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Lydia couldn’t follow the next thing Sonia did at all but after a few moments, the white void above their heads began to shimmer and gradually turn blue. At first it looked very artificial, more like a blue painted ceiling than a sky, but as she tweaked it, it began to look more and more like a summer sky. There were even a few wisps of clouds drifting across it. If she looked at it carefully the colour was still slightly off but otherwise it was indistinguishable from a real sky – except for one thing. Read the rest of this entry »

Not much news this week so I thought I’d try something different.

Name one of my settings or characters in comments and I’ll reply with five factoids about them.

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Lydia had imagined that her mother’s twisting of space to make a bubble would have some visible effects but except for the fact she could sense where the bubble was forming, there was nothing.

Why are you putting the entrance among the fruit trees, mum? Daniel asked. Wouldn’t nearer the house be more convenient? Read the rest of this entry »

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“If you feel sick or unwell at any point during the jump let me know,”? Amanpreet told Prima as she prepared for the first jump of the journey to Aletheia. “We?ll drop out of hyperspace and let you back into the shielded section if you do.”?

“I will!”? Prima had two of her arms pressed against the transparent dome and was staring at the stars. “This is amazing even before we jump. Once we?re in hyperspace can I ask questions?”? Read the rest of this entry »

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A/N: Check out this week’s Sunday Blog with news about Dragon Wars and Shattered.

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“It’s nice to be home!” Lydia flopped down onto her own bed in her own room with obvious relief. “I have so missed my bed. I hope it sticks for a while this time.” She looked up at Lyrrekka who had followed her in. “You and Kari are staying in my room?” she asked.

Read the rest of this entry »

Thank you for all the comments on the first of these, peeps. I love talking with my readers. 🙂

So here’s where we’re at:

Dragon Wars:

Having listened to everyone’s advice I’ve come to a decision. Once I’ve finished Arc Four Dragon Wars will go on a hiatus (hopefully no more than a few months) and I will start serialising the spinoff instead. The Caredale Tales book one is  titled The Sundered Light and should stand Whisper alone (though DW readers may well figure  certain things out very quickly if they’ve been paying attention). The current arc has one more chapter (so several installments) to go before the pause so we’re talking at least a month before the changeover. Caredale will release on the Dragon Wars rss feed so those of you who use that will see it automatically.

Whisper

This week’s installment is written, so I’ll be sending it to Torvawk later today and there will be an update on Wednesday (yay!).

Shattered

No one commented yay or nay so as things stand I’m going to do the thing. The worst that happens is no one buys in, which would be sad but meh.

I’ve been looking at two friends who do a for money serial for examples and they both handle it in different ways.

(BTW both these serials are excellent and come recommended by me).

The first is Hen and Chick by Tristan J. Tarwater. A fun swashbuckling fantasy adventure which she’s serialising monthly on Gumroad. She is charging pay as you feel with a minimum of $2 month and subscribers also get a monthly worldbuilding post about the setting. I asked her some questions and she’s really enthusiastic about the model.

The second is Curveball by Christopher Wright. He describes this as a superhero prose comic. His serialisation is somewhat different  and not entirely for pay as he is serialising it for free on his site. Each issue is between 8-10k words and is simultaneously available free on his site or as a 99 cent ebook on Amazon etc.

I have considered both these options and come up with the following:

• Starting in mid-April I will serialise Shattered in installments of 8-10k words using Gumroad (I’ll open subscriptions in early April in preparation).
• It will also  be made available for Patreon Patrons so nobody will have to pay twice (though Tristan reckons that Gumroad is more secure than Patreon and she may have a point so if people don’t mind migrating I’ll probably leave Patreon sooner rather than later as it has been over a year now and it’s still very quiet). (Plus Patreon doesn’t deal with VAT meaning I’ll have to hand email the ebooks to avoid the VATMOSS debacle so I think I’d prefer people to migrate). Expect a Sunday blog on this subject once I make up my mind.
• I’m currently intending to charge a minimum of $0.99/month. I may up it to $1.99 if I decide to do the monthly world building content. (If I do this and I haven’t left Patreon then the content will only release to Patreon Patrons at the $2 or above level). (Note for European readers: These prices are excluding VAT. Gumroad adds the correct VAT to the prices I set).
• I will only release on Amazon once the serial is completed and all readers will get the full ebook (and a steep discount on the paperback if they want it).
• There will be a post on the site for subscribers to discuss each month’s release because comments are one of the joys of serial fiction.
• Once the serialisation of each book is fully completed on Gumroad I will release it for free on the website in a Serial+ format (There will be a link to the ebook at the end of each chapter).
• And in case you missed it last week this is the first draft of Chapter One of Shattered. Once ready for release I will have the final version of the chapter (approx 2k words) available as a taster to try and draw people in.

The other possibility is to release it as a pure PAYF serial.

That is people will be able to subscribe for nothing but there will a suggested price.

I actually rather like this idea. Apparently PAYF has worked well for a great many creators so it might be a nice thing to try (and it would solve the Patreon VAT problem). If I did it this way only paying subscribers would get the final ebook and the paperback discount. Also if I do it this way it will never release on the site as it will already be available free.

And finally here is a preliminary graphic for the header. It needs better art because I can’t paint well enough for commercial work (Enled’s mouth and eyes shouldn’t be crooked) but it gives you the idea. Not sure  about the font either.

So there we go. I’d be glad to hear your thoughts on pricing model and everything else. 🙂

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“We should tell Sophie Ashbourne about this,” Sonia said. “Last time I spoke to her, she’d persuaded the government to let Eric and her merge the kids from their project into the new school and she would recognise Dan and Lisa. I don’t think she’d drop us in it but why antagonise an ally by not trusting her in advance?”

Matthias nodded thoughtfully. “That’s not a bad idea. I’ll let you handle it. And speaking of training, have you sorted out a plan for how we’re going train Drew’s friends at home without them having to join this program?” Read the rest of this entry »

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A/N: Check out the first Sunday Blog in which I talk about where I’m at with life and writing.  While topics will vary it is going to be a regular thing.

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“Do you want to come to the wake tonight, Dave?”? Tanya asked as Kate drove her, David and Anna back from Keran’s. “It’s a special one for Uncle Mark’s supernatural friends and family but you fit that definition now.”?

“It’s at Morna’s Bar, isn’t it?”? Kate said. “Even if he doesn’t stay for the wake you should probably introduce David to Morna. Her Queen will want to know about him.”? Read the rest of this entry »

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A/N: Check out the first Sunday Blog in which I talk about where I’m at with life and writing.  While topics will vary it is going to be a regular thing.

A/N2: I finished this a bit late so the edited version isn’t back yet, so this is the raw version. Will post the edited version once I have it.

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“I’m not getting any particular alarms from the thought of Dan doing this,” Sonia said. “Which suggests that it might not be a disaster if he does. I’m still not happy about it, but that might just be a mother’s worry.”

“It probably is,” Daniel said. “You do fuss, mum. We’ll need an escape plan for me if I’m going to do this.”

“I’ll teach you to teleport,” Anthony said. “I’m already teaching Selene. You’ll be able to run then if you need to.” Read the rest of this entry »

This is a new thing that I’m going to try and do at least most weeks. Some will keep you up  to date on where I’m at and similar. Others will talk about my writing process and stories I’m working on or developing.

So let’s do this.

Where am I at?

Let’s start with the really good news. I have a new permanent job starting tomorrow. I’m nervous as heck but hopefully it will go well. I hope that being free of the constant anxiety of job hunting will make it easier for me to write more. You would think that not working would give you more writing time but my head has been in a very bad place this last couple of months which has interfered.

So let’s go through the stories and see where we’re at:

The Dragon Wars Saga

We’re coming towards the end of Arc Four and some things have become apparent to me.

Firstly, I am not entirely happy with Arc Four. It’s too busy and the plot is not as coherent as in previous arcs. Unlike the previous arcs it’s going to need more than cosmetic editing. I’ll try to get the ebook of Arc Three out ASAP but don’t expect the Arc Four ebook any time soon as I am going to rewrite it and possibly split it in two. I will give regular updates on where we’re at in these posts. So stay tuned.

Secondly, I need to figure out how I’m handling the Caredale Stories as we’re now at the point in the world timeline where they start. The relationship  between these stories and Dragon Wars is similar to that between, for example, The Flash and Arrow. That is they take place in the same universe and some characters even crossover (Caredale being where Sophie Ashbourne and Darylyan both live it’s fair to say they are major characters). On the upside Caredale does pretty much stand alone as well so new readers won’t have to wade through DW if they don’t want to (I did initially envision Arc 5 and Caredale 1 being more linked than they are which is one of the reasons DW 4 needs more editing). I don’t know if I should:

1. Take Dragon Wars down to one installment a week and post Caredale book one on the other day (say DW on Monday and Caredale on Friday).
2. Post Caredale on a separate day (say Saturday) and keep DW as two days a week.
3. Pause DW while I sort out and repost Arc Four and post Caredale book 1 on Monday and Fridays for the foreseeable future instead. I’m leaning towards this as I’m feeling a bit blocked on Arc 5 at the moment. Part of me feels bad about this. Part of me is all “it’s been six years, you’re allowed to take a break”.

If you, as my readers, have any input on this I’d be grateful. I won’t necessarily do what most people prefer as I have to sort out what’s best for me and my writing. I can promise that it will be a large factor in my considerations.

Haventon

Conversely Haventon 2 is going well. I know where I am and what the end is. There are a couple of plot points I really need pin down to sort out how we get between here and the end but it’s not going badly. I am rewriting the earlier chapters and will repost fairly soon but I’m also on track to get chapter 14 out this week. It’s half done and I intend to finish it and send it to Torvawk to beta tonight or tomorrow. This will mean that the first draft is half written. Yay!

And don’t forget the paperback of Book One: Haventon Born is now available and on offer at £7.99 until 8th March 2016.

Whisper

I’m sure you’ve noticed Whisper’s unscheduled hiatus. Sorry about that. With the stress something had to give and Whisper was it. The latest installment is about a quarter done and I’ll try to get it done for next week.

On the upside Whisper has received a great review. Which is definitely encouraging.

Shattered

Shattered is a  more traditional fantasy story (secondary world, magic, gods, and monsters) that is the next of my creations that I’d like to share you all. You can read the first draft of the first chapter here.

Unfortunately as things currently stand unless my Patreon gets more love it won’t be seen on the site in the foreseeable future. Shattered will post monthly to Patreon (for Patrons only) once total pledges hit $50/month and on the site once we reach $100/month. We’re currently at  $17.96/month so that’s a way off. I don’t like this. I feel like I’m holding it hostage.

There is another possibility. I could make Shattered available now as a monthly serial on Gumroad. This would mean that for 99 cents a month you would get a digital file (probably pdf) containing at least 10000 words of the story until it was finished (at which point the money would stop being taken). And to keep my promise to never 100% paywall any of my serials I would still eventually post it on the site but only once it had concluded on Gumroad. The free release would probably be simultaneous with the complete ebook release with a note at the end of each installment that you can read ahead by buying the ebook. I would do this once the book was finished posting via Gumroad  even if nobody subscribed.

Some things jump out at me about  this model:

1. You’d be paying for early rather than exclusive access. Likely at least 7 or 8 months early (depending on final length) if you are with me from the start. To incentivize this I would also give access to the ebook only bonus content I create for it.
2. It’s going to work out more expensive to subscribe than the final ebook but that’s standard (think about the price of collecting a comic as single issues versus multiple issue collections). To incentivize this all subscribers would get a copy of the ebook at the end.
3. How would we handle comments?  Thoughts – either a forum or simply a post on the site for readers to comment and review (who knows it might draw in new subscribers).

If I do try this then I will also simultaneously make the content available for Patreon Patrons so they don’t have to pay twice and will rejig the Patreon targets accordingly. All Patrons will also get the incentives mentioned above

Given that there is no cost to me in this model I am perfectly willing to try it  out if even a few people express an interest.

Audiobooks:

Do people want them? I’d like to do one for Haventon Born and I’m thinking that much like Shattered it would make a good test for Gumtree subscriptions but given that audiobooks do have a setup cost (and not an insubstantial one) due to VA costs I wouldn’t want to risk this without either running a crowdfunding campaign or at least knowing I could get enough subscriptions to cover my behind.

Facebook and Twitter

I do have social media accounts for my writing and I’m trying to use them more. So why not like the facebook page or follow the Twitter?

That’s it for now. If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.