E.S. Raye

It all started, as it so often does, with reading. From a young age, I was an avid reader, and always reading years above my age group. I routinely scored high on reading comprehension, and I seemed to remember a higher percentage of what I read than others, especially when it comes to stories.

But I had never considered writing anything until high school.

Early Writings

Right around 9th grade, I discovered fan fiction. I read tons of it and even started writing my own mashup of my favorite shows with a few original characters. But this was only a hobby, and while I knew it was technically possible others would read it, it never occurred to me that anyone actually would. Eventually, high school life got in the way and writing sort of just faded from it.

(In hindsight, I find this mildly funny. I was originally planning on going to university for engineering, and when I got my SAT results it turned out I did better in English than math. At the time, my father asked me if I wouldn’t rather go into a field like writing.

I said no.)

After a false start at one engineering school, I eventually went to university for psychology. I think this may have been when the spark for writing relit, if only to smolder in the background for years. You see, my psychology courses involved a lot of essay writing. That meant hours of research, organizing thoughts, and committing them to the page.

And I loved it. More than the subject matter I was writing about.

When my time at university was drawing to a close, I needed to decide what I was going to do with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. The options seemed to be go on for a higher degree (for which I didn’t really have the grades), or do something tangentially connected to human behavior, like advertising.

It was also around this time that, when discussing things like video games, books, or movies, friends would be astonished at the details I remembered. I would half-jokingly say, “I just have a memory for stories” (pretty straightforward foreshadowing, right there).

So, I attended a diploma program for advertising, taking the copywriting stream so I could capitalize on my interest in research and writing. And later I started my own freelance content marketing writing business.

The Story

Meanwhile, an old idea kept popping into my brain.

An idea for a story.

I’ve read comic books and been a fan of superhero media since childhood. As I grew up and developed an unrelated interest in history, I was struck by the fact that most superheroes that existed before World War II were kept out of the conflict by their publishers. Batman and Superman, for example, largely stayed in Gotham and Metropolis, fighting spies and saboteurs.

It lead me to the question, “how would a golden-age superhero be changed by the horrors of war?”

Thus, the Cobalt Fist was created.

The idea had grown in the back of my mind for years, with a very clear image of this hero levitating for the first time in his superhero-ing career as his powers increased over the course of the war.

I thought it would make a great comic book or graphic novel. But, despite the clarity of the image and the strength of the brainstorming, I knew I didn’t have the skill to draw it or write it, nor the know-how to find someone that could.

So, it remained a fun little thought experiment. One of those things you say you’ll do someday, with no real intention of ever doing it.

Jessie

And then I met Jessie, the woman that would become my wife.

When we met, I was working part-time at a thrift shop, and moonlighting with my freelance marketing work. At the time, the hope was to gain enough clients to move to full-time marketing, build my resume, and then either find an office job, or grow as a freelancer.

But still, every so often, the Cobalt Fist would come up in my mind.

Over the course of our early relationship–through my rage-quiting from the thrift shop, trying to make my own small, freelance business work despite clients ghosting me and big projects falling through, my disillusionment with marketing in general, and us moving in together–Jessie listened to me talk about the Cobalt Fist.

Finally, after years of my ramblings, she finally said, “Why not make it a novel instead of a comic book?”

And it was like someone had flipped a switch.

That old flame, burned low by the drudgery of the business of marketing, erupted into a bonfire.

I immediately started writing. I even got more than two hundred pages into the first draft of what I had decided would be the first book in a seven book series. It was only then I had to stop because I realized I had no idea where the story was going or what I was even doing.

Finally Putting in the Work

I stopped everything, and went to work learning how to do it. I studied story structure, character arc, archetypes, outlining methods–everything I could get my hands on.

The bonfire became a firestorm.

I grew up never knowing for sure what I wanted to do with my life. I’d never had a passion for work. But this wasn’t work.

This was life (not to be too dramatic).

I started outlining. I wanted all seven books and the overall series outlined before I started again with a fresh first draft.

But as I outlined, I started to learn about the publishing industry. I wanted to be traditionally published (check out this blog for the details on that decision), and my research suggested it would be easier for me to do so if I started with a stand-alone novel.

And almost as if on magical cue, the idea for what would become my debut novel, Gas Giant Gambit: A Tall Tale From Beyond the Cygnus Rift, came to me.

Now, years later and I’m 40, GGG is out, I’ve had a number of short stories published, with a few more coming soon, I’m working on my follow up novel Shallow Trenches/Open Skies, and through it all, Jessie has remained my biggest supporter, encouraging me and believing in me even when I have doubts.

I’m still working on the Cobalt Fist’s story, and I do intend to write it. But because I want as many people to read it as possible, for now I’m focusing on honing my craft and building my audience.

(Not to mention building myself a shared universe, of which I hope both the Cygnus Rift Tall Tales and the Cobalt Fist will be the crown jewels)

It’s been a wild journey, and despite the last few exciting years, I’m still only at the beginning of what I hope will last the rest of my life.

And I can’t wait to see wait comes next!