My Original Fiction
Some writers begin their journeys writing their own original universes, characters, and stories. I wasn’t one of those writers – I started with fan fiction – but I have come to appreciate the unique joy of having people, plots, and worlds I can call my own.
Owed Origins
Most of my worlds and the people in them take their inspiration from real life, but some owe their existence to others’ worlds. Precocious Paige McAllister from my “Finding Mister Wright” series, for instance, was inspired by the Mechromancer from Borderlands 2. Rather than have Paige be an anarchic engineering prodigy with a penchant for causing violence and gathering loot, though, I wanted to examine the effects that losing an arm might have on a more or less ordinary young girl and her family. Paige grew from another source, but I consider her very firmly my own, at this point…and not much at all anymore like the character who inspired her.
“Finish it.”
When I was in college, I had a writer friend who gave me some advice: Finish the story. Even if it’s shit, you’ve finished it, and that’s more than 90% of people can say. I’ve kept that advice in the back of my mind ever since, and I’ve done my best to finish the stories that have really spoken to me. Of course, there have been smaller, less focused pieces and worlds into which I’ve only dipped my toes. But every story that has called to me enough to keep me up nights and wake me early in the mornings to think, plan, and write some more, I’ve done my best to see to the end. I also realized that a finished story is a lot easier to edit than a non-finished one.
Reading More
You can read some of these stories in full. Others, I’ve included as writing process blog posts because I still have dreams of putting them together in a more finished published form. And still others you can read only by purchasing. But hey – a writer’s got to make a living, right?
Click on any of the links below to find out more about each of these worlds and their characters. Happy reading!