What follows is a brief summary of some of the things I've learned writing The Audric Experiment and The Avocadonine and Spring Stone.
It took me five years to write The Avocadonine and Spring Stone. I took two years off because I didn’t know what direction to take it. So there were about three years of writing. I wanted it to be the next Harry Potter — an iconic young adult fiction book. So I agonized over every detail. I wrote and rewrote. The result was something that I realize in twenty-twenty hindsight isn’t Harry Potter. It’s good but it’s not the iconic landmark I set out to make it. With writing, even when you think you know all there is to know, you still don’t know everything. I had read everything I could find about not using adverbs to how much character description to use. But in the past few months, just watching writing videos, I’ve realized I’m still learning.
Now, when I write, it’s like I’m wearing the bracelet Pierre wears in The Audric Experiment. I’m constantly getting shocked. Each bit of information I’ve garnered is shocking me when I make a mistake. Wearing that bracelet has become a burden. Like they say of a Phd — piled high and deep. But the results one achieves when they have that Phd aren’t necessarily better. They are just different. The Audric Experiment is a more formulaic story than The Avocadonine and Spring Stone but it’s not necessarily better. I guess was I’m saying is: from time to time, try to take that bracelet off just for fun. Creativity is a fluid, not mechanical, process.
In The Avocadonine and Spring Stone, the avocado is the theme of the book. Without spoiling the book if you haven’t read it, that avocado is why one is reading all three hundred plus pages. What the avocado represents to Spring is the driving force behind the story. I think writing is about finding your own avocado. Some writers find it — and some don’t. It’s not just great characters, or a great plot, it’s what’s behind the scenes pushing us to turn the pages. It’s one thing that we are not interested in, or curious about — it’s one thing that we love. Everything else is great and important. But that one love is what makes the story so good.
The Audric Experiment only took me a year to write. I didn’t work from an outline but had a strong sense of where the story was going and the points I wanted to hit. I wrote chapter by chapter, writing and rewriting. Then, of course, once the book was done, I rewrote many chapters. But Audric was just the kind of book that lent itself to that casual approach. My third book is a murder mystery, so I will be outlining extensively before the writing begins. I have also purchased Scrivener which means outlining becomes a lot easier and I would recommend Scrivener for anyone who really wants to write a good outline prior to writing.
If you read The Audric Experiment or The Avocadonine and Spring Stone, be sure to post your thoughts on Amazon.com. Both books are controversial is different ways. I’m the type of person who can’t write anything that isn’t debatable because I think that is what makes writing interesting. No doubt, either book will spark ideas and either agreement or disagreement. All thoughts and opinions are welcome. As I would do you that courtesy, I would hope you would do me the same. So check out the books and enjoy!