Martin Chalk and the Search in Sheona published

Well I'm pretty chuffed that the latest in the Martin Chalk series has just been published on Amazon, last night as a matter of fact.

The story is starting to hit its groove and is becoming more fun to write. It feels less like me pushing events and more like the events are unfolding and I'm merely documenting what happens. A narrative often feels like a train to me ... slow to really get going fast but once it does, hard to stop.

The city of Sheona is, to me, a natural evolution of lawfulness being carried a bit too far, and I had fun with putting the straight-laced Martin into a situation where he was the guy that was the rebel and flirting with ending up on the wrong side of the Law.

I also had fun in creating the Nightcleaner, and something tells me we'll be seeing him again ;)

Martin Chalk: The Search in Sheona coming soon

The second installment of the Martin Chalk series is coming out soon.

It's been finished, edited and re-edited. Cover done, and that's going to look a little different from other covers. More on this later.

Why so long, though?

Well, for one reason, its financial.

Writing hasn't so much as paid for an ice cream so far and unfortunately real-life hassles like paying the electrical bill and putting food on the table have interfered with writing for fun. I'm now in a position to give my writing some much needed attention and to see whether something that I do for the love of it can't become a viable sub-career.

The second reason is my own tendency to devolve into complexity. Nothing I do (except for one-off short stories) seems to be simple and to the point.

The Martin Chalk series was originally meant to be knocked out in a year (LOL) and then I was going to get a move on with Book 2 of Tergin's Tale. It's burning in the back of my mind and I need to write it.

Unfortunately I can't turn out porridge and be happy with it.

My characters took on a life of their own and needed back stories. The plot linking the 5 books needed a thoroughly worked out backstory. That plot developed subplots. I ended up having to hack my way out of the spider's web through sheer dint of effort. Now that I've re-ignited the Chalk series I'm not going to stop till it's done, in case I forget who was doing what and why.

Getting back into it

After quite a while of treating my writing as a fun diversion from my usual activities (metalwork mostly) I've decided to actually go for it in a serious manner.

Writing a book is the easy part. Hell, I've been doing it since I was 12.

Actually getting anybody to read it is another entirely. Getting people to read them thar books means marketing, and if there's anything I'm not a fan of it's punting my stuff as though its something special - the same as all the other 21 350 000* authors out there. For some reason marketing has been my achilles heel since forever.

But apparently that's how its done, so Tergin and Martin Chalk will have to do their little dance and juggle some flaming balls on the street corner. Sorry, Martin, I know you have better things to do, but, just this one jig and that's it**.

* Figure entirely sucked from my thumb.

** A lie, obviously.

After an absurdly long transfer process, we purchased the plot and moved in.

Working my ass off is an understatement. I have lost 5kg since moving in, and my old friend sweat and I have become reacquainted intimately. Since I am a guy who will rather spend five minutes doing something myself than pay somebody a buck to do it for him, I suppose this was predictable.

Digging holes, mixing concrete, laying bricks, planting poles, stringing fences and razor wire up ... have all featured in the greatest hits parade of the daily chores.

Unfortunately this also means that the writing has suffered, and Martin Chalk is still in his home, knocking back the meals with his little band. I'd better hurry and write a few lines before he gets cholesterol poisoning.

:)

I'm still alive

I'm still alive. One might not think so, looking at the desolation that is this blog, but I am.

I may as well put down the process  for writing new posts here:

1) Log into Google + (not entirely sure if this is necessary)
2) Go to Blogger
3) Go to New Post

For such a simple process, they really managed to make it tortuous.

So, for my hordes of readers anxious to know the latest exploits of their hero (lol) the question is begged: what have I been up to?

Sadly the truth is working at the factory, arriving home tired and disgruntled, and doing what the rest of the world does, goofing off in the evening until bedtime calls. (10 o'clock for yours truly). Fallout 3 with the Apocalypse Armoury mod is my poison of choice, and it's strangely soothing to traipse around a virtual wasteland, with nothing but a shotgun and Dogmeat's panting for company.

Oh, ok: I've not only been doing that.

I've been doing other things too, such as trying to make a set of custom knives and a gladius (since I can't afford to import a sweet, sweet Albion Swords model) and also a set of diy body armour, which while probably effective, is hideously ugly and hilariously uncomfortable.

But writing?

Have I been able to squeeze in a trickle of writing in between all the bric-a-brac of life?

Why, yes, I have. :) When the writing bug has you, its hard not to do anything.

I've fleshed out a large part of the plot of Tergin's Tale Book 2.

I've also plotted a five part series of novellas featuring a fellow called Martin Chalk, who is a rather different character from the somewhat rough and ready Tergin. I've long been a fan of Mr Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, and tried my hand at a fantasy version of a Sherlockian tale. Except for that Martin Chalk, while quite competent, is a little short of Mr Holmes' all-conquering skillset. I had in mind a gentler character, somebody resourceful, yet still human. The first novella, "The Underworld King" should be plopped onto Amazon fairly soon.

Anyway, that's all she wrote for now.

I should be, together with my GF, be taking transfer of a small plot of land in December, and I will pretty much be working my arse off for the next couple of months.

*Twirls cane, sweeps cape, bows*

Adieu, o multitudinous bots and web crawlers. ;)

The Man from the Tower published

Yesterday I published The Man from the Tower on Amazon. Every time I read through the manuscript I get the urge to fiddle with it yet again ... but the story is 99.9% done. The time had come to bite the bullet and send it forth come what may. :)

This blogger interface is the pits. One either has to be a genius or seven years old to be able to work it out. Since I am neither, I managed to make a series of edits to my profile instead of posts ... go figure. Be that as it may, here is the first link to some fiction:

https://groups.google.com/group/brunoccstella/attach/8cfb75921adff96c/The%20Last%20Guardian.pdf?part=4&authuser=0

Assuming that went well, the next step is to add it to some sort of sidebar.