Sunday 20 January 2013

7 Ways to Kickstart your writing in the new year




If only it did come in a can:)

It happens to all of us. We get very little writing done over the holidays - that's if we get any done at all. Then when we have to get back to it, it's hard to get going again.


How do you break through that wall and get going again?


Here's some tips -

Even time spent watching Jeremy Kyle isn't wasted.



1.Look through a real life magazine or watch a show like Jeremy Kyle or Jerry Springer. Are there any stories that catch your eye? Don't read it. Just take the headline say, "My husband was a bigamist and a murderer" and write your own story based on that. Try for a new angle. Write from the husband's point of view or from two of the wives when they get together. 


2. Write your own version of your favourite movie or TV shows. 

Even time watching the soaps isn't wasted.


3. Soap storylines are also a good source of inspiration. Use a current storyline, but feature your own characters.



4. No takers on that book? Try turning it into a screenplay. The more strings a writer has to their bow the better. 


5. Pick any book off your shelf and look at the first paragraph. Write a story that follows on from that. 



6. Cut out pictures of people from a magazine or catalogue. Imagine their lives and what could have happened to them. Write about them. 

7. Try an online story generator. You'll be surprised at what they come up with. 

Friday 11 January 2013

Writers, it's time to get out of Twitter jail


I realised I was getting too caught up in tweeting, Facebooking, blogging, messageboards, google plus...and the list goes on and on and on...when I wanted to throw my computer out the window in a fit of all consuming incredible Hulk rage.

Well, I couldn’t get the book trailer for Dead Bastards on Kindleboards.

With a second book in what I hope will be a popular Die Hard for girls series to write, my blood pressure bubbling and the lack of sleep, I decided enough was enough.

Here are the commandments I will now live by -

1. No social networking through dinner. No tweeting, Facebooking or writing a blog post.

2. Have one day a week when I don't use social networking at all.

3. When I'm watching a film or a TV show, I also have to go cold turkey.

4. Enjoy the social networking experience. Have fun with people. Stop saying "Please, pretty please buy my book/s" all the bloody time. Folk are sick of hearing it. You're sick of hearing it.

5. Write more without a computer because unless you do you’ll be dragged back to Twitter. Write in long hand. Scribble. By all means take a break, go on Twitter, but only for twenty minutes at the most. Then go back to writing. I'll set an alarm if I need to.

And those are the rules I hope to live by. Well, once I've posted, tweet, FB, Google + this blog post.

Monday 31 December 2012

My crazy writing year



On the face of it you'd think I'd had a successful writing year. With Living Cruelty Free out in Kindle and paperback, my zombie novel Dead Bastards astounding me by coming out before Christmas (thanks to the remarkable editing skills of my publisher Terry Wright) and Hell to Pay written and in the hands of my publisher (and more Die Hard for Girls books planned), it does sound good.
 
But, sadly this year has been a complete nightmare and one I'll be glad to see the back of, for a number of reasons -

1. Because of a Facebook page I set up for my bullying book, I found myself being cyber stalked by a crazy person and their family who'd send me harassing messages even when I blocked them.

2. Writing Living Cruelty Free meant looking at horrific images of man's inhumanity to man and animals. Some of those images and research I had to look at gave me nightmares. I sunk into a deep depression it took me months to get out of.

3. I found myself working 15 hours a day to promote/edit my books - yep, even on Christmas Day. I now find it difficult to sleep and my agoraphobia's got worse.

4. Sales of the books my publisher Need2Know decided to give away, free and unlimited (without telling me) for w YEAR have fallen through the floor. Before, one in particular, was selling steadily. No sales mean any royalties. No wonder I have to decide which room to heat. Anyone has this illusion of writers being wealthy should think again.

5. Thanks to the sock puppet scandal, I've had reviews from people who bought my books taken down on Amazon without explanation. The reason - they said in their reviews they were writers too. Like writers don't/can't read? It's hard enough to get reviews at it is without that happening. Ditto people who were bought my book as a gift because they weren't verified purchasers. Well, they wouldn't be - the books were bought by someone else for them.
 
Not that top authors who’ve already made a name for themselves will be affected; it will just be us little guys who don't have big publishing houses and the might of their publicity budgets behind us.

And, that's just my writing life. Oh, and the year started with a 3 day power cut - in an apartment, with no gas or coal fire.

So, let's raise a glass to 2013, may it bring us all better days.

 

Friday 28 December 2012

6 Things every writer should know


I was first published when I was 15 and wrote a piece on superstitions for Jackie magazine. Over the years, though my writing, this is what I’ve learned -
 
1. Write as much as you can in as many different genres as you can. That way when opportunities present themselves you'll be ready. I know this from experience. In March 2011, I signed a contract to have my first work of fiction published, my novella How Kirsty Gets Her Kicks. For various reason it didn't happen. I also started a follow up book I called Die Hard for Girls. When I saw on Twitter that Sassy Books were looking for submissions, I tweeted the editor. Would she be interested in Die Hard for Girls that I'd since renamed Hell to Pay. She said yes and I submitted it and was offered a good royalty contract just days later.


2. That brings me to my second point - make sure you're on social networking sites so you'll see these opportunities. Without Twitter I'd have two books sitting in my unpublished file. Join great forums like Writer's News Talkback. Network with other writers. See an opportunity for another writer, let them know. They'll alert you to an opportunity you might have missed.


3. That brings me nicely to my third point - help other writers. Don't see them as competitors; see them as comrades in the trenches of writing. Help one another. Commiserate when things go wrong; celebrate their successes. Unless you do it can get lonely.

4.Learn to promote your books. You can't expect your publisher to place ads in the big newspapers. They only do that for the big names. As for you, a listing in their online catalogue is the best you can hope for. The plus side is that because you know your book so well you're the best person to promote it. I have Twitter, Facebook pages and dedicated blogs for Dead Bastards and Living Cruelty Free. The only cost to me was my time. I know doing this has sold books.


5.Don't ever tell yourself "I can't write in that." If a story comes alive in your head, go with it. I never thought I'd write a horror novel. Then this image came into my head of a man turning up at his friend's door looking like he'd been mugged. Only when he comes inside it becomes clear that his guts are spilling out and this is no ordinary mugging. When he dies and then comes back and tries to eat them, they realize that the zombies are here.

I just couldn't get this image out of my head of this guy's guts spilling out onto the floor and this Glasgow couple trying to scoop them up and shove them back in again, so I started scribbling away. And so, Dead Bastards was born.


6.Just because a publisher says no the first time doesn't mean you should give up. TWB Press who published my Glasgow zombie novel originally turned it down when I submitted it as a serial. I really admired the ethos of the company (no non-sense entertainment), so I worked on it some more and what was intended to be a 30k novella ended up a 70k novel (although over 10, 000 words were cut). The publisher Terry Wright liked it and wanted to publish it.

 

Friday 14 December 2012

The zombies are on the move...

I was delighted to be invited over to the amazing McDroll's blog to talk about Dead Bastards and why I wrote it.

To read the piece, click here



McDroll's latest book is called Kick It With Conviction and is a collection of short stories. It's available on Amazon UK and USA.

To find out more about McDroll, click here.

Dead Bastards is available now from the following -

Saturday 17 November 2012

Dead Bastards (A Scottish zombie novel) is coming soon

----------Publication date to be announced------
Delighted to announce that my zombie novel set in Glasgow, will be published by TWB Press as an ebook. To find out more, please click on the book cover and while you're at it why not check out the other great books available.
I'm so pleased to be working with Terry Wright, proprieter of TWB Press, author, screenwriter and all round good guy who is one of the most enthusiastic people I've ever met.

Anyone who knows me will know I'm obsessed with zombies. In fact, I even keep one in my closet (okay, he's about 8 inches tall, is made of plastic and is battery operated, but Fester still tries to eat me).
P.S. No, that's not a picture of me on the cover. I'm much zombier looking.

UPDATE - IN December 2014, the book was renamed The Restless Dead and given a brand new cover. Check it out on Amazon. 

Sunday 4 November 2012

Authors with small publishers to lose out as Amazon takes down reviews by other authors


Bet he doesn't need to worry about getting reviews:)
 

As an author I like to see reviews anyone has done of my books. I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read my books. Last night, I noticed some reviews had absconded.

I did a bit of checking and I found out that in response to a petition by 400 authors, Amazon had decided to remove any reviews from customers who were registered with Amazon Author Central - anyone who has a book published, whether it's traditionally published or self-published can set up an account so people can click on an author's name and see a list of their books.

I think this unfairly penalises authors like me who are with small publishers and those who are self-published.

This is unfair for a number of reasons -

1. Authors rely on peer reviews from other authors to get reviews. Readers say they'll do reviews, but they don't always find the time.

2.Authors read books too. They also buy books from Amazon. Why shouldn't they be allowed to leave reviews like anyone who's not an author can?

3.The reviews I did for books by the big publishers were left alone. In other words, Amazon operate a two tier system - if you're an author with a big publishing house you appear to be protected from review removal, but if you're not stuff you. Amazon can do what they like. 

At the moment, I don't think the same applies to the UK Amazon, but it's only a matter of time. So, if your reviews start to go missing you know what's happened. You could always complain to Amazon, but I've heard about people who have who've been warned that if they don't shut up and go away they're books will be taken off the site.

Better go now, off to see if Stephen King will endorse Hell To Pay I already have some amazing authors who've read it and agreed to endorse it. Watch this space...

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