A LONG,
WINDING ROAD
I was seven years old when I learned the shocking
revelation of Luke's father.I was ten when I began to discover the scientific properties of Adamantium.
I was fifteen when I first read the phrase: “You shall not pass!”
And I was twenty-three when my first novel, The Noble Ones, was accepted for publication.
Stories have been a constant staple in human existence. They have been painted on the walls of caves, told around campfires, portrayed before audiences, and recorded on film. The most authentic and resonating to me, however, are those told through the written word. The ability to hold an entire world in between your hands is such an invigorating experience which I don’t think can be found in any of the other forms of storytelling. Books--especially those with fantasy elements--have the ability to transport readers into realms where anything is possible. Those types of stories inspired me while growing up and at the age of twenty-four, I am creating my own. My debut novel, The Noble Ones, is a fantasy adventure that was a nearly decade-long passion project.
My journey to the completion and publication of my novel was a long, winding road. It was at the age of eleven, after reading Hatchet (the coming-of-age adventure story by Gary Paulsen), that I decided to try my hand at crafting my own story. The result of which was a twenty-page manuscript written on a computer in the library of my elementary school. It wasn’t very good. However, from that point on, the idea of writing my own book became my personal dream. Sure, I still wanted to be a professional baseball player or a member of the X-Men when I grew up, but neither of those aspirations even came close to the thought of being an author.
Over the course of the next few years, I continued to read and write in much of my spare time, but it wasn’t until I was terribly bored in one of my high school classes that the opening words to The Noble Ones came about. From that point on, I became enthralled with the world that I had created. I would constantly jot down sentences and story arcs in the spines of my notebooks or on spare pieces of paper and work them into the story at night. It was such a very private part of my life and I didn’t share it with many people; it’s something that even my closest friends were unaware of until recently. Writing was a personal escape. There was nothing better than getting lost in the labyrinth of creating characters and events that I had complete control over. It was a quiet obsession.
After high school, I attended Virginia Tech where I
studied Political Science and English. Although I had
obligations to classes during the weekdays, ventured out
most nights with friends, and spent many Saturdays
tailgating for football games, I still managed to find
time to continue crafting my story. It was also during
college that I discovered two of my biggest literary
influences: Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist and
Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth. Neither
of these contains fantasy elements, but I think that
their influences are prevalent throughout my work. I
actually have to confess the fact that I haven’t read
much in terms of fantasy, the extent of it being mainly
The Once and Future King, The Lord of the
Rings, and the Harry Potter series. I
think my unfamiliarity with the genre, and my influences
from outside it, helped me to make The Noble Ones
something original.The Noble Ones follows a few different threads: a young man out to right the wrongs that have been committed against his family and dispel similar injustices that have occurred against others; the antagonist who will stop at nothing to maintain his power, a direct result of the status quo; and all of those caught in between this struggle for power. I think the main elements that set the book apart from others of its genre stems from my Dickens influence, whose stories were rich with atmosphere and tightly-knitted character arcs. The Noble Ones is a very character-driven journey that focuses on building a strong bond between readers and the various hardships of those characters. A novel that balances gritty realism with magic in order to create a world filled with places and characters that are rooted in reality yet possess certain enchantment. Although the novel takes place in a fictional environment, it deals with a wide range of issues that are prevalent in many of today’s societies such as overcoming oppression, physical and emotional sacrifices, and achieving personal triumphs.
I graduated from Virginia Tech in 2009 and began working for the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C. where I continued to develop my story around my schedule. Working in an atmosphere so rich with history fueled my writing and infused it with new elements. In January of 2010, I finished the story and began an editing and content overhaul of it. Since the writing had spanned so many years, there was a lot that needed to be updated, or changed altogether. That process took about seven months, and once it was complete, I started looking into the publication process. I read countless articles about it online and drafted up a letter for literary agents and publishers, detailing how awesome I thought the book was and why they should be interested. I sent it out, all the while continuing to study the whole world of publishing.
I received a few rejections and then I heard from Pill
Hill Press, a small publishing house based in the
Midwest. They requested that I send them the full
manuscript for review. After doing so, I began to really
investigate the differences between small and large
publishing houses and what would work best for me. What
I found were a few major differences between them: when
your book is published by a small press, traditional
bookstores may not have the book stocked on shelves,
pricing may vary a little, and publicity falls primarily
on the shoulders of the writer. But I also read that one
of the main attractions to working with a smaller
publisher is the level of interactivity and inclusion
that writers are given. So when they sent me a contract
for The Noble Ones a few months later, I
decided to accept the offer. Looking back on the
publication process with Paul Hill Press now, I can
honestly say that it turned out to be an extremely
enjoyable experience. I was included every step of the
way and was--and continue to be--impressed by their care
and responsiveness to any questions and concerns.Self-promoting a book is tough work. It’s what I’ve been spending the majority of my time doing recently, which has managed to eat into my writing and reading time. It’s difficult finding effective ways to get word out to readers, but I have found the online community a great resource. I have tried to put myself everywhere I can; I’m on social networking sites, book review sites, I’ve started up a blog, and any and all places in between. Also, with e-readers growing in popularity, more people are able to check out books at discounted prices, which has greatly helped the small publishing business. Self-promotion continues to be a challenge, but the thought of sharing my passion with people is what drives me to devote so much time and energy to it. Word of mouth is like wildfire and in an internet-heavy world -- a few sparks can potentially ignite the flame.
So where do I go from here? Continue writing. I have a few different ideas that I’m currently playing around with and will see which one ends up being my next release. If there is enough interest, I would also love to return to the world of The Noble Ones. Being a writer has always been a dream of mine and it’s what I plan to keep doing.
Becoming a member of the X-Men would still be pretty damn awesome, too.
--
Daniel TinsleyFurther Reading:
Visit Daniel at his blog: www.DanielTinsley.blogspot.com
Past Author Special Guest Contributors
♦ MOLLY HARPER: Funny, Southern and Undead-Centric, on writing vampire romance, Issue 4, June 2010
♦ MARIANNE DE PIERRES: Working for the Woman, on independent publishing, Issue 8, October 2010
♦ SEANAN MCGUIRE: Strangers No More, We Sing, on filking, Issue 11, January 2011
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