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I was given the option of three remaining roles and took the one that most resembled my own character and the one I enjoyed most from the series. A geek vampire who gave up the sword for love and who brandished technology as a weapon. He still fascinates me and I still role play him when the opportunity arises.

When I took that role, I also accepted my “mate,” another role player I had never met until the very first day we played together as husband and wife. Cecilia Aubrey was the writer behind my “wife.” That very first moment we met was fateful and determined where we were heading. The chemistry was immediate, the connection was perfect.

Writing made its way through me once again and together, Cecilia and I wrote several stories for the role-play group, stories that attracted the attention of readers. She became the muse and the catalyst to my development as a writer. Within a few months writing together we both felt the calling. We wanted the freedom not available when playing established characters. It was then that we decided to take it further by leaving the group and beginning to play our own characters.

Taking a dream I had as foundation for a new story, Cecilia and I built upon it, developed the characters, created their past, their history, their future. We began posting our original stories as trial for group play and within a few weeks we had readers and followers asking for more of our characters.

Within a month or so, we had been introduced to a publisher who requested a few of our stories. We submitted two of our short stories not expecting too much from it but they were accepted and eventually published while we continued to post our original story as role play.

Once the first story was complete, we realized we had more than just role play stories in our hands. We moved on to writing the prequel to that story in manuscript format. No longer playing those stories as role play, we took writing seriously and became each other’s worst and best critic, line editor, beta reader.

Within a few months, we had completed our first full novel which reached 121K words at the time we reached the coveted “THE END”. While writing that first novel that became our series first title (COUNTERMEASURE), we became exposed to information about self-publishing.

The same man who had taken me under his wing and guided my programming skills, taught me about server security and other bits and pieces that were eventually used in future works, had mentioned independent publishing as our first option for our book. Yet, we had the same mentality other authors had and still have. The need for the gatekeeper’s validation was a strong pull toward traditional publishing.

We queried publishers and agents for representation while we still read and learned more about self-publishing. By the end of that year, we had learned a lot through reading posts by seasoned writers who had experienced both sides of the coin and were indeed veering toward self-publishing. With that information in hand we looked for options and guidance on what to do if we were decided to take that route.

With my mentor’s help, we were put in touch with an editor, a typesetter and with more and more information on the business we were embarking. We had our title edited, copyedited and proofread which reduced the word count by 10K words and once we felt we had a solid piece of work, we took the giant step and independently published it.
Tomorrow Chris Almeida Day 7:The Now

Bio
Chris Almeida (also known as C. Almeida) began writing children’s stories at a very young age. Born in Brazil but currently living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Chris’ life took a totally different course when technology came into play, and the following 17 years were spent delving deep into the world of programming and web design.

It was in 2010, when Chris began role playing online as a hobby, that writing worm its way back into the picture. This time, writing storylines for the role playing group.

The ideas and plots created for the game awoke the inner writer and a few months later, together with partner in crime Cecilia Aubrey (C. Aubrey), began writing romantic erotica.

Now, still together, they have written a number of short stories and novels and are currently working on book two and three of their series as well as several short stories part of the spin off series. Through it all they have continued to enjoy role playing through their favorite characters.