Stuart Aken's Blog, page 238

Guest Blogging Today

Just to let you know I've a guest post on the great blog run by Joanne Troppello - Here's the link
If you visit, you may find out things you never knew!
Guest posting is time-consuming but a great way to spread the word. Enjoy.

Related articles Guest Post - Inspirational Avenues by Cp Bialois > A GUEST POST: On Farage's Party's Betrayal of British Voters I've been guest blogging

The Third Twin, by Dani Sinclair, Reviewed

This is a Mills and Boon Silhouette, ‘Intrigue’ romance. That probably means a lot to those who read these books regularly. As a writer, and a bloke, I read this one to see whether it was a genre I could write. So, bear all that in mind as you read this review.
It is, of course, a love story. But it’s also a lot more. The element of crime is strong, as are the elements of family and social injustice. A lot of readers condemn these books out of hand, assuming they’re poorly written and formulaic. I found this to be neither of those things.

There is suspense, mystery, tension, both sexual and general, and there is, of course, a burgeoning romance. It’s this final element that’s formulaic. The reader understands that the two main protagonists are destined for each other and recognises the barriers placed for them to cross in order to arrive at the essential happy ending (no, I don’t think that’s a spoiler: a romance of this nature has a happy ending; they all do).
As for the writing? It’s tense where it should be, description isn’t overdone, the action scenes are well handled and the relationships, complex and multi-faceted, are presented cleverly. I found the plot a little over-cooked and the author seemed to have found herself in something of a maze, if the denouement narrative is a guide. The ending reminded me a bit of Agatha Christie’s Poirot and his habit of describing his method of detection to the gathered guilty and innocent.
For me, character is the most important factor in a book. The individuals who people these pages are well drawn and various. That they can be slotted into various stereotypes is inevitable, given the narrow guidelines determined by the publishers, but that doesn’t prevent these particular players from being real people. I enjoyed the strong female lead and the object of her desire fitted in well with her hopes with enough potential flaws to make the reader wonder just enough. The minor players were also well constructed.
There is inevitably, given the specifics set by the publishers, rather more telling than showing than is good for the book. And some of the twists and turns seem to have been inserted ‘on the hoof’ rather than planned; but I can hardly complain at that, since I do it all the time myself.
But, in spite of its intended female readership and the slant it must take for such an audience, I enjoyed the read and found it largely satisfying. For those who care, there remains an unanswered question, of course. The answer is that I have already written a book containing much of what we find here, but I couldn’t write for this specific genre. It’s too confined and controlled for the way I write. But that’s not a reflection of the ability of this author; she’s worked within the constraints admirably and turned out a pretty good read that, I imagine, will sit very happily with those who more regularly read this type of fiction.

So, if you enjoy your romance with intrigue, mystery and some threat facing the heroine, you’ll get good value and plenty of entertainment from this one. Give it a go.Related articles BOOK REVIEW - THE BALLERINA & THE FIGHTER by Ursula Sinclair

Writing the Blurb

It’s possible some of you won’t know what the ‘blurb’ is, so let’s define it.Technically, it’s the selection of words you use to appear on the back of the book with the intention of persuading the reading public to commit to it. With nonfiction, this may be any one of a number of things. But I’m a fiction writer and that’s what I’m discussing here.
Ask yourself a simple question: What do I want my blurb to achieve?The answer should be that it hooks the reader to the extent that he/she makes a decision to purchase (or borrow) the book.
How do you do that?Consider the usual circumstances: that potential reader is in a library (which is a less challenging place for many reasons) or, hopefully, in a bookshop. What’s going on in there? Other people, possibly background music, staff hovering, ready to pounce on the promise of a sale, but, most importantly, there are books. Shelves and shelves of books. Books in competition with yours for the customer’s money and attention. Some of them have the dubious advantage of celebrity status (though why the name of a celebrity should sell a novel is a mystery to me: most of them seem vacuous and uninteresting). Some will be by authors already accepted as both entertaining and absorbing. Some will be part of a special deal, offering 3 for the price of 2 or half price deals. So, not only do you have to compete with all these external influences, but you have a limited amount of time to do so.
The purpose of the blurb is to sell your book. You don’t want a synopsis (save that for the agent and/or publisher who need to have more detail to determine the genre and potential market for your book). What you do need is a pithy, short piece of description that will intrigue, fascinate, tempt and impress the reader. Length will be determined either by the publisher (in which case, the blurb may well be written by a staff member anyway), or, more likely, by a combination of genre and design. You may, for example, have excerpts of quotes displayed on the back cover.
So, what can you say in 50 to 150 words that will clutch at the reader’s imagination and make him/her want to explore the interior, flick through the pages, and perhaps, just perhaps, part with ready cash? Use of strong verbs, avoidance of adverbs, and language that says precisely what it’s meant to convey are essential.
A question often works; citing the major dilemma in the book and suggesting some sort of possible conflict/danger/ambition achieved (depending on the genre). ‘Will Susan’s obsession with chocolate stop her turning the rivalry between her and siren sister, Ophelia, to her advantage when it comes to attracting ruggedly handsome Martin?’  (superficial romantic fiction)
A hint of the challenges facing the protagonist(s) will often act as a hook: ‘When James opens an envelope surreptitiously placed on the passenger seat of his locked Bentley, he begins a journey that will ultimately threaten not only his business but the reputations and lives of those he most loves.’ (thriller)
I was recently asked by Fantastic Books Publishing to provide a blurb for the first volume of my fantasy trilogy, which they’re publishing in spring. 50 words in 3 sentences was the brief. Here are a couple of examples:
‘Hatred between a corrupt leader and the rightful heir flares when a crucial prophesy is misread.Regardless of cost, a fanatical disciple feels compelled to right a decisive wrong in a key ritual.Against overwhelming odds, a young hunter sets out to rescue his adored betrothed.’
And
‘A false prophesy forces a corrupt leader to menace the rightful heir and start a dangerous mission.Only the reckless kidnap of the leader’s daughter by a fanatical disciple might correct a vital wrong.A charismatic young hunter braves hostile seas and unknown lands to free the gifted maiden he loves.’
I’ve no idea whether either of these will be used. But, for me, they illustrated the difficulty of encapsulating the essence of a story running at 200k+ words, with 3 intertwining stories, into so few words. Not, as I say, a synopsis, but a flavour, a taster, a teaser that will encourage readers to read on.
Do they hint enough at potential challenges and conflicts? Do they insert questions into the mind of the reader? Do they, most importantly, encourage the reader to open the book?

I’d love your observations and comments.Related articles How to Write a Brilliant Blurb for Your Book Blurbs

The First Month of 2014

Something of a transitional month for me. Having finally committed to spending more time on writing activities and less on the building of the author platform, I’d also committed to certain activity on Twitter, which lasted until the last week of the month.
Much of my writing time was spent doing the final edit of book 2 of the fantasy trilogy (46 chapters), completing it on the 28th. Book 1, A Seared Sky: Joinings, is due to be published by Fantastic Books Publishing in spring. I then began to edit book 3. This is a much more time consuming exercise as it’s the first edit of the rough draft, much of which was written for the NaNoWriMo project last November. So, where I could edit a chapter of book 2 in around 20-30 minutes, the chapters of book 3 are taking between 3 and 4 hours each and, so far, I’ve done the first 2. I’m doing a structural and language edit together and following that with a full edit using ProWritingAid. I then give each chapter to my wife to read. Valerie has a great memory, and spots repetitions, typos, anachronisms and inconsistencies. She makes the perfect beta reader and I usually have to do only one final edit after she’s made her suggestions.
I’d set myself a target of submitting 4 short pieces, either stories or poems, to magazines of writing contest each month and I managed to send off 2 stories and 2 poems to contests. Of these, 1 story and the 2 poems were written this month. I also wrote and posted two short autobiographical pieces to the excellent ReadWave site. These submissions are up to 800 words each and may be factual, opinion, memoir or short story. If you click on the site title above, it’ll take you to the relevant page.
My writing group, Hornsea Writers, decided to celebrate 25 years of being by designing a group blog and I contributed to that. If you click on the group name, it’ll take you to that site.
I read and reviewed 4 books, though one of those reviews will actually follow this post, as I wrote it this morning, having finished the book last night.
And I updated the Writing Contests page 3 times. I’m due to do another update this weekend. It’s a popular page and receives a lot of visitors. If you know of a contest I haven’t listed there, by all means let me know. (there’s a ‘contact me’ link at the top of the page.) I only list contests with cash prizes at least 20 times the cost of entry, by the way.
So, not a bad start to the year so far. Let’s hope the output increases as the year progresses. How are things going for you in 2014? Drop us a comment and share your success or other news.
The chart, explained: Writing - initial creation of stories, blog posts, reviews and longer works.Editing - polishing of all written work to make it suitable for readers.Research - discovery of info for story content, market research, contests and blog posts.Reading - books and writing magazines.Networking - emails, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and comments.
Admin - story submission, blog posting, marketing, organisation, tax, and general admin tasks.

Sing the Midnight Stars, by C.M.J. Wallace, Reviewed

This fantasy is full of imagination and introduced me to a thread of magic I hadn’t come across before. Whether that type of magic is entirely the invention of the author or not I don’t know, but it’s a very effective story element.
I was hooked straight away by this tale of intrigue, with the mad king intent on apparent self-destruction as he greedily sets about obliterating all that is good in his kingdom. The central protagonists, male and female, are fully realised characters about whom the reader very quickly cares. The lesser characters are cleverly drawn so that they, too, are real people. Many different quirks and faults are employed to make the cast into real individuals.
The story moves quickly and the pace only slows when appropriate, allowing the reader to gather background information and details of relationships before being plunged into further action. I found the balance of description and action very well done.
I read this in ebook form and wasn’t able to access a map, which would have been a useful addition. I don’t know whether the book comes with a map or not.

Personal commitments prevented me reading this lengthy tome at one sitting, but I was always eager to get back to it. It’s a page-turner. If you like your fantasy told with skill, passion and imagination, you’ll enjoy this read. I thoroughly recommend it.

The Writer’s Priorities. Part 2

Portrait of Samuel Johnson commissioned for Henry Thrale's Streatham Park gallery (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Timing, they say, is all. An odd coincidence occurred today. I was due to write this post, as a follow-up to last week’s effort. But, I’d also determined I would enter at least 4 writing contest during the month, and I’d only managed 2 entries by yesterday. In preparing for the other two, I went online and discovered at the top of my emails an alert to the Writers’ Village blog I follow for its excellent advice and content. The subject matter was ‘A Simple Idea That Can Sell a MillionBooks’. Bearing in mind what I said last week about money as a motivator, I thought I should at least read the piece. If you click on the title, it’ll take you to it.
It was one of those posts, of which there are many these days, promoting the idea that money can be made from writing by doing a great deal of it and getting it published, more or less regardless of the quality. It’s a persuasive argument for a lot of would-be writers and there’s evidence that this approach does, indeed, earn its better practitioners money. I had to make a comment, of course.
So; back to the theme of this post. Priorities. Do you know what yours are? Are you driven by money? James Boswell, in his Life of Samuel Johnson , wrote, ‘No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money’. However, Samuel Johnson himself wrote, ‘The only end of writing is to enable the readers better to enjoy life, or better to endure it’.
My own primary aim is to increase my number of readers. It’s been suggested that the easiest way to do so is to charge nothing for the books. I do have a short story offered free; But, Baby, It’s Cold Outside is a bit of seasonal cheer to make readers smile. But it’s been proved, many times, that in general terms, people place little value on something that has no worth placed on it by the producer. So, I compromise and price my books at what seems a fair cost for the piece on offer. Before I place a piece to market, I spend as much time as is needed to make it the very best I can. My priority has been quality at the expense of quantity.
Perhaps I’ve been too concerned with this aspect, since it’s clear that many readers are not really concerned with the quality of the writing. I’m not sure, to be honest. But, in the interests of discovering whether my writing can stand the rigours of quantity and remain both accessible and readable, I’ve decided to devote this year to more in the way of quantity.
So far, I have 7 books available, published over a period of 5 years. This year I aim to produce a further 4 titles. Nothing like the quantity that many of the genre/formula-fitting writers produce, of course. But a challenge, if quality is to be maintained.
So, my priority for this year is to write, and publish, 4 new titles. This means that certain other activities will necessarily have to be curtailed. Much less time with Twitter, Facebook and the other social networks to which I contribute. But not a complete cessation, of course. I will still need to let people know about my writing, after all.
Last week, when I wrote the first part of this post, I had little idea where I would end up. I’ve now set my aims. Do you have targets, aims, priorities in your writing life? If so, please share them with us here.

Oh, and I will try to maintain a post each week here on the blog, of course.Related articles An author's life is not a happy one Review: Life of Johnson

The Writer’s Priorities. Part 1

We’re creative souls, we who write stories, not generally the disciplined and single-minded types for whom regulation and habit overtake our free spirits to the exclusion of all else. No, those for whom self-discipline and ultra-focus are paramount are, generally speaking, business-minded; people for whom money is the primary concern. That’s not to say that these qualities are undesirable, simply that they’re not the most important elements of our make-up.

As artists (sorry if that term makes you uncomfortable, but perhaps you should be looking at your view of your role as a creative spirit?), we’re more organic, less easily defined by rules, more open to the bending and even the ditching of external influences on our behaviour.
So, where am I going with this?
Let’s face it, if we call ourselves writers, our first love, our primary drive, is writing: yes? If your answer to that is not ‘yes’ then I suggest you examine your reasons for placing words in specific order on pages. It may be that you’re an entrepreneur who’s spotted an opening in a market that just happens to involve the skill of writing. Perhaps you’ve seen the zillions paid for certain best-sellers, and identified a niche you could fill by writing the same story with different names and locations. It works. It’s been done countless times. But it doesn’t make you a writer; it makes you a businessman/woman.
Writers of fiction are more concerned with the words they present, the stories they tell, the effects of those compositions on their readers. Money, fame, success are all viewed as ancillary to the craft and inspiration of actually setting the right word in the right place. Imagination is the primary resource of the storyteller and the emotional punch of the story is the reward.
I’m not making judgments here. If the business approach suits you, that’s your choice. If, on the other hand, the role of the storyteller, the ancient role that started around the fire in the mouth of the cave as a way to explain the world and its wonders and terrors, drives you, then that is also your choice. Unfortunately, for those of us so inclined the world has moved into an era where the majority of the advice, help and support for writers is aimed at those for whom money is the major mover. Talent, it seems, is less valuable.
It’s very easy to be drawn into the world of marketing, promotion, advertising and generally concentrating on making ‘a living’. And, of course, we live in a world where making a living is paramount to mere survival, so the pressures are intense.
The issue then, for those of us who are essentially creative beings, is achieving a balance between making enough to allow us to survive and giving ourselves the freedom of thought and action that will nurture and develop our talents as tellers of tales.
I write this post as a taster only. As a way to introduce the idea that we may need to examine our priorities if we’re to lead full and rewarding lives as writers. For my personal approach, watch this space. I’ll provide my answers soon; just as soon as I’ve reached an actual conclusion, in fact!

And, for the time being, I ask you to consider just one question: 
Why do you write?

The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy, Reviewed.

A prose poem of a novel, with bite. This Indian tale of love, loss, class and betrayal starts, against all the literary school advice, with the weather. But the language is so engaging, so intriguing, that the reader is drawn into this strange world at once.
I love well-rounded characters and this book explodes with them. I love the use of good and entertaining English and this book drips with it. I won’t bore you with a synopsis; there are plenty of those around if you want a truncated version of the story. Suffice to say that the story centres on the relationships within a middle class business family and those that family loves and relies upon.
I learned a great deal about Indian life during the read. The chaos, out-dated traditions, values, iniquities of the caste system, attitudes to authority, God, and religion are all exposed in the narrative. The climate and the landscape become added characters, playing their parts in this complex tale and bringing even more life to a story already teeming with it.
There are flaws, for a reader from England. There are references to Indian culture, tradition and history that arrive unannounced and leave without explanation, often failing to reveal their origins or meanings in the process.  And there are very short, occasional, passages in an untranslated language I could not identify or understand. How much of the richness of the novel I failed to appreciate because of these flaws, I have no way of knowing.
There are a couple of chapters that, for me, appeared to serve no purpose in the story and I confess to skipping through those.
The book is written in a way that keeps the reader engaged, not through action or tension necessarily, but through the exquisite combination of words. This is poetry presented as prose. And the final chapter is so brilliantly drawn, so brutally emotional, that it left me feeling raw; the empathy imposed is such that I doubt any sensitive reader could leave it without tears.
I loved this book, and read the last half at one sitting, reluctant to put it down even though there were fairly pressing reasons I should do so. Thoroughly recommended for those readers who love literature in its accessible form and for whom a story of people in love matters. It’s no surprise this won the Booker Prize.
Related articles Review: Arundhati Roy, the God of Small Things, 1997 Man Booker Prize Winner The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy On The God of Small Things Review: The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy (1997 winner) Arundhati Roy

New Group Blog Up and Running

As a member of a writing group celebrating its Silver Jubilee this year, I'm proud to announce that Hornsea Writers now has its own blog.
We'll be using this platform to announce news, achievements and events. It's a central point for our writing activities and allows readers to discover what other group members are up to.
We're a disparate collection but have in common that we're all published, professional authors. The site is simple, so there are few widgets. But, should you want to keep track of us there, please scroll to the foot of the page, where you'll find the opportunity to follow by email.
This venture marks the start of a new phase for us all. Always a supportive gathering, we're moving forward with the times and ensuring we have a proper web presence.
In case you missed the link above, here it is again.
Related articles Interview with Linda Acaster from Hornsea Writers.

The Mark of the Mage, by R.K. Ryals, Reviewed

This is fantasy, with the usual components of magic, dragons, swords and sorcery, but made special by the use of a female lead protagonist and good writing.
The Mark of the Mage tells the story of Stone, illegitimate daughter of a high ranking noble who has lost favour with the evil king. She’s a scribe in a time when knowledge is made suspect. There are echoes here of the terror of reigns like that of the Khmer Rouge but the reader isn’t lost without familiarity with such parallels. I don’t want to give too much away, but I think I can reveal that there’s a burgeoning love interest, which gives the story a more rounded feel than I’ve come across in some fantasy novels. This is the first in a series and I look forward to the follow-ons.
The characters are well drawn and have their faults, making them believable people. The writing is sharp and sympathetic enough to engender empathy. Descriptions are built into the action, so that settings are truly part of the story rather than the add-ons that interrupt less well-told tales. And the lesser characters are presented with as much care as the main players, so that they also become people to care about.

I enjoyed this book and recommend it to all those who like a little more than the usual elements in their fantasy fiction. A good read that kept me entertained and engaged throughout.Related articles The Singing River by R.K Ryals Fantasy Reading, Writing, and more Reading