THE CREATIVE PROCESS
IN MY OWN WORDS...
As far back as I could remember, ever since I was a little kid, I was constantly reading. I read everything! Articles and comics in newspapers, books for kids, essays in school, Highlight Magazine, Reader's Digest, and a bunch of other things that slip my mind ^_^
I do remember reading ALL of the Beezus and Ramona books, by Beverly Cleary, as well as every single one of the Hardy Boys books, by multiple authors. Along with reading, I was studying music. As a kid, I was singing. But once I hit 6th Grade, the saxophone fell into my lap, and I knew it was a lifelong pursuit with that instrument.
As I got older, I was introduced to some of the great works of masters. I read The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, four times. Travels with Charley, by John Steinbeck, was always a favorite of mine. I also read all of The Vampire Chronicles books, by Anne Rice, the Dune Series, and many other Fantasy and Sci-Fi books. Along with fiction, I tapped into the spiritual world and read Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahamsa Yogananda, and so many other similar books.
And yet, even years after I left college, I never considered myself to be a writer. I studied music in college, and I gigged 3-5 nights a week at times, playing in jazz, blues, rock, ska, reggae, Latin & salsa, African, zydeco, alternative, folk, and funk bands. Reading was just a good getaway for me.
It wasn't until 2001, when I was working the front desk at a dance studio in Chicago, that writing opened up for me. I remember sitting at the desk, and everything was quiet. All the students were in their classes, and everything seemed very still in the building. For a brief moment, I zoned out. In that split second, I felt an energy zip into my body and brain. And all of a sudden, I saw a poem in my mind. It was the most beautiful poem, and I wrote it down. For the next few weeks, every morning I woke up, I was dreaming of poetry. Sometimes I was speaking the poem as I woke up. I would then immediately write it down.
Since that time, I threw all my poems away, even though I felt they were some of the most beautiful things I had ever read. I say that, because I don't feel that I wrote them. They were just given to me. Dumped into my consciousness, into my brain, and I simply wrote them down, verbatim. Sometimes, I feel like I plagiarized those poems, cause I didn't really do anything to write them. Even though I did?? (hahaha) I threw them away, because I just got bored with it all ^_^
Years later, in 2008... after several moves from Chicago, to St. Louis, to North Carolina, to St. Louis, to Seattle, to St. Louis, and back to Chicago... I was sitting in my apartment, meditating. After a 45-minute meditation, I zoned out (again). In that moment, a powerful surge went through my entire body. My body was buzzing! When that happened, I saw the beginning of an entire book in my mind.
And THAT is how Warrior Children started. It was given to me. I wrote it, but I didn't write it. It was just dumped into my mind, and I began writing it, as I saw it. Granted, it took from 2008 to 2023 to finish the trilogy series. But that was because I was very busy gigging and writing my music books. At times, I would come back to Warrior Children, until I finally had an inner push to finish the series and run with it!
- Vaughn Edward
HERE IS THE CREATIVE PROCESS of WARRIOR CHILDREN
- The Guardian Series (3 Books): Start Date, 2008. Ending Date, 2023.
- As of January, 2026, a new series has begun. Book 4 TBR soon!
Warrior Children: The Next Generation
- As of January, 2026, audiobooks are in the works!
ARTISTIC & PROGRAM CREDITS:
BOOK COVERS were created by Vaughn Edward and Skyler Fury. Starting out with photography, a number of programs were used to layer over it. Paint, iPad Pro, Landscape Pro, Befunky, and Remini. Paint and iPad Pro were used to draw, distort, straighten, and smudge. Landscape Pro was used purely for lighting effects. Befunky for fonts and sizing. And Remini for clarity and final polishing.
AUDIOBOOKS are narrated by Vaughn Edward and Cody Ladiges. Some background music was performed by Vaughn Edward. Audacity and Ableton Live are the programs of choice. Mixing & Mastering of all files were done by Vaughn Edward. For certain characters (Mercenaries & Demons), the intonation was pitched down a few notches to attain the tonal quality of their voices.
