The Mars Experience

Author's Note - PLEASE READ

This was my first (painful and unsuccessful) attempt at a book.

I wrote it when I was very young (13 when I finished it), having read an extremely limited range of stories and been exposed to an extremely limited range of experiences. I focused a lot on character progression (and, honestly, just making the characters seem cool), but the plot itself is extremely flawed.

Moreover, despite having been written about one year prior, I published the story right before the Covid-19 pandemic. The book is set in a world where "evil government scientists" are trying to kill people through various medications and send them to Mars (yikes, not even gonna elaborate). Not only that, but some protagonists are downright bad people. Needless to say, it was not the best timing to release something that portrayed such perspectives.

Honestly, I didn't even realise it at the time. I had created the initial conflict mindlessly, having only really thought about the development of the storyline- I had a cool ending in mind, and that was about it. I wrote down little backgrounds for the characters, and wanted to explore themes of grief (Donna), redemption (Athena), and morally gray personas (everyone, especially Jedrek).

However, looking back, I failed to flesh them out well enough to get this point across. I had a lot to say, and was so excited to have an adventure to recount, that I forgot about the importance of taking my time and making sure that it was an adventure worth telling.

Please keep this in mind while reading the book. I considered taking it down, but I feel as though just adding this message (at least for now), will be more worthwhile. After all, it might not be very good, but I was very proud of it. Granted, I hadn't noticed these mistakes, but I was very happy about it, showing it off every chance I could. I worked on it every day for almost two years, and, since then, still bear a strange fondness towards it.

I'm still growing, and (hopefully) still improving. There is no doubt in my mind that I'll have similar thoughts about my next book after a few years, and the next, and so on.

Thank you for reading!