Odin over at View From Valhalla has reviewed The Spiral Tattoo. Thank you Odin for the review.
While not a glowing review (everyone wants their book to be given A+ across the board), I am not unhappy, as a good solid B for the first one of the rank is pleasing to me. Odin seemed to have enjoyed it and that is what is important. đ
I have to apologize as I am having some unusual technical issues with episode 4 which means that for a while longer it will be unavailable for download. Hopefully these will be resolved in the next day.
UPDATE: Everything is now working properly… đ
A fellow podiobook author Jake Bible is having a Kindle Rush for his novel Dead Mech. For the month of March February his promo for that story will be included in the start of each episode of The Spiral Tattoo. Go check it out đ
Meanwhile episode four of The Spiral Tattoo seems to have dropped from where it is hosted. unfortunately I won’t be home until tonight, which is in about 12 hours from now, and will be unable to reload it until then. I am sorry for the inconvenience.
[Update: It shows that it is not a good idea to post to early in the morning. The promo starts today running through February]
Itâs February 1st, well it will be when this post goes live. And as of now, or then, or when, or whatever, I have been unsuccessful in my quest to get an agent or a publisher. Hopes are hanging on a publisher who have said they are interested but donât have a spot at this time.
I am mentally gearing up for another round of blind queries. So what have I learned about the publishing business so far:
Agents will say write a query like this, others like that, and even then you have a less than %5 chance of getting anywhere. Some agents say follow instructions to the letter, others say always send the first 10 pages even told not to. I have seen recommendations that you should pay someone to edit your work, while others say the last thing you should do is that.
If you get an agent, lucky you, it seems to increase your likelihood of securing a publishing contract, but nothing is guaranteed. And after spending months shopping your piece to them, it may take months for them to shop it to a publisher. And even on signing a contract books get stuck in the pipeline and may never get published.
 Why continue slogging through this murky mire of despair?  Editing and reach: Yes you can pay someone to edit your work, and pop it up on Amazon as a ebook. If your lucky you have a good artist friend who will knock you out a cover. You may even sell a few books or two.
But I still think a publishing house editor is what you want, and the added reach that publishers bring will give you more sales.
So I am going to keep slogging. Anybody know a short cut? đ
It has been a while since a piece of work has had me thinking so hard about the writing process as Nathan Lowellâs Owners Share. I have lots of thought on the story, and on writing, especially the choices authors make.
I have to give a lot of props to Nathan for superb delivery, engagement with the fans and support to fellow podiobook authors. As a series comes to an end it is a good time to say thanks for all the effort he has put in. đ
I won’t say too much about Owner’s Share, except I didn’t like the ending. As an ending to a series and a book, I can see why Nathan took it there. But for a number of reasons I feel it was a bad way to end. It is my personal view but I think a series ending should always be upbeat, leaving the audience with a strong feeling of satisfaction, and with the promise that if we never come back to there again, we can be happy with where we leave the story. The ending just didnât deliver that for me and for a number of other fans. đ
This has led me to reflect on the relationship between authors, readers/listeners and their characters. It is true that in the end the author âownsâ the destiny of their characters, but in a series often the readers/listeners will feel a strong level of ownership of the character. They will have an invested interest in where the character ends up. Where that differs from the authors, how much notice should the author take of the âfansâ views? It can be problematic for the author as they risk alienating the fans if they take the story too far from where the fan base wants it. I am now unsure as to how I feel about the Share series as a whole, but I will still listen to my favourite stories again, and again, and agian. And then maybe a few more times. đ So yeah I would recommend the series to anyone!
As an author I hope to one day have a strong fan base, so how I deal with that is going to be important. In the end I think as an author I need to listen to where my audience wants me to take them. In the writing of my current Fursk and Gurt story I started to take one of the characters down a particular path, and my chief sounding board sat me down and told me in on uncertain terms that as a reader she didnât want me to go there. That story arch was cancelled and after a while I can see that was the right choice. It is still my story, and the characters destinies are wholly in my hands, but I feel I should take that into consideration. Next time I come to that point I wonder which will win, the author’s voice or the fan’s. Best two out of three?
Podiobooks has had a little hiccup. It seems that there has been so much traffic recently that the hardware supporting the site fell over, and we need to get a new one. It’s mainly the fault of Nathan Lowell and his Ishmilites, who managed to double the normal traffic in their desire to read his latest offering Owner’s Share.
You can donate to Podiobooks here. All this is done by a lot of people committed to free serialised audio fiction, so your support is greatly appreciated. You can also donate to your favourite authors, with any donations being split %75 to the author, and %25 to the site. Another way to support us is to leave reviews and ratings on Itunes for your favourite authors. That is part of the whole rankings scenario, where more positive reviews and ratings push our stories further up on Itunes, and makes our podcasts more visible. Then we get more readers who may also like to donate. đ
I don’t really feel comfortable asking for money or reviews, without Podiobooks I wouldn’t be writing as much, nor would I have found such wonderful works. So thankyou for those who have already given enough to help get us over this bump in the road, and thanks for the continued support which will help ensure a continuity of service.Â
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There is this rule in writing, that you should show not tell. I think I get that, and I hope I write to that, as it is quite hard to work to. I imagine they use a similar guideline in movie making, though with a slight variation in meaning. I think it is a very important concept when attempting to make an emotional connection.
I was up late last night, not writing but channel surfing, which was not good when I stumbled upon Schindlerâs List, which is movie that gets that. Schindlerâs List is not a movie I would go out of my way to watch. In fact I saw when it first came out and swore never to watch it again, mainly because I donât want to put myself through the raw emotional anxious it arouses. Nevertheless I found myself drawn back into the movie, despite knowing what was coming. That is the power of a incredibly well crafted movie.
Afterwards, having put myself through the emotional wringer, I found myself reflecting on storytelling, showing and not telling and emotional connection. Now in The Spiral Tattoo and The Oaks Grove I am not setting out to create any great emotional response. Sure I want to create an emotional connection, but it is more of a happy, what a great romp, connection. I off course think there is a place for that, otherwise I wouldnât write it.
But I was left wondering if I could write that. If I could write a story that elicits a powerful emotion connection. I think so, but it would be that much more difficult to achieve. Maybe my next story should be in that mode?
Of course I would need to finish the story I am supposed to be writing at the moment first. The Oaks Grove has not progressed as well as I would have liked. I need to knuckle down, work through the small writerâs block I have in place, and stop procrastinating.
As a wise man once said, do or do not, there is no try.
My second story for Everyphototells, Dreaming of a different Christmas, as read by Mick Bordet, has been released.  It can be found at Every Photo Tells. Mick does a superb job again. In fact I quite like my stories told in that Scottish accent. đ
It’s been an interesting year on the writing front. Projects have come and gone, stories started, and finished. As it’s coming up to Christmas I thought I should give a small update on how things are going with my writing, and in the world of Fursk and Gurt.
Since I have changed my day job, my writing has not gone so well. The transition period has been very interesting indeed. I hope though to get back into it, but I doubt I will meet my end of year deadline for The Oaks Grove.  So Fursk and Gurt are waiting patiently for me to get back to them, and I will! Promise đ
I have however another short story coming soon on Everyphototells. I will post it up here once it is released over there.