WilliamDArand
patreon
About me
🕑 Added 2018-10-24 18:30:08 +0000 UTCSo. Massive post incoming. Sorry in advance.
People ask questions about my books often.
Every now and then, people ask about me, but seem far more hesitant about it. They ask permission first, which is odd.
It's taken me a while to figure out it's simply because I don't talk about me very much.
Like, at all.
I think this'll be the single post I do about it. As me is a subject I really don't like.
Now we're going to do a massive post about me, because why not. It only took almost 3 years to get here and talk about it.
I was born in the 80's and with a cleft lip and palette. I was also missing 13 permanent teeth (no buds).
I had over 12 reconstructive surgeries before I was five. My childhood was fairly happy, as I didn't know I was any different than the rest.
Just that I had to "go to sleep" on occasion, and wake up in pain.
Then I discovered the joys of other children. They immediately reconciled my view with the world, and that I was very different. That my missing teeth, and that I still had baby teeth, were abnormal in the extreme.
School was a joy. o_0
I spent the vast majority of it hiding, ignoring everyone, or generally just turning myself into an outcast.
Much of my childhood was spent in the lower middle-class in a part of California that was predominately upper-middle class. We made do with what we had, but we were by no means well off.
My parents had to of course pay for all the work done on my face and mouth, so that didn't help in any way.
They did all they could to give me what they had, and provide what stability I could get.
My family was perhaps the only bright spot in my world growing up.
Flash forward to 17 years old.
I've had over 30 reconstructive surgeries or some odd by this point, 6 years of braces, 5 dental surgeries, and 8 or so dental implants. I had a modicum of confidence because after so much work, I looked fairly normal. Though after a bit, most people would tend to ask, "You look different. Why?"
School was as boring as it ever was, and I ditched two years of high school entirely. I graduated by simply testing out early. I wanted nothing to do with it anymore.
I hauled ass off to college early. Did two years, and realized I was just as bored there as I was in all my previous schooling. Barely trying and getting a 3.9 average.
Dropped out without a degree, got a job, and started in on a career.
I started as a phone agent in a call center. I was like... 20 I think.
Slowly I got involved in data and analytics. Which eventually became "Workforce Management", and figuring out how to get the best service levels with the least amount of employees.
Move ahead to 32 years old or so.
Workforce manager at a fortune 50 company for multiple call centers, with a team of analysts under me.
Wife is pregnant, I'm bored, and I spend most of my day waiting for things to happen.
A friend of mine writes a book, publishes it on Amazon. I think his MC is god awful, and he tells me to fly a kite up to the highest height, and write my own.
I decided he was right so... I decided to write a book.
Except I didn't know how. I didn't know my own process on writing, or how to figure it out.
That book was how I figured it out. But the book...
It was awful. It's what I call my "dead book" which is actually available in it's awful glory on patreon.
I buried that sucker, and tried again.
I named it "GameBook" because I had no idea what I wanted to do, other than I wanted to write a book where the plot didn't matter because of an overlooked detail.
Otherlife was born in that moment.
Fast forward to January of 2016.
I'm angry, annoyed, and fed up with editing the book.
In a flip the table type of rage, I just put the damn book on Amazon, hit launch, and went to bed.
I literally forgot I had done it for about ... 3 days. When I finally checked in on it, it was a best seller.
I honestly had done the whole thing as a way to pass the time. I never thought people would actually like my work.
Surprise, I guess.
More so because I didn't have a social media account. I had done no advertising/marketing. My keywords in Amazon were Junk (Authors will understand this point). I literally just kinda stumbled onto the stage and waved awkwardly at everyone.
"Uh... hi... yes, hello. I'm Will." kind of thing.
I wrote the next two Otherlife books, and paused.
I was honestly nervous that it was a fluke. That people wouldn't like anything else I wrote. Or that it was the genre.
That it was luck.
So, I made up a new pen name. Randi Darren. I went entirely in the opposite direction of Otherlife, and repeated everything over again with how I wrote the first book.
Though by this point I was writing better.
Wild Wastes was came to be.
From that moment on, most of you know the story as it is.
In all of this, all I can say is... why not?
Why not try writing a book. It's not like I had an advantage you don't.
I just decided to do it one day :D
Comments
kyle
Wow haha it’s funny how life works sometimes. First book of yours I got into was other-life and I never really seeked out the author. Same with wild wastes when I first read that. Before I knew it I read a bunch of your books without looking at who the author was. Then I did and bridged the name connection pretty quick. Then found this patreon. Huge fan, hope you stay in this hobby of yours for a long time.
ThePolarParadox
Okay, now about me. One day I was born, then flash forward a decade or two later I was in front of this Amazon page for an omnibus for a book called Otherlife. Being as bored as I was, I clicked buy. And now here I am, regretting my decision because I kept buying ever since and throwing away money DX. Seriously though, Will, OtherLife was a joy. It was not a perfect journey reading the book, but I had a lot of fun anyways. Same with your other books too. Like I said, keep writing, and I'll keep buying. Just do what you love and I'll be along for the ride. P. S. As someone working on getting a medical degree, I've got a decent idea on the challenges people born with cleft lips and palates go through, especially if they don't go through early surgery. Every so often you get kids with those conditions that dont get proper surgical intervention, especially those on the lower end of the economical spectrum, and end up with social problems like bullying and getting ostracised. I'm glad it turned out well enough for you and that you had great parents.
Lazy
Thanks for sharing, I’m sure it was a difficult post to write. I’m glad you decided to become a writer, I love all of your books under both William D Arand and Randi Darren. Please never stop writing :)
Dayne Mayes
I sincerely appreciate you sharing that with us. I can relate to, but likely not truly understand, your childhood. Either way, just know that there are regular people out there that have done their best to teach their children to look past physical differences and try to understand who a person really is before rushing to judgment. Not me, I mean my kids are grade A Assholes - they take after me. But I’m sure that someone out there isn’t a giant POS.
LunarLilith
Thanks for sharing your background. I am very glad that you decided to just publish Otherlife and then keep writing more. Otherwise, I would have missed some of my favorite books. :)
TheOneGunslinger
Thanks for sharing
Dee
That’s a wonderful story. I like to think of personalities as an accumulation of their experiences, and I feel yours shows through your writing to some extent. Thanks for writing and sharing your excellent imagination with us.
yea know, think I"ll do just that after being a slacker for the past few months.
