Steven A. McKay's Blog, page 15
April 12, 2020
Faces of Darkness special offer for USA Kindle readers today!
My newest book, FACES OF DARKNESS, is on a Countdown Deal in the USA for just a couple of days. Usual price $2.99, reduced now to just $0.99 (also FREE on Kindle Unlimited worldwide). Reviews for this one – which is based on a true story – have been superb. I really hope you guys will check it out and please, spread the word to all your reader friends! Have a great Easter everyone.
YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND, AD 1328
Lady Isabella de Courcy is found alone, in a room bolted from the inside, unconscious, and with a dagger brutally forced through her hand into the floorboards beneath. Attached to the blade is a note bearing a shocking statement of intent, but this is just the latest in a line of similar, terrifying events.
For months now Croftun Manor has been stalked by some shadowy figure who leaves little trace of their movements and has never been clearly seen by anyone, even Isabella.
As more horrific incidents occur and fear builds within the manor, can the bailiff, John Little, along with his friend – the legendary friar, Robert Stafford – uncover the truth? And more importantly, will they be able to help the troubled young woman before she ends up dead?
This fast-paced standalone tale from the author of The Druid sees the return of two much-loved characters and is based on a shocking real-life case from the 1980’s which remains unsolved to this day.
“A gem of a story…Faces of Darkness offers an intriguing plot based around a real life event…add in the perfect pace and you’ve got a winner!” 5/5 – David’s Book Blurg
“There were several points where I thought I had solved the mystery, only to be disabused of my theory a few pages later, which, of course, makes the book even more riveting! It was enthralling!” – Sharon Bennett Connolly, author of Heroines Of The Medieval World
April 10, 2020
Some news for German readers
Wolfskopf, the German edition of Wolf’s Head, is on special offer for a couple of days – €0.99 reduced from the usual price of €4.99. It’s been doing quite well in the German Kindle charts recently but this promotion has boosted it to number 1 in the “Medieval” category. If you’d like to get a copy while it’s still reduced, get it HERE.
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Of course, the novellas Knight of the Cross and Friar Tuck and the Christmas Devil are also available in German editions but if you’ve already read all of those, I’ve got some good news – book 2 in the series, The Wolf and the Raven, will be translated into German next! Not sure what that works out as – Der Wolf und der Rabe perhaps, but I’ll take the translator’s advice on that. Once again, it will be Susanne Döring doing the translation and, all being well, if sales keep coming in, we might get the whole series completed eventually. I’ve no date for publication yet, but it probably won’t be for a while.
Bleibt sicher da draußen!
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April 8, 2020
Writing and launching a novel, part 5 of the Lockdown Series! Promos! Kindle Countdown Deals!
Welcome to another (hopefully) helpful and mildly amusing installment in my series of blog posts on writing your debut novel. If you haven’t read the previous parts of this little series you can find part 1 HERE, part 2 HERE , part 3 HERE and part 4 HERE. Read them first, then come back. Take your time – I’ll just count my hoarded toilet rolls and bottles of hand sanitizer while I wait.
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So…you’ve published your book and got some early reviews by using the method I mentioned in the previous post. Hopefully, you’re selling a few copies and building some buzz around your writing. Even the biggest authors experience a lull in sales eventually though – after the initial hype wears off, and Amazon stop showing the book so often in the “Customers Also Bought” or “Books you may like” carousels, there is always an inevitable drop in sales.
The very best way to keep your books fresh and in the customers’ eyes is to WRITE MORE OF THEM, but, apart from that, you can use price promotions to bring back some attention and garner more sales. That obviously pushes your book up the charts and fires up Amazon’s algorithms, so they’ll show it in the “Books you may like” carousel again. Sales breed sales, and a great way to keep that wheel turning is by doing a Kindle Countdown Deal.
One point to bear in mind when running a deal like this, are time zones. You might set the deal to start at say, midday. But if you paid someone like Bookbub to promote the deal, they may be in a different timezone, and their email could go out two hours before your price change takes effect. So, just to be safe, always set your deal to start as early as possible on the date you select, or even on the day before. I got caught out myself this way once, but thankfully the promo site I’d used were good enough to run it again the next day for free – most can’t or won’t do that, and you’ll just lose the money you paid them so make sure you have your dates and times correct!
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On that point about using promo sites to boost visibility of your deal – it is imperative you do it, or run an ad on Facebook or Reddit or whatever. If you simply lower the price of your book in a Countdown Deal but don’t promote it, no-one will know about it! I’ve actually seen authors on social media complaining that their deal didn’t bring in any extra sales, then they admit they didn’t promote it in any way. Well, duh!
[image error]“What’s that, Spirit Guide? Steven A. McKay is running a Countdown Deal?”
Readers aren’t psychic, well, maybe some are, but unless you’re promoting a book about clairvoyance you should advertise it with paid ads. You don’t need to spend a huge amount, and any extra sales you get will boost visibility in the charts and lead to even more sales. Here is a list of places you can try, with prices too. I’ve used quite a few of these sites with decent results (Bookbub is BY FAR the best but they are expensive, and very hard to get into so try the others, especially if you’re on a tight budget). It’s also a good tactic to “stack” your promotions, by paying two or three different sites to run your deal on a particular day. Every extra sale gets Amazon’s algorithms moving and boosts your book’s visibility, so run your deal over 2 or 3 days and promote it with ads over all those days.
Should you offer your debut novel for free? I would say – maybe, but only if you are really needing more reviews. I DO think it’s okay to give away your books for free, but generally only if it’s the first in a series you’ve already published. If I give away Wolf’s Head and 10,000 people download it, I might hope even a fraction of them will go on to buy the rest of the series. That is a great way to bring in new readers. But if you only have one book published, there seems little point in giving it away for free, you’re getting nothing out of it. If you have a complete series though, a free deal will drive sales of the later books AND sales of the audiobook edition if you have one.
Here is a graphic showing the difference between promoting a free deal with Bookbub and with some of the other promo sites. All are effective, but Bookbub is the blue bar on the right…These were for free deals I ran on Wolf’s Head. 33,000 vs 5,000!
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So make sure you use at least one of those sites to promote your Countdown Deal. Facebook ads can be useful too, just spending £5 or £10 will get you sales and push the book up the charts. It is very much worth the outlay.
Even when you’re not running a price promotion, Facebook ads can be worth trying. My newest novella, Faces of Darkness, was quite low in the UK charts (about 60,000 overall) and then I ran an ad yesterday, spending £5. This morning I woke up to this:
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Number 1 in a subcategory, and the overall chart placing was around the 6,000 mark – a pretty big jump, for not a lot of outlay. And that’s a book that’s not even on special offer! (One thing to say here, is that novellas like this, in my experience, never sell as well as novels. So if you’re hoping to earn a living from writing, take that into account). Here’s the ad I’m running – Facebook don’t like you to use any text on your image, but it seems okay to use the KU logo and that will undoubtedly bring in readers who can try your book without spending any extra money.
If you are ever lucky enough to be offered a place in one of Amazon’s official deals (Daily Deal, Monthly Deal etc) take them up immediately. These are the best way to sell books but, again, I would recommend you promote them. Yes, you get free promotion by being on Amazon’s deal pages, and that does most of the work for you, but you want to grab this opportunity with both hands and hopefully impress Amazon KDP enough to put your books in future deals as well. So promote it via Kindle Books & Tips, ENT, Bookbub etc as usual and try to get as many sales as possible.
Right, it’s time for my lunch. If there’s anything I haven’t covered on the subject of book promos, leave a comment or ask me on Facebook or whatever. Next time I will be sharing just some general tips I’ve picked up over the past few years but, again, if you want me to post about something in particular, let me know!
Stay safe everyone, and get working on that debut novel. Go!
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If you’re looking for something to listen to while stuck indoors, you could do worse than trying my Audible-exclusive novel Lucia. You’ll get it FREE if you’re new to Audible, but, if you already have an account, they have a sale on right now in the UK (USA too maybe?) so you can get it for half price (and probably my other Audible books too!). Check it out at the links below:
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April 3, 2020
Some more tips on how to write a novel. Part 4 of the Lockdown Series – Getting early reviews & dealing with bad ones.
Hi, good to see you again! If you haven’t read the previous posts in this little series you can find part 1 HERE, part 2 HERE , and part 3 HERE. Read them first, then come back. I’ll just sink a few beers while I wait.
Alright then. First let’s talk about reviews, and the importance of getting some as soon as possible. Imagine your book has just been published and appears on Amazon. A week later, there’s still no reviews. Not one. How do readers know if they should take a chance on you, a new and unknown author? You need to get some reviews, right? But how?
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Well, let’s think back to the beta readers I mentioned before. They have read your book, they are honest and unbiased (if they’re not they’ll be pretty useless as beta readers) so what you should do is ask them to post a review on Amazon/Goodreads and wherever else you think might be useful. You could even send them signed paperbacks as a thank you for their help (you never know, those first editions could be worth something in a few years!). Amazon say reviewers must mention they were given a free copy in return for an unbiased review so bear that in mind.
What you are not looking for is half a dozen gushing, 5 star reviews that might all have been written by you and your mother. Readers are not stupid, they’ll see through it right away and never give you or your books a chance again. You want genuine, honest reviews, and if that means 4 or even 3 stars, fair enough. I actually saw a fantastic paperback review on Amazon the other day then noticed it had been posted by the author himself! He even has a little photo of his smiling face beside the review! I assume he originally posted the review under a fake name, then added his photo years later, forgetting he’d given his own book a 5 star review. That kind of thing really doesn’t help anyone – it just makes people suspicious of the whole review system so DON’T DO IT.
Making up glowing reviews will also backfire if people buy the book and realise it bears little relation to what was suggested by the ratings. That will just make them angry and more likely to leave BAD reviews, so don’t try to game the system. Honest reviews only!
Ask your beta readers to post their reviews as soon as possible once your book has been published. That should hopefully let interested buyers make an informed decision on whether to read the novel and then those people might post a review as well. You can even ASK readers to post a rating, by including a line at the end of your book saying something like, “If you’ve enjoyed this novel, please leave a review on Amazon, it really helps. Thank you!” I’ve read authors who say they don’t like doing that, and some who say it doesn’t help, but I do it in every book and I think it DOES. Try it yourself.
On the subject of bad reviews – be prepared, because we all get them. Even the best writers in the world have 1-star ratings from readers who hated their books. The simple fact is, you can’t please everyone and, unfortunately, for some reason certain reviewers only post their thoughts when they have something negative to say. For example, I received a 1-star review for one of my Forest Lord books a while ago, in which the reviewer stated they had read, and loved, all the previous novels, but hated this particular one. So I checked to see their reviews for all those other books they apparently loved. Guess what? Nothing. The only reviews they EVER seem to leave, for any books they read, are 1-star negative ones, where they say they usually liked that author’s novels but not this one! It’s frustrating, but you just have to accept it and not let it get to you. Even if you do feel like hunting them down and…giving them a stern talking to.
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The first time I got a really bad review it was so hurtful I almost felt like I’d been punched in the guts. You’ve put in all this work, polished and honed your creation, then put it out when you’re sure it’s really good, only for someone to shit all over it. Of course that hurts! But you just look at all the good reviews, shake your head and smile. Don’t let it get to you – not every book appeals to every reader, so move on and concentrate on the positives. And trust me, by the time you’ve had a dozen dodgy reviews, it doesn’t seem to matter as much. Only the people leaving good reviews know what they’re talking about, right?!
Should you comment on reviews? I would suggest not. What’s the point? Yes, it’s tempting to tell someone they’re wrong when they claim that your research is flawed, and you know it’s sound, but what good will that do? It might feel satisfying to get one over on the reviewer for a moment, but it could draw more bad feedback from them or even other people. It’s just not worth it. Again – let it wash over you, move on, and concentrate on the positives. Remember that self-belief I mentioned back in the first post in the series? Keep that in mind at all times – you know your book is good, so don’t let one person’s opinion ruin your day.
At the same time, however, if a reviewer tells you you’ve made a mistake and it turns out to be true – fix it! Self-publishing allows you that luxury. In the earliest version of my debut novel, Wolf’s Head, I had a character whose eyes changed colour from one chapter to the next. It was pointed out in an Amazon review, I felt a cold chill run through me when I checked and realised they were right, but then I fixed it and the book is better for it. As was my writing from then on, since I was more careful in future.
[image error]What do you mean, “her eyes were brown in the first chapter”?!
Okay then, you edit your book to add in the line asking for reviews, and join me again next time. I still have to talk about promos/countdown deals and some general tips so this series won’t be as long as I thought. Hopefully some of you are finding it useful anyway. As ever, if you have any questions, leave them in the comments or message me on Facebook. Hit the FOLLOW button on this page so you don’t miss the next post!
[image error] Images like this can be used in your promos!
March 31, 2020
Further adventures in writing a novel. Part 3 of the Lockdown Series – Pricing, and KDP Select.
Hello again, I hope you’re all staying safe and finding this series helpful as you go about crafting that perfect debut novel. If you haven’t read the previous two posts you can find part 1 HERE and part 2 HERE. Read them first, then come back here, go on. I’ll just make myself a sandwich and wait until you come back.
[image error]Yummy!
Ready? Right! The first thing to cover is PRICING. Yesterday we talked about setting up a pre-order and, obviously, pricing is part of that so…What to go for? Well, I would suggest keeping it to the £1.99/£2.99 range since you’re a new, unknown author and people don’t know what to expect. Why would they pay more when the Kindle store is bursting with cheap and free ebooks from established authors? With your great cover, enticing blurb and professionally edited content though, readers will hopefully be drawn in enough to shell out £2 or £3. One thing I noticed, which really surprised me, was when I originally priced my first novella, Knight of the Cross at 99p. It didn’t sell very well, mainly because, as I’ve since found, readers don’t like novellas as much as full novels, but when I put the price up to £1.99 guess what? It actually sold MORE!
So experiment with your pricing and see what works – as long as you’re offering a great product people will probably pay an extra £1 or £2. If they don’t, just put your price back down – that’s one of the great things about self-publishing, you have total freedom over things like this.
Keep in mind though, if you’re thinking of pricing at 99p in an attempt to draw in lots of readers, it leaves you nowhere to go. You can’t run a Countdown Deal because 99p is the lowest amount you can sell a book for on Amazon. Pricing it at, say, £2.99 means when you DO run a price promotion people will actually be getting a bargain. Readers like bargains, but selling your book for 99p all the time might make them think it’s only WORTH 99p. You see how complicated this can get?!
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On a similar subject, what about Kindle Unlimited, or KDP Select? Do you want your book to be available to anyone who’s a member of Kindle Unlimited? If so, you sign up for three months at a time for your book to be in KDP Select. And YES, I would say you should do it. It may seem like people will be reading your work for free, but you’re actually paid for each page read, and since your book is so good, everyone that tries it will read to the end, right?
In real terms, I’ve found that I make at least as much money from Kindle Unlimited page reads as I do actual sales.
Why would you NOT open yourself to such earning power? The only reason would be because you want to make your book available outside Amazon, say in Kobo or Apple or Google or whatever. Now, my experience back in 2013 when I published Wolf’s Head was that no-one bought it outside Amazon anyway. That may have changed, but enough to lose out on Kindle Unlimited? I doubt it. Also, if your book is exclusive to Amazon there’s more chance they’ll put it in one of their deals and that is always a great way to garner sales.
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Just as an aside, on the power of KU, during the lockdown I’ve read half-a-dozen books I probably wouldn’t have paid for (because I’m Scottish and more miserly than Scrooge) but was happy to try as part of my Kindle Unlimited subscription. Some I loved and read to the end so the author gets paid fairly for it (along with good reviews and a mention HERE) – some I didn’t enjoy so gave up after a few chapters. Now, the authors still get paid for those pages I read BUT, on top of that, if I’d paid full price and found those books to be poorly written, badly formatted or substandard in some other way, I’d have been angry that I’d spent my money on them and might have left a poor review (because that’s how some readers work). Since I didn’t lose out on any cash, I’m less bothered and returned them without leaving a 1 or 2 star rating, see?
Kindle Unlimited is, to my mind, an excellent system for author and reader alike.
What looks better in an ad you see on Facebook or Bookbub for a novel? “Only £3.99!” or “FREE with Kindle Unlimited”?
[image error]You can pay £9.99 for these four novels…or try them for free with your £7.99 per month KU subscription. You can see why I think it’s worth being part of KDP Select!
Okay, I was planning on covering the importance of getting early reviews as well but I’ve written a fair bit of my new druid novel today and I’m getting fed up sitting at this desk, so I’ll look at reviews next time. Not just early reviews, but how to get more and also deal with those hurtful 1-star ones!
Hit the FOLLOW button so you don’t miss any more of these posts, and if you’re looking for something free to read, try my Forest Lord story “The Rescue” HERE.
If you have any questions about this post or anything else, leave a comment, use the CONTACT button, or message me on Facebook!
March 29, 2020
More tips on how to write a novel. Part 2 of the Lockdown Series – Once your book is finished. What next? Blurb, beta readers, cover, editor etc.
It’s a lovely sunny day here in the west of Scotland but we’re all still stuck indoors aren’t we? So here’s the second part of my series on writing a novel. Enjoy! Part 1 is HERE if you haven’t read it yet.
Right, you’ve finished your book and think it’s bloody great. Don’t you? Well here’s another of my biggest tips – BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND YOUR WRITING. If you think your book is just okay, or even worse, don’t think it’s very good at all, you’re not likely to give it the push it deserves. You must believe that you’ve created something really good, that readers will thoroughly enjoy, and you must want as many people as possible to read it and do whatever you can to make it so.
Too often when I was starting out I saw new authors posting on social media saying they didn’t really mind how many copies their book sold, they just loved writing. That’s great, I love writing too, but from the start I was convinced my debut novel was really good and I did whatever I could to sell as many copies as possible. If YOU don’t believe in your creation, why the hell should anyone else? Now that doesn’t mean tweeting continuously about it with sales links, that’s just a pain in the arse for everyone, but you should go to bed every night believing your new book will garner good reviews, build up some buzz, and go on to sell thousands of copies. Why not? There’s plenty of really shitty books that have made millions for their authors. You want to make a career from writing, don’t you? That means sales, so don’t be ashamed to go after them.
[image error]Trust me, this was a great feeling. Always believe you can reach number 1, even if it’s for a short time.
But, with that in mind, you must have something of quality to stand behind, and that means honing your book until it’s the best it can be. Start by finding beta readers – you can ask people on Facebook groups or Twitter, or reach out to readers of your genre through other online forums (Reddit might be good). The idea is to find people who enjoy similar books to yours and will give you useful feedback. Once you have this, you can either take it on board or not – it’s your book after all, so be true to your own vision, BUT if a few people all tell you the ending is rubbish or one character is too annoying, perhaps you should look at it.
I expect you to be quite surprised by some of the suggestions you’ll get, but once you reflect on the readers’ opinions, and act on them, you’ll realise your book is much stronger than before.
(At this stage you might plan on looking for an agent. I will mention my own experiences with agents in a much later post. For now, we’ll focus on self-publishing.)
Next, you’ll hire an editor – if you can afford this, I HIGHLY recommend you do it – and, if they’re any good, you’ll be astonished by their feedback. After I’d written a few novels and novellas I started to think maybe I knew what I was doing, and wondering if I really needed my editor. And then she looked over my new story and made some suggestions that truly elevated it to another level. It had been fine before, but the money I spent hiring her – on that occasion and every other – possibly made each book worth another star within Amazon or Goodread’s rating system. Priceless.
If you can’t afford an editor, that’s fine – try to find a couple more trusted beta readers instead and listen to their opinions. But if you have any spare money, and bearing in mind your book is going to be the next Big Thing (you believe in it right?!) I would really suggest you spend it on a) an editor and b) a cover designer.
[image error] The difference between making your own, and hiring someone who knows what they’re doing. The one on the left is the mock-up I sent to my cover designers. The one on the right is the stunning final version.
I’m not going to post examples of terrible Kindle covers for us all to point and laugh, because it’s nasty, but you all know exactly what I mean. You’ve seen them. You’ve probably wondered what kind of drugs the authors were on when they knocked them up in thirty seconds in Paint. Now, I must admit, I’ve seen some books like that, with their awful covers – even at times a full series with the same exact crappy cover, just different titles or even numbers on them – selling very well. It amazes me. But that is rare – usually a bad cover is going to really hinder your book’s chances of getting up the charts, so, unless you’re great at design, HIRE someone. If it costs you £200, you will make it back in sales eventually.
Again though, if you can’t afford it, that’s okay, don’t let it put you off publishing, just try and come up with your own cover that looks professional, using simple fonts and images. Study the cover art of other, bestselling books in your genre. Writing historical fiction like me? Check out Bernard Cornwell or Matthew Harffy’s books.
[image error]You know exactly what this will be about. It draws the eye, and the reader, right in!
That kind of art, and the bold fonts, draw a reader’s eye. And bear in mind you might be launching a single novel, but you are looking at creating a BRAND. Don’t name your Facebook page or website after a book, name it after yourself or you’ll regret it when you write something new. And when that time comes, make sure the cover art and fonts are in the same style as book 1 (assuming you’re writing a series). Having a trilogy of novels, all using different colours, different fonts, different styles of image just doesn’t look professional and will make readers suspect the writing contained within the cover will be similarly unfocused.
[image error]One case where an author COULD create his own stunning cover. If you can do this, great. If not, hire a pro!
Now you have your completed manuscript and cover art, all you need now is a blurb for the back cover/ description page. Most of us hate trying to write eye-catching, interesting blurbs, including me, so I recommend you give this book a try. There’s one short section within here that I’ve been using to help me for the past few years, it’s excellent.
And that’s it! You are just about ready to go. It’s advisable to setup a pre-order within Amazon’s KDP system, rather than just making it available straight away, especially if you’re doing a paperback version (and there’s no reason not to). A pre-order gives Amazon’s system time to set everything up for you, so, when the book goes live in a week or two, the product pages look good, your Author Central page (you should set one of these up at least in the UK and USA) will link to your name, and the different editions (paperback/Kindle and audio if you have it) will all be meshed together.
Well done, you’re almost there! Now, as you wait on the pre-order period to end and your awesome debut novel to be published, there’s some other things to be doing and thinking about. I’ll cover those in the next installment, see you then!
Hit the FOLLOW button so you don’t miss any more of these posts, and if you are looking for something free to read, try my Forest Lord story “The Rescue” HERE.
If you have any questions about this post, leave a comment, use the CONTACT button, or message me on Facebook!
[image error]You should see the mock-up I sent my artists for this stunning cover. It was bloody awful.
March 28, 2020
Some tips on how to write a novel, from first idea to publication and beyond. Part 1 of the Lockdown Series -Developing your IDEA.
In case you’re wondering why I’m writing this instead of working on my own new druid novel, well, my wife and kids are at home all day during this lockdown and, personally, I find it difficult to get into the “zone” when the house is occupied and there’s distractions. But I can still write blog posts, I don’t need to concentrate as much on that, so here we are, the first in a (possibly) 9 or 10 part series which will (might) include tips on things like Cover Design, Book Launch, Pricing and such.
These posts are loosely based on the talk I gave to Strathkelvin Writers Group in Glasgow last year. It was my first paid speaking event and I took it very seriously, writing up a few pages of notes, some of which I used and some I didn’t have time for. I think the group found my talk useful, so hopefully some of you will too. If so, share these posts with your friends! If you’re wondering who the hell I am, you can find my books HERE.
[image error]“Sherwood” – one word that conjured up an entire series of books for me.
Okay, so first of all, before you can start writing even a single word of your novel, you need an IDEA, right? For me, my first book, Wolf’s Head came about because I wanted to write something akin to Bernard Cornwell’s King Arthur novels – I love the trees and fields, rivers and hills of Britain so I knew I should set my tale in a similar kind of place and historical era. But where? Well, literally five minutes after thinking about that, I saw a house named “Sherwood” and I had my IDEA: try to do a reboot of Robin Hood the way Cornwell did with the Arthurian legends.
I expect you already have your idea, but if not, be on the lookout for similar “divine inspiration”. Ideas for stories can come to you while out walking, listening to podcasts about true crime, chatting to other authors or even watching TV. All of those things have inspired my stories (e.g. classic 80’s TV show Knightmare being the spark for The Druid).
[image error]Merlin, from TV show Knightmare
Once you have your idea, where next? It’s one thing to think, “Oh, I know, I’ll write about a druid” or, “Yes! I can write about a detective!” but you need some meat on those meagre bones. As your English teacher used to tell you, you need a start, middle and end. Generally, I fill out my idea with a start and ending, then let the middle fill itself in as I go along – you may not like that method, so plan the whole thing before you start if you prefer. I would suggest you let your characters lead you some of the time though! When one of my “baddies” decided to shoot Friar Tuck with a crossbow, completely against what I had planned (a different guy was supposed to be killed) I just went with it and it ended up inspiring a whole new section of that book.
A good way to plan out the middle of your book even before you start is with research, especially if you’re writing historical fiction as I do. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been reading a non-fiction book and it’s given me something great to use in one of my tales. My novella The Abbey of Death found its whole base within a research book, when I stumbled across an account of some very badly behaved medieval monks who spent too much time drinking, womanizing and fighting with people. Amazingly, these real monks lived at exactly the same time, and in the same place, as the story I was planning! Again, I’ve been astonished how many times things like that happen once you start working on a book – things just seem to fall into place, and I know this happens with other authors as well. It’s as if, once you start, the universe is there to give you a hand along the way!
[image error]“Lockdown you say?”
Once you have your basic idea, and then an end, and some things to happen in the middle, you need to sit down and start the real work. Chapter 1!
Now, I’ve read, and heard, so many authors saying, “You MUST write every day,” and, even worse, “you must write at least X thousand words every day.” Bollocks. Writing a novel should not feel like a chore – if it does, you’re not likely to ever finish it. Creating a story should be FUN, so if you don’t feel like writing on a Saturday, don’t. Now, I would temper that by saying, use your common sense. If you can never be arsed and keep putting it off, well, the book won’t write itself so you need SOME self-discipline. But don’t feel like you’re failing, or doing it “wrong” if you find yourself following a different timetable to people on Twitter. Is your imagination going to suddenly wither and die because you didn’t force yourself to write a million words today? No, your creativity will still be there tomorrow. If it isn’t you might want to think twice about writing a novel…
On a similar note – and this is one of my biggest tips – do not sit down to write if you haven’t already got a scene planned out in your head. If you do, you’re likely to end up staring at the screen wondering what to write, getting stressed as time goes by, and end up farting about on Facebook “researching” Grumpy Cat memes.
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See what I mean? I just wasted five minutes looking for that, and it’s not even funny. Well, it is, but it was hardly a good use of my writing time, was it? No, I find it much more productive to plan out my next scene when I’m driving, or in the shower, or walking the dog, or washing dishes…You get the point. Have the bare bones and maybe even some dialogue all ready in your head so when you sit down at the laptop you’ll be straight into the action, no messing about. Obviously, this is a personal thing – you may be the kind of person who works best without ANY planning at all. In that case, do what suits YOU. That is ultimately my point – find the best way of doing things for yourself, don’t let others tell you how you MUST do it. Someone like me can give advice, and tell you how I work, but we’re all individuals. As long as you’re being productive, getting a few thousand words a week down, and enjoying it as you go, you’re on the right track.
Okay, that’s it for now. Go and get to work on your new novel. Don’t wait – what’s the point in waiting? Start it today if you can get a chance!
Next time I’ll look at what happens when you actually finish your book, before you launch it into the world. How to get it all ready to go and in the best shape possible, so when it’s published it doesn’t sink in a sea of terrible reviews and apathy! Hit the FOLLOW button at the top of the page so you don’t miss any more of these rambling posts, and if you are looking for something free to read, try my Forest Lord story “The Rescue” HERE.
If you have any questions about this post, use the CONTACT button or message me on Facebook!
March 27, 2020
Stay sane during lockdown – ghost stories!
So I’ve deleted the Twitter app from my phone (I still have an account but am not using it just now) and am not reading anyone’s posts on Facebook because so many are sharing things that, frankly, frighten me. So, to combat this, I’m reading ghost (and other unexplained mystery) stories.
Yes, to escape the real world during lockdown I’ve been using my Kindle Unlimited subscription to discover “real” spooky tales. I recommend these as a great way to bury your head in the sand for a few hours!
First up, and my favourite so far, is Credible Witness by Andy Gilbert. The author is not a “professional” writer, he’s a retired UK police officer who gathered together some accounts from his colleagues around England and put them into this book, and the sequel, Credible Witness II, which is also well worth a punt. You can expect to read about haunted police stations (noises mostly, but also shadowy figures), disembodied voices, mysterious sensations and, my personal favourite, a ghostly joy-rider. The style is very dry and matter-of-fact which actually lends credence to the officers’ accounts and makes both books much more, well, credible in my opinion. There’s no sensationalism or flowery prose in an attempt to tart it all up and it works extremely well. Both volumes are short and I don’t think the author had all that much material to work with so you are left wanting more but that’s not his fault. I just hope he gets more accounts and does a part 3. If you’re an ex-UK copper and have a story, please send it to him, you can find him on Facebook as “Andy Gilbert writer & comedy performer”.
Here’s the link to the first, 5-star book, give it a go! LINK
The second is by Steph Young. I came to her book because I’m quite interested in the “Missing 411” phenomenon which, if you don’t know, is about the incredibly high number of people who go missing from mostly US national parks under very strange circumstances. They’re often found miles away from where they should be, maybe high up on inaccessible cliffs or something. The guy who brought this to the world’s attention is David Paulides but his books are only available through him and cost a small fortune, while Steph Young has written similar ones that you can get cheaply on Kindle. However, when I looked her up on Amazon, this title caught my eye: Tales of Mystery Unexplained.
Hmm. Well, I just went to get the link for this and apparently it’s unavailable as there were so many quality issues in it. That’s a shame – I thought it was really in need of a proof reader but still enjoyed it a lot. Hopefully the author sorts it out and makes it available again because it’s worth a look and was actually number 1 in its chart the other day.
Cases covered are UFO’s, ghosts and others like creepy and mysterious disappearances such as the sad story of Elisa Lam (if you don’t know about this, check out the video of her in her hotel lift the night she disappeared HERE).
Check out Tales of Mystery Unexplained on Amazon here: LINK
The last book I’ve been reading is not spooky, it’s a fantasy book I first read when I was about 12. I guess it’s aimed at teenagers or young adults but that just means it’s an easy read and perfect escapism for these scary days. Dragons of Autumn Twilight kicked off the Dragonlance series which became something of a phenomenon in the 80’s. I really loved the characters and, although it is rather twee and simplistic (don’t expect Game of Thrones style violence or sex) the Dragonlance books are a lot of fun. Not all of them, of course, as there’s bloody hundreds of them now, but the original set of four, plus the LEGENDS trilogy, are still good. Unfortunately they’re not on Kindle Unlimited so you’ll have to pay for them! Also worth a look are the original Shannara books, starting with The Sword of Shannara which I reviewed HERE a couple of years ago.
LINK to Dragons of Autumn Twilight
Don’t forget, my own books are ALL available FREE on Kindle Unlimited worldwide, and The Druid is free on Prime Reading in the UK and Canada just now. You can also get most of my books for FREE with a month’s trial on Audible. Worth a look!
March 23, 2020
Ritual. In life, and particularly within my novels – does it make sense to you?
I’ve been thinking about doing a blog post on this subject for a while now, ever since one of the beta readers for my novel The Druid told me she couldn’t understand what was going on in a scene, specifically the one where Bellicus performs a ritual and “meets” a mythical hero.
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There was another, similar scene in Song of the Centurion and, again, she told me I should take it out as it didn’t make sense to her. She didn’t know if Bellicus was dreaming, or imagining it all, or if it was really happening as it might in a fantasy novel like Lord of the Rings. I was surprised at these comments because I assumed everyone would know what was going on – you may not have any personal experience of performing rituals and conversing with astral beings, but you’ll have seen it in movies surely?
Many people report meeting entities during religious or spiritual moments, indeed, it seems to me that ANYONE praying to a god or saint or whatever is actively looking for such a union. Although perhaps for most people, if it did actually happen that “something” spoke to them either out loud or mentally, they’d assume they’d gone mad and write it off, like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol!
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One of Christianity’s most famous events is Paul’s revelation on the road to Damascus where a light blinded him and he heard a voice speaking to him:
As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. – Acts 9
This wasn’t part of a ritual, but it’s clearly some unseen entity guiding Paul.
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Similarly, the magician Aleister Crowley’s most sacred text, the Book of the Law, was supposedly dictated to him by a being calling itself Aiwass. Crowley claimed many experiences with similar discarnate entities during his lifetime as did some of his contemporaries such as SL McGregor Mathers of the Golden Dawn, pictured below in Egyptian costume for a ritual.
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And, in more modern times you have someone like million-selling author Graham Hancock who claims to have met an entity he calls Mother Ayahuasca while under the influence of certain drugs. He’s been guided by this entity and says it’s made his life much better. This kind of shamanic altered state experience is well known from movies and fiction, where someone drinks a potion or eats magic mushrooms and finds themselves in a new reality.
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Another over-used movie/book plot device is the pagan or satanic blood ritual that goes wrong and sees the unfortunate magician possessed by a demon. Of course there are real cases where people have been badly affected by “black” magic and gone crazy as a result, and even the modern day case where Slenderman, an internet invention, “told” two teenage girls to murder their friend.
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I am not exactly a religious or even very spiritual person, but I have some slight experience communing with a “higher power” – in fact, if you’ve read my book Rise of the Wolf you’ll be familiar with the whole part where Robin and John travel to London and meet the king. Believe it or not, that was not “my” idea – it was given to me one day when I was sitting quietly in my bedroom, meditating.
Even more impressively, the outline of the plot for Lucia came to me in a flash of insight one day when I was walking outside. These were not moments where I felt like I was plotting things out in my head as I always do – these two occasions were different. It genuinely seemed like the ideas were imparted to me from somewhere outside my Self.
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So, to me, communing with otherworldly beings seems quite straightforward, whether you regard such experiences as “real” or imagined. And, since Bellicus is a druid and his society’s channel to the gods, I did NOT take out the scenes where he goes into a trance and meets his astral companions for guidance. I have always been curious however, if more of my readers were confused by those sections. Were you? Share your opinion in the comments below or by using the CONTACT button, I would really love to know your thoughts on this!
As I wrote this the UK announced a lockdown. In these uncertain times I expect many of us will be seeking spiritual guidance and strength – I hope my books and my characters can bring you, and me, some solace, or at least a chance to simply escape the real world for a while.
Stay safe.
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February 27, 2020
Song of the Centurion coming soon on Audible!
If you are a fan of audiobooks, you’ll be pleased to hear Song of the Centurion, sequel to The Druid, is coming to Audible. Nick Denton is narrating again, as he did with The Druid, so save a credit for it. I don’t have a firm release date yet, but I’d imagine a month or two and it’ll be ready to go!
If you prefer Kindle or paperback versions, get the book HERE
Don’t forget, The Druid is only 99p on Kindle UK at the moment, but only until Saturday the 29th of February, so if you haven’t read it yet, now is the best time to get a copy.
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