Richard Encarnacion is a former U.S. Marine. He was extremely passionate about entertainment and books and now he’s about to release his debut novel.
This is his story…
“I wanted to be either a filmmaker/Marine or storyteller since I was a child, I began writing my first imaginary stories when I was still in my infant years. In school, my teacher in my first grade class had us write a book, and thus the journey began for me. The journey to work towards achieving my goals, it was a hard journey. Because Originally, I grew up in a Bad community.
I was originally born in the D.R. To a Puerto Rican father and a Dominican Mother, this was the very beginning. When I turned six, I grew up in the north/south side of Boston, MA. Then went to P.R. For one year and D.R. And finally grew up in North/ New Jersey, Paterson.
When I was growing up in U.S.A. In the early years, I was surrounded by negative people, and bad neighbor projects, it was a dangerous environment, gun shoots herd every night.
Even though my situation looked bleak, I always had a positive outlook in the world. And I began searching for opportunities, even in places, that they were few.
I began being influenced by the community I lived in, but even thought my positive mental attitude, attributed to my outlook on the future and making something better for myself. They were always obstacles.
How he decided to pursue a writing career
Like I mentioned earlier, my writing career began when I was a kid, but officially it began when I turned 16 years old, this was when I really began researching books, online sources and started writing as much as possible. I like the formation of stories, and the approach that other writers took to formulate a book. I also started writing screenplays this years, in these early years, it was extremely difficult for me to do this because of the fact that I had to write the story long hand that means hand written vs. type letter on a computer software. Because I didn’t have a computer at first, when I turned 17 was when I got my first computer.
So when I was sixteen years old, I had the idea for the secret society. I wrote the entire book then, and I forgot about the story for many years, some years later, I rewrote some of the chapters, and changed the characters’ names over the years, to try to fit the story better to the events. But also to make the story more science fiction. The story, has gone through seven different stages of development, because of the editing with the story.
The difference between this story, and other is that the process has been extensive, as I have gone from teenager to adult in development of this story, my writing has changed and the way in which I view the book as well.
Right now as I am speaking to you, the book has gone through about 19th editing or revision, if you wish to call it that. For the professional, writing community is called drafts. One concern, that I had was that the story was actually going to get worse, but overall the story has become better and clearer.
The story is about a teenager, who lives in New Jersey with his parents. John Edgeways, is a teenage electronics genius. In the story, John, discovers a secret society. But this society is nothing like the ones in real life, this story. It has fantasy, is about psychological effects of ideas, and how family dynamics can really affect people, it’s about conflict between older brother and younger brother. Father and mother and son and mother etc. But it also has that mystical element, because of the journey into unknown with sci-fi and fantasy.
But the main reason, that I wanted to write this book when I originally started, was for the pure fun of it. It became a 12-14 year journey, this was my first major story. So this story wasn’t written with a structure, some of the events, the story don’t logically follow a path, like most stories do. I think that’s why this story is more creative, than other stories in the market place. It’s a teenager fiction/ sci-fi story written for teens, and I wrote it when I was a teen. So I think, it will have some of the same perspective that a teen has.
About getting published
I thought about the publishing process for an extensive period of time. I originally, wanted to publish my book with a traditional publisher like other writers in the market. J.K. Rowlings, like Stephen King and other writers, which I have enjoyed over the years. Although, because the story took me 12 years to get to the level of development, I couldn’t wait to publish it. Because it has already taken this story too much time to get made. So I decided to publish my book, as a self-published book. And I am using all the same techniques that major publishers use to get a book through the pipeline, I am getting it edited several times.
The book has gone through 3 BETA reads.
The book has also been edited 3 times.
The book has had 19th Drafts.
A custom book cover has been made for it.
A custom marketing plan is made for it.
A custom re-vision plan.
So I feel comfortable that people are going to be able to read the book, although you never know if someone will like the story. I would just be happy that it is finally released.
About his characters and whether they’re based on people he knows
Some of the characters are based on people I know, I think the five main characters are based on people I know, for example.
For the Character of John, I had to use some of my personality and some of my brother because I would not normally do some of the things John would do, and my brother would not do some of the things I would.
For Mike, I tried to use my activities as a teen, but also utilized my brother social scene in high school.
For John’s mother I switched my father’s personality with my mother, and my mother’s personality with my father. To make the characters more interesting, and more alive I think.
What genre his book is
The book is sci-fi/fantasy, although I think it could have been any genre and the story would still feel the same, because the point of the story is not the genre. The story is about family, a secret society and a boy that happens to be good at electronics and gadgets. But I think, that even without the gadgets, the story stands on its own two feet.
Which book is his favorite
I really have like a library of books, I am really an avid reader, and I have read hundreds of books on every type of subject. But I like J.R. Tolkien books, J.K. Rowlings books, Stephen King, self-help books. I really enjoy reading, this type of fantasy books, comic books from marvel and DC comics, I mean I read almost everything.
Some of my friends in the story are also based out of other friends that I knew in real life, like their personality.
About his writing routine
I try to write every day, at least one page, but when I get a solid Idea in my head, I kind of become addicted to it. And I can’t stop writing, I used to hear the idea to write freehand. That means that if you get an idea, you should write and then re-write. But what I learned over the years, is that this step is used when you have an outline of a book in place, kind of like the skeleton of the story. Once, you have that you can write anything you want and it will make sense, because you need to make sure that you can at least understand, what is being said in each part of what your writing about.
So I would not recommend free writing, without having an outline, because then it could take a long period of time for your story to be ready for publication or even good enough to read.
What his current projects are and what’s next for him
The Secret Society is my current project, I want to get this book into the market place, and just promote it and see what happens. I really want to be able to get the book into the right hands. So that the readers, can comment on the story. This will either give me validation or burn me for promoting something of value, so seriously.
I also started a side business where, I want to help people in USA replace their bad habits. But also to give back to the community, by being able to influence people from different walks of life. To tell my story, being able to be a positive role model, for kids my age and communicate where I came from and my struggles and where I am heading. So I am really excited to get going on this journey.
My next project in writing would have to be another book, but this time. I think I will either have it made by a publisher or made into a cartoon, because I really want to focus on writing, and when your self-publishing or promoting a book, there are so many variables, that are taken into the equation, which you can forget if you are not paying close attention to them, I have an idea for a screenplay.
Although, I think I want to write one more book. Before, I get started writing screenplays again, I think that I just want to have a major body of work of fiction stories, kind of like Stephen King, where he has his own literary section in most book stores and libraries, I think I want something small like that. I am on a long journey to improve my writing, and make the most of my time here on earth lol. But on a serious note, I have hundreds of stories in my head, I am just waiting for solid ones to become serious irritators so that I can begin my process of fleshing it out and making them come alive.
A book and a cup of coffee 