Each and every time I receive a message, email or post from somebody who has read a passage or chapter in my book and is outraged at what a character has done, or amazed at an event that has occurred, I remember why I choose to write. There can be no greater feeling to a writer than to know that your work has sparked an emotional reaction from a reader.

As I answer this question I am typing at a cluttered desk containing a reference book on castles, a pile of trading cards, a picture of myself with William Shatner at Oz-Comicon, and a pile of notes from my current work in progress. To my right towers a wall of books which I have collected over my lifetime and on the wall behind my screen hang maps I have drawn, maps I have purchased and posters from my favorite TV shows.

So my love of writing, I believe, started in high school when our class was asked to write a creative story. Any story that is, not a predetermined theme that the teacher had chosen. There was no real length that it needed to be, and no guidelines other than ‘write a story’. I was so excited that as soon as I got home I started writing and planning my story. I enjoyed it so much that I didn’t realise how long I had made the story until I compared it to my friends and realised that theirs were about two pages long and mine was close to ten. Mind you the writing was appalling and I can’t really recall the story, but it was likely terrible. Regardless, that was the first time that I truly enjoyed writing.

Choosing and creating a cover was one of the hardest parts of the publishing process. I began by looking at my favorite books on my bookshelf and figuring out what it was that drew me to them in the first place. I found that the ones I remembered the most were actually the classic ones, with focus on one or two key images or symbols and easy to read text. After that I picked up a pencil and began to sketch some possible designs. After a few failures I found something I liked and when it felt right I settled on the cover.

1) Magician by Raymond E Feist. This will forever be the book that drew me into Fantasy. The combination of exciting storytelling and lovable characters in an amazing world has stayed with me ever since I read this masterpiece.
2) Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings. The Belgariad showed me that a book can have a cast of many yet still make you feel like you are best friends with every single character.
3) The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien. Tough the Lord of the Rings provided the grander Tolkien world and history to us, the fun and well paced story of Bilbo will forever make me smile.

I grew up in a household with a mother who loved science fiction and fantasy as well as a brother who role played and war gamed. So as you can imagine I grew up playing Dungeons and Dragons (Which I still play every Wednesday) and watching Star Trek (Which I still watch). So it was no surprise that I grew to love Fantasy literature so much.

A creased and worn old exercise book which holds one of the first stories I wrote as a teenager. Though the writing is terrible and the story ludicrous, when I look at that notebook I remember that I have always had the urge and passion to write.

Many years ago I picked up some scraps of paper (Old ‘far side’ desk calender pages if I remember correctly) and sat down to write out a basic plot and do some world building. I spent the rest of the day writing more notes and more notes. Jotting down characters and names of places. At one point my brother’s friends arrived and asked me what I was doing. I said to them “I’m writing a book.” And they laughed. (Funnily enough the young man who laughed at me back then was recently one of my proof readers)

By the end of it I had a story for a trilogy planned.

Most writers will tell you that editing is one of the most painful processes that they need to engage in. I have to agree that it is definitely the most painful, as each time that you delete a word or change a passage, it feels like a little bit of yourself has been removed. Yet I will say that though writing is where you are able to get your creative juices flowing, editing your work provides you with a different level of satisfaction, as you begin to see the light at the end of the long tunnel, which is publication!

By celebrating the little things!

When I chose to self publish I realized that many self published books never sell a whole lot. In fact some may never even sell a single copy. Therefore when I decided to publish I reminded myself why I was doing this. The main reason was to leave behind a legacy of my imagination. From that point of view, every single book that I sell is helping me to achieve that. Thus even one person reading my book keeps me motivated to keep writing.