Dreaming (is free)

Have you ever listened to somebody tell you about the amazing dream they had last night? No matter how exciting and vivid it was to them, it's utterly boring to everybody else. How do you capture that elusive quality of a dream that made it so compelling while you were living it?

I remember my daughter - aged about three or four - who used to delight in telling me about her dreams. She once spent an entire car journey of over half an hour relating the adventures she and her friends had inside a vacuum cleaner (or Noo-Noo as I believe she called it at the time, in homage to the Teletubbies). More than thirty minutes without repeating herself - I was rather impressed!

But what do your dreams tell you? There are many books and websites that claim to help you interpret your dreams and decipher what it is your subconscious is trying to tell you. I'm not entirely convinced. For example, dreaming of teeth is supposed to signify concerns about your appearance to others, particularly in the case of menopausal women. I dream about teeth a lot (and I'm coming up on the dreaded 5-0 rather too rapidly for my liking), but I strongly suspect my dreams are the result of a childhood accident, and my dental hygienist actually went so far as to say she thought I might be suffering from a mild form of post-traumatic stress disorder!

I dream about "escape" a great deal. I'm always in the middle of some all-action adventure, usually involving bad guys. Being chased is supposed to mean I'm running away from something in my life, rather than confronting it and I should face up to my fears. Maybe - I don't know. But they are exciting dreams, if sometimes scary. Perhaps that's why my writing generally has a theme running through it - as I discussed in an Authors Electric blog last year, there's a dark thread that pervades all of my writing, whether it's fantasy or mainstream thriller, there's always an edge: by accident or design, people are never where they are supposed to be.

The first novel I ever wrote was as a result of a dream. Back in my early teenage years, I was able to lucid-dream, to be dreaming and yet be aware of the fact. I got into the habit of stage-managing my dreams, being both director and actor, and playing out different scenarios in an environment that was as good as real. Sadly, I've lost this ability, but I can sometimes still re-enter the same dream and carry on where I left off.

I think all writers do this to some extent. Certainly many of my writer friends write out their dreams or are at least inspired by an event or character in a dream - whether they are exorcising ghosts in the process, I don't know. It'd be nice to think that the act of writing in some way promotes a better state of mental health. In fact writing is recommended as a method of stress-release by many psychologists. Maybe that's why we dream? And that's why we write?

Google's Author Information

Came across an article tucked in the back of this month's Writers' News. To be honest, I don't really understand it, but in the hopes that some of you more internet-savvy people might get a grip on it, I thought I'd explain a bit.

Apparently Google is trying to come up with a way that internet content such a blog posts can be verified and attributed back to an author. It uses an HTML tag rel=author to do this. This tag links your post to your verified Google+ profile.

Now this means you have to create a Google+ profile. I did one a while back, but never went any further with Google+ (Circles? What are they all about, then?)

Setting this feature up may mean that Google will rank anything by a verified profile higher in its search engine, which may mean your posts are more easily visible and your content more accessible.

Check the link out for more information on how to set it all up. I think I've done it, so will have to wait a bit and see if it works with Google searches.

Write what you know?

Well that's just plain wrong, isn't it? Write what you know? Personally, I've never been on a spaceship - does that mean I can't write science fiction? And I doubt whether Agatha Christie was a closet mass murderer or Tolkien had hobbits and elves at the bottom of his garden.

Flip it around. Know what you write. Now that sounds better. How can you write a convincing murder trial if you've never seen a court except in films or on tv? They only show you the interesting bits on television and not the hours of tedious apparently irrelevant questions designed to trip up a witness. I once spent an entire day giving evidence for the prosecution - it might sound exciting, but in reality it consisted of endlessly reciting serial numbers of pieces of computer equipment that I'd taken from a house somewhere during the course of an investigation. Presumably defence counsel hoped I'd get a number wrong at some point and they'd then try to convince the jury that all the rest of my evidence must be mistaken too.

But most courts are open to the public. You can sit in the gallery and watch the proceedings and hopefully write your novel with an edge of authenticity. The smell of the place, the tension, the expressions on the faces of the victims and witnesses. The old lady juror trying to stay awake, the coffee machine and the airport-style security.

So you can't find a local spaceship pilot to show you around? Then research. The internet is a marvellous tool - or cheat a little and see how other authors have done it. One of the best novels I know which describes spaceflight is Stephen Baxter's Ark. Although I was less than impressed with the shoddy formatting of this novel in its conversion to an e-book, the story itself is impressive in how Baxter describes spaceflight - both the physics and the more mundane aspects of actually living long-term in close confinement on a spacecraft.

Vampires? Or other paranormal creatures? They may not exist, but there is an accepted tradition now, certain tropes of the genre to describe their behaviour and habits. You can go with the flow and your readers will follow - or you can break out of the mould and take a new sparkly approach. You have a choice.

I've done some weird things in my life so far. I can accurately describe heroin down to texture, smell and taste. But I can do the same with horse manure and cow dung, having walked through the streets of Chester liberally coated in the stuff as a teenager (the Chester raft race still goes on. I participated as a teenager with the Wirral Sub Aqua Club).

And when all else fails, there's always imagination. Use it. Be there on that distant planet or that dark alleyway and your readesr will be there with you.

A Recent Review

I don't think I've ever posted one of my own reviews - but J Wilkin just so "got" what I was trying to achieve...

This novel, with its frightening plot of teenage sexual and drug abuse is taken to the limits. I admit, I was out of my comfort zone entirely; not my usual genre. And yet...I was drawn right down into the dark underbelly of the seedy side of the city. We know it's all there; the drugs and the rent boys, but what makes this book exceptional is the way the author has taken the victim - a nice middle class lad who could be anyone's son, brother, boyfriend - and thrust him into the worst case scenario one could imagine. My heart was thoroughly wrenched.

The author's personal criminal knowledge shines through, the characters are skillfully drawn and it is well paced, leading to a most dramatic finale. It is explicit, but it is real and very chilling.

Thank you!

Writers on the Web

If you're an indie and/or self-published writer, you may have heard such terms as authonomy, ywo, webook or bookcountry bandied around blogs and facebook posts. What are all these weird and wonderful things or places, what do they have in common and what use are they to you?

They are all writers' critique sites, peer-review systems variously sponsored by publishers, arts councils or other sources of funding. The idea is that you upload a portion of your work-in-progress and receive feedback, in return for which you offer feedback on other writers' work. The big shiny carrot is often the "chance of publication" by one means or another; although many may appear to be misleading and offering false hopes to writers, it's often more the case that writers view these sites through rose-tinted glasses and expect (or feel entitled to) a great deal more than is actually on offer. Having said that, some of the sites below may offer assisted publication of one sort or another, or links to CreateSpace and other print-on-demand suppliers.

So are they any good? I guess that depends on what you want to get out of them - and what you are prepared to put into them. And whether you want or need feedback or comments on your writing. Each site is subtly different in terms of user demographic, quality and quantity of feedback offered and operating rules.

I've been a member of all 4 above at different times with varying levels of participation. Bear in mind that these are just my opinions based on my own participation - sites change and evolve and you may have altogether different experiences.  

YouWriteOn started up in 2006 with Arts Council funding. It's a quid pro quo system - you review a randomly-assigned book and earn a "credit" which you can spend to get a review of your book. You read your assigned extract, write a review of a minimum length and then answer author-set questions (designed to "prove" that you have actually read the extract, although it's really very easy to fool the system by copying the text into word and searching for key terms). You also have to award stars for different elements of the book (characterisation, plot, dialogue etc). Pros: It's hard to game the system or mutually-inflate your mate's book, since you can't choose what you read. Cons: You can't choose what you read. Also, in the time I was there, there were dubious levels of consistency in the stars awarded. Carrot: Review of top-scoring books by leading publishers/agents. 

Authonomy started in late 2007 in beta with 100 users, then opened to all in 2008. Owned and run by HarperCollins UK. Here you can read, comment, vote and shelve what you like when you like - and others can do the same for you. Books move up the chart on a complex algorithm based on how often your book is on how many bookshelves and the "talent-spotter" rating of the shelf-owner! Pros: Feedback can be very detailed and constructive. Cons: Easy to game system, plus feedback can often be little more than variations of "Loved it. Shelved it. Can you please shelve my book too?"  Carrot: Review by HC editor for top books, and several books from site have been picked up by HC and other publishers for traditional publication.

Bookcountry is Penguin's offering. Similar in operation to authonomy, you can read and comment on whatever you wish. As an author you can set topics for feedback and get stars awarded for these topics. Books become buzz books and favourites and top-scoring books are featured on the site. Pros: A good place to maintain a presence to attract readers. And feedback can often be detailed and useful. Cons: No real "charts" to climb, if that's what you're after. Carrot: Various agents and editors allegedly scout the site.

Webook. I'm not entirely sure who owns and runs this. It's very different from the first three in that it consists of several rather-complex "rounds". You post a single page and people vote 5* (elevate to next round) down to 1* (toss in bin). Based on a length of time/number of votes, your piece may make it through to the next round, when you can post a chapter for the same fate. And so on. It's a bit like being an agent, I guess. And there's also a list of participating agents you can submit to via the system. Pros: Excellent lesson in what really does work in a first paragraph/first page. Rate 20 first pages in quick succession and you can see your own work in a new light. Cons: It costs $3.95 to enter each piece of writing and your work can score highly then bomb for no apparent reason. Carrot: You can "win", though I don't know what winning means...

Most of the above sites have forums of a sort. Authonomy is the only forum I've participated in to any extent. It's most definitely toxic at times (but then I'm seeing more and more internet flame-wars these days, particularly where writing is concerned), but I have to say I've made some wonderful friends there, many of whom I'm sure will remain friends for a long time. Many of them are also talented writers, whose work I have enjoyed reading.

And if you're a reader, but not a writer, these sites are still open to you. Feel free to look around and comment on other peoples' books. Pure readers are often like gold dust - they have no ulterior motives and nothing to gain by giving good or bad reviews so are often seen as far more honest than the writers.

You have nothing to lose except time!

Tales From the Closet

Are you a secret writer? Or do you shout about it at every opportunity?

I work at Cheshire Police Headquarters. It's a big lovely new building in Cheshire with excellent facilities (restaurant, sports hall, gym). There's a large workforce - both police officers and staff, and inevitably there are a few writers amongst us! Back in March last year, I got together with a few of them and we had a table in the corner of the restaurant selling books - at least they did. Since I only have ebooks, I just had some cards and sat there and tried to look like I knew what I was doing.

One of the guys writes thrillers like I do. He frequently posts on our intranet bulletin board advertising his books. I don't. Quite apart from the fact that I don't have any actual physical goods to sell, I just can't bring myself to do it.

I mean what if people I know actually read my books? I'm not overly concerned with whether or not they like them, although obviously it'd be great if they liked my stories and thought I was a good writer. But if they read my books, they'll read the whole story - and there are some bits that really aren't very nice. I don't write chick-lit, or fluff, or romance - not that there is anything wrong with them and I do occasionally read them, but I couldn't write them. No, I write some dark and nasty stuff and I do wonder whether people I know start looking at me differently, wondering how I could dream up such stuff, never mind commit it to paper/computer file. It must be the same for erotica writers - many of them write under pseudonyms for precisely that reason, because otherwise the people in the office would think they were just, well, maybe a bit kinky?

I do write nice stuff too. Edge of Dreams is YA fantasy and quite suitable for all to read. But it doesn't sell in anything like the quantities that Hamelin's Child does. Maybe because I don't promote it nearly as much, but maybe because Hamelin is a better story. Or as a very recent amazon review said: ... a story that doesn't so much hook you as grab you by the throat and force you to keep turning the pages until the very end.

I know people at work have bought my ebooks. I know they've read them. And sometimes I'm in the lift with guys and I'm wondering whether they're looking at me and seeing my books and whether they think I'm a bit weird, if not downright dangerous.

May Update

I've neglected this blog a bit lately. Been busy writing, setting up part of the new AuthorsElectric website and other mostly mundane things. If you look at the Authors Electric blog site, you'll see we've had over 23 thousand hits in the last 30 days. That's a lot of people looking at our stuff! Mostly due to the concerted efforts of those AE members who did a massive free book promotion to coincide with World Book Night.

So - sales of my ebooks are still riding high. I've started thinking about a cover for Paying the Piper - maybe this will provide some much-needed motivation?  JT Lindroos did my covers for Edge & Hamelin and he's kindly agreed to do Piper for me too, so there'll be some continuity and it will actually look like a follow-on novel. Watch this space!