H.C. Gray's Blog, page 2
January 13, 2014
Final Draft? How can you know a manuscript is finished?
The final draft of 'After Owen' has been emailed to my proof-reader and I was determined to start on other projects with that one finally taken out of my hands.
Ha!
Last night I broke into a cold sweat because I thought of something that just absolutely had to be added or the book would make no sense at all and I would be laughed at my all who read it.
I managed to get through the night, the next morning's school run, and the dog's morning walk, before I hit the laptop to make the urgent and important change to the manuscript.
I added one line. ONE. LINE. And a short one at that.
And whilst I am happy that I have added it, however short, I know this is not the end. I could always add more. Change more. There will always be something popping into my mind that seems crucial and urgent and must go in, so when does that end? When is a book ever 'finished'?
Whoever said 'art is never finished, just abandoned?'... clever chap.
Ha!
Last night I broke into a cold sweat because I thought of something that just absolutely had to be added or the book would make no sense at all and I would be laughed at my all who read it.
I managed to get through the night, the next morning's school run, and the dog's morning walk, before I hit the laptop to make the urgent and important change to the manuscript.
I added one line. ONE. LINE. And a short one at that.
And whilst I am happy that I have added it, however short, I know this is not the end. I could always add more. Change more. There will always be something popping into my mind that seems crucial and urgent and must go in, so when does that end? When is a book ever 'finished'?
Whoever said 'art is never finished, just abandoned?'... clever chap.
December 27, 2013
Cover design!
As I may have mentioned, I love writing, I hate editing. Editing is hard work and less fun than just making stuff up and writing it down.
So as a little reward for doing editing over the Christmas period today I have let myself have a little play with design covers and blurbs and such for my new book 'After Owen' to be published soon.
I was going to post a pic of the cover up here but this blog doesn't support photos so pop on over to my FaceBook page if you're interested in seeing it...
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Helen-...
So as a little reward for doing editing over the Christmas period today I have let myself have a little play with design covers and blurbs and such for my new book 'After Owen' to be published soon.
I was going to post a pic of the cover up here but this blog doesn't support photos so pop on over to my FaceBook page if you're interested in seeing it...
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Helen-...
December 20, 2013
Writer, interrupted
And so all writing and reading ground to a halt as I made a push to get everything done for Christmas.
Fortunately my mind kept awhirling and has presented me with more horror stories for a collection to be written and published in the New Year, and also the premise for a full-length horror novel... wahoo!
It is frustrating however to have a mind brimming with all these exciting ideas and not to have the time to start on them. I have had to make do with penning the ideas down and playing scenes in my mind like a film. Not the same buzz as actually writing though.
The final editing sweep of my novel "after Owen" was also interrupted, just as I embarked upon a rewrite of the ending. I hope to finish that over Christmas and to get it off to my friend for professional copy editing before the New Year. I'm still on track to publish in February.
Sales of 'Five Very British Horror Stories' are still dong really well, which fills me with impatience to publish more! Bring on 2014.
Fortunately my mind kept awhirling and has presented me with more horror stories for a collection to be written and published in the New Year, and also the premise for a full-length horror novel... wahoo!
It is frustrating however to have a mind brimming with all these exciting ideas and not to have the time to start on them. I have had to make do with penning the ideas down and playing scenes in my mind like a film. Not the same buzz as actually writing though.
The final editing sweep of my novel "after Owen" was also interrupted, just as I embarked upon a rewrite of the ending. I hope to finish that over Christmas and to get it off to my friend for professional copy editing before the New Year. I'm still on track to publish in February.
Sales of 'Five Very British Horror Stories' are still dong really well, which fills me with impatience to publish more! Bring on 2014.
November 25, 2013
Is reading a good book like being in love?
I have just finished the marvellous 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle' by Shirley Jackson. I have written a review of it, if you're interested to see if it's your sort of thing.
It was one of those books that I couldn't wait to find time to read, and when I couldn't be reading about it, I was thinking about it. Isn't that what falling in love is like? Nothing else matters but being with the book, you think about the book all the time, the book fills an emotional need. And is a bad book like a bad relationship; you carry on with it hoping it will get better, and though you are glad when it is finally over, you are still full of regret and disappointment?
Unlike a movie, or a piece of music, or artwork - which is a bit of a flash-bang-thank-you-mam sort of relationship, over in minutes or a couple of hours - the relationship that you have with a book happens over days and weeks and it changes and evolves over that time. You have a series of dates with a book, during which your anticipation or dread will peak and trough.
And your book comes on holiday with you, it comes to bed with you, you keep it in your bag and take it to work, to the Doctor's appointment, it comes visiting family with you. You like having your book with you, don't you, just in case you get a chance to spend some quality time with it.
Anyway, I haven't fallen in love for over 20years, having been with my partner for such time, so maybe I am talking bunkum! I will state however that the relationship that you have with a good book can be a very powerful one.
It was one of those books that I couldn't wait to find time to read, and when I couldn't be reading about it, I was thinking about it. Isn't that what falling in love is like? Nothing else matters but being with the book, you think about the book all the time, the book fills an emotional need. And is a bad book like a bad relationship; you carry on with it hoping it will get better, and though you are glad when it is finally over, you are still full of regret and disappointment?
Unlike a movie, or a piece of music, or artwork - which is a bit of a flash-bang-thank-you-mam sort of relationship, over in minutes or a couple of hours - the relationship that you have with a book happens over days and weeks and it changes and evolves over that time. You have a series of dates with a book, during which your anticipation or dread will peak and trough.
And your book comes on holiday with you, it comes to bed with you, you keep it in your bag and take it to work, to the Doctor's appointment, it comes visiting family with you. You like having your book with you, don't you, just in case you get a chance to spend some quality time with it.
Anyway, I haven't fallen in love for over 20years, having been with my partner for such time, so maybe I am talking bunkum! I will state however that the relationship that you have with a good book can be a very powerful one.
November 20, 2013
the anticipation of a new book
It's a great feeling to finish reading a book, isn't it? It gives you a sense of achievement, a sense that you have spent your hours doing something worthwhile. Time spent on a good book is never wasted.
And so now, having finished 'Let The Right One In' last night (review done and published), I am full of that delicious anticipation as I consider my next read.
Lined up, I have Shirley Jackson's 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle' and Thomas Brown's 'Lynnwood'. I also have a couple of side-order reads, books about writing horror and short-stories, that I dip in and out of in those little bits of time my day affords me.
I hope I get chance to get some reading done today.
And so now, having finished 'Let The Right One In' last night (review done and published), I am full of that delicious anticipation as I consider my next read.
Lined up, I have Shirley Jackson's 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle' and Thomas Brown's 'Lynnwood'. I also have a couple of side-order reads, books about writing horror and short-stories, that I dip in and out of in those little bits of time my day affords me.
I hope I get chance to get some reading done today.
November 19, 2013
reader's block
I never get chance to suffer from writer's block. I won't write unless I can dedicate a good block of time to it, and that doesn't happen very often, so I've always got a build up of stuff I need to write. Which is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your viewpoint.
I do, however, suffer from painful bouts of reader's block. I've got a painful flare-up at the moment as it happens.
It's all the fault of a book called 'let The Right One In', a Swedish book about a vampire living on a sink estate. For the first half, this book was unputdownable. It was so moving, intelligent and clever. I resented ever having to stop reading it to go and do something else. Then, around the halfway mark, it turned rubbish. No kinder way of putting it. It just got crap. The story fell apart, signs of any editing disappeared, the characterisation went to pot.
If it had been this bad to start with, I would have abandoned it early on, or more probably never bought it. But having got so far, and having loved the film it was made into, I am determined to finish this book.
Trouble is, I just don't want to pick up my Kindle and read it. The pressure to finish it, get it over and done with, has sort of paralysed me. I've stopped reading it and I can't get myself to start again.
So I'm not reading anything at the moment and it hurts.
The obvious answer, of course, would be to just pick another book, start reading that. As it happens, I've got another book lined up that I'm really looking forward to, but I know that if I start reading another book now, I will never finish 'Let The Right One In' and I am so close to the end now that would be silly, and weak, and self-defeating. I WANT to know how this book ends. I want it to REDEEM itself, goddamnit.
I'll pick it up again tonight, I will. I will, and I will finish it.
I do, however, suffer from painful bouts of reader's block. I've got a painful flare-up at the moment as it happens.
It's all the fault of a book called 'let The Right One In', a Swedish book about a vampire living on a sink estate. For the first half, this book was unputdownable. It was so moving, intelligent and clever. I resented ever having to stop reading it to go and do something else. Then, around the halfway mark, it turned rubbish. No kinder way of putting it. It just got crap. The story fell apart, signs of any editing disappeared, the characterisation went to pot.
If it had been this bad to start with, I would have abandoned it early on, or more probably never bought it. But having got so far, and having loved the film it was made into, I am determined to finish this book.
Trouble is, I just don't want to pick up my Kindle and read it. The pressure to finish it, get it over and done with, has sort of paralysed me. I've stopped reading it and I can't get myself to start again.
So I'm not reading anything at the moment and it hurts.
The obvious answer, of course, would be to just pick another book, start reading that. As it happens, I've got another book lined up that I'm really looking forward to, but I know that if I start reading another book now, I will never finish 'Let The Right One In' and I am so close to the end now that would be silly, and weak, and self-defeating. I WANT to know how this book ends. I want it to REDEEM itself, goddamnit.
I'll pick it up again tonight, I will. I will, and I will finish it.
November 14, 2013
'Songs of Morphine'
My collection of tender stories about love and heartache is now published. I don't expect it to sell because it doesn't really have a genre. Even though it is essentially about love, it isn't about romance. Love isn't romance. It isn't flowers and chocolates and puppies and rainbows. Love is tough stuff! If you haven't got that by the time you're 30 you've lead a charmed life.
Still, I am pleased to have another collection of my writing on my shelf. These stories all mean a lot to me.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Songs-Morphin...
Still, I am pleased to have another collection of my writing on my shelf. These stories all mean a lot to me.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Songs-Morphin...
November 8, 2013
writing projects
It was so enjoyable to get 'Five Very British Horror Stories' up and published that I thought I'd pop another collection of short-stories up pretty quickly. I've got plenty of them to publish, so it's just a matter of being able to group them together, choose a running order, do a final draft, have someone proof-read, double check formatting, design a cover, come up with a blurb... oh.
Turns out that if you're serious about giving the reader a decent experience then there are no short-cuts to publishing. It takes time and effort to make everything the best that it can be, and really if you're not going to do that then why bother?
I hope to have a collection of another five short stories up next week. I've been surprised at sales of my horror story collection because it seems to have fanned out very quickly beyond my circle of friends. People I don't know are buying my book! For a newbie like me, this is quite thrilling! I have lower expectations of this collection however because it doesn't fit into any recognisable genre. I shall just be happy to have it out of my computer and on my shelf.
Also on the agenda is the publishing of my first full-length book of fiction. I say it's my "first" book, the books I have written (and lost) must be in double figures by now, but this is the first book that I think is actually worth publishing and reading. I wrote it two years ago for NaNoWriMo (don't groan!) and every time I come back to it, I still really like it. I wrote it a year after my adopted children had come to live with me and my husband and it is full of images, emotions and themes from from that time. I am currently sourcing a professional proof-reader for it and hope to publish in the New Year.
After that there is another full-length book I have started on that is entirely different from anything I have ever tackled before. I hope to publish that in 2014 too.
Becoming an Indie author obviously requires a lot of time and patience, and a thick-skin for the reviews and feedback, but it feels like I have been waiting all my life to be able to do something like this. It's fun so far!
Turns out that if you're serious about giving the reader a decent experience then there are no short-cuts to publishing. It takes time and effort to make everything the best that it can be, and really if you're not going to do that then why bother?
I hope to have a collection of another five short stories up next week. I've been surprised at sales of my horror story collection because it seems to have fanned out very quickly beyond my circle of friends. People I don't know are buying my book! For a newbie like me, this is quite thrilling! I have lower expectations of this collection however because it doesn't fit into any recognisable genre. I shall just be happy to have it out of my computer and on my shelf.
Also on the agenda is the publishing of my first full-length book of fiction. I say it's my "first" book, the books I have written (and lost) must be in double figures by now, but this is the first book that I think is actually worth publishing and reading. I wrote it two years ago for NaNoWriMo (don't groan!) and every time I come back to it, I still really like it. I wrote it a year after my adopted children had come to live with me and my husband and it is full of images, emotions and themes from from that time. I am currently sourcing a professional proof-reader for it and hope to publish in the New Year.
After that there is another full-length book I have started on that is entirely different from anything I have ever tackled before. I hope to publish that in 2014 too.
Becoming an Indie author obviously requires a lot of time and patience, and a thick-skin for the reviews and feedback, but it feels like I have been waiting all my life to be able to do something like this. It's fun so far!
October 30, 2013
Doctor Sleep, Stephen King
Despite the best intentions of everybody and everything else in my life, I finished King's 'Doctor Sleep' and have reviewed it on here.
It's not a perfect book, but it is an amazing one; vast, imaginative and thoroughly engaging. It's been a long time since I read a book that I found myself thinking about during the day and looking forward to reading at night. King will do that to you.
It's not a perfect book, but it is an amazing one; vast, imaginative and thoroughly engaging. It's been a long time since I read a book that I found myself thinking about during the day and looking forward to reading at night. King will do that to you.
October 28, 2013
Post-Stephen Horror Reading
I am nearing the end of Stephen King's impressive 'Doctor Sleep' and I know that when it is read and gone it is going to leave a huge hole to fill, so I've been busy gathering post-King reading material like a squirrel gathering nuts for winter.
I said in my last post that I wanted to find some female British Horror writers and I've discovered the immensely popular Rayne Hall (who's German, but you know, she lives here!). I've bought her '13 British Horror Stories', which given my own book, how could I not! I also purchased her 'Writing Scary Scenes' for a bit of a brush up on horror writing, as I want to write more.
Through the GoodReads 'Horror Aficionados' group I have also discovered a Shirley Jackson book 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle' and 'Let the Right One In' by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Neither authors are British, but no matter when they appear to be Horror writing of quality.
I wish I had more time to give up to reading and writing. I don't seem to get to do enough of either.
I said in my last post that I wanted to find some female British Horror writers and I've discovered the immensely popular Rayne Hall (who's German, but you know, she lives here!). I've bought her '13 British Horror Stories', which given my own book, how could I not! I also purchased her 'Writing Scary Scenes' for a bit of a brush up on horror writing, as I want to write more.
Through the GoodReads 'Horror Aficionados' group I have also discovered a Shirley Jackson book 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle' and 'Let the Right One In' by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Neither authors are British, but no matter when they appear to be Horror writing of quality.
I wish I had more time to give up to reading and writing. I don't seem to get to do enough of either.
