End of March

Cyclone Narelle

Well, of all the things that happened at the start of March this year, Cyclone Narelle was the most devastating. Years ago, we had Cyclone Vance hit Exmouth and Onslow. Narelle has been compared to Vance by the people who experienced it.

Narelle started in Queensland and weaved her way across the top end of Australia. She is the first this season to traversed all three states – Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia. She was predicted to hug the coast all the way down to Geraldton, which would impact immensely on all of the WA coast – including Perth. So, Perth battened down its hatches.

Luckily, Narelle turned inland soon after impacting on Coral Bay and slowly devolved into a tropical low until she dissipated entirely.

We, in Perth, are grateful for our near miss and our hearts and thoughts are with those in Exmouth and all the residents between there and Carnarvon. They were the most devastated. I am unsure how Kalbarri got on but it was listed as being in the range of Narelle’s outer impact zone.

Of course, the other issue we have experienced, as has the rest of the world, is the price of fuel. And I’m not going to talk about that – enough people have since the crisis started. Instead, I’m going to talk about updates.

Updates

I do have a new update completely unrelated to any of the works I currently have going. I will be entering a short story competition – and I’ve actually paid money to do so. Update on that – I have sent the story in, so let’s see what happens. Fingers crossed!

Clans in Conflict

For those who don’t know much about it, this is a series about a clan that is lost travelling through dimensions due to a scientific experiment gone horribly wrong and about the city-state Part 2 concludes in.

Dark Dimensions Part 1 and 2 is recounting that journey to Torkandisch. Dark Reign is the next book in the series and covers the next 12 months in the city-state.

The Dark Road is back with the beta readers. This story takes place about 16 years later. Lots in Torkandish has changed and there is lots of intrigue and heartache throughout this book. Some funny instances, too.

But Dark Beginnings will take us back to where it all started in Tordun, covering Vlad’s rise to power and, perhaps, that fateful experiment, along with the first 15 years of dimension-hopping. Dark Beginnings is still on the backburner. I have started this and I will return to it.

So, that’s what’s in store for anyone who wishes to immerse themselves in this world.

There are also going to be other stories, along with a special edition of Dark Dimensions where the two parts are combined. That will be in the future.

Speaking of other stories, Deadly Convergence is centred on Torkandisch 5 years before the Clan lands in the city-state and follows a crime that twists into something else. This is available only on Kindle and on Kindle Unlimited.

Okay, the Ryan Locke story is with the editor. From there, I will engage my cover artist and it will be published as an ebook exclusively to Kindle and Kindle Unlimited. I finally have a working title to it – Explosive Reality. Still working on it.

I am still considering the following idea, but I have been too busy to do more than consider it. I haven’t done a lot with Alex Travis and his mother Katarina. I feel that their history should be told, but I think that’s going to be in a book between Dark Reign and The Dark Road. So, stay tuned for that.

Consequences

This series follows the rise of Marek from a mastermind thief to the saviour of a nation.

Heart of Deception is now available through Amazon and Draft2Digital. And an update on that is that the 10 copies ordered came through early, so there will be a copy donated to Midland Library, as well.

Legacy of Risks will follow in the next few months, once cover art is finalised for it. The reason why it will take a few months is because I’m applying The Emotion Thesaurus options to it.

Dangerous Heart will then go to beta readers.

Watch this space.

There will be some short stories come out and, possibly, a fourth book that covers events much later after Dangerous Heart. Definitely a “watch this space” moment.

Other Universes

Strefinobhan

With Heart of Deception released and my work on the Otherworldly Emergence series coming to a conclusion, I should be able to get back into editing the first book of this series and sending it to beta readers. I am still unable to say when this will happen, but hopefully sooner rather than later.

Paranormal

Again, this will have to wait until work on the Otherworldly Emergence series is completed. One of my paranormal pieces, however, is in the Emergence series, so stay tuned for updates there.

Speaking of which, you can find the Otherworldly Emergence information at the website below.

Bushland Castle Productions

I have finished editing one novella, Not your Normal Heroes. The second story, now titled Hidden Heritage, has gone through a further edit and I will be passing The Emotion Thesaurus through it over the next week or so.

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:

https://www.bushlandcastleproductions.com/emergence

BCP is planning its next series, which will build on the Otherworldly Emergence but this time will be Otherworldly Origins. Stay tuned for further information regarding that (along with a link).

Coming Soon through BCP Creative

The world we know is about to change forever. Hidden for centuries—or even millennia—otherworldly creatures such as vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, gnomes, and more finally step into the light. Whether by choice, accident, or necessity, their existence can no longer be denied. Otherworldly Emergence explores the emotional, societal, and fantastical consequences of this revelation.

Each novella will tell a unique story set during this critical period of emergence, offering readers different perspectives and settings while connecting to the shared theme.

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. BCP are about to start on their 3rd season of the podcast, so stay tuned for updates on that.

At the end of each segment, there’s a prize drawn. Go in to win books and other goodies!

Not only that, but Finding Elara has just made it onto YouTube. There is a Halloween special up that features one of my short ghost stories being read out live. So, just search for Finding Elara and have a listen. I’m the one in the blue hat.

Finding Elara is in season break at the moment and coming back soon with Season 3. In the meantime, there are mini episodes with interviews with local writers at a convention in Bunbury last year.

The upshot of being involved in the Otherworldly Emergence is that it has opened up a whole new universe for me which has been expanding exponentially. The possibilities in that world are almost limitless and I have to admit to being distracted by writing in that universe. I have called this universe the Gifted universe.

Having admitted that, I will say that I have completed a story that links both my stories in the Emergence series and starts a whole new series in itself. It’s very, very exciting and a lot of questions raised by the second story are being answered in follow up novels.

The Gifted

The Gifted is a universe where some people have an extra gene than others. When this gene is activated, usually around the age of fifteen, it unlocks a Gift. Gifts can be specialist, as in one ability, or they might be blended. It just depends on that Gift. I have a few characters in this universe and I have been writing furiously about them. Once Hidden Heritage goes to the editor, I will start to edit the first of these new stories with the hopes that it comes out later this year. It will be after the Otherworldly Emergence series is completed, however.

Grow Write

Once every fortnight, Grow Write meets at the Midland Library in Midland, Perth, Western Australia. We are very excited to announce that our very first anthology has been published and is available on Amazon to purchase. It is also available through Midland Library

We are all excited to share this anthology with everyone.

Editing

So, back to editing. The more you read, the more you’ll look at your own wording and ask yourself “how will this sound better?” How can I make this read so smoothly that the reader won’t be able to put it down?

And that’s where editing starts. I keep a draft of every time I revise my works. One went through 9 drafts and is now going through another lot of drafts. Only because parameters have changed.

The other thing is – engage in an editor. Yes, they cost money, but be careful who you get. Some, in my view, overcharge. Find one, if possible, that charges by the hour because editing can be quick or it can be slow – depending on how much editing is involved.

Editing is a different skillset to writing. How many of us see, hear and smell a movie when we’re writing? How many of us get that smell of charred wood if we’ve written a fire – or that smell of cordite if a gun has been fired in our stories? That skill of writing as though we’re watching a movie can create problems when we are editing. Because sometimes, editing requires a person to be able to read word by word rather than absorbing the scene.

Trust me, I speak from experience. The number of times I have had to suspend editing because I find myself reading the story and experiencing the movie is countless.

So, when you’re editing, try to pause the movie you’re watching and see those letters in those words. It doesn’t have to be the first few edits, but try to do it for your final edit.

The reason I’m stressing this is because I’m going to go through Hidden Heritage once more, but I want to apply The Emotion Thesaurus to it to make sure I’ve caught all the emotions.

Now, going back to actual editing.

There are 3 stages to editing – structural/developmental editing, copyediting and proofreading.

Structural/developmental editing is also known as substantive, global or comprehensive editing. This is where the first few edits alter your raw work. This is where you might change a complete paragraph, delete large amounts of your darlings and create new darlings (in Stephen King’s words).

Copyediting is also known as line editing and that is where the word-by-word editing comes in. This is where you pick up misplaced words and typos.

Finally, proofreading is the last step because this includes formatting as well.

So, a structural editor can look at things like misnomers, paragraphs that don’t quite say what they should and asks questions regarding other things. They can also suggest that certain passages could be rewritten or removed.

Structural editors will look at the actual laws of writing as opposed to conventions, even though they may point out conventions, their focus should be on how the writing fits together and the grammatical and punctuation rules that you are following.

Okay, going off tangent again. Excuse my weird thought processes.

Rules of writing – one of the most important things to bear in mind is whether you follow a style guide/manual and a dictionary. Now, I follow the Australian Government Style Manual – and before you say “but you don’t write for the government”, the Australian Style Guide follows it, too. I also follow the Macquarie Dictionary.

So, I have to be aware of what’s in both of those products. (In fact, my editor has apparently made notes that I’ve missed some of the stuff in Not your Normal Heroes.)

My point is – if you follow a style manual, such as the Chicago Style Manual or the AGSM, then those are the main rules that apply. If you choose to write to that manual, then stick to what they advise for writing.

Likewise if you follow a dictionary. There are many dictionaries out there, but Macquarie is the official Australian dictionary and that is why I follow it. The other thing to remember about dictionaries is that they are a guide not an absolute. Dictionaries are always adding and removing spellings and words. That’s their job. To keep up with current colloquialisms and vernacular. They are not set in concrete and they were never intended to be set in concrete.

The reason I follow AGSM and Macquarie is for consistency. Always choose the word spelling and stick with it. Take toward/towards and backward/backwards. I use toward and backward and, by consistency, forward as well. I’ve chosen to do that and that’s what I use.

The only thing I don’t use is alright, but that is only because my other job requires me to use all right, so I prefer to use that in all instances.

Okay, tangent ended.

The idea of going by editing is to grow your skills at writing. To learn the nuances behind the creation of a story. The more you learn, the better you become. I am by no means a perfectionist. But I will do my very best to get my writing to as near as I can get it – unless I’m in a hurry – there before I send it to my editor. Because my editor is busy without editing for me and I don’t want to waste her time if I can make life easier for her.

I use an editor because she knows far more about the technique of writing than I do. I can create stories and scenes with fully rounded characters and believable action and conflict, but she really makes my words sing. Without her expertise, the feedback I get would be pretty bad.

But once the structural editing has been completed, proofreading is the next most important process. Now, I know I’ve skipped over copyediting, but if you’re self-published, then you can probably only afford one editor. But your proofreader needs to be able to pickup on all those typos and formatting mistakes – things like widows and orphans and page numbers out of place or headings not the right font/size. That’s their job after everything has been done. To make sure that polished work shines with a light that makes readers want to read it.