TL;DR: I’m writing a middle-grade novel called “The Nominal Hero.”
Caden Keller, age eight, is an imaginative boy who loves words and reading. One day, he gets hold of a pair of glasses that let him call up Nouns, who are more than happy to use their Nounish powers to bring chaos and adventure into his life. But when a few careless words summon a threat to the Nouniverse, can Caden use the power of language to save the world?
ABOUT THE BOOK: The general vibe is Beverly Cleary’s “Ramona” series meets Norton Juster’s “The Phantom Tollbooth.” I’m aiming it at six-to-ten-year-olds, and it’ll be fairly light-hearted: no tragedies, no dead pets, just adventures as the strange and surreal world of the Nouniverse intersects with the everyday home and school life of Caden and his friends and family.
I want this to be a book that kids will enjoy reading on their own and that adults will also have fun reading to them. I’m running it by my favourite eight-year-old as I go, to make sure that the vocabulary level is appropriate and that the whole thing is fun and entertaining to a bright kid.
I’m linking the first two chapters here, as text and as an audio file of me reading them aloud. I’ve got five chapters written so far, out of a planned twelve, and I have a clear outline of how the story will proceed. I expect to release an additional chapter about every three weeks, which I’ll be posting at http://rookswater.blogspot.com. When the whole thing is out, I’ll do some final edits and put together the definitive edition in ebook form. At that time, I’ll post a separate proposal for launching the ebook as a timed open edition mint event.
Audio: https://youtu.be/_-usP1Qe78c
Chapter 1: https://rookswater.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-nominal-hero-ch-1.html
Chapter 2: https://rookswater.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-nominal-hero-ch-2.html
THE ASK: I’m requesting 25 ETH. This is for two things. First, to cover my living expenses for the next six months to let me focus on finishing the book. Second, I will be placing the book in the public domain immediately; this means that, unlike with a traditionally published book, I won’t be able to sell things like foreign-language rights, reprint rights, film option rights, and so forth. So this is partly to compensate for the lack of those future revenue streams, which normally provide traditionally published authors with a significant part of our ongoing income.
I’d like to stream this amount over the course of six months. I’ve put up the first two chapters here, I’ll post the third right away on acceptance of this proposal, and then I’ll be posting a new chapter every three weeks, so in just about six months the whole book will be available. I’ll provide the final edited book in .epub and .pdf formats no more than one month after the last chapter is posted.
ABOUT TASHA K. ROOKSWATER: Under another name, I’m an author of science fiction and fantasy, primarily short stories and novellas. I’m enjoying the freedom of writing something completely different under this pseudonym.
I’m a newcomer to crypto, but I’m fascinated by the artistic potential of this space. I love the public-domain aspect of Nouns and I’m looking forward to other people building on Caden’s story. I’m a big believer in fanfiction and the collaborative nature of storytelling, and I’m excited to send this book out into the world and see what comes back.
Proposer notes:
Tasha is a published science fiction author and IRL associate that I introduced to Nouns. I encouraged her to write this proposal because I think she's talented and that our ecosystem will benefit from the participation of more storytellers. Please feel free to follow up with any questions on Twitter: @rookswater and @punk4156. Thank you!