North Saanich author and founder of Promontory Press, Bennett R. Coles began writing at age 12, looking for that creative outlet.
Having been an actor in his past, it was suggested that he try writing a screenplay. Having no interest in that idea, he says he decided to begin writing stories.
He wrote his first novel in high school, as an amateur of course.
“It was sort of a Tom Clancy style World War Three type of thing. I’m not saying it was any good, but it was big. It was like half a million words. Like every idea I’d ever had ever went into that book!” he told the PNR in a recent interview.
It wasn’t until around 2003 when Coles decided it was time to get serious about his passion for writing and wrote his first science fiction novel, Virtues of War. From there then came Ghosts of War, book two in what will be a series.
Ghosts of War, he said, stemmed from his time in the Royal Canadian Navy and is focussed around soldiers coming back home.
“At the time I was still in the navy and I was just coming home from a year in the middle east,” he said.
It was supposed to be book one but that changed as he decided to write about what the experience was like at war and then the idea of returning home to civilian society.
“The original idea for the story was actually, I wanted to tell the story of what happens when soldiers come home from war and how do they try to deal with PTSD and deal with a community that doesn’t understand,” he said.
His third book in the series, following the more recent Ghosts of War, will come out in August and is called March of War.
As it is in the world of writing, when you love to write, he said, it’s a different story when you face the business side of publishing. He said it can act as this big wall, where you don’t know where to go. Having established himself as a writer and understanding the pressures of the world of publishing, he decided he’d open his own publishing company in North Saanich called Promontory Press.
“I started Promontory with the vision of specializing in first time authors. I realized how hard it was to be a first time author, having been there …”
Since its inception in 2010, Promontory Press has published about 55 authors.
What Coles learned from other authors was that breaking through into being a published first time author was getting worse.
He will be giving a series of three talks through the Sidney and Peninsula Literary Society, on becoming a professional author.
“Those talks are specifically with my publisher hat on.”
The first of the series, titled A No-BS Tour of Modern Publishing, will take place March 11 at 10 a.m. at The SHOAL Centre. Tickets are available at Tanner’s Books or eventbrite.ca.
For more information on Coles, visit bennettrcoles.com.