Kyle Crocco's Blog

Anyone else out there having trouble finding a good book to read? I keep starting and stopping books.

Looking for fun reads that you can't put down.

Hello, my heroes, I'm happy to announce Heroes Divided, the third book in the farcical fantasy series Heroes, Inc., will be published on July 11.

And you could win a free ebook copy of Heroes Divided in the Goodreads Giveaway, starting June 11.

Kyle Crocco

Wanted to say I was grateful to all my wonderful readers. With your generous ratings and reviews, Heroes, Inc. (Series Edition) was able to reach the Top 100 Bestselling Humorous Fantasy books on Amazon in early August.

The second book in the series, Heroes Wanted, will be available in Oct 2023.

An ‘essay’ isn’t what you think it is. What we know as an ‘essay’ today comes from the French “essai,” which means to try or attempt something. In 16th century France, Michel de Montaigne became famous for his “Essais.”

Some of these writings resemble what we think of as today’s modern essay. Short, focused, based on a thesis. While other of these writings are long, rambling discourses about topics, resembling an unfocused term paper of a B- student.

But Montaigne’s “essais” weren’t meant to be perfect. They were explorations of topics. That’s why Montaigne called them attempts (essais). He would spend the rest of his life writing and revising these attempts, trying to make them better.

Live your life like an essay. Explore, attempt, improve, and refine.

It can take time to find your own voice. Haruki Murakami (author of The Wild Sheep Chase, Kafka on the Beach, IQ84, etc.) didn’t start out to be a writer. He was a voracious reader growing up but an uninspired student. He didn’t want to join the corporate world in Japan, but loved jazz. So he opened a bar where he played jazz records. 

It wasn’t until he was at a baseball game years later that he suddenly thought he could write a novel. Except, the first attempt didn’t work. The text sounded like everyone else. So he translated the Japanese text into English, then back again into Japanese, developing a unique style that has since reached a worldwide audience. 

When you begin doing something, you’ll do what everyone else does. But to find long-term success, you’ll need to discover your own way of doing things.

Don’t let rejection end your goal. JK Rowling was rejected 12 times before finding a home for Harry Potter. Frank Herbert of Dune fame was rejected 23 times until he was finally published by a publisher who was known for automotive manuals. And maybe you heard of Stephen King? He was turned down 30 times for his first book Carrie.

Rejection is not an objective evaluation of your worth—or the worth of what you do. Often, it’s one person’s point of view. So if you’ve been turned down for a job, a promotion, or a publication, don’t stop. Keep going.

I love to write. But I struggled in my English courses. In high school, I didn’t enjoy most of the books the teachers assigned us or the assignments we had to write. In fact, it’s the only class I ever received a failing grade (when I tried to be too creative during one marking period). College didn’t improve the situation.

Outside of school was a different story. I found books I loved and an audience for the things I loved to write. In life, sometimes, what you like to do doesn’t fit into the established patterns. And that’s okay.

Create your own job, start your own business, find your own path, define your own success.

I was fortunate to be published at the age of 23 (Heroes, Inc.: Original Edition). But I learned the wrong lessons from success. I was young and inexperienced. I thought publication meant I was talented enough I didn’t need to work at my craft. Not surprisingly, my books stopped being published. Failure, in the end, was a better teacher. It taught me how to work hard, improve, and be persistent in my goals. I don’t know if I’ll ever have the same success I had when I was younger. But I do know that with my improved mindset and approach, I will be more successful in the next projects I undertake.

I love to read. But it wasn't always that way.

In the first grade, I refused to learn to read. It took me a few years to catch up. I was pulled aside for special classes.

Then in the fourth grade there was a charity event where we asked sponsors to donate money for each book we read. I found I loved books.

By twenty-two, I was a published author.

In life, anything can happen.

I made many changes to update and improve the story.

I’ll start with what I didn’t change. The plot of the book starts exactly the same, with Grover trying to find a cure for his impotence. And it ends the same way (which I don’t want to spoil if you’re reading these answers before reading the book for the first time). The book also has the same locations, plot points, and characters (albeit some have new names).

When it came to changes, I made adjustments to the language, humor, pacing, themes, and character development. You have to understand that I wrote the book in 1989 and did only one revision before it was accepted for publication by Ace Science Fiction and Fantasy. The editors improved that draft with their feedback and copyedits. However, it was still a second draft that got published. Sentences needed to be fixed for flow. Some jokes weren’t funny (or just plain offensive). And sometimes, a scene would wander and needed to be trimmed to keep the story moving. 

Finally, the themes and character development needed to be brought out more. When I wrote Heroes, Inc., I hadn’t planned on writing a fantasy series. So when I revised the three novels, I wanted to ensure the themes were consistent from book to book and show Grover and Cilla evolving as heroes and in their partnership.

I understand if fans of the original editions might not enjoy the changes. However, they can still find old print copies if they want to enjoy the original versions.