Dragon’s Reach is my fourth novel. I assumed writing would get easier -- I was wrong. Written over five years, I take great pride in this novel. It was the most challenging project I’ve completed -- therefore, the most rewarding.
So, departing from thrillers, I set out to produce a work written in female first-person. My editor’s and Beta and Alpha reader’s reactions were, “What? Why? How?” After all, they pointed out that this novel would not be a simple project; women would find it hard to believe that you—a man—could pull it off.
“You’ve done well with your first three novels; do more of that. Or, at least, write this book under a female pseudonym. Let’s face it, men cannot write female first-person.”
You know that.
What I do know from personal experience is the stereotypical male scratches their head and wonders and blunders as they reason what a woman wants – what are they thinking? Only to toss their hands in the air and say, “Why bother? She’ll feel or want something differently in a few minutes.”
But that’s my point.
If we all put just a smidge more effort into understanding ourselves and our fellow humans, this would be a better world overnight. Perceiving the world from different perspectives has been an exercise and a blessing in better understanding others and me. It is also a vital skill in writing. I want to feel their apprehension, witness how people overcome their fears, and face their doubts.
When I became a parent, entering a world of forced routine, my thoughts lost the playful colors of childhood. Then the greys faded into black and white. I lived in a strict mental state of right and wrong, which only fed the fires of fears and anxiety – live or die – ours verses theirs. As I grew up with my kids, I realized I needed to change – they needed me to add those light-hearted colors back into life or risk becoming another bitter person who laments the good old days and resists anything outside my box. I’d end up watching some endless news program, shake my head, and sometimes my fist at other views. I’d wonder why the youth of today believed they were entitled, as I demanded my reward due for living this long. Where’s the world they promised me if I just worked hard?
Writing this novel, I wanted to accomplish the impossible and improbable. To me, gender isn’t the trickiest – it’s writing across socioeconomic class and generational culture shifts that can make me shudder and shake. After I double, triple think – dare I say, feel -- my character’s disparate personalities and experiences, I want to curl into a thumb-sucking fetal position. But to keep going. I feel the fear, and to do it anyway. That’s as accomplishment. And when I thought I wrote myself into a corner, I’d tell myself, “You’ve gone too far to turn back now. Figure it out.”
The truth is, many male authors, such as Robert B. Parker, come to mind who have written well in the female first-person.
So, I set out on my quest to slay this dragon. Armed with the arrows of experience, the spears of determination, and while holding the shield of belief. I devoured books by male and female authors who wrote in the female first-person. Over the past five years, I’ve changed direction in the plot of this book as my female protagonist, Marley Sutter, grew from a lost teenager into a woman who must be reckoned with. This novel incorporates my popular Byron Vogt novels into a tale about and for the fairer, brighter side of our species. Through all the edits and all the rewrites, I became so astonished that I sat back and wondered where some of these ideas came from. What a fantastic journey.
I thought I knew who I was, but there was more. Limitation is only fear. Behavior is a product of the past. Our world is not black and white, not the Yeng and the Yang, not all colors or no color -- we’re a moving target, somewhere in between the extremes. Shifting pronouns. So, when it comes to good and evil acts, we’re all human. Society believes women are the more caring, nurturing gender. But history is rife with scary female leaders, pirates, and criminals.
I hope you enjoy your journey with Marley through this novel and my epic project. I’ve read that Mary Shelley believed Frankenstein’s monster became a metaphor for her book, as her writing took on an uncontrollable life of its own. I looked to her for inspiration; Mary was 17 when she began writing her story on a dare. With no formal education, that young woman produced one of the most enduring and popular tales ever written. Whether it was confidence, belief, or just naïve stubbornness – she did it!
Now, it’s time to return to work and slay the next dragon in my quest. For friends, it’s the journey, the process that’s most rewarding. Thank you for allowing me to write, entertain, and feel other people’s emotions as I take you on fantastic journeys.
I’m so grateful.
Roger G King was born in San Antonio, Texas. He is a proud father and Papa, a not-so-good golfer, mower of lawns, maker of paper airplanes, teller of bad dad jokes, and able to leap toys in a single careful step. He's now following his lifelong dream of being a novelist. After graduation and a brief 35-year stop in California, he now resides in Florida with his beautiful wife and two cute dogs.
Devoting at a minimum of 25 minutes a day for writing -- every day, weekend, holidays, and including vacations. Sometimes the minutes turn into hours, other times the clock doesn't seem to move as the frustration builds.
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