What I Enjoyed Most About Writing The One Apart
Writing, for me, is all about the discovery: all the things I’ll learn, realize, or find to share while writing a new story. I don’t begin writing with an outline or plan; I don’t even know what makes my characters really tick. I don’t know them yet. Some of them don’t even exist.
I begin only with a situation, a puzzle, a strange circumstance. And then, I write to uncover the full mystery, beginning to end. That’s how The One Apart came to be.
I woke up one morning with one mysterious sentence that carried a lot of impact, a tiny grain of a story idea: “He remembered everything.” I knew that remembering everything was a huge deal—for this character, for others around him, and for possible evildoers that might not be happy to discover the main character knows more than he should. And I began writing to learn what these memories were, what they meant, and how they would impact the character.
In just a few sentences, the main character, Tres, was born with all his struggles and under the weight of impossible memories. In a few more sentences, I realized he, within the story, was actually about to be born! He was still in his mother’s womb: an individual with full adult awareness and all the memories of all his former lives, trapped inside an infant’s body. And he would be born to those already struggling themselves: a teenage mother not ready to have a child and a grandmother who would fight to keep her family together.
What I enjoyed most about writing The One Apart was looking into their lives together, witnessing the rollercoaster of emotions they’d each experience through all of life’s ups and downs, love and loss, tragedy and miracles. I was there, uncovering the story as I wrote it, when a dark presence first appeared in Tres’s life. I was there as Tres sensed or revealed many more mysteries to himself and his family and as he finally discovered who and what were the source of them all. I was there for every shock and surprise; I was astonished at every turn of events that you will be.
And that’s what I love most about writing any story. Writing is every bit as much an adventure as reading, and every story holds its own unique gifts for those that experience it. The One Apart may be the most unique story you’ve ever read.
The One Apart
Justine Avery
Genre: Paranormal
Publisher: Justine Avery
Date of Publication: December 4, 2017
ASIN: B076B7RDWY
Number of pages: 568
Word Count: 109k
Cover Artist: Oishii Designs
Only one obstacle stands in his way of enjoying a normal life. He remembers—every life he's lived before.
Book Description:
Tres is about to be born... with the biggest burden any has ever had to bear. He is beginning again—as an ageless adult trapped in an infant body.
He and his teenage mother face life filled with extraordinary challenges as they strive to protect, nurture, and hide how truly different he is. But Tres alone must solve the greatest mystery of all: who is he? The answer is linked to the one question he's too afraid to ask: why am I?
In his quest, Tres discovers that all is considerably more interconnected and dynamic than he could ever imagine—and fraught with far more danger. He cannot hide from the unseen threat stalking him since his birth.
Life as he knows it—as all know it—is in peril. And Tres is the only one aware.
The
One Apart by Justine Avery – Excerpt 1
Tres felt his body abruptly drop
around him with overbearing weight, encapsulating him once again.
The mental images, the
overpowering memories, finally faded. Only an ominous stillness remained.
Every cell within him began to
twitch, infusing with energy—even as he felt immobile. Every joint, tendon, and
bone ached under the pressure of being alive.
A deep sadness engulfed him. He
pondered possible reasons. And, just as quickly, he was distracted by the
presence of his own simple thoughts.
Thoughts. He realized his own thinking.
This mind—certain of its own
newness—desired to explore, feel, do, be.
Tres opened his eyes—tried to open
his eyes. He found his eyelids fused shut.
He opened his mouth. Thick, warm
syrup seeped inside his swallow. Intense fear washed over him, even as he knew
exactly where—and how—he was.
Oh,
no.
Tres was aware, more aware than
any had ever been. In this moment, he knew everything—and yet, nothing.
He was beginning again.
About the Author:
Justine Avery is an award-winning author of stories large and small for all. Born in the American Midwest and raised all over the world, she is inherently an explorer, duly fascinated by everything around her and excitedly noting the stories that abound all around. As an avid reader of all genres, she weaves her own stories among them all. She has a predilection for writing speculative fiction and story twists and surprises she can’t even predict herself.
Avery has either lived in or explored all 50 states of the union, over 36 countries, and all but one continent; she lost count after moving 30-some times before the age of 20. She’s intentionally jumped out of airplanes and off the highest bungee jump in New Zealand, scuba dived unintentionally with sharks, designed websites, intranets, and technical manuals, bartered with indigenous Panamanians, welded automobile frames, observed at the Bujinkan Hombu Dojo in Noba, Japan, and masterminded prosperous internet businesses—to name a few adventures. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree that life has never required, and at age 28, she sold everything she owned and quit corporate life—and her final “job”—to freelance and travel the world as she always dreamed of. And she’s never looked back.
Aside from her native English, Avery speaks a bit of Japanese and a bit more Spanish, her accent is an ever-evolving mixture of Midwestern American with notes of the Deep South and indiscriminate British vocabulary and rhythm, and she says “eh”—like the Kiwis, not the Canadians. She currently lives near Los Angeles with her husband, British film director Devon Avery, and their three adopted children: Becks, Sam, and Lia. She writes from wherever her curiosity takes her.
Avery loves to connect with fellow readers and creatives, explorers and imaginers, and cordially invites you to say “hello”—or konnichiwa.
Twitter: @Justine_Avery
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4 comments:
congrats on the tour and thanks for the chance to win :)
I love the unique cover! Sounds like a great read!
Thank you for the comments and for reading! Can't wait to hear how much you enjoy the story in full. :)
This sounds great. Congratulations. Writing isn’t easy.
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