Just in case anyone wants a short but pithy description of five of my lead characters, I’ve added an extra page under the ‘Stars Trilogy’ tab under the title “Who is….?” I did some silhouette artwork, which looks okay. so if anyone happens to be passing………..
I like the way the drop down menu works off the ‘Stars Trilogy’ tab.
Revised and cheaper versions of both ‘Sky’ and ‘Falling’ should be available shortly.
While Angie is recovering and driving me a little nuts because she’s bored as all get out, I thought I’d distract myself and have a little play with Windows Movie Maker. The result is the video above. Like it, don’t like it, no problem, but the song is one of my all time favourites, and the photo collages are all created from public domain images.
Sure, the sound / image synchronisation isn’t that brilliant, but with the tools available, I’m modestly pleased with the end result.
It’s raining yet again. Angie is in hospital, and I’m trying not to think about it. South of the border there are elections which will have a spin off effect economically up here in BC. All of this is eclipsed in my mind by the latest development regarding the nature of light. Is a photon a particle or a wave? Or even a wave function that mimics a particle? Or both?
Writing about phenomena that rely on the nature of the underlying universe is a struggle sometimes. No sooner have you penned an elegant piece about how this can be seen to be a function of that, down where the quarks come out to play, than some clever type comes up with a theory that shoots your whole premise down in flames. So back to the drawing board. The good news is that so far my stories have held up against new developments in physics and astronomy. Planets have been found around stars a reasonable educated guess might have surmised. The nature of the universe, and the standard model of physics seems to be holding its ground, so no issues there.
Now I would like it to stop raining, please. Even the ducks are taking cover.
While the muse has deserted me, mid murder scene, I’m doing what I normally do in these circumstances, which is simply to find myself something non-keyboard related while my subconscious mulls things over. Today I am building Angie a wine rack and also have taken the step of registering my own domain name for this site and the ‘Martyn Jones’ brand name, martynkjones.com. There’s also a new Facebook page which is completely public without my youngest daughters weird and wonderful collection of pictures making an appearance. There are a few odd code glitches at the moment, like the ‘like’ button being inoperative, but I’ll fix that in the next few days or so.
Sites exclusively for the Stars trilogy and Paul Calvin novels will follow. As will a picture of the completed and filled wine rack.
Took a look at the price of one of my hardbacks on Lulu and decided that the First Editions are just too damn expensive. So I’ve been busy reformatting the text and tidying up some punctuation errors that somehow missed the proofing process. 155,000 words is a lot of reading, and although I still like what I’ve done, to be honest I’ve read the damned thing so many times that I don’t want to read it any more.
However, I’ve slimmed it down from 479 pages to 339, and will be reissuing all editions at a hopefully lower price. I know I’ve spent over five years on the story, and despite forward moves in science and technology it hasn’t dated, but to be honest I want to move on.
Recently I’ve been messing around with cover art. Thinking about creating something eyecatching which makes a strong visual statement, but isn’t too ‘busy’.
At the book fair last weekend, I was watching what other people were doing as far as cover design is concerned. I was also covertly observing the reactions of would be readers to the artwork on show. I caught a few vague nods of approval at the ‘Stars’ covers, despite it being an unpopular genre with the majority of browsers, and barely suppressed looks of veiled horror at the more ‘crowded’ cover work. Conclusion; the most popular covers seemed to be the simplest. Either text only, or a single strong and pertinent image that attracted the eye without distracting from the contents.
Still struggling with the murder scene for ‘a falling of angels’, and trying to rationalise some of my notes from 2005 and embed them into the Cerberus story arc.
Keeping chipping away at ‘Darkness’ at about 500 words per day, but the story needs expanding. There’s an element missing. Not sure what it is, but I think a revision of the counter plot needs to be done. I’ve killed off the original bad guys, but all I’ve got in their stead are a lot of faceless bureaucrats who are hard to nail down. Very unsatisfying.
I’ve finally been able to amaze my wife. Angie tends to think I’m an untidy individual who needs ‘training’, so I thought I’d surprise her by showing off my new workspace. Excuse the cardboard at the back, but I intend to replace that tomorrow with a suitably sized piece of something so that I’m not looking at dangling cables every time I look up.
Experimental artwork now has its own page. Two examples of which can be seen on the left hand pinboard. Angie is stunned. Dog can hide under my desk without getting under my feet every time I try to turn around. Mission accomplished.
How long it will stay this tidy is anybody’s guess.
I’m busy inventing a crime scene for ‘A falling of Angels’. The aftermath of a gangland execution style killing seen via a quantum viewpoint, asking questions about what shadows humans leave upon the world when our biochemical processes come to an abrupt halt. Also as a look at the nature of consciousness through the eyes of a Telempathic Detective (Telempath; my own invention. One who can read minds and see emotions). We are all sparks of electricity and dribbles of chemicals, but what about deeper down? Down below where the Quarks come out to play? Is this where the spark of sentience dwells?
These are the questions I’m currently wrestling with, and a recurrent theme all through the Paul Calvin series of stories. Writing this sort of stuff also leaves me feeling a little uneasy because I feel I am staring over the edge into a void. There’s also a sensation of anticipation and bravado, like I’m doing philosophical base jumps and parasailing out into eternity. The feeling is one of suppressed horror, but also of testosterone filled exhilaration.
Always leaves me a bit freaky while I’m working on such a piece.
Almost ready to submit the first MSS to Harper Vector, I’m at the more than slightly nervous “Am I doing the right thing here?” point. The other news is that despite my intention to bunk off fishing with rod, line, and a hip flask, I’ve finally gotten my head around the plot for the next piece of work in the Paul Calvin Cerberus series. So the fish will have to wait. At least until Thursday.
The first three projects in the Cerberus series are as follows;
1. Heads of the Beast – 70,000 words. Complete, formatted and ready to go. I’m happy with it.
2. A falling of Angels – Plot outline, note and dialogue samples only.
3. Shifting states – about 45,000 words so far needing a bloody good rewrite.
Have just confirmed by email that I’ll be at the Surrey International Book Fair, Vancouver for the Saturday afternoon and evening (5:30-7pm) sales event on the 20th of October, sharing a table with fellow local writer Kenn Joubert, and punting the first two novels in my ‘Stars’ trilogy. I may even sell a book to some poor unsuspecting soul. I’ll be writing while I’m there, or something like that. Maybe quivering under the table. Whatever.
That’s it: I’m done. A shade under 70,000 words and must say I’m rather pleased with the results. Of course what anybody else thinks is moot.
The next day or so is scheduled for day job and picking through for errors. Still finding the odd typo and sentence needing a swift dusting, but overall it’s not bad for such a quick piece of work. Slightly under fifty thousand coherent words in two weeks. Wow.
Looking back, I might have done it quicker had I not been dealing with the day job and all the sundry discombobulations of the day to day. On the other hand maybe not. On the final section I had over four thousand words done by one in the afternoon after starting at quarter to seven. Nothing spectacular, just solid, head down keypad pounding. Everything was mapped out in my head, and all I had to do was pour it out. Today is final edit and format re the submission guidelines.
Tomorrow I’ll log on to the Harper Vector link and fire it off. If nothing comes back at me I will be a bit teed off for having put in so much effort but what’s the worst thing they can do, apart from say no? For myself I’m going to back up, put the keyboard into a locked box for a week and go fishing with a hip flask of whiskey in my back pocket. Do some heavy duty thinking about where the second in the series is going to take off from. Whatever happens, Paul Calvin is going to move on.
Yesterday was a retrench and correction day. Tidying up and adding in, tying up loose ends over the whole manuscript so there are no bits a reader can point triumphantly to, shouting “You missed a bit.” The end is in sight after two long weeks, and the only writing tasks in front of me are one small conversation with a minor character and the grand finale.
Then it will be finished; the story of a slightly neurotic (Well wouldn’t you be if you saw peoples emotions as coloured mists, could hear their every thought, and talk to the recently dead?) Telempathic mid 21st century detective, and how he helps save London, but not his marriage. Paul Calvin lives in a world not too much unlike today with very similar social problems, but faced with a technology that threatens the very sanctity of individual human uniqueness. The story has a number of possible taglines. My current favourite being;
“The living shouldn’t try to talk to the dead. We say too much and know too little.
To work; I know what I have to do, and how I have to do it. Three more days and I’m hoping Harper Vector don’t change their minds about opening the submission floodgates.
Working title for this first in the Cerberus series of novels is “Heads of the beast” The reasoning behind the title will be obvious to the observant reader.
Update: I think I’ve finished. The story has run its course and has come to a natural conclusion at a shade under 70,000 words. 69715 Including heading. Finished main first draft at 3:18 PST today. Ever since then I’ve been reading and revising. Still finding the odd typo, but in the main it all makes sense, and I’m quite taken with some of my creations. My particular favourite is ex Police Sergeant Megan Cardhew, invalided out of the Police Service after suffering brain damage. She has some of the best lines in the whole MSS, and I find myself liking her as a person. Even though the only place she exists is on the pages of my manuscript. Perhaps because she reminds me of some of the less politically correct people I’ve known in my life. She’s so delightfully up front and uncomplicated, and being slightly demented, she gets away with saying some quite ribald things to Paul. However, she is a key character because she helps him develop.
I’ll keep chipping away over the next day or so to see if there’s anything I want to add, subtract or multiply from this version, but to be honest I’m very pleased with it. I know the average length of a novel is traditionally between 80-100,000 words, but if I add any more I think it will spoil the story. So 70,000 it is.
I’m slowing a little at present, and yesterdays output on Cerberus was down to just over 3400 words. However; the ending is all mapped out and the next three days will see me galloping for the finish line at full tilt. I may even pass the six thousand per day mark. That means being at my keyboard solidly from six am to midnight for two days at least. This is not a problem for me, as my next day job shift is on Sunday.
Today I’m backtracking over the rest of the current 64,000 words and reviewing some of the less well constructed paragraphs. Tasks include adding in detail and correcting the most glaring errors. Smoothing the flow where it feels clumsy and contrived, and generally clarifying POV’s. At this stage of the game I’m confident of completing on time.
My only current distractions are my Wife’s few mildly challenged clients and the bleeping of the answerphone. My answer to that is to crank up the music and stick on some headphones. The words must flow.
Still playing catch up with Cerberus after the near disastrous ‘stutter’ the other day when output dipped to just over 2300. However, I’ve picked up the pace, and through sheer force of will and pig ignorance have boosted my work rate to back over 4000 words a day since then. This includes what I’m beginning to call the great typo hunt, because as I get tired my fingers stumble over the old Qwerty and leave some weird and wonderful combinations of letters hidden within each chapter. First task of each day is proofing the previous days output to try and fix the most garish errors.
Still; Yesterday I began at 55640, finished at 59971, which gave a daily total of 4331, and a running average back up at a shade over 3963 words per day. This is including doing day job shifts which are a little longer than evenings and weekends, and therefore shave an extra hour or so off prime keyboard time.
Story is shifting towards the final section, where my hero confronts some of his worst fears and overcomes them. Trying to keep any possible readers guessing by throwing in the odd clue, but keeping the narrative cracking along. Four days to go before I pitch into story edit and checking prior to formatting for submission to Harper Vector. After that I’m going to sleep for a week.
Kenn Joubert, a neighbour of mine who writes historical novels, has asked me if I’ll keep him company to the evening sales event at the Surrey International Book fair 20th October. Just so we can get some product out there in the flesh and blood marketplace. I’ve emailed to register, and am waiting for a reply. Have also tried to register for Fan Expo in April 2013, but no word on that yet.
Cerberus has stuttered a little, and I’m concerned that the main narrative thread has veered off in the wrong direction, although the main denouement is still firmly in my narrative sights. However, Word count for yesterday was Start: 51389, Finish: 55640, daily total; 4251. Average has dropped sharply to just over 3900 and I’m feeling very tired. Doing 4000 words a day and holding down my day job is proving very difficult. That said; nothing worthwhile is ever easy, and I’m actually looking forward to finishing and then going to sleep for a full twenty four or forty eight hours. Five more days. Have I hit the ‘wall’? The part where you’re just so bloody tired you pick up the pace and carry on anyway?
This whole 4000 thing is beginning to feel like Hubris. The pride that challenges the Gods, and I’m beginning to hate myself for walking into it with both eyes wide shut.
Martyn K Jones 