The Genesis of an Adventure

Early 2004, a fantasy realm was created, populated by angelic beings, mythical creatures, and magical jewels.  Over the years, that realm has grown slowly into the world now known as Anira, the world of The Phoenix and the Dragon.

I was a young teenager with an obsessive love for The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, and that love culminated in my first attempt at a fantasy novel.  Needless to say, that first attempt failed, mostly due to my realization that I was copping off of The Fellowship of the Ring.  As time went on, my subsequent attempts continued to reflect my reading habits, resembling not only Tolkien’s works, but Star Wars, Eragon, The Chronicles of Narnia, and various other books at different points.

In July 2008, I was a homeschool graduate trying to gather my fresh ideas together to create a story that used many old elements but was itself very much original.  Then my father happened upon the Christian Writers Guild, and their Operation First Novel contest.  The winning novel would be published by Tyndale, with a $20,000 check to the author.  It was a good incentive to write the first complete draft of my book, with just one little problem: all entries were due October 1^st.  And it was the third or fourth week of July.

I had only two months in which to write a complete 75,000-word novel, and I had never even come half that far before in my various drafts.  This challenge required drastic measures.

For two months, I was often exempt from my normal chores, and I often typed away late into the night—sometimes as late as 11:30 pm.  I did very little else in those two months.

But, miracle of miracles, I completed the draft in time, spent about two weeks working out the kinks, and mailed it off a little over a week before the deadline.  I didn’t harbor high hopes of winning, but I did allow myself to wish for the semifinals.

In November, I received a notification that I had not made the semifinals.  I was disappointed, but not surprised.  The next several months were not at all productive in the realm of original writing, but all was not lost.  I was still writing stories, and my skills were ever improving.

The next summer, I recovered sufficiently from a brief bout of depression concerning my book, enough to produce another draft for the ’09 Operation First Novel.  Once again, I lost the round.  This time, however, the experience was liberating.

This time, my family and I decided I would self-publish.

In the past year, various elements have been picked up, analyzed, and edited to improve the story.  In an all-the-way-through edit of the book, I have rewritten/edited 6 out of 20 chapters, and cut out a superfluous introduction.  It would be nice to say that the book will be finished this winter, but I don’t want to give anyone false hopes, so my tentative release date is Spring 2011.

This blog will track the progress of the edits being made on The Phoenix and the Dragon, Book I: The Rise of a Legend.  Stay tuned for more!