VIRTUAL REBEL
My journey as an author began when I was a teenager. Inspired by the books I loved, I sat down with a notebook, a pencil, and began writing. They were pretty much copying whatever I was reading at the time, but with my own flourishes and interests.
As I grew older, I became interested in films. I wrote and directed a couple of short “guerilla” style, no-budget shorts, did a media internship, and landed on a few sets, working in various roles.
But it wasn’t going anywhere, and after some intense re-evaluation, I decided to pick up writing again, and try to write books. Shortly thereafter, I wrote a novel, rewrote it, and realized that it was unpublishable. But I’d done it. I’d essentially written a book. I decided to do it again, just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. And that’s how Virtual Rebel came into being.
Because of my interest in films, most of the Sci-Fi stories that have inspired me are movies. Ones that have had the biggest impact on me are Star Wars, I, Robot, Alien, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Matrix, Inception, Source Code, Arrival, Man of Steel, and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, to name a few.
I love epic, serious Sci-Fi that has big ideas and big set pieces. But the movie that was my biggest inspiration for Virtual Rebel specifically was Ready Player One. If you’ve read Virtual Rebel at all, I think the inspiration is very obvious.
The marketing. Hands down, the marketing. I still don’t have a handle on it. The most rewarding part, though, is when someone tells me they enjoyed my book. Reader satisfaction is some of the best writer fuel.
Set realistic expectations. Sure, some folks get lucky and their books take off. However, that is the exception, not the rule. Disappointment is inevitable, as are mistakes. Don’t let that derail you, though. You got into this for a reason. Remember your why, and persist.
