The very first novel-length manuscript I ever wrote was entitled AUF WIEDERSEHEN-JOURNEY TO GOODBYE. The manuscript was penned in 2011. It was a gay love story between a gay guy named Shane Davison and this other gay guy by the name of Michael, which took place between December 2008 and March 2009. However, the actual years were never mentioned in the manuscript because the story wasn't time-sensitive.
Beta readers took a swipe at the manuscript shortly after it was written. They found it lacking something, but they couldn’t put their finger on what was missing. As a result, I shelved the manuscript for the time being.
In late 2012, I rewrote the manuscript and added two teenage boys, one gay and one straight, they had been best buds since childhood. I wove the boys' story into the Shane and Michael love story. This made for a livelier read. However, I wasn’t happy with the manuscript and it was shelved again.
In 2017, I dusted off the dormant manuscript and had an author friend read it. She found the dual stories interesting, but it made for a lengthy read. She said something was missing-even though it was a long manuscript. After studying the manuscript, she decided the story was missing the backstory to better understand Shane's character. She asked if I’d considered making this manuscript a part of a series. The thought was overwhelming and I again shelved the manuscript.
Over the next four years, I considered writing a series but didn’t know where to start the series and where to end it. Would there be a theme? A reason for a series? And other questions, along with personal doubts that I could actually write an entire series.
In 2021, the idea for the Shane Davison series came to me. A six-novel series following Shane’s life, showing that a gay man’s life isn’t all that different from a straight man’s life. I organized my thoughts and wrote a short blurb of what each of the six books might look like. The first book would focus on Shane’s turbulent high school years while taking peeks into his past. Book two put Shane at college. The third book would be where I’d put the Journey to Goodbye manuscript.
However, there was a problem, Journey To Goodbye was written as a story taking place from December 2008 - March 2009, a time of cell phones, computers, texting, and chatrooms. Much of the original manuscript was composed of emails and chats in chatrooms. This wouldn’t work in the proposed series because the time period for the third book would be December 1979 – March 1980. The technology found in the manuscript wasn’t there during the end of '79 and the first of the 80s.
In 2022, I modified the original Journey To Goodbye manuscript from texts and emails to phone calls and answering machines, so the story would coincide with the available technology of the 1979 - 1980 time period.
The title was changed to CHASING UNICORNS from JOURNEY TO GOODBYE. Back in 2017, the Auf Weidersien was dropped from the title because the German was too much for a book title. The newly revised manuscript contained dual storylines, so a new title was needed to accommodate both stories.
The journey took ten years to develop the Shane Davison Chronicles series. It started from a manuscript of a gay love story and grew into what would become a six-novel series, releasing one new novel each year.
In 2021, Shane Davison was introduced to the world in the first published novel of the Shane Davison Chronicles, it was entitled CLIPPED WINGS. In 2022, Shane returned in the second novel, BLURRED LINES. In March 2023, after numerous revisions, additions, and a new title, Shane returned in the third novel of the series, CHASING UNICORNS. There are three remaining novels to be written in the series, the next novel's working title is CAROUSEL PONIES, which is a work in progress, with a projected release in March 2024. The remaining two novels are yet to be titled and written, but they will surely include Shane’s shenanigans as he continues his journey through life.
Since the first novel of the series was released, Shane has developed a worldwide following and the first three novels have each earned an Amazon Bestselling status.
I would like to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment in the Comment Box at the bottom of the page.
Bestselling Fiction Author
Stories with an LGBTQ+ Twist
corrupting readers since 2008
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