Another author in the ranks

[themantheycallcris]

Hello all, Cris Jesse from Seattle here. I've been looking around this site recently, as well as on other spec-fic sites, and i can no longer stay out of the swimming pool. it's time to dive in!

Last year I finished my first novel...

'Cutblade: Rise'

it's Christian fantasy, the first in a series. the next couple chapters I write will determine whether that series is 3 or 5 books. big decision.

i also have another big decision right now... when to send in a proposal. i've spent quite a while reading up on the net about publishing (at least 100 hours), and i think i've found the house that's right for my novel... Marcher Lord Press. now i have to pray that they'll find my book (and me) to be a good fit for them.

the book is set in a world i'm in the process of making. the world is very much like our own. my goal is to keep to the Bible as much as possible, and then make up the rest. i'm trying to keep all the truths and histories from the Bible as the truths and histories in my new world. and that includes all geographies mentioned in the Bible as well.

everything beyond that though will look very different. the layout of the entire world surrounding the "bible lands" will be of my own making. the histories of peoples and cultures beyond what is written in the Bibile shall be different as well. i should admit at this point, to the Lord's glory, that i cannot help but be greatly influenced by what the Lord has made. so many of my 'made up' parts in this world i'm creating are nothing more than my attempts at originality that screamed back at me "God already made me, you just shifted me around a bit!"

one other big difference you'll find in this new place. demons take on physical forms as well. it's not just a place of "spiritual interaction", it's a place where demons kill and can be killed.

so it's funny how the whole thing started actually. a friend and I were playing a table top -dice, pen & paper- rpg. it was my turn to run a campaign, so i began to write one. as i began writing more of it, i started to remember some of the things i wrote in school growing up. remembering how much i hated english classes, but how easily i aced them. the funny thing was, as much as i hated the classes, writing the stories in those classes had been fun. that fact was evidently washed from my memory, though, by all the lameness of studying those english textbooks.

anyway, as i wrote i found that i was really enjoying it, and i began to give heed to a question that had lingered in my mind for a few years... i wonder if i could actually write a book? i wonder if maybe there is just a bit of reality in my remembering that english came easy to me?

so finally i gave in. i gave it a shot. if nothing else, i'd hopefully have a story to steal a campaign out of.

i had no idea that the keyboard would become an addicting drug. that my imagination would never again let the doors of its prison be closed (except in times when the Lord would need it to be).

a legend had been let loose. 'The Legend of Woodenrock' specifically, the name of the first book. but the story soon became a tale too big for even a novel to tell. the back story could not simply be told. no, it had to have a life of its own. so a second tale was born. one that was 1,000 years older than the parent from which it was born. and if ever an infant grew quickly, this was it.

the new-older?... book soon became a trilogy of offspring from the original. and at that point i realized that the original book would need to become a series as well. likely a series of five. it was like the new book realized it was a siamese triplete at the same time that the parent book realized it was a siamese quadruplet.

and i guess that wasn't enough for this mutating monster family. i ran the stories past a couple good friends, who had both taken the same program in the ArtInstitute (though at different locations). it was clear that a comic book series, though not necessary, would greatly enhance the relationship between the two generations of stories. and both of my friends were eager to lend their artistic pens and storycrafting abilities to the goal of finding a picture perfect midwife for the books to come. who knows if that midwife comicbook series will reveal family members of her own...

since then more books have spawned. the ancient books, as i mentioned at the beginning of this post, may be turning in to a longer series. also, other characters have popped up with backstories deserving to be read. and we fiction writers know that stories should not be narrated during other stories. they should be lived out in the imagination of the reader. so unless my life takes a drastic turn, or a supernatural tranquilizer puts my imagination to rest, those stories will be shared with the world; or to more properly glorify God... if the Lord wills they shall be written.

and i am eager to write more stories. a side project i am also working on is based on the reason i even began writing these books. i'm hoping to one day publish a Christian fantasy tabletop rpg based in the world i am creating. and i'm hoping that as i write these novels that they will have enough background to becon the readers to dig for more adventure in the rpg game. if they do, they will find that they themselves become part of the stories, part of a creation from a created being who is eager to glorify the Creator, God Almighty.

on a more important, spiritual note... it's funny how the increase in my desire to write and my finding story to write coincided with my desire to glorify Christ with each. as i said, at first i was curious, doing it to satisfy the questions in my mind. when asked if they were for God i would say "No, they're for me. i do plan on glorifying Him in them, though." but i thought more and more about how we are to do all things as unto the Lord. and about how all things are from Him, thru Him, and to Him. and step by step i soon found myself writing the books no longer for me, but for Him and His purpose. and though that made me tremble, His Spirit steadied me. i pray i will not fall short on this, and i am ever greatful for the task. an opportunity to be a bit more like my Jesus.

so that was a long post, and a first post at that. hats off to those who finished reading it! i know that if there is anybody who will read the entire thing then they will be found here, on a board of and for people who love reading and writing to honor the Lord.


so... that is, i mean... hi
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Christ is King!!!


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[Selena Thomason]

Hi, Cris.



Congratulations on finishing your first novel. I hope you find the right publisher for it.

I have heard good things about Marcher Lord Press. In fact, we are publishing an interview with the founder. Look for the piece in September.

(P.S. I read the whole thing. )
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Selena Thomason
Managing Editor
MindFlights

[themantheycallcris]

Thanks for the welcome Selena! I'll defidently look for the interview. I just submitted my proposal to them tonight. It's in their hands (and God's) now.

I'm curious though, do you know if it's ok for me to submit just my prologue to publishings like MindFlights? I've heard that's ok in general, but I didn't want to assume. Is that something I need to ask the publisher I submitted the full manuscript to? I'd like to submit my prologue to MindFlights and a couple other magazines as well. I think it would be enjoyed, and that it would build anticipation for the hopeful release of the novel.

thanks for any help, and thanks again for the welcome!
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[Selena Thomason]

I'd be careful about submitting the prologue while the book in full is under consideration somewhere. While I don't know for sure, my feeling is that having part of the book previously published may make it less appealing to a publisher.

As for submitting the prologue to MindFlights, we don't like to publish excerpts of longer works. We prefer stories that are self-contained.

Hope that helps. Good luck with the book.
_________________
Selena Thomason
Managing Editor
MindFlights

[themantheycallcris]

thanks for the info selena. not what i was hoping to hear, but exactly what i needed.

i guess i'll just have to attempt a short story (not sure how a rambler can accomplish that one...)
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[TWErvin]

Cris Jesse

Great that you joined in and also found a publisher to submit to (that appears a good fit) for your novel. I've heard positive things about Marcher Lord Press.

Terry
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www.ervin-author.com

[TWErvin]

Cris Jesse

Great that you joined in and also found a publisher to submit to (that appears a good fit) for your novel. I've heard positive things about Marcher Lord Press.

Terry
_________________
www.ervin-author.com