So, I figured veering off and talking about content for one day would be a solid choice. Sure, hearing me talk about family and friends is wonderful, but if we are being honest, let’s talk about the book you have hopefully read and are now invested in.
Time of Tears started as an idea, and like every idea, it became a sickness. I started writing it in 2010, just before my divorce. It was a solid idea, but my head was swirling from a catastrophic shift in my life.
Without putting too much time into that little dilemma, I took a break from writing my 5th novel for almost a year, spending time with my short fiction. I remember an author, who eludes me now (so I don’t really remember her), but she had a publication story I will always remember. Her twenty-something novel (let’s just call it her 23rd) that she wrote was the one she actually published.
Putting time into a novel, story, plot, etc. and watching to see if it will be a series is hard enough. Writing over twenty of those is a crazy amount of time. You have to stumble through the terrible ideas, practice those out, and find the ones that are actually worth telling.
I had a heading, an idea that shaped into a couple of thousand words. I wanted a story to break from classical fantasy norms, and how young people, still shaping their persons might react to the end of the world.
I wanted to write fantasy period, failing in short form for years. My stories always become much more. I am still convinced that short fantasy (between 800-1200 words) is almost impossible to do well, at least for me.
And the last ingredient to the swirling mixture I was bubbling up with became this realization where I wanted to tell a story about the transition from our world to a world ravaged by apocalyptic terror, shaped by fantasy, became the fantastic land that held so many myths and legends. I wanted to show that change, instead of being the story up to the end, or the story hundreds of years after. I wanted it all. Before, during, and after, all in one book.
As you will see, the Bombs will always be cornerstone to this world.
And the catalyst… yes.
What sparked the bomb to go off clear in my head? What set fire to the oily ideas drenched in my waking imagination? Hmmmm.
Well, I’m at the word limit of this post… blame Haley for that. 😉 But I will tell you in the next post.
I promise!
Jonathan Dominguez 