Adam Maxwell's Blog, page 4

Lounging About

Things are moving, they really are…

[image error]I promised I would share it with you once it was ready and here it is, the almost complete design for the new and improved Fiction Lounge – just click on the preview image over there on the right and you’ll see the larger version. It’s courtesy of the very talented Laura Swaddle who is also responsible for some of my fantastic book covers. Give her a shout if you need any designy-type stuff sorting out.

I’m absolutely loving how it’s coming together – what do you think? Email me and let me know!

But I’m not getting distracted I promise!

I’ve been building up a bit of momentum and finishing a lot of projects ready to show you, the latest of which is the follow-up to my children’s chapter book The Lost Bookshop – The Mystery of the Missing Monkey. I had thought it would be finished sooner but it came in at 23,000 words which was a little longer than the first one. We’ll see what it ends up coming in at after it’s been edited but it won’t be far off that wordcount.

For grown-ups there will be a new short story collection happening very soon entitled ‘Security Has Been Called’ which is going to anthologise everything I’ve done post-Dial M For Monkey. That’s edited and in the bag so it’ll be cover-reveals coming for that soon.

There’s loads more and I know I don’t blog enough but I do fortnightly email updates so if you want to keep up to date, get freebies and generally be involved why not sign up – form is here and I won’t spam you I promise

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The post Lounging About appeared first on Adam Maxwell's Fiction Lounge.

Time For a New Website

It’s not that I don’t like the current design, I do… it’s just that – well… when I built this site that lovely Saul Bass font seemed so unique and original.

And now EVERYWHERE I TURN PEOPLE ARE USING MY FONT!!!

To be fair, it was a free font and I didn’t make it so I suppose I’ve got no room to complain.  But that’s not the point now is it!?

So I’m on the case to rejig the whole site… design is nearly done, restructuring on the cards – it’s all going to be changing around here – let me know if there’s anything you want to see just in case I’m thinking of ditching it from the new version

Teasers for the design will be forthcoming shortly.

Maybe.

New Kids’ Book Out Now

My latest bit of scribbling The Lost Bookshop – The Mystery of the Missing Monkey (a chapter book for kids) is out now and you can buy it in a variety of formats.  Right now!

Of course why would you believe me? This is my website and I’m bound to tell you it’s a wondrous and magical adventure… but over on Amazon we’ve already had a few people giving it 5* reviews and saying things like:

“… like stepping from some place familiar into any of those magical places we’ve all read about. It takes you into the realms of imagination …”

“My daughter is six and we loved reading this story together … Her face was precious during some of the unexpected twists and turns in the story.”

“I read this with my daughter, and immediately she was hooked. We have struggled with suitable reads as she isn’t convinced by the rainbow magic series and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of material for five year olds with enquiring minds…”

“…a strong female heroine … one that doesn’t fall into the ubiquitous fairy/princess category … Great story, full of imagination and definitely one for curious little girls and boys”

Want to see what all the fuss is about?

Read The First Three Chapters Free

Just head over to Touchscreen Tales website where the first three chapters are available to view for free!

Or Get It Now!
For Kindle

For ePub

Pre Order New eBook Now!

As those of you who have been around probably know I’m prone to genre-experimentation and The Lost Bookshop is another slight departure from the usual someone-got-hit-in-the-face lols I mostly stick to. In fact it’s a chapter book for KIDS!!!

So if you’ve got a youngster aged roughly between 4 and 8 years old then this is the book for you.

In fact if you like the sort of juvenile someone-got-hit-in-the-face lols I usually stick to then this one is probably just as much for you as it is for the kids. And it’s got monkeys in it.

The Lost Bookshop – The Mystery of the Missing Monkey

As an adult, anyone who has ever loved the experience of being in a second hand bookshop will fall in love with Uncle Bill’s Lost Bookshop.  And any child who loves tales of adventure won’t be able to resist joining the children as they sneak into the bookshop’s hidden room… Suddenly Nina, Ivy and Oswald find themselves transported to the Big Top.  Can the friends join the circus and solve the mystery of the missing monkey?

I’ve teamed up once more with Touchscreen Tales who’ll be launching the ebook and Dale Maloney, an infinitely talented illustrator to bring this fine tale to your digital devices. To read the first chapter of The Mystery of the Missing Monkey you need go no further than this very email, just scroll down and enjoy. If you like what you see you can check out chapters 2 & 3 on the Touchscreen Tales website and then why not pre-order the ebook directly on their site?

If you grab it now there’s a 20% discount meaning it’s a measly £2.39 - a tiny price for a fantastic novel for the youngster in your life!

Well, what are you waiting for?

The Lost Bookshop

Hello my dears, happy new year and all that. Did you overindulge through festivus? Of course you did. Well done you.

I have a reward for you as it happens in the form of news of my latest book. It’s called (as you’ll see from the cover) ‘The Lost Bookshop : The Mystery of the Missing Monkey’ and will be the first in a series of Lost Bookshop stories – chapter books aimed at kids probably aged around 5-8 years old.

More info? Well here’s the back page:

–

When she’s not at school Nina likes to help out at the bookshop owned by her Aunty and Uncle.

But when Uncle Bill finds a hidden room behind a dusty bookshelf in a forgotten corner of the shop Nina knows she simply must investigate. And so with the help of her best friend, Ivy, and Oswald, the bespactacled boy who hangs around the shop READING BOOKS she unlocks the door and the three step into the mysterious room.

Suddenly everything gets a bit dark and spinny and when the children open their eyes they find themselves transported to a tent backstage at Cornelius’ Circus Spectacular. All is not well in the big top and Nina, Ivy and Oswald are soon caught up in a mystery the likes of which they had never dreamed… The mystery of the missing monkey.

With the big finale looming the children must investigate the circus performers, from Wallace the Lion to Sadie the bearded lady and from the monkey crew to Doctor Dick the Duck. And if they can’t find the missing monkey?

Well they’ll have to perform in the finale themselves of course!

Who is to blame for the disappearance of the monkey? Will the children learn the ways of the circus in time to perform in the finale and even if they do how will they get back to the Lost Bookshop again?

The Lost Bookshop is an exciting rollercoaster of a story sure to capture children’s imaginations and leave them desperate for just one more chapter.

–

The cover and other illustrations are done by the incomparable Dale Maloney and I’ll be posting more information like release dates etc. as they transpire.

What is the What?

You have been so patient. Well done, you. You are truly beautiful/handsome*

*delete as applicable

I got sidetracked. What can I say? I AM HUMAN.

Life is a funny and fanastical whirl of ideas and half-finished projects but I am finishing projects and doing new things and diversifying.

One of the major fantastic things that happened started almost seven years ago when my daughter was born. This was both monumentally brilliant but also a huge distraction from writing sweary-stories about people hitting each other.

As a parent you are suddenly confronted with something that is waaaaay more fun than writing. You get to play silly games, go to the park, eat sweets until you barf… and read.  You do a lot of reading of books you would never previously have read because, you know… for kids…

And some of them are very, very good and some of them are really, really, really bad. Like so bad you want to tear off the fingers of whoever wrote the book.

I realise this could be judged to be an overreaction to a picture book. Meh.

And so I wrote a picture book. And then I worked with a fantastic illustrator by the name of David Betts to bring the book to life and he did and it looked wonderful and then… well… then I decided to turn it into an interactive storybook for touchscreen devices.

Fast forward two years and it is available for iPad & iPhone as well as Android tablets & phones. If you’ve got kids or just want to check it out it’s called ‘I Don’t Like Spiders, They Walk on the Sky’ and there’s more info here.

And then real life and the day job got in the way. For something like a year and no writing was done. None at all. Which wasn’t nice.

And then the writing prompts book and the writing prompts app both happened and suddenly I’m animated again. Back to writing and all is good. So I revisit the outline I did for the new Defective Detective project which was called A Shot In The Dark and I didn’t like it very much so I filed it under ‘crud’ and moved on.

Started plotting out a new Defective Detective project. One that would probably be novel-length. And the outline was done and I was ready to start writing and -

I got distracted. By now my daughter is six years old and reading chapter books. Once more some are really good and some make me want to scream. Why?

Because they demean their readers.

Oh fairies this and princesses that and let’s all skip. Rinse and repeat until you are a pink-fairy-princess.

I don’t want to be a pink fairy princess. But girl readers of this age range seem to be less discerning. They lap it up and so it is fed to them by unscrupulous types. Shoveled to them. And it wouldn’t be so bad if they had strong characters. Good plots.

Some do. But a lot don’t. And so I was asking some friends for recommendations… I want my daughter to read strong female characters. I want the 6 year old equivalent of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for her, not princess-fecking-fairy-pants’ wishy-washy-Wednesday.  There were a few good recommendations but then, like the fool I am…

I decided to write it myself.

So now I have a completed kids’ novel with not one but two strong girls and one strong boy as the main characters. Editing is underway and illustrations are being illustrated and more on that as it happens but suffice to say there are going to be a LOT more updates around these parts because there’s a lot more writing going on.

But, I hear you ask, what about NOT writing for those little snot-nose noisemakers? WHAT ABOUT GROWN UPS AND SWEARING AND HITTING EACH OTHER?

Well I’m back on the case. I’m writing something now, it’s going to be long. Maybe a novel. And it’s got a whole new set of characters in it so, you know, Clint will have to wait until it is finished for his next case.

Now go away, you’re distracting me. Or, you know, try to distract me on Twitter if you like.

Writing Prompts App

It’s been a long time since I updated the site.

Too long.

Anyone would think I hadn’t been writing anything when, in actual fact, quite the opposite is true. I just haven’t been finishing anything that I could put on here! Thankfully the long wait is over and a lot of the projects I have been working on over the last year or two are coming to fruition and (at last!) I can start sharing them with you lovely folks.

The first one I’ll mention here is the perennially popular Writing Prompts Generator which now has the huge honour of not just being a sideline on this website but also an app in its own right!

There are somewhere in the region of 120 prompts on this here website which is all fine and dandy but I’ve always had it in my mind that I wanted to expand and improve the prompts generator to make it more useful and include more prompts. Rather than fiddle about with the website I decided an app would be a much more universal path to take and so it is with much pride I unveil…

Lost the Plot? Writing Prompts Generator

As the bastard child of my writing prompts book and this here website the app includes an initial batch of 500 prompts which can easily be copied to your clipboard of your phone or tablet ready to be used in whatever story or other creative endeavour you are undertaking. Perhaps you prefer to email the prompts you choose to your desktop? No problem, tap a button and away you go. Send it to a friend if you like.

Of course I didn’t want to just leave it there. You can also add prompts to the database, either by submitting them via the app which will put them into consideration for future updates for everyone else who is using the app or you can just add your prompts directly to your app customising it with your genius for your personal use.

I’m very interested to know what you think and how you think we can improve it (and we will). I am closely involved in the development process so can guarantee that any suggestions will be listened to. Unless they are crap. In which case they will be politely ignored

For now you can download Lost the Plot? Writing Prompts Generator for Android tablets and phones but iOS (Apple) and Kindle Fire version are imminent (next 7 days or so). Windows version is in the pipeline and depending on demand we might take it further.

£1.49 for eternal inspiration. Not too shabby.

My Writing Prompts Book

Given that this is a writing prompts book and focuses on how you can conquer procrastination, writer's block and get you to write, write and write some more it's pretty ironic that I left it on the shelf for the best part of a year.

That said the wait is now well and truly over as my new writing prompts book has launched in ebook form. 'Lost The Plot? 500 Writing Prompts and How To Use Them' has hit the virtual shelves of Amazon and Smashwords already and it'll be making its way further and further afield as the days and weeks zip by.

So I expect you'll want to know what you get for the pittance I'm charging for it then?

500 Writing Prompts

Well the clue was in the title really wasn't it?  Given the absolutely phenomenal popularity of the writing prompts generator on this very site the thought gradually dawned on me that there was a demand from you lovely people for really good writing prompts. But I wanted to offer value for money (hence the five hundred prompts in the book versus the hundred and change on the site).

Mr Maxwell's Spectacular Story Suggester

Wuh?

Well it's a snazzy name for a simple system to help you take any idea and develop it into a full blown story. What kind of story is up to you so I pretty much hedged my bets and covered:

Twitfic
Microfiction
Flash Fiction
Short Short Stories
Short Stories
Novelettes
Novellas
Novels
Scripts

Going through each one and having a bit of a ruminate on how it works.

Creative Writing From Prompts

Because sometimes you want more from you tomes of writing advice I got together some writers in different genres to pick prompts, write something from them and then tell you, dear reader, how they did it.

Firstly it was me.  Well, who else would it have been? It's my book isn't it? I wrote a bit of Flash Fiction and then described, very simply, how I went from idea to story.

Then Adrian Graham, a prolific microfiction author whose ebooks have been downloaded over 120 thousand times wrote some exquisite stories and explained how to create micro-magic from the prompts.

Next Rosalind Wyllie, a tremendous playwright whose plays have been performed up and down the country by fine companies of players (including the RSC) has penned a short script and taken time from her busy schedule to describe how she weaved her magic.

And last but by no means least the fantastic Y.A. author Mr C.G. Allan has written a children's short story and then explained just how it went from prompt to print.

Get It Now!

For Kindle:
Amazon UK

Amazon US


Epub for Apple iPad, iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, etc, etc.
Smashwords

Well? What do you think?!

A Shot In The Dark

Welcome to February and new announcements abound…

Firstly thanks to everyone who downloaded my ebook  of horror stories Chills, Kills and Snowflakes.  Since December 26th it has been downloaded a staggering 6,000 times so thanks to everyone who grabbed a copy and if you haven't already cruise on over to Feedbooks and download it now.  It's free!

For those of you who haven't been following the latest updates via my burblings on Twitter I have been up to all manner of plotting and planning starting the journey on the latest installment of the Defective Detective. I've spent the last couple of weeks on and off working on the outline and it's nearly there… to be honest I haven't had a lot of time so I've just been dipping in and out.

Once I got to the end of the initial plot I also decided it would be called The Defective Detective : A Shot In The Dark for reasons that shall probably become apparent as it comes together.

Also I'm going to be opening up the naming of some of the characters to you, dear reader.  Over the coming weeks I am going to be using my Facebook Author Page to co-ordinate the process.

And it has already begun. Of course as the book will be a detective tome I assure you that there will be no spoilers involved in the process.  As far as I am concerned no matter what is said in the description of the characters everyone could be the guilty party.

Well, everyone except Clint. I'll at least reveal that much.

So the first character is a psychic and I need a name for her and for her business so don't waste any more time, head on over and join in and make some suggestions now.

Facebook Here I Come

Social networking, eh? Sucks us all in eventually and I am no exception, dear reader.

As the more astute of you will already know I lurk on the periphery of Twitter under the guise of @ISayItsAdam and now I have done what would previously considered unthinkable and set up an author page on Facebook.

That's right, folks… first it was opening the site up to comments and now I'm actually asking you to come and join in. I'm still not entirely sure what to put on there.

Well, I mean I have a fair idea but I was thinking that you should come along, join in and tell me what you want to see on there.

Right now I am beginning the process of starting a new episode of the Defective Detective and a new regular character is going to be introduced. Perhaps you want to know more about that?

Whatever it is, head over to Facebook and get involved. I might even let you name some of the characters if you're very well behaved…

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