Writer's Journey - The Past, The Present & The Future
Let me tell you a tale; my tale. The tale of William James Powell, of Sutton Surrey, England.
It began on April 5th 1991 when I was born. I was born very premature, a twin along with my brother Leonard. He unfortunately didn't make it, but I did. Grew up in a happy family household with my parents, surrounded by a loving family.
I can never really remember enjoying drawing. Sure, there is evidence to contradict this, specifically old drawings of Spiderman and Sonic The Hedgehog that I did at a young age, but as far back as I can remember, I've loved writing. I did pretty good in primary school writing, loved to write short stories to read out in show and tell, and would always beam with joy in secondary school when we got a creative writing homework assignment.
Me and my wonderful parents, Tina and Richard.
I had absolutely everything mapped out after finishing with two A's in both English Language and English Literature in my GCSE's - I was going to go to 6th Form, and then finally university (the likely choice being Kingston as it was closest to me) to take a creative writing course. 6th Form was more rough than I imagined (I had serious problems accepting the authority of others) and I didn't do as well as I hoped, only managing a C in English Literature. The primary reason was the lack of creative writing courses, but that was a given - this was a study of classics such as Of Mice and Men, and The Colour Purple, a necessary step in learning how to create works of your own one day. Of course, my immaturity reared its head for the two years I was in 6th Form, and I can remember on many an occasion telling my teachers that I didn't care about those stories, and was more interested in creating my own. More often than not, their advice fell on deaf ears.
What an idiot I was.
My friends who helped me get through school and beyond.
I finished 6th Form with grades that would allow me to go to Kingston University, but after becoming so disinterested in attending any kind of learning establishment of any kind, I took a gap year. It consisted of claiming Jobseekers Allowance, brainstorming stories that went absolutely nowhere past the first chapter, and going to the pub with friends every Monday and Friday. I was content, my gap year was fun and it honestly felt good to be free to a school-like environment. It couldn't last forever though, and in January 2010 I put in my application to Kingston University, and was provisionally accepted. I wasn't entirely sure which courses I wanted to take, and my memory is a tad hazy - if memory serves me correctly (and it may not!) I decided to take Business Studies (a subject I got a B in at both GCSE and A Level), Film Studies (Script-Writing to be specific) and Creative Writing (Fiction all the way).
Then a job opportunity came up at Sutton Council. An apprenticeship in their Customer Services department, with the guarantee of a year contract in a full time position at the end of the apprenticeship. The office where I'd be working was a 15 minute walk from my house.
I weighed up my options - as much as I wanted to pursue the writing avenues and live the University lifestyle, a big part of me was still uninterested in re-entering school life. I hadn't had a great time in secondary school besides my last two years there, and 6th Form was a miserable experience. This job opportunity mind you would get me out in the working world, and being paid a wage. The writing thing I could continue to do in my spare time. It seemed like a win-win situation.
Dressed in my suit, I went for the interview a nervous bundle of energy, this being my first real interview for my first real job. I'd done little summer jobs here and there but nothing substantial. I was asked in the interview what I would do if the job wasn't offered to me, and I answered honestly - I would go to University, which I had already been accepted in to, and try and hone my craft to make it as an author or writer of some kind. I told my potential employers that I was willing to give up that chance, that opportunity (and all the debt of student loans that would come with it!) to work for them and try my best to become a valued member of their team.
I got the telephone call just under a week later whilst in Wales visiting family; I got the job.
Me and the Customer Services team at Sutton Council at Mike's wedding.
After I was done jumping for joy and drinking myself silly in celebration, I then embarked on two of the hardest working years of my life. 2010-2011 I worked as an apprentice, trying to secure the job alongside a rival for the following year. I was offered the position, and then in 2011-2012 I worked as a member of the Customer Services team as a full-time employee. I did little to no writing in this period, instead focusing fully on the job and making sure that I kept it.
Then, everything changed come June 2012. A secondment position for a year opened up in the back office in the Council Tax department. Wanting a slight change of scenery (and also securing my future somewhat due to the ongoing cuts at the council), I went for the position and got it. I was transferred to their team, and was then working on correspondence sent in my customers (letters, emails etc.) and the administrative side of the job I had done previously. It was eye-opening, interesting and a departure from what I'd done the last two years beforehand.
It somehow also reinvigorated my passion for writing.
There was something about the amount of letter/email writing that I was doing that made me miss what my first love was, fiction writing. On my lunch-breaks I would sit and brainstorm potential ideas. I also formed a friendship with a colleague Damien, who was like-minded and creative that only furthered my renewed interest. I began to go back and forth with ideas, and revisited previous scraps of work I'd left unfinished from years gone by.
45 Days was born.
I always liked the idea of a story told from the villain's perspective - albeit with a twist. A story where the villain was a reluctant one, one we could somewhat sympathise with in a dark and bleak world. I had recently finished watching No Country for Old Men and was inspired by the character of Anton Chigurh - a ruthless and terrifying killer who determined his outcomes with the flip of a coin, leaving it all to chance. He reminded me the DC Comics villain Two-Face, yet far more in control, and a heck of a lot more menacing. His presence in the movie was universally praised and for good reason. I played with the idea of having a character just in control of his emotions and on the surface appearing much the same - only there would be this other layer, this reluctance and slight twisted sense of justice and "doing the right thing" that would make him engaging.
The story was written around this central character, and inspired by the futuristic setting of Blade Runner. Over the course of a couple of months I hammered out the idea, the length (originally a full-length novel, but eventually trimmed down to a short story) and the characters and got to work. When finished, the piece was just over 3,000 words long. It was so satisfying and rewarding to have finished a project from scratch. The question then become what to do with the project.
Front cover for 45 Days.
The first step was sending it out to everyone and anyone in hopes of response. I entered the story into numerous short story competitions and magazines for publication, but none of them bit. I then tried sending it to a few publishers, but none were looking to invest in such a short story, and the subject matter didn't really fit any anthologies that most were putting together.
There was only one thing left for it - Amazon.
I had read that the company had recently embarked on a self-publishing venture, helping wannabe authors realise their dream by allowing them to release their works on Kindle free of charge. It was perfect - it took me little under a week to format the story to their standards and whip up a very crude front cover. Just like that, it was ready for release, and in late November 2013, 45 Days was released on Amazon Kindle (which you can see at this link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/
The story was a success, with friends, family and colleagues being kind enough to buy the story and give me their feedback. I made enough money off of sales to commission an artist to create a slicker looking front cover. I saw it as reinvesting in the project in hopes that it would pay off, and it did; sales continued to roll in steadily after the front cover was edited, and I continued to plug the project on websites for self-publishing authors. The success was great, and proved that the hard work was worth it. Immediately I was being asked about further projects, and while I kept my cards close to my chest, I had two in mind. Looking back I should've taken some time out and re-evaluated, but the adrenaline rush of releasing 45 Days and having it prove to be as popular as it was... I wanted more of that.
The first project I had in mind was a follow-up to 45 Days from the other side of things. We'd seen the lead character and his emotions, and I wanted to now explore what it was like to be one of his victims - somebody that anybody could sympathise for. But once again, I wanted to turn the norm on it's head, and have the victim eventually go down a dark path and come out worse than Vincent at the end of it.
However, another past project of mine was tugging at me to finish it. Set in an unspecified time but with a noire feel, it took place in America and was my stab at a detective story. Whilst not at novel length, it was far longer than my 45 Days effort, and was close to reaching novella length. It was gritty, it was violent, and I was reinvigorated to finish it.
Front cover for Descent Into Madness.
In a typical dumb case of biting off more than I can chew, I decided to work on both. A rash decision, but I was confident at the time I could handle the work-load. I decided to write Descent Into Madness as detailed above, and then work on the detective story (now titled When Justice Comes Calling), editing it to fit into the storyline world I had crafted for 45 Days and Descent Into Madness. No easy task, but like I said, I was confident I could handle it. Over-confident? In hindsight, absolutely.
Descent Into Madness was released in late February 2014 (which you can see at this link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/
Then came the task of editing When Justice Comes Calling all throughout the first half of 2014. It started off easy, and progressively got more and more difficult. I've detailed the trails and tribulations of that project elsewhere on this blog (and also in detail in This Is Not An Exit, out tomorrow on Kindle and Paperback!) so I won't repeat myself here. Long story short, I wound up shelving the project. I may wind up coming back to it one day, I may not. I like the idea, the premise, but it needs re-working from the ground up. Starting off from scratch. I'm not ready for that yet, and heck, I might never be. Time will tell.
The front cover for When Justice Comes Calling before the project was shelved.
I've almost reached the end of the road with This Is Not An Exit - a story that is part tongue-in-cheek, part fused in with these characters and world I've created with 45 Days/Descent Into Madness. It was fun, it enjoyable to write and it felt like the closing of a book. Not on me writing altogether, but just that chapter in my life over the past couple of years. The culmination of a lot of work, and a lot of dedication. I'll let the story itself do the speaking for me, but I hope you'll pick it up when released and will enjoy it.
What the future holds is anybodies guess at this point. I have a renewed interest in building content for this blog, now rechristened Save Us WP. You can hit me up on Twitter (@SaveUsWP), Instagram (SAVEUSWP) and Twitch (Save_Us_WP) as well as this blog. Content coming up includes a retrospective on an awesome anime called Death Note, a review of the first season of WWF Tough Enough, and at the end of the month, a review and analysis of WWE's newest PPV, Fast Lane.
The plan for the month of February on this blog!
Thank you all for your continued kind words, well wishes and support.
Till next time,
Will
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Catch the conclusion of the "Justice Saga" on 1st February 2015 with the release of "This Is Not An Exit"! All roads through "45 Days" and "Descent Into Madness" have lead to this. Available 01/02/2015 from Amazon Kindle via Ebook, and from Createspace.com via paperback!
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