Skip to main content

Because of one author in the UK

 #Writing



Because of one author in the UK


So, I have been writing for many, many years. In my teenage years I was too much into sex, drugs and rock n roll. Nothing too heavy. This was New Zealand way back in the 80's. From 14-24, I barely wrote a word. A few short stories here and there. Stories that moved into a box and stayed there. I still have that box of work, but it is inaccessible as the storage key is lost and the government owner apartment in run by people who don't give a shit. (Gee, I thought I was over losing that box. Guess not.) Recently, I listened to R. R. Haywood's awesome book, A Town Called Discovery. And I noticed something. To confirm, and because I loved the book, I bought Extracted and listened to that (Review soon). I would like to thank R. R. Haywood for showing me something many books and YouTube videos couldn't.

How to move up to the next level. The thing that stalled me at the small press. It's a little thing, but to clean requires a lot of work and, at times, a heap of rewriting.

Fucking glue. Sticky words to be precise. What Mr. Haywood showed me (and a bunch of books never mentioned or brushed over) what a sentence could be. I've now started noticing this in other books. Mostly thrillers. So, I wrote a short story. I over-wrote and self edited. Then I opened Pro Writing Aid and hit sticky sentence review. 70%. That's bad. But I did over-write on purpose. The program highlighted all the sticky words. This is thinking cap time. Rewrite and cut and repeat. I got sticky down to 27%. Lost 600 words of the short story. Subbed it. Sold it. Yay me. That's 76 short stories now.

Also, Pro Writing Aid link is an aff link. Get 20% off, here. Help me pay for my human editor :-)

I have a lot of work to do in my Death World novel before I sent it out to agents. On a positive note, book 2 is brewing in my head. I have worked out the opening (it's a flash back but important), and I have a rough idea of a large chunk of the book. Still working out what happens from there.

I got the title (may change in the future but for now): Death World One Eight Oh.

Or Death World 180.

Why one eight oh? You'll need to read book one to find out.
It's the thing that ties the two books together.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Pen Names

Hello all, I'm debating on whether or not to us a pen name for my crime novels. You see, way back in 2001 when I made my first sale, I used the name Richard Lee ( http://threeand10.com ). In 2009 a publisher of my second novel, The Last Church convinced me to use my real name. Although I announced the name change to my massive Ning group, MySpace and Twitter, not a lot of people took notice and The Last Church didn't sell as well as it should have with the Richard Lee brand. I had no idea about branding back then. Now, I do. In 2015, I returned to write under the Richard Lee brand and some comments I got were: I wondered what happened to you. Welcome back, Dude.  Missed you. Are you still writing? etc. My books now sell in several languages. Richard Lee wrote horror and science fiction (usually blended together).  Now that I'm writing crime, ( http://www.thriller.nz ) I decided to switch to my real name, and start crime fiction branding (no idea how to do that). But, now I...

For Fantasy Writers

 This even has ended.  Fantasy Writing Master Techniques Everything you need to add depth and texture to your fantasy stories Next week, ProWritingAid is hosting its first ever Fantasy Writer's Week, a series of events with fantasy experts who will help you develop and strengthen your writing process. To get you in the fantasy-writing mood, we've collected our best fantasy writing articles together in this newsletter.  Writing a fantasy novel isn't easy. With far-reaching plots, large character casts and vast worlds that you'll build from the metaphorical ground up, there's a lot to consider before you start writing.  This can be daunting, but don't worry! Keep reading to find detailed guides to help you create convincing characters, immerse your reader in your world and even create whole new species. We also get into the nitty-gritty of outlining and plotting your novel.  Whatever stage of the fantasy writing process you're at, there's something here f...

What's in a name?

 I had no idea that each full moon had a name.  Tonight is the November full moon AKA Beaver moon. I will be hanging my jewelry (dangling from the windowsill) to recharge them. I do this monthly. I did miss last month as it was rainy. No moon power.  Here are the names for those interested.  I've heard a few of them before: Traditional Full Moon Names Wolf Moon – January Snow Moon – February Worm Moon – March Pink Moon – April Flower Moon – May Strawberry Moon – June Buck Moon – July Sturgeon Moon – August Harvest Moon – September or October Full Corn Moon (Harvest) – September Hunter's Moon (Harvest) – October Beaver Moon – November Cold Moon – December A week back, I took a photo showing a ring around the moon. It is meant to be good luck to see that (according to Japan) and for my birthday next month, I7m allowed to get a new MacBook Pro 13 inch! It works! I'll repost that image here for those who didn't see it in the original post.  I took this photo with Go...