Paula R.C. Readman's Blog, page 87

Where does reality stop & fiction begin?

Writing is time consuming. First you must get your idea down. Next read through it as many times as possible, while checking to see that the story which you had in your head is actually on your screen/ notebook/ page etc. It’s surprising how much we leave out when getting the first draft down. In our excitement to finish our story we don’t develop our ideas enough.

Once we have developed the idea enough it begins to take on a life of its own. At this point, we’re only half way there if we’re lucky. Next we need to check facts. ‘Ah,’ I hear you cry, but I’m only writing fiction. That maybe so, but you’re be surprised by how many people will say, ‘Ah, but that would never happen!’

Where does reality stop, and fiction begin? My feeling is there’s a fine line. In reality, Miss Marple would never have solved crimes on the behalf of the police. Of course we have to keep a sense of realism to our stories, the feeling that anything is possible. Watch any horror movie and we all know in reality, we wouldn’t open the door. Or step through the mirror. If all your friends had been murdered, you wouldn’t hang around waiting for the police to turn up. If your phone had died , or your car stalled when an UFO appeared in the night sky, you just know you’re in deep sh*t. Your first reaction would be to get the hell out of there, but if all your characters were to play-it-safe, you would have no storyline.

When writing we have to set aside our built in self-preservation and step into a world without health and safety rules. We have to ask the ‘what if’ questions and set our characters off on a path of self-destruction. Are we playing God, or the devil?

[image error]Playing god or the devil

Yes, of course we are. It’s what our readers want, and so do we. We want to find out what happens next. It is while we the writer races ahead with the story as it flows freely, we don’t have time to check for typos, grammar, and consistency with the plot etc. When it comes to the editing we need to step back and take our time.

The ‘What if ‘ question may take our characters on a journey of discovery, but if our editing isn’t done with care we can leave our readers confused, and our story untold. This is the point I’ve reached with my writing. Am I missing something important? What can’t I see?

I think carefully about my plots, characters etc. There are many questions I asked myself as I’m writing. I’m sure I’ve answered these questions in my story telling. Maybe I need to make notes of the questions to see if I’ve answered them when it comes to the editing stage.

I’ve just finished the 2nd round of edits on my single collection of short stories, and I’m feeling nervous. Have I done enough? Have I focused on the important things. Well, I shall have to see what the editor thinks when the collection comes back for the last time.

For now, I shall be creating one of two new stories before I return to editing my vampire novel.

Have a great weekend,

Paula R. C.

[image error]Take your time and read through as many times as possible

Reviews: what’s helpful & what isn’t…

As most writers, like myself, earn so little from our writing, reviews are worth their weight in gold. Today, The Funeral Birds received its second one. It’s very uplifting to be able to reads someone’s thoughts on your work. Of course as a writer I’m aware that not everyone will fall in love with my characters, plot line or dialogue, but as long as the reviewer has been fair and explained the reason for their negative review which will give me something to work with to make improvements with my writing in the future, I’m happy.

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It’s negative reviews that has little or no information in them which are of no help to us writers. If the reviewer was to tell us what they disliked or didn’t enjoy about the the book it can be very helpful when writing future books. We’re not expected pages of a detailed report, but some helpful pointers do give a good insight into where improvements can be made. If characters feel rather wooden or two- dimensional rather than well drawn and engaging, please say so, these can be fixed in the next book. If the pace and structure of the story left the reviewer feeling bogged down with unnecessary details again the writer will know these are an area that needs working on. Was the writing confusing? Were there just too many adverbs and adjectives. What about the theme of the book? Did the reviewer find it refreshing and original or one they had read before?

If you are going to give a star to your review think about comparing it to what you have written in the comment box.

1 Star: You’ve got nothing right: explain exactly why it is a 1 star review. What was wrong. The characters, setting, storyline etc.

2 Stars: Substantial work needs to be done on all elements of your writing .i.e. characters, storyline, pace & structure, narrative voice, dialogue, setting, themes & idea etc

3 Stars: A reasonable effort, but with some problems whether that be the storyline etc. At least give the writer some idea what the problem was that stop you from give a higher star.

4 Stars: Generally good, but not quite perfect. This might be because the book didn’t give you the ending you were expecting, or it didn’t quite meet all your expectations.

5 Stars: Can’t find fault. The writer nailed it for you. The book ticketed all your boxes.

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I’m ready for my next challenge

This morning I’ve woken feeling much better after being dragged down by a heavy cold over the last week. I was full of expectations for the launch of my crime novella ‘The Funeral Birds’ yesterday but my cold and feeling so rough took the edge off it. I haven’t been able to think straight due to the lack of deep sleep, but with a much clearer head this morning all I can do now is wait and see what kind of feedback I receive from readers.

The time has come to think about my next challenge. I have a few ideas I can play around with as my computer is full of unfinished masterpieces. Well, one does have to be positive about one’s writing. Now I must decide which project I need to focus on next. The Funeral Birds was a one off project as the publisher isn’t interested in any other novella or novels from me. When I submitted ‘The Funeral Birds’ I knew this. Demain Publishing series are looking for 50 different writers to write 50 different stories.

As ‘The Funeral Birds’ is a crime story with an element of the supernatural about it, I feel my follow up novella or novel can be either a crime or a supernatural story. I have several crime and supernatural stories already on my computer I can work on. This is good. Starting with a blank screen is quite daunting as you try to think up something from scratch. In my twenty years of learning my craft, I’ve had plenty of ideas that were too big for my ability to write them in the beginning. Some plot ideas ran out of steam. Nothing is wasted when writing and I can now develop them into something amazing with growing confidence and newly gained skills.

‘Seeking the Dark’ was one such project. The book received great feedback when I first wrote in the early 2000. This is what kept driving me forward. If I hadn’t received such positive feedback I may have given up rather than keep moving forward. So for now I must finish the edits on my single collection, then it getting stuck into working on my next big challenge. Life is fun if you’re enjoying what you’re doing. Of course I don’t have all the answers, and I’m still learning my craft, which is great because it means there is lots of new things to uncover in the future.

Yesterday being the launch of the ‘The Funeral Birds’ two interviews were posted online one by Black Hare Press and one by Allison Symes so if you would like to learn more about my writing journey then follow the links. Here is a review of The Funeral Birds done by Steve Stred another writer of Demain Publishing. Here’s a link to Demain Publishing if you would like to know more about them and their series of horror and crime novellas. The covers of all Demain books are designed by an amazing artist and writer, Adrian Baldwin

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How do you come up with your Ideas?

Go to any author’s book signing, book launch or talk and when it comes to question time all writers know there’s one question that will be asked. ‘How do you come up with your ideas? Ideas come from everywhere. Pick up a newspaper, search the internet, watch the news or walk down any street. They are all around us. Who knows? You may have had something happen to you that might have been unresolved. A hurt, loss or some school class bully, you need to deal with. All these things with a little thought and a lot of name changes can create a sparkle of an idea for a story or novel.

One must remember it is a personal satisfaction you are resolving and not a vendetta. Names mustn’t be named. You must build a fictional character and world. I have resolved a lot of pain and injustice through my writing though the people concerned wouldn’t know. I have the quiet satisfaction of knowing it is there in plain sight. Setting aside your own heartache you can draw on other positive experiences too. Maybe if you had taken a different route home on another night what would have happened next?

It is know as the What If Question… take any situation and ask the question, “What if?” “What if I had been running late on the night…. ?”

What if I had taken the train instead of my car? The possibilities are endless but if you are stuck, and in need of a Prompt then try this book. The publisher Gill James asked her writers, me included to send in our prompts so she could produce this book. We hope it gives you some great ideas.

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Educate, educate, educate

Education is something which is dear to my heart. In Britain we have free education for all. This is great. Unfortunately the one thing we lack is a supply of money and good teachers. Too many children and not enough teachers overwhelms our schools that some children miss out on extra help within the classroom. My dyslexia was picked up in my junior school but this information wasn’t on pass on to my secondary school.

My parents were unable to help with my school work through their lack of good education. I used to spend Saturday morning in a reference library reading books on all sorts of subjects. To me the library became my kingdom of knowledge. Now I surround myself with books which I have bought from charity shops, and car boot sales. Where you can pick them up for a small sum of money. For a ready supply of books we have libraries freely available to anyone and everyone. Though these are under threat due to lack of use and support. With the growing gap between the haves and have nots in our society libraries are a important place where knowledge is available in an easy to access form.

The fact that books don’t need a power supply or recharging and are user friendly once you know how to read makes it all the more important in today’s world. Educate the children and you give them the key to a future without poverty, especially the girls and they are the ones who will be educating their children in the future.

I’m proud that my story Jelly and Ice Cream was included in a children’s charity anthology. The charity supplies books for children to read at home. They joined forces with Black Hare Press to produce this anthology.

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Jibbernocky is available on Amazon
All profits to Books in Homes (Australia and USA)
Books in Homes is a charitable foundation that provides books-of-choice to children living in remote, disadvantaged and low socio-economic circumstances, ensuring crucial early literacy engagement and the development of reading skills needed for lifelong achievement.

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Just Ask!

With the release of my first crime novella just around the corner it is hard to stay focused. Yes, I know I’ve mentioned my crime novella before, but that’s just the problem I have to keep mentioning, because when I signed on the dotted line I agreed to keep promoting my book. Gone are the days when writers could sit back and allow others to promote their books for them. No sunning yourself under a palm tree

Online Presence

As my crime novella The Funeral Birds is soon to be released I have been thinking about way I can increase my online presence. Black Hare Press has a page to showcase their authors so I have added my profile there too. I’ve had an online presence with Cafelit for sometime in their Meet our Authors selection, as I’ve had work published with them in the past, and will continue to do so.

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The only area in my online presence I’m disappointed with is GoodReads. I’m finding it surprising difficult to work out how to use the Author’s dashboard. I would like to replace some of the covers on books listed under my name with the real covers, and add books which contains my work. Yesterday for two hours, I try to work out what I needed to do and who to contact for help. It just wasn’t straight forward. As Amazon and Goodreads are both the same company I would have thought my Amazon Author’s Page would be linked to my Goodreads’ Page. As they are already linked when I finished reading a book, it flashes up on Goodreads.

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Now I must go back to writing promotional articles for Black Hare Press and Allison Symes who will be helping me in my promoting my work. My author friend, Maggie Ford always talked about networking. Often this proves true as it’s not what you know, but who you know. As I continue on my writing journey I must now focus on marketing and promoting my work, if I am to increase my readership. I posted my crime novella news on my village Facebook page and this has proved to be helpful as several people I don’t personally know have pre-ordered The Funeral Birds. Have a great week.

Best wishes always and happy writing Paula R.C.

Busy Promoting.

I live in a village in England. A English village is seen as an idyllic retreat from the hustle and bustle of city life. Unfortunately, the picturesque English village which is a backdrop for many rural tale in novels and films aren’t quite what they used to be. We don’t always know our neighbours. Our neighbours don’t always stay long enough to get to know them either. The trouble is we all lead busy lives, too. When I worked full-time I had to travel outside the village, so there was no opportunity to get to know my neighbours or anyone else who lived in the village.

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So what has this to do with promoting my work? This is where Facebook comes into its own. Our village has a Facebook page. My friend Ana and I have been posting our walking photos on it for years. These are the pictures we take while out walking the footpaths around the village. By sharing these photos the villagers have come to recognise us while out walking.

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My village footpath

Today, I politely asked if it was okay to post details about my novella ‘The Funeral Birds’ on the village page. I explained that it was my first crime novella and if anyone ran a club or meetings and was needing a speaker, I could do a talk on ‘how to get published’. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the results of my marketing. Several people have pre-ordered the book. One lady said she would be interested in me giving a talk, so it’s a case of wait and see what happens next. It looks as though I might found a good place to do some promoting. The key to good marketing is not become annoying. So I shall always make sure that I create an interesting post to go with the news of my latest book.

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The Funeral Birds looks like it showing results already.

Have a great weekend, Everyone. Chat again soon.

The Book Trailer for The Funeral Birds

As I start thinking about how I’m going to promote my novella I decided this morning to create a book trailer.

Many years ago I bought a set of royalty free images DVD. These you could use when creating cards, posters etc. Anything that needed clip art. Lucky for me the DVD’s still work on my computer.

After going through the eleven DVDs of 370k images I selected the ones most suitable to tell my tale and loaded them into a Microsoft photo program to create a slideshow.

Unfortunately I only had one piece of music which was royalty free. Anyway, I’m quite pleased with the way it turned out.

Here it is… The Funeral Birds book trailer. Please let me know what you think of it.

Have a great weekend.

Paula R.C.

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At Last! The Funeral Birds is available

If you would like to meet a new crime writer then for this link.

My novella is now available on Amazon to preorder. If you do buy my novella and enjoy reading it, please leave me a review so I can continue learning and developing my skills as a writer.

Thank you so much for your continuing support.

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If you would like to meet a new crime writer, then follow this link