was young, I never imagined my Mom and Dad being separated. Damn, I couldn’t imagine my Mom dating a relative stranger. But once my father died, everything went out the window and watching my Mom start a new life was a surreal experience.

Until she met Jerry.

Jerry had been an entrepreneur his entire adult life. This was as far removed from my father’s way of living as you could imagine. An entrepreneurial thought never entered my head until Jerry challenged my way of thinking. He became like a second father to me and chipped away at my pre-supposed way of living. Whereas my father raised me until high school graduation, Jerry influenced me throughout my adult years. While always sharing his wisdom of the rewards and failures as a business owner, he showed me the courage to become an author/entrepreneur.

Unfortunately, Jerry won’t be here to see his invaluable influence on the Grand Adventure. After a long illness, he died of brain cancer in 2010.

After learning about Jerry’s brain cancer diagnosis, I reacted differently compared to receiving my father’s news. As a teenager, I worried about how my father’s death would affect my life. He was terminal during my senior year and, let’s just say, it was one of the worst years of my life. However, as an adult with life experience, I understood my new role regarding Jerry. One lesson I learned was that his impending death wasn’t about me. It was about making sure I did whatever I could for my Mom. 

When someone dies, each person they leave behind grieves according to their relationship. I don’t know how my father’s friends managed or how his sisters mourned. And since I have not been married, I don’t understand what it is like to lose a spouse to illness. My Mom has lost two husbands to brutal forms of cancer. Can you imagine the agony of losing half of yourself? Twice? And enduring the months of treatment only to watch them shrivel to a pittance of their physical self before they pass away. I would not wish that suffering on my worst enemy.

As a storyteller, I focus on experiences from my personal life. Since I have grieved over the death of many friends and family, I find it natural to explore the theme of loss. How do the characters handle the death of a relative, friend, or lover? What are the short and long-term effects on the various people living in the story? How do people soldier on when their world has been shattered, where emptiness is the new normal?

It’s funny in a sad way that parents never stop teaching. They don’t get a break. Even when they are losing to Death, they have the burden to show their children how to persevere in the face of impossible odds. Yes, there are the Hallmark Made-For-TV movies with the happy ending where everyone beats the odds. Well, the survival odds for my father and Jerry were never high.

What do you call a man physically tapped like a human beer keg to remove abdominal fluid caused by his pancreatic cancer? What kind of man endures this horrible procedure countless times to extend his life so he can witness his youngest child graduate from high school?

What do you call a man who undergoes radiation, chemo, Avastin treatments, and steroids knowing the odds are stacked against him to treat his brain cancer? A man who was a tower of intelligence reduced to a muddled mess from his treatments?

Courageous.

I hope to display such bravery if I ever face circumstances like their dying experiences. Their courage inspires me when I show a story character performing an act of self-sacrifice, not heroic in their eyes, but necessary because of their values.

Faced with loss, I have learned there is one sure way to defy Death: 

Embrace Life.

Hug your wife/husband/significant other every possible moment.

Tell them you love them whenever you get the chance.

Spend time with your children, even when your body aches and your eyes burn from working all day. 

Listen to your grandparent’s life stories for the hundredth time and watch their face brighten.

Call your estranged sibling and see if you can heal the distance.

Give a friend a call and listen to them talk about their life, without interrupting for your turn.

If you do any of these things, with success or failure, you will have fought to bring positivity to another person’s life. And in this swirling world of constant pain and frustration, every bit of new love is a good gift.

Peace.

JP

The post A Tale of Two Fathers, Part II appeared first on JP Indigo.

How do you explain watching your father die over four years from the time you were fourteen to eighteen? What words describe the range of emotions you feel when you find out he is terminal?

My father died in 1992 from pancreatic cancer and yet his death reverberates through my life like an endless echo, ever present and out of reach.

As a child, I never saw my father as a person with flaws or limitations. I wanted a relationship, even if there was constant friction. We were very different people. He conformed. I questioned. Constantly. He was of the generation where children were seen but not heard. And I demanded to be noticed. I wanted the perfect Dad, the Ward Cleaver who played ball after work. Someone who answered my persistent questions with absolute patience and not leave me feeling ignored with indifference. 

As a child, it wasn’t too much to ask, was it? I didn’t understand he was so tired because he worked a physically demanding job as a service repair technician. At my weekend soccer games, I remembered the insult of his absence, not his commitment to providing for the family. When he spent his evenings with his trains in the garage than with me, I didn’t know he struggled with his own personal problems. 

I learned my father related the best he could with the limited toolset provided by his own father. And I didn’t understand how much his father’s death, when he was five years old, affected him for the rest of his life. Based on my understanding, his stepfather was an old school disciplinarian and did not routinely show open displays of affection. I may have crucified my father as a boy with my unrealistic expectations but, now as an adult, I can relate to his decisions. 

No one lives the ideal family life. There is no “Leave it to Beaver” family. Most families, if they look deep within, have more in common with The Simpsons than the unreal, sanitized Cleaver brood.  

Was my childhood better than most? You betcha. Wouldn’t trade it for the world.

But I digress. 

As an adult, I don’t remember who I was before my father died. It was as if my memories were stripped clean. Sure, I recall certain events, but it was as if my mind reset itself to accommodate the trauma of his dying. Maybe it had too much to resolve, and that was the method it chose to lighten the load. But I can’t deny an unretrievable part of me died alongside my father.

Everyone in my family grieved differently and for varying lengths of time. I believe it took me so long because of my age. As a teenager, I was unprepared to deal with the magnitude of the big D.

Death.

To come to grips with your mortality doesn’t mesh well with post-high school life. No one can understand your experience. How do you grieve as a young adult? When would I come to terms with his death and live my life? Fuck, your twenties are supposed to be about partying and pushing the healthy limits of your liver. The popular notion is that every weekend during college should make the time of Caligula look like Sunday school if you truly “lived”.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, that wasn’t my life.

After graduating from college, I realized I had spent over twelve years either watching my father die or recovering from his death. It took time to heal but, in my late twenties, I found peace. I no longer had that heavy emotional burden holding me down, sucking up my resources. For the first time in my adult life, I wasn’t reacting to somebody else’s experience.

I had a clean slate. 

I was free.

I could decide my future. 

As far as I can remember, my mind has been afire with “What if…” scenarios since childhood. I’ve always loved to tell stories and express my creativity. And, I guess, that was how JP Indigo was born. Or maybe he was always there, waiting on the periphery for a reason to emerge from the shadows.

What does this have to do with you, my fellow Life travelers? My father’s death informs my storytelling on several levels. My stories focus on the family dynamic, particularly those of father-to-son and mother-to-son, and a close-knit group of friends serving as a second family. Themes trend toward coming-of-age, overcoming extreme hardship, self-sacrifice, the gray area between good and evil, and the overwhelming nature of love.

 In my personal life, these themes relate to a few of the values I strive to uphold:

I struggle every day to live my values. Do I fail? Yes, repeatedly. No one is perfect. I rarely achieve an enduring balance without tweaking my life with a constant push or nudge toward realignment. Of course, when I least need a massive change, Life comes along and jacks my plan like a snow plow storming down Happy Time Lane.

But you know what? After you survive the ordeal and clear the debris, you learn you are stronger for the experience. You discover abilities and strengths you never thought you possessed. Old worries fall away with fresh frustrations to take their place. I’ve noticed daily struggles have a persistent ability to dull Death’s lessons. Eventually, the pain is not so fresh, the emotions not too raw, the open wound now a scar. But that knowledge always remains, ready to recall for Life’s next snow plow. 

Those lessons helped me when the man I valued like a second father would die eighteen years later.

The post A Tale of Two Fathers, Part I appeared first on JP Indigo.

Money.

They say love makes the world go round, but it is damn hard to live if you can’t pay the bills. Even with minimal personal spending since quitting the biotech job, my savings were close to being tapped out. I faced the prospect of suspending the business startup, not finish the rewrite of A Rift at the Ruins, and finding contract work. I planned for the scenario into my long-term planning when I quit, but I wanted to first complete the business startup.

I watched the stock market climb in early February 2018 and realized I had not leveraged a remaining financing source: my 401(k). I know, I know. I imagine everyone reading the last sentence thinking, Don’t do it, man. Don’t touch your retirement. You’ll regret it. What happens if, on my deathbed, I realize that not taking enough risks with starting my company was one of the biggest mistakes of my life? It wasn’t like I spent the money on a week in Vegas or buying a sweet ass car. Besides, I agree with Warren Buffett: The most important investment you can make is in yourself.

After selling enough 401(k) to finance the rest of 2018, I finished the latest major rewrite to the novel A Rift at the Ruins. I was happy with the story quality and ready to start the Line Edit, which is the phase where a writer improves the writing, sentence by sentence. It would be a slow slog, but I was overjoyed since it was another step closer to publication.

During the Line Edit, I worked on an additional freebie to improve promoting A Rift at the Ruins. Meanwhile, I hired my friend, Justin, to design a product which would show the visual history of the World of Wildamar map from start to final form. Read the FREE exclusive behind-the-scenes creation story of how my hand-scrawled amateur map developed from this:

to this:

In my estimation, a sample of A Rift at the Ruins would not be enough to draw interest from prospective readers when other authors offered free books. A novel excerpt plus the creation story of the World of Wildamar map should attract attention. As a fellow fantasy reader, world maps have always fascinated me and I bet on the shared interest.

By the end of 2018, I still hadn’t finished the Line Edit, and I was running out of cash. Again. I took a deep breath and sold more 401(k), assuring myself I had plenty of earning years to recover from the withdrawal. I was confident that with my biotech work experience and business startup skills would allow me to find contract work with little difficulty.

While I tackled the Line Edit work, I hired Justin to improve my newb attempt at visually communicating the Vos Drath Saga reading sequence. We batted the design around like badminton players volleying revisions back and forth before settling on a final version.

Midway through 2019, I had to stop the Line Edit for A Rift at the Ruins. Normally, you avoid adding new world information this late in the editing. However, there were a few places in the story that needed more detail to better flesh out the world. I developed additional information and inserted it into the story. And my good friend, Mr. Burnout, returned to pay a visit.

It wasn’t a long stop, but it was another delay I did not need. Once I completed the Line Edit, I was only a few steps away from hiring professional editors to edit my work. Because after they finished, I could finally publish A Rift at the Ruins, which would make me excited as a mud-riddled pig.

At the end of 2019, I was optimistic. I would finish my Author edits in a few months. And the business was in good shape, outside of a few tasks to complete before Go-Live somewhere in the middle of 2020. Sure, it had taken more time and money than I planned to start up my company, Three Beast Media. But now I would have the capacity to publish my fantasy stories within the World of Wildamar, which is a phenomenal creative asset. The economy was robust, the job market hungry for experienced workers, and I was on the cusp of achieving a major life goal.

After my struggles since 2013, I knew 2020 would be an exceptional year. Besides, what could go wrong?

Lost your place? Here is a quick link reference list for your convenience.

The World of Wildamar in Retrospect Blog Post Series.

Introduction

Year 2003-2004

Year 2005

Year 2006-2007

Year 2008-2009

Year 2010-2011

Year 2012

Year 2013

Jan 2014-Jun 2014

Jul 2014-Feb 2015

Mar 2015-Dec 2015

Jan 2016-Sep 2016

Oct 2016-Dec 2017

Jan 2018- Dec 2019

Jan 2020-Apr 2021

The post The World of Wildamar in Retrospect: Jan2018-Dec2019 appeared first on JP Indigo.

When people ask how I create worlds and tell stories, I usually end up describing my method as if I was a word cook. Professional food chefs rely on the highest quality ingredients and the proper proportions for any meal. Too much salt, and you ruin the prime rib. Too little cayenne pepper, and that spicy dish comes out flat. Over the years, I had been building my storytelling system by incorporating portions of other people’s processes. When I learn something new, it is not uncommon for me to imitate the original sources. These early efforts generated sparks of awesome creativity and other ideas I would describe as mental manure.

I struggled with finding clarity on how to apply my newfound knowledge. Out of the chaos, however, I discovered one thing: A Rift at the Ruins was not a short story. It had developed from a long short story to a novelette then to a novella and was now pushing toward a novel. My stomach churned with acid deadlier than Alien face-hugger blood. The epic storyline that starts in A Rift at the Ruins and runs throughout The Vos Drath Saga forced me to change to a larger format. Unfortunately, this changed the size of the following two stories in The Shadowed Truth Series and delayed the business startup.

I know business details are boring to read. Trust me, I’ll try to keep it to a minimum. But I can’t continue to tell stories unless I attract a large enough paying audience. And the tried-and-true method of building an audience is to offer a FREE sample, which was delayed by the ever-changing A Rift at the Ruins. This latest setback, while I was rewriting the story into a novel, was enough to push me into burnout.

I believe everyone experiences burnout throughout their respective careers. How you manage the impact is key. Since I was working my own hours, I changed to a lighter schedule. Once refreshed, I returned to my normal six-day, 60-hour workweek and started the next major rewrite of A Rift at the Ruins.

Ah, the life of the writer. The art of the rewrite. Based on my conversations with non-writers, they assumed the published story leaps out of the writer’s head fully formed, perfect and pristine. Nothing could be more… wrong. The heaping ton of shit called the first draft possesses as much detail as a lump of sculpting clay. Most of my actual writing time is revising the first draft into something I won’t be ashamed to publish. And while I was chipping away at the rewrite, the end of 2017 did not bring happy holidays but a cold, cruel truth we all face in our daily lives.

Lost your place? Here is a quick link reference list for your convenience.

The World of Wildamar in Retrospect Blog Post Series.

Introduction

Year 2003-2004

Year 2005

Year 2006-2007

Year 2008-2009

Year 2010-2011

Year 2012

Year 2013

Jan 2014-Jun 2014

Jul 2014-Feb 2015

Mar 2015-Dec 2015

Jan 2016-Sep 2016

Oct 2016-Dec 2017

Jan 2018- Dec 2019

Jan 2020-Apr 2021

The post The World of Wildamar in Retrospect: Oct2016-Dec2017 appeared first on JP Indigo.

Who ordered this second helping of humble pie?

Sigh.

I received more feedback from several valued friends with the same sentiment. “Good story. But the writing needs to be better.” Talk about frustrating. I wanted to go full Hulk on my office. 

I could tell I had improved, but there was something still lacking to my writing. I don’t know what was missing, but I felt my skills were incomplete, not whole, unfinished. After more research, I spent the early part of 2016 integrating select portions of several storytelling systems into my burgeoning storytelling system. 

One of the most frustrating aspects of moving from novice writer to professional storyteller is the lack of a standard system. If you want to become a lawyer, you go to law school. If you want to become a doctor, you go to medical school. However, there is not a singular path in becoming a professional storyteller. I’ve read countless author interviews echoing the same discontent. They relate how they had to cobble together their own system from the multitude of other professionals advocating their way of telling a story. It’s enough to drive you mad. Hmm. Maybe that’s the origin of the cliché about writers as alcoholics?

Raise of hands. Who thought The Pre-Wallbreaker Series was a bad title? Yeah, you and me both. It was about this time that I changed the series name to The Shadowed Truth Series. And I determined the second short story, Defiance at Dunwallow, needed more space to develop the story leading into the novella, Back in the Box. So, I reformatted the short story into a novella.

Part of the reason for the format update was the “dynamic changes” occurring while I rewrote the short story, A Rift at the Ruins. “Dynamic changes” is my creative way of saying, I screwed up and had to fix my mistake. My mistake was making A Rift at the Ruins part of the epic storyline and not a self-contained standalone story. It is like how The Hobbit can stand by itself as a complete story, even if you never read The Lord of the Rings. You have to admit, though, how realistic is that you would read one but not the other? 

While I was struggling with fixing my mistake, I found the last piece to my storytelling system puzzle. Margie Lawson was a psychotherapist turned writer whisperer who had developed a psychologically focused approach to storytelling. This was my Eureka moment. Whereas John Truby’s system created a consistent story framework (the skeleton), Margie’s centered on the actual fiction writing (the muscle) that supports and enhances the overall story quality.

It took a few months to study and integrate her knowledge into my storytelling system. Meanwhile, I shifted my focus to the company startup. For the last two years, I had worked on finalizing my business model. After deep consideration, I started up a fantasy entertainment media company with an initial focus on the Indie Publishing market. It gave me the storytelling flexibility I wanted in the future to move into games (electronic and print), TV, and movies.

I had been working on my online platform (Website, Facebook, and Twitter) throughout the year. Once I had a sample excerpt of A Rift at the Ruins, I would be ready to promote JP Indigo, The Vos Drath Saga, and The World of Wildamar. Of course, my Go-Live plan hinged on the ability to tell a quality story using my ever-evolving storytelling system.

Boy, was I wrong.

Lost your place? Here is a quick link reference list for your convenience.

The World of Wildamar in Retrospect Blog Post Series.

Introduction

Year 2003-2004

Year 2005

Year 2006-2007

Year 2008-2009

Year 2010-2011

Year 2012

Year 2013

Jan 2014-Jun 2014

Jul 2014-Feb 2015

Mar 2015-Dec 2015

Jan 2016-Sep 2016

Oct 2016-Dec 2017

Jan 2018- Dec 2019

Jan 2020-Apr 2021

The post The World of Wildamar in Retrospect: Jan2016-Sep2016 appeared first on JP Indigo.

Ok. Enough business talk.

After hiring Damonza, a highly recommended book cover design company, I received two versions of the cover based on the information I provided in the submission application.

ROUND 1 INITIAL DESIGNS

Since it is always a good idea to solicit feedback on a visual design, I asked a group of my family and friends to give their opinion. The survey resulted in a split so I picked my preferred choice, which was A over B. However, I made a few change requests. Most notably, I preferred the blue hue from B versus the green, and the characters needed a few changes to sync with my descriptions. And you may have missed it, but there’s a phallic/dildo shape to the lower right archway. I know, I know. My mind lives in the gutter on its own street in a ten-room mansion.

ROUND 2 REVISION

This was a definite improvement over the first batch, and closer to a final version. One of the job parameters with Damonza was a review round limit. Maybe on the next cover I will pick their Custom job option, which would allow me a few more revisions. Once I picked the best out of these three, I only had one more round of revisions before I had to select the final cover design. Since this involved more about tweaking the design, I didn’t solicit more feedback from my group of family and friends. And just to make sure I picked the right color, I asked for the same three designs above in the green from the original designs from Round 1. 

GREEN REVISION

Um, yeah. I hated it.

After asking them to update Aunt Rae and return to the blue version, Damonza sent me back the last two designs. You will notice the A3 design with the chocolate mousse whipped fonts is missing. From the beginning, I hated that version. Part of their job is to offer me multiple versions, but I can’t put my finger on why I had an intense distaste for the A1 version. It had something to do with the fluffiness of the font.

FINAL REVIEW

There wasn’t much difference between the two covers. I liked the slightly darker grey sheen on the A1A, so that’s why it was the winner. The final cover captured the essence of the story and pulled the reader into the mystery of the ruins. Overall, I was happy with Damonza and the service they provided. They were very patient with a rookie publisher and I could not be more grateful. 

Warning: Shameless plug below.

If you enjoyed the cover design story, you will be entertained with the FREE exclusive behind-the-scenes story of how my fantasy world map evolved from this:

to this:

Lost your place? Here is a quick link reference list for your convenience.

The World of Wildamar in Retrospect Blog Post Series.

Introduction

Year 2003-2004

Year 2005

Year 2006-2007

Year 2008-2009

Year 2010-2011

Year 2012

Year 2013

Jan 2014-Jun 2014

Jul 2014-Feb 2015

Mar 2015-Dec 2015

Jan 2016-Sep 2016

Oct 2016-Dec 2017

Jan 2018- Dec 2019

Jan 2020-Apr 2021

The post The Story Behind A Rift at the Ruins Cover Design appeared first on JP Indigo.

A few signs led me to believe I sucked at fiction writing. It wasn’t just the feeling my friends were holding back the brutal truth. Or my belief the editor I paid to critique my short story, A Choice within the Churn, did an outstanding job but could not save my bad writing. Or the consistent online workshop feedback that the story was fun, but the writing flawed. No, I had to look deep and admit that, in 2015, I couldn’t compete with other indie authors in the epic fantasy market.

Call it fate, call it luck, call it karma, but I think there was a reason I realized my shortcoming at the same time I found John Truby’s storytelling system. This was the same system the Breaking Bad writers used to create one of the most impressive series in TV history. So, I hunkered down at my desk and tried to suck up the new knowledge fast as a Lamborghini on fire.

I applied my biotech background, which was rooted in documentation. If I could capture any information in a worksheet, electronic form, or checklist, BAM, I converted it. I hoped to record my storytelling process so I could repeat the steps each time I wrote a story. And it would be two-and-a-half months before I attempted to write another story. In the meantime, I had to resolve a big mistake.

By taking Kervath back in time to The Pre-Wallbreaker series, I had accidentally orphaned the short story, A Choice within the Churn. There was no point in continuing to work on A Choice within the Churn since The Pre-Wallbreaker series would be released before The Wallbreaker series. I added a new short story, A Rift at the Ruins, as the promotional freebie to precede A Switch in Prisons. The change solved the series flow with two short stories and then a novella before The Wallbreaker Series (Five full-length novels). With A Choice with the Churn no longer needed for promotion, and didn’t fit as a transitional story between the series, I wasn’t too sad to abandon the story.

With an improved series structure, I focused on applying what I learned from John Truby and wrote the first draft of the short story, A Rift at the Ruins. My preparation with his system appeared to pay off since I had a better sense of this story. With that leap of faith, I rewrote the second short story, A Switch in Prisons, using my new knowledge.

While I juggled the two short stories, an idea popped into my head. What if there was another series that would be told in parallel to the Wallbreaker Series? It could be like the Marvel Cinematic Universe where Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America share one massive epic storyline but weave in and out of each other’s respective stories. Wouldn’t that be amazing?

When I had created the Pre-Wallbreaker series, the major downside was losing the detailed setting and history I had developed for the Wallbreaker series. This forced me to spend time on developing a different part of the world to, what I call, story-level quality. The base quality was good for reference but did not have sufficient detail to tell a fictional story. During these brainstorming sessions, the framework of another series percolated through my thoughts and—SHAZAM—the new Citadel series was born.

As you can see, the Citadel series would run parallel to The Wallbreaker series and merge into one massive book at the end of The Vos Drath Saga. Since I now had several series interrelated with one extraordinary epic story, it made sense to give the epic story its own title. Also, I planned to hire a co-writer to help me write the Citadel series. I realized years ago that there was no way I will be able to tell all the potential stories within The World of Wildamar as a solo writer.

As if balancing my business startup activities with my heavy writing load wasn’t enough to keep me busy, I partnered with a fantasy cartographer to upgrade my world map. Read the FREE exclusive behind-the-scenes story of how a professional cartographer took my amateur map from this:

to this

After renaming the short story A Switch in Prisons to Defiance at Dunwallow, I hired a company to design the cover for A Rift at the Ruins. You can tell I enjoy adding as many graphics as I can into the website. However, I am envious of others who work their magic in the visual medium. I wish I had more time to develop the skill, but that would mean stealing from The World of Wildamar. Anyway, I was excited to work with the true professionals at Damonza on my first cover.

Tap/Click to read the behind-the-scenes story on A Rift at the Ruins cover design

It surprised me how much progress I made in 2015. I worked on improving my craft with John Truby’s system, which helped me with two of my short stories I planned to release in The Pre-Wallbreaker Series. I added the Citadel Series to round out the Vos Drath Saga, and my amateur map of Wildamar was undergoing a serious professional upgrade. I should have been happy and content. However, Life somehow always knew when to temper my gain with pain.

Lost your place? Here is a quick link reference list for your convenience.

The World of Wildamar in Retrospect Blog Post Series.

Introduction

Year 2003-2004

Year 2005

Year 2006-2007

Year 2008-2009

Year 2010-2011

Year 2012

Year 2013

Jan 2014-Jun 2014

Jul 2014-Feb 2015

Mar 2015-Dec 2015

Jan 2016-Sep 2016

Oct 2016-Dec 2017

Jan 2018- Dec 2019

Jan 2020-Apr 2021

The post The World of Wildamar in Retrospect: Mar2015-Dec2015 appeared first on JP Indigo.

I planned to publish The Tragedy of a Promise as Book 1 in the Wallbreaker Series (the new name for the Redemption Series) in the newly renamed World of Wildamar. While I continued editing, I researched on how to start up a publishing company. What I found out was disheartening. The Indie Publishing market was not just saturated; it was hippo on elephant orgy fat with books. 

I learned the most successful business plan incorporated a promotional product to build your audience and prove you are worth their time. You’ve probably encountered this freebie promotional concept when you signed up for other author’s newsletters. Once you sign up, you received an excerpt from their current novel, a short story, and/or other free content. Shit, some authors gave a complete book away to new subscribers.

I had nothing to offer.

Sweat pooled under my shorts, clinging to my legs like the sticky residue of a spilled Coke. What was I going to do? How could I compete with authors giving away a novel? Was I totally “Fooked” before I even started my business?

After consulting with my friend, Ramy, I suspended editing The Tragedy of a Promise to write a short story called A Choice within the Churn as a promotional freebie. Costco uses the same promotional technique with their free samples. If the customer liked the sample, they would more often than not buy the entire product. When I worked there, I saw the free food as something to chow on during breaks. Who knew it taught me the concept of a loss leader?

Months of research led me to another massive overhaul to my business, and my personal life. It was another delay I could ill afford. I chewed through more than a few choice F-bombs while my neck veins throbbed faster than Sonic the Hedgehog on smack.

Anyway, this change to my production plan affected my financial planning. The bills piled up every month, and I didn’t have a routine paycheck since I didn’t have a job. I wanted to maximize my existing cash since I wouldn’t be able to publish the first book for at least one to two years. And there was a lot, a lot of money going out the door with no positive cash flow to replenish the coffers.

I puckered my lips and tapped on my iPhone. “Mom, I need help.”

Yeah. It wasn’t part of the plan, moving into my Mom’s house. But my company’s future reduced to two options: Do I stay on my own and empty my bank account pursuing a life goal? Or swallow my pride, reduce the drain on the money I have saved, and fight for my dream another day?

Once I settled into my Mom’s house, I continued work on the freebie short story. I will not mince words: I royally sucked at the short story format. It had been over ten years since I had written a short story, and the rust was obvious. To help improve the quality, I joined an online workshop group and solicited feedback from trusted friends. 

And the story still sucked.

Oh, around this time, I turned the short story into the first in a new series tentatively called the Pre-Wallbreaker series. The idea was to take Kervath, the main character of the Wallbreaker series, back to a point of time before the start of The Tragedy of a Promise. I even cranked out a rough draft of another short story, A Switch in Prisons, and a partial novella, Back in the Box. The news stories would occur before A Choice within the Churn.

Do you remember when I talked about project scope creep? Within a year, the scale of my production plan had expanded faster than my belly after a heavy gorging of Thanksgiving food. Am I a glutton for punishment or what? I figured that a small series leading up to the Wallbreaker series would be an excellent introduction to the World of Wildamar. It sounded like a solid decision, even if it pushed back my first full novel debut by several years. With this delay on my mind, little did I know that in 2015 I would eat, not a slice, but an entire humble pie.

Lost your place? Here is a quick link reference list for your convenience.

The World of Wildamar in Retrospect Blog Post Series.

Introduction

Year 2003-2004

Year 2005

Year 2006-2007

Year 2008-2009

Year 2010-2011

Year 2012

Year 2013

Jan 2014-Jun 2014

Jul 2014-Feb 2015

Mar 2015-Dec 2015

Jan 2016-Sep 2016

Oct 2016-Dec 2017

Jan 2018- Dec 2019

Jan 2020-Apr 2021

The post The World of Wildamar in Retrospect: Jul2014-Feb2015 appeared first on JP Indigo.

In early January 2014, I finished the novel. It had been around 11 years since I sat in my apartment asking, “What if…?” I felt like I endured a hundred marathons to reach this point. Where had the time gone? My face looked as if the crow’s feet had taken a permanent roost, my belly a little fluffier. Even considering the life-changing events I had endured since my late twenties, I was excited. I rushed to Kinko’s and brought my 800-page monster to life. After gasping at the $100+ print charge (Yikes!), I held a copy in my hands.

Finally.

I had physical proof of what started out as “The Book” and was one step further on the Grand Adventure. 

After finishing the first draft of what would become The Tragedy of a Promise, there was the next task of editing the mountainous blob. I didn’t understand the challenge to edit a 800-page manuscript until I dug into the pages and realized I would go insane.

Meanwhile, I needed to balance my crazy editing time with another goal: Starting up an independent publishing company.

Not so subtle aside: For the sake of NOT boring you to death, I chose to only focus on business startup-related details that critically influenced the creative efforts. If you are interested in the business minutiae, please feel free to send me an email through my Contact form. 

When I wrote the first draft of The Tragedy of a Promise, I took copious notes so I could make corrections in the soul-crushing exercise of the first Edit. I expected to cut a good amount of pages since the story scope had grown during the writing. It startled me. Or maybe I was sickened? After the first pass, I identified three hundred pages to delete.

Three fucking hundred pages.

Yes, you got that right.

Imagine having to cut a book’s length (standard novel ~350 MS pages) out of your first novel. It was not fun. It was not pretty. It was not easy.

After the redline blood bath, the manuscript still required significant structural changes. I shredded the subpar writing with no mercy, but other challenges kept smacking me in the face like freaked out fish. Original characters had morphed during the writing, and new characters popped in the middle without a proper introduction or development. Certain minor characters performed duplicate roles, which cluttered the story. I spent days determining who should stay, who should go, and who should be combined.

Extraneous characters meant winnowing out unnecessary storylines. As a reader, I love a great sub-story. But when they don’t relate to the major theme of the story, they need to be carved out like extra fat off a fresh rack of ribs. Sometimes these deleted sub-stories helped me develop a character during the first draft, but the actual scene (s) distract from the overall story experience.

This led me back to diving deeper into the characters I kept. I thought I knew my characters and—WHAM—the first draft showed I didn’t know the full fleshed out details. More character work definitely wasn’t a bad decision. Readers enjoy deep, conflicted characters. However, I was depressed the book was beyond rough. Even after rewriting the first 70 pages, I realized it was nowhere near publish-ready.

In the past, this additional development time would have only affected my off hours when I worked full time at the biotech job. I didn’t have to worry since I had a paycheck to feed me every two weeks like a PEZ dispenser. As a startup business, a delay in writing production equates to lost future revenue and, personally, a means to live. And there was no firm date on when the business would generate revenue. Best estimate was a year or more, based on the current Business Plan.

This was when the euphoria of starting a business changed into persistent stress of the unknown. Sleep wasn’t as blissful, my confidence was shaken, and I had the gnawing feeling I was possibly in over my head. In addition, my Business Plan research showed my initial approach was flawed. It predicted that my company would fail before the first story ever hit Amazon.

Lost your place? Here is a quick link reference list for your convenience.

The World of Wildamar in Retrospect Blog Post Series.

Introduction

Year 2003-2004

Year 2005

Year 2006-2007

Year 2008-2009

Year 2010-2011

Year 2012

Year 2013

Jan 2014-Jun 2014

Jul 2014-Feb 2015

Mar 2015-Dec 2015

Jan 2016-Sep 2016

Oct 2016-Dec 2017

Jan 2018- Dec 2019

Jan 2020-Apr 2021

The post The World of Wildamar in Retrospect: Jan2014-Jun2014 appeared first on JP Indigo.