THE TROLLI STORY HISTORY

6/12/20

Just a short break from the meat and potatoes of the story lines.

The exploration series all began in the 70s. I, and some fellow collegiate, were playing an early version of Dungeons and Dragons. This was before pre-made adventures and the many books on spells, races, etc.

I was a big fan of Piers Anthony, Ray Bradbury, Ann McCaffery, Robert Heinlein, J R Tolkien, and the great Isaac Asimov. My mind was saturated with other-worlds and space exploration. Of course, having to work, feed our family, pay bills, blah blah, I didn’t spend a lot of time working on my stories.

I did, however, slowly develop a story line. I developed characters, a working theory of magic, a reason for all the world to exist and some maps.

Trolli, the doctor, space station and world, was first named and envisioned in 78. The sleeper sequence was an offshoot which came into being as a counter idea to Dr. Trolli’s plan; An obstacle to overcome. And since I am a believer in threes, I ad to come up with another space exploration plan, thus the space folders.

I began, in earnest, to outline and write in the late 80s. My first work was submitted to over 25 publishing companies and rejected. Most of the complaints revolved around consistency and vocabulary (too advanced for the audience). I began to pair it down and the three main books emerged. I also got involved in writing ‘how-tos’ for money. Mostly safety checks, employee manuals, and curriculum. This outlet, not only helped my finances but helped organize my approach to writing.

I became a survivalist and assembled several outlines to survival topics (see Saturdays entries). Some of my survivalist topics gave me insight to my teaching guides and character’s approaches to life. I realized at some time during the latter 80s that I had become a little sarcastic and it was reflecting in my stories.

I was pushing all my stories forward at the same time and jumping from story to story, slowed my progress. Around 92 I focused my attention on the story-line that I’d made the most progress on. Mind you, I still jotted notes and coined phrases and passages for the others when they presented themselves.

The rough draft of Trolli Revisited was done in 95. I went into teaching full time and was drawn away from any serious effort with the book. The editing process took way longer than I had hoped. By the time I published in 2015 ( https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/trolli-rediscovered-a-l-bentley/1124124371?ean=2940153129914 ), I had 10 survivals books, four more Trolli books, two sleeper books a good outline in the space folding series, an entire cookbook (and two others started) and a fanciful story about Noah’s cousin and a second Ark all in various levels of completion.

At this time, I turned my efforts to the prequel to Trolli Revisited, The Egg Wars. It was after diving into this story I found my writer’s voice. I had heard of it before but hadn’t experienced it. The story flows. The characters take over and I just try to keep up. In fact, I feel the advancement is so dramatic I intend to re-write Trolli Rediscovered.

Marketing still is an issue but a plan is coming into focus for that as well. I will keep everyone in the loop as I proof it.

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