I Was Born To Create Worlds
By John Irvin
I am presently working on the second draft for Book 2, Independence, in my Longevity series. So, as you can expect, it is on my mind a lot these days. I want to talk a little about this gem of my heart.
Longevity, a gothic fantasy series that sprang from one little comment made at the supper table.
Yes, as a writer, sometimes you have no idea where a story will come from—it can hit you from anywhere, the point is to make sure you’re watching and ready.
It was one evening meal during my Sophomore year in college, I was complaining about feeling old and tired. A friend made the remark, “You’re nine-hundred years old.”
I was born near the end of 1989—nine hundred years from then would be 1109 AD. So my writer’s brain—at the time, I didn’t see myself as a professional writer, I was pursuing a medical degree at the time for goodness sake’s! But my mind began exploring the reason behind the why. Why was I nine-hundred years old?
At the time I was beginning to be attracted to the dark/gothic fantasy genre—with the werewolves, vampires, etc.
Studying the werewolves, I dreamed how thrilling it would be to have the ability to shift change into such a powerful form. But, most werewolves are humans who turn into actual wolves. Most are murderous and nothing but malevolent beasts.
In my mind, I wanted to be a good saviour-like monster who protected humans from the abominable vampires.
I did not see a regular wolf—whether huge or normal size—but rather a humanoid beast with a wolf’s head. Covered by wolf hair and fur, but walking like a man—a powerful Beast with heightened senses…this part is probably stemmed from my childhood passion for super heroes.
So a Man-Wolf.
Then, two years later, I wrote this brief bullet-point autobiography of all the main events in my life from 1109 up to the present.
After graduating college, I filed that away, making jokes about being a werewolf and even letting a few friends read the autobiography. Some remarked I should turn it into a book.
Who would read a werewolf autobiography of over 900 years now?
How could I make that intriguing?
Naturally, my brain continued exploring while I was busy focusing on other stories.
In 2014-2015, I wrote the first edition—a 512 page novel. I wish I hadn’t published it. I wished I’d been patient and tweaked it or set it aside to stew for a couple years. But two years ago, I cancelled the publication when it dawned on me, this story would be much better as a series.
Last year, I wrote the first draft of Longevity, Book 1: Revelation and after a journey, I published that book on July 27, 2019. I’m much more proud of this work than all the rest. But I see the journey to where I’m at and it impresses me.
I’m even more excited as it was the first in-print novel I’ve ever had in Hardcover format! The Paperback came out a week or so ago and the Ebook was published around the same time as the Hardcover.
If you’d like to order a copy, here’s the Amazon page—sadly, it’s taking time for the paperwork to go through for them to sell the Ebook, but that’s out on Barnes & Noble’s Nook.
Amazon: Hardcover&Paperback!
Nook: Longevity, Book 1: Revelation.
I just wanted to share that for today’s blog. Can you blame me for being a little proud?
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