Why A Year Between Each Shane Davison Chronicles Series Book Release?
The Shane Davison Chronicles series has a planned 6 novels. Did you notice the “magic” word? Planned. The series has not been written yet, only planned. That is the number one reason why there’s an entire year between novel releases. But why does it take a whole year to write a novel?
That’s a Good Question
If I were named Jack Kerouac, I could type an entire novel entitled On The Road in three weeks on a scroll of continuous, 120-foot tracing paper sheets cut to size and taped together. Or maybe my name is J. R. R. Tolkien and I could produce a novel entitled The Lord of the Rings in twelve years. I’m neither Kerouac nor Tolkien, and the length of time I require to complete a novel falls somewhere in between.
Years in the Making
It took ten years for an evolving manuscript to eventually become an idea for a series. The working title for the manuscript was: Auf Wiedersehen: Journey To Goodbye. The manuscript took on several rewrites and revisions over the course of ten years before the idea of a series was suggested by an author friend.
A Series Comes to Mind
Once I decided a series was the route I wanted to take, I had to come up with a plan of how the series should unfold, how many books would it encompass, what is the purpose of the series, and so on. That’s when the idea came to me to write a series of stories that follow the life of a gay man, from childhood into adulthood. I also wanted to write the series in a way that would allow the reader to step inside Shane’s head and become a silent character in the novels.
Point-of-View
I knew right off the bat that I wanted the series to be written entirely from Shane’s perspective and in his voice. This point-of-view is limiting for the reader because no matter what happens, the reader only knows whatever Shane allows the reader to know. This goes against the old saying, “There are three sides to every story: your side, my side, and the truth”. In Shane’s Chronicles, the reader only gets one side of the story—Shane’s side. This point-of-view of storytelling can make for an interesting read. The reader is left speculating on what is actually true and what is Shane’s truth.
Start of a Series
The first novel in the series, Clipped Wings, was a story I’d struggled for fifty years to find a way to tell the story. It was a story that had haunted me for my entire adult life, mostly because actual events inspired it. How was I going to go about telling that story so that it would sound believable, even though much of it happened as written in real life?
When I began the rough draft, I let Shane tell me his story. As if he was sitting in the same room with me, he told the story I couldn’t because it was entirely from his perspective. I wrote as fast as I could as Shane told me the story of his turbulent high school years, sprinkled with backstories of his childhood.
Before I knew it, I had a stack of college-ruled composition notebooks filled with Shane’s words, handwritten by fountain pen. That’s where Shane’s story starts, in the first novel: Clipped Wings. For one year, I edited, rewrote, revised, and rearranged text until I had a finished novel. The first novel was published and released in March 2021.
Second Novel
I then moved on to the second novel of the series, which would be entitled Blurred Lines. The story of Shane’s college experience. I gave myself one year to complete that book. From the rough draft to the first rewrite and many many edits and revisions, the novel was published and released in March 2022.
Third Novel
Then, I spent the next year revising the original Auf Wiedersehen: Journey to Goodbye so that it would chronologically fit into the series. Shane is four years older and has built a life for himself. The novel was published under a revised title: Chasing Unicorns. It was released in early March 2023.
Fourth Novel
Currently, I’m working on novel number four of the series, with the working title of Carousel Ponies. The story picks up a few years later. Shane shares a condo with his boyfriend, when out of nowhere, all hell breaks loose, toppling Shane’s perfect life.
One Year at a Time
I devote an entire year to writing the next novel in the series, making sure each installment is up to my exacting standards. Writing a novel is no easy task – it involves hours of researching, plotting, and crafting characters with unique personalities and motivations. To do that, I complete a 5-page profile on each character. In addition, it takes time to craft a believable plot line and create interesting scenarios that keep readers hooked until the end.
Topping off this process is the important task of adding detail to every scene. Intimate descriptions bring these settings alive in ways only words can do. I want my readers to find themselves fully immersed in each setting as if they were standing there themselves. As such, I must ensure to capture every detail perfectly before releasing my work into the world.
What’s more, while I craft my stories one chapter at a time, there are entire separate projects to juggle in parallel - everything from editing drafts, revising the manuscript, formatting the manuscript for publication, and creating marketing campaigns all need attending to before any book goes on sale.
It’s no wonder then that despite this complex process taking place behind each book’s release date, fans eagerly await the next installment once they’ve finished devouring the latest one. And those same fans will be rewarded when Shane Davison returns in the fourth novel (Carousel Ponies) – coming in spring 2024.
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Bestselling Fiction Author
Stories with an LGBTQ+ Twist
corrupting readers since 2008
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