The Road Autumn 2021

2021
DEBUT NOVEL ‘JOURNEY ADVENIA’
ALUMNI STORY
Hello readers of The Road. I am Aiden Kinder, a graduate of
Damascus College from the Class of 2017.
In November 2018, I opened a word document and began writing
a story that would later become my very first novel; Journey
Advenia. At the time, it didn’t have a title and it was very different
to the book that’s up for sale today. The story, and myself for that
matter, went on a long road to get to where it is today.
Journey Advenia is about three unlikely companions who go on a
journey across a vast fantasy world. A young monk, Kiro, bands
together with Viella Vanclaude, a fugitive swordswoman, and
Synn, a legendary bounty hunter, on a daring adventure across the
wondrous, treacherous land of Advenia.
I mentioned before that I started writing this in 2018, a full year after
I had graduated high school, but this is a story that has existed in
my brain since Year 9. At that time, it was only patches of events
and vague, foggy imaginations of the world and the three main
characters. Some characters and places, like Ms Egree and the
Twisted Seas, have floated around in my brain for years. Other
aspects, like Kiro and Viella’s names, came about well after I had
finished the first draft. I was inspired by the classic “quest” stories,
where characters travel through great, wondrous lands to complete
their goals. If I had to name a title as the biggest inspiration, I would
say the movie ‘The Princess Bride’. It’s a story with soul – memorable
characters, charming wit, and an air of fun and optimism that makes
it such a unique, lovable story. I wanted to write a story that was
proud of simply being a story – something you could enjoy losing
yourself in for a time, before putting it down and leaving it feeling
good about life.
Before opening the word document that would later be Draft One,
I had made countless attempts to start writing the book. I never
got past Chapter One. I was impatient, and when I compared
myself against a phantom standard of my competitors, I would be
disheartened and quick to give up.
But even after finishing the first draft, the journey had only just
begun. I revised and rewrote five more drafts, then paid for a
manuscript assessment, which gave me much needed clarity and
understanding of where to go next. I wrote eight more drafts and a
few different versions until I finally got to the finished product.
It’s wonderful and fulfilling to have finally done this. I have wanted
to write a book since I was in Grade 3. But even back then, I
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