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Monday 30 June 2014

My Writing Process Blog Tour

My Writing Process Blog Tour

Jaime Conrad invited me to participate in the  “My Writing Process” blog tour. I regularly reTweet her and her Lake Caerwych, time travel in Wales/adventure book. You can find her blog at http://jconradfantasy.com/

The blog tour requires those on it to answer four questions about their writing processes. The first asks what I am working on at the moment.

I am finishing up Attack on Thera, the third in the Theran Chronicles trilogy. I am going to add a little bit more third person POV because I am not quite happy with it yet. I am also going to write the last 1,000 words of Sid And Arthur’s Steampunk Adventure this week sometime.

Question two is how does my work differ from others of the genre?

My work differs from others in that it is very sparse, description of action and speech. My comedy is also similar with lots of witty banter. However this is not to everyone’s liking.

Why do you write what you do?

I started to write the funny stuff about 17 years ago when I began going to a writer’s circle. It was published on an esite a couple of years later. I had started the first chapter of book two but left the characters in a meteor field, (which they have always held against me.) A lot of the humour is the breaking of the 4th wall, which I found out they do in Mel Brooks films. The first film I took my wife to was Spaceballs, and there is a lot of 4th wall breaking in it.

Kendra is a Nephilim, I had a dream about him 10 years ago and always wanted to write some stories about him. Kendra and The 24 are complete and published. I have written 1 page of book 3 in the series.

The Theran Chronicles came about because of a comment on another author’s Facebook thread. Danny Kemp mentioned something about the sun disappearing and I thought The Sun Thief would make a good title for a book. I had created the role playing game ‘Victorian Adventure’ thirty years ago. When I started playing it again with my children 12 years ago the children created many characters for it. One of my favourites was Lizzie McBean, a middle class photographer. I decided to use her as the main protagonist. This means some of Lizzie’s traits mirror my daughter’s.

How does your writing process work?

I try to write 500 words a day (as long as I am not drawing or sculpting.) I usually ask myself ‘What comes next?’ I like to sit with a coffee somewhere, Starbucks, Morrisons etc, and write. I usually write in a pad or a notebook and then type it up at some future time. When I was writing a piece of flash fiction a day then I either typed it straight into the PC or on my iPad and sent it to myself as an email.

With the funny stuff I try to say something funny every 100 words. With some of the earlier books I would go back over the story and add puns etc. Now I just try to let it flow more. I have something in common with Sid the dwarf, I think I am going to lose my funniness one day!

Now I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog.

On July 14 you can continue with the blog tour and read about Cyndi Hanson and her writing processes. http://iwassociation.com/?p=2138

Cyndi says:

Variety is the spice of life.  Maybe, that is why I’ve written over twenty, unique books to date; by the way, I started writing in 1991.  Honestly, I prefer to write nonfiction sagas about the ‘inspiration of’ and ‘miracles in’ life but I won’t fabricate testimonies just to write another book.  Plus, sometimes, my goal is to touch on a societal ill in order to provoke compassionate thought; that is why I write novels, too.  While storytelling, when I’m being one-hundred percent honest, I write my nonfiction sagas as Cynthia Meyers-Hanson.  If I’m telling a children’s tale, I create those books with that same name.  My pen name- Sydney S. Song- is my alter ego; that part of me writes books full of half-truths.

Saturday 28 June 2014

Stardust

I went to the St. Nicholas Fields junk swap today. I got some stardust! One of the things given away was some stardust from the Chinga SRC 13 meteor. I found it in a small box full of random stuff. I also got 4 books on writing, one of them was about writing novels from the early 80's. As I was skimming through I read that, even then, the man's advice was to practice and take years learning the craft. That most people who wrote their first novel would produce a terrible one, just occasionally one would be brilliant. It seems that that advice is still true today, with anyone able to publish their attempts on the Kindle.

Today's joke is:

I'll try to make one up now. First of all I need a pun, a word that sounds the same or similar to another word, maybe it is the same word but has two meanings.

Meaning?

Meaning is something you be to someone you hating!

(My son didn't get it, even when I explained it to him!)

Thursday 26 June 2014

750

I did no writing today, but yesterday I managed to write 750 words of SAASA 4. I am now half way through the second chapter.

Today's joke is:

A dentist and a manicurist fought tooth and nail!

Tuesday 24 June 2014

Costa

I managed to write 200 words of SAASA 4 today in Costa, Clifton Moor.

Today's joke is:

I made one up earlier and I'm trying to remember it?

I can't.

Therefore, How do you fry a penguin?

Take the wrapper off before you put it in the fryer!

Monday 23 June 2014

I'd better be good

So today is the day when Jaime Conrad, http://jconradfantasy.com/ , is doing her blog tour. I will be doing mine next Monday. Therefore I have been mentioned on her blog so that all my fan(s) can read about me a little.

I regularly Tweet Jaime and her first book, Lake Caerwych, a time travel adventure in Wales. Now I have read somewhere that Wales comes from the Anglo Saxon word for stranger. Also, William Wallace. The Wallace part means that his family originated in Wales.

So I hope that Jaime's blog tour goes well and you all read it, and that the same happens on Monday for mine and then again the week after for my invited author Cindy Hanson.

What I have written should be funny enough and so you shouldn't need a joke. But if you do go to Google and type in Puns one liners...

Saturday 21 June 2014

Pickin

Today we had our grandchildren and went to see some friends in their 'Good Life' type abode. They had some pickins, can you guess what they are? Some pheasants got to their chickens so now they have pickens!

Friday 20 June 2014

Copies

I did no writing again today either. I just made a mental not of all the things I have to finish. I did send myself SAASA part 3 and AOT so I have copies of them.

Today's joke is:

What does a house wear?

A dress!

Thursday 19 June 2014

None

I did no writing today. I did go to Starbucks and took my writing stuff but did no writing. Do you believe it, they have opened a Costa right next door to Starbucks. They only opened a new Costa over the road a couple of months ago. What are they doing?

Today's joke is:

I asked a doctor when there would be a cure for the common cold, he said it would happen when swine flu!


Wednesday 18 June 2014

Earlier

I started going over my manuscript again earlier, I also wrote 500 words of SAASA.

Tuesday 17 June 2014

Finished

I have finished proof reading Attack on Thera, two pages at home and 9 pages at Starbucks on my laptop. I will try to put it on this weekend.

Today's joke is:

I haven't slept for 10 days, for that would be too long!

Monday 16 June 2014

Parenthesis

I proofread 6 pages this morning, played Wolfenstein: New Order (my birthday/Father's Day present) then managed to proof read another 5 pages this evening. Spotting lots of little omissions, a lacking full stop here, a missing parenthesis there...

Today's joke is:

I was examining my tomato plant and found some caterpillar tracks. Unfortunately I was run over by a tank!

Saturday 14 June 2014

My Birthday

I managed to proof read 6 pages today, over half way through. I also wrote 126 words of SAASA part 4. It was also my birthday.

Friday 13 June 2014

Blog Tour

This is yesterday's blog that I accidentally saved as a draft.

I proof read 3 pages today. Then I walked into town to Relish and saw my friends there, had a cup of coffee and wrote 500 words. Only 400 to go to finish the chapter.

I did manage to proof read 8 pages yesterday and do some editing.

I have also applied to do Jaime Conrad's blog tour.

Today's joke is:

What time is it when an elephant sits on your watch?

Time to get a new watch!

Today's blog is:

I managed to proof read 11 pages. I did a couple of pages on my laptop in my daughter's garden but I had to sit under my laptop case because the light was too strong to see the screen properly.

Tuesday 10 June 2014

Elizabeth Regina

I didn't write my blog last night, however I did finish the letters E and R (which by the way is the Queen's monogram, Elizabeth Regina.) I now need to get on with proof reading it, I have done two pages so far.

Last night's joke was:

A bicycle can't stand on its own, because it's two-tyred!

Monday 9 June 2014

Capital A

I tidied up the planet that makes up the O of On, finished the capital A and the T, did the N the small A and most of the E. Now I have to do the R and I'm finished. I am much more pleased with the look since I have kept the letters on a black background.

Today's joke is:

Two wrongs can make a riot!

Saturday 7 June 2014

Party

I redid all of the letters for Attack on Thera before I went to my granddaughter's birthday party. I was then able to type in the rest of SAASA 3, I just need to proof read it now.

Amazon also sorted out the problem with Only When I Arth 9 in Canada.

Today's joke is:

What do you call a rabbit with fleas?

Bugs Bunny!

Friday 6 June 2014

Interacts

I spent a lot of time neatening the letters up and turning the O into a world but I still don't like the way the lettering interacts with the picture. I don't know what to do. I'll have to think about it again.

For some strange reason Only When I Arth 9 and its Canadian review have vanished from Amazon Canada? It's still available at .com and .co.uk?

Today's joke is:

I try nor to spend too much time online, but Wi-Fight it?

Thursday 5 June 2014

16 colour picture

I couldn't find the lead to get my scanner going so I photographed the letters of 'Attack' and 'Thera'. It didn't quite work though because when I saved it as a monochrome picture there were big black patches on it. So I firstly saved it as a 16 colour picture, filled the grey with white instead then saved it as a monochrome. It worked well enough. I am now in the process of drawing around the lines with Paint to make it look neater. I have filled the letters with red and put them onto the picture. I am going to have to experiment with it though because I am not so happy with it.

I also typed in about 500 words of SAASA 3.

Today's joke is:

I used to think I was indecisive, but now I'm not so sure!

Wednesday 4 June 2014

The O of ON

I drew the T of Thera and the HE this morning. It doesn't look too bad. I have thought about using a globe for the O of ON, but with the continents turned backwards representing Thera.

I also typed in about 500 words of SAASA part 3. As I was typing it in I found a bit more I had written on a plain sheet of paper.

Today's joke is:

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana!

Tuesday 3 June 2014

The A looks good

I managed to type in about 1,000 words of SAASA part 3 today at Costa on Clifton Moor. I rested my notebook on the coffee cup while I typed it in on my iPad. Also looked at Victorian typefaces for the book title. I didn't like any of them so I'm designing my own. The A looks good so far.

Today's joke is:

A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.

Monday 2 June 2014

Viola!

I did a lot of work on the cover of AOT today. I sprayed the top hat and the back of the seat dark green because I didn't have any black. I measured and chopped the legs for the cannon and cut and glued the bracket to hold the gun. My wife brought some double sided tape in with her which allowed me to stick the legs to the piece of orange crate I used as the base. When I went to my daughter's later I set up the figure on her landing. I also used plasticine for the dress and hair. I also cut out a piece of gold card for a goggle and stuck it to her face.
I took a lot of photos and the last one seemed to look like my younger daughter, so I used that as a basis for the eventual picture. I used Paint to cut out all of the background then copied and pasted the airship I had done weeks ago. I increased the size of the airship. I then used MyPaint to do the sky and blend things in nicely.
Voila!

Today's joke is:

Past, present and future walked into a bar. It was tense!