Playing Off Of Frankenstein

 Okay, it was the headline coming in through from Feed Spot that caught my attention: C. E. McGill: On Revisiting Classic Science Fiction. 

What kept my attention was its focus on the genesis of the writer's novel. The writer's voice also helped:

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

It was the very tail end of 2018 when I came up with the idea for Our Hideous Progeny, so simultaneously aeons ago and not long at all in the grand scheme of things. I distinctly remember sitting at Thanksgiving dinner with my parents, bemoaning my lack of suitable final-project ideas. They pressed me—oh, come on, you don’t have even one single scrap of an idea? Well, I admitted, maybe one… but it’s very silly. (They loved it, and from that point on I was relentlessly peer-pressured—thankfully—to give the concept a spin.)

It was in the spring of 2019 that I dove into research for the book, greatly aided by my advisor Dr. William Kimler, a historian of 19th-century science who provided me with a fantastic (and terrifyingly long) list of books to read. Given that I was essentially creating my own curriculum, neither of us really knew what form my final year project ought to take, but we eventually agreed on a 7,000-word short story, with an accompanying essay and poster presentation. I ended up turning in closer to 30,000 words … Clearly, the story was already straining at the seams!

After I graduated, I spent close to a year gradually turning OHP into a full-length book. I began querying around March of 2020, about the same time as I also moved back from the U.S. to the U.K., which was just exquisitely stressful timing on every front. I ended up signing with my wonderful agent, Sue, in August; I edited OHP with her for a year, signed with my publishers in late 2021, and edited with them for almost another year. A huge amount has changed about OHP since that initial final-project draft—introducing new characters and plot points, taking some away, generally rearranging the shape in which the story was told to improve suspense etc.—but the bones are still very much the same.

Maybe this will reassure any would-be writers dropping in here. 

sch 5/15