We can only hope so. It’s been wet and cold. I won’t say over long, but it seemed at times to be like that. Today was a beautiful day and we drove out to Ellenbrook to join in on a writers’ group. Coming back home along West Swan Road was picturesque as always.
I can only think that it’ll be wonderful in a few weeks’ time – not too cold and not too warm. Just right. Oh, wait, that’s a line, isn’t it?
Updates
Clans in Conflict
Dark Dimensions Part 1 and 2 – nothing really new to report on those, although 17 to 19 October is getting closer!
There is a further story currently being edited that is set at roughly the same time as Dark Reign. This will be a shorter story, similar to Deadly Convergence.
Dark Reign and Deadly Convergence the same as with The Dark Road and Dark Beginnings.
Consequences
Now, here is an update.
Heart of Deception is in the process of being republished as Edition 2. I have got the cover art and we are waiting for the proofs to be delivered so that we can check the colours before I finalise the publication.
Stay tuned for the launch date!
Legacy of Risks and Dangerous Heart are both in the same position. Hopefully, in a few weeks, more updates will be out about those.
Once they are out, there will be short stories released about the country of Albermarle, so stay tuned for those.
Other Universes
Paranormal
I am working with a beta reader on these, but they are progressing.
Strefinobhan
Mal’s Story
I am meeting with the beta reader this week and, hopefully, I’ll be able to start editing this. The beta reader has come up with a couple of possible titles, so stay tuned for that.
Colliding Worlds is still on hold.
Crime
Murder
The half-written story about a murder in Sydney is on hold as I am currently doing some very heavy editing in the Bushland Castle Production novellas.
Bushland Castle Productions
As mentioned above, I am currently editing both stories for Bushland Castle Production’s Otherworldly Emergence Novella series.
I have finished editing the other one and am about to submit that story. I’ll be trying to lose something like 2800 words, however. As usual, I’ve gone overboard.
Pitches for this novella series has now closed and we are working hard on our manuscripts to bring them to you in a timely manner.
All of the information regarding the novella series is at the website:
While you’re on the website, is information about their nonfiction series Australia: Living in the 70s. If you have a life story about living in the 70s in Australia, check the website for more details on that series. I know if I were to submit, it would all be about CountDown, Sandman vans and learning about Unionism through school (and other things, of course).
Also check out their podcast – Finding Elara. Learn about Mindfulness from other creatives – not just writers, but other creative persons, as well as worldbuilding and other information.
At the end of each segment, there’s a prize drawn. Go in to win books and other goodies!
How do I write my book in a way that others will read it?
So, I’ve been helping a friend out recently and it’s brought to mind something a mentor told me 3 years ago.
We all have a story within us. We all want to share that story because that’s what we do as humans – we are storytellers. Goes right back to before writing and heiroglyphs, etc.
But when we write, there are rules and there are conventions. Rules we need to stick to, but conventions can be ignored. It’s knowing which are which that can be tricky.
Because conventions change with time. Even though some currently conventions date back to the 16th century, there are new conventions coming out every day and some conventions get retired.
But the one thing that stood out to me 3 years ago is all the traffic that we have to drive our story through to get to a reader.
Yes, I’m going to use a driving analogy. Because writing a story is a journey. It’s a journey from the first idea, whether it’s a dream or something you’ve thought of, doesn’t matter, to the “printed” word being either on a screen or in a book. It’s a real task to go from the first kilometre or mile to the destination – I did think about putting “final” there but decided against it!
So, you’ve got your book written. You’ve gone through it maybe once and you’re happy with it. It ticks all the boxes. Now you have to get people to read it. Once upon a time, that was pretty easy to do. There was just music, festivals and conversation. Now, it’s a whole lot different. Even with the advent of television, people still read a lot. Now? Too many distractions. Let me list them.
TikTok
SnapChat
Twitter/X
YouTube
Tindr
Tumbler
Telegram
Streaming TV/movies
Gaming
And a whole heap more.
So, before you’ve even published, one of the things that is important to think about is – will people read my book?
The next important thing to think about is – how will I get their attention off ALL of those other distractions to commit to reading my book.
This is the hard part. Getting people to focus on what you’ve written rather than all the guff that’s out there – especially the stuff written by a robot or a computer program.
There are various ways of doing this, but the main thing is to keep your writing interesting, concise and engaging. The plot of your book – doesn’t matter if you’re a pantser, plantser or a planner/plotter – must go from start to finish. It must be clear, even if there are side plots along the way. Flashbacks, if you have any, should be appropriately placed and signposted – otherwise, your reader might be lost in the back roads of your story.
And this is where a good beta reader, editor and proofreader come in. Between them, they can guide your story to be better than you can possibly imagine. They can help you address any issues, however minor. They can hone in on where a reader might get lost in the side quests your story introduces and end up wondering what happened in a minor situation rather than focusing on the plot you want them to.
J A Duxbury's World 