Look and Listen

Biography

In fifth grade, R. L. Copple recalls drawing comics of a horse. As he moved into his teen years, he created several comic book characters and drew several editions, but few are left. He also remembers he loved to tell a story onto tape, creating his own radio drama.

In high school, he read all the science fiction novels in the library, and some fantasy works, most well known being "Lord of the Ring" by J. R. Tolkien.

In one English class, studying Shakespeare, he didn't like any of the suggested projects the teacher had given and asked her if he could write a Shakespearian comedy play instead. To which, she said, "Sure!" He earned an A+ on that project.

He wrote other stories while in high school, but having no idea how publishing worked, didn't pursue a writing career at that point. Once in college, he spent most of his time writing research papers, though he did spend some time on the college newspaper staff, writing columns as a journalist, editorial, and sports writer. At one point, he felt he would minor in journalism, but that later died off, but not before he had taken classes in editing and related journalistic task.

Once he became a pastor, his writings took a more devotional and Bible study route. At one point, he maintained an email list of people who received his devotionals once a month, and posted them on-line. Later, he created a web site dealing with introductory articles to the faith, which he still maintains: http://www.orthodoxconvert.info

In September of 2005, after his wife read a book to the kids in the car, an idea for a novel popped into his head. In the beginning of October, he wrote the first chapter and let his wife and daughter read it. They asked where the next one was, so he wrote the second chapter the next night. This went on for the whole month of October, and by the end of it, he had twenty-five chapters and 94,000 words written.

That lit a fire to write science fiction and fantasy that had laid dormant for all those years since high school. Seeking out like minds, it wasn't long before he ran into the community at "Double-Edged Publishing, Inc." who ran two science fiction and fantasy e-zines, one with a print version. Since being there, he has had two full short stories, one flash fiction and several poems published, one which won an honorable mention in a contest. He also won an honorable mention for a space opera flash fiction story that aired on podcast. Others followed into print. A full list of all published works can be found at his web site: http://www.rlcopple.com.

During that time, he spent a couple months on the editorial staff of The Sword Review. Double-Edged Publishing opened up a new mainstream/literary magazine, Haruah: Breath of Heaven and he moved into an editor's slot there in the Spring of 2006. In June of 2007, he became managing editor of the magazine.

2006 and since have served as a time of learning and growth as a writer. He became involved in an on-line critique group: Notebored.com. November of 2006, he participated in "National Novel Writing Month" and wrote the first draft for two and a half novels for a total of 75,000 words. Currently, all these novels are in the editing stage, and that last half needs to be finished on the third.

He expects and will keep working to make writing his full-time occupation, however long it takes. He states, "I find a real sense of fulfillment and joy in creating a story that people love to hear."

Inspiration

The first book which grabbed R. L. Copple's attention was Charlotte's Web. His fifth-grade teacher read it in class. After she finished, he checked it out and read it again. That led to more books, such as the Detective Brown series.

Then he read, The Runaway Robot by Lester Del Ray and that delightful story hooked him on science fiction. By the time he finished high school, he had read every science fiction book they had. Favorite authors were Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Lester Del Ray, Robert Heinlein, and many others too numerous to mention. One major work which stood out to him at this time was the Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov.

Like so many other people, he also read The Lord of the Rings by J. R. Tolkien, which inspired his desire for fantasy as well. Also a key author and work in fantasy was C. S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia. What he liked about these stories is their ability to take you places normal stories could not.