#amwriting - Or Not.

Not exactly Hornsea's beach, but near enough

Across on the website run by Hornsea Writers’ we muse on our use of August, Taking the Summer Off? Er... 

   
The question posed to members made me consider my own situation a little deeper than my answer admits. I’m well behind with my work-in-progress, the final book in the Torc of Moonlight trilogy, and I have a deadline I doubt I’m going to meet. Fretting about it leads to it becoming a self-fulfilling truth.

Unlike the others in the trilogy, this novel has thrown up structural wobbles that have turned into minor earthquakes. As with most people I’m also running a long normal-life To Do list, items of which have needed to take precedence. Once that occurred all the items started screaming for attention, and in my mind they’ve kept up the sort of raucous chanting more usually heard on a football terrace.

I’m not a minutiae plotter, neither am I a total pantser, but I write atmospheric prose and need to be in the zone so I can get a scene’s tone correct. I write in as near silence as I can manage; distractions and interruptions play havoc with the mood.

It became so bad yesterday my husband came up to tell me to stop fighting it and enjoy the sunshine while it lasts. So armed with an iced cordial and an editing pen, I decamped to a lounger and put the current chapter through its fifth incarnation in as many days. And then wrote the following chapter in longhand in two hours flat.

If you, too, are behind schedule, the old adage can hold true: sometimes a change is as good as a rest.

Smashwords - July Promotions

July is the summer promotion month for one of my ebook distributors, Smashwords.com, and a number of my titles are offered at discounts from 50% to Free. Don't delay, now is the time to try them. Enjoy!

25% discount: Beneath The Shining Mountains - Historical novel

1830s Northern Plains, among the Apsaroke/Crow people. Moon Hawk yearns for Winter Man, but why would a man with so many lovers want to take a wife? Her wry challenge to his virility captures Winter Man's attention and starts a game of tease and spar that leads to devastating consequences. A story of honour among rival warrior societies, and one woman's determination to wed the man of her dreams. 

25% discount: Hostage of the Heart - Historical novel

1066: the Welsh Marches. Rhodri ap Hywel sweeps down the valley to reclaim stolen lands, taking the Saxon Lady Dena as his battle hostage.

But who is more barbaric: a man who protects his people by the strength of his sword-arm, or Dena’s kin who swear fealty to a canon of lies and refuse to pay her ransom? Dare she place her life in the hands of a warrior-knight shielding dark secrets of his own?

25% discount: Reading A Writer's Mind: Exploring Short Fiction - First Thought to Finished Story

This non-fiction/fiction hybrid shows the detailed thinking behind the writing of ten stories across a range of genres using different modes of delivery. From the initial idea through the story itself, to a commentary explaining the decisions made during the writing, this book offers a unique insight into one writer’s creative process, laying a path to follow and showing the tools to use.

50% discount: Torc of Moonlight - Book 1 - Mythic Fantasy novel

When student Nick becomes obsessed with Alice and her determination to find the shrine of a forgotten Celtic water goddess, he comes to realise that history isn’t as quietly buried beneath his feet as he’d believed - and it always repeats itself. Denying coincidences could get them both killed. A multi-layered story of passion, betrayal and Celtic revenge. 

FREE! Scent of the Böggel-Mann - Horror short

 

Elaine haunts auctions held in crumbling country mansions, dreaming of a find that will make her and Gary rich. A plain wooden shipping trunk has no key to its iron-banded locks but is far heavier than it should be. What might it contain? 

‘Bricks,’ laughs a suave competitor. 

‘A body,’ retorts Elaine. 

Both are wrong. Both are right. 

Beware the Böggel-Mann.

Sailing into a Good Read

A link from the Washington Post caught my eye, its article lamenting the demise of libraries on cruise ships. It paraphrased Linda Garrison, travel writer for About.com: “Oftentimes, the bigger the ship, the smaller the library.”. 

'Marco Polo' and 'Regal Princess' berthed at Tallinn, Estonia

Maybe so. Having not sailed on a big cruise ship, there being no desire to be penned into a balcony cabin – sorry stateroom – or share a confined space with over 3,000 other people, I can’t comment. However, of the two ‘comfortable’ size ships I have holidayed on from the UK’s Cruise & Maritime line – Marco Polo 850 passengers; Azores (now Astoria) 550 passengers – I can recommend both for their libraries, though a passenger needs to be in there fast to grab the guidebooks to the next port of call.

I found Marco Polo, especially, was well appointed for its clientele with thick carpeting and comfortable wrap-around chairs and, more importantly, one wall of floor-to-ceiling fiction and another of non-fiction, including some beautifully illustrated coffee table tomes that started a covetous itch in this reader. The ambiance was missing only an open fire, but of course there was a wall of windows with an ocean view so no one was complaining.

By mutual understanding it also ran a Silence regime which I – who should have known better – fell foul of in my exuberance. There may have been no actual tutting, but it was inherent in the sudden turn of heads, wonderfully refreshing when compared to modern dry-side public libraries where it can sometimes be difficult to hear myself think.

Kindle and tablet readers held their own alongside paper readers, seen on deck and in the lounges no matter the time of day, inspiring to a writer considering what else was on offer: lectures, craft workshops, bridge and Scrabble groups, deck and lounge games, show, cabaret and nightclub, quizzes and demonstrations, to say nothing of the port excursions. Despite there being hardly time to sleep there was always time to read, and to discuss a title with a fellow passenger over coffee or lunch.

C&M’s cruises are child-free, their ships small enough to sail from regional UK ports. Perhaps that’s why the experience is so relaxing, a lounger and a good book preferred to a climbing wall or a multi-level shopping experience. And to find your fellow passengers such interesting people.

On my recent twelve day cruise of the Baltic I read two novellas and a novel, and there’s my cue to upload the reviews. And yes, I did donate one of my own titles to the ship’s library. It’s called soft marketing.

Unaccustomed as I am – Talking About Our Books

On Thursday I’m being interviewed on a local radio station, West Hull FM. Except it is less an interview and more a chat – for an entire hour, including music. The proposed questions have just come through and, of course, top of the list is Tell listeners about your books.

Oh... gosh.

I have nine titles out as ebooks, four of which are also in paperback, these across five genres ranging from Horror to Historical. This doesn’t include the short fiction or non-fiction articles. How to can that into a soundbite?

In truth it’s impossible, but I have to make a stab at it. If you find yourself struggling in similar circumstances, this is how I’ve tackled it.

1) Consider the audience, not just the interviewer. Most of my audience will be within a tight graphical area, so some of my answers need to chime with their local knowledge to help create a rapport. If any know who I am I’ll be highly surprised, so I have to come across as a human being they’d like to share a coffee with.

2) Consider the time of broadcast. Mine is 11am-noon, so most listeners will have the radio on as background to a more important task. I am under no illusion: people will not be hanging on my every word. It’s up to me to intrigue them to listen.

3) Despite the wide-ranging genres, what links the fiction? Being so close, I couldn’t see the wood for the trees, yet there has to be a common denominator, apart from my single brain (cell). Finally I nailed it: in various guises my fiction deals with relationships. Result – I had my over-arcing soundbite.

4) Choose the titles to mention. No listener is going to stay tuned to hear nine book pitches, even less their blurbs. I chose three, crafting them with care and making each longer than the previous so as to lead the listener deeper:

a) an intriguing and easy-to-digest intro which flags a common knowledge

b) a volte-face to catch attention, with touches of a storyline, of what’s at stake, the thinking behind the writing

c) the immediacy of what I’m currently working on, but encompassing a much more complex set of storylines, and finishing on a smile.

Q: Tell listeners about your books

I have nine titles published as ebooks, four of which are also in paperback, straddling five genres ranging from Horror to Historical. What links them is that in various guises my fiction deals with relationships.

My highest selling novel is a Native American Historical, Beneath The Shining Mountains. It has a romance at its heart, but its theme is about taking responsibility for one’s actions. And as we all know, true love never runs smooth.

My latest is a Horror short – Scent of the Böggel-Mann – about a woman who enjoys buying Lots from auctions and re-selling them on Ebay and car boots. Her life unravels when she bids for a locked chest and what it contains puts her husband at risk. Does she disintegrate into tears or fight for her husband’s life? It’s about how strong we truly are, how ruthless can we be, when faced with circumstances out of our norm.

The work-in-progress is the last book of a trilogy of contemporary fantasies – Torc of Moonlight – that begin in Hull, move to York, and this final book has a base in Durham. It’s also my most technically complicated, with three storylines in each book, one of which is fantasy, one straight contemporary, and one historical. Hull is Celtic, York is Roman, and Durham is monastic medieval. So you can imagine the research that goes into these. And my biggest problem is that I write slowly so all this takes forever. 

And there you have it, my sectioned soundbite/s. I can go into more detail about any of the novels, or others, later in the interview. I realise I might cover only the first two paragraphs, but it will be a start. Once this groundwork is laid, other questions I can answer on the hoof. Hopefully.

Update: I've done the deed, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. See if I followed my own instructions HERE (60 mins - but you can fiddle).