David L. Dawson's Blog, page 2
August 4, 2012
World building
While I go giddy from seeing The Fall at number 11 in the category of science fiction at Amazon (well, freebie chart anyway) I thought I'd post this article I wrote about world building. I originally wrote it for a brilliant blog called Ali's Bookshelf ages ago.
Building a believable fictional world can sometimes be easy, other times hard, and occasionally frustrating. It can also be immense fun. You get to build your own world! How brilliant is that? Years ago I imagined that setting a story in a completely made up world was a lot more preferable to setting something in modern times where I'd have to do hours and hours of painstaking research. I was wrong. Creating your own world means exactly that; you have to create it from scratch. You're a god of your own realm. Sure there are elements that you need, a template if you will. Dystopians are usually built from the ruins of the planet we know now, albeit in twisted, almost unrecognizable forms. Often the most fun is guessing what went wrong to turn this new world sour or discovering familiar things that have been distorted. An example is from my novel The Fall, set in a dystopian future where actual gods have destroyed the planet through their own fighting. The main character, Ben Casper, lives in a place called The Glass Palace. You find out that this was in fact a former shopping mall. Anyone who lives in England, or Yorkshire anyway, will probably recognize which shopping mall it is. I won't say which in case I get sued or anything, but it's pretty obvious (if you live in Yorkshire, anyway. If not then it'll forever be a mystery).
So you're creating your own world. The first thing you need is a basic idea. Ideas can come from all over the place. The plot for The Fall came from a dream I had that terrified the life out of me. I'd probably eaten too much cheese that night. I liked the idea of the dream, though. I thought it had potential as the plot for a novel. So I quickly wrote it down, just in case it slips from my mind. Having a pen and notepad at the side of your bed is essential. You never know what will come to you in your dreams. Having a pen and notepad with you at all times is also a good tip. Inspiration can come from any place at any time. If you’re a writer you need to be ready. That bloke you heard talking on the bus? He’d make a great character for your book! That annoying girl at the cinema who talks on her phone all the time? Kill her off in your novel! Everything you see around you could be potential stories.
Of course one idea doesn't make a novel (though some writers seem to think they can get away with it. I’m not naming any names but you know who they are). I'd advise not making a giant list of ideas and planning everything in meticulous detail. Ideas evolve; characters evolve. Your story is fluid. What I did was to put fingers to laptop and start writing with only the basic threads of a plot fixed in my head. Weird flying beings were destroying the Earth…how about gods…a boy living in the future…a shopping mall…You'll find that if you force yourself to do this the plot and the characters will just flow naturally. When I'd written enough to get an idea of what this world was I stopped and then made a book plan to see if it would work. Thus the world building began.
Don't create your entire world straight away. Don't reveal everything straight away. It's no fun for the reader and certainly no fun for the writer. You want to surprise yourself more than you want to surprise your reader; otherwise it becomes boring for the both of you. As you begin writing and building your world I'd suggest making your own glossary. That way you keep your world internally consistent. Readers hate it when character's ages change between chapters or the date of your apocalypse differs from book to book.
So there you have it. Once you get the germ of an idea start writing straight away. It might be garbage but you can change it later. Build your world as you write to keep the writing process fresh for yourself. Write what you want to write, no matter if it’s been done before or it sounds stupid. As long as you believe in your writing it won’t sound stupid to the reader. Keep a glossary. The world you create is yours; you can make it whatever you want it to be.
Building a believable fictional world can sometimes be easy, other times hard, and occasionally frustrating. It can also be immense fun. You get to build your own world! How brilliant is that? Years ago I imagined that setting a story in a completely made up world was a lot more preferable to setting something in modern times where I'd have to do hours and hours of painstaking research. I was wrong. Creating your own world means exactly that; you have to create it from scratch. You're a god of your own realm. Sure there are elements that you need, a template if you will. Dystopians are usually built from the ruins of the planet we know now, albeit in twisted, almost unrecognizable forms. Often the most fun is guessing what went wrong to turn this new world sour or discovering familiar things that have been distorted. An example is from my novel The Fall, set in a dystopian future where actual gods have destroyed the planet through their own fighting. The main character, Ben Casper, lives in a place called The Glass Palace. You find out that this was in fact a former shopping mall. Anyone who lives in England, or Yorkshire anyway, will probably recognize which shopping mall it is. I won't say which in case I get sued or anything, but it's pretty obvious (if you live in Yorkshire, anyway. If not then it'll forever be a mystery).
So you're creating your own world. The first thing you need is a basic idea. Ideas can come from all over the place. The plot for The Fall came from a dream I had that terrified the life out of me. I'd probably eaten too much cheese that night. I liked the idea of the dream, though. I thought it had potential as the plot for a novel. So I quickly wrote it down, just in case it slips from my mind. Having a pen and notepad at the side of your bed is essential. You never know what will come to you in your dreams. Having a pen and notepad with you at all times is also a good tip. Inspiration can come from any place at any time. If you’re a writer you need to be ready. That bloke you heard talking on the bus? He’d make a great character for your book! That annoying girl at the cinema who talks on her phone all the time? Kill her off in your novel! Everything you see around you could be potential stories.
Of course one idea doesn't make a novel (though some writers seem to think they can get away with it. I’m not naming any names but you know who they are). I'd advise not making a giant list of ideas and planning everything in meticulous detail. Ideas evolve; characters evolve. Your story is fluid. What I did was to put fingers to laptop and start writing with only the basic threads of a plot fixed in my head. Weird flying beings were destroying the Earth…how about gods…a boy living in the future…a shopping mall…You'll find that if you force yourself to do this the plot and the characters will just flow naturally. When I'd written enough to get an idea of what this world was I stopped and then made a book plan to see if it would work. Thus the world building began.
Don't create your entire world straight away. Don't reveal everything straight away. It's no fun for the reader and certainly no fun for the writer. You want to surprise yourself more than you want to surprise your reader; otherwise it becomes boring for the both of you. As you begin writing and building your world I'd suggest making your own glossary. That way you keep your world internally consistent. Readers hate it when character's ages change between chapters or the date of your apocalypse differs from book to book.
So there you have it. Once you get the germ of an idea start writing straight away. It might be garbage but you can change it later. Build your world as you write to keep the writing process fresh for yourself. Write what you want to write, no matter if it’s been done before or it sounds stupid. As long as you believe in your writing it won’t sound stupid to the reader. Keep a glossary. The world you create is yours; you can make it whatever you want it to be.
July 30, 2012
Paperback release
The paperback for The Fall is now now on Amazon after over a week of checking and rechecking the proof copy. The giveaway is still listed to end in December but I'm thinking of putting it forward a bit, just so whoever wins can get it in time for Christmas. It's so exciting. Maybe now I can finally finish the sequel.
July 25, 2012
The missing scene
Okay,so it isn't a missing scene as such, it's just that when I was reading through the proof of The Fall I noticed something. Ben has important scenes with all of his close family members bar his Uncle Rooster in the first part of the book. Sure, Ben talks to him at the beginning of the book but after that they have virtually no contact until a pivotal scene about a third through. So I added a short scene with the two of them early on. It doesn't advance the plot and some people may see it as filler but I like it and I think we get to some more of Rooster's personality. Anyway, if you've already read the first book I present it to you here in all its glory.
There is an awful smell coming from the shed. I can’t describe in words how terrible it is. Is something going wrong with Uncle Rooster’s beer? Has it gone off?
I knock on the shed door. Uncle Rooster eventually answers. His hair is a mess and the smell becomes even worse.
“What’s that awful smell?” I ask him.
“That, my lad, is the beautiful aroma of fermenting beer,” he tells me with pride. “Want to have a look? You can be my apprentice!”
I grimace. “That’s okay. You seem to enjoy doing this by yourself.”
“Let me tell you a secret; this isn’t my recipe.”
I perk up my ears. When Uncle Rooster wants to tell you a story you listen. He has quite the bizarre imagination.
“I found the recipe in an old book,” he confesses. He grins at me while I wait for the story to continue. It doesn’t.
“Is that it?” I ask.
“Don’t ever tell anyone,” he orders me. “My reputation would be ruined!”
“Why did you tell me?”
He seems to consider my question for a moment before sitting down on an old log at the side of the shed.
“Just in case Rosa and I don’t have children I want to leave my secret to someone I trust. That person is you.”
I really don’t know what to say. I’m flattered, even though I don’t know the first thing about making beer.
He continues. “The recipe is slipped inside a book I have under my bed. The book is called “The Kama Sutra.” Don’t look at any pictures in the book; they’re very, very rude and only for adults.”
“I’m an adult now,” I remind him.
He gets up and walks back into the shed. He turns to me and says, “Yes. You’re an adult now. Little Ben Casper is a man. Congratulations!”
He closes the shed door and I’m left speechless, pondering why I’d come to his shed in the first place.
There is an awful smell coming from the shed. I can’t describe in words how terrible it is. Is something going wrong with Uncle Rooster’s beer? Has it gone off?
I knock on the shed door. Uncle Rooster eventually answers. His hair is a mess and the smell becomes even worse.
“What’s that awful smell?” I ask him.
“That, my lad, is the beautiful aroma of fermenting beer,” he tells me with pride. “Want to have a look? You can be my apprentice!”
I grimace. “That’s okay. You seem to enjoy doing this by yourself.”
“Let me tell you a secret; this isn’t my recipe.”
I perk up my ears. When Uncle Rooster wants to tell you a story you listen. He has quite the bizarre imagination.
“I found the recipe in an old book,” he confesses. He grins at me while I wait for the story to continue. It doesn’t.
“Is that it?” I ask.
“Don’t ever tell anyone,” he orders me. “My reputation would be ruined!”
“Why did you tell me?”
He seems to consider my question for a moment before sitting down on an old log at the side of the shed.
“Just in case Rosa and I don’t have children I want to leave my secret to someone I trust. That person is you.”
I really don’t know what to say. I’m flattered, even though I don’t know the first thing about making beer.
He continues. “The recipe is slipped inside a book I have under my bed. The book is called “The Kama Sutra.” Don’t look at any pictures in the book; they’re very, very rude and only for adults.”
“I’m an adult now,” I remind him.
He gets up and walks back into the shed. He turns to me and says, “Yes. You’re an adult now. Little Ben Casper is a man. Congratulations!”
He closes the shed door and I’m left speechless, pondering why I’d come to his shed in the first place.
July 22, 2012
Mistakes
I'm going through my proof word by word, reading bits aloud. I've noticed several mistakes that didn't get noticed by myself and 2 editors. Some of them are merely continuity issues that anal retentive people like myself would have a fit over and some are just little things that don't make sense. I've started cutting out tiny little bits here and there, just to make it tighter as well. Hopefully it will be as perfect as it's ever going to be soon (yes, I've said that before but this time I mean it)
July 21, 2012
The proof!!!
The proof copy of The Fall finally arrived yesterday after what seemed an interminable wait. It was worth it, though. The quality of the printing was excellent, and my new cover looks awesome. I couldn't stop grinning! I'm grinning now. Not that I don't expect to sell many paperback copies but it sort of feels like having a paper copy of your book is validation as a writer.
July 12, 2012
my first video promo
For some reason I decided that The Fall needed a video promo. Every other book has one so why not mine? I found someone of fiver.com (check it out, it's an amazing resource) and hired someone to make me a book promo for five dollars, roughly £3.33. I wasn't sure what to expect at first. I mean what can you get for five dollars? And then I got this...
http://youtu.be/FrcEBvZjYa0
It was done by the remarkably talented goodgift. What do you think?
http://youtu.be/FrcEBvZjYa0
It was done by the remarkably talented goodgift. What do you think?
July 7, 2012
The Fall sequel falls back
I stopped writing the sequel to The Fall a few weeks ago because I hit a dead end. I was starting to feel the plot was a little episodic, but I suppose that's what a lot of quest novels end up being. If you're on a long journey you're bound to run into one thing after another. It's not that Ben and Skye are meeting things that are boring, it's just that...Maybe it's just me. Maybe I just needed time off.
The time off has been well spent, though. It gave me time to organise getting The Fall printed as a paperback edition. I'm still waiting for the proofs to arrive so I can go through them. I'm very excited by this. I love ebooks but there's an undeniable thrill in having your work on paper.
The Girl from Tomorrow is something in the planning stages. I wrote about fifty pages of it, just to see if it was going anywhere. Turned out it was excellent but I'm saving that for after I've written the sequel to The Fall, which I hope to finish soon (I'm back on it, now, finally) The Girl from Tomorrow is my own devious twist on vampires and dystopian societies. I've always wanted to write about vampires but have been a little hesitant because of all the vampire fiction out there. I just decided to hell with it. I'm going to write it and it's going to awesome. It might just break your heart, too...
The time off has been well spent, though. It gave me time to organise getting The Fall printed as a paperback edition. I'm still waiting for the proofs to arrive so I can go through them. I'm very excited by this. I love ebooks but there's an undeniable thrill in having your work on paper.
The Girl from Tomorrow is something in the planning stages. I wrote about fifty pages of it, just to see if it was going anywhere. Turned out it was excellent but I'm saving that for after I've written the sequel to The Fall, which I hope to finish soon (I'm back on it, now, finally) The Girl from Tomorrow is my own devious twist on vampires and dystopian societies. I've always wanted to write about vampires but have been a little hesitant because of all the vampire fiction out there. I just decided to hell with it. I'm going to write it and it's going to awesome. It might just break your heart, too...
July 2, 2012
giveaway
June 27, 2012
giveaway
June 26, 2012
the kindle has landed
The new revised version of The Fall is now available on Amazon Kindle in ebook format, along with its snazzy new cover. The paperback version is proceeding slowly (or quickly if you're used to this), mainly because the PDF proofs I keep getting back are always slightly wrong, with the formatting going haywire for no apparent reason. I think I've got it sorted out now but you never know. I'm hoping it's going to be available to buy by October.
