I'm not sure how it is for other authors, but I did not begin this process with the intention of writing a book. Reading has been a passion for most of my life. I never saw myself as much of a writer, though. It's true I appreciate well organized words in print when they tell a good story, I just didn't define myself as a storyteller. I'm grateful those days are over.
Trinity was born out of a dream. I rarely dream, but there was a day when I woke with some very vivid images and ideas of the people in this place where kids live in a gender segregated world for most of their childhood. I remember thinking it was crazy and sharing it with my family, but I didn't think a whole lot about it for a while. A few months later, I had the same dream again. This time, I felt like the characters were telling me about themselves more than just me dreaming about them. After that, I couldn't get them out of my head. Naia, Tavon, and Ember. Those three haunted me for a while.
I remember the day I sat down and started writing quite well. Like I said before, I had no intentions of writing a book, so the day I began putting this story in print I was really trying to find a way to maintain my sanity. They needed an outlet, and I needed them out of my head. I had let them speak to me for so long they became very real, and there were times I'd find myself having conversation with one or more of them. Weird, I know.
At first, the writing was and outlet, and that's all. I had a notebook in which I kept ideas about the place, the people, their thoughts and details, maps, and a timeline. I've always been a very visual learner, so it helped me to make sense of it when I could see it. After a while, I felt like the words needed more organization, so I started writing it like a book to make it easier for me to look at when I returned to it. Without even meaning to, I found I had over 91,000 words in print that told the first part of Trinity's story. That was seven years ago. It took me a very long time to put those words out there to share.
If you read them, I hope you enjoy getting to know the characters as much as I have. I plan to publish the second book later this year and hope to have the third finished and ready to go in 2020. It'll be bittersweet ending this story, I'm sure, but I have other ideas and things I want to explore, and I'm sure Naia would appreciate some rest.
