Ever had a childhood dream?
Educational Technologist Jimmy Juliano recently achieved his dream when he published his horror novel, Dead Eleven, which was released in late June.
As a child, Mr. Juliano was a fan of classic horror, especially classics such as Halloween, The Shining, Scream, and The Sixth Sense throughout the years.
The novels by Stephen King also influenced his creative writing. The books stuck with him and, with building his writing skills, he started to create his own stories, chasing the dream of one day becoming a published author.
His first major success started when his short horror stories started going viral on Reddit.
On a 2018 family vacation in Door County, Wisconsin, Mr. Juliano was specifically drawn to this particular setting with its notably small population of around 30,000.
“It’s very serene, it’s very peaceful,” said Juliano.
As he was seeing all of the touristy shops and locations, he couldn’t stop thinking about one thing: “I wonder if this place looked the same thirty years ago? And if I showed up, thirty years from this moment… it would probably still look exactly like this.”
That’s when Juliano knew it was “a special idea.”
From his idea coming into view, all the way to the publication of his novel, it took a whopping three and a half years to complete.
At the time the book was published, with reviews and readers coming in, many thoughts were circling around Mr. Juliano’s head. During this time, Juliano kept thinking, “act like you’ve been there before.”
He explained how he went into the post-publishing phase under that mindset.
“I’m never not excited when I see it at a store… This is what I’ve always wanted and I’ve been working at this for ten years.” said Juliano.
According to Juliano, the more insane aspect, is the TV show offer by A&E studios.
Though it’s early in the process, Juliano’s novel is well on its way to possibly becoming a Hollywood series.
How did this come to be?
Before the book release, he was approached by two former Disney producers who had started their own production company. They received an early draft of his novel and… “they really, really liked it,” said Juliano.
He was told that A&E Studios was looking for a story like Dead Eleven. A four-quadrant horror project. “It’s been with them for close to a year and a half.”
Why the long wait? According to Vox, the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) has just ended a strike after 146 days. Many shows and movies in production have temporarily stopped.
Juliano explains that he’s “very cautiously optimistic” that the project will move forward now that the strikes are settled. “Technically, I’m a producer on the show. Though I think that’s just more like nominal,” said Juliano.
One day he hopes to visit the set if the production continues its process.
“I’m just excited to see what they do with it.”
Reflecting back on the whole process, he felt lucky and proud of the work that was completed.
“I think a lot of finding success in writing… it’s a combination of persistence, practice, talent, and then there’s just this luck factor,” said Juliano. “I wouldn’t change anything.”
Now for the future, he has his next book deal right now.
“The deadlines are shorter, which is fine, I work well with deadlines. They kinda drive me now.”
With the help of his editor, the synopsis and outline of his new novel are almost entirely completed.
“It is very comforting to me,” said Juliano. “Once this is completely done, I’ll be able to write it quickly.”
To celebrate his success and read a brand new story, Dead Eleven is available in most book stores near you. Check out his incredibly engaging, horror, mystery debut novel now.
