Theo Bennett: Being a Writer is a Personal Journey
Imitation is suicide to the independent writer’s soul.
Blitz:
Name: Theo Bennett
Book title: Virtutis
Genre: Roman Greek Literature Action Fiction
Release date: 2022
Blurb/short description of the book:
Sparta has fallen. Children of the great warrior culture are cast into the world to survive.
This is a story of Virtutis, a Spartan with an unyielding warrior code who collides with the Roman Empire, from within.
Plagued by the death of his wife and years of tribal wars, Virtutis becomes haunted by the Black Wolf. With little choice, he sets out to find himself in the only way a Spartan knows how: in the depths of war. Joining the Roman Auxiliary, Virtutis uses instinctual leadership in a maze of mistrust while navigating his quest. Every decision he makes leads him further into a complicated Roman world he does not understand. His journey takes us on twists and turns, with the consequences narrowing the gap between life and hopefully... before a good death.
Please tell our readers about yourself.
Although I am private, I advocate for the understanding of the warrior code and people who appreciate integrity-based relationships. I have come to understand that there is a distinct difference between people who live by modern-day value systems and the virtue system and how this leads to people feeling disjointed from many communities. That is why… YOU MUST LEARN JIU-JITSU. If you are struggling to find kindred spirits that live by honor, integrity, and honesty you will find them there.
What inspired you to be a writer?
I have always been creative. However, during Covid isolation, I made the decision that I wanted to come out the other side better in some way. I wanted to find something that would be a huge challenge to me personally and that would evolve my skill sets. I started writing down sporadic passages and ideas until Virtutis started to take shape in a leadership self-help type form… but it was not feeling right to me. So, I started to be more creative, telling it from a first-person perspective of what athletes and the military can experience. It was not a linear plan, it was initially just ideas. Then, I found clarity and direction and dedicated myself to becoming a writer. So every day I wrote. I found people to mentor me and searched for tools that would help develop my skill sets of storytelling.
Tell us about your writing journey so far.
I started in 2019 in this genre. Virtutis is a trilogy, so there are two more volumes to come.
What is your writing process—from idea to final draft?
My process was to find a process. And that nothing I did was nothing. It all helped in some way, even if I did not use it or it became a dead end. I wanted to make sure I worked on authenticity and was clear to end each chapter with a hook, an ah-ha moment, or tension. Final draft? I have come to realize no draft is final. There is always something or some way to have done it better. I think that is why being a writer is such a personal journey that no one else can ever define for you. Once you publish a book, it takes on a new life that is not your own; it is alive through the imagination and opinion of other people, and you have to, in some way, be okay with that.
You’ve recently published Virtutis. What inspired you to write this book?
All of the above. But mainly to bridge the gap for people who live by the virtue system while trying to expose a broader audience to understand more about the symptoms and levels of PTSD, how head injuries and concussions influence people, and how people of the virtue system are important in life. Warriors are often never really appreciated until there is a situation that requires them to lead, and often, their stories, longing to belong, and acts of servitude are never told. More often than not, it is never a hero’s journey, and the price they pay and the rewards they find are never aligned.
What were your biggest challenges?
Keeping awake at night to finish and organizing my files so I could find things!
What are you most proud of regarding this specific title?
How open I remained to help and how vulnerable I was from the beginning because the story was more important than who I was.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
More like, when weren’t there? Sooooo much to learn.
How do you create your characters?
My characters were a mixture of people I have come across on my journey. Often, I would roll two or three people into one person to keep the amount of characters limited for the reader.
What is the current (or next) project you are working on?
I have several projects at the moment that I am fleshing out while I develop Virtutis II.
Many of our readers are fellow independent writers, some of them at the very beginning of their journey. What advice would you give them?
Be you. Imitation is suicide to the independent writer’s soul. You don’t have to know everything, find people who can help, let go of some things, and hold tightly others. Be authentic. Have a growth mindset. Always reassess what you want from your decisions and remain open to opportunities.
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Learn more about Virtutis and living under the warrior’s code: Virtutis: Volume One
