#111. Student Spotlight: From Messy First Draft to Publishing His Debut Novel With Edward J. Cembal

Fiction Writing Made Easy

Savannah Gilbo

Education, Fiction, Writing Tips, Arts, Bestseller, Writing, How To, Author, Writing Community, Books, Novel, How To Write Fiction, Writing Fiction, Writer, How To Write A Book

4.9 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 3 October 2023

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In today’s episode, I’m sitting down with Edward J. Cembal to talk through what it was like to write, edit, and publish his debut novel, The Monsters In Our Shadows. Here’s a preview of what’s included:

[00:00] A quick introduction to Edward J. Cembal (including a timeline of his writing, editing, and publishing journey) as well as a summary of his debut dystopian novel, The Monsters In Our Shadows
[00:00] Edward describes what it’s like working with a book coach, an editor, and beta readers—including what it’s like receiving feedback from different sources
[00:00] What it’s like to dig deep and put your “blood on the page” in terms of writing a protagonist who shares some of your own inner struggles—and how Edward feels now that he’s gone through that process
[00:00] Edward shares how his novel accidentally ended up in Hollywood—and how this totally uprooted his plans to self-publish (but why he self-published anyway)

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Links mentioned in this episode:

Edward J. Cembal’s website
Edward J. Cembal on Instagram
The Monsters In Our Shadows (out October 2023)
Richard LJoenes (cover designer)
Andrew Lowe (editor)
Rachel Cone-Gorham (RxD Agency)
Wango Films (Tim Doiron, James van der Woerd, April Mullen)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, Savannah here. I wanted to take a quick second to let you know that my notes
0:04.2	to novel course is officially open for enrollment right now until October 12th.
0:08.8	Notes to novel is an eight-week live program that will teach you how to confidently write
0:13.1	the first draft of a story you feel proud of. I've taken everything I've learned from coaching
0:17.1	hundreds of authors across all genres and channeled it into a comprehensive step-by-step
0:21.8	implementation program that not only teaches you the high-level theory behind writing a story
0:26.3	that works, but how to execute what you're learning in real time too. Doors are open right now
0:31.2	and this enrollment period closes on Thursday, October 12th, at 1159 Pacific time. So if you've
0:37.1	been waiting for an online writing course that meets you where you're at, gives you a community
0:41.0	of like-minded writers to share the experience with, and lets you write your novel in real time
0:45.9	as you learn, then head over to savannagobo.com forward slash yes to learn more or to enroll.
0:51.9	As many of you know, I am not taking one-on-one clients for the foreseeable future, so this is the
0:56.5	best way to get my help with your story alongside a community of like-minded writers who share similar
1:02.1	goals. So one more time that's savannagobo.com forward slash yes to learn more about the notes
1:07.6	in novel program and to enroll before doors close on October 12th at midnight Pacific.
1:13.2	And then I got a call about, I don't know, it was a month before I was going to publish and it was
1:19.6	from a producer in LA and he wanted to make it a movie and shop it out to some big directors
1:26.0	and I didn't really believe it, but I called my agent at the time for the RxD agency and I said,
1:32.3	hey, what's what's going on here? And we got on a call and started that whole process.
1:37.4	Welcome to the Fiction Writing Made Easy Podcast. My name is savannagobo and I'm here to help you
1:42.6	write a story that works. I want to prove to you that writing a novel doesn't have to be overwhelming.
1:48.1	So each week I'll bring you a brand new episode with simple, actionable, and step-by-step strategies
	...

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