Benjamin Percy has won a Whiting Award, a Plimpton Award, two Pushcart Awards, an NEA Fellowship, and an iHeartRadio Award for Best Text Podcast. He is the author of novels ninth metal, dark web, dead lands, red moon, And Welding, Three short story collections and one essay collection. impressed me. as he writes Wolverine And xforce For Marvel Comics. He lives in Minnesota with his family. Find it on Facebook, Twitterand Instagram.
In this post, Benjamin discusses writing his new fictional novel, unfamiliar gardenHow to deal with burnout, and more!
Noun: Benjamin Percy
Literary agent: Kathryn Fawcett
book title: unfamiliar garden
publisher: Sailor
Expected release date: January 4, 2022
Genre/Category: speculative imagination
Previous titles: ninth metalAnd dark webAnd dead landsAnd Red MoonAnd WildingAnd impressed me
Elevator step for book: From award-winning author Benjamin Percy comes the second independent novel in the fantastic original science fiction series, The Comet Cycle, in which a passing comet causes irreversible change in the world. This novel centers on a broken marriage set against the backdrop of a dangerous and invasive species of exotic fungi in the Pacific Northwest that threatens to take over the lives of humans and animals alike.
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What prompted you to write this book?
Some things prompted me to write Comet Cycle (which unfamiliar garden It is part of). The first is the epic sweep of the concept. I’ve been writing for DC and Marvel Comics since 2014, and as fun as it is to play in that sandbox, these characters don’t belong to me. I wanted to build something with the same ambition – a shared universe – but on my own 1,000 acres.
All of these books stand on their own — in the same way that Iron Man, Thor, and Spider-Man (and other stories in the Marvel Universe on their own) stand together, but they rub against each other. There are three books to start with, but a course can be nine books or it can be 12 books (or more, much more), and I love that feeling of cross-extension.
The second is more personal. A few years ago – perhaps due to politics, age, and the onset of the epidemic – I felt…more than a little fried. It’s like I’ve lost my ability to dread. As if you were cut off from the world’s electricity. My father is an amateur astronomer, and I spent much of my childhood behind a telescope. I began to look at the stars again, and there I discovered – there is no other word for it – astonishment.
The Comet Cycle series draws from this sentiment. A comet comes cascading across the solar system. The planet orbits in a debris field. We have learned about new elements that overturn the laws of physics, geology and biology. The geopolitical theater is immersed in chaos. I guess, perhaps because I was unhappy with the way things were, I wanted to create a new world within this world.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? Did the idea change during the operation?
I’ve put together a giant render that includes the overall story layout, a 50-page excerpt from each book, and a marketing plan (detailed below). It’s the most ambitious thing I’ve ever done, thank God my publisher was just as obsessed with it as I was.
I’m a fast writer, but that’s because I’m a slow planner. I’ve been creating detailed outlines and storylines — hanging on my office wall — sometime years ago when I actually clicked prose on my keyboard.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
Well, we’re taking a whole new approach to publishing with Comet Cycle. I not only brought up the story, but also the marketing platform. My work in comics has inspired me (currently writing WolverineAnd xforceAnd Ghost Rider for Marvel).
For starters, I think putting together a $37 hardcover (and then a year later a paperback release) is an extrovert and a terrible way to build word of mouth. Comics move in the opposite direction. They put out cheap flexible versions – which were later collected in a commercial paperback – and later collected in a hardcover – and which were later collected in a deluxe overall hardcover.
Movies work the same way. Buy a $7 ticket now, buy a $30 cut DVD later. So the books in Comet Cycle appear as a paperback first – to help with distribution and hype – and then they will all be collected in a deluxe comprehensive collection with additional materials (such as short stories, illustrations, and possibly an author’s note).
I also wished they would come out in quick succession, because that builds momentum and excitement. Once again, a lesson from the comics. I have a Wolverine event rolling out this winter, and it’s 10 weekly releases. Activate people. While the series has been running for years…people tend to forget and lose interest. unfamiliar garden Coming out after six months ninth metal.
So this was all a posting experience.
Were there any surprises while writing this book?
I knew I wanted to write a story that he/she said some kind of story. Lauren Grove has inspired me Fate and anger And a TV show called affairs. In both examples, she takes different perspectives on the same turbulent love. But instead of moving toward division, I wanted to start with something broken and move toward reconciliation. He/she eventually becomes who they are.
What struck me was how wonderfully it ended up being associated with fungi and the concept of symbiosis, the thematic unity that emerged as I continued writing.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope they are happy – with the plot, the language, the concepts of science fiction, the mystery and the suspense – and I hope they are touched by this broken family that is slowly integrating again. I put a lot of heart into this.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
We re-read. slowly. If the story moves you, impresses you, come back to it. Repeatedly. Until you break up emotionally. Then you can technically understand it and look under the hood and identify its component parts.
When I was teaching in the MFA program, this was a task that I would give to my students. Read a story you love five times. For the sixth time, select the narration, character, and thematic beats. As an exercise, use this as a skeleton/blueprint for something new.
Students will then have to write an essay that explains, step by step, how the story they wrote is drawn from the original source material.
When you take this online course, you’ll explore creative writing topics and learn how descriptive writing can breathe life into your characters, settings, and plot with Rebecca McClanahan’s word board. Expand your imagination, develop your creative writing skills, and express your creativity with this writing course.
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