Blog overload? Sheer indulgence? Why not both?

Today, WordPress sent me this notifcation;

It’s a milestone.  Thank you to lindaghill, my 100th follower and to my 103 other friends in the blogsphere.  You have made my (relatively short) journey a pleasure!

I say relatively short – I’ve been blogging since May 2010 but only sent out my first post in July 2012.  I’m sure there are other writers, artists and photographers who have been here for considerably longer.

My early blogging was mainly a journal was was retrospectively filled in to cover my early work back to 1999 -when records began.  :)

Before that, my writing was random and tended to drift from project to project.  I’d often lose focus or interest before anything of worth emerged from the pages – with one exception.  The germ of the idea that eventually evolved into Homeworld began during my senior school years (when they still used Roman numerals) and was always present in the back of my mind.  One day, I WILL go back to those 43,000 words and complete them – now that I know how the story is going to conclude.  Regular readers will know that’s always been an Achillean failing of mine – not being able to conclude a story – but I’m aiming to change that now that I’ve finally managed to (self) publish my first novel.

The title of this post may infer that I have doubts about following so many blogs.

Not at all.  I may not have the time to read each and every post in the same, leisurely manner that I did when I was following fifty bloggers, but that doesn’t mean that opening my ‘Blogs I follow’ tab isn’t a thrill and a pleasure.  It does mean that I sometimes have to skim a little more than I used to, but I’m soon pulled in by an intriguing headline or an amusing title and find simple joy in reading the wisdom of others – plus sharing what I’ve learned so far.

I follow in the footsteps of those who are wiser and more experienced than I am.

.

Six Sentence Sunday – the sword

.

This week’s SSS is an extract from the later part of  ‘A Construct of Angels’.

Michael, our reluctant angel, has just given battle to a demonic swordsman, driving him from the streets of York.  Michael holds one of a pair of black swords in his hand; the other is jammed into the tarmac nearby – the result of a clever defence move by Michael.  However, the swordsman has left behind a dangerous mob, which Michael is holding at bay with the captured sword – although events are about to conspire against him.

Sara takes up the story;

Before my astonished eyes, the black blade began to disintegrate, dropping to the ground like crumbling ashes.

Michael hurled the hilt aside and stared at his hand in horror – a cold chill had raised goosebumps along the entire length of his arm.

The mob chuckled; many of them raised their bottles and makeshift clubs.

A knife flashed, my nerve broke and I leapt forward, racing across the slick street towards Michael. 

My hands reached out towards the second sword that had now toppled, the satin blade having softened the tarmac to leave a puckered crater in the black surface of the road. 

Michael shook himself out of his daze, his darkening fingers reaching for my arm as my fingers closed around the hilt…but he was too late – I was already beyond his reach.

. . .

. .

.

Hope you like it!

Write on!

Six Sentence Sunday – a day late.

Apologies, but I was very busy yesterday.  Something involving an autojumble, a three-metre table and the sale of my life-long collection of model cars.

So, to cheer myself up, I selected six sentences from my now-published book ‘A Construct of Angels’.

.

This scene takes place once Michael the impromptu angel has been incarcerated in York’s Bootham Park Hospital, a secure (and real-life) mental care unit.

He had been babbling in mutiple (sometimes ancient) languages as well as trying to tear the flesh from his own arms and was promptly assessed by the authorities as mentally incapable.

Sara Finn, the paramedic who was partly responsible for not only causing him to fall to Earth, but for his imprisonment, is feeling terribly guilty about what has happened and decides to visit him.  A nurse called Susie escorts her to Michael’s room, where he appears to be acting very strangely;

.

I watched, fascinated, as Michael pressed his fingers to his eyes, then flipped open his hands to form blinkers.  

For several seconds, he stared at his reflection in the acrylic mirror above the small sink, then covered his eyes before flipping open his hands to stare at his reflection once again.

“He does that a lot,” Susie said, her voice tinged with sadness.  

“But each time he does it, it’s…” her voice trailed off as if she was uncertain of her own thoughts.

“It’s..?” I prompted.

“Well, it’s as if he’s expecting to see a different face looking back at him.”

.

Write on in 2013!

What’s it all about…Author?

Since ‘A Construct of Angels’ was published as an Amazon Kindle eBook, I have been asked this question many, many times.   And if I’m honest,  I haven’t always answered it well.  But if you plan to publish in the future (or indeed, you have already) then you should spend a few moments rehearsing your reply.

A verbal synopsis can be as important as the written one, so it’s worth getting it right.

Nothing puts off a prospective buyer more than;

‘Er…um…well…it’s kind of…’

If you, the author, can’t even verbalise a quick synopsis, how can you expect to transmit your enthusiasm to a potential buyer?

The answer that I have found to be very effective is to immediately compare ‘Construct’ to an existing…nay, a household name – Twilight.

Yes, I know it’s a bit cliched and it’s just one of soooo many vampire stories in a super-saturated market…but consider this;

Who HASN’T heard of it?

So if you’ve just written a political thriller , don’t be afraid to say ‘It’s a lot like Tom Clancy / John Grisham / John LeCarre.’

Your rip-roaring sci-fi adventure could do a lot worse than be compared to the huge success of Star Wars.

Even if they forget about your book, the next time they see whatever you’ve compared your work to, they could very well be reminded to browse for your story.

Try ‘You’ve heard of……. right?  Well, this is similar, except….’

And once you’ve established your genre, you can then go on to qualify your comparison, by adding something like; ‘It’s similar to Star Wars, but without the Wookies’ or ‘but Tom Clancy never went where my story goes..right into the corrupted heart of the DEA.’

The verbal synopsis of ‘Construct’ has evolved into something like this;

‘You’ve heard of Twilight and all the other vampire books?’

They nod.

‘This is similar, but with no vampires or werewolves allowed.’

‘Okay…’ they say, wondering what IS allowed.

‘It’s based in York.’

That gets their attention – it’s somewhere local (to us).

‘A paramedic who works there goes to the mortuary because she thinks her dead brother has just been found.’

Awww…the sympathy expression.

‘But while she’s there – she accidentally pulls down an angel into one of the bodies.’

‘Ooh?’  is the usual surprised reaction.  ‘How could this be?’ they may wonder.

‘It turns out that this angel has only six days to save the world, otherwise Hell will take over and civilisation is finished.’

‘Six days?’

‘Yep.  The clock is ticking.  Six days – and everything goes to Hell.’

After that, they usually begin to ask questions about the story and how long it took to write, and the synopsis is no longer in the spotlight.  Job done.

So, my advice is to Compare, then Qualify and finally Expand.

Give it a try when you’re in a quiet place (a railway platform or a bookshop is probably not the best venue).

Imagine that you’ve finally landed that longed-for radio interview.  Millions are listening with baited breath (don’t worry, they can’t see your reclusive yet artistic face) to hear what your book is about – and you have between fifteen and twenty seconds to sum it up.

Go for four sentences.  Short and snappy.  Get their interest.  Compare, Qualify, then Expand.

In closing, I should tell you this;

My worst ever answer?

‘So what’s your (High Fantasy) book about?’

‘It’s…er…it’s complicated.’

The curious party walked away, none the wiser.  Don’t send potential buyers away with no desire to check out your book.

Write on!

A Construct of Angels is FREE on Amazon Dec 1st and 2nd 2012

‘A Construct of Angels’ has now been live at Amazon for five weeks now…the time has come to use two of the five ‘freebie days’ on Amazon KDP to list ‘Construct’ as a free download.

This will (if all goes to plan) apply to Saturday and Sunday (1st and 2nd December), hopefully from 0001 Pacific Time Saturday to 2359 Pacific on Sunday…give or take.

If you’ve already downloaded a copy, please tell your Kindle (or Kindle-for-PC enabled – a free download from Amazon) friends that ‘Construct’ will be available for this period.

Or if you’ve been the (lucky?) recipient of one of my advance copies, please download a free copy so that you will be able to (if you so desire) leave a line of feedback when you are able.

The rumour is that Amazon is busy removing feedback from peeps that haven’t procured a copy from their site.

I emphasise that this is just gossip at the moment and I haven’t seen any first-hand evidence of it.

As this is the first time I have tried the Amazon KDP free download day feature, I will feed my  experiences back to you in my next post.

Please take advantage of this offer if the genre appeals to you and if you are able to, please be kind and leave some feedback.

Feedback is a very valuable commodity to debuting authors and helps to boost credibility, build buyers’ confidence and hopefully encourage future sales!

Thank you.

Write on!

Well, I’ve only been and gone and done it!

Well, I’ve only been and gone and done it (as they used to say in the old Brit flicks).

Yep.  It’s done.  Too late to back out now.

What? I hear you cry in exasperation.

I’ve only gone and published on Amazon.