August: A Month of Maybes

The writing, which is what this blog is really all about, has taken precedence this month, with 45% of my working time spent putting words onto paper (metaphorically speaking, of course, since I type direct to screen!). The third volume of the fantasy trilogy, provisionally titled ‘A Seared Sky’, is progressing at a good pace. The month started with 24,131 words and 6 chapters completed. It ended with 21 chapters and 81,672 words committed to the MS. That’s 57,541 words this month, or an average of 1,856 each day. Not as much as I’d like, but a reasonable move forward. Of course, I’ve also introduced another 5 named characters, and it takes time to develop such newcomers to the story. If you look at the post immediately prior to this, you’ll see how I go about that process.

The domestics have naturally played their part this month, with Valerie still unable to use one arm. The cast was supposed to come off last Thursday, and it did. But she’s still in some pain and they decided to replace it for another week. The new cast is slightly shorter, lighter and a rather fetching purple hue. We’ll both be heartily pleased to see the end of it and Valerie’s return to normal functioning. Mind you, the break has taught me things of which I was previously unaware; Valerie does a lot more around the house than I’d ever suspected. So, I’ll be helping out a little more than in the past.

I’ve done 3 sessions of updates on the Writing Contests page, see the tab above if you’re willing to try your hand at earning a bit of cash and kudos for your writing.

I’ve written 7 posts for this blog (which, by the way, has reached a minor milestone today, with 150,000 page views). Also read and reviewed 6 books. Naturally, I’ve spent a good deal of time in networking: engaged in short conversations on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Goodreads, Google+ and Pinterest. I enjoy exchanging ideas and thoughts with other people, so please do join me.

The coming month promises to be every bit as full as the last. Our daughter, Kate, reaches the significant age of 21 during the early part of September and we’ll be celebrating that rite of passage accordingly. Valerie and I will reach 25 years of wedded bliss (that’s a silver wedding anniversary, for those who are unfamiliar with such things) later in the month, and we intend to celebrate that event in style, meaning there will be a period during which I won’t be writing. That’s also likely to delay the report for September by a number of days.

I’m considering introducing some of the characters from my fantasy to readers here over the next few weeks, so look out for some character descriptions. And, I think that’s about it for now. As ever, I welcome your comments.

The accompanying chart is more or less self-explanatory, but here’s an explanation anyway:

The chart, explained:

'Writing' - initial creation of stories, blog posts, reviews and longer works.

'Editing' - polishing of all written work to make it suitable for readers.

'Research' - discovery of info for story content, market research, contests and blog posts.

'Reading' - books and writing magazines.

'Networking' - emails, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and comments.

'Admin' - story submission, blog posting, marketing, organisation, tax, and general admin tasks.

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En Route to Publication

Fantastic Books Publishing, having viewed my first 3000 words of the adult epic fantasy trilogy, have 

asked to see the whole MS. Fantastic! I know this relatively new publishing venture through a previous association, when I was asked to provide a story for a contest winner’s anthology of speculative fiction. Fusion ran with my story, Rebirth, as a sample of professional sci-fi writing alongside those contest winners.

Now, this publisher is considering my fantasy. A Seared Skyruns to 3 volumes, of course. I’ve already written books 1 and 2 and I long ago drew the map to accompany the story that takes place in my imagined world. Book 3 is well under way, with 8,500 words written so far. Book 1, Joinings, is now under consideration. As you can imagine, I’m delighted, excited, and looking forward to a long and fruitful association with Fantastic Books Publishing.

Many of you will know that I’ve self-published a number of books and may wonder why I’d want to become involved with a publisher for this project. I am a writer. I prefer to use my time to write. Whilst I’m perfectly capable of preparing a book for publication in either eBook format or for POD printing, and even design my own covers, I’d prefer to spend that time in actually writing. All the onerous, for a writer, tasks involved in preparation of a MS for conversion to the formats required for publication will be taken care of by the publisher. Cover design will be devolved to a professional designer, with input from me as author. As for marketing; well, we all know that writers are deeply involved in promoting their own work, however it reaches the readers. The difference will be that I won’t have to design and run the publicity events. I’ll merely have to be involved in promotion. I think that’s a worthwhile sacrifice of the small reduction in royalty this publisher takes for their professional involvement and expertise.

I trust this publisher. They already have a good track record. And I’ve met Daniel Grubb, CEO, through other published writers. Such recommendation is always valuable, I think. So, I look forward to the adoption of the book by Fantastic Books Publishing; by no means a done deal at this stage, but one I hope will come to fruition. I’ll keep you informed of the progress as I take this route to further publication and I’ll let you all know as soon as we have a launch date.

If you have something ready for publication, why not consider this publisher? Have a look at their website and see what they have already produced, see their terms and conditions and maybe try your work with them.  Here’s a link to their website: http://www.fantasticbookspublishing.com/about/

An Epic Fantasy Trilogy: Your Suggestions Please.

I’ve spent a good part of the past few years in researching, devising and finally writing an adult epic fantasy trilogy. So far, for A Seared Sky, books 1 and 2 are written and edited and, now I’ve started writing book 3, I’m looking at publication of the first book. I delayed publication as I’m aware that the initial books of trilogies have been released to readers in the past only for them to learn that the story is incomplete and for those following books never to actually appear. By waiting to publish book 1 until I’ve actually started writing book 3, I hope to provide potential readers with the confidence that this is a story that will be completed.

My request here, however, is for the views of readers on the introductions to books 2 and 3. There is more than one convention at work and I’d love to know what readers actually prefer. Do you want a synopsis of the previous book (book 1 when reading book 2; book 2 when reading book 3)? This sometimes takes the form of a descriptive opening chapter, sometimes a prologue. Or do you prefer that the books each start as if the previous books have been read and remembered, with a few references to past events to jog the memory? Or, indeed, do you prefer an entirely different approach? If so, what?

Those are my questions and I really would appreciate your input. Please be as detailed or brief as you wish. It’s your opinions I seek here.

My Next Big Thing

I’ve been invited by Penny Grubb  (http://pennygrubb.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/my-next-big-thing.html) to take part in the Next Big Thing Blog Tour. My five nominees were supposed to be listed at the end, but, for various reasons, they were unable to commit, so I guess this is the end of this particular leg of the tour!

In common with most published writers, I write to be read. But I also break a great publishing rule, imposed by agents and traditional publishers for reasons of their own: I don’t write in only one genre. In fact, I rarely consider genre before I set out to write a story. This makes my work difficult to categorise, of course. But, as I give a description of every book, I see no difficulty with this approach.

Take a look at the titles under the tab ‘My Books’ and you’ll see what I mean. There’s a romantic thriller, a sci-fi novelette, an anthology of tender love stories, a collection of dark speculative fiction, a cheeky story for the New Year, a selection of stories from my writing group, an erotic anthology and a collection of prize-winning sci-fi and fantasy stories to which I was invited to contribute.

So, it’s not immediately obvious what my next big thing might be. But, I am currently working on the second volume of an epic fantasytrilogy intended for an adult readership. Volume one is ready for publication and volume two is well along the editing path. Volume three is around as an outline combined with a huge number of ideas floating around the caverns of my mind. I intend to publish this story after I have introduced it by publishing a number of short novelettes starring various minor characters from the main story. So, that is likely to be the next big thing for me. Capricious? I’m an artist, in the sense that I create from imagination, and it’s difficult to pin me down. One thing I can promise my readers, however, is that the epic fantasy will be well on the way to completion before I publish volume one. I think there is nothing more irritating for readers than to become involved in a story that runs over several books only to find that the writer has either lost interest or failed to engage the level of discipline needed to complete the work.

What is the working title of your book?

The series will go under a title which, for the moment, remains secret. However, the first volume is ‘Joinings’, the second ‘Partings’ and the third is provisionally titled ‘Endings’.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

This series has been around in my head for so long that I can no longer recall its germination. I can, however, let you know that it deals with themes of injustice, betrayal, religious hypocrisy and the strength or genuine love.

What genre does your book fall under?

It’s an epic fantasy, but excluding elves, dwarves and dragons (thought the latter mythical creatures do feature in the folklore).

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

About seventy years! Actually, for reasons I won’t bore you with, it’s been an on and off project that started over 30 years ago with the development of the imagined world and the drawing of the map. The actual writing was interrupted by domestic events and life that got in the way but began around seven years ago. In that time, I’ve written two volumes of around 220,000 words each. I’ve edited one and am currently half way through editing the second.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I’m not into comparisons for my work, as I don’t consciously feed off the work of others. The book neither refers to nor borrows from any other. It’s the product of my imagination, influenced by the thousands of books I’ve read, the many films and plays I’ve watched, the multitude of life experiences I’ve passed through. I understand that literature is necessarily incestuous but I’d be hard put to identify any parents or siblings for this work. I’ll let readers decide.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

My work is almost always the result of free imagination. I’m able to sit at the keyboard and produce a short story without any preparation. Obviously, for a series of this complexity and scope, I had to develop a history, customs, religions, landscapes, social patterns, laws, traditions, myths and all those other things that bring an imagined work to life. The themes, however, as explained above, permeate much of my writing; in particular the issue of injustice and the all-pervasive idea of hypocrisy within organised religion. It was undoubtedly thinking on these matters that brought the pot to the boil until the ideas melted together and became the story that now feeds the books.

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

My stories are character driven. I aim to make the people who inhabit my fiction into characters they will know or, at least, come to know. Some are very bad, others are very good and, in between lie those people we all meet and live with, escape from, love, hate, like, despise and worship.

Which five writers will take over from you next week and tell us about their next big thing:-

Here was supposed to be the list for links to the blogs of 5 other writers taking part in the tour. Unfortunately, they were unable to commit for a multitude of reasons, most of which I fully understand, as a busy writer myself.