It’s time to begin a new story.
As is the case with all of my books, the reader comes into
it with some knowledge of the character, assuming they had read the previous
work.
But what if you hadn’t?
No worries, Laramie will stand on its own. Those who
read Coffee at 9 know some of the characters that will eventually
surface.
Click here to read the first chapter of Laramie.
Click here to read the first chapter of Coffee at 9.
Authors who write in this genre have a challenge. If you
submit quite a bit of material, there has to be some sort of effort to not make
it all the same. When I introduced the three main characters in Extracurricular
back in 2020, I never envisioned an entire series of books. The continuation of
that, If It Weren’t For the Two of Us, had its own take by switching the
protagonist to the younger character, and chapters were noted with his journal
entries. In Hi, I’m Lance, chapters were AA meetings. In Ascension:
Jakob’s Ladder, each chapter was a year, and In Coffee at 9, each
chapter was a month. Each book had its own “thing.”
While Laramie will be somewhat like Jakob’s book in
that it takes his story back to his teen years and then beyond what we read in
the story of where the character was introduced, it also has its own take.
While Laramie is the protagonist, the reader will see more than just his voice.
To give credit where it is due, I read a story on Nifty called My
Roommate/My Soulmate. It flipped back and forth between the two main
characters. The format inspired me, and I held on to that concept until this
story. However, over the 25 chapters, the secondary character will continuously
change. I’m sure there are other books out there written in such a style, so I
certainly can’t claim credit for this direction.
Some readers will find this format intriguing. Others will
find it annoying as hell (“Why didn’t you just stick with one person, Timothy!”),
so I apologize to those who don’t find favor with it. For such a long arc of
Laramie’s life, I felt seeing the perspectives of the people who helped shape his life allowed me as the author to fully flesh out the story and the reader to get a complete picture.
Will we see Cooper? You bet. And beyond.
I’ve overlapped before. Hi, I’m Lance paralleled If
It Weren’t For the Two of Us for many chapters, but each book had its own
perspective. Jakob had told of his own past, so the reader knew hints of it
before it was fleshed out in his book. The same happens here. Laramie had
shared much with Cooper in Coffee at 9. In this story, everything
Laramie had alluded to in Book Five will be fully visualized.
Again, if you’ve never read any of the previous stories, you’re
fine. You can start with Chapter 1 here and never worry about anything else. If
you are new, I would like to say I enjoy hearing from readers. You can email
directly or make comments on this blog.
I’ll make periodic posts on the blog throughout the book
when I feel there is something behind-the-scenes worth discussing.
Happy reading.
timothylane414@gmail.com
Book One: Extracurricular
Book Two: If It Weren’t For the Two of Us
Book Three: Hi, I’m Lance
Book Four: Ascension: Jakob’s Ladder
Book Five: Coffee at Nine
Book Six: Laramie
