Havon has been in the works all of my life, and just recently took form to be Havon: The Histories. I’m not sure where it began, maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was addicted to the first Final Fantasy game when I was a kid, and then also absolutely loved the Conan movies, no matter how bad of movies they were—it had a big strong guy(Schwarzenegger before he could speak more than two words of English) with a big awesome sword. Enough said.
My writing started out as early as elementary school. I think at one point we had to make our own stories. I was sold. I started cutting up small pieces of paper that had maybe a few words on them and stapling them together to make them look as thick as I could.
During middle school and high school I wrote a ton of different fantasy short stories that probably never truly ended. The ones I was most proud of were the Two Brothers and Anything for Love. Both of these stories where pretty childish, but were very important to my development as an author. Two Brothers were about exactly what the titles implies, I am so creative I can hardly stand myself. The story begins with a dragon coming through the two brothers town dismantling it while the two are out on a hunting trip. They come back to find that the town is a waste land, and they find themselves having to live on there own. They are first tested by a pack of wolves that attack their camp. During the raid one of the brothers cracks, and brings devastation down upon the now overwhelmed wolves.
Anything for Love on the other hand came out of a semester of taking an independent writing course in high school. I was able to write 70 pages, the most I had done to date, about a man who chases after a dragon that was Satan himself who has taken his wife. He doesn’t find out about the true identity of the dragon until he smashes a jewel upon the dragons neck, and suddenly there in front of the man is Satan himself in a warrior’s form. He toys with the man, but when the man is about to loose his sword is infused from the light given to him by the Saints of that particular world. In the end, love prevails, and the man and wife have a classic ride off into the sunset.
From there on out I took a few creative writing classes in college, ever trying to develop a story that wouldn’t be torn apart by the over-zealous teacher. My first time around in the class I wrote a short story called
The second time around was probably the most important. I wrote one short story that was a fictionalized version of a relationship I had in High School that had gone drastically wrong. While writing it a stem of passion was let loose in my writing. For the first time I wrote whatever came to me, and as I did so a manuscript came together like none I have ever written. To say the least it is probably not something that would ever land in anyone’s hands but my own. Still, I broke free of the typical writing style, and found what my writing could do when driven by my heart.
I also wrote a short story about Travis Nevin. A youth pastor who had a bit more of a fix on the spiritual realm than may truly be possible. Still, his character was based on any person you have ever looked up to as a mentor, a discipler, and anyone who might reflect the person of Christ.
That particular story only becomes relevant later on. When I spent a summer at
After writing this piece I went the next year without writing any fantasy or fiction to get excited about. I stopped writing entirely and submersed myself in my Bible Theology classes as well as any book I could get a hold of. By the end of the summer of 2005, I was so fed up with not being able to write that I sat down and began jotting down notes. As I did this I found that many of the characters I had established in the past were what would drive the new story. I also realized that people like C.S. Lewis and Ted Dekker use Christian motives to inspire their books. Well, I know fantasy, and I know theology and philosophy. So, why not?
Havon came out accordingly. The first year of its conception I found a few things out. 1. Nevin is a direct derivative of Nevi’im, a Hebrew word for prophet. It is oddly convenient that Travis Nevin was a character to reflect Christ. It was also odd that I needed a hero. Having just finished a paper called ‘Jesus as Hero in the Gospel of John’, well you do the math and realize just how I did how this will fall into place. Then two, I realized that creating my antagonist would take me about a million tries. But I hope the scene in Havon: The Histories captured my antagonist better known as Luscious Aramous.
So now the process of trying to beg, plead, and hope that someone who can promote my book begins. And if you have ever tried to publish anything I can tell you that it is a pain and one of the harder processes you will ever go through. But, I believe that doing it is worth it. No matter how discouraged one gets, no matter who you get rejection letters from, there is always another way to try and get someone to notice you.
Yet, at the end of the day, if you have lost everything and sit alone don’t let the depression overwhelm you. Remember that you have a Lord that justifies you not by what you do but by the atonement that was through Christ Jesus. But if you do not have faith in a diety, have faith in yourself. Have faith in your writing.
But whatever you do, have faith that tomorrow won’t turn out like today.
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