20 Years… A reflection…

As this title suggests, “20 Years, A Reflection”.

This is an opportunity for you to share with me in this journey that has brought me this far, and as you read further, I will be giving readers the opportunity to purchase a Commemorative Autographed E-Copy of Rise Of The Darkness.

Although I tend not to blog much these days, there is good reason for that, which I will go into later.

It was 20 years ago when I first started writing. It was July 1989, and I was in Winchelsea Victoria at the time, living on a small piggery, located 5 or so miles out of town.

Winchelsea was – and still is – a small town in rural Victoria, Australia. More or less the type of town where there was 1 bank, 1 pub, about half a dozen shops, and a post office which doubled as the local grocery/convenience store. Back then, the population boasted in the hundreds, and life was very quiet, which seemed to suit me just fine.

I remember I was living with my sister, her partner (Scott), and another guy (Leroy, who we called LaRoy for some bizarre reason), in a 3 bedroom cottage farm house, which was situated some 100 yards or so off the main road. If you stood on the front porch, you could barely make out the highway past the 5 foot high grass 🙂

That old weatherboard house, the town, and the surroundings, fueled my creativity. In many scenes of Rise Of The Darkness, there is a definate parrallel between Winch and Winmont… After all, Alex’s adventure had to have some element of truth. Even if that truth was based on a small town 🙂

Our mornings were usually met with the overwhelming stench of pig waste, as the piggery was pretty much situated right behind the cottage.

I found that the quiet country life quickly became a starting point for my writing. Apart from the definate comparisons to several scenes in Rise Of The Darkness – Such as the clearing, the hospital, and alot of other locations – I did write several other short stories in the old house.

If I wasn’t going to Geelong or Torquay, I would often sit at the kitchen table with a notepad and pen and write, write and write some more. My days were often like that. I would start my day with coffee and cigarette, sit at the table and pen away like there was no tomorrow. There were times when I would be writing away, and my sister would be in the kitchen making Coconut Ice or baking bread, which was cool as I got to try the food first 🙂

At that table, in that house, outside of that town, in the middle of nowhere, Shack of Evil was born. A 9 page story which eventually became Rise Of The Darkness.

But, writing stories did not stop with Shack of Evil. I wanted to branch into other genres also, such as Sci-fi, drama, and childrens stories. After SOE came – I believe – a short story titled Fangs.

Fangs was the story about a Yeti that is brought into captivity by hunters, and how they sadistically experimented on the animal. Although it was written in a sense of “horror”, there was also a side of the creature that I tried to make feel human compassion. The ending scene of Fangs was touching, as the beast was killed. The story left a tear in my eye, so I soon followed up with the sequel, Fangs Lives.

Unfortunately – or fortunately – Fangs Lives never got past the first 5 pages. The idea may have been good, but the idea was scraped.

Then along came the sci-fi short stories. The Battle For Time, Time Master, and some others that are less then memorable. Pretty much those stories were stories that are best left in the crypt – for eternity 🙂

During that time, I also wrote a children’s story titled Fun In Tailytown. I wont go into details about the storyline,  as that is just one of the stories which will be re-written in time to come.

In the mass of stories, was also a christian horror, titled Revelation, taken from my understanding of the Book Of Revelation. That story ended up being about 15 pages. Yet another that would stay in the crypt of my mind – for now.

There was also another title in development – Infestation – which was the story of a paranormal investigator, who for some reason is sent to investigate the infestation of 25 foot long cockroaches in New York City underground. Cockroaches that have a hunger for human flesh and give birth to live young. Now, just why I had a paranormal investigator as the main hero, I will never know. But in 1989, I thought I had a great idea. But after the wave of Hollywood films of similar scripts, I think I will leave that in the crypt also, unless I re-work the entire plot.

There was also a story about love gone wrong. Well, not exactly, but it was the story of forbidden love; As one man fell in love with a girl, and he knew that the love he had for her could never be reciprocated. The idea was taboo and will probably remain just another that will remain in the dark.

In that time of my life, for the months I lived in Winch, I managed to write 26 short stories. Now, although some will be re-written (majorly) and released either as novels or as part of my Short Story Anthology, there will obviously be some that will remain dead and never will resurface. The basis of some of those stories may have merit in their own way, but for me, I feel that it is best that they lay where they are. In the crypt of my mind.

I first started seeking representation for a publisher in 1989 also. I remember I saw an ad for a publishing firm in NYC. They were called Vantage Press. A definate vanity publisher, which, in 1989, agreed that they would publish my anthology for the nice sum of $10,000USD. Quite a price to pay just to be published! And I must say, that I am grateful that I did not have $10,000USD at that time, as it would have been a huge mistake on my part to have published stories that were very VERY amatuer.

Yes, I admit it. My writing style was very amatuer and even I did not like my own work. Why? Because I knew I could do better. I knew that those stories were nothing what they could and should have been. So it was a good thing that I never went ahead with Vantage Press.

But, in 1989, I was 20 years old, and knew narda about the writing world. I was nieve and an “easy target” for vanity publishers. All I had was a dream and delusions of grandier. 🙂

After I left Winch, I went back to Brisbane, and for the next 5 years my writing sat in a dark vault of my mind, waiting to be released.

In 1994, I found a reason to write again.  I was sharing a house with some college kids, and one person I shared the house with – J.B. – I found I had a connection to. She had a creative mind also, and although her passion was singing, we did bounce around many ideas for stories in the wee hours of the night. I had only known her for about 16 days, but for some bizarre reason it seemed that we knew each other for so much longer. Maybe she was a kindred spirit at the time.

She inspired me to write again. So I wrote the basis for what will be soon Bloodline Of Darkness.

But soon after the series of events in that house, I found myself living with my father again, and again I threw myself into writing. As I did 5 years before, I would start my day with coffee and cigarettes and write as fast as I could, while listening to music that was being played on Brisbane radio station Triple M or B105.

1994 I rewrote Shack Of Evil into what was back then The Chosen One. Of course, I did have so many titles in mind, which I have mentioned in previous posts.

After I had finished what was a 2 part, 300 page book, I decided to ask for a review and critique from family members. Of course, the reception I received less than favorable.

I remember my father said, “Oh you want to be a writer so you can big-note yourself!”

My aunt said, “Your writing is repetative and is that of a child. I could write better.”

Okay, that was crushing, and was enough for me to stop living in a fairytale for a time.

So began a new journey. That in marketing. That journey has spanned the last 15 years, but I am not here to talk about that 🙂

Many years passed. 13 to be exact. 13 long years of not wanting to write, but always, the niggling feeling – the biting – still haunted me. Taunted me. Niggling me to start writing again. But I chose not to. Partly because I didn’t want to, and partly because I never found the time.

But I am glad I did make time.

In 1997 I was living in Auckland, New Zealand when I started a search for a publisher. I sent out a mass of email enquiries, and 50-odd rejection slips later I got an offer from a POD publisher in Baltimore MD. That day changed my life.

Which brings me to today.

Although The Chosen was first published in 2008, it was since reworked and was re-released in 2009, which includes the some of the original characters that were chopped from the first release. The title was also revamped to Rise Of The Darkness; The first book in a trilogy.

For those who may not know the Synopsis:

From the time that the Darkness ruled the ancient tribes, The Elders prophesied of a time when a descendant of The Gods would arise. Tonight, in the town of Winmont, an Ancient Legion has been awoken to finish what they started many millennia ago. Now, the fate of humanity is in the hands of One, but can he overcome the forces that dare to challenge the bloodline of the Gods?Alex Manning is The One. Born of a heritage that was once a powerful civilization before it was destroyed by the Giants that once walked among men. Now tonight, in a small town, after thousands of years of being bound in the Dark Realm, the Ancient Darkness has been unleashed, and they set about to finish what was begun. Only Alex can stop the Dark Forces from destroying this town, but will he fulfil his own tests and sacrifice his life for those would seek to betray him?

I recount the years that have passed from the time I began writing. The journey has been a long and often difficult road. Especially from the time I started in 1989 to 1997. A period of 18 years it took for me to become a published author. Which is a milestone in itself.

Once I became published, the world seemed to change. Or the way I see it has changed. Not that I am going to “big-note” myself as one would claim as that is not who I am. Truth be told I rather sit infront of my PC and write the next novel than doing book-signings and all the rest of the public spotlight stuff. But, being a writer, one has to deal with that.

Along this journey, I have made some friends, and lost some friends, but that’s life. Some things I have written have been blasted and that is okay too. I express my opinion and sometimes those opinions do not meet favorable feedback.

One thing though, I am thankful for the readers and those who have supported me during this journey.

Which brings me to today. And the reason why I have not blogged much.

As some will have noticed, this site has been modified a little, and comment moderation has been changed so that a person needs to register in order to leave feedback. This was done because in recent weeks there had been a flood of messages on this site, to the point where I had to delete all several hundred “pending messages” several times a day. I am not joking. I had 200 to 300 spam messages a day waiting moderation. So to combat the spam I changed the settings where if you want to leave feedback on a post, you have to register.

Now to explain what is happening. I have not been on here as much as I would want to. mainly because of other projects that are in the pipeline.

If you have been following me on Twitter, Facebook or Tagged, you will notice that these last few weeks I have been busy filming on location in Samara, Russia.

There are 2 projects in development right now here. One is the video titled, “C. A. Milson’s World – Samara.”  The video we are producing right now is a tour of Samara. From the Metallurg to the Embankment, and some interviews with local celebrities. Everything that you could want to know about travelling in Samara, taken from a tourists’ POV.

The video, when complete, will be available for distribution online and will hopefully be on the likes of Travel Channel Network.

Although there has been a short posted online titled “Out-takes“, that is exactly what that clip is. Out takes and goofs while filming, and is not a representation of what the finished version will look like. The finished version will run between 45 to 60 minutes when complete, and will give any traveller an insight into Samara; From the customs of Russian people, the architecture, local shopping, places to see, how to get around, and some local legends, some of which are listed on my blogsite.

We have discovered that filming is not as easy as we would hope, so this video will take some time to complete. But we hope to wrap up production by August.

After the travel video is a wrap, we will be moving on to our new projects:

No Ordinary Girl – Set the the music of Caribbean Blue, the film is about a young woman who lives an ordinary life, but at the same time she has a creative world going on inside her. The film mixes documentary-like images with creative imagery, as the film reflects on an ordinary day in the life of a not so ordinary girl. This will be available for viewing on YouTube and AtomFilms.

Darkness Unearthed – What if the world you knew was nothing more than a shadow of realism? Based on The Chosen Series, the new screenplay by C.A. Milson will be released in 2010.

There are also other stories and books in the pipeline, which you can read about here.

As part of my 20 year journey, I am giving readers the opportunity to purchase the Commemorative Autographed E-Copy of Rise Of The Darkness. Rise Of The Darkness is a 302 page supernatural/horror novel that will appeal to anyone who likes the works of Stephen King or H.P.Lovecraft.

The Commemorative Autographed E-Copy of Rise Of The Darkness is available in PDF format for the special discount price of $3.00USD.

To order the Commemorative E-Book, you can make payment using Paypal to: leadsnz@yahoo.com, and dont forget to add your Email address.

I wanted to thank you all for taking the time to reading this long entry.

Stay Scared!

C.A.Milson

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