Chris Ward's Blog, page 13

Writing Update - Month Four

On June 20th, 2012, I decided to try to write 52 short stories in a year.  Since then the challenge has become a lot more, it has become about whether or not I really wanted to push myself to achieve what I felt I had the talent to achieve, which was to eventually become a full time writer.  I have rarely had doubts about my ability, and the number of stories I've published (33) suggest I'm not being a complete ego-manic when I say I think I have what it takes.  But it wasn't just about how good the words I'd written in the past were, but how good the words I hadn't yet written had the potential to be, and whether I had the drive to write enough of them to pretty much blanket the market with my awesomeness, because, let's face it, the likelihood of getting big on just one book is very remote indeed.  In other words, I had to step up to the plate.

So my odyssey shifted momentum from 52 short stories in a year to a minimum of 1000/day and as many completed new projects as possible.  Here's what I've got so far after 4 months, or 122 days.

Name Type Word Count Status 1 The Ship Short Story 3793 Finished - to edit 2 Take me Back with You Short Story 2528 WIP 3 Take me Back with You Novelisation 29914 WIP 4 The Lost Train Short Story 4352 WIP 5 The Other Set of Feet Short Story 3749 Finished - to edit 6 Tube Riders : The Hunter Novella 14980 WIP 7 Once We Were Children Short Story 2513 Finished - to edit 8 The Assignment Short Story 8802 Finished - to edit 9 Never Give Up Short Story 5111 Finished - to edit 10 Clones Short Story 1323 Edited 11 Beat Down 1 - Clones Serial Novella 19774 Editing 12 Sunfall Short Story 1271 WIP 13 The Tube Riders: Exile Novel 60434 WIP 14 Beat Down 2 - The Heist Serial Novella 18533 Finished - to edit 15 Beat Down 3 - Badassaur Serial Novella 3020 WIP Started June 21st Word Count 180097 Pages (300w/pg) 600 4 month target (Oct 20th) (122 days) 150000 Ahead 30097 Total Month One month tally: 33598 33598 Two month tally: 62217 28619 Three month tally: 119253 57036 Four month tally: 180097 60844

So, 60,844 words for the month, or roughly half a novel (depending on what you call a good length - for me its 120,000 words).  The big one, of course, is part 2 of my novel, The Tube Riders, sitting nicely at just over 60k.  About half of what I wrote this month was on that one project, although it stalled for a week or so on a plot knot.  Elsewhere, my other big projects are my action-adventure/comedy/fantasy novella series, Beat Down, of which I'm now on to part 3.  Part 1 will be released on November 7th.  You can read more about it on a separate blog here.  The cover art is done for parts 1 & 2, and looks great.  It's fun to write but there will only be so long I can maintain it if it doesn't start to pay for itself, so I'll probably run it for three or four episodes and see how it goes.  While I have my "art" writing, I also love having fun with creativity, and there has to be a place for situations where you have a portal into another world in which chickens have become the dominant lifeform, hidden in a giant eagle's nest and accessible only by jumping off a ski jump.  Can't really put that kind of stuff into Tube Riders ...

Elsewhere, I also got a bit done on my "romance" novel.  It's got to the point where I'm not embarrassed by it, but if I think its publishable it will definitely be under a different name.

I also got a few more words done on my Tube Riders novella, which I think might end up as a companion novel set in London during the period of TR2, and featuring almost all different characters, some of which will show up in TR3 ... maybe.  It's really dark, and there's nothing I like more than writing dark fiction.  It might even appeal to a different audience to TR, but I don't really care because I'll write what I like, thank you...!

You'll notice I haven't got much editing done.  I'm perfectly happy with this, because I hate it when people rush off to edit their work immediately after finishing it, or worse, send it straight out to an editor to do the polishing for them.  Let it breathe.  Give it time to rest, time for your eyes to get a fresh view on it.  Any completed manuscript needs at least a month on the shelf, and while I have some that have been waiting that long I'm kind of lazy about editing so I haven't got around to it yet!

One thing I did edit was my short story Clones, and it was really f**king good.  I didn't remember it being that good when I wrote it, but I read it four times back to back just for pleasure, and I never do that.  Best thing I've written in years, so I gave it a brush up and sent it off to a literary magazine because it would be a waste to just self publish it and have it sit on Amazon being ignored.  Plus, it's really short, and regardless of how good it is people would moan about the price.  Still, I'm really proud to have it in the can, and hopefully I'll find somewhere to flog it and get myself a useful little payday.

Anyway, enough talking about the craft, back to it.  While I'm happy to have hit 60k in a month, the best thing is I really don't think I'm currently pushing myself all that much.  That's only on an average of 1 - 2 hours a day (perhaps a couple more on a weekend) and is only 2k a day.  I did a couple of big 5k days and as always happens I had a lull afterwards each time, but I think 3 - 4k a day is fairly reasonable, which would work out at a novel per month(!).  I just wish I didn't have to work the regular work so much, but if Tube Riders takes off (it's selling steadily since the promo ended) the first thing I'll do is can the evil kid classes and get my evenings back.

Right, I did say I was finishing ....

CW
22nd Oct 2012

Blop Hop - The Next Big Thing

BLOG HOP – The Next Big Thing
I recently got tagged in a blog hop by my friend and fellow Japan-based writer, Kelly Matsuura, who writers poignant, emotive romance fiction.  Thanks to Kelly for doing this, it’s the first time I’ve had it happen so I’ll try to think of something interesting to say.The rules for the blog hop are as follows:
****Give credit to the person/blog that tagged you**** Post the rules for the blog hop****Answer these ten questions about your current WIP (Work In Progress) on your blog****Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.
Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing:
What is the working title of your book? 
I’m actually working on four main projects at the moment, but I guess the one that’s getting the most attention is the follow up to my novel, The Tube Riders.  It’s currently titled Tube Riders : Exile.
Where did the idea come from for the book? 
A couple of years ago, after I wrote the first book and was shopping it to agents, I started writing a follow up set five years in the future.  I got about fifty pages in, and while I liked what I was writing I felt there was a gap that needed to be filled.  This is it.
What genre does your book fall under?
It’s sci-fi dystopia.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? 
I’d want unknowns.  None of my characters are ever “star” types, as in I hate gorgeous, muscular leads.  Switch, one of my main characters, has a jippy eye, for example, while Marta, the leading lady, has dreaded hair because she hardly ever gets a chance to wash.  Also, I wouldn’t want a “star” to carry the movie, I would want the story to do that.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? 
Better than the first one (I hope!).

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? 
Self-published, unless I get a really, really good offer.  Book one recently did extremely well on a free promotion and from the reviews I’ve had I’m inclined to believe that I’m on to something, and there could be a lot of money to be made without some company skimming most of it off the top.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I’m only 50,000 words in so far, but about five weeks so far.  Like I say, I’m working on three other projects as well.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? 
Difficult . . . because I hardly read anything!  I’d guess Hunger Games, as that’s a kind of dystopian chase story, or Futuretrack 5, an old classic that few people now have heard of (it’s awesome).  However, the landscape you see in Tube Riders is very familiar.  It’s only set 60 years in the future.
Who or What inspired you to write this book? 
The people that said part one was good inspired this one, definitely.  Otherwise I would have just written something else.  I’m not a big sequel person, so this is definitely for them.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
It’s awesome, simple as that.  Don’t listen to me, listen to the reviewers.

And the writers I'm tagging are -
John Daulton - Author of The Galactic Mage
C.D. Loken - Author of The Gift of the Brass Bell
Ashley Torbeck - Owner of the Drunken Space Penguin blog
Tony Riches - Owner of The Writing Desk blog
Karen Einsel - Owner of Karen's Different Corners
Check them out!
CW10 Oct 2012

Humour in The Tube Riders

Okay, so its a pretty bleak novel, but there are some nuggets of humour in The Tube Riders.

Here's one of my favourite scenes, Frank vs Switch, from Chapter Twelve.



The others stood around while Frank examined Switch.  With his bloody t-shirt off and the wound wiped down, Marta was relieved the blood had made it look worse than it was.  A thin cut about two inches long clung to the side of his hip, a little wider at the top than the bottom.‘I fucking twisted on it and pushed it in deeper,’ Switch said, as way of explanation.‘You were lucky,’ Frank said, prodding it with a surgical instrument.  It went in through the fat on your lower back and got stuck in the muscle here,’ he said, prodding Switch’s side and making him wince.  ‘It was a small knife, I take it?’‘Yeah.’‘You pulled it out yourself?’‘Yeah.’‘You still got it?’‘In my one remaining shoe.’  He kicked it off and held it up.Marta smiled in spite of herself.  Typical Switch.Frank plucked it out and held it up to the light.  ‘Nice,’ he said.  ‘Thrower.  Proper one, too.’‘You wanna buy it?’Frank smiled.  He looked around at the others.  ‘Well, I’m guessing Paul said you had money just to get you in the door.  ‘I’ll trade it for stitching you up.’‘Done.’Frank got to work cleaning the wound.  Switch yelped in pain as he dabbed at the exposed flesh with TCP antiseptic liquid, but the only thing he could offer to numb the pain was a shot of some cheap homebrewed whiskey.‘I don’t know what’s worse, the pain or this piss,’ Switch growled, gulping it down.  Simon, who took an experimental swig after him, couldn’t testify to the pain but had to agree the taste was pretty bad.‘I could put you under, but I don’t think you’ve got enough of those knives to pay me for it,’ Frank said.  ‘And plus, by the look of you kids, I’d say you want this chump on his feet pretty soon.’Their silence was affirmation.Frank sewed Switch up, dressed the injury and gave him some antibiotics to keep it free of infection.  ‘Do notlose these,’ he said.  ‘Take one a day, and do not forget.  If it starts to itch, or pus starts to come out of the wound, double up for a day.  It should seal itself over in a week, and then you’re safe.  Until then, take care.  If it gets infected and you can’t get to a doctor, well, you’re fucked.’  Frank cackled.  Marta couldn’t tell how serious he was.Switch climbed down from the table.  ‘Thanks old man, I owe you one.’Frank raised an eyebrow.  ‘Many people say that, few deliver.’‘Well, one day I might.’‘I hope so.  Take it easy, kid.’‘And you.’Switch followed Simon and Jess out into the hall.  Frank turned to Paul.  ‘How’s your brother?’Paul shrugged.  ‘Still there.  Starting to raise hell.’Frank nodded.  ‘Good, good.  Keep him alive, he’ll be leading the revolution one day.’  He patted Paul’s shoulder and started to laugh again.‘Thank you for your help,’ Marta said to Frank in the doorway.‘No problem, young lady,’ he said.  ‘I just suggest that whatever you were doing for that to happen you try to avoid it in the future.’‘We’ll try,’ Marta said.  ‘If only it was that easy.’Frank gazed off into the distance.  His eyes grew suddenly wistful.  ‘Don’t give up on this country just yet,’ he said.  ‘Keep your heads down, one day them dark clouds are gonna clear.’‘We hope so,’ Marta said.Frank nodded.  He looked at Switch.  ‘You.  Come here.’Switch sauntered closer.  ‘Yeah, what?’Before Marta could blink Frank’s hand had gone to Switch’s throat, the throwing knife held there, hard against the skin.  Switch’s good eye went wide.  There was a collective intake of breath, and then Frank gave a gap-toothed smile and cackled a laugh.  He dropped his hand.  ‘You’ll need this metal more than I will, I think,’ he said, holding out the knife, handle first.  ‘A present from an old man.’Switch took the offered knife and tucked it under his shirt, his composure once more unruffled.  ‘Thanks.  I don’t suppose you have any spare shoes around?’Frank pouted.  ‘I doubt we’re the same size, kid.’  He looked around at the others.  ‘Now, if I can give you kids some advice, stay on your guard.  Don’t trust anyone.’  He cocked his head and flashed a smile.  ‘Except me.’      With that he nodded goodbye and went back inside.  The door slammed behind them without sentiment and several latches thudded back across.


Although he only appears in two early scenes, Frank is one of my favourite characters.  While I can't say exactly where or when, it's pretty likely he'll pop up in later books.
The Tube Riders (full novel) is free October 5th through October 7th.
CW4th Oct 2012

The NaNoWriMo Challenge

The NaNoWriMo Challenge!
I've decided to sign up for NaNoWriMo this year for a bit of an experiment.  This will be my first time but I've been writing so much recently that I think I can handle it.
However.
Writing, when I'm in the zone, is not something I find particularly difficult.  In the last week alone I wrote some 15,000 words on just one or two hours a day.  When I have the thread of a story its like I don't actually write it, it writes itself.  So if I'm going to make it a challenge, I want to do something different.
This is what I've decided to do, and I want anyone who's up for the challenge to join me.
For a bit of fun, let’s create something “out-there” and attempt to push our literary boundaries.  If what you write turns out to be a masterpiece then all well and good, but at the very least it will give you a chance to try something different and explore new territory.
The target, as with all NaNoWriMo novels is a story of 50,000 words within the month of November.
This year, however, I have chosen a number of criteria and I will use a dice to decide exactly which ones I will use.
My criteria are -
1. Genre.2. Narrative voice.3. Character4. Character attribute5. Setting
You should choose six options for each, then roll a dice to decide the basics of your story.
Please note – all criteria should be filled out individually.  The choices below are what I chose, but please make sure that each option is something you would feel comfortable (or be willing to try) writing about.  For example, if you don’t like writing about serial killers, don’t use “serial killer” as an option.
The most important one is the genre.  You should chose six genres that you have NEVER written in before.  We're attempting to leave our comfort zones here.
Okay, so here's what I chose for my categories, and the results of my dice rolls are in bold.
Your novel will be a –
1.    Western2.    Historical romance3.    Techno-thriller4.    Mystery5.   Crime story6.    Literary story
written in –
1.   First person2.    Second person3.    Third person4.    First person omniscient5.    First person multiple viewpoint6.    Stream of consciousness
And featuring a –
1.   Cowboy2.    Talking animal3.    Housewife4.    Ninja5.    Bank manager6.    School teacher
who is –
1.    Immortal2.   Gay3.    Disabled4.    Retired5.    Pre-teen6.    Very overweight
In a primary location of –
1.    Desert2.    City3.   Ocean4.    Space5.    Mountain6.    European Countryside
You can add more and more categories if you wish.
Good luck!
So, my result – I will write a crime story in first person, featuring a gay cowboy and set in or around the ocean.
Hmmm.
Feel free to add my to your friends list on NaNoWriMo.  I'm going under my real name, ChrisWard.
Good luck!
CW
3 Oct 2012

Tube Riders new cover

I loved the train, but unfortunately the readers didn't (or at least no one bought it with the train on the front) so it had to go.

However, I will keep it up as the banner on my Facebook page for now, partly because its a great picture by a really talented artist and because I like it.

I've been thinking to change the cover of Tube Riders for a while, mainly because I didn't feel that it really reflected the contents of the book.  While the original train picture, titled Final Train (just look at it, is that not a fantastic picture?  Incidentally, this is the one I was hoping to get for part two), was supposed to suggest a train that takes you to hell or something like that, when I had to crop it for the ebook cover it lost a lot of its fearsomeness and became, well, just a train.

Initially I considered doing a new cover myself, but I have big plans for Tube Riders and the reviews I've got so far suggest those plans might be justified, and felt that it was time to step up and get a pro to do it.  A writer friend of mine, Jenny Twist (thanks Jenny!), suggested Su at Novel Prevue.

Not only did Su really understand what I wanted but she was quick, cheap and easy to work with.  I still can't believe she can be doing this for anything less than love at those prices, and I'd strongly urge any writer on a budget to check her out.  Her prices might be budget but her work isn't.

Anyway, here is the new ebook cover -

 
This one really ramps up the scariness.  That evil guy in the middle is a Huntsman, one of the government's near uncontrollable, tracking/killing machines, a group of which are sent after the Tube Riders.  And there's a train on the front as well.  Su did me a slightly different version with wires coming out of the guy's head, but I think I like the chip best.  Kidnapped off the streets of London, the Huntsmen are people who have been genetically and physically altered to become part dog, part machine.  It looks a little more like a horror, but while its set in the near future there are some pretty bleak scenes, particularly those involving the Huntsmen.  My mother found it a tough read, let's put it that way.
And here's the paperback -

 While I actually liked the original Createspace cover more than the original ebook one, this new version just takes it to a different level.   It's currently in review, so hopefully will be available in a couple of days.
Right, now back to writing Part 2.  I'm not one of those writers who tends to hide their progress, and I'm happy to say that I'm closing on 150 pages now, a little over a month after starting.  You won't believe what Switch is about to blow up this time ...
CW30th Sept 2012

10 Tips for New and Busy Writers

Okay, I was giving some tips in a forum the other day and thought I’d write them all down in one post for people to reference.  These tips will mostly be useful for beginning writers, busy writers or those who just can’t find the muse, but maybe there will be some info in there for pros to agree with as well.  Of course, these are just my opinions, so you can take them or leave them as you see fit.  I hope that everyone will find at least a couple of things useful.
1.    Kill the internet
Don’t think about it, don’t talk about it, just do it.  I defy anyone who claims they can write well with an internet connection on the same computer.  If they can, they’re a stronger-willed person than me because I really can’t.  I’ve written 125,000 words since I killed the internet on my wife’s old laptop in mid June and adopted it as my main writing computer.  Some of you retired/stay at home/machine-gun writer folks might think that’s nothing, but that’s my most productive period EVER, plus, with working full and part time, looking after a wife and cat, rocking out in a band and managing a cricket club, I rarely get more than an hour or two to write per day.  I can directly correlate the last time I was heavily productive to the last time I had a computer with no internet on it.  That was seven years ago.  That’s an awful lot of writing I didn’t do in exchange for mostly useless web browsing.  I may live to regret it, or I may have pulled it back again just in time.  If you like the internet, have two computers (in different rooms).  But one more time, if you like writing, kill the internet.  No talking.  JUST. DO. IT.  No excuses either, no “Well, it’s my only computer and I need the internet …” whiny type things.  Save it.  You don’t need much power to write.  You can pick up a secondhand 512MB laptop with Word 2003 for less than $100.  Then all you need is a cheap flash drive to transfer your work to your power machine when you want to publish, format or do any of the other stuff.  No excuses.
2.    Stop watching TV
How much do you enjoy watching those chat shows, soap operas, game shows, football matches?  You’re allowed to watch some TV, of course, but have a think about how much you actually watch because you’re interested in the program, and how much of what you watch is just boredom browsing.  Stop doing the latter, and stop doing it right now.  All the other things I could say about this are covered in point 1.
3.    Value that fifteen minutes
One for the busies, this.  So, you’ve got some stuff on after work that you just can’t get out of, and when you get back you’ll be tired, but do you have time to jump on to the computer for fifteen minutes before you go out, or just before you go to bed?  How about before you eat breakfast?  You don’t need to set aside an entire evening to write.  Fifteen minutes before work, when you get home and before you go to bed, and you’ll have 1000 words a day down.  And that is three novels a year.  Some people might say that you can’t get into a story that quickly, but the fact is, that doing it a little and often will keep the plot fresh in your mind throughout the day.  You’ll find yourself thinking about scenes while you’re at work, or lying in bed, or in the pub with your mates, and when you jump into that short fifteen minute session you’ll find you have so much more to write.
4.    Set goals/targets, and push yourself to stick to them
I’m a killer for deadlines/targets.  I literally can’t work without them.  Back in June, I decided, based on a blog I read, to try to write 52 short stories in a year.  I set up a spreadsheet to keep track of everything and then got to work.  That quickly morphed into 1000 words a day but I stuck to it.  It’s very important to set goals within your means, though.  1000 words a day is easy for me.  For others it might be 3000, or just 500.  Set a goal well within your limits and then every time you beat it you’ll feel like you’re cruising and anything else you write during that period will be a bonus.  I wrote 57,000 words in the third month of my challenge, but I didn’t increase my target because I’d be pushing myself too much and there’s nothing that kills motivation more than failure.  Regardless of what my final tally is, at the beginning of the next month I just add another 30,000 words and get to work trying to top that.
5.    Don’t overcomplicate things
I read a lot of posts asking about the best writing software and filing programs to keep notes, particularly from new writers.  That often says to me that people are looking for shortcuts to getting the work done.  You should write with as little distraction as possible, and, particularly at the draft stage, just get those words down.  I use Word to write, then an Excel spreadsheet to keep note of the major characters and what happens in each chapter.  I usually don’t do this until I’ve finished the first draft, though.  Again, different things work best for different people, but I find if I’m spending too long typing details into Excel I lose track of the story.
6.    Plotting is your friend, but don’t overdo it
Stephen King is the most famous advocate for not plotting your books in advance, but while I love his writing his books tend to ramble on and he’s not well known for great endings (I’m not dissing him – I’d kill to be half as good!), but particularly when you’re a newcomer it’s always useful to have a general idea of where you want the story to go.  When I write, I’ll generally write a couple of lines down for each of the next four or five chapters so that when I come to the page I know more or less what I want to happen.  Quite often I go off on a tangent or things change, but there is nothing worse than sitting down and not knowing what is supposed to happen in the remainder of a scene.  Again, plotting is something you can do in your head on a bus on the way to work, or in a notepad sitting quietly beside you on your desk at the bank.
7.    When “in public” as it were, act professionally at all times
Okay, this is not so much about the craft but is something that has frustrated me a lot recently and is rife in self-publishing.  When you put your work out there for people to buy, you cease being an anonymous person typing on a keyboard and you become potentially a professional writer.  Therefore, you should act like it.  This involves complaining about reviewers and starting arguments with other writers on internet forums (or in public, but at least the rest of us don’t have to read it then!).  If someone slams your writing – particularly your mechanics (grammar, spelling, word choice, etc) see it as a free lesson.  Take a good look at what you do and see if you can make it better.  So many people think self-publishing is a way to a quick buck.  It’s not.  Even apparently overnight successes had to learn their craft.  You have to too, there’s no way around it.  Don’t start talking about getting someone to ghost write it, or search for a really good editor to rewrite your paragraphs, learn how to do it yourself.  Editors and proofreaders should be painting your house, not trying to build it from a jumble of bricks you’ve dumped in front of them.  Read grammar books if you have to, but most of all read other novels and think about the flow, the sentence structure, the way the dialogue works.  Then get back to work on your own stuff.  Don’t thank the reviewer or bitch at them, because their review is not for you, it’s for other readers.  That doesn’t mean you can’t learn from it.
And on starting arguments – just don’t.  Self-publishing is not a school playground, it’s not about jostling for the first go on the slide.  If you’re childish enough to pick arguments with complete strangers because they sell more than you or you think their book sucks and yours doesn’t but no one buys it or whatever … get lost.  Go back to school, learn some maturity and come back in five or six years when you’re ready to try again at acting like a professional.  And if someone starts coming after you, just leave.  Internet forums are not the world, they’re just places where people hang out and shoot the shit.  I used to be a member of an English teacher’s forum and I got into a couple of minor disagreements with the long termers who liked to shoot down all the enthusiastic newcomers and I got tired of it.  It became immediately apparent that I would never win, yet the arguments were encroaching on my thoughts at other times of the day when I wasn’t anywhere near the forum.  So I left (without one of those egotistical, “I’m leaving!” announcements, I might add), and I haven’t posted in the two years since.  Every now and again I pop in to see if there’s anything useful, and around the occasional post with some interesting information there’s the same stuff going on, the old timers shooting down the newcomers, the occasional mouthy newbie getting dragged into a flame war, and I’m glad I don’t participate.  It’s not worth the effort.  I have better things to do.  So, don’t be a dickhead.  It’s a complete, utter waste of time, and at best you won’t win any friends, while at worst people will start spreading your real identify and try to trash your books.
8.    Learn to touch type
Okay, enough about decorum, back to the craft.  You might think that you can type well enough with two fingers, but unless you’re a virtuoso you probably can’t type that fast, relatively speaking.  I learned to touch type at school and it is probably the most useful skill I ever learned.  According to this speed typingtest I can type at 70 words per minute without any errors.  Yeah, so I’m a badass, but I only average about 30 wpm when I’m writing, because obviously I’m not just copying, I’m thinking as well, or rewriting sentences.  If you’re typing less than 20 wpm you should really think about learning to touch type.  You can get free online programs to help you and it’ll really help you make use of those little fifteen minute sessions mentioned earlier.  Be aware that it takes time to learn – even after doing a course at school it took me six months of forcing myself to use a touch typing style when I wrote before I could do it without looking.  It was hard, but so, so worth it.
9.    Have several WIPs on the go at the same time
A lot of people won’t agree with this, but I find it really helps when I get stuck on something to have other works in progress I can go over to.  I have I think six current WIPs, and while I have my favorites I keep everything on a spreadsheet now so that I don’t forget about anything.  Quite often I’ll take an hour and have an update, doing ten minutes on each one, aiming just to get another 100 words or so.  Quite often one will take over and draw me in, but that’s no bad thing.
10.   Be patient
Rome – nor any other city – wasn’t built in a day.  Your book might be an overnight success, but I can guarantee you won’t write it, nor even learn to write well, overnight.  Practice, practice, practice, write, write, write.  Then repeat.  Then, after a minimum of a couple of years – more like four or five – you’ll be writing at a standard that won’t get trashed if you self-publish it.  Neither should you rush your WIPs.  Having deadlines is all well and good, but a book takes time to write itself, to iron out all the creases and fold itself up nicely into something wonderful.  Give it time.  Don’t write when you’re too tired.  Don’t write when you’re drunk.  Don’t write with the TV on in the background (okay, guilty, but it’s the wife watching it and I live in Japan so I can’t understand most of it anyway).  Let your writing breathe, be patient, take your time.  You’ll be better off for it in the long run.
Right, this little post has stretched out into a 2000 word tome, so it’s time to put it to bed and get on with some creativity of my own.
Thanks for reading (if you got this far!) and I hope you find some of these tips useful.
CW24 September 2012

All about Tube Riding

What is “Tube Riding”?

I actually got asked this the other day, so I thought I would explain to you the rather dangerous practice that is at the centre of my dystopian novel, The Tube Riders.

## Disclaimer – “Tube Riding” is a fictional sport performed by a very small number of people in 2075 London. It is highly dangerous. DO NOT attempt to do it for real. You could quite possibly die and I, the author of The Tube Riders, will not be held legally responsible. Trust me on this. Just watch the movie. ##

A “tube” is a nickname for a subway/underground train. The Tube Riders are a group of young people (there could be older people, but they probably wouldn’t be able to handle it) who “surf” the sides of these trains. However, while the novel opens with them tube riding in the London Underground, it is possible to ride any train providing the prerequisites are met.

Prerequisites for Tube Riding –

1. A wooden board, known as a “clawboard”. Any flat piece of wood will do, but it must have metal handles or leather straps (preferably both) attached to one side, and a curved hook on the other. Some clawboards have two or more hooks, others have one big one.
2. Somewhere you can jump on the side of the trains without getting arrested. The Tube Riders in the novel use the abandoned London Underground Station of St Cannerwells. Now, don’t go looking for it, because St Cannerwells doesn’t exist. Yet (the novel is set in 2075).
3. A train. Obviously. Preferably one going pretty fast. The benefit of St Cannerwells is that it is abandoned and thus the trains don’t stop. They move through the station at speed, meaning the Tube Riders get a very exhilarating ride.
4. Some old mattresses or pillows to land on when you jump off. This is non-essential, as with correct technique it is possible to leap off and roll. However, as Marta explains in the book, “it hurts like hell”.

How to Ride and Dismount

As the train enters the station, you must run at a diagonal angle in towards it, as demonstrated by Marta in the first chapter of the book. You hold your board out in front of you. As you come alongside, you leap up towards the train, angling your board towards the metal drainage rail that is just above the window. Not all trains have this, so check beforehand.

If successful (and you really don’t want to miss), you stand with your feet braced apart just below the window, leaning back. Give any commuters a little grin, then get ready for the dismount.

It is very important that you get off before the train goes into the tunnel. Some of the tunnels are very tight and you could die. When you are nearing the breakfall mats at the end of the platform, push your board in and up. It will be held against the rail by the force of motion and you have to counteract it.

Immediately duck your head and arms in. Land on your back on the breakfall mats and be thankful that you are still alive.

The Aim of Tube Riding

While in the book, Switch describes Tube Riding as "better than any drug", obviously, the main aim is not to die. Several deaths have occurred, mainly when a rider misses what is known as the “hook” or the “mount”, and gets caught between the edge of the platform and the moving train. Some platforms have smaller gaps than others, but you really want to make that hook.

However, once successfully on the train, the aim is to dismount as close to the wall as possible, as indicated by painted or chalk marks on the platform edge. A score over thirty feet is novice, fifteen to thirty good, ten to fifteen exceptional. As mentioned in the book, no one has done under ten feet and lived.

You can check your own scores, but a score is not official unless it has been verified by at least one other Tube Rider.

More than anything, though, for the Tube Riders, their dangerous sport is something that holds them together in the chaotic days of Mega Britain. None of them have much family left, so it holds them together. It will also be needed to save them when they fall foul of the government.

Lastly, that disclaimer again. Remember, Tube Riding is a FICTIONAL sport. DO NOT try it EVER. NOT ONCE. I am not responsible.

The Tube Riders is available now from Amazon as an ebook or paperback.

CW
September 4th 2012
The Tube Riders

The Man Who Built the World new teaser

Well, I'm nearing the end of proofing for my next novel and I found this nice little segment I wanted to share.

This is from Part One.


You can’t just leave like that, you know you can’t.

The thought hit him like a hard slap across the face, and for a moment he stumbled, catching his footing just in time to avoid tumbling towards the puddles hidden in the dark at his feet. Just a thought, just a stupid, irrational thought, but it had snagged him like the barb of a fisherman’s hook. His very presence back in Tamerton had opened up a whole can of long forgotten emotions that would take time to sort, time he didn’t have.

Time he didn’t want to give.

He should have stayed away. They didn’t need him, hadn’t for fourteen years. His sister wouldn’t know he had come; she was dead, after all.

And what sort of reception could he expect from his father? Ian Cassidy had made the call to him – only Heaven knew how he had found Matt’s number – but how much of that had been as a duty? How much did he really want to see his son?

Welcome home son. Welcome home, little me.


The Man Who Built The World is a stand alone paranormal fantasy/horror of 228 pages. It's badass. Read it.

CW

Taking up the Challenge - 52 Short Stories in a Year

The Challenge - 52 Short Stories in a Year

Recently I read this blog post by Dean Wesley Smith on how it was possible to earn a living writing short fiction. Until then I had never heard of Dean, but it seems he's a pretty well-respected speculative fiction writer with a huge number of credits to his name, both traditionally published and indie-published.

His blog caused a huge backlash, particularly on Kindleboards, with numerous indie-writers churning out several thousand words arguing whether he was right or wrong. I've never been a big one for forums (to be honest, the less time I spend on forums the better – while they can be a great place to learn and make friends they can also suck valuable hours out of a busy day) so I ducked out of that conversation early in order to try to find out for myself.

I know for a fact that you can make good money selling short stories to magazines. Twice I've cashed checks for well over a hundred dollars for short stories I’ve sold, and of course the possibilities of indie-publishing are infinite.

For me, the biggest problem has always been the work ethic. I know I can write – I have eight novels, eighty-odd short stories and perhaps twice as much unfinished work sitting on my hard-drive. I’ve just never been that prolific. I've never written more than one novel in a year and perhaps 20 short stories in a year is my best effort.

There are many examples from history of writers who've experienced huge success on the back of one book, some even on one short story. Those people, while highly skilled, had huge elements of luck behind them, as well as the old case of right place, right time. I've read wonderful books by writers who died unknown, so just writing a good book is not enough. For the vast majority of us mortals, a high rate of productivity is the key to getting noticed and gradually becoming successful. I have been trying to sell my writing for fifteen years, so if it takes a few more before I make any money out of it then so be it.

So for me, taking up the challenge of trying to write 52 short stories in a year is more about giving myself a reason to write than trying to prove anyone else right or wrong. What I am going to do, though, is attempt to sell them. The good ones at least.

In Dean's post he's very strict on sales channels and pricing. He says to submit only to magazines offering 5c/word, which is considered by the SFWA to be a professional payment level. These magazines are very hard to crack (believe me, I've been trying), so I'm going to lower my standards just a little to 3c/word. I sold to Weird Tales at 3/c a word in 2008 and made a perfectly acceptable amount. However, I'm done with token payment and for-the-luv markets. Sorry guys, I ran with you for a while, but with Amazon around now those $5 payments are not worth the months of subbing and waiting for a response.

As for the big gun itself, Amazon, I'll be indie-publishing short stories there if I feel they meet my own standards. Another writer has set up a website called 52 Shades of Short Stories for writers like me who are taking up the challenge. I'll be following it closely, mostly as a motivator. However, I won't be rushing to publish on Amazon and would advise others against it. I have fifty short stories I could put on Amazon tomorrow, but the reason I haven't is because I don't think they're good enough. Unless I feel that a story is good enough to make a reader want to read my other stories or novels then it'll stay in the logbook for now. Perhaps if I put out a few anthologies I'll slip a few of these stories in, but within the limits of my own ability I have pretty high standards. It's the same reason most of my novels will never see the light of day.

As for Amazon pricing, Dean Wesley Smith recommends a minimum of $2.99 for a short story. In principle I agree with him, however, I don't have a following or a name or even any major credits. In short, I'm an unknown. Since my first short story went up on Amazon in January, I've squeezed out 99 (my 100th got returned so doesn't count! :-( ) total sales. Perhaps 30 of those are to friends/family, but even 69 sales to strangers is hardly setting the world alight. My novel, The Tube Riders, will be staying at $4.99 for the time being, but the short stories will move up and down, looking for their best price point. I don't like selling stories at .99c, but it's better than selling nothing at all.

So, to the challenge. I sat down on Thursday, 21st of June to start. So far (as of Sun July 1st) this is what I've written –

The Ship (short story) – 3850 words (finished)
Take Me Back With You (short story) – 2500 words (WIP)
Take me Back with You (novel version of the ss) –2800 words (WIP)
The Lost Train (short story) – 3400 words (WIP)
The Other Set of Feet (short story) 3800 words (finished)

Total – 16350 total words.

Not bad for ten days, considering some days I'm out of the house for fourteen hours.

I'll be posting regular updates along the way, to see if I can keep up my progress. My target is 52 new, completed short stories of at least 2000 words by June 21st, 2013. Anything else that I come up with is a bonus.

Wish me luck. It's probably going to break my back, but to be honest it's about time I pulled my finger out and got down to business. I've been flattering myself that I'm a future bestselling author for the last 15 years, so now it's time to start proving it.

CW

Taken (and slightly updated) from my blog at

http://amillionmilesfromanywhere.blog...

The Man Who Built the World teaser snippet

From my next book, The Man Who Built the World, to be released by the end of June, here is a short excerpt.


‘Come here, Matty.’ Her voice was like the sound of tatty newspaper, caught on a fence and flapping about in the wind.

‘Come give Mummy hugs.’

‘Mummy?’ Eyes filled with tears as his head swung up. He turned towards the window, refusing to look at the shape hunched to his left, an amorphous smudge at the edge of his vision.

‘Come give Mummy hugs, Matty.’

He saw the shape of his own reflection, a black silhouette sat in a black room against a black background, saw the shapes of the things around him, the walls, the door the bed, the – what the hell is that? – all outlined in black. The lines wavered as though alive, a writhing nest of snakes made from shadow, shifting in and out of focus.
And then he sees a shadow deeper than night beside him, hunched and irregular, not man-shaped, not woman-shaped not shaped –

he sees his own mouth form slurred words

- come give Mummy hugs, Matty –

hears tissue paper rustling in his throat

feels arms fall around his shoulders

(no no rag and bone)

cold like dead tree bark

but can no longer see

can’t see

can’t

see –

‘Come to Mummy, Matty –’

From out there in the darkness, out beyond the window and the amorphous shapes and the blurred vision and the twisted limbs, out there in the darkness where the rain sheets and the wind roars, the crashing, rolling, cacophony of the fighting, colliding tree limbs form words and call his name –

‘Matty –’


This is a standalone horror/ghost story set in a small village in Devon, England.

(and yes, the tense change is intentional! Let me know if you think it works by commenting below).

CW

See cover art and more at my blog -

http://amillionmilesfromanywhere.blog...