I hope all who’ve read The Krybosian Stairpath enjoyed it. I’d like to share with you my journey as the author. I spent ten years writing and re-tooling this story (not entirely by choice). It’s been an epic journey of writing and revising since I originally wrote The Krybosian Stairpath pre-2000. I wrote, revised, and refined the characters and plot over these many years.
Each time a Harry Potter novel came out I had to go back and rework part of my story to remove similarities. One time the Potter book wasn’t even out and I had to revise. As I stood in the check-out line in Wal-Mart, I saw a pad of pre-order slips for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. My stomach churned and my face went hot. The characters in my story had to work to achieve an “order” and now I had to eliminate it. It was bad enough that I had to remove the school setting (in the Step-Castle). But I figured if I can think of something and another writer can think of it too, then it must be ordinary. So, I pressed on.
I did finally revolt against this steady barrage when someone told me that one of the Potter books featured three challenges that the characters had to survive. Naturally my characters were faced with three challenges. I decided to leave these challenges intact because they represented one of the few remaining original story ideas. I regret that after years of constant changes my story in no way resembles its original form, yet I feel it remains appealing for young children.
I have since learned if you write anything that has not been written about before, then you are operating outside of the realm of human experience. I’m not nearly as concerned with similarities now. I suppose that means I have grown as a writer. This epic journey ended in 2009 when I made the decision to self-publish this first in the series of geology-themed adventures. My only regret? I wish I had titled the series “Maddy’s World” or “Digby’s World.” Therefore, I’ve decided to write a spin-off series titled “Digby’s World” featuring Digby, the hilarious, gas-stricken gopher from Krybos.
