Thaddeus enters the Amazon

Bane of Souls is now for sale at Amazon!

Unlike other retailers, where it will be automatically distributed by Smashwords, I opted to publish directly on Amazon. This is because there's a slight technical delay (the two firms are working on integrating distribution, I think) and I didn't want to have several weeks or months between Bane of Souls being out at most retailers and Amazon.

The layout of the book is pretty much identical to the Smashwords version (you can buy a wide variety of formats at Smashwords, including a Kindle version) although it's probably a bit more convenient if you're into Kindle because it can be downloaded directly through the wireless.

There will probably be a few days to a few weeks* until Bane of Souls is out at other major retailers, but all that should be automatic. Happily, this means I can get back to writing Altmortis (which will be a bit grimmer than Bane of Souls) and start trying to do some marketing and persuade more people to buy Bane of Souls.

So, if you bought it and liked it, please do let like-minded friends know it's worth a try and perhaps write a review. The biggest challenge facing new authors is actually getting noticed as there are so many books out, and it can really help if honest reviews point out strengths and weaknesses, and word of mouth can play a big role in garnering interest.

*Just checked and Bane of Souls has also just come out at the Diesel eBook Store in the ePub format (which is used by most eReaders, except the Kindle). You can buy it here.

Thaddeus

Bane of Souls is on sale now!

 Yes, the epic tale of friendship, honour and huge numbers of people getting murdered is now published and available to buy from Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/167813

 

As I've written on the book's official website (http://thaddeuswhite.weebly.com/writing-blog.html) because it's now more difficult, for technical reasons, for books to be shipped directly from Smashwords to Amazon it's my intention to directly upload an edition to the retailer. With luck, the Smashwords version will be shipped to many other retailers once it gets the green light, which will take at least a few weeks.

I hope you all give the sample a try, and download the full book if it's your cup of delicious tea.

Thaddeus

Pricing an e-book

Not quite at publishing stage yet, but not far off, and my mind’s turned to something I’ve neglected but which is rather important: price.

There’s still some stigma attached to self-published writers in a way there isn’t to self-employed carpenters. However, the self-published can increase the attractiveness of their uncertain offerings by cunningly offering low prices.

I’m a bit ambivalent about whether a higher ‘low’ price (£2-3) is better than a cheap and cheerful 99p. People do download lots of e-books, and my concern is that a 99p price might suggest the author himself doesn’t value it too highly. On the other hand, if an established author has a £3 book out and there’s a similarly priced book by an unknown self-published fellow then the former is far likelier to be bought.

When buying books myself the price does make a difference. Sometimes it’s a tie-breaker between otherwise equally intriguing books, and sometimes it puts me right off.

I’ve decided to go for a 97p price tag. The reasoning behind the price is that it’s low enough to easily emotionally blackmail almost everyone I know into buying it be bought by people wavering over whether or not to buy Bane of Souls based on the description/cover/reviews. The 7 at the end rather than the typical 9 is because I recall a llama who told me that, apparently, things are more likely to be bought if they’re 97p rather than 99p. That sounds bonkers, but it does tally with another inexplicable psychological trait I know (namely that if you send off loads of envelopes hoping for responses then putting the stamp on at a slight angle increases the respondent rate).

Another advantage of an initial low price is that it should increase sales and help gather a wider readership than would be the case if I charged £17.50, and given this is step one in the thousand mile journey to being able to afford a 110 foot tall bronze statue of myself I think that’s a good benefit.

Thaddeus

Bane of Souls cover art is done!

Really quite pleased with this. The artist is Lee Yoong from DeviantArt (http://leeyoong90.deviantart.com/), and it was unexpectedly interesting to see the cover progress from an initial sketch to the delightful picture now before you.

The process was also more collaborative than I’d imagined. It’s a bit strange because, as a writer (or soon-to-be writer) there’s tons of work but it’s all done solo.

No firm timetable for the Bane of Souls release, but my next task is a final read-through checking for spelling mistakes and the like [somewhat irritatingly my typos are fairly rare but usually quite catastrophically comic, so I really don’t want to leave many, or any, in].

Don’t forget to visit http://thaddeuswhite.weebly.com/index.html, which is my official site for all serious business relating to writing, Bane of Souls and so on.

Thaddeus

Altmortis Begins

Unfortunately Bane of Souls is taking rather longer to get released than I’d hoped. It feels like a date where I get back to the girl’s house, she’s waiting in bed and I’ve managed to lock myself in the bathroom.

And so I climb through the bathroom window and find myself getting stuck into her sister, as it were.

Altmortis is the book which follows Bane of Souls. There are some characters that are in both (I won’t say who, as Bane of Souls has a relatively high death toll and I don’t want to mark anyone as safe) and a couple of new faces. It’s set in the Kuhrland, which is a kind of Germanic/Gothic/Viking realm. No kings or lords, and only a few Godi and elders who handle legal and ritual matters.

The theme of the book will be revenge, whether it’s really a good thing to attain and whether lusting for it might cause harm to the vengeful as well as those that wronged the victim to start with. Hopefully it’ll be interesting to write and read about the corruption of a man’s heart as he’s torn between rightful restitution and murderous retribution.

Unlike Bane of Souls, which has tons of magic, there’ll be almost none in Altmortis. This is largely because the Kuhrisch almost never have any talent for it. Because of that and the overarching theme of the book it’ll be a somewhat grimmer and grittier affair. The death toll will be smaller, although that’s largely because of the smaller cast list.

Got quite a bit of good background stuff done which helps, and there are a few scenes of particular violence and fantastical happenings that I’m really looking forward to writing. It’s always a bit weird getting back into the swing of first drafts after redrafting something several times and writing only little scenes and paragraphs, but I’m doing ok so far.

With luck, Bane of Souls won’t be too much longer. The lock on the bathroom door can only take so much hammering.

Thaddeus

Action Versus Exposition

I’m always looking for new authors, and two recent fellows (Guy Gavriel Kay, who wrote Tigana, and Douglas Hulick, who wrote Among Thieves) have recently caught my eye. I liked them both a lot, and raced through their books in a few days each.

What’s quite interesting is the contrast between their writing styles. Obviously, both books are very different (third and first person, long-term revolution versus short-term underworld struggle) but one of the greatest differences is the approach to exposition and action.

Tigana had a lot more exposition than I’d expected (or have been used to, recently), with characters’ backstories and motivations revealed and explored in more detail than is often the case. Regular readers will be aware that my attitude to romance is the same as my attitude to getting caught in my zipper: it is to be avoided. However, in Tigana I found myself not unlike a slightly drunk chap being handcuffed to a bedstead and enjoying it almost against my will. I really liked the way that the characters were presented as flawed (sometimes acting in an anger-fuelled and idiotic fashion, for example). The concubine in particular was a very well-written conflicted soul, torn between loyalty to a cause and to an individual who was the greatest enemy of that cause.

Among Thieves was a delightfully blood-soaked romp through the underworld, with plenty of violence, murder and treachery. The people in it had their character revealed more often than not by their actions, and although the history of the world and individuals was explored somewhat the meat of the story was its fast-paced plot and exciting, bloody action. Now I come to think of it, Among Thieves also had a difficult moral choice near the end.

There’s not an either/or choice between the two basic approaches of lots of exposition or lots of action. Tigana had a great big battle and numerous killings, Among Thieves had an intriguing approach to imperial succession and the history of the Kin [criminals].

Overdoing either can lead to pitfalls. Exposition’s probably easiest to get wrong as too much or too boring can lead the reader to find the work tedious, whereas too much action can be ok if the reader doesn’t mind something a bit shallow.

Violence is delightful, but the more it’s used the more accustomed to it the reader becomes. I tend to try and show an individual’s character by a combination of dialogue and behaviour, and focus less on thoughts and backstory (excepting the leader character). So, Bane of Souls is somewhere between the two (and if it’s as well-rated as either I’ll be thrilled).

Thaddeus

Plans for the year ahead

2011 was a decent year, although I did miss certain things I wanted to achieve. Bane of Souls was properly finished, but the redrafting took longer than expected, and I wasn’t able to get it released. However, the text itself is completed, and I’ve begun to plan for Altmortis (working title of book 2).

There were plenty of good fantasy/history releases, including the Unofficial Manual series, A Dance With Dragons, The Heroes and Skyrim.

This year Samurai (the latest Unofficial Manual) is set to be released in February, and in March the Game of Thrones DVD is finally released. Given it finished well in advance of December I’m surprised it wasn’t out for Christmas, but there we are.

Mass Effect 3 comes out in March. I don’t have either previous instalments, but they’re highly regarded and I might get ME3. I think there’s a Formula 1 2012 game, and if so it’ll almost certainly be out around September time. Hopefully the Bioware chaps will actually be given enough time to develop the next Dragon Age game instead of being made to rush it and compromising the game itself. I read somewhere or other that it might take on certain Skyrim elements regarding a more open world approach, and it would be interesting to see how they manage to marry the tightly scripted Dragon Age approach to a more free-flowing Elder Scrolls style.

There’s also another Tomb Raider reinvention, with an updated look for Miss Croft and a new voice actress (I do love Keeley Hawes’ voice), as well as some survival elements. According to Wikipedia, it should be out in the third quarter. The Last of Us, a survival story of a chap and a young girl who looks a bit like Ellen Page, might come out in late 2012 or early 2013. I can take or leave post-apocalypse stories, but it does look pretty good.

Obviously, I want to release Bane of Souls this year. I’ve got a few things to do first, though. For a start, getting a cover done, which means selecting an artist and then waiting probably at least a few weeks. Then I intend to look at making a basic little website for the book and subsequent ones, and I’ll need to format the text once the cover’s done. I’ve been fiddling with that for my Kindle, and I think it should be ok.

Then I want to start work on Altmortis. I’ve done much of the outline and background work already. Some of the cast were present in Bane of Souls, which will make it easier to write about them, and add some continuity as the setting changes. Like Bane of Souls, it’ll be a stand-alone book, but set in the same world.

I doubt I’ll be able to release Altmortis in 2012, but if I can publish Bane of Souls and get Altmortis’ text done I’ll be satisfied.

Thanks to the people who read my blog during its first year. I hope you like the fantasy/historical stuff and look forward to writing more in 2012.

Thaddeus

Churning out the word count

It’s been a little while since I did the first draft of Bane of Souls [pencilled-in title], but I remember the sometimes difficult task of trying to write X number of words per day. As a part-time would-be writer my daily target was relatively low, at 1,500 words. I’d try to write about 500 per sitting, as that’s a nice round number and also roughly one page on Word.

A post on Chrons recently highlighted a very interesting and probably helpful article regarding how to crank out more words. Rachel Aaron put forward three features that could really improve writing productivity: namely planning, enthusiasm and time.

Based on my limited experience (I’ve never even tried to get to 5,000 words a day, let alone 7,000 or 10,000), I think she’s very likely to be right. The easiest and most enjoyable piece of writing I ever did was some years ago. I was very clear about what I wanted the scene to be about and the impression I wanted the reader to get, and wrote something like 3,000 words in 30-45 minutes (which is break-neck speed, for me). It was also one of the pieces that I’ve liked reading back the most.

For Bane of Souls I adopted the unusual strategy of actually planning what the world and, roughly, the storyline would be before starting to write anything. Normally I just dive straight in, but I found myself enjoying the world-building, considering how the political, religious and cultural structures should co-exist in Highford and what sort of people should live there.

This also made the process of writing a lot easier, as I had the constant backdrop of the world-document I’d written. For someone who is atrocious at continuity and occasionally gets stuck having a fairly comprehensive document of characters, organisations and geography helped me bridge some gaps more quickly than would otherwise have been the case.

I imagine it’ll be a little while before I’m back to writing a first draft (pretty glad the damned redrafting is done), but I’ll definitely re-read that article before I do.

Thaddeus

Searching for cover art

Still not settled on a name (to be honest, I spent most of the weekend pondering Christmas gifts rather than trying to decide on one), though Bane of Souls or The Beast Within sound like potential titles.

I also need to decide on a cover, in terms of both content and trying to pick an artist. Technically, an e-book doesn’t really need a cover but I think it definitely adds something, if only avoiding an unsightly blank space where a picture ought to be when people are browsing.

Particular challenges for e-book covers are that they need to be ok in colour and black and white (colour for browsing, black and white for the e-reader) and look ok as a thumbnail as well as full-size.

I’ve already made a conscious decision to avoid the Man In A Dark Hooded Robe stereotype, and there are one or two potential cover pictures I have in mind. I’ll make a firm decision on that (and, obviously, the title) prior to selecting an artist.

There are a few sites that can be checked for artists, and I had a quick look at the Deviant Art site on Sunday. There are some very impressive pieces, though I do wonder how much a commission would be. Along with all the other technical things (I had the horrid realisation over the weekend that I need to find out where things would stand regarding tax/self-employment) that need sorting prior to publication I’ve been considering creating a small new website dedicated to the book, and future releases. It would be updated on a far less regular basis than this blog, but would provide a handy repository for information regarding books, forthcoming releases and so on. I’ve even considered commissioning a few pieces of art; one for the cover and a few of key moments in the plot which could be added to the prospective site.

However, the order of things to happen has the title first, and then either approaching an artist or two for quotes or seeing how tax matters stand. Then there’s formatting, finding out about ISBN, and looking at how Smashwords and Amazon work for publishing. Grah. I really hate this sort of thing, and have to keep forcing myself to work on it. On the plus side, the entire book is done.

Thaddeus

Redrafting, and related wittering

I recently finished checking through the latest draft of the book-yet-to-be-titled (I will think of a name. At some point). As expected, there was the odd error in the old stuff and some changes needed to make the new bits fit in better, but overall not too much to do. Earlier today I began actually changing the documents on the computer, and I’ve got to say that the Kindle’s bloody convenient when it comes to this sort of thing. Before I had to use a level arch-file, a pint of ink and seventeen oaks’ worth of paper (and my printer’s ancient, so it would take literally hours to get that much printed). I’ve probably saved more money redrafting using highlights and annotations (avoiding ink and paper and file costs) than I have actually buying books.

Assuming another snag doesn’t arise then the text itself (title excepted) will be done relatively shortly, leaving me with all the finickity practical things at which I am useless. Off the top of my head there’s the ISBN number, whether I can use a pen name on Amazon, whether I can copyright it using a pen name, deciding on cost (I’m thinking of £1.97 at the moment) and (probably the most fun) sorting out the cover. Oh, and trying to make it readable in multiple formats (Kindle should be alright as I can fiddle with and test that myself).

My cunning plan is to try and get all the chapters done (18, including a brief epilogue) before Skyrim comes out, and then taking a couple of days off as a reward and break before getting stuck into the other thingummyjigs.

The first time the technical stuff might be tricky and time-consuming, but hopefully it’ll become relatively easy for the next book.

The present draft is number 5, which isn’t all that high a number, and I think I’ve become a bit better at redrafting (admittedly, I was bloody awful when I first started doing it). Being objective is hard twice over; firstly because it’s your own work so it can be difficult to stay on the straight and narrow between being too harsh and too over-confident, and secondly because liking books is very subjective anyway.

When it comes to promotion I’ll obviously bang on about it on this august blog and emotionally blackmail, er, encourage people I know to buy it. I might try hunting down magazines and offering them a sample. Hmm. Now I think of it, when I get the cover done I could get extra art work and that might help to drum up some interest, especially if it’s particularly dramatic and thrilling.

So, the plan is to update the chapters with the latest changes, then take some time off to play Skyrim (and think up a title).

Thaddeus

Writing: an update and some musing

Merde, as Comte Charles might say. I’d been planning to call my book either Shadow’s Whisper or Shadows Whisper (or try and use the Latin Umbrae… er, and whatever ‘Whisper’ is in Latin) but a quick bit of Amazon-searching reveals a few books with similar names.

So, I’ll have to come up with a better name. I’m pretty rubbish at naming things, but Rod Stewart did help me out with a short scene I just wrote featuring a maid, Maggie, that my rogue (who happens to be called Thaddeus) was keen on.

I’ve done two of the scenes I needed to add, but they will require some polish and perhaps extending. Continuity needs checking too. Redrafting has helped me in this regard, but I still make little mistakes now and then.

To be honest I’ve been making slower progress than expected or hoped, which could be attributed to any number of circumstantial woes but is really just down to me being a bit lax and needing a slap. On the plus side, I’ve made some good progress already today with a new scene involving a minor but enjoyable chap (Roderick, a lieutenant of the City Watch) hunting down a nefarious fellow of dubious intent. It probably helped taking a few minutes at the start to plan the rough course of the story for that little section, rather than diving straight in.

I expect the sum total of the new scenes to be around 10-20,000 words, so I’ll still need to flesh out other aspects of the book. However, even after the new scenes, I’ve got a reasonably long to-do list, which is mostly adding new bits to the story (but not requiring full-blown scenes).

I think I’ve done a good job in most regards when it comes to giving Highford its own character. The most common sport is cockfighting, lots of people smoke pipes and there’s a healthy dose of snobbery and plenty of dislike between the various races who dwell there. The religious occasions will probably ring a bell with those interested in Roman/Byzantine history. An earlier story I wrote was distinctly lacking in light relief (I was so busy being incredibly gritty I forgot that even MacBeth had a silly porter to lighten to mood after regicide), and it’s not a mistake repeated in my present story.

Still undecided regarding how to sell it. There’s the Amazon/Kindle route, but I do like the idea of giving it away free, with a donation button and chapters being released after certain (modest) sums have been raised. If I do go down that route I’d need to find out how to do it and, more importantly, whether I’m subject to income tax for that sort of thing.

Anyway, that’s how things stand. Plenty to do still, but the lion’s share is finished.

Thaddeus

Update on my book (untitled, as yet)

It’s always odd reading through my own stuff. A lot of things leap out as being a bit awkward or slightly contradictory (I am incredibly rubbish at continuity). It’s pretty satisfying when witty or sombre moments hit the right note, and there are plenty of those.

Right now it’s about two-thirds full size, part of which will be made up by a few new scenes. Most of those are necessary rather than for subplots or padding, and should provide good opportunities for character building and some comedy (Roger the Goat has a minor part, but is quite enjoyable to write about).

My Kindle’s been very helpful in this regard. Redrafting is much more tedious than writing first drafts, but the eReader has allowed me to escape using tons of ink and paper then making notes with highlighters. It’s also much smaller and lighter than a lever-arch file.

Redrafting is always less fun than writing a first draft, but I do have 3-6 new scenes to add, so that should make it a bit more enjoyable. I won’t be doing a map (95% of the story happens in a single city) but the cover’s a bit trickier. Drawing stuff is not a talent of mine, but I do have an idea for the cover and I’ll have to wait and see whether it works.

I’ve got a title in mind, and might go for a Latin version (helpfully, the Latin singular genitive and plural nominative of the first declension is the same, keeping a sense of ambiguity that would fit with the possible title but running the risk of sounding pretentious).

So, hopefully I’ll be able to crack on and get this draft done in the next month or two, and I think it’ll just need a final check after that.

Thaddeus

Book progress

My as-yet-untitled book continues to be written at a reasonable pace. I had a vague idea of 20 chapters in mind, though it looks like it may end up being briefer. Presently, I’m up to chapter 13 (4 pages into it).

I’m not one of those authors who draft a pretty thorough and methodical chapter-by-chapter plan before they start writing. That’d be quite helpful, but I veer too much off into tangents to be that constrained (not that tangents are necessarily bad; they offer opportunities for light relief, character development and so forth).

Before starting, I spent quite a lot of time creating a background for the story. Its mostly within a city (Highford), so I spent my time on the specifics of that location and only wrote a fuzzy background of the nearby nations (Kuhrland, Felaria, Denland). Having an idea of the social hierarchy (armed groups, mages, nobility and so forth) makes it easier later on to write fluently and consistently.

All the main characters have been introduced, from the haughty mages to the cold Dame Hélène and the self-interested Captain Urquhart. There are a few secondary characters too, such as the captain’s two lieutenants, and the preening chevaliers.

Writing’s been a shade slower than usual over the last few days, mostly because a rather sombre scene has occurred and I tend to find these especially grave scenes more troubling to write than light-hearted ones.

I’ve got a few specific plot twists/scenes in mind, one of which isn’t all that far away and I’m rather looking forward to it. The central plot’s climax is something I’ve got pretty sharply defined, although the aftermath is a little bit looser. (I’m a believer in not trying to pin everything down and writing organically rather than methodically).

The tone of the book is actually substantially different in some respects to my favourite modern authors (Abercrombie, Martin, Hobb). I’m pretty pleased with dialogue so far, which is light on swearing and old-fashioned (not 15^th century, it’s perfectly understandable). There is blood and gore and death, but it’s not quite so prevalent as in the books of the authors listed above. It’s also peppered with little comical lines and scenes, often involving Captain Urquhart (he’s a bit like a cross between Odo from DS9 and Edmund Blackadder).

Anyway, that’s how things are progressing.

Thaddeus

The Peculiar Kuhrisch

The kingdoms of Denland and Felaria differ slightly in their governance, but such variations are merely superficial. Both are led by kings, both have strong nobles and both have a huge number of inconsequential peasantry.

The Kuhrisch, as with so many things, take a quite different approach. Fealty to a king is unheard of, and they possess no nobility in the civilised sense of the word. They possess no City Watch, no knightly orders and no mages. Indeed, perhaps the most peculiar aspect of a most peculiar people is that they alone in the races of men are so ill-favoured by the Divine as to be incapable of the slightest magic. They consider mages to be unnatural, cursed creatures, and magic to be quite diabolical.

And yet, despite such shortcomings the Kuhrland (and the small foothold of Steinland which borders Felaria and Denland) does not descend into anarchy. Instead of kings and knights the Kuhrisch simply do without for the most part, governing their own lives free from taxes, excessive laws and overbearing nobility. When the law must be resorted to, a handful of men, the Godi, are used as arbitrators.

Steinland governs its own affairs, and, being so small and sparsely populated, a mere quintet of men is sufficient to serve as Godi. The title enables the holder to arbitrate disputes and, in conjunction with his fellows and the agreement of the people, create new laws. A Godi can sell his title, give it away, lose it in a contest or if slain lawfully (a common means of it changing hands). It can be disposed of in a will, and if a Godi dies without making his desire known, the surviving Godi give the title to another man they consider worthy.

They ought not to be confused with kings. In war, every man is expected to fight and the chieftains are those endowed with courage and wolfish cunning. In peacetime, a Godi has no power to try and raise taxes or compel people to work for the public good. As a result, roads are rare in Kuhrland and Steinland (although a handful have been constructed by traders who share the burden of the cost and the advantage of easier travel).

The Kuhrisch are quite barbaric, unrestrained by intelligent laws, ill-educated and rarely able to comprehend anything beyond their own rude tongue. And yet, one cannot but feel envious of their freedom from taxation and the nobility (our own dear Comte Charles naturally excepted). The greatest mistake a man can make is to underestimate them, for they are savage, stronger than their more civilised cousins and unwilling to be reasoned with once enraged.

They are also capable of low cunning, as the Dennish king found to his cost ten years ago.

Frère Jacques, scribe of Highford

The Dames de l'Acier

In Denland, the King’s authority is represented by the Hollow Knights and the Law Lords. The former ensure that any troublesome mages meet a swift end and the latter collect taxes (and bribes) and enforce royal law.

However, the Felarian King relies solely upon the Dames de l’Acier. These soulless harridans are one of the few things that unite the diverse city of Highford. Everybody loathes them.

The merchants must pay royal taxes to the Dames, who are utterly impossible to tempt with corruption due to their desire for earthly pleasures being destroyed the moment their souls are ripped from their bodies. The mages despise the over-bearing and vicious steel maidens, and the Comte dislikes the presence of an armed force answerable to the King rather than himself.

For reasons that are hotly contested, it is easier to remove a woman’s soul and have her survive than it is to do likewise to a man. In Denland, they simply kill more men to produce the required number of Hollow Knights, whereas the Felarians opt for female warriors. The process is dangerous and the slightest error is inevitably fatal. Should it prove successful, the person becomes a husk, a hollowed out shell bereft of passion, lust, greed and all other vices and virtues that make a man, or woman, truly human.

It is an empty way of life, but for their sacrifice the Hollow Knight or Dame de l’Acier secures substantial wealth for their families.

As all know, sorcery is the gift of the Divine. The talents which are bred rather than taught do not affect another person directly, it is only when spells or glyphs are used that magic affects a mortal. Thankfully, mages tend to be reclusive sorts who rarely leave their towers. Those who do and inflict harm on their fellows can be a powerful menace, which is why the Dames were created.

By parting the body from the soul, they become immune to arcane assault.

“Trying to kill a Dame de l’Acier with magic is like trying to drown a fish,” as a certain miscreant named Thaddeus rather aptly put it one day.

And so, the Dames are much like barber surgeons. Unpleasant, but necessary.

Frère Jacques, scribe of Highford