David L. Dawson's Blog, page 7

The moon...

Anyone wondering why I have a picture of the moon in the background...well, it plays an important part in tha last two books of the trilogy.  I won't say what.  As River Song would say, "Spoilers, sweetie!"

David L Dawson - writer: The Hunger Games and my book

David L Dawson - writer: The Hunger Games and my book: When I wrote The Fall two years ago I'd never actually heard of The Hunger Games.  I only discovered it about a year ago but never really fe...

The Hunger Games and my book

When I wrote The Fall two years ago I'd never actually heard of The Hunger Games.  I only discovered it about a year ago but never really felt the need to read it.  I'm glad I did read it; it's an excellent book, as is the sequel (I've yet to finish Mockingjay).  I did notice a few, but not many similarities, to The Fall, mainly a dystopian setting set after the end of the world.  I never realised how popular this genre was until I actually set out to publish my book.  Boy was I surprised!

The Hunger Games and my book

When I wrote The Fall two years ago I'd never actually heard of The Hunger Games. I only discovered it about a year ago but never really felt the need to read it. I'm glad I did read it; it's an excellent book, as is the sequel (I've yet to finish Mockingjay). I did notice a few, but not many similarities, to The Fall, mainly a dystopian setting set after the end of the world. I never realised how popular this genre was until I actually set out to publish my book. Boy was I surprised!

Clocks go forward? Damn

It was about two o clock this morning when I was busy writing away, thinking that maybe I might go another hour and get the second chapter finished, when all of a sudden the time on my laptop jumped forward an hour. I thought there was something wrong with it at first. It has been slowing down of late (signs that I probably need a new laptop) and then I remembered; the clocks go forward an hour! I really hate the person who thought this up. It's very confusing, and I hate to lose an hour of my time when it seems I've only got limited time as it is to write.

Short story avalanche

There! I finally managed to add all the short stories I'd published on Kindle to the Goodreads website, and there are a heap of them, with some more ready to go up. I think I have like a million short stories hanging around, from every genre imaginable. Some are on pieces of paper stuffed into folders; some are hard copies printed out from digital files that got lost when my last computer crashed; I even have a few written in note books (from when I visit London and sit and write in Trafalgar Square; I find it very relaxing and quite inspirational there by the fountains and the lions). I'm not going to put them all up, just the best. Maybe in a short story anthology form or something. I've even got a Cressida Widdershins short story book coming out son, which is packed full of stories, poems, short plays and a sort of novella all about what Cressida's dad got up to when he left halfway through The Book of Fire. Not sure when that will come out. I need to add some notes to it, a forward maybe, and I might also add the first chapter from "The First Spell", which is the sequel to The Book of Fire. Yes, lots to do, and now that I have a deadline for the sequel to The Fall...

Mark your diaries...

A poster on one of the groups asked me when the second book in the Gods Slayers Trilogy was coming out, and I was momentarily floored. Usually I just write until I'm finished. I've never even considered giving myself a deadline for anything before. Now, though, I decided I would. A deadline would keep me focused and make sure I didn't prevaricate like I usually do. So now I have a release date for...well, book 2 (I have no idea what to call the sequel as of yet but I'll keep you posted). The release date is 1st August 2012. That gives me just over four months to set fingers to laptop and finish it. If I don't finish it by then you have my permission to send someone round to my house to punch me for being idle. I do have a certain apprehension, though. There's something I have to write in book 2 that I'm nervous about putting down in words; something I've been building up to, the crux of the story if you will. I have to do it justice or I'll ruin the entire trilogy. I just hope I'm good enough. This trilogy is something I'm very proud of.

It writes itself

I did struggle for a long time on writing the sequel to The Fall but now it seems to be writing itself, which is surely a good thing? The characters in the book, they live in my head, like they're real people, and so I know automatically what they'll say or how they'll react to any given situation. The characters themselves, particularly Ben and Skye, are evolving too as the story becomes progressively darker, but they're still the same people when it counts.

Free Cressida

You can read the first 10 per cent of The Book of Fire on Goodreads now. It's my effort to write something Harry Potterish.

The Book of Fire

Thinking about the end of the world

I watched what was quite probably the worst film I've ever seen on Saturday night. It was called 2012: Ice Age. You can guess what the film is about from the title, and it got me thinking. Why are so obsessed with the end of the world or the end of society? It seems odd that we enjoy reading about or watching the human race die off. Heck, I enjoy writing about it, but instead of earthquakes or aliens I have gods squashing people. Maybe we're all mad...maybe the Mayans are right and the world is going to end and we're all somehow attuned to it and are preparing ourselves. Or maybe it's just a phase.
Or are we already living in a dystopia?