Together with the new acolytes of love, war, truth, and more, he charges into battles straight out of myth. As David fights the Hydra, traverses the river Styx, and encounters the snake with no end, he gradually realizes that their godly mentors are hiding some secrets of their own.
In the mysterious world of ‘The Hydro Gene’, the biggest question is still unanswered. Why do none of them wonder what is going on?
To discover what’s going on, I’ve been joined by Chase Peter Gosselin to explore the depths of these secrets. Chase, let’s bring our readers up to speed by returning to the start of this story. How did it all begin?
I have been dreaming of writing a novel since I was eight years old, and then I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I felt like I would never move past my diagnosis, and be able to find my way through to my dream, until I started thinking about personifying emotions and characteristics of bipolar disorder and other mental health. I started building my characters and my world from there.
Tell us a little more about how these characters came to life. How did they develop?
In moments of weakness, when I felt my lowest or was having a particularly bad day, I would write to work out my issues, and through what I was feeling they were created.
Were the issues in your life used to build the issues in your characters lives?
Yes, many different aspects of my life, but most obviously my bipolar disorder. The challenges that I face in life were endless inspiration for the trial of the characters in my book. I also drew heavily from my time studying engineering at university to help combine technology, physics and fiction.
There are some very interesting subjects there, and no doubt it was a challenge to bring them all together. What message or idea did you want to share with your readers by bringing them together?
Perseverance is both painful and necessary, and for some people its not an option, they have to keep going even if it hurts them. They don’t know the difference between this and normal.
What did you personally learn by sharing this message of perseverance?
That I have to trust myself and my story to write itself, which I know sounds funny, but my characters are so real and alive that the jump off the page. I need to trust that.
Does the challenge to get your characters to jump off the page energise or exhaust you?
Both, depending on the day, sometimes its like pulling teeth, sometimes I couldn’t stop writing if I tried, and usually I feel better afterwards.
Before you get to that awesome stage of afterwards, what are you thinking about as you write?
I listen to music, usually the same song over and over to create a theme that carries through entire sections of my book.
I love the idea of building your own writing theme songs. Looking back, do you feel that your writing has improved as you’ve kept writing, and of course, kept building your theme songs? What’s changed?
I stopped over-explaining things to my reader and cut down on the other things to focus on characters and plot. I used to think I would be misunderstood if I didn’t make it perfectly clear, now I trust my audience.
Trusting your audience is always a fantastic step. What other steps have you taken to improve your relationship with your audience? Have you started branding?
Yes, I created a publishing house and brand ‘Fragmented Space’ with this book, to have one place to keep all my projects. Its basically a Logo, Brand Name, and social media accounts but it helps me provide a consistent home for my books. The biggest learning curve was discovering how to build a following and audience.
Wow, you have been busy! One great way to build an audience is to keep letting them know that there’s new work on the way, so what can readers expect from Fragmented Space in the near future?
I have book two in A Compendium of Magiks that I am just over 50 percent finished, and that’s starting to form into the final version. I am also about a third of the way through my first anthology novel, and in the planning stages of a fourth for a new cozy mystery series.
You are going to have a busy 2019! I better let you get more prepared for it! Chase, thanks for chatting with me today, and come back to share your next book soon.
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Excited to read the book we discussed today? Find it here on Amazon: ‘The Hydro Gene ( ASIN: B07KRKFPWH )‘.
Want to find out more about Chase Peter Gosselin? Connect here!