I had my first ever interview posted, over on Indie Book Blog.
Its actually rather a lengthy one, and doing them is harder than it seems.
I’ll need to start hunting down more if I am to get my name out there and interest in the books.
Posts Tagged ‘writing’
My First Interview
Posted: March 7, 2011 in Interviews, Tears of the Mountain, winter wolvesTags: books, interviews, novel writing, Tears of the Mountain, winter wolves, writing
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February Report
Posted: March 1, 2011 in fantasy, General, Tears of the Mountain, winter wolves, writing updateTags: amazon, fantasy, fantasy writing, novel writing, smashwords, Tears of the Mountain, winter wolves, writing, writing update
And here we are in March already – two months of the year gone.
The output was reduced a lot compared to January, only around 50-60K done, but a lot of time was spent finishing Winter Wolves, proof-reading it and publishing it on Amazon/Smashwords.
The givewaway of Winter Wolves has slowed down some, but has now hit 101 people having acquired it. No reviews yet but three people have said that they will at some stage.
Sales wise, between the two novels I managed 15 sales for the month. Not a huge amount, but it is a start. Of those 6 were of Winter Wolves, so I’ll have to calculate how much goes towards supporting my sister – that one of them was on Amazon.uk and is listed in pence makes it more challenging.
I didn’t hit all my goals – a fair way off it actually, but it was a decent month still.
Aims for March. Work on He Stands Between, Dawn of Wolves, Hammer of the Skies and a novelette for another project. Aim is to try and finish one of the first three and the novelette.
Supporting My Sister Through Winter Wolves
Posted: February 25, 2011 in winter wolvesTags: amazon, books, smashwords, winter wolves, writing
My sister is currently working overseas in a third world country that, for security reasons, can’t be named. It isn’t the worst around but still isn’t exactly safe – the school she works at requires armed guards 24/7. The work she does is entirely voluntary and all the support she gets has to come from home in the form of donations and pledges.
As a poor starving writer there is not much I can do to help, until now.
I have decided that all the profits from my new novel, Winter Wolves, will go towards supporting her and the school she works at.
Currently I am offering it on Smashwords for free, by using the coupon VC42F, for the next two weeks. This is in an effort to garner reviews and hopefully help spread the word.
If people are interested in buying a copy, it can be purchased for $0.99 on Amazon or Smashwords. Given the way royalties work on the two places, Smashwords is better value – one sale there produces twice the profit it does on Amazon.
Winter Wolves Finished
Posted: February 19, 2011 in fantasy, winter wolves, writing updateTags: fantasy, fantasy writing, novel writing, winter wolves, writing, writing update
Early this morning I got to the end of the rewrite and polishing of Winter Wolves and typed ‘The End.’
Its been a long while since I started it but now it has reached its conclusion. Well, more or less. There is still work to be done; proof reading, cover design and above all formatting for both Smashwords and Amazon. Hopefully that will not take too long and people can have a rad of it.
Already working on what to do next. I have the half finished novel He Stands Between, as well as two novellas, Hammer of the Skies and Dawn of Wolves that need finishing, plus another currently secret project. Maybe I’ll just flip a coin to see which gets priority.
And at some stage I need to work on updating parts of the website.
Progress Report
Posted: February 16, 2011 in winter wolves, writing updateTags: fantasy, fantasy writing, novel writing, winter wolves, writing, writing update
I’m making good progress on the editing of Winter Wolves, having done thirteen of the twenty one chapter so far.
That is the easy part.
After finishing the rewriting I did some brainstorming, trying to nut out a few problems I was having with the plot as it sat. The brainstorming worked well, as I figured out a way to fix the problems not only to my satisfaction, but to tie it in with a short story I’ve written as well. The major issue with the new ideas is that it is going to take some major rewriting in the second half of the book – maybe even whole chapters will need to be done. That all lies ahead still.
But at the current rate I am still looking at the end of the month to have it done and up available for download around the place.
Winter Wolves: Starting the Final Edit/Polish
Posted: February 10, 2011 in fantasy, winter wolves, writing updateTags: fantasy, fantasy writing, novel writing, winter wolves, writing, writing update
I’ve finished writing Winter Wolves. Its been a long time in the coming, but it is done finally.
Now comes the next phase – the editing and polishing. It is going to need it. Some concepts and ideas changed during the writing and so I’m going to have to go back through it and fix any inconstancies that may have caused, as well as fleshing out various spots that need some more detail. The largest amount of work needs to happen in the last one third, while the first one third is almost ready to go.
The aim is to have it up and out by the end of the month. Sooner if I can manage it.
January Report
Posted: February 2, 2011 in fantasy, Tears of the Mountain, The Oncoming Storm, winter wolves, writing updateTags: amazon, fantasy, fantasy writing, novel writing, smashwords, Tears of the Mountain, winter wolves, writing, writing update
January has come and gone – yes already. One twelfth of the year has already flown by.
Writing wise it was a decent month. Notable points are;
130K words written – mostly rewriting old drafts but still that is progress.
70K done on rewrite of Winter Wolves novel.
10.5K done of rewrite of Dawn of Wolves novella.
Tears of the Mountain published on Smashwords/Amazon.
Halfway into the rewrite of He Stands Between.
Various notes and ideas done for other stories.
Hope I can keep up the pace for February.
Aims for February are finishing off Winter Wolves and hopefully Dawn of the Wolves, plus a short story or two. And trying to market Tears of the Mountain better.
Progress and Plans
Posted: January 14, 2011 in Tears of the Mountain, winter wolves, writing updateTags: fantasy, fantasy writing, novel writing, Pure Escapism, Short story, smashwords, Tears of the Mountain, winter wolves, writing, writing update
The year has begun and we are already a couple of weeks in so I thought it time to take stock of what has happened and what I have got planned.
Firstly I have managed to write everyday of the year so far, and not insubstantial amounts. If I am rather liberal with my definition of ‘written’ then I have written 58,000 words in 13 days. The best day was yesterday, with 9,500 words done. Of course a large chunk, read most, of those words are rewriting old drafts into newer drafts. It is much easier and faster doing it that way, but of course the rough drafts need doing first.
Some of those words are on rough drafts, of which some have already received some rewriting, which seems a rather fruitful way of doing it. Scribble up the rough draft in the morning and in the evening get stuck into a rewrite of it.
All of that has been spread over a number of projects I’m busy working on to try and finish off, ranging from novels to short stories. The quick they are done, the better.
In addition to all that, I have finished the editing and polishing for Tears of the Mountain (or at least that is the theory – I have probably missed half the errors in it.) To celebrate I have put it up on Smashwords, and plan to make it available at more places (such as Amazon), as well as pushing it around the traps – but more on that later.
So that is what has been happening. Now for what I have planned.
I do at some stage need to give the old website an overhaul, updating the statuses of various projects, stories, collections and the like to reflect changes that have happened.
Short term plans are to complete the last part of the initial book of Cara’s Choice – the rough draft is getting close to being finished – and also to finish a rewrite and update of an old novel, Winter Wolves. Winter Wolves was sitting on around 60K of its rough draft when I left it but finishing Tears of the Mountain inspired me to return to it, given it takes place in the same setting and features one of the same characters. Since I wrote it there have been a number of changes to the setting that need incorporating, as well as it needing a complete overhaul of the ending; it didn’t work at the time and works even less due to various changes. But in a day and a half I’ve done 13,000 words of the rewrite of it.
Longer term is a goal to increase output, that being a short story every two weeks, a novel/novella every two months. An audacious target I know, but if I keep up my current output then it is entirely achievable.
I even had the short list of what those projects will be;
Winter Wolves (gunpowder fantasy novel)
He Stands Between (epic fantasy novel)
Hammer of the Skies (steampunk novella)
Cara’s Choice: The Awakening (urban fantasy novella)
Primal Tales III (fantasy short story)
Nhaqosa V (fantasy short story)
Cahuac and the Fisherman (fantasy short story)
Between all that I should be busy for a while.
I’ve always been a voracious reader, even from the youngest age. I devoured the written word, and what I read wasn’t of much concern. I even read encyclopaedias before I was ten.
I always used to just read to read, to educate myself and for fun. I’ve noticed all that has changed since I started to take my writing more seriously.
Now I do something I said I’d never do; I analyse the stories I read. I’d gone all the way through school without analysing, believing that it would ruin the read. Maybe it happens to other writers too, or actors watching movies or other professionals; they look beyond just the story and look at how it is crafted.
Whenever I read a book now I am always looking at the language used, how the stories are structured, the devices and forms in which they are written. I don’t know if it will make a me a better write but it has changed the way I read books forever now.
Meet Professor Halir, The Unexpected Character
Posted: January 3, 2011 in fantasy, Pure Escapism, Sharael, Tears of the Mountain, winter wolves, World Building, writing updateTags: characters, fantasy, fantasy writing, novel writing, Pure Escapism, Short story, Tears of the Mountain, winter wolves, World Building, writing, writing update
Professor Halir Ashford. Historian, Explorer and Adventurer. One of the favourite characters I’ve written so far. And a character who really shouldn’t have existed beyond a minor mention. It happens from time to time; characters take on a life of their own and demand a bigger say in things.
His story starts back with a novel I was planning (but never got around to starting). I needed someone to introduce the main character (Heric ‘Harry’ Ban, likewise a character that came about unexpectedly) to the adventure, and so I came up with Halir. he had been a friend of Harry’s father back during a war and was now a professor and historian. The novel was abandoned and the character would have been forgotten except for another novel I started sometime later, Winter Wolves.
Winter Wolves was my first serious effort at plotting and then writing a novel, and was designed to be a showcase for the setting and for Harry Ban. I even managed to complete a round draft. There was a need for a character who would draw Harry into events, and for that I went back to Halir and brought him along.
Though I finished the rough draft, I never got around to fleshing it out, instead, as is my want, I moved onto other projects and suddenly Halir took over somewhat. He got himself two lengthy short stories, Gifts and Sacrifices, and The Tomb of the Tagosa Kings, and then he got himself a full novel in which to star – Tears of the Mountain – which is the first novel I’ve completely properly.
It won’t be the last that Professor Halir is seen either.
Mist and Shadows 