Starting my Debut (Musical) Novel

Right alongside my love of games, movies, and music, is my love of books. Reading is something that has been engrained in me since my childhood, and there are so many book series I have fallen in love with over the years. I've always been writing my own little stories as well, whether on Microsoft Word or the online writing service, Wattpad, taking readers on my own interpretations of my favorite worlds, like Harry Potter and Doctor Who.

Recently, my good friend Kaitlyn Franzone self-published her debut novel: A Dead Dream Mystery: Visions of a Spiritual Gift. This had been years in the works since we met in high school, and it's finally finished. Seeing how professional-looking the final book was, as a real paperback book, got me excited to create a thing I could hand to people and say I created everything in it. I've taken a few Creative Writing classes in high school and college that have helped inspire me further alongside my musical journey in the last decade.

I have also, since my last blog post on attempting to write a book five years ago, been continuing experimenting with new ideas and starting drafts of several stories. It was always meant to be more in the background, while I focused on my music. Over the course of these five years, my story ideas went straight from continuing the Doctor Who stories I'd post online in the 2010s to worlds involving the depths of the Internet and inspired from various video series I'd watched. And I'd like to think everything has culminated in this grand vision for my own debut novel, with each smaller story I would start being a stepping stone toward this final idea..

Moreover, I am taking this project much more seriously than these other story attempts. Yes, I'd like to think of a writing session as an escape into a new world, to step into the shoes of new characters (one of which I've mentioned from five years ago, that will be in it!). However, I'd also like this to feel professional, especially if I do finish it and list it on a storefront. The past 4th of July weekend especially was full of ideas I jotted down on my Notes app and in a notebook, where I started working on questionnaires for my main characters in the novel. They are all pretty much locked down now, and I have moved onto working on the world. I won't share much yet, but I'm sure my Doctor Who influences and love of science fiction (and fantasy!) should all be quite relevant in the story - a bit like Andy Weir's novels I started reading, like The Martian and now Project Hail Mary, as in his bio he stated he was inspired by that show, too. I had also read a book on Stephen King's life and novels he's published, since I had read The Shining for an online Book Club a few years ago. Hearing about an actual author's process inspired me to focus on the planning stage of my own novel, thinking a bit of authors like Tolkien or George R.R. Martin creating fantasy worlds to set their books.

I also have the idea of incorporating my music into this novel, including scores in the chapter headers and having music be a part of the plot (the main protagonist is a budding pianist). I am still working out how exactly this will work, but I am very excited about it, and potentially releasing an album to go along with the book, underscoring each chapter or events throughout it. This would be a great way to continue getting a step closer toward my 2012 dream of writing music for a film. I think it would be very special for it to be a part of the book from the beginning.

I don't have too much else to say right at this moment, but I hope to continue posting and sharing about this book over the coming months and document as much as my process creating it as I can, similar to my favorite YouTuber's "Book Diary" series. Ultimately, it is a hobbiest project, and I will be satisfied just with self-publishing it and getting a physical copy of it I can hold in my hands, the culmination of (already) years of my life trying to make it. We're a long ways out from that stage right now, but talking with friends about it, it's nice to have something to aim for in my life.

And a couple other quick updates for this summer, as it's been a while - I've also recently finished a Tuba Sonata, and am currently preparing to engrave a Clarinet Sonata I wrote for a couple of my students. My composing hasn't fully stopped - it's just slowed down a bit while I've been focusing on this story. I have arranged a '70s Medley to compliment 2020's '80s Medley I wrote for the piano, which I will be busy practicing over these next couple weeks. I also spend last weekend playing lots of Nintendo's new Rhythm Heaven: Groove. The perfect game for a musician! Not related to the book, but was a nice thing to play (alongside The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, my favorite Zelda game with story ideas I wouldn't mind thinking about implementing in my own writing) as breaks from working on it.

That'll be about all for this first blog post back after four years, but you can expect plenty more as I continue to flesh out the world and add more characters to my book! I just wanted this blog post to be a starting point in a long-running series discussing working on this thing. I am considering doing NaNoWriMo this year, which will be in November and I believe I technically did my 2015 Doctor Who story for, where you aim to write a certain amount of words every day. Even if I don't use the website, as I am also considering getting a standard notebook and writing my manuscript with pencil and paper, like Stephen King did, I still will hope to start a habit of writing a little every day starting in November. So expect some update on how that went by then, in addition to how planning is coming along in the meantime!