Dave Barrett
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Author
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added about 9 years ago
Thank you.
Those two words carry so much weight, yet they can hardly express my gratitude. The initial support A Beast Requires has received has been incredible, and I’m flailing like the muppet I am every time a new order comes in. Yes, I am a muppet, which totally explains my hair.
A year ago I joined Inkshares. It was a different contest, and while that campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, I came away from it as a better writer, and a better human being. I met other writers from all over the world, each hoping and working towards funding their campaigns. Our backgrounds were as varied as our manuscripts, but we all shared the same struggle. Writers are an odd fellowship. We’re all fighting the same battles, waging the same war against deadlines and doubt, and sometimes we feel as if we’re out there alone. But we aren’t. We all struggle together. Writers support other writers because we know how hard it is.
I met a lot of amazing writers last year, including my soul siblings A.C. Weston and Rick Heinz. Their support last time around carried me through to the end, even when that ending resulted in an unsuccessful campaign. I am forever thankful that I’ve been fortunate enough to meet such amazing people like G. Derek Adams, Dave Barrett, and Thomas Arnold. Trust me, there’s more, and as this campaign goes on I’ll be giving them as many shout outs as I can.
I know this is going to be a long campaign. I know how difficult it is to constantly work at promotion, and making your enthusiasm spread like wild fire. I’m ready for it. I’ve been chomping at the bit for a second chance to put my book out there in the world. A Beast Requires is a work of blood, sweat, and tears. Seriously, this book has tasted its author’s blood.
I know it’s impossible to do this alone, and every one of you following me is signed up to ride the crowdfunding crazy train. I’m working on some campaign goals, things to unlock as more people sign on and pre-order a copy of A Beast Requires. I already have the first goal ready, so at 100 pre-orders I will unleash Chapters 6 – 10 upon the world. Exciting, right? Well, one of my favorite combat sequences occurs in Chapter 10, and it brings on a whole new perspective in battling an ogre.
I hope everyone enjoys Chapters 1 -5. Comment, critique, or scream at me as much as you want. All of your input is appreciated and valued.
So thank you again for your support. I love you all. Yes, even you, Zachary Tyler Linville.
Until the next update,
Jay
It’s been an interesting year, and with all the progress that I’ve made, I now find myself back at the beginning. I loved being a part of the Nerdist contest. I was able to connect and ultimately friend some outstanding writers, discover some amazing books, and push myself harder than I ever thought possible. It was a rollercoaster of tears; tears of joy, tears of frustration, and tears of sorrow. And yea, I didn’t make it, but in my mind I didn’t ultimately fail.
I won.
I became a better writer.
A year later and it’s a brand new day. Geek & Sundry are running a contest for fantasy stories, and I just so happen to have one ready. Why this contest? Because Felicia Day is one of my spirit animals, and I won’t let my previous failure define who I am as a writer.
So many of you supported me last time around, and here I am hat in hand, asking if you’d consider supporting me once again. Because even through A Beast Requires didn’t make its goal, your support pushed me to keep on editing and revising. It pushed me to get better, to be better, and I think you’ll all be happy with what I’ve accomplished.
Once again, for just $10 you get the chance to back me, and get a sparkling edition of A Beast Requires as an ebook. There’s also a dead tree edition… I mean paperback, for $20, which will come with that fabulous, one of a kind, new book smell.
It’s going to be a long campaign, and I know I’m going to have to push it if I want to stay in the top ten of Geek and Sundry’s Fantasy Contest. With your help, I can do this. With your help, we can see A Beast Requires in print, and I can so totally shove it in the faces of all the dudes who picked on me in high school.
So once again it’s time to #feedthebeast
Let’s do this.
Sometimes we move the mountains in our own heads., and sometimes the mountains move us.
In the coming weeks, the next ten chapters will be posted online for beta reading. If you’re interested in taking a gander, and to see just how terrible things get for Albicon and company, let me know. Also, if you’re interested in beta reading the first ten, they are totally available to anyone currently receiving this message.
I’m still not dead, and neither is A Beast Requires.
Well, I’m not dead, and neither is A Beast Requires.
We all fall short sometimes. It sucks. It can be devastating. In the months since the campaign ended, life gave me constant reminders that time keeps moving on. I lost a war with a dying washing machine, celebrated the one year anniversary with one of my gaming groups, and failed once again at reading all seven volumes of In Search of Lost Time.
I’ve also kept editing. It’s been a slow process, often times with complete rewrites of scenes. The brain lives in autocorrect mode, skipping over homonyms and dangling commas. I wish I could do it all via computer, but I need my dead trees and red pen. But after months of working at it, I have the first ten chapters done.
You all were behind me in the campaign. You all bolstered my confidence, forming a wall of support that encouraged me to push forward even when my emotions were telling me otherwise. It meant the world to me. So I have this things. It’s up on Google Drive. If you want to read it, let me know.
Be excellent to each other. Party on, dudes.
Just a quick Tuesday update to clog up your inbox. A Beast Requires now has a Facebook page. Yea, it's a thing.
https://www.facebook.com/abeastrequires
Hey, everybody! Chapter Two is up!
TL;DR: Yay! Diversity! Chapter Three is coming! I get mushy and thank everybody at least twice.
I'm really proud of this chapter, and I hope it conveys the diversity within Aurum, and how absolute boned Albicon is in joining the constabulary. He fellow recruits are a motley bunch, and I love them all dearly. Yes, that includes Duvane, even if he is a sniveling arse.
As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I was often frustrated with the lack of representation in speculative fiction, or the terrible caricatures that many past writers have relied on. I can not stand a sniveling, effeminate villain or a butch barbarian who hates all men. Some of the characters orientations are more obvious than others, and it does not detract from the story as a whole. At some point we all talk about our partners, bad dates, and failed romances.
Reveling in diversity is important to me. I hope as readers you'll revel in it with me.
Chapter Three is on deck, and I will uploaded it soon as I am happy with the revisions. After that, we can talk about what I should upload next. I have some things percolating in the back of my head to help bring awareness to the crowd funding campaign. I always welcome feedback and suggestions, so please don't hesitate to send them my way.
I want to thank you all for following me, with special thanks to those who have backed me already. I've devoted most of the past four years to writing this book in particular. Far too many said there wasn't a market for fantasy humor. That there weren't enough readers out there for it to be marketable.
After finishing the sixth draft, I hadn't touched A Beast Requires in over a year. If it wasn't for getting blasted with emails about the Nerdist Collection, I wouldn't have even touched it. Since I started writing I fell into the psychological, faraday cage of questioning my ability to tell a story. Was I fooling myself by going after the one thing I've wanted to do since I was a kid?
Last night I cried. 47 of you like this book enough to back it. 47 of you want to see this book published. 47 of you think that I don't totally suck at this writing thing. There's a long way to go to reach the magic goalposts, and it's sure to be an interesting ride. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for all your support.
