(Warning: there are Invincible spoilers within this post; if you don’t want anything ruined, stop what you’re doing and turn away from this page...immediately!)
So here’s the story:
The Writing: I know the exact date that I began writing Invincible, because the software I write with (Acrobat) allows me to know when I started typing, but that wasn’t the exact day. So I can say with confidence that it all started a day before on January 10, 2011. Up to this point, I was already writing stories and I was so urging to find something new.
A few months before, I was watching this little movie known as The Bourne Identity (It’s a little indie movie, stars some guy named Matt Damon. You’ve probably never heard of him) and one of the elements that stood out for me was this idea of a tortured man struggling to find out who he is. It was just something I’ve never really seen before.
From then on, that was all I could think about, and at that time, I was finishing work on the end of my three book series (my self-published fantasy series, Sanctum and Evolution; the third will probably never see the light of day) and was scrambling for ideas of what to do next. Nothing I had at the time held my interest, and since I still The Bourne Identity stuck in my head, I thought, “Hey, maybe I should do something like that.” Guy suffering from amnesia, trying to find out what happened to him, on the run from bad guys who might have an idea as what happened. It sounded cool, and for a while I considered it, only to back down soon after.
Even though the ideas were good enough for a story, it just didn’t hold enough interest for me to write about. If I tried to push through it, it would’ve probably ended up as a very cheesy rip-off of “Bourne”, and that wasn’t really something I wanted to do. I mean, those elements were okay and all, but I needed something extra, something I’ve never experienced before.
It was January 10th when Troy’s story fully came together. *Note: I should probably mention first before I continue that I’m a huge movie fanatic! I mean, next to books, movies are my LIFE. So….yeah….* One day, I was coming home from school, exhausted from classwork and frustrated with coming up with story ideas. Nothing just seemed to click for me, and I was beginning to wonder if there was ever an idea that would grab me. When I got home, I went onto the internet, checking my daily movie updates on my favorite move site. I discovered the casting for Zach Synder’s then unreleased “Man of Steel” movie was underway, and Henry Cavill’s name was just being thrown into the mix. For whatever reason beyond my knowledge, the “Bourne” elements entered my head and merged together with the idea of a superhero and next thing I know…BAM! The most gripping idea I’ve ever had came into being: the idea of a young man struggling with his past, with only these strange powers to help him.
In that moment, more ideas started to fly and I immediately reached for my notebook and started to write them down before I would lose them. When I finally finished my homework and got to the computer hours later, I knew exactly what I wanted to put on the page.
From that moment on, I became a complete madman, not ending a single day without at least writing a single page, and I didn’t come up for air until I finished in late August, eight months later.
It didn’t take me a while to find names for my courageous superhero and his family. For Troy (who I had grown to care for since that first day) I actually gave him a name that I had used for another character I wrote years ago. It sounds ridiculous, but when I gave it him, it seemed fit well. Now for the name of the love of his life was both easier and harder. Nothing I named her seemed to work, until I had gave her that name. It was so spur of the moment and I didn’t want to call her “she” for the rest of the book--which could’ve possibly happened. After I’d given her the name, I was starting to worry. This doesn’t sound right? It doesn’t sound like a name that she would have. But after spending so much time with her, I realized that this was it, and no other name was going to change that. So Troy and Brad and Jack and Taylor were named. After that, the other characters came to me like that *snaps fingers*.
For my setting, I knew I needed someplace that was extremely vast and huge, a place for both me and my superhero to sink our teeth into. As I always do for my research, I went to Google, and looked for the largest city in the U.S. Luckily enough, this turned out to be Detroit, Michigan. I just thought that it couldn't have been more perfect. I did a Google image search on the area, and when I had saw them, it immediately took my breath away. (For example, check out these images from The Huffington Post. Also see www.detroitmi.gov/ ).
All through those eight months, Troy was all I thought about. Him and the others just couldn’t get away from me. During the summer I was writing a majority of it, I'd stay up as late as I could trying to figure out what would happen next, and just when I was about to go to sleep, something else was happening. I didn’t want to forget anything, so I jumped right back up and continued writing notes in my folder.
During those days, I couldn't stay away from the computer, either. As soon I got up at ten o’ clock in the morning (which I set by alarm clock), I had breakfast, and ran right to the computer and started writing. I was so into the story that when whenever people had called me for something, I would throw a fit and start arguing. It’s funny because when I think back to those eight months, all I could remember is being in Detroit, Michigan.
Getting It Published: Just to let everyone know: it was never in my plans to publish Invincible. After publishing two books and seeing no rewards from it, I just saw this as a fun side project to work on until I found the next big idea worth publishing. But halfway through the process, I realized that this was that idea. I mean, I felt such an emotional connection to the characters, and I loved their stories so much, that I wanted to share that experience with other people as well. (And okay, I thought the writing had potential. Better than my last two works anyway.)
So then, I started to edit Invincible, in the same way I wrote it, obsessively. It was a good thing that I loved it so much, because I would be lying to you if I said it came out in such a great shape the minute I finished, that fairies and unicorns danced around the manuscript. I mean, it wasn’t that bad, but over the multiple drafts, I recognized new things that need fixing. Things like character development and more exposition. The examples are kind of long, so I’ll probably post them later in the future.
Since I worked with Lulu Publishing before, I immediately saw them as the go-to people for this project. They helped me with the cover designs, helped me a little in the marketing department, all the things I never did with the Sanctum books.
And then, when the summer of 2013 hit, things started to get crazy, what with the reviews and all the pre-publication attention Invincible slowly started to receive. And even now, the post-publication and interviews are starting to get a little overwhelming. But it’s not something I regret. It’s what I’ve always wanted, for me and my story.
So, in the course of two years, Invincible was written, edited, marketed and published.
As I’ve probably said before, I’m more than excited to finally have Invincible on the shelves (and web shelves). Even though the journey to get here was a tough one, my love for Troy and Taylor and all their friends kept me going, and I hope that other people get to meet them and feel the same way.
