Aaron D. Key's Blog, page 2
November 5, 2017
October 16, 2017
October 15, 2017
September 23, 2017
Damon Ich – A teaser
Decided to re-release this as obviously my previous bout of enthusiasm didn’t last very long.
This was September 2017. Sorry
Recovery
So I’ve recovered from my brief period of demotivation and despair. I know I’ve got at least two good books waiting to go and another two which need a bit of work. That’s a good situation to be in. Although what I really want is to stop editing and to start writing again. I ought to do it anyway.
Now Book 2 is waiting to be tidied up. Am I alone in finding spring and autumn my most productive times?
I want to tell you about Book 2 but it’s so hard to describe without giving away spoilers but I will try.
In the beginning we meet a gardener. A gay man who has recently lost his long term partner to cancer. He is not coping well. He has withdrawn from society, company and spends hours imagining a different life.
He tells us the story of this different life. In it a character similar to him, but younger, has a task to do. We learn about the success or otherwise of this task and then we return to the gardener.
It gradually becomes apparent that the task is not completely imaginary. His own life and the imagined life become entangled, both in his mind and reality?
That is as much as I can tell you without giving too much away.
And Book 3. Although I plan that this can be read as entirely self sufficient I will not tell you anything about the plot until you’ve had a chance to read Book 2.
I hope at least some of you will be intrigued and look for this book. It’s working title is “Damon Ich” but I acknowledge that catchy titles are not my strong point.
September 11, 2017
Book 2 Contemplated
What’s it all about really?
I mean self publishing. I mean it’s a nice dream but the odds are stacked against you. You really need to get into bookshops for the browsing public. But unless you’re prepared to take a gamble and print a sizeable number off the cost is prohibitive. And even then bookshops order from weird warehouses I’ve never even heard of so how am I going to get my books in there.
To self publish a fiction book successfully I think an author needs to have worked in a bookshop and the publishing industry.
And then there are the constant questions
* Does this book even deserve to be published?
* Would more people like it if they had read it?
* Is there really a market for a book like this?
* How should I best promote it?
Am I going to get it right before I die? Cheerful thought of the day. Not imminently expected but the ultimate deadline.
July 21, 2017
Book 2
So I’ve done the best I can with Book 2 and it’s currently with my editor (Sophie Playle.) Should be back with comments by the 26th of July. I’m really hoping she likes it.
I was getting bored not having any work to do but then I read the blog which told me what I ought to be doing. The creative mind is a disorganised one. This will be my excuse – and I’m sticking to it.
Plan write up Book 3 while waiting for first edit on Book 2.
Action Find a complete copy of Book 3 on the computer.
Copy it to the memory stick.
Send it to myself as an email
July 7, 2017
Smashwords Interview copied
I like this idea that someone asks me questions and I answer them. I am full of opinions but when faced with a blank page I never know what to say. So I’ve copied my smashwords interview for you, amended it slightly and I am very grateful to smashwords for the chance to air my views.
What is the greatest joy of writing for you?
What are you working on next?
I am working on the second book in my eight book series. It hasn’t got a title yet. Originally I intended to name each book after the main character in it but I am reconsidering this decision because I see that it doesn’t give very much information to the potential reader.
I am very excited about this book, about the fusion between the real world and the world of fantasy.
What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
Daphne the dog jumps on top of me and licks me until I get up. It is an assailable force.
Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?
The first story I ever wrote was inspired by Star Wars. I was very young: that is my excuse for the two main characters called Hans and Feet.
Apart from this the story was quite good I remember.
How do you approach cover design?
I give the professionals as much information as I can about the book and trust in their work.
They usually ask for examples of what you like and hate in a cover so it’s fairly safe. I particularly hate covers wth naked people on as I know I would never read a book like this
What do you read for pleasure?
Anything and everything apart from books with naked people (or dragons, or girls with hats on, or swastikas) on the cover.
May 8, 2017
Herai!! Slow progress
February 2017
Well I’m hoping this is the lowest point of being a self-published author. It turns out unless you’re well known that it’s harder to sell your thoughts, your imagination than it is to sell old rope.
That is not to say that I am not eternally grateful to the fourteen people who have bought the book. I am but I’m still in the dark as to their enjoyment or otherwise of the book. With the exception of Lytton (a man of exquisite taste)’s review I do not know whether I’ve written 130,000 words of drivel unlikely to appeal to most people or a little gem, just waiting to receive the recognition it deserves.
May 2017
A few more sales later, three more Amazon reviews, one of them not good, and a blogger’s review of dubious enthusiasm and I am still in the dark. Undeterred I am carrying on with Book 2. I love Book 2. Everything hangs on Book 2 in that none of the subsequent books will make sense without it. It makes me slightly nervous because I have heard an opinion that simplicity above all things is desirable. Book 2 is anything but simple. I have always had an admiration for “Holes” by Louis Sachar. To my mind that has perfect plotting and simplicity. Book 2 is nothing like that. There are so many twists and turns of fate it is more like a maypole after the dance is finished.
I wonder if there are people who do not understand that metaphor, people who have never seen a maypole, never danced round a maypole. I did recently by some random chance and it was fascinating to see how when the dance was done properly (well reasonably given we were all untrained) and in order how beautifully the maypole was wrapped in interlacing coloured ribbon. This is not a simple thing – but it still has beauty.
This is what I am hoping for Book 2. A complicated thing might still be a thing of beauty – hopefully not quite so garish but that is all in the choosing of the right coloured ribbons.
After I wrote this another review came in which made me feel much more positive.
Book 2 has now started the editing process with anticipated timescales.
Critical appraisal by the author May/June 2017
Manuscript critique by the editor July/August 2017
Author panics and does extensive revisions August/September 2017
Beta reader inputs (and if anyone would like to be one of these let me know.) August/September 2017
Come up with a title
Cover Design October/December
Copy edit to iron out subtle problems October/December
A perfect result.
Formatting and preparation for publishing. January/February 2018
It is not a quick process I’m afraid and is only a best case scenario. I’m going to start typing up the others (3 and 5 and finishing 4) in the free time as this was what delayed me this time.
WordPress – Blogging I still don’t get it.
Well surprise, surprise the draft blog I was bemoaning still exists on my old phone. I have retrieved it and am wondering whether I should have. It is typical ‘I can’t sleep because I’ve had four coffees and a large late meal dribble.’
But then what is a blog? Perhaps that is exactly what they are?
What I don’t understand with blogs is how the hell you’re supposed to find them in the infinite mess that is the sea of the Internet. I call it a sea because to me it is as unknowable.
I am a beachcomber. I walk along the edge of the sea and admire the things the sea has deposited for me to admire. Even if I swam in the sea I’d never notice the huge immensity of life, of crap, of joyous beautiful things floating in its belly.
I’ve come a long way from the frustrating first attempts when the words I wrote vanished into thin air. I’ve mastered simple writing but now I hear rumours of layout being important, of style and I can’t even get pictures to stay where I want them.
How does WordPress choose what blogs to show me? Did I ever choose them or is it random? And if it’s random how and why? While I’m on the subject what the hell is happening in Facebook. I don’t know. It’s lurking there just like a stranded shark nibbling at my toes. I’m trying to ignore it until the nibbling gets too painful – but if I pay it attention will I lose a leg? I’m genuinely afraid and I’m trying to apologise now to anyone who’s followed me on Facebook. I may not have good Facebook manners. I’d rather not have any Facebook manners at all. I long for a world in which I never need to touch it.
It’s a day for long extended metaphors for which I’m sorry. But there’s something quite nice about them.
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