And then disaster. I fell asleep on the journey home one day, woke with a jolt at my station, and ran off the train leaving my notes behind! I rang the station and lost and found, only to be told that a collection of pencil written sheets would just have been thrown in the bin. Aaaaaarrrrggghhhh!!!!
After a brief detour to the BBC - I was eighteen and there was no real internet so I didn't know any better - who redirected me to the then publishers of the Doctor Who books WH Allen. They rejected it, but I had a long letter with constructive criticism and encouragement. I learned later via a more famous author - the now sadly departed Graham Joyce (but that's a whole nother story) - that their constructive criticism was actually a request to rewrite and resubmit. I didn't realise that at the time, but eighteen years old me was pretty chuffed even by the rejection and kind words. After all, I never really expected to be a published author. That would be silly, right?? 😆
So my first and favourite writing achievement was also in many ways my most stressful at the time. I still have that original manuscript, nicely bound by a friend's dad who liked to bind his own pieces, and with the rejection letter. That first submission was also the birth of my pen name as I hated my surname at the time. Thirteen years later, a character and an alien from that story teamed up with another from a short story prompted by a dream, to become my first published novel Keir. It all came good in the end...
Keir (Redemption Book One. Part of the Travellers Universe)
A demon waiting to die...
An outcast reviled for his discolored skin and rumors of black magic, Keirlan de Corizi sees no hope for redemption. Imprisoned beneath the palace that was once his home, the legendary 'Blue Demon of Adalucien' waits for death to finally free him of his curse. But salvation comes in an unexpected guise.
A woman determined to save him.
Able to cross space and time with a wave of her hand, Tarquin Secker has spent eternity on a hopeless quest. Drawn by a compulsion she can't explain, she risks her apparent immortality to save Keir, and offers him sanctuary on her home-world, Lyagnius. But Quin has secrets of her own.
When Keir mistakenly unleashes the dormant alien powers within him and earns exile from Lyagnius, Quin chooses to stand by him. Can he master his newfound abilities in time to save Quin from the darkness that seeks to possess her?
Book One of the Redemption series and part of the Travellers Universe. Previously released by Lyrical Press Inc. 7th May 2012
A Science-Fiction Romance Novel, Readers Favorite Contest Awards Finalist 2012, HOD RWA Aspen Gold finalist (3rd place), The Kindle Book Review's 2013 Best Indie Book Awards semi-finalist, and a 2012 SFR Galaxy Award Best May to December Romance winner.
Available in all digital formats from Amazon, All Romance eBooks, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, and Smashwords. Print is now available from Amazon, B&N, The Book Depository, and CreateSpace. Download a free pdf sample and read the reviews at Goodreads.
"One of the sweetest romances you’ll ever read."
Elle Hill, author of the Hunted Series
5 comments:
Thanks for sharing your journey, Pippa. What about those partials? Are you going to dust them off and finish them up? Or when you see them, are the good memories enough?
WOW - way cool on the Dr. Who story. And good you could channel your inner angst into productive and creative writing. I can't imagine all that trauma at once, and then to leave your notes on the train. Glad it all came round to work out in a published book.
I can relate to an unfinished series written years ago - where three books are all over half finished. In the middle of writing them I decided I should weave all three stories together in one book and then when that seemed overwhelming, it all got set aside. One of these days I'll resurrect the stories. Onward and upward.
Being a teen is so empowering (though it feels the opposite) because you don't know you "can't do something." How wonderful they took the time to provide you constructive criticism. Even better that some of that ended up in your first published story.
So, the big question is if now under stay-at-home orders during the pandemic are you writing another angst-filled story. I'd love a Dr. Who type character who has been on other pandemic planets and knows just what to do to save us all--because currently leadership around the world is really up and down. I think it's time for an alien invasion--a beneficent alien of course.
i loved learning "the story behind the story" of Keir. It's so cool how you gave some characters from your original Dr. Who story their own story in your first published novel!
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