This thing is reprinted from my essay book. If you've stuck with this book for 39 parts, I think you might find this interesting. This is dedicated yet again to linahanson   who I kid you not is the sole reason I pushed past Chapter 5. I love you, Lina. LINA IS THE BEST! Wattpad doesn't allow multiple dedications but this is dedicated to coolelf as well. For exactly the same reason. 

It's weird.

I don't know.

I wake up in the morning and the novel's done.

It's not, really. There's a lot of editing to get to. There's a lot if stuff to be done to this book to make it meatier, more substantial, more like how I want it to be.

But it's done.

I remember exactly when I got the idea for The Queen of Cats. I was reading two very special books. Neil Gaiman's American Gods and Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore. Gods set me in the general direction of myths, dead religions and how we relate to them now. With the internet and other things. But mainly the internet.

Kafka taught me that you can be very very very weird with a book and still make it work. I was pretty against surrealism in literature till Murakami decided to etch his spot in my heart.

Because I had always been a weird one. C.S. Lewis' Narnia series got me started. I haven't stopped yet. I just didn't like weirdness for its own sake. Until Mieville, who turned me from a surrealism-atheist to an agnostic and then Murakami who made me a believer.

But I learned something from both books.

The art of the Interlude.

Disrupting the narrative is not always a bad thing. Keep that in mind, young writer. Keep that in mind.

So all this together, and the locale, I suppose-I was in a ridiculously beautiful hill-station in South India on holiday- planted the seed of an idea in my head. A girl. A cat. A suicide.

I knew everything else would work its way into the narrative eventually. The myth stuff. The pseudo-psychology stuff. All that stuff.

I didn't know when and how, but I knew it'd work.

But I'm famous for saying I'm writing a novel and then not finishing it. Just ask Mum. She still pulls out the first few chapters "The Mystery at Devil\Demon (I'm not really sure now) Cave" and reads it when she wants a good laugh.

Then, a very close friend of mine sent a message telling ,me to read this book called Chasing Red. I told her I couldn't find it on the Kindle Store. She told "Get your arse to Wattpad, silly."

So, I made myself an account.

{Check this groovy shit out if you want to know why I call myself this:}

https://youtu.be/KPedsVjZ1N0

I read. I liked Chasing Red. I poked around a bit more.

I thought: "Hey, I could do this. If people read this, I could get some accountability. I might actually stick to it. I might actually finish this."

BOOM

I'm done now.

Success on Wattpad means a million reads, I suppose. I'm 2.7% on my way there. HOORAY!

But I don't really want that, anymore. I did it. I finished the book.

Here are some things I learned.

1- Don't fight the system. It's basic economics. The demand and supply market forces. The population demands what it wants. It is supplied to them. You'll never truly be satisfied with your own writing until you accept that what you write may not be what the masses want. But you always have your niche. Find it and deliver your product to them. It's hard but by no means impossible.

2- Covers matter. Find a good designer. Be nice. Be thankful. Or make it yourself, if you can. But don't skimp out here. You can't make it without a good cover here.

3- Don't be afraid to write what you want. I learned to put down a lot of my puritanical fences and let my writing truly flow. I know. I'm very Zen. Sometimes, fuck is exactly the word you want to put down. Put it down. Don't fight it. Also, Katharsis 0 of the cat book is the main character passing through the inner organ system of a PVC Pipe-computer-demon ( a metaphor for the internet) before being ejaculated through his USB wee-wee on to the world. It is very artistic. Stop laughing. This whole sequence is in no way arousing or erotic and had to be in this book.

If there's something you need to put in, put it in. Don't be afraid.

But don't try being gratuitous for it's own sake. That's easy to spot by any reader. And rather detrimental to the trust you're trying to forge between the reader and you.

4- Being nice to people is the best marketing. I know people who use a whole variety of marketing techniques to get more exposure for their books. Chuck it, dudes. Just be nice to people. That's being honest. And being honest works.

5- Don't bite off more than what you can chew. One book at a time. ONE. BOOK. AT. A. TIME.

6- Sometimes, a little luck really makes the difference. THE AMAZING AWESOME UNICORN FAIRY PRINCESS   found my book. I'm still not entirely sure how. And she asked me if I'd like to get it featured. I flipped out. I sang in the shower. I came back. Said yes a bunch of times. Tried to be professional. I got lucky.

That's about it. That's what this book taught me.

If you want to pick something up from there and try it out, feel free. If you want to discuss something further, drop me a PM. I'd be super glad to help you out.

Remember, the community is not flawed. The readers are not flawed. The machine isn't flawed. You aren't flawed. You get the reads you get.

So do your absolute best to make sure the product you deliver is at it's finest state. And pray for your unicorn-fairy-princess to find your book too.

And have fun.

If you aren't, I suggest you find yourself another website.