An Overview of My Novel
The plan, as I have mentioned before, is to publish my community theatre novel, Flowers of Dionysus in June. I completed final edits earlier this year, and I will begin the scary, techie aspects of formatting and such for publication within the week. So as I begin that process, I want to say a few words about the novel. I hope to share a little bit about it here on the blog periodically between now and the launch.
Flowers of Dionysus is a fantasy novel, by most definitions, though to be honest I’d rather say it’s a novel with “fantasy elements.” But I don’t know if you’re allowed to do that, so I’ll play it safe under the umbrella of “fantasy.”
But there are no wizards and orcs in this story. Set in the present day, its about a small, somewhat troubled community playhouse trying to stage its annual summer show. Staff changes, lazy actors and power-hungry bureaucrats are but a few of the obstacles the production faces. In the center of it all, whether he likes it or not, is Matthias (Matt) Blackwell. Matt’s a weary, somewhat cynical guy who has given up acting only to be sucked into this production as a favor to a longtime friend. Though he is the main protagonist, the novel shares third-person points of view with four other characters, each with their own challenges and insecurities, as the story unfolds.
Theatre geeks out there will recognize both the mundane and the mad aspects of putting on an all-volunteer show. Yet strange things beyond theatre eccentricities begin to happen in and around the Little Dionysus Playhouse. (The same setting as my short story compilation, Thank You For Ten.) Chance encounters, mysterious strangers, possible hallucinations. Is there a point to any of it? Is everyone aware that it’s going on? And most importantly, will the play still go up as planned?
This is my novel, and I’ll be introducing you to some more of the characters and other aspects as time goes on leading up to the launch.
Correction: I missed a mistake when I first published this post. I referred to the novel as first-person. It is in fact third-person.
- Posted in: Writing
- Tagged: fiction, flowers to dionysus, novel
Ty Unglebower 
Cool! Stories about theatre! Awesome!
You have been blogging about this one for a while, so it is nice to see that you are nearing the end of your process with it…or should I say, a new beginning? Cheesy, I know. Sorry about that.
Not that cheesy when you think about it. It IS in fact a new beginning. In some ways the most important beginning, as I finally share it with the world! (Or at least those parts of it I can interest in checking it out.)