Barbara G. Tarn's Blog, page 113

Happiness is…

Sunday Surprise

Aand… Happy Easter! Welcome to today’s author interview! This month we’re lucky, we have a bunch of people as Authors of the Month on Goodreads! Let’s go with the first, then! Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Alp Mortal!

Where do you live and write from?

Currently, I am split between four centres of fiction writing worship: The Isle of Wight, UK in the town of Newport; in the mountains of the Vosges in Haute Saone, France, and in Indiana, USA, where I stay with Shannon from time to time. I also spend time in St Tropez with Chambers – usually if we���re getting a Fenchurch Mystery ready for publication.

Living this way really helps to keep me topped up with ideas for new stories – travel broadens the mind ��� and the vocabulary!

Why do you write?

I write to express myself, to connect, to excite and to entertain. Originally, it was a way to preserve memories in a more challenging way than simply writing a journal. A lot of my early stuff was more autobiographical, at least, a story was more likely to have been triggered by a very personal experience/encounter than anything else. That is less true these days but it is still a factor which for me is vital in processing my emotions/issues/questions. I love to tell stories; I am a story teller first and foremost.

When did you start writing?

I began writing in January 2009. I did do some writing when I was much younger – mostly poetry. I abandoned it for a very long time, concentrating on other art projects when I had the time for anything creative. I started travelling in January 2009 and the idea of writing to preserve the memories occurred to me after a conversation with a close friend, so I – and you – have them to thank/blame!

What genre(s) do you write?

I write m/m romance, m/m/f romance very occasionally, m/m romantic thrillers, and gay-themed crime stories and series (mostly with Chambers Mars when we write as Carter Seagrove). I am just about to start my first Sci-fi project which is also gay themed (Trojan Horse – a kind of Space Opera). I have a gay-themed soap opera (Swallow Close) on the table but that is languishing due to project overload. At some point in 2015, I hope to output a series of poems based around the themes of Metaphysics, Gestalt Theory, Solipsism and Synesthesia – themes which occur in my stories too.

I shuttle between stories of varying length and style – epic fantasy sagas alongside very brief encounters, poetry and things which are essentially plays.

What does your writing routine consist of?

These days, I write in very short and concentrated packets – slotted in between all of the promotion work and company administration which I have to do since The Project started. In the early days, I wrote whenever I had the chance, and always between 8pm and 11pm in the evening. That tends to be between 11pm to 2am now ��� but if I have to write something down, then I just do it. I am always working on 5 or 6 projects at the same time and jumping from one to another is second nature – I actually find it very difficult to concentrate on one writing project at a time.

What do you feel are your strengths as a writer? How have you developed these qualities?

My friends and readers tell me that the strength of the stories which I have written lies in their originality and diversity. I hadn���t heard the phrase ���cookie-cutter��� until I started writing – it seemed like something to avoid. However, I write just what comes into my head – a very strange place – so I guess that accounts for it. I like strong stories with a point and characters who I can love or hate who have a realism about them, some quirk or other. I guess I try hard not to repeat anything except at a general level. I don���t know if the skill is strengthening – it definitely shifts focus – for example, from an action-based story to a dialogue heavy story but I don���t really control that process.

I see stories as moving images – I don���t hear them – I describe what I see. My artistic and other interests are very varied and I suppose that helps to keep things fresh and exciting.

Where do you find your inspiration? Do you put yourself in your stories?

Inspiration comes from everywhere – it���s why travel is so important to me. I find that a lot of the energy for a story comes from my own experiences and relationships. There is a lot of me in each story. The things I study the most also feed into stories – ecology, art, cooking, veganism, Buddhism, social history, evolution, mythology, fast cars, poetry (especially John Donne, Andrew Marvel and Coleridge), Metaphysics, Gestalt Theory, Synesthesia and Solipsism. Fundamentally, I find the greatest source of inspiration to be the idea that a set of words can influence how a person feels and thinks – that suggests a very deep connection and a privileged one too.

Outliner or improviser? Fast or slow writer?

I write without a plan – I just write – sometimes 10k words at a time, sometimes 10 words. Generally, I will be outputting 2 to 3 stories a month. So far 1.7 million words have found their way onto the shelf. Speed is of the essence for me. I���ll have the perfect phrase pop into my head and I have to write it down – if I don���t, it���s gone forever. Being an Improviser (I like that word) means that I am usually relying on the deus ex machina to help me out at the end – so far so good!

I took a Goodreads prompt for this year���s Don���t Write in the Closet event and it���s really hard to write to someone else���s prompt to a deadline – good discipline for me though.

Tell us about your latest book

I recently published The Baker of Son Frere http://carterseagrove.weebly.com/thebaker.html

A romantic thriller – I have included the blurb here because it was a better summary than I could think of –

Mali arrives in the village of Son Frere to research an old legend which is the basis of his latest romance novel – the story of the two medieval lovers, the Knights, Michaud and Tristan, is compelling. Mali meets local historian and bakery owner – Rex – a man who, despite a warm and generous welcome, appears to Mali to be hiding something. Bas – Rex’s counter assistant – with whom Mali starts a fling, injects much needed energy into the project and awakens Mali to the prospect of something more than just lustful sex, even the prospect of a relationship.�� Mali returns to Paris with Bas, who is restarting his degree course, and their relationship becomes more serious, and the passion for the mystery only fuels their passion for each other.�� The deeper Mali probes into the mystery, the more strangely Rex behaves and Mali is even more certain that Rex is hiding something, perhaps even stalking him. The truth is far more sinister than he could have imagined.�� Past and present collide and an unspeakable evil threatens to engulf them all.�� The story is written as two stories, interlaced, where the medieval and the contemporary stories are presented side-by-side. Each unfolds to reveal a despicable evil; one which persists to the present day, and one which threatens Mali’s very existence.

The story was also the subject of our first book trailer on YouTube [https://youtu.be/F7z2uAOXFCE]

This story fits into the category of m/m romantic thriller. I seem very comfortable combining the two – then I love murder mysteries, thrillers and psychological suspense stories just as much as I like men and romance. A perfect match.

Indie publishing or traditional publishing – and why?

Indie publishing without a doubt because I have the control and the freedom to publish what I want, when I want and how I want. Chambers and Shannon also feel the same so it made sense for the three of us to combine forces and start the Carter Seagrove Project – our own publishing house which will hopefully ask for submissions later this year. I never wanted to experience the rejection by a traditional publisher – that seemed a pointless and energy sapping exercise given that there was an alternative. Those traditional publishers which I did look at –

Had very long lead times which meant that a story which they did accept might not get onto the shelf for a year – that seemed crazy when I could publish the same book the same day.
Seemed less interested in LGBT fiction/only wanted a vampire story (assume it���s BDSM now)
Were going to pay me less than 10% royalties – excuse me?!
And still expected me to do most of the promotion work

Any other projects in the pipeline?

Always lots of stories! Completion of The Map Stick (parts 5 to 7); the Twelve Crimes of Hannah Smith, my web-based serialization; the Sci-fi project; the soap opera; more book trailers; at least three audiobooks this year; a graphic novel adaptation of Fenchurch Mysteries; more of the Tales of the Unexpected series; more of the Brief Encounter series; the second part of Dark Matter (called Dark Energy); a contemporary family saga called Gloriana (based on the lives of the Queens of England collectively referred to as the She-Wolves); the poetry; the screenplay for one short film; sister story to The Baker of Son Frere – no title yet; a second series of The Inspector Fenchurch Mysteries (as Carter Seagrove); and a few previously published stories still need to be completely re-edited and re-published ��� and whatever else crops up!

What is your goal as a writer and what are you doing to achieve it?

My goal was and is and will remain, to excite and entertain a reader by delivering a good quality, original story. I spend every waking minute trying to achieve it – so much easier now with the support of Chambers and Shannon. I would like my stories to have a long and happy life – periodic re-editing and re-covering plus much better promotion work might make that a reality. I always wanted to collaborate – hence the stories written with Chambers. I/we also support other indie artists and projects through direct sponsorship/collaboration – for example, our funding of 3 short indie films in 2015.

What is the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever been given?

The best piece of advice was: ���Just write, publish and repeat.���

ABOUT ALP

Born in 1965, I’m English by birth from the Isle of Wight, living in Newport, spending part of the year in France in the stunningly beautiful department of Haute-Sa��ne in the Franche Comt�� region. It is heavily forested and very tranquil but the winters are pretty harsh and my home is 820 metres above sea level so I get plenty of snow. I am also spending increasing amounts of time in the USA, co-managing The Carter Seagrove Project LLC – an independent publishing house, incorporated in the State of Indiana. I will be 50 years old in 2015. I only started writing in 2009, proving, I suppose, that it is never too late. I didn’t think about self-publishing until late 2012, now, more than two years later, I’m even more energized by the process than ever before. I’m a qualified English teacher, specializing in teaching English as a second language (TEFL), though I don’t do much of that now. In the distant past, I taught software skills. In the very distant past, I was a project manager on big IT projects and at the very beginning of my career, I was an Internal Auditor. I have degrees in Internal Auditing, Computer Auditing, and Project Management. I’m studying for my degree in Sustainable Development at the moment. Renewable energy is what really interests me and I generate my own power at home via a solar panel. I’m a member of The Society of Authors, The Society for Editors and Proofreaders, and The Independent Author Network. I am a Smashwords Author and a Goodreads Author. I grow some of my own food and from Easter to the end of October, I’m outside for the largest part of the day, tending the garden. I write in the evening and during the winter when there is very little else to do. I have no great philosophy except “energy follows intention” and “honour your gifts”. These two principles keep me sane, very happy and exceedingly busy! Together with Chambers Mars, I am half of Carter Seagrove, author of Dust Jacket and The Inspector Fenchurch Mysteries. Alp Mortal, Chambers Mars and Shannon M. Kirkland are The Carter Seagrove Project LLC – an independent book publisher. Find us at http://www.carterseagrove.weebly.com, on Twitter @carterseagrove and on Facebook www.facebook.com/thecarterseagroveproject.

Website – www.alpmortal.weebly.com

Project – http://www.carterseagrove.weebly.com

Email – alpmortal@hotmail.com

Project – thecarterseagroveproject@gmail.com

Twitter @carterseagrove

IMDb – http://www.imdb.com/company/co0518613/?ref_=tt_dt_co

Facebook www.facebook.com/thecarterseagroveproject.

Random Friday

While finishing Astrid’s story – and being not very efficient in spring, since it’s cold in the morning and hot at lunch time and I don’t sleep well and blah blah blah – I’m currently re-reading Ann Rice’s Interview with the vampire, which I read 20 years ago (just before the movie came out and maybe once more after, to compare)… I’ve rewatched the movie quite often (I had the dubbed version on VHS and bought the DVD as soon as I could), so I remember it quite well (it is the movie that made me fall in love with Brad after all! ;) Pity for Mr Scientology, I’d have happily lived without him even 20 years ago).

The book was sort of forgotten in the meantime. So I thought I’d re-read it to start thinking vampires for my own upcoming story. So after Amaranthine book 7, I’m back to the roots (I haven’t read any other vampire literature between Ann Rice’s first 3 books and Joleene Naylor’s Amaranthine series) and will read also Bram Stoker’s Dracula (seen the F.F.Coppola movie, but not read the book yet). And probably rewatch the vampire movies I have – all 3 of them (I have Lost Boys to stand in for the movie version of Amaranthine, LOL!).

And then I’ll have to talk to my cover artist about the title, since mine will be a humorous tale, not a gothic horror story. I wouldn’t want it to be confused with an unusual, erotic, sci-fi, romantic vampire adult fiction story! I know there’s no copyright on titles, but I’d still prefer to avoid any confusion, so I’ll probably have to stick to the long version of the title, which means the characters will have to pop up on the graphics of the title itself or something. I’m sure between me and Shafali we can come up with something, LOL!

Next week I’ll be in London, probably writing the other B.G. Hope story (I know I need to do some research on the vampire story, so writing in a contemporary setting is probably easier while traveling) and then I’ll start an online workshop… craft, for the first time in years. I guess I’m not really business-minded this year. But as long as I have fun writing… there’s no hurry to publish! I have 99 books in the “my books” folder on my Kindle… and I know the 100th will be Kay-low’s story sometime next month!

Stay tuned and have a Happy Easter!

Writer Wednesday

NEW TITLE OUT! :)

Star Minds Next Generation Diaries

The companion of the next generation novel with the story of how Shan-leo lost his arm, the diaries of Mayumi, Wim, Hiro and T���ymi���chel (or the novel seen from other points of view), and then Dadina five years later. Cover story: S.E.T.H. or Izzy-lee���s quest to recover her beloved.

Available on Amazon Kindle, Apple, Barnes&Noble, DriveThruFiction, Kobo and Smashwords.

Other news: sent off a story for a contest and finishing the next generation stories (yes, there will be more to come – you haven’t read about Kay-low and Astrid yet! Stay tuned) – and preparing for my week off, when I’ll probably mostly brood and write in London… just kidding, I do have people to meet and places to go. ;)

But April will be B.G. Hope’s month – and I’m taking an online workshop, so I don’t know how that will screw my writing routine. Nobody berated me for not giving my wordcount for February at the beginning of March, so now you get both months in one spot. Or better, the first quarter results: almost 140000 words in 3 months. Most of it was done in January, but I’m still pretty much on schedule. Should be 10000words a week and it’s been 13 weeks, so… I’m doing fine! :)

Some writerly links: Harlan Coben on writing. And marketing. And all that other stuff. And do not forget to be creative. Don’t let anyone control you. In the words of Kris Rusch:

Because being creative is about flying in the face of accepted wisdom. It���s about writing what you want to write, in the way that only you can write it. It���s about taking risks and facing down the critics. It���s about using forbidden words and writing about topics that, judging by your appearance, you should know nothing about. It���s about facing down the bigots who say you���ve only attracted readers because your last name implies a certain ethnicity.

And never stop learning. I might be huffing and panting to keep up with publishing changes, but this year I’m also going back to “school” with that online workshop – the first on craft I’m taking in years. So you’ll see less published titles, but my craft will probably improve… I’ll let the readers be the judges! :)

Which brings me also to this wonderful blog about the reader/author relationship. Some commenter pointed out it might be the Social Media Generation who treats books like products (and so do traditional publishers, they treat books like produce that spoils, check Dean Wesley Smith’s blog for that!). As for that “cleaning app”… I had read about it and went “pshaw!” *rolls eyes*.

Anyway. “Be excellent to each other” and especially online! 8 reasons why authors are assholes – I’m number 2 mostly, for the few conventions I attend. Have a great week! :)

Happiness is…

Sunday Surprise

My name is Brenda de Zorig and I���m a journalist for the Konigtown Gazette. I���ve been on the road for years as an actress in an itinerant company, but eventually decided to go back to my hometown to start living of the thing I like the most ��� writing. So while I write my Masterpiece, I took this job at the Gazette and they send me on various assignments��� I thought I might as well starting interviewing random people. Since I intend to write fiction, but truth is always stranger than fiction, I���m eager to hear about people out there ��� on my world or beyond.

So��� Tell me a little about yourself .

My name is Izzy-lee and I’m twenty-seven. I’m a full fledged S.E.T.H. – super enhanced trans humanoid. My Sire mind was uploaded into an artificial body ten years ago. I had an accident in a flying car with my ten boyfriend Shan-leo Shermac…

Wait, Shan-leo, the guy with the weird arm? So you’re one of them? *sigh* another alien… Describe your appearance in ten words or less.

A brunette with nice curves ��� none of it biological.

I wish I could say I understand what you���re saying��� Would you kill for those you love? And would you die for them?

Even if I’m considered an icy bitch by many, no, I’m not a murderer. I survived my own death when I found myself in this body, and I’m now virtually immortal. But I did go to a lot of trouble while trying to get back my beloved.

Where do you live?

I lived on SETH World for five years, but now I don’t think I have a steady house. Wherever my beloved wants to go, I follow.

Are you involved in a relationship? If so, with who and what is it about them that you find appealing?

Yes. He’s from Gaia, or Earth, and when I first met him, he had an exoskeleton to help him walk. His body was paralyzed from the neck down, but his mind was so bright and he is such a solar person… Even if he comes from a low-tech planet, I fell in love with him.

What is the biggest challenge you face in the story?

Finding Alex and then restoring him to his own artificial body. He’s a SETH too, now.

Do you have a family? Tell me about them.

I have a sister, Krys-lyn. But I’m not that attached to my family anymore. Since I moved to SETH World, I pretty much cut the umbilical chord. I’m a SETH, they’re Humanoids. They have no idea of what I’ve gone through.

Please give me an interesting and unusual fact about yourself.

When I was young and stupid, I thought I could marry Shan-leo and become empress. Except he never really wanted to sit in his grandfather’s place. So he dumped me. I didn’t know I had an artificial body at the time, so it took me a few years to redirect my hopes and dreams…

_______________________________________________

Izzy-lee is the protagonist of the Cover Story in Star Minds Next Generation Diaries.

The companion of the next generation novel with the story of how Shan-leo lost his arm, the diaries of Mayumi, Wim, Hiro and T’ymi’chel (or the novel seen from other points of view), and then Dadina five years later. Cover story: S.E.T.H. or Izzy-lee’s quest to recover her beloved.

Coming soon in ebook and print!

Random Friday

By some blogging serendipity I found two similar posts that got me thinking. One is David Farland’s writing tips on��resonance – but that felt to me like trying to write for the market. I’m not writing for the market, I write what I’m passionate about and what I want to read. The tagline for Unicorn Productions is “Books for adults with a youthful mind” or something like that. I’m not going to try to please the younger generations.

Which brings to the second post by Hugh Howey about our evolution. I think he’s right, we don’t think like Victorians and future generations won’t think like us. I’m a Baby Boomer (at least in an Italian book I’ve read about “us” it gives 1945-1965 as dates, so I’m a last minute baby boomer – and even if I’m not, I’m much closer to Baby Boomer thinking than any other generation – be it Generation X, Y/Millennials or whatnot, haha!), and I don’t know how Millennials think – actually, I don’t understand most of humanity, but that’s just me, LOL – and I’m not planning to write for them.

Add to this that dear offline beta told me –��after reading my latest Silvery Earth novella – “Did you write this years ago? It shows, you’re so much better now!”…��I already mentioned I’ll stop “recycling” old stories, but I’ll keep going back to them for things I don’t care much about at this time in my life, but I’m sure almost everybody else still wants to read about.

Oh, and I’ve lost less than 10 “likes” on Facebook due to their new policy of taking off the inactive accounts (and I had to go through the stats to see the drop), but this blog is having more and more followers – whatever you come here for, you’re welcome and thank you. I’m expecting one of those little WordPress prizes anytime soon now! :)

I’ll end this sort-of-writerly rants with Art Friday and point you to the latest portrait of Da Muse H (I’ll use their initial from now on, since I don’t want to put numbers anymore, LOL!)! Have a great weekend! :)

Writer Wednesday

Okay, writing news: Star Minds Next Generation Diaries is almost ready for publication! Waiting for Mighty Editor on the last story (the cover story), then I’ll format and upload. Stay tuned for an announcement sometime next week.

The other stories are also almost done – I have completed a few more short stories and novellas in the Star Minds universe plus three more on Silvery Earth, but I don’t plan on publishing them now. They’re too long to submit them to traditional markets, probably, but I’ll sit on them a little longer.

Also because the website of the publisher is still a WiP, so the less new titles I have up and the less work it will be to update it! I’ll do some cover re-branding for the other two pen names in April as well. And March is almost gone too, at least I can say I’m sticking to my weekly wordcount and I’m on track with that. As for publication… no hurry, right?

Writerly links: to quit or not to quit part 1 – this is Moira Allen’s answer. I’m not quitting anytime soon – not the writing at least. I might quit recycling stories, though! ;) What was written, was written, and it sucks and it stays where it is, on those handwritten notebooks! :D

10 inspiring statistics about self-publishing – just in case you’re considering quitting publishing as well. I’m still earning in the 3digits per year, but I’m not complaining. I know these things take time.

And if you need advice on how to keep an even keel on the internet… I’m quite self-disciplined in that, so I can live without those apps (while I might need an online translator or dictionary while I write, instead of browsing those paper doorstoppers)! :)

Lots of people talked about beginners last week, be it themselves like Hugh Howey, or more generic beginners, like Kris Rusch… I’m lucky because I started my writing routine in the age of typewriter (yes, I’m that old) when there was no internet distraction, so… Good luck to everyone starting now!

And that’s all for today! Have a great week!

Happiness is…

Sunday Surprise

While waiting for the next guest, here’s some writerly wisdom for you. Have a great Sunday! :)

When I hear the phrase ���writing community,��� usually uttered by those without enough talent to hate other writers for theirs, my first instinct is to reach for the napalm. But failure really does bind us. Flaubert longing to melt the stars and the kid receiving her first rejection letter are the same. All of our little streams pour out into the ocean of total uncaring. If there are to be any claims to greatness, they are to be found only in the scope of the failure and persistence in the face of it. That persistence may be the one truly writerly virtue, a salvation indistinguishable from stupidity. To keep going, despite everything. To keep bellying up to the cosmic irrelevance. To keep failing.

– Stephen Marche

This is most likely not the first time you have heard all of this conflicting advice. It certainly isn���t the first time for me. The nice thing is that��I am not writing at the moment. Taking a step back has helped me see how ridiculous and conflicting it can be to listen to everything. Taking a step back has helped me see myself a lot more. Taking a step back has helped me see that I was right in taking a step back. Intuition. It shouldn���t be ignored. I���m not a perfect author. Perfection, I believe, is right in front of us all the time. It is not a place, but the ability to choose what will work for us and kindly saying no to the things that won���t ��� even if those things��work for others and they are successful and we are not.

– Michelle D. Argyle

Remember: when people tell you something���s wrong or doesn���t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.

��� Neil Gaiman

I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide.

��� Harper Lee

If you don���t have time to read, you don���t have the time ��� or the tools ��� to write. Simple as that.

��� Stephen King

Get through a draft as quickly as possible. Hard to know the shape of the thing until you have a draft. Literally, when I wrote the last page of my first draft of Lincoln���s Melancholy I thought, Oh, shit, now I get the shape of this. But I had wasted years, literally years, writing and re-writing the first third to first half. The old writer���s rule applies: Have the courage to write badly.

��� Joshua Wolf Shenk