Kickstarter

Who I am: Hi, my name is David L Wetzell, PhD and I've wanted to be an author from an early age, but until recently I didn't have an idea for what to write.  I got the idea two years ago, while my life was at a cross roads.  But I couldn't write it then and so it took a year and a half to find the health, economic security and emotional support to write it.  

Why I need your help: Now I need your help to e-publish it.  I need funds to hire a professional editor and to e-market it, starting hopefully in late-September.  To do this, I am offering a limited release of hard-cover copies.  

What have I written: I have finished and edited a rough draft of just over 40,000 words and have commissioned a professional editor.

How I got here: This is my first novel.  Before, I did write a play between 5th and 6th grade called "An Ant's Adventure"(AAA). I still love AAA because of how it captured my view of the world back then. I won a writing contest in jr high for a short story I wrote entitled, "The Adventures of Amazing Super-kid".  It was when I came face to face at the early age of 7-8 with the non-reality of the cartoon/superhero-violence that I had begun to write about.  It captured my personal commitment to non-violence.  

I then got side-tracked from writing into getting a PhD in Economics.  My years of hard work got me a great fellowship, a chance to broaden my world-view and to finish my PhD.  This then opened up other opportunities, like out of grad school, I got to teach ivy-league quality undergraduates in Mexico.  

But then I went back to school as a seminarian (and a blogger), all on my own dime.  As a seminarian, I fell in love with the Bible again.  In particular, I relished insights from "The Art of Biblical Narrative" and what is called the "the literary turn" in biblical studies.  

After returning briefly to teaching, I got led back home and was given the chance to explore my world within and began to write again.  I began with psalm rewrites, wrote poetry and mulled over the texts that inspired my novel.  

Why I'm doing this: I feel wounded/blessed to write this novel.  It's meant to draw people into the romance of what it might have been like to be with Jesus.  To help them to fall in love (again) with the humanity of Jesus and to imagine a mystery of how the God of the universe cared about a couple's relationship. More concretely, your pledge will help to edit and then to e-market the e-publication, hopefully in late-September.  

What is it:It's a combination of parts of the Gospels of John and Luke and parts of my own story.  It's a Christian Midrash, or speculative story.  It is also an example of Magical Realism, with the "magical" element being Jesus Christ.  It is based on a "riddle" that I believe was planted in the texts by someone who earlier had given oral performances of the Gospel.  

Synopsis: In fact, "The Story of Jesus and Us: A Love Story in the Shadow of the Cross" is an imagined oral performance by Mary and Clopas, two minor characters in the Gospels. Mary is a former prostitute and Clopas is a former blind beggar. They both were saved by Jesus, met, eventually fell in love, and with the help of a couple of divine interventions, got married by Jesus shortly before his crucifixion. Their relationship is torn apart on Good Friday and then saved by Jesus, as they were on the road to their honeymoon in Emmaus.

In the novel, it is now years later and they have become oral performers of the Gospel.  But, in the novel, they decide to tell their own back-story of how Jesus created and saved their relationship.    

What Will It Be Like:  It is a two-part play that emulates how a married couple might have cooperated to give an oral performance of the Gospel.  It has just over 40,000 words.  

How will I spend the Kick-starter Funds: The plan is to use $1280 for editorial work (including developmental editing and line and copy editing), $1320 for printing, shipping and other expenses so that $600 could be used for a targeted e-marketing campaign.  If I raise more funds, I'll have more to e-market with.  I have paid $640 out of pocket to begin the editorial work, but it nearly used up all of my savings so I will reimburse myself.  

Thank you, I hope you will pledge your support for my project!

dlw