As some of you already know, and if you don’t then you honestly should (see the page I have dedicated to it in the menu, or click on the following link), my current book is called Boy Jayck. It’s my debut, fantasy, M M romance, steampunk, historical and science fiction novel I’m hoping to have self-published by this summer. The drafting of Boy Jayck will have been a year in the works on 19th May 2023. A whole year already, where has that time gone!? I can’t quite believe it, yet here we are!
Now, Boy Jayck, where did it originate? What sparked the idea of it?
In actual fact, it started its life nowhere else but as a fan fiction on AO3 (Archive Of Our Own).
Fan fiction? What is fan fiction? A fan fiction is a fiction written by a fan of, and featuring characters from, a particular TV series, film, etc. For example, The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood (my current read), The Sidhe by Charlotte Ashe (my last read), City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, and none other than Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James also all started out as fan fictions!
After reading the article 10 Successful Books That Started Out as Fan Fiction, I’m secretly hoping, in years down the line, Boy Jayck will one day reach up into the top 10. Wishful thinking, I know, but dreams must come from somewhere.
Where The Love Hypothesis came from Star Wars, and Fifty Shades of Grey came from Twilight, Boy Jayck comes from a crossover of Rise of the Guardians and Treasure Planet, originally paring Jack Frost and Pitch Black.
On the 19 May 2022, it was the first meeting of the RIVA Writing Group; after it I went home inspired and wrote the first seven thousand words for it. I can’t remember when exactly but within the month or two following, I decided to unpublish my very roughly and badly written draft of chapter 1 and rewrite it and the rest of it, adding in my own original characters still inspired by Jack Frost, Pitch Black, and Jamie Bennet.
At the time of plotting out Boy Jayck (fun fact; it was formerly called Boy Jack until I renamed the main character) all I was reading was Rise of the Guardians fan fictions. While doing so, I was massively inspired. I borrowed ideas and developed them into my own forms, making the storyline much darker and longer. Plotting is sort of like playing with modelling clay, isn’t it?
Rise of the Guardians may have inspired my characters, but it was Treasure Planet that inspired the world, along with Guardians of the Galaxy. With its historical elements in it I like to call it Regency in Space; imagine The Titanic mixed with a pirate’s ship, imagine regal and royal palaces with automated lighting and fireplaces… Those who have read my first drafts and those who I have talked about my story with say it’s also like the Star Wars setting but I have never watched Star Wars, much to the horror of many. I know enough of it that maybe yes it shares similar elements.
And this was just for Boy Jayck. I also have other stories, like Angelish, Gin and Tonic, and Tails of Old (coming 2024) my collections of Short Shorties… all with their own sources of inspiration. For example, my Tails of Old Short Stories will be my reimagined retellings of mythology, but to begin with it was inspired by members of Hermitcraft, a group of Minecrafters of YouTube and Twitch.
So that’s what inspired Boy Jayck, my current book. In turn Boy Jayck has inspired me to do something with my life, that I can do something with my life, to pursue it until the end and be who my little eleven-year-old self wanted to be.
What I need to do is actually sit down and write the darn book in the first place. Oh well, time for another cup of tea and a book to read to procrastinate. See you in my next blog post! Xxx
If interested, also see:
Boy Jayck Pinterest Board
Angelish Pinterest Board
Gin and Tonic Pinterest Board
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But you know what? If you buy a product from those links that helps pay for my next audio/kindle/paperback book (so I can keep doing reviews), and cup of tea, of course!
You would be helping to support a small indie author/writer on top of that! If you do, I hope you’ll feel the massive vertical hug I’ll be sending your way.
Xxx
Lily O. Laverick 