Craft

At last.  The proof reading for ‘Crater’, ‘Meevo’ and ‘The Hags of Teeb’ is over.  All three are now available on ‘Kindle’.  “Hishgraphics” has designed a super new cover for ‘Crater’ so that’s a major milestone out of the way.  He is also looking at another couple for me.  Good man, that.  A rare talent.

Sit back and relax?

No.  Proof reading starts for “Three’s Company” and “Ruthermore Heidigens”*.

[“Three’s” is a short story of just under 5,000 words and “Ruthermore” is about 16,600 words so is classed as a ‘Novelette’.

Novel               =            40,000+ words

Novella            =            17,500 - 40,000 words

Novelette         =            7,500 - 17,500 words

Short Story      =             Less than 7,500 words.]

These are three distinct story types.  “Crater” is a somewhat gentle horror story with a thread of hope running through it but is, otherwise, straightforward Science Fiction.  “Meevo” is also Science Fiction but is somewhat more chilling, certainly darker, with a pessimistic view of ‘things to come’.

“The Hags of Teeb” is a poke at the British mind-set with particular reference to their (our?) approach to foreigners and the ‘Class System’.  It is, then, an attempt at humour but its success will depend on your sense of humour.  Either you ‘get it’ or it falls short of the anticipated gales of laughter.  In spite of that, I suspect that everyone will love the ‘Herds of Dollib’!

Now moving on to re-look at “Three’s Company”.  A much gentler story, a romance, even, of sorts.  Soft twilight fluttering through the gently waving branches until the twist at the end gleams gold upon the mind.

And “Ruthermore Heidigens”.  *Provisional title at present.

This is a tale of the ‘greatest Wizard in the known Universe’, which is self limiting on account of he is the only Wizard in the known Universe and that the ‘Known Universe’ consists of four planets that are, each and every one, steeped in their own dogged cynicism against such things as magic.  They are not, however, steeped in disbelief of crime.

The title is provisional because the story has only been roughed out at the moment and there may be another one on the edge of my mind ready for typing up.  We shall see how time permits.

All this means, as I have mentioned in another ‘Blog’, that original stories are being shoved further back in favour of doing ‘other things’.

I do fear forgetting the stories that come to mind while ‘other things’ are being done.  Making notes generally confuses the issue because I go back to those notes and am completely unable to interpret them into anything that resembles a meaningful story.

If I make the notes longer, I might as well write the story!

At some point or other the “Deep Space Squadron” stories are going to land on my desk again with a note stuck to the top saying “Proof Read—Check” with an assorted bundle of suggestions from the Publisher saying “What about this” or “that”?

“Deep Space Squadron” is almost a novel length story.  That means a week of proof reading.

What is the point of this meandering?

Well.

Lots and lots of people out there want to write a story.  Do it.  Then those people will say, “This is a great story—let’s get it published”.  Yes.  Try.

On another ‘Blog’ I said that the writer’s job is to write.  Let us get on with doing that.

Yes, it is.  But.  Editors and Publishers will want to change things to make them more ‘acceptable’ or ‘marketable’.

For instance, there are things that you may write that the Publisher will throw up their hands and say “Whoa!  You can’t put that in, this book is for sale in a country that worships trees—can you imagine what they will think of a story about lumberjacks?” 

Change their trade.

Asian locations are rarely acceptable in the West because Western readers are not, normally, able to identify with them.  Yes, there are exceptions; the “Wind Up Girl” is one of them—it is set in Thailand.

Write to your market but write about what you know.

And then get someone else to read it.  Critically.  Not your Mum.  She will say it is great.  Have you ever seen ‘American Idol’?  Somebody has told many of them that they can sing and yet they sound, the better ones, like a crow with laryngitis.  Very often the ones that get to the finals are a shade short of talent but they will, no doubt, make a living out of their singing.  I do try not to compare them with Shirley Bassey or Ruby Murray.  They practised, they rehearsed.  They worked at it just as artists do, it is a craft—a trade.

Writing is like that.  Writing a book is one thing but you have to be prepared to go back to that same story time and time again until you are bored to death with the whole thing because that is what it takes to create something special.

When I first wrote “The Hags of Teeb” it was just hammered out on the keyboard to exorcise it from my mind; there was no intent to make it public—it was, I thought, rubbish.  But my wife read it and said, “This is the best thing you’ve ever written, it is just brilliant!”

Rats!

This meant going back over it to tune it and polish it.

“Meevo”.  I loved writing this story.  My son asked me for an ‘army’ story and this came out of his request.  I really enjoyed creating this but, after five thousand corrections and rewrites (OK, exaggerations come with the territory!) it begins to get a bit ordinary, the ‘fear factor’ has slipped out of it for me.

But you should know that, in spite of my moaning and griping, those stories are better now.  The suggestions and interpretations from others, and the work put in, have improved them.

What you write is based on a story in your head.  You put inflections and emphasis on words and situations that others, in reading, will not.  This changes the tone and complexion of the story.  They will not read what you have written.

That is why it isn’t just a good idea to have an independent reader go over your work critically, it is imperative.

It is a rare gift to be able to write a story in one go and it is immediately ready for publication.  So rare that only the greatest masters of all have ever done it.  Even Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke (the Big Three) did revisions.

Don’t know about Chaucer and Shakespeare.