STORIES BEHIND THE PATH TO PUBLICATION
By D.G. Thomas, DBN Magazine Editor-in-Chief
Sometimes all it takes to make a dream feel possible is seeing someone else do it first. That’s what stood out to me when I revisited my interview with Dalton Roberts, author of Fallen Divinities: In Other Worlds Part II. Dalton had enjoyed writing since he was a child, but writing stories and actually seeing himself as someone who could publish a book were two different things.
His love of writing goes all the way back to fifth grade, when he remembers writing a Halloween horror story about a child who discovers his parents are ghosts. He doesn’t even remember it being a school assignment. He simply decided to write it, and he was hooked. He continued writing short stories over the years, but those stories didn’t immediately turn into published books.
Then, years later, Dalton picked up a book by an indie author. He thought the story was good and creative, but what happened while he was reading it may have been even more important. He found himself thinking, I could write this. I could do this.
That was the part of Dalton’s interview that stayed with me.
I think there are a lot of people who write but have trouble seeing themselves as published authors. They may have stories tucked away in notebooks or saved on their computers. They may have started a novel more than once. They may even have a finished manuscript. But publication still feels like this mysterious world inhabited by other people.
Sometimes what changes that is simply seeing someone who makes the possibility feel reachable. For Dalton, that person happened to be an independent author. He didn’t need to see someone land a huge publishing deal or become a household name. He needed to see that someone had written a creative story, independently published it, and put it into the hands of readers. That was enough for him to look at his own writing differently. There’s something about being able to point to another person and say, They figured it out. And then comes the next thought: Maybe I can figure it out too. For Dalton, that thought mattered. He began working on several projects and in time his In Other Worlds stories eventually pushed their way to the front and became the first ones he published.
Dalton’s story also makes me think about why author communities can be so valuable for aspiring authors. When everyone you know thinks writing a book sounds impossible, it’s easy to start believing them. But when you begin seeing ordinary people finishing manuscripts, publishing books, holding their first copies, and finding readers, publishing stops looking quite so mysterious. You begin to understand that these authors didn’t necessarily start out knowing everything either. At some point, they had to finish their first manuscript. They had to learn about publishing. They had to make decisions they had never made before. And eventually, there was a first time they saw their own name on the cover of a book.
You never know who is watching you do something for the first time and quietly deciding they might be able to do it too. The indie author Dalton read may never know that their book had that effect on him. Dalton wasn’t simply entertained by the story. Seeing that book changed what he believed was possible for his own writing. Who knows, one day a person who has been writing stories since childhood might pick up Fallen Divinities, see Dalton Roberts’ name on the cover, learn that he independently published his work, and have exactly the same thought Dalton once had: I could do this.
I love the full-circle nature of that.
When I look at Dalton’s story through the lens of The Author’s Journey, I keep coming back to that one “Aha” moment. He had already been writing for years. What changed wasn’t necessarily his ability to write. What changed was his belief about what he could do with his writing. I think that matters for aspiring authors because sometimes confidence doesn’t arrive before you begin. Sometimes you borrow a little confidence from watching someone else go first. Their success gives you evidence that the thing you’ve been dreaming about can actually be done.
Read Dalton’s author interview on DBN Magazine.
The Author’s Journey: Stories Behind the Path to Publication are from the DBN Magazine archives. Editor D.G. Thomas revisits past author interviews with published authors, sharing her reflections on the stories they shared behind their paths to publication—and the lessons that may inspire the next generation of authors.
Want to Share Your Author Journey? Are you a published author with a story to tell? Be featured in a DBN Magazine Author Spotlight and share the story behind your book, your path to publication, and what you’ve learned along the way. [Apply for an Author Spotlight]
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