Having nurtured the Pilgrim through hundreds of iterations and deliberations on themes, style, characters, plot and tone. The Pilgrim's journey has officially begun.
The Pilgrim
The Title, "Pilgrim's Ark", is perhaps a little "Old Testament", and in many ways, it truly is. Every story needs a beginning, and I've realised that this first book is very much a "Genesis story".
My surprise was to discover that writing it would demand yet another resolution. While many of the questions, riddles, and enigmas raised in the book find what I think is a satisfactory ending, it has now demanded deeper explanations.
What is the Ark?
Can consciousness be photocopied?
Are we masters of our own free will?
If not, who is?
If some other entity, under what license does it operate?
What of ethics?
Can there be mastery over chaos?
The Pilgrim's siblings
These questions continued to plague me after I'd finished the book. And just as I'd channelled the Pilgrim through to birth, so now does "The Entanglement Well" demand existence.
But it doesn't stop there. Now a new "thing" must manifest itself. Its working title is "Gaia Ascending".
But I'm getting ahead of myself; the Pilgrim demands nourishment. I have to resurface from my contemplations of plot, characters and "three-act structures" to look inwards.
Publishing and nourishment for 'Pilgrim's Ark'
The publishing process is enlightening, and Austin Macauley seems to have an ingrained empathy for the Author. As publishers of Pilgrims Ark, and having moved from proof to publication, their marketing team have posed several questions to me. Questions such as who has inspired me and my motives.
These questions, subliminal to the writing process and after a long process of gestation and birth, give them air. It breathes life in them again and further immerses me. It is a good thing, and I've decided that as well as here, the AM Author's page is the perfect place to make them tangible.
The first question, "Inspirations and motives" will be the topic of the next blog. But, rather than a source of self-congratulations, I hope to disrupt things. This is in no small part some of the reason behind why I chose AM as the publisher. But that will be the topic for another blog and another day.
In the meantime. I will share an immediate insight from the release of a book:
Almost invariably I get one of the following two reactions:
"where did you find the time?" or
"I've always wanted to write a book too."
The answer to the first question: "I stopped watching TV."
The response to the second: "Just do it."
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