Today I have author Stephen Zimmer with us to tell us about his authors journey. I'm super excited to have him here with us today. Enjoy!!!
An Authors Journey
By Stephen Zimmer
I would like to thank An Author’s Journey for inviting me to
tell a little about my own journey, one that has had a number of twists and
turns, ups and downs, and brought me to the point where I am today.
My journey as an author really began during the earliest
phase of my childhood, with significant contributions from both my mother and
father.
My mother always read books to me from my earliest of
memories. She taught me to read very
quickly, such that I was far ahead of my peers when I entered
Kindergarten. In a way, she was
homeschooling me before the concept was even a buzzword or popular practice
like it is today!
Around the age of seven, she read me The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and I remember
looking forward to my bedtimes and getting to adventure in Middle Earth with
mom as my guide. She also introduced me
to Narnia, by getting me a boxed set of the Chronicles not too long after my
introduction to Tolkien.
As far as my father, he definitely contributed to the
expanse of my imagination with all kinds of wild, improvised stories he would
tell to me at night when I was very young.
He crafted a world where the dinosaurs I so loved and was into at the
time existed, right alongside our family.
I had a stuffed dog pillow, a basset hound, that also was
brought to life in these stories as a living, breathing friend. I remember having a T-Rex that was also my
friend and companion in these stories, by the name of Tommy. The basset hound, myself, Tommy, and my
parents would go on all kinds of great adventures, and as a young child it was
really exciting to have my own family starring in these tales.
I strongly credit both my mother and father with instilling
a love of storytelling within me. Their
stories and the books they read to me opened my eyes to the unlimited
possibilities of the imagination. It
also cultivated a love of fiction, reading, and creativity.
It was not until late high school that I began to write with
a much more serious intent. From this
period into the beginning of college, I ended up writing three full novels of a
cross-genre, modern-setting series that may not ever see the light of day! Nonetheless, the process served as a great
training ground for me. By the time that
I was deeper into college, I knew I could finish a book, and had gotten a lot
of practice in writing, even if the result was very unpolished and in need of
refinement.
It was during my college years, especially during my time at
Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, that my determination to really
advance as an author set in. It was during
this time that the seeds of what would eventually become The Rising Dawn Saga
and the Fires in Eden Series were planted and grown. I had a very solid vision for the storylines
and destinations of both series, and was able to proceed steadily.
Not long after I graduated from college, I finished early
drafts of the first books of both series.
The feedback I got at that time was very constructive, indicating that I
had the makings of something but that certain aspects need to be developed
further. Other things needed to be
shored up and improved writing-wise. I
also got a deeper appreciation for research and what it could bring to the
table when writing a larger-format series.
Taking all of that in stride, I spent the next few years
rewriting, researching medieval history and cultures extensively, gaining more
background on political and economic history with the modern era, and looking
into a number of other subjects that related to the storylines in the epic
fantasy and urban fantasy series. At
this point, everything began to take shape and I got the books to where I
determined they were ready to be taken to the next step, in terms of finding an
editor for publishing.
That led to meeting Amanda DeBord, who became the editor of
The Rising Dawn Saga and who also handled the first book of the Fires in Eden
Series, Crown of Vengeance. The two
series have been published in an alternating fashion, with a book in one series
following a book in the other. As of
now, three books are out in each series, with the fourth book of the Rising
Dawn Saga about to come out.
After my first published novel, The Exodus Gate, was out, and after attending a number of conventions,
I received an opportunity to send in my first steampunk story, introducing my
Harvey and Solomon characters who have since been in 3 of the Dreams of Steam anthologies from Dark
Oak Press (formerly Kerlak Publishing).
I have also contributed short stories to Vampires Don’t Sparkle!, Thunder
on the Battlefield: Sword, and recently had my first two single-author
collections released, the fantasy-genre Chronicles
of Ave, Volume 1 (set in the same world as the Fires in Eden Series), and
my first horror genre release, Hellscapes,
Volume 1.
The growth of my short fiction has been wonderful and
allowed me to explore some additional genres such as sword and sorcery, horror,
and steampunk. It also gives a nice change
of pace in relation to writing the larger, ensemble-cast novels of my two main
series.
At this stage, I have been published in epic fantasy, sword
and sorcery, horror, urban fantasy, and steampunk, making for a solid range in
speculative fiction. I have loads of
ideas for stories, and look forward to exploring all kinds of literary
territory in the future!
As I look at things, the possibilities are limitless for the
journey is one that is without end; of the kind that might echo a rather famous
C.S. Lewis line, “Further up, and further in!”
Stephen
Be sure to connect with me at the following links:
Twitter: @sgzimmer
Website: www.stephenzimmer.com
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Thanks Stephen for sharing this with us. I hope you all enjoyed this great post.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThank you for having me on your site! I really appreciated the chance to talk about my own road and had a lot of fun doing this post. Hope you enjoyed it! :) (and sorry about the deleted comment above, had a typo I needed to get rid of, LOL)
ReplyDeleteAwesome Post..
ReplyDeleteHallo, Hallo Mr. Zimmer! :)
ReplyDeleteI was quite intrigued with this interview, because although I knew bits and bobbles of the scope of your journey as a writer, yet there were a few things that caught my eye and learnt for the first time! For starters, both our Mums gave us a solid foundation in learning, creativity, and the thirst for knowledge!! And, we each had fathers who took an equal interest in our learning lives as much as our actual lives whilst growing up! :) I always hope that others are as blessed!
And, curiously, we each began writing at the same time in our lives, or I should say, that was the time in which I tackled writing my first novel, but I was 'writing' long since then, but I always felt that it was the beginning nonetheless! :)
Brilliant post!