Myra: The Gathering, Part 1. - By Colin Parton (Me)
Before you stick up your nose and leave this is not as narcissistic as me reviewing my own book. Not even I would have the gumption to do that.
This post is more about the writing and publishing process that I went through with this book.
Well not really, we had recently moved to Guelph, outside Toronto. I had quickly made good friends with a group, for lack of a better word, nerds. And Myra was born.
It seemed like the most obvious choice in the world – like Myra had been waiting in the edge of my thoughts. When she stepped onto the stage – that was it – I was done. Bowled over.
For the next few years you could see me scribbling her story onto loose leaf pages in the halls. Over the years Myra had brothers and cousins join her. But nothing quiet touches the first character you play. I am her and she is me.
Then I left Canada and started uni in Canberra. These tales were told and worked on throughout the following years but my focus had turned to the screen. I worked writing the words that others would say. I wrote the words that lead other directors down the garden path to show the audience waht I wanted them to see.
Short Film
The writing never stopped. From in class to out of class. From one festival to the next there was always more stories to be told.
I think that Myra et al. were lucky that I was working on a student budget. I’m sure I would have tried my had at writing or shooting them into being if it hadn’t been for the medieval setting.
Feature Film Production
After uni I tried very hard to get a feature made. But I knew that it wasn’t going to happen after seeing the money required for even a ten minute short. So I turned to the stories. I spent the next few years focusing on trying to sell the features I had written or getting short stories published. I didn’t have much luck with either.
To be honest I feel that I really gave the film gig a proper go. I think that if I had really wanted to I could have got on a plane and gone to the US. That was the next step. That’s what was needed. But I had a cushy 9-5 and no reason to jump.
Getting Above the Slush
At this point I had a draft of The Gathering (Myra, Snorri and Tarion) that I was happy with. It was doing the rounds of all the slush piles I could find. Many many many rejection letters and perhaps five years later I gave up on this path.
I decided to try to get an agent. So I took a similar tack to the slush piles – sending it everywhere. This is how I met Sandy. Sandy liked the work but she knew that I didn’t need to hear that it was good or that she liked it.
When she told me she would take the work on I was elated. She almost immediatly took the kiddie gloves off. I distintly remember that first phone call. “Well you can clearly write. And this is a well polished piece.”
Kill Your Children
This is an adage from script writing. So I was ready. Sandy had me re-writing a piece that I was sure was finished.
But I had done what I could so I was ready to try anything. A few months later we were done. Very little of Snorri or Tarrion had changed but Myra was a new beast and she held those boys together.
Then Sandy brought her powers to bare and got me manuscript under the noses of the heads of speculative fiction at some of the biggest publication houses the world has to offer.
Better Luck Next Time
Publisher after publisher offer praise for the work but the wouldn’t publish. I was a new author and this is a glutted marketplace. Especially fantasy – I had no idea. Hit up Amazon or GoodReads next time you have a min. There is a ridiculous amount of scifi/fantasy.
So I got their drift. This probably wasn’t going to happen without something distinct to set me or the stories apart. This crystallised for me with the last rejection letter we got from Gollancz. We love the work but our books are full. I thanked Sandy for her time and went back to my 9-5.
9-5 Became Less Cushy
Me and my co-workers began to butt heads over more and more things. I stepped back and back until I had very little to defend. I gave in more and more and asked for one thing and my last ally took this from me. At this point a looked around at the position I had built from nothing over the ten years I had been in the role.
It was not what I remembered creating – not that change is bad – It’s that the reasons for the change need to still be present. The core needs to remain – the things that made it great. None of that remained so I promptly handed in my resignation and headed to a beach in Thailand.
Laying there reading some great books I decided I’d make a proper go of it. I was going to really hit the short story competitions. I was going to go for contract writer jobs.
Blogging
Blogging quickly became a source of income for me. I was able to pick up jobs here and there but even on an ongoing basis it was never going to be the level of income needed to support someone.
But as a side hustle it was a good start. And I was gathering a base of readers that would, perhaps follow me into the next venture.
There are a few things about blogging that are truly terrible. The first is writing about things that you couldn’t care less about. Often coupled with this is huge research time. These two things made me really dread writing, something which I have never encountered before.
Money for Nothing
Well – not for nothing. For no labour. This is what I really wanted to achieve. It’s kind of the same idea behind investments that generate income. That’s what I wanted and needed my writing to achieve. Otherwise I’d be stuck writing an IT Blog for a pittance and never been able to live off that income.
So I decided that if The Gathering was good enough for me to land an Agent like Sandy and get such praise from publishers around the world surely I could sell some myself.
So I spent the next few months learning about self publishing and deciding the best way to go about releasing this story that had been with me as long as I can remember to the world.
And that’s it it’s done now. Myra is out there – you can buy or download a copy wherever you are on the planet. I know one guy that would be pretty stoked if you did.
