E.N. Chaffin

Recently I made a video covering this topic. But it only made sense to also write a blog post about it too.

Every author has his or her own reasons to write. And some of those tend to overlap. This is where we get the “ever since I was a child I dreamt of this” cliché. Whether cliché or not, though, the reasons need to be explored and kept in mind by the author throughout his or her career. And this is what I’ve done for myself. And I would like to share it with you.

Before we get too far into this though, I have made a video for anyone who is interested. It is around 30 minutes long – though it was about an hour before editing. But if you’re still interested, here’s a link to it.

So, onto the reasons! My motivations for writing my debut novel, Loading: Life!

It all began when I was young, like many writers love for the craft. Instead of being into drawing like my other friends, I always wanted to create magic with writing. Funny enough, I wasn’t an avid reader. Yes, I did read a lot, but not extremely so, like you see with other writers. I did start watching Japanese animation (anime) around this time, and that was a huge inspiration for me to write as well. I always asked the question: “How would someone write out this scene in a book and make it as vivid as it is in the show?”

From there I kept going. However, when I graduated high school and entered college, I put my writing on hold. I didn’t have time to be creative when I was going to classes, studying for tests, and writing essays that bored me to near-death. But I convinced myself I had to do this in order to do something I thought I wanted to do – become a theatre teacher. It is true that I was once in love with theatre and I have always loved teaching anyone who will listen to new and different things. But, after going through both my Bachelor’s and Master’s programs (the first in theatre and the second in secondary education), my thoughts began to change. You see, in order to be certified as a teacher, I had to go through a few internships. My first was pretty great. My mentor was an awesome guy who actually taught me something. The second was completely unnerving. But it did get me to rethink why I was going into teaching. And then I came to the realization that what teachers have to go through in this day and age would completely choke me. My life wouldn’t become a hell. It would become completely hollow. Thus, I decided not to get a job and follow a different path.

It was hard for me to do so. I had spent the last six years in college to prepare myself for a teaching job. I had racked up some school loans and debts and now had to pay them off without a fancy teacher job to do so. From then until now, I have been stuck in a (fairly decent) night job that pays me a little bit over minimum wage. I can pay my bills, but I have not been able to pay down those debts or do anything else. Not to mention, that I know now how draining a night job can be for a person like me. I knew I had to get out and get on top.

So last year, I decided to do what I’ve always wanted to do. To write and publish a book.

Thankfully, nowadays, it is easy for someone to self-publish. However, that also means I had to do more than just write in order to get my story out to the world.

Nearly every day right before I went to sleep and almost every night before I went to work, I wrote my story and researched how to edit, publish and market it. During the times I became stuck or didn’t know if my efforts would work out, I looked at what I was fighting for.

You see, it wasn’t just because of the debt I was in that I wanted to write. It was because I want to support my parents, my two nephews and my niece. The three children have lived with my parents and me ever since I was in junior high school. And though I am not a mother myself, I have learned from watching and mimicking my parents what it takes to be a parent. It is unfortunate that their mother and father are not here to raise them – due to reasons that don’t include death. But I am glad that they are in a safe house and learning what it takes to be respectable, responsible people.

And with all my parents have done for my sibling and me, and for what they’re doing right now for my nephews and niece, I want to pay them back. They have worked so hard to keep our family afloat in times of financial troubles. They have worked so much in order to provide whatever the family needed. And I want them to know that their parenting and their hard work did not go wrong with me. I want to show them that they did right when it came to raising me. (Not to say my siblings went awry. Just that they have to show the same thing for themselves, by themselves.) And above all, I want to provide my parents a chance to not have to work so hard unless they want to. I want to relieve them of their financial obligations as much as I can. And the only way I see that being a possibility in my life is if I can pay off my debts and take the rest of what I make off any of my literary works and gift it to them. Of course, I’ll keep what I need to pay my monthly bills. But I would love to be in a stable financial situation that allows me to pay their bills as well.

It may seem far-fetched to think a writer with just one novel out could make so much money to cover too much. But it has been done before. And who says I’m stopping at just one book? Like I said earlier, I love writing. I’m going to continue publishing my stories for years to come, for the purpose of sharing and teaching them to those who are willing to take a chance on my work.

In the end, I cannot force someone to buy my book, Loading: Life. And in reality, I wouldn’t want to force anyone to do that. I wouldn’t even want to have someone pity me buy it.

I didn’t share my story with you, the reader, in order to trick you into throwing me a pity party. I wanted to share it because I think it is necessary for potential readers to understand just what I am fighting for, and to start thinking of what their favorite author’s motivations for writing are.

So I ask you if you’re willing to take a chance on me as a new author, please check out the first four chapters of my debut novel, Loading: Life. They’re here on my blog for free.

And if you love the story, please think of buying a copy over at Amazon.

And thank you for your support on this blog.