Sunday, December 30, 2012

Once Upon a Time, in a Town Called Kearny...

I've been writing since I was knee high to a grasshopper, as they say. I was known for it in high school. "Hey, J., written any more of that story?" "J., how's that story going to end?" "Where do you get these whacked out ideas?" 

Wasn't really a shock to anyone that I went to college for English. Lit was really the only choice, but a minor in Journalism came in handy when I graduated. I went to write for a newspaper, and then became a news assistant at a bigger paper, then a layout artist at the big paper. Then I got stuck and changed careers. 

(Trust me, the story's not really that simple... but the whole thing would take me at least three chapters of a book, and --- snooze...)

The new career took me away from here. To places I thought I wanted to go, but didn't really. I missed the old places. And I missed it so much that I signed up for Facebook. 

Yeah, remember? Facebook wasn't S.O.P for everyone once up a time, so it was novel. Woot, woot, look at me being all hip and with it. Yeah. 

Anyway-- there I was down in Places Too Far Away to Mention and I got a text message. Or was it a bbm? 

Yeah, that was a thing too. 

Whatever it was, up pops an old schoolmate from Kearny. Simon, it turns out, is into writing now as well. Pssht. Whatevs. Well, he sends me what he's writing and by jove, dude CAN write. Delightful. Takes me a while to warm up to the whole idea of talking to someone who doesn't give me weird looks or question my sanity about things that I'm saying, writing, doing. But I do and we chat. A lot. 

At first, we try collaborating on something that very quickly either bellyflopped or got ignored for something else were both writing. One day, he came at me with: 

"Hey. I had this idea about these teenage superheroes..." 

What now? I like superheroes. I like writing. I'm not a teenager, thank God. I'm in. 

At first, our Apathetic Avengers were way, way, WAY more Apathetic than you'll find them to be. I mean, one of our first scenes (written out of order as any good writer is apt to do) was Rachel sitting on a cop car, peeling the nail polish off and flicking it away. I believe that Celeste didn't even have a mask on, and may have been spinning a wig on her finger like she was some Globetrotter. 

But as we went along and other stories began to pop up, they started to take a more serious bend. When we hit the story with our first death (not theirs), I knew that we had to take everything more seriously. 

And so did they. Er, uh and so we did. 

See, that's the problem with writing. You don't know where you end and your characters begin. They become people in your mind and you can have conversations with them. I know more than once, Rachel and I have argued about something. 

No. That's not weird, thank you. 

I'm editing Book 2 with an eye of having it live on Jan 5 st (as you can see by the previous post, I'm working feverishly!), no later. Meanwhile, please, enjoy Faction Volume 1: Apathetic Avengers
For Kindle
And  Nook

Tell your friends! Buy them a copy! Enjoy a little escapism. 

And if you have questions, email us.


~~J. Rose

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