WEATHER (AND OTHER THINGS) STOP PLAY

Apologies for not keeping up with the blog. There are a number of reasons, but I'm sure you're not interested in excuses..

The blog isn't the only thing that has suffered from this temporary interruption. After six months I failed to meet my goal of subbing four short stories a month. :(  But in my defence, I have been working on my own publication of short stories, Reflections and although I haven't got much further with the cover, I have almost edited sixteen short stories. So that's almost four months worth, well, that's how I square things anyway. My goal is to have it ready for publication at the beginning of September, so next week I need to get the cover someway decent and that's priority numero uno. Snapping at the heels are  my Penny and George series and the first editing of  'The Morning Gift' which is very raw to say the least. But having checked the writing goals I set myself at Writers Abroad at the beginning of January, I'm quite chuffed to find that I have actually made quite a lot of progress!

So how is the writing month of the silly summer season, going for you? Of course, depending on where you are - it may not be summer, my mate in Dhaka has monsoons! But where ever you are, I hope that you are writing...
Until Later,

It's All About Style

Having decided on the image for my cover (and spent the week looking at more images for the Writers Abroad Anthology) I've been doing some editing and deciding on the form of presentation for 'Reflections'.
Now, I'm sure you will agree, my granddaughter here has plenty of style... well, at this age who doesn't? Style is just as important for a book, self published or otherwise. There are a number of decisions to be made and as I'm the writer and publisher, I have to make them! I have concentrated on four specific issues.

• Font - Style and size. We all have our favourite fonts and some work better on the printed page than others. One of my reading 'bugs' is a book with a font that is too small. Often it means I won't persevere. I just hate seeing all that text crammed onto a page. So Garamond 12, maybe 14 is the choice made.
• Headings - as this is a book of short stories, the all have a title and I've spent some time looking at the different heading styles in words. I've veering towards something that is a bit more flouncy than the text but readable. As it's a black and white production, colour is a no-no so the font might be something more fancy like Bradley Hand
• Spacing - Double spacing is fine for editing but a little too much white space for a publication. Equally single spacing seems a little cramped at times. So 1.15 seems a good middle ground which won't waste paper but will make the reading experience a little more pleasurable
• Page Numbers - I like them, so they are going in. And there will be a contents page with the titles of the stories which will be linked to the page numbers, so not an option really.

Other than that the old adage KISS comes to mind... more on the cover next week.

Until Later...

Reflections

Self Publishing a book is made much easier these days, especially with the help of sites such as Lulu and Completely Novel. They both offer affordable Print on Demand solutions which allows you to create your book as you see fit. Having chosen the stories I want to include (making sure that I don't breach any copyright with published pieces), chosen the title - 'Refelections' -  I now have to think about the design and format.
I'm very strongly influenced by the 'look' of a book, even with authors who are familiar to me.

On the front of the Time Travellers Wife for instance, we are 'shown' the main plot visually by the shot of the bottom half of a young girl standing by a pile of clothes. Not that you know this is the plot at the beginning, unless you've read the blurb on the back. That's my second influence - if it tells me that the story has a beginning, middle and end and a couple of interesting characters who are going to share their story then I'm almost reaching for my purse. I don't take note of any critiques or adulation's from newspapers or other authors. The joy of a good read is a very personal, subjective one and I'm not influenced by what someone else thinks (or has been paid to think).

I've been scouring some of my own images as a source of inspiration and I have come across a couple of photo's which may just fit the bill but it doesn't end there. A good book cover will draw the reader in through the colour scheme, its title, the author's name, all which have to be set in a design which is pleasing to the eye. It's this kind of detail I like about the self publishing process at the same time as feeling a little nervous. I don't have a 'team' I can discuss ideas with or be told that something doesn't work. So I may well just use this blog as my 'testing plate' and hope that if I really do make a dogs dinner of things, someone will shout out before I press 'publish'.

Until Later...

WILTED WRITER

This portrays a little how I feel this week, not only writing wise but any other activity which means moving, however slightly. We have been exposed to a heatwave here in Central Italy . Temperatures out in the full sun have regularly exceeded 50 degrees and I kid you not. We moved our temperature sensor out into the full sun (the rear of our house where we 'live' faces south, so sun from 11 til dusk) and this is what is has recorded.  
Family and friends who live in the UK can't understand why I complain about the heat when it's cold, grey and wet over there but there are balances in everything, including the weather. The only place I feel comfortable is by the shore edge, where I can dip in and out and actually it's much cooler. Luckily the beach is only a fourty minute drive so we've spent two afternoons there this week. And, thank heavens, because it's still July, there aren't a million bodies out there squirming like fat little worms so the sun can reach creases that really shouldn't be be put on show. So this is probably the first bit of real writing I've done this week. 


But it's not that I've been slacking. I've used the cool office (when I can find space between two large dogs) to start designing the cover for my short story publication, with the working title of 'Reflections'. I've been playing around  with images for the Writers Abroad Foreign Flavours Anthology. I've been reading, analysing how certain writers construct their chapters, scenes and points of view. And I've been people watching on the beach, behind a pair of dark shades, making up stories about couples and families and those funny men who stand like statues at the waters edge, watching all the bottoms wiggle by covered in a variety of ways - or not!


And this afternoon I was rewarded with some feedback on two short stories I'd submitted for a competition. I wasn't placed - Iain Pattison was a runner up, so what hope did I have - but the feedback was very positive and to quote...


Overall, your work is excellent. You need merely to address some trivial points of restructuring and enhancement, as I have suggested.  (Even excellent work can be perfected!)


So not a bad end to the week and the temperature is dropping and there's a cool(ish) breeze. Lots of catching up to do... Until Later,

World Building Fun

One of my challenges this year is to write something out of my traditional 'comfort zone'. Not that I can ever claim to be comfortable with my writing, it bleeds me dry most days. Anyway, encouraged by a fellow Writers Abroad member Nicola (published as Nina Croft and a star at the paranormal romance genre) I decided to try out writing in the fantasy genre.

This genre is quite like any other because you can make a lot of it up. I have 'written' three novels, all historical and in varying states of completion. The research for this kind of thing take some time and whilst you can play around the edges, you really do need to create the world that was. This week I've been creating a whole new world all of my own! I've found it immensely satisfying, I suppose largely because it has allowed the child in me to surface once again. Always one for making up tales, mostly ones that got me into trouble one way or another, I've forgotten how good it was to really let your imagination loose, without constraints or experiences. Whilst I suppose much of the world I have built must relate back to something that I know - that old nugget that nothing is original comes to mind - a lot of it is made up. I'll give you some examples:

My world is Tasosia and it's a world of dryads, fauns, trolls (oh yes) and talking animals. My main character has been called Xanthe, but I'm thinking of calling her Ayla, which means moonlight. This change of heart came about because my world has three moons about which I plan to write a short novella, this first one is called Wolf Moon. Tasosia has to have its villains and these link to the three moon phases, each dominated by an evil warrior Empress (I can't think of the female version of a war lord - war lady sounds silly...). Ayla is the last of her species with special powers but she has been trapped on Earth since she was little and knows nothing of her life on Tasosia until regression therapy takes her there...

Does it sound daft? Probably. Do I care? Not at all, I'm having such great fun. Will it be a good read? I hope so and if not I've learnt, yet again, a whole deal more about the craft of writing.
So my plans for the weekend? I'm off to visit Tasosia to have a chat with Ayla and find out what is going to happen to her... Until Later,

JUNE JACK IN THE BOX

I used to love a Jack in the Box, though my granddaughter was scared stiff of them. I suppose they can look a bit weird and the surprise isn't always a welcome one. I'm sure there has been a horror movie or two made about them. What a shame that film makers have to take something so innocent and make it so frightening. As you can tell, I'm not a fan of the horror genre, a little bit of Gothic is fine... Anyway I digress.
I've subbed four short stories this month (hence my June award with Write1Sub1):

• Writers Village Competition (which cost £10  for two but you do get a critique in return so I'm interested in how this will be managed)
• Creative Writing Ink 
• A Very Short Story

In terms of my 80 thousand words in 80 days challenge, I'm running a little behind. I came to a dwindling end with The Morning Gift at 56k - but there are loads of gaps which I know will appear in the editing, so I'm not so worried about that. It has now gone for a little bit of rest and marination before I bring it out to rewrite. Now on with my synopsis for the fantasy novella... so this weekend I'll be doing a bit of world building - how exciting!

It's All in the Title

It's quite critical isn't it, having a good title that lures the reader in. I'm not sure that I'll be reading this one although it did make me giggle. Having decided last week that I would publish a selection of short stories and flash fiction through Lulu, I've spent some part of the week mapping out the book. I've selected stories of all kinds of genre, from crime to historical to humour and  some more contemporary stories. My dilemma for this weekend is to think up a suitable title.

There are two things that attract me to a book, one is the cover and the other an engaging or intriguing title. I used to read the last page of a book before I made my mind up, my reasoning being that if the ending was good then I'd be more likely to want to read the book! This horrified my Man Friday and I've since been able to kick the habit. If I like the cover and title I will then go to the 'blurb' on the back cover but I never take any notice of reviews - it's such a personal thing. I found this out when I had a go at writing a couple of book reviews  and was honest in that Northern fashion that has so often got me into trouble. It was okay if I liked a book, but the comments that came spitting back at me if I didn't made me realise that opinions are fine but best kept to myself.

So, back to my title. I found a couple of fun sites which generated titles but none of them were relevant. I even found one that generated names for bands which was... different - The Aromatic Bumheads? Do you think you'd buy some music written by this band? As you can see, I've gone way of course and apart from 'Louise Charles' Anthology of Short Stories' which is hardly inspiring, I've come to a brick wall. Perhaps it's the heat, or lack of grey brain cells, but I'll mull things over with a glass of wine in hand, it usually helps.
Got any ideas?
Until Later....