Johan Klein Haneveld's Blog, page 2
July 23, 2015
Some long overdue updates!
The fact that there have been no new posts on my blog on Goodreads do not indicate a hiatus in my writing activities. Far from it! It is only that some tough months in the summer of last year asked a lot from me, and they were followed by a bit of depression in the winter, so this blog was summarily forgotten. Now, however, things are looking up again. The weather has improved, the hard times are over, and a lot of projects are up and running again.
The past months I have been primarily writing short stories in the SF genre. I wrote a lot of short stories as a teenager, but later focused on longer works. But I find writing short stories fits me like a glove: I have a lot of ideas and this helps me to visit a lot of different worlds and futures in my imagination. Also it is easy to fit in a busy life schedule. Because I still have a day job, and a marriage, and a lot of other interests, writing has to be done in between, and short stories fit in those gaps perfectly, I find.
This year for the first time I participated in a writing competition with my story 'Valstrik' and won the first price! Another story was accepted for publication in 'Ganymedes-15', a collection of Dutch and Flemish SF. I hope to send in a story for the Harland award, the biggest SF competition in the Netherlands. Maybe if I have some success in these competitions, a short story collection can be published.
What I know will definitely be published (finallY) is my non-fiction work 'Hoe je zwakheid leven brengt', that I first wrote in 2012. I have done a lot of work on it in the meantime, with the help of my editor, and did an extensive rewrite. The book will appear this fall.
Also this fall will see the publication of 'Inspiratie uit de woestijn', a book on the Desert fathers, that I helped edit. I'm proud to be involved in this book, that will give a thoroughly modern look and feel to these old forerunners of christian spirituality. There's even specialty beers brewed for the occasion at Tongval!
I haven't found a publisher for my fantasy duology 'De Krakenvorst' yet, but I must admit I haven't searched that intensively either. But I will put some more effort in it: there's a fantasy fair at the beginning of august and I will print out my manuscript (the first pages of it at any rate) and hand out to some of the publishers present. I hope to find someone willing to read it and hopefully publish it in the near future. I'm still proud of this story, weaving together the adventures of three very different protagonist, dealing with their calling, hardship, and fundamentalist religion and giant squid.
In the mean time ideas for a third non-fiction work are starting to come together. It will be about the difference between a 'transactional' view of reality and a 'sacramental' view. Also I still have the idea of publishing a collection of poetry, and a collection of movie reviews.
In short: a lot of ideas. I hope soon to be able to change my professional work in a way that will allow me more time for my creative endeavors. Watch this space for more information!
The past months I have been primarily writing short stories in the SF genre. I wrote a lot of short stories as a teenager, but later focused on longer works. But I find writing short stories fits me like a glove: I have a lot of ideas and this helps me to visit a lot of different worlds and futures in my imagination. Also it is easy to fit in a busy life schedule. Because I still have a day job, and a marriage, and a lot of other interests, writing has to be done in between, and short stories fit in those gaps perfectly, I find.
This year for the first time I participated in a writing competition with my story 'Valstrik' and won the first price! Another story was accepted for publication in 'Ganymedes-15', a collection of Dutch and Flemish SF. I hope to send in a story for the Harland award, the biggest SF competition in the Netherlands. Maybe if I have some success in these competitions, a short story collection can be published.
What I know will definitely be published (finallY) is my non-fiction work 'Hoe je zwakheid leven brengt', that I first wrote in 2012. I have done a lot of work on it in the meantime, with the help of my editor, and did an extensive rewrite. The book will appear this fall.
Also this fall will see the publication of 'Inspiratie uit de woestijn', a book on the Desert fathers, that I helped edit. I'm proud to be involved in this book, that will give a thoroughly modern look and feel to these old forerunners of christian spirituality. There's even specialty beers brewed for the occasion at Tongval!
I haven't found a publisher for my fantasy duology 'De Krakenvorst' yet, but I must admit I haven't searched that intensively either. But I will put some more effort in it: there's a fantasy fair at the beginning of august and I will print out my manuscript (the first pages of it at any rate) and hand out to some of the publishers present. I hope to find someone willing to read it and hopefully publish it in the near future. I'm still proud of this story, weaving together the adventures of three very different protagonist, dealing with their calling, hardship, and fundamentalist religion and giant squid.
In the mean time ideas for a third non-fiction work are starting to come together. It will be about the difference between a 'transactional' view of reality and a 'sacramental' view. Also I still have the idea of publishing a collection of poetry, and a collection of movie reviews.
In short: a lot of ideas. I hope soon to be able to change my professional work in a way that will allow me more time for my creative endeavors. Watch this space for more information!
April 14, 2014
Update
Well, I just thought I'd add my last book 'De Derde Macht' to Goodreads too, so you're all free to review and comment! And I discovered I haven't updated my blog on Goodreads for more than six months! It's a shame. A lot has happened in the mean time, not the least of which was my marriage to Bianca. Our wedding had a fantasy theme, which was a lot of fun. It changed my life, to say the least. But now I've come back with my feet on the ground, and I'm ready to take up my writing life again. Early this year I had word that a Publisher is interested in my non-fiction work (work title 'Hoe zwakheid je kracht wordt'), on the way our lives are shaped by the stories we live in, and how the story of death and resurrection, of weakness and life, exemplified in the life and death of Jesus, is the most beautiful storie to live in and can change our lives. I'm now rewriting the manuscript and hope to hear a definitive 'go' soon. It's a theme I'm very enthusiastic about, and I hope to be able to share this with the world soon.
My manuscript for the fantasy duology 'De Krakenvorst' is finished, and I've sent it to a Dutch Publisher of fantasy literature. I haven't heard back yet, so ... fingers crossed for that one. I think the story is quite strong, and the world involving, and I have had good feedback from the first readers.
I've also sent out my short story collection about the end times 'Het teken in de lucht' to a new Publisher, after positive comments of readers, about the hopeful nature of my stories. I think it deserves a chance to reach people.
And I've been writing poetry for the last ten months, and am in the early stages of thinking about putting together some of my poems too. One thing is for sure, I love, love, love writing, and will continue doing that as long as I'm able to.
My manuscript for the fantasy duology 'De Krakenvorst' is finished, and I've sent it to a Dutch Publisher of fantasy literature. I haven't heard back yet, so ... fingers crossed for that one. I think the story is quite strong, and the world involving, and I have had good feedback from the first readers.
I've also sent out my short story collection about the end times 'Het teken in de lucht' to a new Publisher, after positive comments of readers, about the hopeful nature of my stories. I think it deserves a chance to reach people.
And I've been writing poetry for the last ten months, and am in the early stages of thinking about putting together some of my poems too. One thing is for sure, I love, love, love writing, and will continue doing that as long as I'm able to.
August 19, 2013
'De Derde Macht' is coming soon!
Just now I got word from my publisher that my novel 'De Derde Macht' is scheduled to appear in September! That's only a month from now! I'm giddy with excitement. Just a week ago I finished correcting the manuscript, now it's almost ready.
It has taken some time for this story to see the light of day, as I wrote the first version before 'Neptunus' was even published for the first time in 2001. In between I did some thorough re-writes, and now I have gone over the story again, with the help of a copy editor, making it even better. I almost had given up hope that this story would even see the light of day. It's a story that is close to my heart. The fact that my name on the playstation is 'Hal Denbris' just like the main character, is a sign of that, I think.
Just like I did when I wrote the novel, he struggles with finding meaning in his job and with overwhelming feelings of guilt and condemnation. As Hal undertakes a journey into the wild regions of the planet Mars, searching for a lost friend, he finds he has to overcome these obstacles if he is to survive. On the way he receives help from a quirky detective, with a knack for deductive reasoning, and a feisty biologist studying Martian wildlife. There's some spectacular scenery, deep conversations on life and faith, and action, as the fate of Hal and of the planet hangs in the balance ...
But this is a story I originally wrote years ago, what about the stuff I'm working on now? Well, there's my non-fiction manuscript 'Wat als God je verhaal vertelt?' - I sent it to my Publisher, and he's currently reading it. Fingers crossed! He wrote the theme of the work appeals to him, so I'm curious about what he thinks of my non-fiction book.
And I am already working on chapter 5 of 'De Krakenvorst boek 2: Kartaalmon' - the second part of my fantasy duology. This book starts out more epic than the first, as in all three threads the protagonist are confronted by overwhelming odds. I enjoy writing these stories very much, spending every train journey, every lunch break and every visit to the coffee company in the weekend on the manuscript.
In the mean time I'm planning my next projects. On the list: a collection of movie reviews looking at resonances between movies and the larger story, a sequel to 'De Derde Macht', titled 'De Stem van Mars'. Obviously set on Mars too. And a new fantasy trilogy I started at years ago, that I now have the inspiration to actually finish, 'Stefans eerste reis: Het Schaduwzwaard'. I have some great idea's for these stories that will take place in different universes, from fantasy to eighteenth century France. And in between I'm writing poetry, and short fiction, that I hope to one day collect and publish too ...
It has taken some time for this story to see the light of day, as I wrote the first version before 'Neptunus' was even published for the first time in 2001. In between I did some thorough re-writes, and now I have gone over the story again, with the help of a copy editor, making it even better. I almost had given up hope that this story would even see the light of day. It's a story that is close to my heart. The fact that my name on the playstation is 'Hal Denbris' just like the main character, is a sign of that, I think.
Just like I did when I wrote the novel, he struggles with finding meaning in his job and with overwhelming feelings of guilt and condemnation. As Hal undertakes a journey into the wild regions of the planet Mars, searching for a lost friend, he finds he has to overcome these obstacles if he is to survive. On the way he receives help from a quirky detective, with a knack for deductive reasoning, and a feisty biologist studying Martian wildlife. There's some spectacular scenery, deep conversations on life and faith, and action, as the fate of Hal and of the planet hangs in the balance ...
But this is a story I originally wrote years ago, what about the stuff I'm working on now? Well, there's my non-fiction manuscript 'Wat als God je verhaal vertelt?' - I sent it to my Publisher, and he's currently reading it. Fingers crossed! He wrote the theme of the work appeals to him, so I'm curious about what he thinks of my non-fiction book.
And I am already working on chapter 5 of 'De Krakenvorst boek 2: Kartaalmon' - the second part of my fantasy duology. This book starts out more epic than the first, as in all three threads the protagonist are confronted by overwhelming odds. I enjoy writing these stories very much, spending every train journey, every lunch break and every visit to the coffee company in the weekend on the manuscript.
In the mean time I'm planning my next projects. On the list: a collection of movie reviews looking at resonances between movies and the larger story, a sequel to 'De Derde Macht', titled 'De Stem van Mars'. Obviously set on Mars too. And a new fantasy trilogy I started at years ago, that I now have the inspiration to actually finish, 'Stefans eerste reis: Het Schaduwzwaard'. I have some great idea's for these stories that will take place in different universes, from fantasy to eighteenth century France. And in between I'm writing poetry, and short fiction, that I hope to one day collect and publish too ...
June 27, 2013
Second edition of 'Neptunus'!
Last monday I had one of those experiences that constitute the highlights of an authors life. The neighbours ringed the door: the postman had left a package at their place, as I was not at home. They wanted to make sure I was at home before they went and brought the package over. And lo, and behold, they returned with a large brown box. I already had an inkling of what was to be found inside it, and when I ripped open the cardboard box inside I found some paper for stuffing, and hidden under that: ten copies of the second edition of my debut novel 'Neptunus', with the shiny new cover illustration. I was giddy as a schoolboy (to quote Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), jumping up and down and immediately calling my fiancee to share my joy with her. And then calling my brother Marten, and my parents, and making pictures and posting them on facebook (as the modern way of sharing ones enthusiasm with the world). It will always be a momentuous occasion to see something that I wrote in print. Even if I wrote it almost fifteen years ago, and it was printed for the first time twelve years ago. And in the back of the book there is an announcement of the sequel: 'De Derde Macht'.
The day after I received my copies of 'Neptunus', I finished editing 'De Derde Macht', making the final corrections, and sending the definitive version to the Publisher. The editor said she was happy with this version, so this book can also be printed. It will be available soon, I hope. And I know that when the package arrives for that book, I will be just as giddy and enthusiastic as last monday, probably even more so. With a wedding coming up this autumn, it looks like it's going to be a year full of happy moments!
The day after I received my copies of 'Neptunus', I finished editing 'De Derde Macht', making the final corrections, and sending the definitive version to the Publisher. The editor said she was happy with this version, so this book can also be printed. It will be available soon, I hope. And I know that when the package arrives for that book, I will be just as giddy and enthusiastic as last monday, probably even more so. With a wedding coming up this autumn, it looks like it's going to be a year full of happy moments!
June 10, 2013
The time between books
I will hazard a guess that I am not the only author having a hard time coping with the 'time between books'. What I found writing part one of my fantasynovel 'De Krakenvorst' is that writing is as essential to me as breathing. Okay, so maybe not that essential, because I don't die if I don't write for a few minutes, but my creativity, my imagination is core to who I am. Making up new worlds and stories that take place in them is what Johan is supposed to do. And I find that if I haven't exercised this part of my brain on a given day, I cannot really feel as if I had a good day. I don't feel fulfilled. And that leads to me not being able to cope with stress during the day that well, and to a detoriation of my sleep, and well, depression. The 'post book dip' more authors experience.
This time the depression was not as bad as it could have been, though!
In the first place I started drawing again, another old hobby of mine. I make drawings of scenes in my stories or make up new planets, and new lifeforms. This feels creative enough to give fulfillment. I even started thinking of making my own graphic novel one day!
In the second place I started writing a feuilleton for my blog, a story in 17 parts (14 published at the moment). Inspired by the SF novel '2312' by Kim Stanley Robinson I thought of a scenario about an explorer in a world where there's nothing left to explore. I think it's one of the best stories I have written yet.
In the third place I had work to do on my novel 'De Derde Macht' as my editor gave in depth suggestions on the text. As any author who feels slightly protective of his or her work, I procrastinated a while before I dared look at her remarks. They were largely positive, but I had to do some rewriting especially with regards to the central relationship in the novel. The last few days I have been busy doing revisions and writing an acknowledgments-page. I do believe the book is better now than it has ever been, and am thankful for all the work the editor, Mieke, has put in it. She clearly had the best interests of the work at heart, and had the patience too to deal with an author who's just a tiny bit sensitive ...
In this way I managed to thrive for the last three months, even between books, but this time of hardship is now over. For this week I will start to work at the second part of 'De Krakenvorst'. First I will have to create an outline, then the joyful (but sometimes hard and exhausting) work of creating the story can begin. I look forward to not being 'between books' for the next eight or nine months!
This time the depression was not as bad as it could have been, though!
In the first place I started drawing again, another old hobby of mine. I make drawings of scenes in my stories or make up new planets, and new lifeforms. This feels creative enough to give fulfillment. I even started thinking of making my own graphic novel one day!
In the second place I started writing a feuilleton for my blog, a story in 17 parts (14 published at the moment). Inspired by the SF novel '2312' by Kim Stanley Robinson I thought of a scenario about an explorer in a world where there's nothing left to explore. I think it's one of the best stories I have written yet.
In the third place I had work to do on my novel 'De Derde Macht' as my editor gave in depth suggestions on the text. As any author who feels slightly protective of his or her work, I procrastinated a while before I dared look at her remarks. They were largely positive, but I had to do some rewriting especially with regards to the central relationship in the novel. The last few days I have been busy doing revisions and writing an acknowledgments-page. I do believe the book is better now than it has ever been, and am thankful for all the work the editor, Mieke, has put in it. She clearly had the best interests of the work at heart, and had the patience too to deal with an author who's just a tiny bit sensitive ...
In this way I managed to thrive for the last three months, even between books, but this time of hardship is now over. For this week I will start to work at the second part of 'De Krakenvorst'. First I will have to create an outline, then the joyful (but sometimes hard and exhausting) work of creating the story can begin. I look forward to not being 'between books' for the next eight or nine months!
April 30, 2013
Finally edited 'De Derde Macht'
Phew, I finally did it. I managed to conquer my procrastination and set myself to rewriting 'De Derde Macht'. After finishing 'De Krakenvorst, boek 1' I got into a bout of 'post book depression', struggling to find energy for new projects. At the same time it was intimidating for me to work on 'De Derde Macht' again. I wrote the first version of this book in 2000 (I will write more about the history of this book in a future blog post), and did a re-write in 2004, but since then I hadn't really looked at it. So it was with trepidation that I opened the document. Would I see all the writing mistakes I made then and be embarrassed by them?
Turned out I had no need to worry! A great part of the book already worked well, and the rest I could improve using the advice of my editor. I changed some paragraphs around, and added some more psychological realism in a couple of scenes, I pruned some long descriptions of excess material, and re-wrote a scene of theological discussion.
In the end I was satisfied. Even though I first wrote this book when I was quite a bit younger, this is a story I am proud of, that I am in no way ashamed of, that I like a lot, and I look forward to see it published in a few months!
Turned out I had no need to worry! A great part of the book already worked well, and the rest I could improve using the advice of my editor. I changed some paragraphs around, and added some more psychological realism in a couple of scenes, I pruned some long descriptions of excess material, and re-wrote a scene of theological discussion.
In the end I was satisfied. Even though I first wrote this book when I was quite a bit younger, this is a story I am proud of, that I am in no way ashamed of, that I like a lot, and I look forward to see it published in a few months!
April 18, 2013
Current projects
My first blog on Goodreads! Now I feel like a proper author!
The book featured on this site, 'Indrukwekkende Vrijheid', might give you the impression I am an author of christian non-fiction. But this is only partly true. My first two published books were novels. 'Neptunus' was a SF-thriller, described as Alistair MacLeans Ice Station Zebra meets Jules Verne, and was published in 2001. 'Het Wrak' was the giftbook for the Dutch 'thriller month' 2002, and featured a Queensland giant bass!
That was my last fiction publication. In the mean time I worked on different non-fiction projects, but I did not write stories. I did start on some, but did not finish them. Up till september 2012 that is. Then I decided that the thing I really want to do with my life is write. Write non-fiction (I think I will continue to return to that too), but most of all: write fiction. And it looks as if at least some of my works will be published too!
So, what are the projects I'm working on?
First of all: 'Neptunus' will be reprinted, with a beautiful new cover!
Next: the sequel to 'Neptunus', 'De Derde Macht', that I wrote more than ten years ago, will finally be published. It also has a great cover designed. One small thing, I first have to rewrite it following my editors remarks. It is hard to return to a work after ten years and try to work on it again ... But I will do so in the next few weeks.
Last year I wrote another non-fiction work, 'Wat als God je verhaal vertelt', dealing with my thoughts on life as a story, and the gospel as the best story there is, even better than Lord of the Rings, or the Matrix! I hope to find a publisher for that one too.
Then, I finished a collection of short stories 'Het Teken in de Lucht', detailing a science fiction version of the Millennium, over the course of a thousand years. It will not be published now, but I think it's the best that I have ever written and hope it will become available to my readers eventually.
Following this, I decided to return to one of my abandoned projects, a fantasy duology I started on in 2001 and left after writing three chapters 'De Krakenvorst'. This time the creative block was nowhere to be found, so I finished the first book (titled: 'Keruga') in less than six months. I'm very enthusiastic about this novel.
When I'm finished with updating 'De Derde Macht' I will start on the second part of the duology 'Kartaalmon'. I hope to finish that one in 2014. Then I hope to collect several of my movie reviews in a book, and start on another of my abandoned projects ...
I'll try to keep you all posted on progress on these projects!
The book featured on this site, 'Indrukwekkende Vrijheid', might give you the impression I am an author of christian non-fiction. But this is only partly true. My first two published books were novels. 'Neptunus' was a SF-thriller, described as Alistair MacLeans Ice Station Zebra meets Jules Verne, and was published in 2001. 'Het Wrak' was the giftbook for the Dutch 'thriller month' 2002, and featured a Queensland giant bass!
That was my last fiction publication. In the mean time I worked on different non-fiction projects, but I did not write stories. I did start on some, but did not finish them. Up till september 2012 that is. Then I decided that the thing I really want to do with my life is write. Write non-fiction (I think I will continue to return to that too), but most of all: write fiction. And it looks as if at least some of my works will be published too!
So, what are the projects I'm working on?
First of all: 'Neptunus' will be reprinted, with a beautiful new cover!
Next: the sequel to 'Neptunus', 'De Derde Macht', that I wrote more than ten years ago, will finally be published. It also has a great cover designed. One small thing, I first have to rewrite it following my editors remarks. It is hard to return to a work after ten years and try to work on it again ... But I will do so in the next few weeks.
Last year I wrote another non-fiction work, 'Wat als God je verhaal vertelt', dealing with my thoughts on life as a story, and the gospel as the best story there is, even better than Lord of the Rings, or the Matrix! I hope to find a publisher for that one too.
Then, I finished a collection of short stories 'Het Teken in de Lucht', detailing a science fiction version of the Millennium, over the course of a thousand years. It will not be published now, but I think it's the best that I have ever written and hope it will become available to my readers eventually.
Following this, I decided to return to one of my abandoned projects, a fantasy duology I started on in 2001 and left after writing three chapters 'De Krakenvorst'. This time the creative block was nowhere to be found, so I finished the first book (titled: 'Keruga') in less than six months. I'm very enthusiastic about this novel.
When I'm finished with updating 'De Derde Macht' I will start on the second part of the duology 'Kartaalmon'. I hope to finish that one in 2014. Then I hope to collect several of my movie reviews in a book, and start on another of my abandoned projects ...
I'll try to keep you all posted on progress on these projects!
