Finding My Creative Voice

I have always found stories fascinating. As a child, I would read all the time. I used to sneak books to and from school and stay up late into the night reading, despite my nan yelling at us to turn our lights off and go to bed.

As I grew older, I found writing to be the release I never knew I needed. Words would take on a life of their own, and often I found myself writing short stories, poems, or parts of lengthy novels that never got finished.

When I started writing The Chronicles of Gardainia, I was a young teen starting high school. The characters were fashioned after those I had either read about in one of the many books I had devoured or seen in shows and movies I had watched.

I would build entire worlds, trying to find one where my favorite characters could live and thrive. Then I added antagonists—people who would add realism to my world and give my characters meaning.

But then I grew up, left school, went to college, and forgot about this world I had created for a few years.

I studied hard and got a job as a chef at a chain of restaurants famous for its Sunday roasts. The hours were crazy, but the pay and staff made up for the late shifts and imbalanced sleep cycle.

But as anyone in the hospitality industry can attest to, stress is something that you cannot escape in that type of job. So I revisited my book—my work, my child of creation.

And I decided to finish it.

One book turned into two, then three, until I had an entire series I was working on. Salomens' Prophecy is the first in this series with the introduction to the main protagonist and the prophecy that would govern her path, being the main focus.

I still didn't know if I had what I needed to make it in the world of published authors, but writing is my first love. If this story can reach but one child and inspire them like the many books I have read, then I consider my job complete.

Fantasy is where the mind comes alive, and there is nothing more rewarding than seeing your own work come alive and watch as others take something away from it and make it their own.

By E. Martin