This year, like most years over the past decade, has been very fluid as far as my creative objectives. I looked back at a few of my posts during the past decade and noticed that my plans should have all come with the caveat: *Subject to change. In 2017 I was focused on trying to finish and release a two-part novel series. I learned with Monarch that everything will not go according to plan, which is one reason I have become more fluid in my approach to writing and don't get as bent out of shape when things come up and throw a plan off course. That's why when my plans were derailed halfway through 2017 by unforeseen circumstances, I realized I could no longer manage the expectations I put on myself with the two-part novel series. Instead, I shifted focus to the more manageable origin story in that series. At the time I was calling it In the Wake of Newton, but you will know it now as Michaelmas.
That two-part novel series is still at the top of my list of pre-AI material to focus on. (I say pre-AI to mean stories that I began writing before the Spring of 2023.) I can't believe I've let that project slide largely overlooked through the years without more attention. It's written but still needs a proper rewrite and I do plan to sprinkle in a few illustrations as well. My hope is that by June I can restart work on that project. Who knows when it will be finished. Hopefully by this time next year. It has been a labor of love and I will be so relieved to be finished with it. While it is my main priority as far as long-term literary works, I still have so many other projects that need attention.
I can say that querying is finally underway for one of my screenwriting projects. That project has been evolving over the past few years and it is nice to finally be able to start reaching out to others about it.
Beyond those two projects, I have the TV mini-series that I am going to turn into a graphic novel series. This story has been near and dear to my heart ever since I first wrote it almost twenty years ago. It was such a massive undertaking that I strongly considered making it into another novel or novel series. This was the second massive story that I had written after the Cipher trilogy, which became a part of Monarch. I don't know how it became my preferred style or why I felt so comfortable telling these intertwined stories. At first, I thought it was just because I had so many stories and needed a way to tell them. I have written dozens of normal-length movie and TV scripts, but there is something about developing these epic tales often with multiple main characters across several storylines that is so enchanting to me as a writer. It's a bit like when I went to Disney World as a kid and entered all of these different amazing rides that are similar and yet different from one another. A psychiatrist might possibly say that the trip to Disney laid the creative foundation for my creative path. I wouldn't dispute that. "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "It's a Small World" certainly made an impression on me as a child.
I suppose the magic I feel with these grandiose stories, in some way, is what I am trying to provide an audience. Monarch certainly was meant to take readers on a somewhat magical psychological ride toward middle age. However, my stories are also meant for younger adults because they are usually packed with action and/ or suspense. Oftentimes, they are meant to provide an experience for people who are trying to find their way in life. Something I did for a long time. Hell, I'm still not completely sure where I fit in on this rock.
I often think back to a question that was posed to a writing friend and myself. We were asked, rather unfairly, "Who is the better writer?" My fellow writer did not answer. I don't know why I said it, but I stated, "He was." Did I believe it to be true? He is a wonderfully talented technical screenwriter who can give you 10 pages in a few days on any type of story. Did I feel pressured into saying it because my writing friend's best friend had asked the question and I didn't want to rock the boat? It doesn't really matter. But that has always bugged me that I felt like I had to say that.
And you know what, maybe he is a better screenwriter than me. He's certainly had more work produced. He will write anything, and I respect him for that. He's good at writing anything quickly, which is why we have collaborated so much through the years. However, my main goal as a writer has always been to write what I want to read or watch. This is likely one of the main reasons why I have a library of screenplays with so few screenwriting credits to my name. I have a ton of stories that I have to tell, a list of well over a dozen at present. Unless someone is willing to pay me well, I just don't have the time to take my focus off of my work to tell other people's stories. Ironically, this may be the same reason why those who are best suited to help me out with my current project will likely not respond to my queries, even though the TV series is amazing on several levels and would be a smash hit with its intended audience. An audience that skews younger and is interested in edgier content that they can interact with in a multitude of ways. My main objective is as it has always been -- to try and write and deliver stories that I've not seen told before and that make my mind do cartwheels.
While I don't have any regrets from this century—don't ask about the 20th century, two moments changed my path during the past 24 years. The first was in 2000 when my father got sick, and I moved back to Atlanta from LA after establishing some roots on the West Coast. Once he passed, I lost some of my motivation to wander in the desert alone in search of creative success. The second moment was in 2010 when I decided to divert my focus from screenwriting to writing books for a decade. During that time, I chose to only work on screenplays in collaboration with the same writing friend, but without putting myself out there like I had the decade before. I had been plodding along here in Atlanta without gaining much traction other than making a few short films. I was tired of querying hundreds of people with very little response and going to festivals where I have only within the past few years become more comfortable schmoozing with people I don't know. And so focusing on the writing of books seemed a much more tolerable way forward.
During that decade, I not only completed numerous literary projects but also through my collaborations with my writing friend we managed to create half a dozen screenwriting projects. That was the plan: write literary works and collaborate with my writing partner. While I would have liked to publish that two-part novel series before today, I now have a small library of published and unpublished literary and screenwriting works. Some of which I have big plans for.
However, I cannot help but wonder if I had not chosen to take that break in 2010 from screenwriting could I have gained more of a foothold here in Atlanta? The film and TV production industry was just starting to explode after the tax breaks kicked in. And looking back to the year 2000, I was in the thick of things while in LA. Not only was I starting to transition from being in front of the camera to screenwriting but I also had an interest in directing. My mind was on fire, but once Dad passed I needed time to heal and develop as a person. Since I had not really done anything of merit by that point in LA, even though I had created a few connections out west, written a few screenplays, and directed my first short film, a return to a different kind of creative struggle was not in the cards.
Both of those choices (moving back to Atlanta from LA and focusing on literary work for a decade) served as cutting ties with the progress and most of the industry relationships I had fostered for years. I don't regret either choice but both of them likely led me away from opportunities. Would I have been more open to writing for others during that decade had I not made the turn toward literary works? Maybe. I think that making that turn in 2010 solidified my belief in only writing the stories I wanted to tell. Now it is just who I am. You want me to help write your Hallmark story. Sorry, not interested. I could see myself writing a story for someone else's anthology series or taking someone's film idea and meshing it with my own ideas, but an established program like CSI? No thanks. Those are someone else's characters. Bless those who write for those types of programs but I just can't do it. I prefer creating characters and stories from scratch.
We are the choices that we make, right? My choices have led me to write only what I want to read or watch. This means if I want to have a film or TV series produced I have to seek out others to help me realize my vision. While I am not against helping others realize their vision, I just do not venture down that path very often. It may limit what I do as a screenwriter but I am working on many other things as well. With the novel series and the graphic novel topping the list.
To sum up, we are a 1/3 of the way through the year. There have been two moments this century when I chose to shift away from the path I was on and hurt my screenwriting career, but I have no regrets. While I've been keeping up with AI developments, my current focus is on enhancing my earlier, pre-AI writing projects with AI-generated images to further bring these stories to life. In addition, I've started querying people in the industry about a screenwriting project for the first time in years. I know I may not be the most accomplished screenwriter in the world, let alone in my own creative circle, but few can create worlds with intertwined stories like I can. My desire to merge seemingly unrelated stories into a larger tale was born out of necessity—dealing with a glut of ideas that might otherwise remain untold and from a love for anthology stories that started in my childhood.
We are about to enter the hot months. Soon everyone will start going on beach holidays and check out on the rest of the world. Enjoy! Don't forget the sunblock and thanks for reading.
