When I was in sixth grade I kept a large sketchbook. I was never much of an artist but I was never short on ideas. In that sketchbook I drew maps, cool swords and other weapons and wrote down snippets of story ideas. In this world I was building, there was a group of reclusive inventors. They would recruit the best talent from all over the world, and to be inducted into their ranks was a great honor.
This is the earliest detail I can think of that made it all the way into the world of Echowake.
Years later, in my early twenties, my friend and I started working on a project. We wanted to make an online animation series. This was a very cool thing to do in the early oughtties pre-Youtube. The first idea was: a broken world with flying whales overhead. With a protagonist being pursued by this guild of inventors… Now, let’s call them the Cytechs. The animation never came to be, but it was fun while it lasted.
More years later, I had all these ideas and half-written screenplays… I decided to take the plunge and work the concept into a novel.
Seven years after that…
To say it’s been a long road is an understatement. First I had to learn how translate the idea to the medium and find a voice. Then I had to learn how to proofread. And why adverbs are bad and you should never use them, except when you should use them anyway. And then how to edit, which is no small task. And then to write pitches, summaries and synopses. Each of these I found is a distinctly different skill. I’m thrilled to finally (!) share a bit of this world with you. The book is the first in a trilogy, with some sidequels and prequels planned as well. I can’t stop exploring this world and I’m only finding it harder to leave as time goes on. I hope you’ll join me!
Thank you for reading, and stay tuned!
-John
The Echowake Novel Series 