Tribune photographer Aaron Piper can remember a conversation with his mother after he shared his disapproval of a novel he had read.

“I kept complaining about how bad it was, and I guess I did it enough she told me if I thought I could do better, I should start writing,” he said.

That led Piper to write several stories throughout the years, but he could never finish them.

A few years ago, however, he had an idea, and it turned into his first novel.

The result was the release of “Titus Fogg” on Oct. 23 as the first book of Piper’s Wyrd Series trilogy.

“It’s a young adult book. It’s kind of dark but kind of funny,” he said. “All the comments are that it’s dark, but it’s not depressing. It’s scary, but it’s not horror. And it’s funny, but it’s serious.”

It is written in the third person with limited perspective, meaning it isn’t the point of view of the characters, but the reader is a third person.

“You’re privy to the thoughts of at least one of the people as you’re going along,” he said.

Halloween is significant in the book because it actually ends on the spooky holiday.

“Since he (Titus), or a caster as it is called in the book, Halloween holds significance to people with magic,” he said.

There’s a witching season in the book when most of the monsters are from different dimensions and planets.

That is when the real world and the world of magic are the closest.

“The book starts in the fall time, and the final scene is on All Hallow’s Eve,” he said. “The last night of the story, if you don’t count the afterwards, is the 31st of October.”

Set in modern-day Massachusetts, Titus Fogg is a high school student born into a family of magic. Fogg hates magic and wants nothing to do with it.

He finally manages to rid Shade from his body and begin to live a magic-free life.

Titus befriends his neighbor, Tess Roe, who’s also a classmate, and soon finds out she can see the same magical things he has seen his whole life.

When some people see a natural or accidental death, the pair actually see the magic taking place behind the events.

“You wouldn’t see them get killed by a fire-breathing dragon but being hit by a train,” Piper said.

The magic is based off of formula rather than natural ability, he said.

“It’s basically mathematics and linguistics,” Piper said. “Basically, just because you know the magic exists, you can’t do it unless you spend your life studying it.”

The story takes a turn when one of Tess’ friends gets killed and local police investigate Titus for the crime, leading him to return to the world of magic. The novel carries readers through the rest of the story as Titus and Tess try to prove he didn’t do it.

They also must find the thief of a magic book.

Piper said the idea for the book came to him three years ago, and he began writing about a year later.

He spent another year writing and editing the manuscript before pitching it to publishers.

After a few months of pitches and not finding a publisher, Piper decided to self-publish.

“After about six months doing that and having no hits, I didn’t want to spend another two years trying to market it to people, so I published myself,” he said.

Piper commissioned the artwork from Aerozopher, a digital art piece of a magical power coming from an eye.

Seeing the finished product was a moment of pride, he said.

“It was a good feeling finishing one of the stories I set out to do,” Piper said. “It was impressive to see it finally done, and I hope everyone else finds it impressive, too.”

The most challenging part was condensing some parts of the book.

“I’d think the reader would need to know something, but an editor would say that I could cut it out without changing the story,” he said.

Writing the “connector scenes” also was challenging for Piper because they were necessary but not always exciting.

“You have to have them to make everything make sense, but nothing super-exciting happens in them,” he said. “I dragged my feet on that, but it wasn’t as cool of a scene as others.”

Piper already has a start on the first draft of the second book and has an idea on what all will take place throughout it but is not completely sure how things will turn out for Titus and Tess.

“I don’t really have an ultimate ending, but I have a vague idea about stuff I don’t want to happen,” he said. “It’s basically determining what’s going to happen.”

As a trained journalist, Piper said it was an adjustment to write a 400-page book.

“Newswriting is more to the point,” he said. “Novel writing and creative writing are more of a train of thought and thinking the way that person would think.”

Piper will discuss the book during a meeting with the Spilling Ink Writers’ Group at 2 p.m. Dec. 8 at the Jackson County Public Library in Seymour.

“Titus Fogg” is available in print and eBook on Kindle through amazon.com, and smashwords.com will carry it through electronic versions compatible with Apple devices. It can be found on either site by simply searching Piper’s name or by title.

Piper also is actively trying to get local bookstores to carry it along with local libraries.

“I’m working with as many librarians as I can find to get them copies into the library,” he said.

[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]

Where to find a copy of "Titus Fogg"

Copies are available in print and eBook on Kindle through amazon.com.

Smashwords.com will carry it through electronic versions compatible with Apple devices.

Search "Aaron Piper" or "Titus Fogg" on each site to find a copy.

[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”If you go” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]

Hear Tribune photographer and author Aaron Piper discuss his book "Titus Fogg" during a Spilling Ink Writers’ Group meeting at 2 p.m. Dec. 8 at the Jackson County Public Library, 303 W. Second St., Seymour.

[sc:pullout-text-end]