A Lifelong Literary Project

Welcome to the cKotch.Com blog. I’m Christopher Kotcher, and this is a closer look at my main literary project over the years.

Creating a Storyteller

My first stories were simple tales based on simple interests in the things around me. A cube doodle became a lonely kid who befriended a ghost. Building blocks meant to make a house instead formed robots sworn to defend humanity. A one-way street sign on the school blacktop served as a secret base for a worldwide organization. Countless stacks of paper turned into a makeshift card game with a wild backstory attached to it.

After my first writing project fell short, I returned to my oldest tales. I wanted to see what they could become when written down.

They were also too short.

So, I created a character who could link my stories together. But I was unsure of what kind of character to make. This led me to look at the authors of the books we were reading in school. I wanted to see if they had anything in common.

Most authors had lives plagued by misfortune.

The stand-out example was Roald Dahl, the author of such classics as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. At a young age, Dahl lost both his sister and his father. He later attended schools filled with cruel student cultures and excessive corporal punishment. And to top it all off, Dahl’s fighter plane crashed in World War II, fracturing his skull, smashing his nose, and leaving him temporarily blind.

I named my misfortunate main character Ulysses Nlucky. He would tell my stories in a book called Story Chronicles. Ulysses’ chapters revolved around unlucky circumstances pushing him to make stories. These stories would then help him work things out until the next chapter brought another round of bad luck.

Ulysses’ name was made to explain his frequent misfortune. Putting his first initial before his last name reads “U.Nlucky.” The gag was simple, which is why it surprised me when friends and family could never figure it out on their own.

The Rest of the Cast

Supporting Ulysses is his family.

His parents are images of my own parents. His dad can be a bit of a dreamer, and his mom is the more practical one. Together, they help make up for each other’s gaps.

I also gave Ulysses an older brother even though I am an only child myself. This character’s name is Bill. There are two reasons for his addition.

1. During my lonelier days as an only child I often wished for siblings. I did not want to give my main character that same experience.
2. Many shows I watched as a kid featured older brothers as antagonistic bullies. Ulysses needed some source of conflict and bad luck, and a mean sibling seemed good for the role.

Bill was a walking contradiction in his early forms. I wanted him to be both a good brother and a terrible brother. I wanted him to be someone who could give helpful advice yet cause big problems. Unfortunately, I was not skilled enough to write such a complex character at the time and essentially just wrote him as a bully. There were really only one or two moments where he broke out of this mold to do something good for his little brother.

This version of Bill grew to bore me. So, I toyed around with ideas to make him closer to my original vision of him. Finally, I made him a disgruntled teen obsessed with his phone and his reputation. Such a change helped him better represent a more realistic issue with growing up. Sometimes older siblings may just lose interest in spending time with younger siblings.

Changing Bill also led me to change his friendships. Originally, he had three brutish friends who could help him gang up on Ulysses. When Bill’s personality changed, I replaced these three friends with a single best friend who is a more positive influence.

To fill the need for an antagonist, I expanded the role of a rival character I had made for Bill. This rival’s name is Frank, though he prefers to call himself “Fast Frank” because of his athletic achievements. The two rivals now butt heads throughout Story Chronicles. They also involve family and friends in the crossfire.

Ulysses’ last key supporting character is a bit of a spoiler. She is also the one who has undergone the most changes.

Her current name is Roxie. She was created to be both Ulysses’ best friend and his potential love interest. However, the balance between these roles has shifted over the years. Sometimes any sign of romance is non-existent. Other times, Ulysses and Roxie are basically already a couple without realizing it.

Ulysses and Roxie do not know each other before the start of Story Chronicles. My original idea was to have the Nlucky family randomly meet her while on a vacation. Roxie and her dad would be down on their luck when Ulysses befriends Roxie and his dad helps her dad find a job. The two new characters would then become the Nlucky family’s neighbors.

Over time, I started seeing this whole situation as a little too random and convenient.

Now Roxie and her dad move into Ulysses’ hometown shortly before the book begins. Ulysses and Roxie’s friendship still starts on a trip, but this time, it is a wedding in Ulysses’ family. Roxie and her dad are there because he is a longtime family friend who recently moved back to town.

Further Changes to the Book

One of the biggest changes in Story Chronicles has been a shift toward realism.

My original first chapter had Ulysses sliding down a hill on a runaway mirror on the first day of school. The mirror even broke to give Ulysses increased bad luck. Bill’s old gang of friends would then corner Ulysses and demand a story from him. They had gotten stuck with story time duty for the school’s kindergartners and needed a tale to tell.

These events were a good introduction to a wacky world filled with wackier stories.

Then I returned to the scene a few years later.

Sliding on a mirror now seemed too ridiculous. There was no reason why Bill could not just tell an existing story for story time duty. How would he even have such a duty on the first day of school?

I realized Ulysses’ stories should be more realistic. His chapters should balance the fantastical stories he tells. He should bridge readers’ realities and four different series of stories. He should show people the place his stories could have in the real world.

The new first chapter focuses on more relatable problems on the first day of school. These struggles include getting up in the morning, dealing with a school uniform, and running into unexpected traffic on the road. The second chapter even continues this realistic bad luck by having Ulysses walk into the wrong classroom as school starts.

Conflict now arises not from peril but from Ulysses’ simple desire to be at school on time. He wants to both be a good student and fit into the crowd. Arriving late would ruin that plan. He creates his first story to calm his nerves on the car ride to school.

The charms of Ulysses’ chapters do not need to come from something wild or complex. They can come from seeing how different characters react to life according to their personalities. And it just so happens that Ulysses’ reactions include his stories.

The Stories Behind the Book

My revisions of Ulysses’ stories fit that timeless phrase, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

The lonely cube still befriends a ghost, but their friendship now starts with a search for the ghost’s brother.

My two robots still have a window and a door for their heads. However, their fight against evil now includes new tensions on both sides of the battle.

The secret organization’s conflict remains similar. Although, their current final foe used to be a far smaller threat.

Stories of the trading card characters have changed the most. The characters are mostly the same, but their stories are now framed around a journey instead of a tournament.

All the changes to Ulysses’ stories better bring out what I love the most about them. These characters are closer than ever to who I have always wanted them to be. Their stories too are closer than ever to the stories I have always wanted Ulysses to tell.

Why This Project Continues

Story Chronicles is the book I have written and rewritten more than any other. Sometimes this work feels tiresome, and other times it feels childish. After all, these are stories I originally created as a kid.

Then I remember why I have continued with this book.

Story Chronicles returns me to my simplest days as a writer.

These were days I did not know the difficulties of being a writer. I could assume readers would come if I just kept writing. All that mattered was getting to the computer again to sit down and type away.

Maybe these are the sorts of feelings I want the book to give you too.

You could always use a reminder of the simpler times in your life. You could use a reminder of when you first discovered something you loved and pursued it simply because you loved it. Looking back on such times often provides some of the greatest joy in life. They help us remember why we have chosen the paths we walk.

Kotcher’s Call to Action

I eagerly await the day you can read the full book Story Chronicles. For now, the perfectionist in me demands a bit more rewriting. Still, I will give you a tease of my work. Please head to the cKotch.Com Portfolio. There you can enjoy the latest version of both Ulysses’ first chapter and its attached story: Cubey’s First Day.

Also, if you liked my content and want to make sure you read all my new blog posts, be sure to like my Facebook page and share it with your friends. I post a link there whenever a new blog post goes live each Friday at 5:00 PM EST.