Good Day!

I am pleased to welcome the second writer in my current series. Those of you who were kind enough to read my previous post will know I'm featuring authors who have very kindly let me into their secret past and how they came to be established writers of today. Each writer has a unique tale to tell us that are as  interesting as they are varied. Enjoy!

The Organic Author ~ Marissa Farrar

I suspect, like many writers, I started writing with only the view of getting my story out of my head and onto paper (or in this case, my computer). I’d been writing stories since I was a small child. My mother even has video footage of me at about seven years old, babbling on about a time travel book I was writing and how I was going to get it published.

That book never made it to fruition, but many others have since. The first novel I ever wrote from start to finish will never see the light of day. Considering it is about 90K in length; that fact is slightly painful. But I would rather run around naked in public than let anyone read that particular manuscript! It was a lesson in how not to write a novel. My main character was unlikable, my hero’s motivation suspect, my ending weak. I still like the premise behind the novel, but if I ever went back to it, I would be starting at the beginning and writing the whole damn thing over again.

Since then, I’ve written another eight novels, a number of novellas and numerous short stories. But it’s only been in the last year or so that I’ve actually started thinking about the technical aspect of novel writing: story arcs, plotting, over-used words.

In some ways, I’d like to go back to my pre educated days. Sure, it’s improved my writing, no question about that, but there was something true, earthy, organic, about purely putting a story I loved onto paper. I didn’t think about what other people might make of it. I was simply writing for the love of writing.

Nowadays, things are different. I’m painfully aware of the fact people will be judging what I write. Almost every day now I hear from readers wanting to know when the third book in my ‘Serenity’ series will be out. It’s fantastic that so many people are keen to read my books, but at the same time I worry about letting them down. I worry that it won’t be good enough or my characters will do or say something to let the reader down.

You see, in many ways I still view myself as a very organic author. I don’t plot anything. At all. I barely know what’s going to happen from one chapter to the next; I just let my characters do what they want and simply write it down for them. At the end of book two in the ‘Serenity’ series, ‘Buried’, I thought the book was going to end one way, but then right at the last minute, one of the characters jumped up and did something I totally wasn’t expecting. Book three, ‘Captured’, is now almost finished, and something similar has happened—a character had a secret even I didn’t know about, something that wasn’t unveiled until the last moment.

I know that must sound nuts to some people—I mean, it’s coming from my head—but that’s just how I feel. My characters are very real to me and I’m simply writing down their story for them. To alter how they behave to fit what my reader might want feels very wrong. It’s my character’s story I’m writing, not mine, or the readers.

After I’ve got the story out, then I got back and apply all the important technical parts—I get my editing head on, in other words.

I should probably be writing this from a padded cell (the voices in my head are telling me to do things) but until they catch up with me, I guess I’ll keep writing stuff down.

Book one in the ‘Serenity’ series, ‘Alone’ can be claimed for free at https://www.facebook.com/RedHotReaders. Just go to the giveaway tab and then look under ‘genres’, and ‘romance’ to get your free copy!

Author Bio.

Marissa Farrar is a multi-published horror and paranormal author. She was born in Devon, England, loves to travel and has lived in both Australia and Spain. She now resides in Devon with her husband, two children, a crazy Spanish rescue dog and four hens. She has a degree in Zoology, but her true love has always been writing.
Her dark take on a vampire romance, Alone, was first published in 2009 and has now been re-launched as book one in the ‘Serenity’ series. The second book in the series, Buried, is now available to buy. The third title, Captured, will be published March 2012. She is also the author of the horror novel, The Dark Road, and two short story collections.
Her short stories have also been accepted for a number of anthologies including, Their Dark Masters, Red Skies Press, Masters of Horror: Damned If You Don’t, Triskaideka Books; and 2013: The Aftermath, Pill Hill Press.
If you want to know more about Marissa, then please visit her website at www.marissa-farrar.blogspot.com. You can also find her at her facebook page, www.facebook.com/marissa.farrar.author or follow her on twitter @marissafarrar.
She loves to hear from readers and can be emailed at marissafarrar@hotmail.co.uk.

Thanks Marissa - that was really interesting and I'm sure readers will have enjoyed your post too.

Have a great week ahead everyone!
Faithx

Good Day!

For the next four weeks I'm off on a fabulous trip to Australia.  During that period, I'll be looking in from time to time with things that catch my attention and which I think you as readers and writers would like to know about. It struck me recently that as writers we often feature other writers on our blogs and websites but we rarely touch on how the 'writing of a novel' actually comes about. So I thought I'd feature writers and get them to tell us how the germ of an idea for their novel came to them and how they set to and wrote  that book. First writer I'm delighted to have on my website is Neil Low - over to you Neil!

Neil Low, police captain extraordinaire!

I am always vigilant when it comes to looking for story ideas to write about. As a veteran police captain I pay particular attention to crime news, headlines, and pick through cold cases. I look for the unusual that has a particular angle worth exploring. My genre is noir fiction, set in 1940’s Seattle, when the city was rife with corruption. My protagonist is Alan Stewart, who becomes a private detective while in pursuit of the men who killed his father. All indications are the perpetrators were corrupt police officers. Because of Alan's age, he is far from "hard boiled,” in the Dashiell Hammett/Raymond Chandler sense of private investigators. Alan’s on his way to toughness, under the guidance of mentors, including Vera Deward, who becomes his partner.

The idea for the story came while I was writing the back story for another novel, a project I've since shelved until the Alan Stewart series is exhausted. I started by creating very clever characters who hijacked the story line, taking it in a direction I hadn’t foreseen. I had no outline, no plot, no idea where I was going, but I was smart enough to recognize a good story unfolding and went with it. Not until after I was published did I discover why I wrote it. A reporter asked, "Was THICK AS THIEVES your way of dealing with the death of your father?" My jaw dropped as I stared a long moment... "Yes, absolutely." She had figured it out before I did. My first story was a form of catharsis, and I felt much better for getting it out of me and down on paper.

My second novel's theme was based on spying and concerns over US scrap metal going to Japan, prior to US entering the war. I wondered if this scrap metal had helped build the ships responsible for my father's ship being sunk near Guadalcanal. I tied my curiosity to an internet story I found on women spies, some based on the West Coast. I wondered what motivated them. So I read heroic accounts of them sacrificing their lives for their countries, a theme I felt compelling. An added bonus I didn’t discover until SIGN OF THE DRAGON neared completion was that two Canadian’s had tried to blow up the ship I had picked for my story in Seattle’s harbor. So I figure a certain amount of kismet played a role in this story’s creation.

With all four of my novels, I have worked with little in the way of plotting, but that’s not a completely true statement. I had been a detective, a detective sergeant, and a police manager for years. I know what it takes to solve a case: the same elements it takes to tell a good story. The boilerplate is engrained in my head. So although I will tell you I write organically and not rely on a plot, the truth is that the plot is not very far below the surface of my psyche.

Apologies Neil as at first I had you down on here as an ex police Captain!

_  Good Day!

As we’re well into the New Year, I’ve now found time to evaluate the things I do as part of my business; writing. I have been a published writer since 2009.  Before that (as well as playing around with writing) I owned and ran my own businesses; sport-related sailing and skiing holiday companies and I also oversaw and advised two other companies with their own administration. The combined turnover was in excess of a million (£) and during the time I ran the companies (ten years) I thoroughly enjoyed my working day.

Nowadays, my writing is my career. In 2009, my first novel was taken on by a traditional publishing house. But since the beginning of 2011, I have also seen the immense value of independent publishing.

Before I even began writing in earnest, I saw my writing as a career, a way to make a living.  I’m so happy to work in an extremely creative profession, and because I’m improving daily with both the creativity and the business side, I am free to write what and when I want to write.

So I’m writing this blog post from the perspective of a professional writer. I define professional as someone who aspires to make her or his living as a writer. 

When I first started writing articles and short stories, it was rare to make a living as a self-published writer. Nowadays, everything has changed and most writers can tell you that it IS possible to make a living as a self-published writer. In fact, in the majority of cases you can make more money as a self-published writer than you ever could as a mid-list writer—and occasionally, more than you could make as a bestseller.

Don’t you find that astonishing?  I do, and perhaps even more surprising is that this change has happened in just the last couple of years. Traditional publishing astonishes me too, but for different reasons. E.g. – using agents – makes no sense.

After being in retail for numerous years, one thing that was hammered into me was how you treated your customers and how to make these customers your repeat customers. And with this in mind here, I mean readers.

  If your readers like your work, they’ll want to read everything you write. If your readers like a series, they’ll want to read the whole of your series. And if it’s a series that has a continuing theme (like a murder mystery series e.g. Diana Rivers mystery thrillers), my readers don’t want to skip an episode in that storyline.

This easy and simple thing has all too often been messed up by traditional publishers – and yet, ironically most traditional publishers seem to succeed in spite of some of their business practices. This says to me, that there is so much money to be made in publishing that even the most useless people can blunder their way into keeping their pub houses going.

So in knowing traditional publishing ignore readers, how does this equate with Indie writers and their readers?

I’ve noticed most writers focus on sales, promotion, how many downloads and making books free above everything else. Many Indie writers have only the one book and they promote it like mad. They give it away for free (I have tried this with 2 novels and it has boosted sales and awareness enormously) and they sell it for 99 cents, thinking that will increase their sales.

But are these writers successful? Supposing they do get thousands of downloads. Out of these, at least some people will read that book, and out of that portion some will like it.

What happens then? Well maybe nothing. Even if they eventually write another book, they have to start all over from scratch again, because the readers who liked their one and only book—that portion of download readers—they will soon have forgotten the Indie writer.  There are plenty more writers out there after all.

Do you know what you’re reading now? What did you read before this book? Do you even know the author’s name? I’d be surprised if you do.

When you look at it this way, you can say that Indie writers are actually treating their readers as badly as traditional publishers do. In the same way; by denying your readers the next book. If you only have one book and you give it away for free, promote it heavily and sell a lot of copies, but there is no follow-up book, then you have lost and snubbed your readers.

I truly believe readers expect writers to publish one book, two, then three books. They expect several books from their favourite writers. Readers are willing to wait but they hate to be cheated. Many readers won’t start reading a series of only one book because they’ve been caught before. Why start reading something the writer has no intention of finishing? Would you?

Now I have control of when and where my books come out and this is a lovely challenge. I might have several unfinished series novels which I can finish and put into print. However, I need time to write those books and I’ll feel the pressure from the readers because I know they’re waiting. I can only write as fast as I can!

Unlike so many new writers, I know that I would not be here if it weren’t for my readers. My readers stick with me.

So, Indie writers don’t, for goodness sake do the same thing as traditional publishers. Don’t write a book and then wait over a year before you think about writing something else – you’re discourteous to your readers – who might love you! These people have invested their hard-earned cash and, more importantly, their time in your book. Readers have traditionally been used to writers building a career and knowing it might take a year after the first book to get their hands on the second but modern readers now have greater expectations.

They expect heavy promotion when a writer’s subsequent book/s comes out. Not his first.  If a writer gets heavy promotion on his first book, then that first book has to be brilliant. Remember, traditional publishers only spend masses of money on first novelists when that book has the chance of winning a top, coveted book award, is being made into a movie, or has six more books behind it, waiting to be published a few months apart.

My readers expect that rhythm. So if you screw up, when you promote something with no follow-up, you risk making the reader hopping mad – especially if your book is good! The reader can easily move onto writers who have more than one book and will forget you. He will stop trolling through Amazon and look elsewhere for books.

Again, a reader might have downloaded that free eBook, but they won’t read it until they know another book is on the way. This counts for nothing as you haven’t gained a reader.

Studies have shown it takes a reader several books before they will buy a book based on author-name recognition only and traditional publishing made it hard for readers to find an author’s second or fifth book. So many traditional publishers gave up on writers after a second book didn’t do as well as the first and those writers didn’t hang around long enough for a reader to build any loyalty to that writer.

Don’t despair! readers often are dedicated. That’s what traditional publishing misses with its focusing on selling a thousand books in one week instead of five thousand over the year. And readers have a relationship with books. They love the characters or the world the author built.

Traditional publishers call readers “consumers.” This is true as consumers buy goods. Readers buy books. But that’s where the analogy ends. They forget that the consumer is also someone who consumes something by eating it, drinking it, or using it up.

Readers can’t eat or drink a book. Nor do they destroy the book when they’ve read it. They haven’t “used it up,” despite traditional publishing seeming to believe so. Traditional publishers are based on the consumer model by using the definition a ‘reader will use it up’. Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare or Mark Twain readers know that stories last forever. Books can live much longer than their creators and can have a long term relationship with their reader.

When an indie writer gets caught up in the number of sales their only novel has, or they do everything to sell their one book without having another book for the reader, those writers have forgotten what it’s like to be a reader.  As a reader, I love to fall in love with a new writer, to read everything that writer has written, and to wait impatiently for the next book.

Don’t ever forget what brought you into writing in the first place. Every writer I’ve met started writing because they loved books. They loved reading books, they loved imaginary worlds, and they loved the experience of being somewhere else without actually physically moving. It is a relationship between the writer and her readers.

I write books because I love to tell stories, and I am grateful that readers want to read them. But if I only told the story that the readers want, then I’d stop being the best writer I can be. I have to grow experiment and stretch my imagination.

Remember free has its limits. If you’re talking about a career, then the free item must be a short-term thing, a loss leader, and there have to be other products that a reader can find. It’s called ‘Fremium Marketing’. (Get one free with the idea that it will lead the reader to look at and buy another in the same line of goods.) The Indie publishing world can correct the mistakes traditional publishing makes. The new Indie world can make books available for a long time and the world of indie publishing is tailor-made for the long-term reader/writer relationship.

Which brings me to the beginning of my blog post. The more readers a writer has on all of her books--all, not “one,” but all—the more money that writer will make. Readers are happy to pay for a book. Now the writer has time to build readership. If a traditional publisher has taken books out of print, the writer can get her rights back and issue the book herself. The writer can continue a series that traditional publishing determines isn’t worth their time.  The indie writer has time and please - don’t look only short term.

Money, of course is an important measure - readers who are willing to part with hard-earned cash to read my work. I’m grateful for that and when readers ask about the next book, I am so delighted, so honoured as it means I’m doing something right.

Remember, writers—traditional and indie—your writing career isn’t about kudos for your only book. It’s about building readers, and about maintaining the relationship. Success isn’t all those free downloads in an afternoon. Success is attracting readers and having them come back for years. I found it hard in the beginning. A new writer has no fan base. Writers earn their fan base, one reader and one book at a time. Fans come back and we have to remember that.

I really should be writing my next novel – and yet I’m here writing this blog post!  I have hundreds, sometimes thousands of readers who show up for my blog every week, and I value you all.

Thank you and have a great week.

Faithx
 
All books available via Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

PLEASE NOTE.

This blog post was in part taken from the writer, Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I admired what she'd written and took some of her ideas, and put them together with my own findings and thoughts. I should have acknowledged Ms Rusch as the originator of the post. Apologies to Ms Rusch for any misunderstanding.
FM



 

_Good Day!

I'm delighted to announce that "The Bamboo Mirror", my anthology of mystery suspense stories and introducing, Diana Rivers is FREE for the next 48 hours. Please download your copy and enjoy your read. If you are unsure please take a look at all the excellent reviews on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.ukand make your own choice. I'm sure you won't be disappointed. You might even want to write your own review!

And while you're on Amazon you might like to take a look at my other novels, including the  books in the Diana Rivers psychological thriller series, "The Assassins' Village", "Children of the Plantation"  and newly released, "The Surgeon's Blade" – which my editor tells me is my best work so far!

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

I'll be delighted if you download your free copy...and even more delighted if you enjoy what you read!

Take care and thanks for looking in

Faithx

_  Writers! Are you doing the wrong things?

I read many things during my working week and I often come up with a list of do’s and don’ts, which I rarely keep to. But thinking about it, there are some hard and fast rules that we should all stick to. I’ve put together 25 points that might well apply to you and I hope you find it useful and interesting. Naturally as I progressed with the points I realised I still make some of the same mistakes!

1. Keep going in the right direction
You have your manuscript on the go. This is your career and your story and you need to pursue it. Your writing will never chase you and this is true of individual components. You want one thing but then work to achieve its opposite. You’re writing a novel, so why go and write poetry instead? Pick a thing and work towards it.
2. Keep the momentum going
Keep going! Remember, momentum is everything. Stop fiddling around and keep striving towards your goal.
3. Keep writing in your voice
You should write in a way that only you can write. Use your own voice and not somebody else. You might have begun that way, but you have to get into your groove. This is going to be a big theme at the start of 2012 — discover those elements that comprise your voice.
4. Keep to the path & stop worrying
Worrying is useless and does nothing for you. Forget about what Amazon is doing – it is out of our control anyway. The only thing we can do is identify trouble spots and work round them. Keep calm and cool.
5. Keep going but what’s the hurry?
There’s been a huge rise in the quantity of writing, but writing needs time spent on it. There’s no judgement in how quickly you can get a dozen titles out, more likely you’ll be judged on how well you write those titles. Stories are like fine wine and beautiful women; they need time. So take the time. There’s a balance, and generation and creativity should not come at the cost of quality. Give your stories and your career the time and patience it needs.
6. Keep it up!
This means, don’t fall asleep! Life rewards action, not inertia and to reap the rewards of the future, you must take action in the present.
7. Keep a clear head when it gets harder
Will it get easier? Anything worth doing requires lots of hard work. You choose this career and you can’t expect a free ride.
8. Keep your writing a priority
You  get to be a proper storyteller by putting your work at the top of your list You know you’re a writer because it’s not just what you do, but rather, it’s who you are.
9. Keep your body lean and fit
Our bodies fuel our minds and the mind is the writer’s best weapon. Let all that rubbish out! Eat well and take lots of exercise. This also clears the mind and it works well for me.
10. Keep a positive mind
By complaining you’ll find it does nothing useful for you when it comes to your work.  If you don’t like something then go and fix it. If you can’t fix it then for heaven’s sake, move on to the next thing.
11. Keep true and don’t blame your failures on anyone else
Some people always place the blame on others for their failings. You hear a lot of blame going on around you .You are dealing with your own life and that means your successes and your errors. This career is yours. Sometimes external factors will step in your way, but it’s up to you how to react.
12. Be proud of what you do
Believe it or not, writers are often ashamed at who they are and what they do. We all have to remember we are doing what we want to do. Sometimes people won’t respect you, maybe they’re jealous but remember this - writers and storytellers help make this world go around. We’re just as much a part of the societal ecosystem as anybody else. Craft count and art matter and stories are important.
13. Remember your gaffs but don’t go overboard about your mistakes
 We all mess up somewhere along the line. But what’s the point in sitting and dwelling upon it? The best thing is to earn and move on. Very few mistakes will haunt you till your end of days unless you let it haunt you.
14. Take some risks
We could make 2012 the year of the risk. Nobody knows what’s going on in the publishing industry, but we can be sure that what’s going on with authors is that we’re finding new ways to be empowered in this New Media Future. What that means is, it’s time to forget the old rules and it’s time to start questioning preconceived notions and established conventions. It’s time to start taking some risks both in your career and in your storytelling.
15. Control only what you can
The industry, reviews and the Amazonian business practices? The economy? The readers? You can’t control any of that. You can respond to it. You can try to get ahead of it. But you can’t control it so learn to control what you can, which is your writing and the management of your career.
16. Learn to diversify
Diversification is the name of survival for all creatures: genetics relies on diversification. Things are changing big in these next few years, from the rise of eBooks to the fall-off in more traditional publishing. Diversity of form, format and genre will help ensure you stay alive in the coming entirely-made-up Pubpocalypse.
17. Find your market and set your own trend
What I mean is, stop writing for ‘The Market’. The Market is an unknowable entity based on sales trends and educated guess-work and some kind of publishing hoo-hah. Find your own market, your own loyal followers and write for them by setting your own trend. Don’t chase others like a dog chasing a cyclist. Public trends offer artists a series of diminishing returns and by following you’re just watering it down. Do your own thing.
18. Care about what you’re doing and not what every other writer is doing
They’ll do their own thing and as you’re not them - you don’t want to be them and they don’t want to be you. Why do what everyone else is doing? Let me reiterate: do your own thing.
19. Know the publishing industry
Know the industry, but don’t be overwhelmed by it.
20. Make up your own mind
You’ll hear, “I don’t think this can sell.” That might be right. But — I’d bet that all the stories you remember, all the tales that came out of nowhere were stories that were once flagged with the “this won’t sell” moniker. You’ll always find someone to tell you what you can’t do or what you shouldn’t do. Your job as a writer is to prove them wrong. Write the best story you can write.
21. Whoa! Keep to a manageable timetable
We can’t do everything at once. We all want grand plans! Epic 23-book thriller series! Don’t go overboard! Concentrate on what you can complete. Temper risk with reality.
22. Put yourself on the page
You are your stories and your stories are you. Who you are matters. Your experiences and feelings and opinions count. Put yourself on every page. If we cannot connect with our own stories, how can we expect anybody else to find that connection?
23. Dreaming? Get going…
Stop dreaming and start doing. Dreams are great for children. Dreams are fanciful flights of improbability. Remember you’re an adult now and it’s time to wake up or stay dreaming.
24. Are you afraid?
I hope not as fear will stop you dead. You just need preparation and pragmatism to get on with your task. Everybody who wanted to be a writer and didn’t make it, failed based on one of two reasons: one, they were lazy, or two, they were afraid. Fear is nonsense. What do you think is going to happen? Being a writer is nothing worthy of fear. It’s worthy of praise and triumph. So put your fears aside and let this be your year.
25. Keep reading this blog!
Seriously, there’s a wealth of talent around and you can pick up great tips from reading other blogs – especially if they relate to you and your writing career. Keep on writing!

A quick roundup of the past week.
The past week has been amazing. Since, “The Assassins’ Village reached those lofty heighted positions on Amazon.com #47 and Amazon.co.uk #17 respectively, the book has continued to stay high in the rankings and on many lists.

A big plus is that “The Assassins’ Village” is also constantly up and down on the “movers and shakers” list – as high as #1 - and is currently at #39! It’s been great fun watching!

Please let me once again thank everyone who has bought a copy, I certainly couldn’t do it without you.

Have a great weekend and the week ahead. I’m visiting England for a wee while to see my family and I’m looking forward to spending time there.

Faithxx

 

_Your Unfinished Manuscript: Do You Burn it, Bury it, or Finish it?

Good Day! We’ve all been here at some time - your novel has not been going well, or maybe after finishing it you discover you hate it. When I began writing, “The Surgeon’s Blade” I thought I’d write a nice little romance for a change as I’d been told by my beta-readers I could write romance. After 5000 words I was bored. It all needed beefing up and in the process I got myself tied up in knots before I finally worked out just what I was going to write! But unless you can get yourself out of a potential catastrophe what do you do? Hence my burn it, bury it or finish it scenario.

The big question is if you do burn the manuscript, will you regret later?

Well let’s have a bit of fun, call it a New Year Quiz if you like.

We’ll take a look and see if there’s anything in it worth saving. Please look at the following six questions, and write down the answers to each one. Keep track of your points for each answer.

1. Where’s the theme of your book?

• Can you write down, in ten words or less, the theme? If you can, do it. (Examples of theme are: Rite of passage, Love conquers all, good guy triumphs over evil one, etc.) If you knew your theme, award yourself 10 points.
• If you don’t know what the theme is, can you locate possible themes as you read through? Write the possible themes down as you find them. If you find one or more possibilities, award yourself 5 points.
• If you don’t know and can’t find signs of a theme, then it’s 0 points.

2. What’s the story in the book?
Can you honestly sit down immediately and write one sentence summing up the story? And in no more than thirty words. If you can, 10 points.

• Maybe. Can you tell the story in three sentences and under a hundred words? 5 points.
• Neither one sentence nor three will untangle this mess in a coherent fashion. 0 points.

3. Who’s the hero/heroine in your book?

• Can you name the single character who matters most to the story? Write down in one or two short sentences what this character wants. 10 points if you have all of this. Subtract 5 if you can list the character and his needs, but your story is not actually about fulfilling them.
• If not, can you limit the story to two most important characters? Can you write down in one or two sentences their most compelling needs and wants? Is the story about fulfilling them? You get 7 points if you get the characters and their needs, and if the story is about meeting those needs. Take off 5 points if the story is about something other than meeting the most compelling needs of the two main characters.
• If you can do all of the above, but have to do it for three or more main characters, you get 2 points. If your story isn’t about meeting the needs of your crowd, 0 points.

4. Where’s the conflict in the story?

• Can you find conflict (defined as the character/characters dealing with obstacles that stand in the way of their meeting their needs) on every page? Look. If you have to, on a disposable copy of the manuscript, go through with a highlighter and mark every instance where conflict occurs. (Note that conflict is not thinking about problems — it is dealing with them.) If you have marks on at least 80% of your pages, give yourself 10 points.
• If you have marks on at least 50-79% of your pages, give yourself 5 points.
• If you have marks on less than 50% of your pages, your characters are spending too much time thinking, and not dealing! No points.

5. Why does it matter?

• Can you write out, quickly and clearly, why this story matters, and to whom? Do you have convincing reasons? Do you care - and will anyone else care about them? If you write out reasons, and they mattered, to you or anyone else, 10 points.
• If this was difficult, but you finally found something, and with work the story could matter to someone, 5 points.
• If you had no reasons to you or to anyone else, 0 points.

6. What do you love in the book?

• Are there sections that, even though you know they’re wrong, are magic for you? Are there places where you can read through and taste that magic? It makes you yearn to know what happens next? 10 points.
• Are there things that you like, characters you care about even if you’re not sure what to do with them, including favourite images or scenes that seem, important? 5 points.
• Nothing you love, like, or makes you want to go on? 0 points.

Now let’s add up all your points.

40-60 points — Let It Survive & Live

You’re probably tired, frustrated, you’ve put a lot into the story, and you are too close to the material. Leave it for a while, but have faith - you have the outline of something that, with revision, is going to be worth your time.

20-39 points — Let’s Bury It

Stick it in the back of your knicker drawer. Or put it on your “Look at later” file on your hard drive. When you start thinking about it again and how you can make it work then go for it!. Dust if off, rework it, and be glad that you saved it.

0-19 points — Light a few Joss sticks, say a prayer and Burn It

Yes burn it. You are flogging a dead horse, and if you keep on, you’ll burn yourself out on writing something that isn’t worth your time, passion, hopes, and effort. You can now move on to something that isn’t eating you alive.

Throwing away a project is hard as you’ve already put some work and hope into it. No one likes to admit defeat. Writing is like everything else – and learning to tell a dead story from one that can be patched up and sent out into the world is a critical writing skill.

So let go!

Since New Year it’s been hectic in our household. The 1st January saw the release of my third novel in the Diana Rivers mystery thrillers, “The Surgeon’s Blade” which has been well received and on 7th January, “The Assassins’ Village” went free for 48 hours. “The Assassins’ Village” zoomed up Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de charts, attaining the lofty positions of #48 free in Kindle store #3 mystery/thrillers, #17 free in kindle store #1 mystery/women sleuths and in the top 200 in Amazon.de! I was dead chuffed as I had no idea so many people were keen to get their hands on it! 

At this point may I thank everyone who downloaded "The Assassins’ Village", making it one of the most popular books on Amazon this year! (Haha!) I also thank everyone who has bought any of my other novels. 2011 was a fantastic year for me and I’m already looking forward to 2012. May your own 2012 be happy and successful!

Thank you

Faithx

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_ Good Day!

I’m delighted to announce that “The Assassins’ Village”, the first in my Diana Rivers mystery series is FREE for the next 48 hours. Please download your copy and enjoy your read. If you are unsure please take a look at all the excellent reviews on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk and make your own choice. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. You might even want to write your own review!

And while you’re on Amazon you might like to take a look at my other novels, including the other two books in the Diana Rivers series, “Children of The Plantation” (note the new cover) and newly released, “The Surgeon’s Blade” – which my editor tells me is my best work so far!

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.de

Amazon.fr

Amazon.es

Amazon.it

Thank you for reading this and enjoy! It’s always nice to have something free that doesn’t harm you!

Faithx

_  Diana Rivers and “The Surgeon’s Blade”

I am delighted to let you know that the third novel in the Diana Rivers mystery series is now available online on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk ( as well as our continental cousins sites of Amazon.de, .fr, it and .es).

This book, "The Surgeon's Blade" is more grittier and more of a mystery thriller than the previous two novels of the series, "The Assassins' Village" and "Children of The Plantation" and the early reviews describe it as more chilling, tense and  a ‘real corker of a read’. I've listened to my followers and friends and I hope I've come up with a new novel that will have great appeal to a wide audience.
I have included a short synopsis to whet your appetites and sincerely look forward to hearing your own reviews about the new book.

When nursing sister, Libby Hunter wakes up in hospital following a traumatic sailing accident she discovers two deeply disturbing things. One - she has lost her memory and two – the stranger, (Nigel) whom she finds sitting by her bedside when she awakes claims to be her fiancé.

During her hospital stay, Libby regains most of her memory, except the bizarre thing is she cannot remember ever being engaged to surgeon, Nigel. Against her will Nigel persuades Libby into agreeing to move in with him.  Working on instinct she finds excuses to put him off until she is completely sure of her true feelings.

During a series of attacks on nurses in London and Southampton, Libby finds herself in great danger when her home is broken into one night. Who is the intruder and does he plan on harming her? And is this connected in any way to the recent attacks on nursing staff. Will Libby be the attacker’s latest targeted victim?

Distressed Libby turns to pilot, Robert for help and understanding, but is he as respectable and kind as he appears to be? Is her fiancé, Nigel trustworthy, especially when his ex-wife, Stella enters the scene and Libby suspects them of rekindling their relationship?

The night time intrusion to Libby’s house sets in motion a downwards spiral of cataclysmic and terrifying events, culminating in our favourite sleuth, Diana Rivers stepping in to help solve the case in this chilling mystery thriller.

For a glimpse of early reviews please go to: Amazon Customer 5 Star Reviews

 

_ In brief:

I was born in Manchester and educated in Singapore, Malaya and Hampshire, England. I qualified as a Registered nurse and after some years changed careers to oversee a number of travel and sport related companies.

In 2005,I decided to read for a science degree with The Open University.  I truly believe that the dedication and stamina needed to sit for a degree gave me the confidence to finish writing my first novel. January 2009 saw the publication of, “The Crossing”. This novel is based on a true incident and I thoroughly enjoyed the six months or so research that went into the book and the 18 months writing and editing.

In spring 2011 I published my second novel, “The Assassins' Village”, a murder mystery set in the Troodos Mountains of Cyprus. This novel was chosen as best book #1 on the Harper Collins/Authonomy site out of over 8000 books during November 2009. (Excerpt from the review can be found under my Amazon author page). Available in paperback and eBook.

Summer 2011, “Children of The Plantation” was published. This is the second in the bestselling Diana Rivers’s mystery series.  This time the story is set in exotic Malaysia. “Children of The Plantation”was Amazon’s number 1 in movers and Shakers for 48 hours during October 2011.

I am thrilled with, “The Surgeon’s Blade”, book number three in my mystery thriller series and I sincerely hope you will be too. Please note any of the books of the series can be read in any order.

Finally, some of you may have looked at my books on Amazon and wondered what I have done with The Bamboo Mirror and Echoes of Life and Love. I have amalgamated both books into one volume now entitled, The Bamboo Mirror. This is an anthology of six stories ranging from ghost to mystery to murder and romance. Each story is written in a different style from the others as an experiment in writing and I hope you enjoy something that I consider a little different.

Thank you for taking the time to read through this and a huge thank you to my dedicated readers and followers to whom I owe so much.
Faithx

 

 

_ Your Favourite Authors & How to Support Them!

Good day! Welcome back after a well-deserved short break! I thought I’d write a fun post especially for all those lucky people who received a new Kindle for Christmas. Now you need to practice using your Kindle, by buying some great books and for this you need to support your favourite author!

So here’s ten easy things to do:

1.  Buy their books!

Your number one priority! But did you know that because “indie” authors are independent from traditional big publishing houses, they can control the prices of their eBooks?  Moreover, while big-house publishers have a large corporation to support, the indie author, who essentially becomes his own publisher, is free to offer amazing deals. Often books can be as low as $.99/£0.85! Fab! Amazing! I hear you declare! Let me get at them!

 2.  Spread the word!

If you like something, you want to tell others, correct? It’s one of the favourite things we like to talk about.  We all love a “good deal,” a “great product”, something that actually does what it’s supposed to do, and this includes an entertaining book we’ve just read.  Because my friends all talk about what they read, I’ve been introduced to authors I might never have read before–and that includes all genres. Can you imagine the indie author’s struggle to get noticed in the flood of more than 300,900 books published annually? I believe there are now over 900,000 books on Amazon alone!  But telling friends doesn’t end there.

3.  “Like” the book!

There’s a “Like” button to click on right beside the title on the author’s book page on Amazon.com, indeed all Amazon sites have this next to the book.  Maybe you “like” the book because you’ve read it and thoroughly enjoyed your experience.   Maybe you “like” the title, synopsis or the cover. Or maybe you just really “like” the pizzazz this author shows by actually writing a book and asserting their right to sharing their work, whether or not they are supported by a big-house publisher.

 4.  Share your opinion!

After you click “Like,” you’ll get a prompt to share with others: “tweet,” “Facebook,” or “email.”  This is a jolly clever way to help both readers and authors when you think about it. How many times have you wanted to share a title of a favourite book with someone and didn’t actually get it “spot on?” By extending your “Like” through those channels, the recipient sees exactly which book you’re talking about.

5.  Click their “tags!”

I know loads of readers who have no idea what ‘tags’ are, (including my husband!) ‘Tags’ are what the author has selected to describe their book for Internet searches. Say for instance you want a book that is fiction, which includes mystery, specifically thrillers. You might type into the search bar these tags: books, fiction, mystery, suspense, and thrillers, and even women sleuths.  The results you get will include books with these tags.  The more frequently an author’s book is tagged, the greater number of clicks per tag, does something magical to their book’s ranking. Tags are found near the bottom and have little boxes to tick.  Check the ones you agree with and even add some more if you feel it warrants it, but don’t check the “Agree with all tags” because it does not affect the author’s ratings–something about Amazon’s algorithms…

 6.  Keep on clicking! 

There is even an Amazon promo Tutorial.mp4  “How to ‘like,’ ‘tag’ and review books on Amazon to help promote your favourite authors in less than four minutes,” Charlotte Abel uses an actual Amazon.com book page–for one of her novels, in fact.  She says, “Click on every button that looks click-able.” So far, we’ve clicked on “Like” and “tags.” What else is there? Well, does the author have any reviews yet?  If so, you can click your response to the question, “Was this review helpful?”  If it was, click “yes.”  Again, quoting from the You Tube video, “The more stuff you click, the more it helps this author, and the more it helps others find this book.” (Except the ‘agree with all tags’ button).

 7.  Rate the book!

Whether you bought it on Amazon or some other place, there is probably a star system for rating.  For some of us, rating anything is “even more terrifying” than writing a review. If that is what’s holding you back, then you could either develop your own definitions for ratings 1-5, or you could use someone else’s, like the ones from Goodreads.com for instance:

• 1=didn’t like it
• 2=it was okay
• 3=liked it
• 4=really liked it
• 5=it was amazing

 8.  Share your comments!

You can either be the star of your own video or you can do a written review on amazon.com.  Some people demur, “but I’m not a writer.”  It’s true that many of the reviews are really long, well-written and therefore scary as hell if you’ve never written one before. They are most likely “reviewers.”  I am not a professional reviewer; I review what I’ve read for interest.  The good news is that on Amazon, a review can be as short as 20 words–the kinds of short reviews you might have seen inside a paperback.  And it’s so easy to write 20 words!  Just say what you liked about it.  If the author picks up your review you, too could be published and included in the “front matter” of their paperback version. Simply scroll to the top of that book page where the title is.  If the book has reviews, click on that line, e.g., “1 review,” or if there are no reviews yet, “Create your own review.” You’ll be asked for a Title and Review Type (video or written), and then have a place to add yours. Easy peasy!

 9.  Rate your books on Goodreads!

This is an amazing place where I can tell readers what I think about books I’ve read. I can also read their comments about other books.  Most reviews are brief. My link on Goodreads is http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2967303.Faith_Mortimer

 10.  Understand “indie” author and spread the word!

This topic deserves it’s very own post, but for now, a quote from the Indie Book Collective’s web page will suffice:

… ‘Just as the movie industry was revolutionized by the ‘Indie’ movement; filmmakers with passion and a unique vision, the publishing industry is seeing the same move towards authors creating, publishing, and marketing their own work.  Publishing houses are not buying new authors like they used to. Developing new talent simply isn’t profitable for them so new voices aren’t being ‘heard.’…

So as we recognize and promote Indie films by attending Indie Film Festivals, we can honour these Indie authors in all the ways listed above.

So I’m loading my Kindle for the months of winter reading and looking ahead to Spring and Summer.  How about you?

Thanks to everyone who was kind enough to buy my books recently. The Christmas holiday has seen some phenomenal sales of eBooks for Kindle and there are some truly wonderful books to be bought. When you think about it what else can you buy for less than the price of a sandwich, a possible masterpiece that a writer has plotted, sweated, worried about and taken weeks, months, years to write?
Good Reading and wishing you all a Happy New Year!
Faithx

 

Good Day!
I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas Day and didn't over indulge too much! I came down with a horrible flu-like cold and today I have completely lost my voice. My husband says he is finding the peace and quiet very soothing! (Only joking!)

Today 26th December, is traditionally known in Britain as Boxing Day. There are many old traditions concerning Boxing Day and I thought it fun to add a few here .
Why is 26 December called Boxing Day? Traditionally, 26 December was the day to open the Christmas Box to share the contents with the poor.

What is a Christmas Box?
The Christmas box was a wooden or clay container where people placed gifts.

History of Boxing Day - Boxing Day origins.
To protect ships

During the Age of Exploration, when great sailing ships were setting off to discover new land, A Christmas Box was used as a good luck device. It was a small container placed on each ship while it was still in port. It was put there by a priest, and those crewmen who wanted to ensure a safe return would drop money into the box. It was then sealed up and kept on board for the entire voyage.
If the ship came home safely, the box was handed over to the priest in the exchange for the saying of a Mass of thanks for the success of the voyage. The Priest would keep the box sealed until Christmas when he would open it to share the contents with the poor.

To help the poor
An 'Alms Box' was placed in every church on Christmas Day, into which worshippers placed a gift for the poor of the parish. These boxes were always opened the day after Christmas, which is why that day became know as Boxing Day.

A present for the workers
Many poorly paid workers were required to work on Christmas Day and took the following day off to visit their families. As they prepared to leave, their employers would present them with Christmas boxes.

During the late 18th century, Lords and Ladies of the manor would "box up" their leftover food, or sometimes gifts and distribute them the day after Christmas to tenants who lived and worked on their lands.

And the tradition still continues today ......
The tradition of giving money to workers still continues today. It is customary for householders to give small gifts or monetary tips to regular visiting trades people (the milkman, dustman, coalman, paper boy etc.) and, in some work places, for employers to give a Christmas bonus to employees. Schools across the country gather together gifts to be put in Christmas Boxes that are sent to poorer countries.

Interesting Christmas Fact
The Christmas boxes were made from clay and were necessarily made in the shape of a box. They were often hollow clay balls with a slit in the top.

St Stephen's Day
Boxing Day is also known as St. Stephen's Day (when Good King Wenceslas looked out).

'Good King Wenceslas looked out,
On the Feast of Stephen...........'
Who was St Stephen?
Stephen lived in Rome and was the first man to be killed for believing in the teachings of Jesus. His story is told in the Acts of the Apostles 6: 1 to 8: 2.
Some people claim that he shares this day with another St Stephen, who came from Sweden. St Stephen of Sweden is the patron saint of horses.
In Britain, Boxing Day has long be associated with outdoor sports, especially horse racing and hunting.

And finally! I am proud and pleased that EReader News Today has chosen "The Assassins' Village as its bargain book of the week! You can click on the ENT link here or the book picture above or The Assassins' Village text here for Amazon.co.uk. 'The Assassins' Village' will be priced at 99c or 85p for the next week - so please download your copy now!

Have  a super break those of you who are fortunate enough to be able to take a few more days off and good reading
Faithx