Ricky Black's Blog, page 2

Why I Write Erotica

I announced on my social media platforms that I was releasing an erotic novel recently.

Writing erotica is a passion of mine that grew from a little fun to fluster women at work, to something I enjoyed crafting. It’s something I’m always striving to improve and I’d like to think I’ve cultivated a reputation for it.

I first started writing ‘Filth’ back in 2010. I was ill, none of my projects were clicking (I was struggling with Target), and I randomly started writing some filth scenes in one of my numerous notepads. I didn’t really know what I was doing, typical of anything back then, and I used characters from my Target universe, basing the scenarios around them. I wrote what I wanted to read, worrying less about content and trying to be as visual as possible, to the point of being completely graphic. The story and character interaction were both minimal. It was pure, filthy smut and I enjoyed being able to let loose. I wrote a few scenes, showed them around, and received a decent reaction. I was still in the early stages of my writing career, and I had a tendency to start multiple projects and finish none of them. I added little bits to the erotica, and it slowly became a staple of my writing.

2012 led to an increase in productivity. I’d noticed Amazon’s KDP program, and I became convinced I was ready to publish (I wasn’t). I started a series I titled the F*ck Book series, and I was determined to finish and publish it. My filth was still raw though. I was reading other people’s, seeing how they structured it, but it just didn’t seem viable. The idea filtered out, for now.

More years rolled by. I almost pulled the trigger on another erotic novel in 2014, but timing was an issue. In 2016, I finally released Target, beginning to put more emphasis on shaping my universe. My filth erotica was passable by now, maybe even good, and I was garnering a positive reaction and lots of feedback. Again — timing. It never seemed right. I stepped up my game, learning to think more about the structure, placement and build-up; three areas I believe separated me from other authors whom I was reading. I experimented with pieces and scenarios, slowly adding to my portfolio of filth, making new friends, holding structural meetings to discuss future projects, and I decided now was the time to finally show people what I had in the chamber.

Thank you for reading! Please leave feedback below, drop me an email, and sign up for my mailing list!

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2019 – Week 1

It’s been an interesting week.

I’ve been waiting for 2019. Not in the ‘New Year New Me’ sense, but more because it represents a revised beginning where I learn to do better.

For the last year or so, I’ve held a belief that all the pieces were there. I just lacked the motivation, which added to the overall frustration I was feeling. Writing is difficult. Writing geared toward others is worse for me, mostly because I’m aloof and I keep myself to myself. I’ve had confidence issues, not with my writing ability (most of the time), but with my ability to sell my book. I’ve touched on this before, so I won’t harp on about my issues with marketing. I’ll instead focus on what is working.

In May 2018, my close friend and manager came up with a writing plan to get me back on track after a forgettable 5 months. It was an excellent plan, very granular, highlighting what I needed to do with each of my open projects. I used it throughout the summer, finishing and editing four projects, several of which I’d had on the shelf for years. I hit the wall when I started work on the next draft of the Target sequel, Takedown. I outlined 100 pages, focusing on each scene piece by piece. I knew where the story was going, but after a while I wanted to write other things, something the plan wasn’t built for. As the plan was geared around deadlines and completing projects by a certain date before moving onto the next, it sputtered out and I just stopped writing the sequel after 19 chapters.

The next few months were spent working on various shorts. I had my mailing list set up, but no-one was downloading my book. I didn’t know how to get sign-ups and I didn’t want to just ask people to sign up, so I did what I always do when my back is to the wall. I wrote. I posted short stories on Instagram, tying in characters relating to my books Target and Homecoming. I started to gain buzz, ran some FB ads, and a few subscribers started trickling in. I made the decision to focus more on Instagram, where I felt I was more established and frankly, where I had more fun. I stepped up my writing game and worked at engaging more with my audience. I learned to switch off the voice in my head screaming that marketing was cheap, and I became more comfortable talking about writing and books and structure with my friends on IG. I ran another promo for Target in December, people were downloading and for a while, I was shooting up the ranks. It reinvigorated me and showed if I took it seriously and didn’t retreat into my writing zone when it grew too hard, I could have what I wanted.

I set a new plan in place, one which allowed me more freedom to flit between projects. Within 4 days of the new year, I’d written 16,000 words of the projected 25,000 word target, and still found time to work on other projects, outline new work, and read several books – one of which I’d been trying to read since November.

It’s only a few days into the year, but I’m ready and motivated. Given enough time and continued work, I’ll show people why they should become part of what I’m building.

Have you had a similar start to the year? Comment below or drop me an email.

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Homecoming - The novella of Justin Holmes' life after prison, is available for free download now. Click on the link to get started

Progress (Or Lack thereof) Update

It’s been so long since I’ve been on my website, that I had to hunt around for the link to access it.

Honestly, I don’t even know where the time goes. I’m usually busy with my projects. As much as I’ve developed as a writer, I’ve not managed to learn how to focus on one thing. My mind is scattered, and I think this is reflected in my posts. Anyway, I digress.

The good news is, I have work. The bad news is, it’s not ready to see the light of day yet. I have an order in which I want to release things, so I’m having to work double-time on parts of the puzzle to get things ready. I don’t want to announce too much about my plans, but the sequel for Target is heavily on the cards. It’s titled ‘Takedown’ (Title subject to change), and it’s a continuation of the journey that my characters went through in Target (Note, this isn’t a plug, but feel free to purchase a copy and find out what the hype is about – link is on the homepage of my site!).

I have a few short stories I’ll be dropping before the release, and I’m on Instagram, posting daily. I’m in the middle of working on an app with several of my partners, and I’ve got other independent projects in the pipeline. I’ll also be working to update this site, as me and my developers have ideas.

So, I guess that what you can take away from this is that I’m busy! Writing, being a grown up, and doing all those important daddy things is beautifully taxing. My mind is still alive though, and I promise I’ll deliver soon, so be patient

Project Update

I should do these updates more often. No excuse for it really.

Ever since the release of Target, I’ve divided my time between working on the sequel, and working on multiple projects all tied into the Target Universe.

I’m also prepping my second release, which is a novella titled Homecoming. It is also set in Leeds and is the tale of Justin Holmes, a hustler who returns home after a sentence to find that everything has changed, himself included.

Thanks the success of Target from a critical standpoint, I’ve managed to acquire some fanatical beta readers, and they’re currently working with me to scour through my work to ensure it’s ready for public release.

I’m a part of several online groups, where we debate the quirks and flaws of various characters and scenarios in my work, which is gratifying and a lot of fun. There are certain characters that have quite the fan club, and others that are quite reviled, so the debates are often intense and definitely not for the faint hearted!

All in all, I’m not resting on my laurels. I don’t know how to. My sub-objectives at the moment are trying to find a way to incorporate time for reading into my schedule, and stepping up my promotional efforts which I’m doing, slowly but surely.

It’s an exciting journey and I’m enjoying pushing myself to achieve the goals I have set for myself. I’ve said this before and it still remains the truth; Target is only the beginning.

Look out for me, read the work, sign up to the subscription list and receive a free copy of my Novelette, No Siesta, a short crime thriller set in Barcelona. Target is still available online at Amazon, in both paperback and kindle form, so get involved and have your say! I take all feedback and critiquing on board, and I promise you there is only more to come 

Have a great day, however you’re spending it,

– Ricky Black –

The Numbers (This is NOT a rant)

Maybe I need to redefine what ‘success’ is.

I like writing. No, I love writing. I don’t like promoting myself. I don’t like being in any sort of spotlight. I just want to write.

I hate the daily conversations about if my book is ‘selling’, mostly because it comes from people who haven’t read my work, have no interest in reading my work, and only want to know how many copies I’ve sold.

They don’t care about the twelve year journey. They don’t care about the nights I killed myself to be published.

And I don’t understand how it validates them. I don’t understand how what I sell, or whether I’m selling or not, affects them in any way.

I guess I’m at fault though, because I pushed to be part of this. I demanded that people take me seriously as an author. And some people do, don’t get me wrong. I’ve had positive feedback about the work I’ve produced. I’ve opened eyes, surprised people, and I’ve had some very interesting conversations about the characters I’ve created. I really enjoy that side of things.

I love when people ask me about why I started writing, or why I never gave up, etc.

I dislike promotion because it feels fake. I want people to read because they want to, not because I’m trying to trick them into it.

I’m selfish (for the most part). I freely admit that. I put me first, to enable me to put my daughter first in the future. When I think of success, it’s not popping champagne and wearing expensive clothes. It mainly consists of EVERY door being opened to my daughter, and being able to live life by my own rules.

I’m asked about sales and I answer honestly: I don’t know. I don’t religiously check every day. I just … Write. I’m a writer. I like my pace, and the speed everything is going at.

Do I believe I wrote a good book? Yes. Is success out of my reach? Is it fuck!

Making a print copy

So, it was pretty clear within hours of my Target Ebook going live on Amazon that I’d seriously miscalculated. I weirdly thought that in this digital world of ours, people would resonate with the kindle version of my book. I saw it as more convenient than carrying a paperback, and a cheaper option.



Nope, they wanted a print copy

Success

So . . . funny story.

I’m sitting in my living room waiting for the kettle to boil in the kitchen, staring into space as ‘Victory’ pumps from my phone.

The kettle boils. I should stand up and go make the coffee, and yet I don’t. I remain sat down.

That’s how I’m feeling about success. It’s a constant theme. I feel like if I stand up and walk toward it, I can have it.

Yet I don’t.

I have no doubt I’ll get there in the future, but for now, I just don’t. I haven’t.

I need to work out why, overcome it, and stop letting contentment and procrastination win this ongoing battle for my destiny.

Sequels

Sequels . . . Wow.

I started originally writing a sequel to my novel Target after finishing the 2nd or 3rd draft (There were a lot of drafts!). I always wanted to call it ‘Takedown’. That title has been in effect since at least 2009. I could never seem to crack it though.

I had ideas about what I wanted the sequel to include, yet at the same time, I kept changing Target. Every time Target changed, I had to change the sequel.

When everyone was going trilogy mad a few years back, I attempted to jump on the wave in 2011 and somehow managed to write the third book before the first was finished! I have no idea how, but I did it. I wrote it alongside another first draft in the summer of 2011.

There was a lot of unrest and tension, mainly stemming from the London riots and some local situations that I won’t talk about. They’re not my business, but nonetheless, these situations spurred me on to a productive month of writing. I knocked out an 83k word first draft and then left this, determined that now I would be able to finish the second book.

I could not. I wrote some killer scenes (one scene towards the end of the book remains the best thing I’ve ever written in my oh-so-humble-opinion), but I couldn’t do it. Something was missing. It was a mesh of seemingly random scenes rather than a structured draft. The characters I thought were strong enough to lead the sequel seemed work. I tossed the book on the back burner determined to work on Target, which I vowed would be a stand-alone sequel.

Fast forward to 2015. I’ve improved as a writer (apparently), Target is finally complete (for good!). I’m reading everything in sight and even though my instincts scream not to do it, I start up with the sequel again.

Not only do I start it up, I tweak my Target ending, then add in another scene to tie it in. I ignore the 100k or so words I’ve already done on this sequel, vowing to go in another direction.

Maybe it was ego. I don’t enjoy failing at anything, and something told me I could write the shit out of the sequel. After all, everything was in line in Target now. I had found my voice, perfected my themes and fleshed out a protagonist and a book I am and will always be, damn proud of. I set myself a word target (100k words), outlined point by point what I would put into this sequel, and jumped to it.

The writing was coherent. An improvement on the first draft. The characters felt strong, yet something seemed to be missing again. I kept at it though, carrying on my usual tradition of writing multiple things alongside it (how the hell do you writers control this? Do you write multiple projects at once, or are you just more disciplined than me?). I wrote some strong scenes, and slowly but surely, with the help of my pillars, I managed to finally make some headway.

As of this morning, I’ve hit the 95k word mark with no end in sight. But, I’m confident that it will be done by my deadline date (with all the marketing and promo I’m doing, I’m aiming to have this draft finished by July – hold me to it!).

I’ll be more prompt with these updates from now on. You writers who manage to hit your word count, avoid procrastination and still manage to market and promote with a smile on your face, you are my eternal heroes!

Feel free to add some insight, comment, message me, whatever you feel.

Thanks for reading,

-Ricky Black-

My Target Journey

When I was younger, I loved reading Crime Books.

My parents were big readers, and I would find books around the house. I had a tendency to randomly pick up books and start reading them (I discovered Patterson and Pelecanos this way, amongst others!).

When I got it into my head that I wanted to write, I read The Godfather, and was amazed. The plot was good, but it was the characters that moved me more. I was drawn to Don Corleone, to Luca Brasi, to Michael and Sonny. Something in the way they were written resonated with me.

I decided at this point that I wanted to write a crime book of my own. I was reading different things at the time, namely Cocky, a book about Curtis Warren, a drug dealer from Liverpool. From the beginning, I knew that I wanted my own book to be based in Leeds. The area I grew up in, Chapeltown, had a reputation for violence. From this, the idea for Target was born.

It wasn’t named then (I think I called it Prototype). I had the name for my main character, Lamont Jones, from day one.

The name ‘Lamont’ came from one of my favourite rappers, ‘Big L’, whose real name was Lamont Coleman. The surname ‘Jones’, I simply felt at the time that it had a debonair sound to it.

The original concept was for Lamont Jones to be working for a massive drug dealer. His boss grew threatened, so Lamont killed him and took over.

I spent a lot of time in the planning stages, basing characters on the friends and associates that were in my life at the time. My ‘planning’ was a load of waffle at the time; it comprised of deciding what cars my characters would drive, how they dressed, very basic insight into their mannerisms. I kept on adding to the plan, but every time I tried to start, it felt wrong.

At this time, I was writing other things, but ‘Target’ was the one I kept coming back to.

Then one, night, and I apologise for how cliché this probably sounds, but I couldn’t sleep. I was at an old partner’s house and I felt like I had something to say, so I slipped out of bed, and went downstairs where I wouldn’t be disturbed. I found a pen and few loose sheets of paper, and I just started writing the opening. I wasn’t looking at my notes. I seemed to have everything in my head, and I just wrote.

I didn’t write for long, maybe an hour or so, and I certainly didn’t have any sort of discipline at the time, but what I wrote was the foundation for what I have now. I had a protagonist I could build around, I even had a love interest and several support characters. Once I had copied up that initial few pages, it gave me the momentum to keep doing it.

From the beginning, I had decided that Lamont would want to leave the life of crime. That was his goal, so when I read J.J. Connolly’s layer cake, I was quite simply enthralled. This book spurred me on and I’m not afraid to admit that I tried to copy so many concepts from this book. I loved the slang style of writing, the fact that it was written from a first person perspective. I copied all of this, and it was raw. But I was writing.

Every spare second I would be writing on paper, to be copied up later as I didn’t have a laptop of my own.

I didn’t have an outline. I didn’t have 3 act structures, or any real structure at all. Just chapters and paragraphs. I wasn’t thinking about word counts, or whether the book would be marketable. I was just writing, and as I wrote, I was starting to learn my characters.

I kept changing parts of the book, and deciding to do different things, so 2006-2008 were largely experimental years. It wasn’t until 2009 that the first draft was finished. It had an official name at this time – Target (More to come on where the name came from!), and I felt that the raw, error-muddled first draft, was good enough to be published. At the same time, something told me it needed more work. I put it to the side to work on other things, then I came back to it, showing it to a friend.

Between us, we sat in Borders in Leeds City Centre, drinking coffee and chopping away at the 140,000+ word behemoth I had. We chopped it down to a manageable amount, and then I began the intense editing process of deciding what worked.

The character of Lamont was still evolving at this point, but it was the sub characters that were capturing people’s attention (My sister told me Lamont was boring!).

As the years flew by, I looked at few publishers, who rejected Target. It hurt at the time but it was a smart move. It was nowhere near ready.

I wrote many other works at this time, mainly showing them to friends and people I worked with. Target was still my baby though. It was my flagship project. I always called it my heart, and I was determined I would get it right.

I devised a ‘Target timeline’, basing various other books around this timeline. I loved the world of characters I had built, and I wanted to keep it going.

Then, I read over the book again (I’d made a paper copy on Lulu). And, I suddenly hated it.

It devastated me. I was reading it, and it felt bloated, overly wordy, like I was trying to impress readers with my command of language. I didn’t like what I was reading, and I realised I had held onto the first person aspect of the story for so long, because I wanted to be like J.J. Connolly.

Only one other book I’d written (Trapped!) was in first person. Everything else was written in third person, which I was much more comfortable with. I spoke to my Uncle, who has long been an unpaid consultant on my books, and a few close friends who I knew wouldn’t sugar-coat what they said to me, and I made the decision that I was going to write the book in third person.

From 2013-2014, I rewrote the book. It went back up to 90,000+ words. It was more coherent, but the plot still didn’t feel right. I was missing something, and I didn’t see it.

I went back to the drawing board, reading books about technique, and structure, writing character bios and writing short scenes and stories that allowed my characters to breath and form themselves more.

I quit my job in November 2014, and I threw myself into all of this, writing multiple projects at once, determined to make it work.

That leads me to here. This point. My book finally having a release date (2 May 2016 – My daughter’s birthday). I finally had a finished project that I was proud of.

No matter what happens going forward, I will always remember the journey I went on; from writing on paper in someone else’s room, to typing those final words in my own ‘office’ at home.

I guess the point to this post, is that you shouldn’t let a single person tell you that you can’t do something. If you work at it and believe, you can achieve.

Do you have similar story journeys to tell? Share yours below, or email me directly at rickyblackbooks@gmail.com

I look forward to hearing from you!