Trey Stone's Blog, page 45

Thanks Everyone!

My weekend-long free book giveaway just ended, and I have to say it’s been absolutely fantastic!

The repsonse was much higher than I expected, it started off a bit slow, but I was super impressed by the numbers in the end! Thanks everyone who got themselves a copy, and thanks a bunch to everyone who retweeted, shared, reposted, reblogged and generally just spread the word! You guys are the best!

(Now if everyone also just read it, loved it, and left a review, that’d be great

Free Ebook!

You read that correctly! My book The Consequence of Loyalty is free again this weekend, from the 4th – 7th of August!

I’d absolutely love it if you picked up a copy, and if you find time to read it and tell me what you think of it, that’d be amazing too!

My book is a crime thriller mystery, set in Columbus, Ohio. The main characters are three FBI agents, who work together as the Critical Response Unit, a super-team that can do anything.

Until one evening when agent Jordan Greer is escorted into the office, met by Internal Affairs agents who tell him his boss Sean Callaway has been shot.

The real mystery however, is that the shooter is his friend and colleague agent Gerard Martin. After the shooting Martin has disarmed himself and surrendered completely, not uttering a word.

Jordan Greer and his partner Dana Norman launch their own investigation despite direct orders to not interfere from Internal Affairs, trying to prove that Martin is in some way innocent. But are they right?

Hope you’d like to check it out!

Origin Story: Gerard Martin

If you didn’t know already, I write origin stories for my main characters of The Columbus Archives, and you can head over to the Dossiers and Origin Stories page to check them out! They’re all free to download and will introduce you to the characters we meet in The Consequence of Loyalty.

And now I’ve written one for Gerard Martin! Gerard Martin is the British ex-SAS veteran who is recruited by the FBI to be the weapons expert of the CRU, the Critical Response Unit. He’s also the main focus of the first book in The Columbus Archives series, when he shoots his boss point blank and surrenders without a word.

 

In his origin story we’ll get a glimpse of his time in the SAS, before the FBI, before Greer and Norman, and before the crimes he comitted in The Consequence of Loyalty. Check out his story here.

Sign up to my mailing list here.

Fixing a story. Editing now or later?

Last week I asked the twittersphere for some help with one of my stories, and I wanted to share with everyone (thanks so much if you were one of the ones who answered!)

My problem was this: I’m working on a story where I need to rewrite good parts of the beginning. I think!

I’m already halfway through though, so my question was, do I fix the beginning now, or edit it later?

Ive found that as a general rule, most people, blogs, websites, and any kind of writing advice place/site/person, will tell you to not edit whilst you write. But anyway.

 

Obviously I  got two kind of answers since I posed two questions. Some people said fix it now, some said don’t even bother, do it later.

The majority of people who told me to do it now, argued for having a strong foundation to work with, and that the change could result in other changes along the way. That’s very sound advice and I get that. And this is kind of what made me ask for help as well, because I kept feeling like I would be better off if I did fix it now, yet I was unsure. I wanted to do it now but I couldn’t tell why.

 

People who told me to hold off, suggested that, as long as it doesn’t affect major parts of the plot or the ending, it really doesn’t matter. Your first draft is bad no matter what, fix it later.

 

And for now, I’ve ended up going with the latter option, fixing it in editing, and the reasons for this are:

 

1 – As I’m thinking about the story currenty, it won’t affect the ending. (I say that, that could change, but right now I can’t see that it will).

 

2 – I’m not entirely sure what the problem with the beginning is. I feel like there is something I need to do, but I can’t entirely put my finger on it yet. So it feels counterproductive to try and deal with a problem I have yet to understand.

 

3 – And this isn’t really a reason, but I much prefer to write first and edit after. I want to finish the main body of the story before I go back to the beginning, so that I can see it from start to end.

 

So like I said, for now I’ve gone with waiting. That could change, other things could come up that would make me want to edit asap. But for now I feel content with waiting, especially after asking my author friends on twitter. It’s weird though, I still feel like I ought to fix it right away, though I really don’t want to. Anyway, I’m sure it will sort itself out.

If you helped me reach this conclusion, or if you gave me advice anyway, thanks again!

Inspiration for a story – Characters.

I thought I’d write a little post on how I build my characters, so here goes.

First of all, I usually tumble across an idea inside my mind, and when I do it’s as if I haven’t had the idea myself, but as if someone left it there, for me to find. I’ll look at it as if it’s someone elses thought and realize “Hey! This is a great idea!”

Then ill start to flesh it out, and I always start with the characters. There will be a basic concept of some kind or other, but there’s always a lot of work to be done. And I’m the kind of writer who has to do a lot of work before I’m ready to write. I have whole novels outlined where there are basically no plot yet, just characters’ beginnings and ends.

Anyway.

Almost everything I write about is based on things from the real world. Every room, building, person, object. That’s an easy way I use to cheat, it lets me have an outline to add to, one that is easy to imagine. I’m very visual in my head.

So, instead of making up a person from scratch, I’ll find a real person to base them on.

Now don’t misunderstand. None of my characters exist in real life. It’s not like I write an exact copy of a friend (or stranger), into a story. But I’ll borrow one of their traits, or a strangers features, and add to my design.

Sitting on bus or train is a great place to do this. I love people watching, and I always try to notice how things people DO might affect how they ACT.

Does a person always seem to be in a hurry for example? Or maybe they are always very calm and relaxed, no matter how hectic their day is. Do they drum their fingers on something. Do they move their head a lot when they talk, or do they gesture. Do their eyes move a lot or do they keep eye contact? I try to notice all these small characteristics that make people different.

But I don’t write a lot about my characters doing all of these things constantly (or maybe I do, but I try not to), but I consider how it affects behavior. Is the guy who’s in a hurry agressive in the way he talks? Does he interupt other people who are talking? Is the girl who bites her nails nervous or shy? Is the person who doesn’t break eye contact intimidating or not?

It’s very easy to remember how you feel about a certain person, a colleague, family member, or friend. But do you know why you think of them like that? What it is they do or say that make you perceive them in your way?

 

All of these things might not necessarily besomething that is active in my writing, but I will keep it in my head. I will build up this whole idea of what a character does, how he behaves, and how that is perceived, so that I can take it into account when writing about them, and writing their lines. That way I’ll be more aware of how this and that character would act, or what they would say in certain situations.

 

So that’s it. How do you create your characters?

 

Book Review: Desolation by Jesper Schmidt

So here it is, my first book review, of Desolation by Jesper Schmidt. I’ll try to keep this spoiler free, but I will name some characters, and might reveal a bit more than what you get from the Amazon description. Proceed at your own risk.

Check out Jesper’s Twitter and Website, and check out his book below.

 

First of all, I loved this book! It’s a great fantasy read, and I finished it all in two or three sittings, which is unusual for me.

The story largely follows Aea, Ayida (two Duians, a kind of elven race), and Arkum’Sul (a type of dragonkin). But there are of course plenty of other characters we meet throughout the story, but these three are the main ones. My favourite is Arkum’Sul. He’s kind of a villian,  and kind of not. But he’s honorable and awesome, and just a great character, and I really hope we see more of him in the next book!

Aea is, I suppose, the protagonist, though she shares that role with Ayida. Aea is a badass archer that sets out to find her lost family, to set things right, and at every single turn in her adventure the world just seems to go against her.

The same can be said for Ayida. Her whole life she’s been going against the grain, and when we meet her she’s trying to follow her dreams and live the life she’s always wanted, just to have it beat her down constantly. I kind of hated that she always made the wrong decisions, (in my mind that is, in her mind they were the right decisions), but that just had me turning page after page to see how things would turn out.

What I really loved about the book, and what keeps it fresh compared to other books in the genre is that it keeps you guessing constantly. Whenever you think you know what’s coming up next, the story takes a completely different turn. I had myself thinking this a lot, and I loved it. I also really enjoyed the fast pace of the book, and how quickly characters intermingled, in what seemed to be very seperate storylines that could easily have dragged on through multiple books.

The short version: This is a great fantasy book that I’d recommend to anyone who’s a fan of the genre, and I absolutely can’t wait to read book no. 2!

Don’t Take Too Much Advice

When you decided to start writing, did it come naturally or did you do a lot of research first? Did you look up how to write?

Did you read blogs (like this one perhaps?), find websites, listen to podcasts or watch videos on YouTube? Maybe you went a bit less digital, and actually bought a book about writing?

I know I sure did. I did many of these things.

But I made sure to actually start to write as well. Just get into it, dive deep down and see where it took me. Some of my first few short stories are actually pretty decent. And others are absolutely terrible.

So I took some advice. Small chunks at a time. “Yeah I’ll try this.” “Oh, this sounds clever!”

But at the same time I tried to hold back. Writing isn’t science, it’s art. No one can tell you what’s right or wrong. If it works it works.

I think my point is, don’t feel pressured in to taking people’s advice (except for my advice obviously, wink wink), because people are going to be throwing it after you. However, there are plenty of best-selling debut novels out there, written by people who didn’t have to hone their craft for years and years (I don’t mean these people haven’t worked really, really hard for those novels though, don’t misunderstand.)

That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of tricks to pick up along the way. I won’t suggest anything, it’s up to you to find out what works for you. In the end, you’ll have a set of tools that you know works, and you’ll have a pile of tools that don’t.

But don’t be afraid to hold back, to just write and write with no holds barred, not listening to people who say “you should write it like this”, “you have to remember to do this.”

After all, the most important thing is writing.

Who Are You Writing As?

Do you have a favourite author? I bet you do. Or maybe a couple, a few that you read quite a lot, someone you just can’t wait to publish a new book. Someone that probably helped you along on the road to becoming a writer and an author yourself.

Everyone who writes, who wants to be an author including everyone who already are, will tell you that the best way to get better at writing is to read. Read more and more, read different styles, read things you like, things you don’t like. Never stop.

 

But though looking for inspiration is great, and reading is the best way to learn, make sure you remember to write as you. Make sure you find your own voice, your own style.

If you find yourselves looking to books to not only learn how to write, but to figure out how to sound, that’s when you’ve gone too far. Maybe your favourite author describes more than you, maybe there’s more dialogue, or a different point of view. Maybe he or she does it all a hell of a lot better, but that doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. (Obviously there’s always room to improve, don’t misunderstand.)

The point is, in a world where everyone has the chance to be an artist, we can’t all be The Beatles.

Someone has to be The Rolling Stones.

So find your voice, define your voice, listen to your voice – and write it.

The Process and writer’s block

So ‘The Process’ is something I came up with many moons ago, when I was at University, which I’ve realised transfers very well when talking about writing, and specifically writer’s block (which is something I would think most writers deal with at some point or other). I am sorry, I haven’t been able to come up with a better word for it, but I thought I’d write a post about it anyway.

Now don’t worry, it’s not some secret skill or ability you can teach yourself to work better, faster or harder, it’s just a way to understand how to work. (But I know, yes, it sounds very self-helpy-booky).

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Going through University, I found it difficult to figure out a good way to deal with assignments, especially when I sat there with several different deadlines, and a variety of different types of projects, that required varying amounts of work.

It was hard to find a good way to divide the amount of reading/research required as opposed to the amount of time I had to spend writing, editing, finalising and submitting.

And this lack of knowledge of how to structure my work, often made me frustrated, because every time I thought I had found a way to deal with it, another project/assignment would come along, and it wouldn’t fit the bill. So I’d be frustrated all over again, every time, thinking that I wasn’t doing the work efficiently enough.

And that’s when I realised this was part of my process. I had to work this way. If every task was easy to handle as soon as I got it, it wouldn’t teach me anything, I wouldn’t have learnt, and I wouldn’t be able to develop. This realisation didn’t necessarily make the work easier to do, I was still getting stuck, and being frustrated with how my work was going. But as soon as I identified this thing happening, I could recognise it, and deal with by shifting my focus, maybe do some more research again or turn to another project.

So that’s how I came up with The Process. Becoming frustrated and not knowing where to go next, (usually around the halfway mark), was the way I often worked. It’s natural to find difficult tasks just that, difficult! That’s didn’t mean I wasn’t doing a good job, it just meant that I was pushing my limits. And that’s how you get better at things.

Now, I’m not in University anymore, but it’s the same with writing. I’ll get to places where I find it hard to continue, and I realise that I might have to take a step back, or do something else. And knowing that that’s how it works, is a great thing.

Thanks everyone!

Hi, I just wanted to say thanks to anyone who picked up my book for free yesterday! Great turn out, much more than I expected!

I hope you do enjoy it, the lucky ones who got it, if you haven’t gotten to reading it yet, you can check out some free short stories for my main characters under my Dossiers and Origin Stories page, alternatively here and here

If you did get it, I’d appreciate it immensely if you could leave a review on either Amazon or Goodreads

If you weren’t one of the lucky ones who managed to pick up the book, you could always do me a solid and pick it up on Amazon, for a tiny exchange of monies.

Anyways, again thanks to anyone who got the book, or otherwise Retweet and shared the message! Follow me on Facebook and Twitter and here on my blog for my next giveaway!

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