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Date: 11/11/2020
EASTHAMPTON – After 10 years of on and off writing, Easthampton native and Westfield resident Jeffrey VanOudenhove published his first book, “Dark Place.”
Dark Place is the first book of a series called A Dark Series. VanOudenhove is planning on releasing four books in the series, with a possibility of a fifth.
Ten years ago, he had a friend read the first chapter or two, and she asked if he was going to make it into a series, and he said no. This year when he was focused on the story, he remembered what she said and thought to himself, how could he make this into a series.
“Ideas started popping into my head and suddenly I was excited about doing more than one book,” he said.
When VanOudenhove was younger he said he wanted to write a book. He said he wanted to have something that would be around long after he was gone, but had no idea how to go about it, or if it would ever happen – but he knew it was a goal of his.
“I started it back in 2010. I wasn’t completely focused on it at that time. I would write during my lunch break occasionally. I would add a paragraph here or there if I felt in the mood to write. After many months, I had about five chapters written. And then I just forgot about it for a lengthy period of time,” said VanOudenhove.
A few years had passed and he came across the file again. When he reread what he had written he thought it sounded good and decided to write a few more chapters. He said by this time, the ideas in his head changed and he started to alter the story to go in another direction.
After writing seven or eight chapters, he became distracted and stopped writing again for a few more years.
“Finally, I set a goal for myself. I decided I was going to finish the book before I was 45, which would have been the following year because I wanted to surprise my mother with the book for her birthday. Unfortunately, my mother passed away at the start of the year that I was to turn 45, and I lost all motivation to want to continue it,” he said.
Two years after he lost motivation to finish the book, his coworker asked him how the book was coming.
“I thought about it, and decided from that day on I would focus on completing the book that I originally set out to do. My mother would have wanted me to. So that very day, in March of 2020, I went home after work and sat down to continue writing. I did this every day after work for a couple of hours until it was finally completed,” VanOudenhove said.
He said when he was younger his teachers told him that he was a fairly good writer, and he likes to think that he has a good imagination to be able to write any story – but he had to see things play out in his mind.
“When I would come home after work, I would sit down at the computer and just write how I would like to see things if I were watching this as a movie. It all came together pretty quickly,” he said.
VanOudenhove classifies Dark Place as a Psychological Suspense Thriller. He does not want readers to mistake it for something that would be classified as Horror because he does not believe it is that genre. He said his book makes the reader think and brings them in a different direction as they piece together the clues of what is happening with the characters.
He said the story started in a different manner compared to what it ended up being. He knew he wanted the story to be about a person whose life was spiraling out of control and they were sinking further into despair.
“I originally wanted the reader to try and determine if what they were reading was the character physically being in a dark place, or if he was sinking into a dark place emotionally,” he said.
After VanOudenhove completed a new chapter in Dark Place, he would send it to his editor, Elizabeth Kelly while he worked on the next chapter. Kelly would send him the chapter back with mark-ups on it explaining why he needed to add more detail to draw the reader in and make them feel like they are right in the story.
He said each chapter was like that, and he began to learn from the critique and started adding more details into his newer chapters before he would send them off to her.
“It taught me a lot, and still does, as she is editing my second book also,” VanOudenhove said.
His first book was published in September and has received mostly verbal praise. He has received a few emails from people, good remarks through Facebook posts, and he recently received his first review on Amazon.
VanOudenhove said he has had a lot of people tell him that they were shocked by a few of the twists in the story and that they had never seen certain plotlines in the book coming. Some readers have also told him that they can’t wait for the second book.
His second book, Dark Lane, is already going through the editing process and could be published before Christmas or by January. VanOudenhove has already started writing his third book to the series.
Dark Place is currently available on Amazon. There is one copy at the Williston Library and one at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
VanOudenhove is hoping to get local book stores to carry the book, but said he finds it difficult to find the time to get to those places and introduce himself.