My first novel has been out for a few weeks and I've had some very positive feedback. Of course I'm still struggling with the marketing end of things like most other new authors but things have been slowly happening.
I've been tweaking the cover and blurb on KDP (Kindle direct publishing) in an effort to find out what will appeal to book buyers so that they will cough up a few of their hard earned dollars to read it.
I've also been working on the prequel book that the character of Dan from my book wrote and I expect to publish it soon.
It's kind of a fun concept. I'll explain how it came about for those who haven't read the book yet.
I actually wrote a small book that I called "How to Disaster Proof Your Home and Family" and that got me thinking about writing a novel about a regular guy (like me) who writes a book called—you guessed it.
So I started writing without an outline or much of a plot in mind except, what would this fictional guy do if he was really concerned about the crazy dependence of our modern society on the power grid and the long, tenuous supply chains that keep our world functioning?
If you know me and have read my blog, you know that we have a "remote property" and it is an important part of our lives. Of course we don't have quite the resources we would need to make it a truly secure off grid retreat so I gave Dan a small inheritance that allows him and his wife Jo to start from scratch and build whatever they want.
I wanted to keep it real and avoid what I feel is a tendency to go a bit nuts with over-the-top disasters, violence and the sort of ridiculous Hollywood style baloney that the world seems to lap up these days.
It ends up being a sort of kinder, more gentle pre/post apocalypse story with a lot of time spent getting to know Dan and Jo while they and their family build their retreat.
I was worried about the slower pace of the book but the feedback I've been getting is that people find the whole process of buying the land and building it up interesting and engaging.
The other aspect that concerned me is that Dan and Jo are Christians and they (and I) make no apologies about that.
I read all sorts of literature and my personal belief is that good literature (and even my stuff) is an opportunity to learn from and enjoy reading about what people that aren't like you think and believe.
So I made them Christians but I gave them doubts about how to handle the moral issues that are bound to come up during the events around the collapse of civilization.
They struggle with self doubt and with the issues that plague us all, especially during times of danger and crisis.
I don't feel that the target audience is limited to Christians, nor do I believe that all Christians will approve of the doubts and moral struggles that the characters have to deal with, but I wanted to be honest and real about them.
We don't always do the right thing, even when it is clear what the right thing is.
The first book is mostly about imagining what might happen and doing your best preparing for whatever that is, but the second installment will push way past that into actually dealing with those tough choices.
Lets hope Dan and Jo and company manage to hold onto their humanity and their Christian faith. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
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