Adam Maxwell's Blog, page 5
December 27, 2010
Merry Bloody Christmas
December. A month of traditions. What with Christmas and whathaveyou. Those of you who've been with me for a while will know that I do like to do something a little bit seasonal. Christmas stories and the like.
Well most years December comes and once I feel all Christmassy I write something. This year I thought I would try to be a little more prepared. And so, at the beginning of November I began to prepare this year's tale.
And then I hit something of a brick wall. A writer's block if you will. Until I began to look at the sorts of stories other writers wrote at Christmas. And I found they wrote stories that tried to scare people. Ghost stories. Stories of the supernatural. Stories that give you the creeps…
So this year's story grew from that. Grew into four stories. A portmanteau horror tale to give you something else to be scared of in this most seasonal of seasons. And it's called:
Chills, Kills & Snowflakes
It's available on this website of course but as it is a little longer than the average offering I serve up I also decided to put it out as an eBook.
So if you want to get your eyes on it, here are your options:
Cruise on over to this page on the website where you can read them all together.
Download them as an eBook for iPad, iPhone, Android, Kobo and Stanza from Feedbooks.
Download them as an eBook for your Kindle also from the wonderful Feedbooks.
Download them as a PDF for any device you care to mention
Hope you enjoy the stories and have a merry bloody Christmas.
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December 13, 2010
Christmas Ghost Stories Update
Those of you who are regulars to this joint will know that for a number of years now I've enjoyed writing a Christmas story around the Christmas period (I just don't feel as Christmassy in August). Well this year, you'll be glad to hear, is no exception.
I was even well prepared. Or at least I tried to be.
At the beginning of November I set all other writing aside and sat down to come up with an idea for a short story, a bit of flash fiction, whatever it would be… But there was a problem.
Whatever Xmas-idea I came up with just didn't seem to spark any real enthusiasm. Perhaps it was that I had already written those stories or perhaps it was that every other year the Christmas story has been written at a frantic pace slap-bang in the middle of the festive season, I couldn't honestly say.
And so I did some reading on the sorts of Christmas stories other authors would write and found that there was a firm tradition for writing scary stories and telling them on Christmas Eve. And that got me thinking.
I've had it in my mind for a while to do something a bit scary. I mean I've done a few bits and bobs that were quite gruesome (Three Men In A Boot, Shooting Jelly With a Shotgun) but nothing that was really disquieting, nothing that would give you the creeps… So I started thinking and decided that it was time to go for it.
Finally, after much procrastination, I came up with a few ideas… and I wasn't sure which idea to go with… and then I thought… why not go for all four ideas… and so that is what I have done.
I am currently putting the finishing touches to Chills, Kills and Snowflakes, which will be a portmanteau of four Christmas-themed horror stories. Not all of them are ghost stories but they are all firmly based in the horror genre and once I've finished the final edits on them I will be whacking them out on this website as well as in eBook form so you can be scared on your ereader too.
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November 15, 2010
Exit, Pursued By A Bear
Time for a bit of an update and roundup of what's been going on in the world of Maxwell recently I think…
100 Days of Writing
Well my task of writing something every day for 100 days was a partial success. I'll probably blog about it separately in a bit more detail but suffice to say that 1 novella, 1 book on writing, several short stories, a children's book and the outline of my Christmas story has left very little time to do regular updates on here. Hopefully you've been enjoying the writing instead!
Everything that was accomplished over the 100 days will surface, I think I just need to pull some of the threads together on some of the more disparate elements before unleashing them on an unsuspecting world.
Award Nomination
I am extremely happy to say that this here website has been shortlisted for a SMACS Award in the 'best blog' category. I will be calling on each an every one of you very shortly to help me out on this one and VOTE for this site to win. I'll update further in the next couple of days on this one – it would be absolutely great to become multi-award winning after the previous incarnation of the website helped propel me to winning Best Podcast Award for the short story podcast.
We shall hope and we shall see.
10 Websites Where You Can Enjoy Reading Short Stories and Flash Fiction
Although (I hope) in no particular order you can go here and see this here website aligned with 9 others in a neat little article which is really encompassed by the title I've already typed…
eBooks Are Taking Over
I am absolutely flabbergasted to say that in the last 12 months my eBooks have been downloaded over 23,000 times over at Feedbooks. As if this wasn't enough Dial M For Monkey has managed a whopping 10k all by itself. I've blogged before about how much I liked Feedbooks and I think this pretty much cements my love for them. If you haven't already check out The Defective Detective : Murder on the Links and Cat Chaser or if you're feeling festive The Night Before The Christmas Before I Was Married and other festive tales.
Christmas? Eh?
Oh yes… I've been planning something a bit different and special for the Christmas story this year.
There will be an announcement.
It will be soon.
The Title of This Blog Post
"Exit, Pursued By A Bear"
A quote. And also how I would like you to imagine me right about… now.
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July 9, 2010
Days 25 to 29 of 100 Days of Writing
Outside of Twitter this seems to be settling into quite a nice pattern of a weekly roundup of writing progress… so here it is day by day:
Days 25 & 26
A quarter of the way through and still no discernible daily pattern worries me slightly. I had thought I would manage to fall into a set way of working. Make a mental note to worry about it later then spend an enormous amount of time creating the trailer for the new novella.
Emails fly backwards and forwards with half finished versions of visuals (that I'm doing) and music (done by Bobby's Beard) and in the end this is the result.
Days 27-29
Editing. Lots of editing. Or rather not enough editing. Had several busy days with work so I didn't really have a great deal of time each day and only managed to squeeze in half an hour on each one.
The good news was that in the process I managed to tie up the loose ends from the previous draft I had spotted so now all I need to do is one last read through, minor tweaks and then I'm done and can prepare for the launch…
Quite excited actually.
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July 6, 2010
Cat Chaser Teaser Trailer
So here it is, folks. The teaser trailer for the new novella '"The Defective Detective – Cat Chaser" and with it an announcement…
Later this month I will be unleashing this novella on an unsuspecting world. There are fifteen chapters in total and I will be posting them twice a week this very site.
Of course, if you prefer you can sign up to stories by email and they'll be delivered direct to your inbox. Oh and I'll be posting it as an audiobook in podcast form at the same time too.
By my calculations this will take somewhere in the region of seven and a bit weeks. Of course if you want to read the end without waiting all that time there will be two options for you:
1) The complete ebook will be available from the outset to purchase
2) The paperback book will be available to purchase too
At the end of the seven and a bit weeks I'll make the whole thing available for free in its entirety but I'm hoping that however you digest it you will perhaps be tempted into grabbing a copy by paying cash-money and rewarding me for all my hard work.
As for the fruits of that hard work, I can officially reveal that the novella is going to be absolutely fantastic and you're all going to love it.
Any questions?
Nope?
Oh and don't forget you can grab the previous installment in ebook form from Feedbooks for free here in the meantime.
p.s. Enormous thanks to Bobby's Beard for providing the music in the trailer.
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July 2, 2010
Days 19 to 24 of 100 Days of Writing
Day Nineteen
Went to writers group late on day eighteen and read a couple of chapters aloud. The jokes worked. Which was a relief. Day nineteen managed to finish chapter twelve of the new novella.
And then I got on a bit of a roll and finished chapters thirteen and fourteen as well. Add in the prologue which was chapter zero and that was fifteen chapters complete. A first draft weighing in at 17,000 odd words and the longest piece of writing I have actually completed.
Although I have written longer stuff before I don't think it really counts because it eventually ran aground and this one has an end so hurray! Very pleased with myself.
Day Twenty
The editing begins. I decide to take a 3 draft approach. With the first draft finished I will make sure there are no glaring errors of plot, grammar and spelling in it and then, once corrected I will label it '2nd draft' and then go through with a fine tooth comb for all the minor bits and bobs for a final 3rd draft. God, editing is boring.
Day Twenty One
Got bored of editing, only managed two chapters so decided to get the cover done. Already had some ideas and worked them up into the image you can see to the right of this post.
Day Twenty Two
No more distractions. Got down to editing some more. Made good progress. Got distracted by a musician friend getting in contact and offering to do the soundtrack to the trailers that I'm going to make for the book.
Day Twenty Three
Finished the second draft edits on paper. Made some notes as to what else needs doing in order to make sure the whole thing is tied up in a neat little bow. Was really thinking about the music for the trailers though.
Day Twenty Four
Typed up all the edits that had been made on paper. A task even more boring than editing. I think I need a secretary.
Anyone want to do it? It's an unpaid, thankless job. No?
Okay then, see you next week for more.
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June 24, 2010
Days Twelve to Eighteen of 100 Days of Writing
Mainly been updating on Twitter so just thought I would do a little recap here of what has been going on with the 100 Days of Writing from day twelve to day eighteen.
Day Twelve
Was a bit of a non-starter I'm afraid. Got my head down for half an hour and made a very small amount of progress on chapter 10 of the novella. Gave up in disgust.
Day Thirteen
Got a second wind and completed chapter ten. Was extremely pleased with myself. And then I realised that I had accidentally written the chapter wrong. I had put the characters in the wrong location and chapter eleven hinged on the fact that they were somewhere else.
So I rewrote the entire second half of the chapter. Didn't mind too much because after I finished doing that it felt like it hung together a lot better than it had previously.
Day Fourteen
Structurally when I was plotting out 'Cat Chaser' I decided to have a similar structure to American TV dramas so you would have a before-the-credits scene, Act One, Act Two, Act Three, Act Four and then the wind-down scene at the end.
Except I won't have any adverts.
When I've been writing I've been trying to do as little editing as possible and just concentrate on getting the first major draft done. Having said that some light editing is definitely required and as a result as I complete each act I have been going through and just checking for major issues and grammar-wrongs.
So I spent day fourteen editing Act Three and I was glad I did since I had inadvertently switched the names of two of the minor characters. That sorted I went to bed wanting to write not edit.
Day Fifteen
Made a start on chapter eleven as spent a small amount of time tinkering with the cover that the novella will ultimately have. Pretty much decided how it will look, now I just need to actually produce the artwork.
Day Sixteen
Got up early and wrote solidly to finish chapter 11 but started to get a niggly paranoia that it wasn't all hanging together correctly. Gave up.
Day Seventeen
Was really, really tired after not getting much sleep. Feeling of the whole thing not really working was still there but did some work on chapter twelve. Very little real progress was made.
Day Eighteen (still in progress)
Spent some time earlier and I think my worries were unfounded. I'm not saying that there won't be edits but I think it is hanging together after all. Ploughed through a good chunk of chapter twelve and hopefully going to finish it after lunch if I can grab some time.
Update – chapter twelve finished. Quite pleased with how it turned out as well. Although obviously haven't read it back yet…
Oh and it's my monthly writers' group this evening so looking forward to reading some of the thing aloud and seeing what reaction it gets.
Just remembered one last thing! Don't forget you can still vote for the cover of the new writing prompts books here. Thank you 
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June 15, 2010
Days Ten + Eleven : One Hundred Days of Writing
So, a couple of setbacks and a nice bit of progress…
The setback first, I think. Well, not exactly a setback as such, more a miscalculation. I've been happily saying on Twitter and probably on these hallowed pages that I've finished chapter whateveritis out of 12 of the new novella.
Well something began to dawn on me and that was that the outline I had written actually contained 15 chapters. Not 12.
The bad news for me is that there is more to do. The good news is that the story would never had been tied up in only 12 chapters. Every cloud and all that.
So days ten and eleven of my one hundred days of writing have actually consisted of the completion of chapter 9 (of 15) and I've gone through chapters 5, 6 and 7 and done a bit of editing. Just basic stuff like, oh, I'd got the names of two of the minor characters mixed up in two of the chapters.
Erm. It's an easier mistake to make than you would imagine. I swear. But anyway it's fixed now so stop talking about it already.
Also started a bit of a blog post about fictions past. But that will be later in the week I think.
See you soon.
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June 11, 2010
Days Eight and Nine
The end of my second week already and have to report that both days I did manage to do something.
Day Eight started with the best of intentions, as most days do, but things rapidly descended into chaos. Whilst mucking around on Twitter I realised that some of the shortened URL's in the social networking links at the bottom of every page of this site were being classed as spam by the site that provided them. And this, in spite of the fact that I was doing everything by the book.
Result? No writing for me as I spend the time I had allocated to writing in fixing the problem and using another, hopefully slightly more reliable provider. As you can imagine I was somewhat miffed by this but these things happen from time to time so I suppose that is that.
Day Nine I was absolutely convinced I would really write actual prose and – unbelievably – I actually managed it, completing the eighth chapter of 'Cat Chaser' in the process. Only four more to go.
Four more chapters, not four more cats.
As if that wasn't enough I also got an email from the incredibly talented Rosalind Wyllie sending the last of her contributions to the forthcoming prompts book (vote for the cover here).
And that was day nine. See you on Monday for day ten.
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