F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction Author

Unearthing the Bones: The Order of My Work

by

I Have Skeletons To Unearth. By American Museum of Natural History (http://adsny.com/nyindian/nyindianintro.html) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
Yes, I Know Where the Bodies Are. By American Museum of Natural History (http://adsny.com/nyindian/nyindianintro.html) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
I’ve been writing since I was six years old. That’s a long time, considering I’m in my early fifties. Admittedly, between the age of six and 26 that was sporadic, but in 1987, I got serious and began writing every day. I began (or should say continued) with short stories. Short stories and prose poems were where I began. I’ve lost track of how many I’ve written (I know it’s over a hundred, perhaps more toward 200?, is about all I remember), but only have a handful actually published. Someday, my plan is, is to published the better of those into a collection.

As I began indie publishing my novels, I thought it might be interesting to list out the order of the books, as I wrote them. So, that is what I’ve done here. I have also included in this list those novels I have not (and will not, as the case may be) publish, just to show the order of their creation, including my age when I began them. A couple of titles I will not give, since they are still works-in-progress that may or may not be actually released, or are novels I may yet return to, with titles that are more unique than what I already see out there. I thought, that might be an interesting point of view. How old was I when wrote Sleepwalkers? ERO? Was I your current age? What kinds of thoughts do you think of, now, at your age…that I might also  have been thinking? Do my works portray an expected state of mind, in my progression through time and aging?

Note: only the hyperlinked novels are released. The rest are unpublished.

So, here is my chronological list of novels, listing the years it took to write them. 1993 was a banner year for me.

Updated June 16th, 2015: Voice had been updated, #7, below. It is to be published July/August 2015.

  1. Satan’s Stairs, 1987 – 1990 (26)
  2. Village Idiot, 1990 – 1993 (took 2nd in a 1993 writer’s conference contest; 29)
  3. (Title hidden), 1993 (first draft only; 32)
  4. Second Coming, 1993 (incomplete first draft; 32)
  5. Reunion, 1993 -1996 (32)
  6. Sleepwalkers, 1993 – 1997; 2001 (32)
  7. Voice, 1997 – 1999; 2013 (36)
  8. Psychic, 1994; 2000 -2005; 2014 (33)
  9. The Uninvited, 2001 – 2004; 2013 (40)
  10. ERO, 2006 – 2008; 2013 (45)
  11. (Title hidden), 2011 (incomplete first draft; 50)
  12. (Title hidden), 2012 (first draft; possible series; 51)

Yes, I was—and continue to—write a fair amount. I take my writing seriously, and do try to write every day, but don’t beat myself up about it if I miss a day or so. I work a full-time job, so all this is part-time effort. A couple hours a day, and some (or not) on weekends. I’m less anal about the weekends the older I get. I do need some time off, you know.

Thanks to all of you who follow my social media and who’ve read any of my work. I do appreciate your time and effort spent on my words. I love playing with them. Thank you for sharing my fun!

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Comments

  1. Forgot to add, but just did, the following note: “Note: only the hyperlinked novels are released. The rest are unpublished.”

  2. Proof that addiction can also lead to determination. You did all that while working full time jobs. Now that is love. I should do this sometime. One might think it could be discouraging for me but 1) I would do it anyway (the stories cry to be told) 2) I had lots of reinforcement along the way including agents and sales that went through 3) I baby-stepped my way from short stories, articles, ghostwriting fiction and almost-nonfiction, editing and teaching that did pay 5) I’m proud of all the tangents I’ve completed, even if I can’t point to a book someone can buy that I wrote by myself with my name on it. I think you have a lot to be proud of. Besides I love Uninvited and I expect it has a chance to go big if the Dean Koontz audience finds it! I think it is better than a few of his. No kidding – and you can quote me on that!

    • Wow, Inky, thanks! You’re so kind!

      The fact that your [named] work has CONTINUALLY gotten so close, but no cigar is frustrating, even for me. I still maintain you should go Indie (and, hey, I have some posts to help you out…)! With YOUR fan base, I would think you should go far! And you SHOULD be proud of all your hard (and numerous!) work! Just like you, my stories also beg, scream, and kill to be told (Uninvited started out as a child’s bedtime story, but the longer I went without writing it, the more people kept getting offed—okay, just kidding! :-] ). As for an “addiction”…well, why I’ve quit many times! ;-] But, I prefer to think of it as DETERMINATION. Sure, similar definitions, depending on POV, but I like latter far better!

      Again, thanks for all your continued support—it means a lot! Keep fighting the good fight!

Trackbacks

  2. […] I’ve been working on my Psychic manuscript since before 2000. I’d originally started notes and chapter one around 1994, actually, when I’d discovered that our government claimed to have disbanded a classified remote viewing program. It gave me a story idea, so I began notes and such, but it wasn’t until 2000 that I sat down in earnest and began the task I’m still trying to complete. This month, I hope to finally complete it. And though I’ve been working on this project for a large frigging part of my life (surprisingly, this is the manuscript I’ve worked the longest, good God—20 years, if you count when I started taking notes—man that just hit me as I write this!), the difficulty has largely been the timeframe of the book. I’ve had to change the dates and ages and technology numerous times in trying to get this thing out there. And, as I’m wrapping things up, I’m still discovering little nit-noy shit (even though I have a proofreader), like the age of my antagonist at certain events, or the need to again change his weapon of choice. It’s become maddening. I am, however, finding this stuff before my proofreader will find it (she’s still reading and not yet at the end), but it’s frustrating! So, once again, I have to go back in and make corrections. But, that’s the way this works. Unless you do have another set of eyes…and even perhaps despite that, you may still find errors, because no one knows your story like you do. […]