Unearthly Tales

Finding beta readers and proofreaders for your self-published indie novel

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Fri, 7 Jun 2013 21:07:21 -0400

Should indie authors pay for a professional proofreader? What makes a great beta reader, and are family members and friends to be avoided at all costs? These are some of the questions self-published authors face after they've completed their manuscript.

I received an email recently that gave me warm fuzzies AND set me thinking about this matter. First of all, here's the letter (which the writer kindly gave me permission to print):

I just wanted to write to you and say thank you. I have been an avid reader and writer all my life but life has always had a habit of getting in the way of me actually accomplishing my goal of writing a book.

About 4 years ago an idea came to me in the night and I started writing Gaea, then life got in the way again -- first with happy stuff then with heart breaking stuff and for the past 18 months I have not read nor written anything at all -- until I stumbled upon a free sample of your first book. I had to buy it, then the second, then the third and there is no doubt in my mind that I will buy them all! I especially like the authors note at the end of book three and as I have started writing again with a clarity of mind I have never experienced before I will definitely be contacting your brother sometime in the near future! Grin.

So, thank you. Your wonderful writing and amazing story has inspired me and helped to wake me up again. I am not lucky enough to have proof readers as family and friends but I am confident the universe will figure something out for me when the time comes and for the first time in a long time I am really looking forward to it!

Right, onwards to book 4.

So naturally I was chuffed to bits when I received this. But it also made me think about beta readers and proofreaders, and where to find them.

When I finished Island of Fog back in 2008, I was apprehensive about it. At that point, nobody but me had read it. I thought it was okay, maybe even good enough to start shipping around to publishers, but it might equally have been terrible. Up until then, the only writing buddies I had were from a writers' group I was a member of. We'd shared critiques on several chapters of our novels, and also short stories, but we'd never beta-read or proofed entire manuscripts. In that respect I was kind of on my own.

I found a highly recommended professional editor, took a deep breath, and paid $700. This was a monumental expenditure for me back then, and still is to date. I don't regret it, though. The overall feedback was very good, and the sheer number of red marks throughout the manuscript proved she'd read the book carefully instead of just brushing over it. I learned quite a lot and, above all, discovered that it was "worthy" of publishing, and that I was on the right track. All this was back in October 2008 (see The manuscript is back!).

This set me on the road to self-publishing, and through that book and the ones that followed, I gained an audience including a few fellow authors such as Brian Clopper and Roger Eschbacher. Also, my brother Darren was developing his own Iguana Proofreading business. Suddenly I had a close circle of professionals that I could call on to proofread my books, and of course I returned the favors in whatever way I could.

I always edit, edit and edit until I think I have a highly polished manuscript. Then I pass it on to fellow authors and my proofreading brother. More recently I've started asking for beta readers, too. These are generally readers only, in my case fans of the Island of Fog series, and they're more than capable of spotting typos and commenting on larger issues but not so concerned with comma placement and some of the finer details. Beta readers are supposed to read the book and get a feel for the overall story rather than get bogged down by details.

When I requested beta readers for Chamber of Ghosts, I ended up with this list:

1 author
1 wife
14 fans
1 put-upon brother

The author (Brian Clopper) was first in line simply because he's so fast. I also gave the manuscript to Darren, knowing that his critique would be the last I received but probably the most detailed and comprehensive. Meanwhile, my wife and fourteen others were given a few weeks to read the book and get back to me.

My wife and most of my fourteen betas gave me very detailed lists of typos and inconsistencies and general issues to look at. Many of the typos were mentioned several times, but each beta reader found stuff that others didn't. Some of the larger issues that were brought up were mentioned two or three times, so I felt a need to address those issues.

Because the feedback came in at different times, I was able to put things right bit by bit, which wasn't as daunting as working on all feedback at once. Fixing typos is easy. Correcting awkward phrasing is easy. Deleting scenes and reorganizing things is fairly easy. Dealing with large-scale issues is a challenge, but luckily I didn't have much to fix in that respect.

Finally, Darren's critique came in. Some of it was dealt with already, and some was no longer relevant because scenes had been deleted. But there was still a ton of extra fixes to deal with, much of it that NONE of the beta readers had picked up, technical things that frankly most readers don't even notice or care about, like whether a comma should be placed before "but" and so on. It's all really important stuff that I want to get right, but it's not something beta readers are asked or expected to report. (See how that "but" in the previous sentence needs a comma before it? It often does but sometimes doesn't... like this example here!)

Finding beta readers is not difficult. They don't have to be fans of your work. They just need to be voracious readers. I've found that many readers love getting involved. In fact, one of my betas posted on Facebook about how she felt "honored to be part of the process," and her friends and family congratulated her and asked how she "got so lucky"... my point being that many readers just love the idea of getting involved no matter how utterly unknown the author is.

So if you need beta readers, ideally ask your own readers, who will have the added insight of knowing your characters and caring about them, and can comment on the arcing plot between books. If you're a new indie writer and have no fans yet, then trawl social networks and ask for readers to critique your book. Not all of it will be great feedback, but those who offer will generally be helpful.

Don't pester friends and family, though. Your best friend may feel obliged to read your book but might be the worst possible beta reader. You're better off avoiding family and friends and instead going to strangers who are genuine fans of your genre and have nothing to gain or lose by offering their feedback. Friends and family tend not to "get" that honest criticism is far more useful than simple glowing praise.

I pestered my wife, though. She likes my books and generally offers very useful feedback, good or bad. I always tell her not to hold back, and she doesn't. She's not one to pick up on technical writing errors, but even with fourteen other beta readers, an author, and a proofreader brother, she still looked up from the book, frowned at me, and told me something everyone else had missed. Every beta reader has a different way of looking at things, and having at least ten of them will give you a really good overview of what's wrong -- and right -- with your book.

One thing I will stress, though: find beta readers who are familiar with your genre. Otherwise you'll have some bright spark saying, "Wait -- Hal's a shapeshifter? That just doesn't happen in real life, though. Consider changing this idea to Hal being psychologically damaged and just thinks he's a shapeshifter. You don't want to lose your readers." Seriously, someone started reading Island of Fog once thinking it was a suspense thriller, and he was completely turned off in the first chapter when a manticore appeared. "A monster? Are you kidding??"

Author Brian Clopper and I beta-read an urban fantasy romance recently. We both found problems with it, particularly in the final scene, and although it may have looked to the author that we ganged up on her, in fact we came to the same conclusion separately. As far as we were concerned, the ending just didn't work. The author insisted it was fine, that the problem was more to do with the fact that we were guys who weren't interested in the romance genre. Hmm. I hope the author reconsiders. I still don't think romance readers will go for an ending like that, but the experience has made me vow not to beta-read romance-type books again -- because if I don't know the genre enough to know what works and what doesn't, then how can I be of any use in my feedback?

Beta readers are everywhere. You don't need to pay them (except with a copy of the final edition) -- just let them be a part of the process, thank them profusely for ALL feedback good and bad, and NEVER get argumentative and say they don't know what they're talking about. The thing about readers is that they're actually more professional at their job than many authors seem to think. The only qualification for being a professional reader is reading a lot of books.

Finally, it's worth mentioning that my dad picks up typos as well, in my books as well as in these blog posts. I think my mum is afraid he's going to upset me by nitpicking, but the opposite is true. So when I write blog posts, I check them carefully but am always wondering what else I've missed! Luckily, my dad usually has it covered. :-)

Writing and editing a sci-fi/fantasy novel with another author

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Sat, 1 Jun 2013 18:06:52 -0400

What are the pros and cons of collaborating on a novel? Is it easier to plot, write and edit alongside another author, or is it just one big headache? I think the answer lies entirely in who your writing partner is, how similar your tastes and skills are, and how well you get along. As it happens, I chose well.

Back in January, I posted about a sci-fi/fantasy novel that I'm writing in collaboration with another author, my good friend Brian Clopper (see the post Fractured -- a free sci-fi and fantasy novel). We spit-balled the plot back in November and worked out how we would organize our writerly chores. As far as I'm concerned, both the idea for the story and our approach to writing it couldn't be any more logical for a collaborative effort. It's basically two stories running in parallel -- two characters embarking on separate journeys and gradually coming together for a crucial crossover scene two-thirds of the way through the story.

We hammered out the novel in January, and almost completely by chance our word count ended up nearly identical, with 43,764 words by Brian and 44,049 by myself, totalling 87,812. Of course, those numbers will change now that we're into the editing mode, but it'll still be virtually half each.

So we wrote the first draft in January and deliberately put the book away while we worked on other things. Now we're back into the thick of it, editing and polishing and proofing with a view to publishing sometime in July. (We'd originally thought about publishing in May, but hey, things happen.)

This editing process is turning out to be really interesting. Normally, with my own books, I would read and edit as I go, rewriting much of it, straightening things up. But with Fractured, where we've written alternating chapters, I can directly edit my own text but only comment on Brian's -- and vice versa. I wouldn't dream of making a single alteration to Brian's text without his knowledge, and I wouldn't want him editing mine directly either. It's just not done. So we highlight bits of text and leave comments.

We're using Google Docs, which allows us to view and edit the same manuscript online and add comments wherever we want. Everything is done dynamically and in real time; all changes and comments update immediately. So if I change a word in my chapter, it auto-saves a second later and updates the document at Brian's end also -- even while he's sitting there reading it!

At one point, we happened to both be working at the same time on the same chapter. It was my chapter, and as I was writing, a comment appeared at the side of the screen. I clicked it, and the relevant text highlighted yellow. I agreed with the comment and made a change to my text -- and Brian then announced in the comment panel that he could see my cursor moving on the page. He could see the text changing as I was updating it.

The mechanics behind this is both fascinating and creepy. In the old days of using a Word document on an internally networked system, only the person who opened it first could make changes; if someone else opened it, it would be in read-only mode. Makes sense, right? You can't both be editing the same document in the same file location. It's impossible! But Google Docs allows this in a surprisingly seamless way, and I haven't come across any problems yet. It's creepy, though, knowing that someone is literally watching me type. It's like having a person standing behind me as I sit working at my desk. It's really off-putting.

Luckily, we don't bump into each other much. We're often online together but in different parts of the document, kind of like sitting at desks side-by-side. The system is working really, really well, better than any other method I can think of.

So how is our actual editing going? Brilliant. We've got into a groove now. I'll go ahead and read/edit my own chapters, skipping his for the time being -- so I started out working on Chapters 1, 3, 5, and 7 first while he was working on his own Chapters 2, 4, 6 and 8. Once we'd straightened up our own text, we started reading all eight chapters combined and commenting where necessary. As Brian left comments for Chapter 1, I'd make those changes and "resolve" his comments, and so on. We've been going back and forth like that for a while now, making several sweeps, backing up and re-reading the tweaked chapters, and generally smoothing things out. Working in batches of eight chapters, we've completed the first batch (1-8) and are about to complete the second batch (9-16).

Once we're completely done in this fashion, we'll most likely put the whole thing on our Kindles and read it to ourselves over a few days. I'm sure we'll make further notes about typos and inconsistencies, and then it'll be back to the manuscript again for final tweaks.

THEN the completed book will be off to beta-readers.

I'm honestly not sure that I could collaborate on a full-scale novel in this way with anyone other than Mr. Clopper. Apparently our mindsets and wavelengths are the same. We have no egos when it comes to criticism no matter how small or large; we just get it sorted in the name of the book. Everything we do is about bettering the story and the way it's written, so if that means a load of nitpicking highlights show up in what we thought were our carefully crafted chapters, then so be it -- it's just stuff we need to work on some more. It's a matter-of-fact, methodical approach, and our goal is a final product that we're BOTH proud of.

It seems like an obvious thing to say, but for any authors thinking about collaborating: pick your writing partner wisely. I can see a hundred ways it could go wrong otherwise. Most of all, don't ever take criticism personally. The last thing I want is someone to apologize and tiptoe around as they meekly tell me, "Sorry, I hope you don't mind me saying this, but this scene might possibly be in need of a teensy-weensy alteration, but then again, what do I know?" I'd rather just be told flatly, "Hey, mister, this doesn't work, and here's why..." so I can go fix it and move on. I'm happy to say that Brian and I are able to say it as it is and be grateful for the feedback.

I'll try to save some before-and-after examples for the next post on this subject -- little snippets of the kinds of fixes we're making throughout.

Until then, I have to get back to Google Docs now. Books don't edit themselves, you know!

Oh wait. Apparently they do...

Island of Fog is a B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Thu, 23 May 2013 09:54:11 -0400

Island of Fog (Book 1) has won a place on the B.R.A.G. (Book Readers Appreciation Group) website after going through a review process and meeting certain minimum standards of quality, subject matter, genre, content and editing.

There are a number of websites offering awards and badges to make authors feel good, but very few are as noteworthy as indieBRAG (and their B.R.A.G. Medallion™) who have earned the backing of the Alliance of Independent Authors (itself a well-respected community). So why does this organization exist? As indieBRAG explains on their website:

According to publishing industry surveys, 8 out of 10 adults feel they have a book in them. But traditional or mainstream publishers reject all but a tiny percentage of manuscripts. Historically, this has presented a classic catch-22, in that you had to be a published author in order to get a publisher.
The advent of self-publishing companies and print-on-demand technology has changed this. Now anyone can publish a book and the number of books being self-published is exploding, reaching into the millions annually. However, there is virtually no control over what is published or by whom, and industry experts believe that upwards of 95% of indie books are poorly written and edited.
Compounding this problem, these books are rarely reviewed in The New York Times Book Review or by other leading sources. Additionally, the reviews and ratings at online booksellers are often provided by the author's friends and family, and are therefore unreliable.
There are professional book review services and bona fide writing competitions within the self-publishing industry that certainly help address this problem. However, none provide an independent, broad-based and reader-centric source to advise the public which indie books merit the investment of their time and money.
This is precisely the reason that indieBRAG, LLC, and the B.R.A.G. Medallion™ exist. Our company fills a critical void within the publishing industry by providing enlightenment of the readers, by the readers, and for the readers of self-published books.

I submitted the first book in my Island of Fog series back in December 2012 and was told that it "must meet certain minimum standards of quality, subject matter, genre, content and editing. If it passes this preliminary assessment, it is then read and evaluated by members drawn from our reader group. The readers judge the merits of the book based on our proprietary list of criteria, the single most important of which is whether or not they would recommend it to their best friend. If a book meets our high standards, we award it our B.R.A.G. Medallion™, and along with other medallion recipients, it is presented on our website."

Being able to recommend a book to a friend (best or otherwise) is about the highest praise there is, because what else is there, really? An author is nothing without readers, and readers pick up or download books for one of two reasons: either they liked the cover and blurb, or they heard about it from an enthusiastic friend. Word of mouth on blogs and forums, recommendations to friends, family, and acquaintances... it's how authors get around. And nobody recommends books they don't like.

The review process was stated as up to four months, and it was actually more like five, but that's okay. I was very happy to be told a couple of days ago that I'd won a place on their website. It's a badge I'll be sure to wave around and brag about -- as in this blog post!

True to their word, indieBRAG have already posted a 5-star review on Amazon, Goodreads and Barnes & Noble, saying, "We are proud to announce that Island of Fog by Keith Robinson is a B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree. This tells you that this book is well worth your time and money!" The book will shortly be featured on their home page and Facebook page, too.

And how much did I pay for all this? Nothing. When you have to pay for an award, it's usually not worth bragging about. The B.R.A.G. Medallion™ is free but not freely dished out, an award to be proud of -- as I am!

Ned Firebreak by Brian Clopper

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Mon, 13 May 2013 08:42:34 -0400

Fantasy author Brian Clopper recently published a new novel, Ned Firebreak, about a dragonslayer who has lost part of his memory and can't recall how to slay dragons. What a pain that would be!

I had the privilege of beta-reading this novel, and it's full of colorful characters and adventure. It starts out fairly relaxed as Ned wakes from a coma, but it picks up speed like a magical talking tree floating down a river (which, by the way, actually happens in the story). The ending is epic. Ned Firebreak is a fantasy novel for middle-graders and up, and well worth a try. Here's the author's back-cover blurb:

The Firebreaks are a family of dragonslayers. After dispatching the unruly lizards, this father/son team brings back the fair maidens to live on their magically protected princess reservation. At least that's what their brochure would have you believe.

When Ned wakes up from a coma, he finds key memories relating to his rescue missions and missing-in-action father erased by magic. With the help of three motivated princesses and one who's rather a hindrance, he sets out to uncover his missing memories and reveal the truth of the Firebreaks' dealings with the dragons of the Eight Kingdoms. Along the way, Ned picks up a tree sidekick, a wizard versed in the ludicrous art of pun magic, and a healthy respect for both princesses and dragons alike.

Can he make the world outside of the reservation safe for the princesses? Will he uncover the true threat to the maidens' well-being? Can he find his father before he must face off against the nefarious black dragon, Rackeesus, who dogs his trail every step of the way?

Find out Ned's fate in this rousing tale that blends fantasy with mystery and heaping helpings of wit.

This is a solid tale of princesses, dragons, and not-quite-dragonslayers

Mr. Clopper goes all out in this tale of a dragonslayer who's lost his memory and has to figure out how he's supposed to continue his trade when he has no recollection of his skills. And why is he in the company of Aunt Nance and four lovely princesses?

On this journey of discovery, my favorite character has to be the magical tree, dubbed Sir Franklin, who leaves his roots behind and branches out in an effort not to leaf Ned to fend for himself on his quest. (See, Clopper's not the only one who can write puns.) But all the characters are solid, and the story moves at a pretty fair clip, culminating in an epic ending.

As I said, I had the privilege of reading an early pre-publication copy of this novel, and there are a number of things the author has since adjusted and improved based on feedback from myself and other beta readers. The sign of a good author is one who is enthusiastic about listening to comments and making changes for the sake of a better book. This book has come through the refinement process and is now as shiny has Aunt Nance's sword. The result is a solid and well-written novel for all ages. Thoroughly recommended.

Ned Firebreak is available only on Kindle at the very reasonable price of $2.99. Get it now!

The cost of shipping books internationally

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Wed, 8 May 2013 13:36:39 -0400

This week I sent out pre-ordered signed paperback copies of Chamber of Ghosts. In the process of doing that, I realized that the US Postal Service doesn't want my business anymore, or anyone else's for that matter.

I used to send up to three books in a flat-rate envelope for $13.95 to anywhere in the world. Three books was a tight squeeze, but they fit, and the post office was fine with it. By the end of 2012, this flat rate had gone up to $16.95. That's quite a jump, but still acceptable. Today the same flat rate is $23.95.

Just so we're clear -- the international flat-rate postage has jumped from $13.95 to $23.95 in the space of a year. Now it's cheaper to send a single book using the first-class service ($16.75) while reserving the flat-rate service for packages containing two or three books. This is all way more expensive than it used to be.

Because of this, signed paperback copies of my books are now only available to readers in the USA -- unless of course anyone wants to email me and pay the ridiculous shipping, which I wouldn't recommend. Honestly, I know I'm a fabulous author and really famous and everything, but I don't think my signature is worth that much!

It's a shame, but since most of my sales are electronic these days, this shipping limitation will probably only affect a handful of readers. The trouble is, that handful are the ones who have been with me from the beginning, faithfully buying each new book as it's published. So for those readers I would still be happy to make a special arrangement. For everyone else, I'm afraid you'll have to order from Amazon wherever possible -- which is easy for UK readers, but not so easy for those in Australia and other countries.

This seems to be the way of things today. Because of the internet and email and electronic books, we use the traditional post office less, and they have to recover costs any way they can. But still, how about spreading the cost a little more? I can send books anywhere in the USA via media mail for a couple of dollars even when there are three or four in the package, yet it costs at least $16.75 to send ONE book overseas, and $23.95 for two or more. Yikes!

Last orders, please!

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 16:22:28 -0400

My proof print copy of Chamber of Ghosts arrived today. It looks great and is ready to go, and I'm about to place my first stock order. So if you want a printed and signed copy, please click here to add a copy to your cart and order today.

Click for larger view

Non-signed copies will be available from Amazon sometime soon as well.

Chamber of Ghosts is published

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:21:44 -0400

It's April 24th, exactly four years to the day since Island of Fog (Book 1) was published. For all those who are tearing out their hair and jumping up and down with anticipation, Chamber of Ghosts (Island of Fog, Book 6) is now published on Kindle. Go get it here:

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon lets you read the first couple of chapters via their LookInside! feature, or you can go to my Chamber of Ghosts page instead.

I'm now working on getting the print edition ready. This is just a matter of uploading the files to CreateSpace, but of course then I have to wait for the proof before ordering my first stock, so that's probably 1-2 weeks in total. Those who have pre-ordered are first in line. Those who have not pre-ordered but want to, now would be the time to do it! Just click the button below to add a copy to your shopping cart. You can pay using PayPal or Google Checkout. Or, if you're local and would prefer to pay in person, just email me and we'll sort it out.

A special thanks to all my beta readers who found numerous typos, various continuity issues, and larger points of discussion that needed to be addressed. No matter how much I edit my own work, it definitely takes other pairs of eyes to iron out all the wrinkles!

Chamber of Ghosts -- now available on Kindle. Go get it before digital stocks run low!

Island of Fog Book 7 - including prequel!

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:00:18 -0400

Yes, you read it correctly. Book 7 of the Fog series is in the works. Previously, Book 6 was to be the last book in the series for the foreseeable future. A prequel was planned, but that idea has now evolved into something far more exciting. Book 7 will be another Hal book, and will include the prequel -- and much more.

This idea stems from my indecision about my Chamber of Ghosts ending. Now, when I say "ending," I really mean a little additional "twist" scene at the very end of the epilogue, really a minor sub-plot separate to the main story, and not even much of a twist for some. I just thought it would be neat to include. A couple of beta readers didn't care for it, but most liked it a lot. One said this:

Loved it! Loved it! BUT... you. just. can't. leave. us. hanging. :( :(

The problem is, most agreed that the twist ending demanded another book to deal with it, which I hadn't planned on. I was really only intending to write a prequel. So I announced to the beta readers that I would drop the twist ending. Then I received notes like this:

I was disappointed that you decided to revise the end as I loved it, but I understand that that would tie you down significantly for the the next book.

Hmm. What to do?

Well, I remember saying that Mountain of Whispers was the last book in the series back in 2010, and obviously I changed my mind. So I suppose that means I can change my mind again. Right?

The solution hit me this morning as I was doing some final edits. And this isn't just a fudged workaround. I couldn't have come up with a better idea if I'd tried. I'm possibly more excited about Book 7 than any other book to date.

I can't give too much away, but there's a new character named Chase who shows up in Chamber of Ghosts, and he has a story of his own involving a time when Miss Simone and her classmates started shapeshifting at age eight. But Chase's story isn't really part of this book. Instead, this book merely introduces him and paves the way for the planned prequel.

Well, it turns out that I would be much better off writing another Hal story that happens to include Chase's prequel story. So there will be two timelines -- one in the present where Hal and Chase are on a quest, and another in the past as Chase is telling his story (he'll have entire chapters dedicated to him, written from his point of view in real time as though the reader is "there" in the past). Both timelines -- and both stories -- will converge toward the end. And since this is another Hal book, I get to explore that "twist ending" I mentioned, which will fit in nicely, thank you very much.

I knew the answer would come to me if I waited. You can't shoehorn stuff in. You just have to wait for inspiration. This idea fits so perfectly in every conceivable way that I now can't imagine doing anything else.

All right. Back to Chamber of Ghosts. It's due out next Wednesday, after all.

Oh, and speaking of that, none of my beta readers appeared to have noticed a little joke I included in Chamber of Ghosts. Beta readers, if you understood the connection between my werewolves and the movies, then kudos to you; let me know, but don't reveal it here. When the book is published, I wonder how long it will take for someone to spot it...

Anyway -- see you next Wednesday!

Pre-order Chamber of Ghosts

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Mon, 8 Apr 2013 20:23:07 -0400

Chamber of Ghosts is into its last few weeks of editing and is due for publication on April 24th.

Half my beta readers have already finished and provided feedback, while others should be done in the next couple of days. I've been correcting typos along the way as well as making alterations here and there. I have a few matters to put out for discussion with all the beta readers on April 11th, but so far the feedback has been positive and I don't see a lot of work ahead of me. It's hard to post any of those comments without giving anything away, so I won't even try.

There are a few things for me to deal with, and that's the entire point of having beta readers. As it happens, most of what was brought up was mentioned two or more times, so I'm addressing those things without question. Curiously, I have a 50/50 split over a tiny scene at the very end of the epilogue. Some loved it, others didn't. I'm leaning towards removing it because even those who loved it said it made them impatient for the next book, which is not a good sign because this is the last book in the series! So that will be altered.

Certain typos were caught by all, but it amazes me how many more were picked up. This is the beauty of having over a dozen beta readers. Also, I've been reading the series myself lately, and I'm now into the second trilogy (specifically Lake of Spirits). I ran across an inconsistency that nobody has mentioned but is glaringly obvious now that I think about it. When we first meet Molly, she wears a veil but is otherwise human; her gorgon death gaze is so powerful that it presents itself even while in human form. In Chamber of Ghosts, I have her with a veil as usual but also a head of snakes -- while in human form! Those snakes shouldn't be writhing around on her head unless she's in full gorgon form. I've now fixed that little issue, but it demonstrates the type of thing that can slip through when the author is looking the other way.

Anyway, for the most part I'm happy. I haven't had anyone tell me it's trash yet, so that's a good sign. I do have two nice reviews already on Goodreads if you're interested.

Finally, it might be worth mentioning that you're welcome to pre-order a signed copy from my personal stock if you want to. Publication on Amazon is set for April 24th, so the printed books should be available around that time regardless, but if you do want a signed copy, pre-ordering is better because then I can make sure I buy enough copies.

More news soon.

Movie adaptation of Island of Fog for release in 2015 (April Fool's)

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Mon, 1 Apr 2013 08:27:36 -0400

I've been chomping at the bit to announce that Island of Fog will be made into a movie! The first call about this came two months ago, and I've been sworn to secrecy ever since, but now that contracts have been signed I can finally let y'all know that Hal and his shapeshifter friends are coming to a cinema near you sometime in 2015.

With a budget of $130 million, and digital effects by the same team that created 2002's excellent Reign of Fire movie, this will at the very least look good on screen! But even great-looking movies need a good screenplay, and I've been told the writers will need to make a few changes to the story to better suit movie audiences. That's okay as long as the essence of the novel is there.

No news on young actors, but it's still early in the process. I do know who the director is but can't yet reveal his name. It's so frustrating not being able to blab!

Also in the works is a major publishing deal, which apparently is what happens whenever movie contracts are signed. I'm thinking about saying "no" and continuing to self-publish. From what I understand, when a property has been snatched up by a producer and a movie is in the works, publishers really don't bring much else to the table. They're kind of like sharks homing in on the smell of money. They just want a piece of the action. Why should I let them have a cut now when they had no faith in my books before?

Anyway, stay tuned for more detailed news when I get it. :-)

Island of Fog featured as Book of the Month

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 10:26:13 -0400

My three local libraries in Chickamauga, Rossville, and Lafayette have been good to me over the years, supporting my books and keeping them in stock, even promoting them when readers come in asking for recommendations.

Recently, a high school student popped into Rossville Public Library and said he was planning to do a book promotion as part of his senior project. He asked Brandy for suggestions on what might be a good book to promote, and she (bless her!) recommended Island of Fog, adding that the author is local. And that's how my book ended up being chosen for this project.

As well as Ridgeland High School being on board to help promote the book, the student (who I shall simply call Jason, for that's his name) has arranged for Island of Fog to be Rossville Middle School's "Book of the Month" for April.

This is all good timing because the sixth and final book in the series will be released on April 24th. Hopefully this will give new local readers a chance to get through the series just in time for the launch!

Thanks as always to Brandy at the Rossville Library, to the schools mentioned above (especially Ms. Jackson, the librarian at the middle school), and to Jason for working hard to promote my books!

Letters and artwork from a classroom in North Carolina

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 12:58:46 -0400

Each year, Brian Clopper -- talented writer and illustrator as well as a good friend and really cool fifth-grade teacher -- reads Island of Fog to his class. I'm still wondering how I got so lucky, how a teacher chose MY book over so many other possibles, but Island of Fog seems to have formed part of the Clopper Curriculum at his school in North Carolina. And each year, after reading the book, the students write me letters and show off their fabulous artwork.

I've put together all the questions in no particular order, along with my answers. But let's start with the art...

Click thumbnails for larger views of artwork!
(reset to original picture)

And now to the questions. I love the diversity of imponderables, and there are a lot of them!

How do you create your ideas?

What I DON'T do is sit down and stare with a perplexed expression at a screen and hope I'll get an idea. I believe that only happens on TV, and it always baffles me. In real life, an author has ideas all the time, just little ones that pop into his head at random times. He then chews on the idea and lets it undulate through his mind for a while. Eventually, if the idea is still nagging at him, he might start fleshing out the details.

Where do your word choices come from?

I just use what I have available in my head. Occasionally I'll look in a Thesaurus. Sometimes I end up using a word more than a few times. Interestingly, you all picked out a few words that I apparently use too many times in Island of Fog, and those words were undulate, perplexed and baffled. However, I counted and found that I'd used undulated only 5 times, perplexed 6 times, and baffled only once. I suspect I must have used the first two words in a short space of time, hence why you noticed them, but I'm baffled about the third since I only used it once!

Actually, there was one word I really had a problem with when I first wrote the book, and that was gloom or gloomy. I had to go through cutting it out, and now there are only 12 uses throughout. However, I used fog a staggering 271 times. But hey, it's a book about fog. What do you expect? :-)

How do you create your names?

Usually I look at websites that have lists of names and run through them finding names I like. I do the same with last names, then mix them all up until I have good, solid names. It's not completely random though, because parents tend to think about the names they give their children. They have to sound good, and roll off the tongue. In my later books, there's a character called Orson. His parents would never have called him Orson if their names were Mr. and Mrs. Cart, you see? That would be unfortunate.

Why does Fenton stay in serpent form?

Some of the children just can't make their transformations work properly. It takes time to learn that stuff, you know.

How do you come up with such brilliant work?

Oh, well... *turns red*

When did you start writing books?

I always liked writing, but started in earnest in 2002 after I moved from England to the United States. I was working from home in a strange land, and had time on my hands. It was just a good time to indulge in something I always enjoyed.

Are there other islands apart from Hal's?

Oh yes. But they're all ordinary, nothing strange about them at all.

Will the shapeshifters ever start an army?

Well, they're sort of an army already. But if you continue reading the series, you'll see such an army in Book 3, Mountain of Whispers.

Did you ever consider having one child turn into an owl to be a messenger?

Have you been watching Harry Potter again?

Is Hal always green as a dragon, or is it just his rash that's green?

He's always green. His rash is actually scaly dragon skin.

What color are Abigail's wings?

They're mostly transparent, much like a dragonfly's.

What do you write on?

My laptop (which mostly stays on my desk).

How long do you write daily?

It depends. I don't bother writing at all unless I can devote at least an hour. Since I work for myself, designing websites at home on my computer, sometimes I just decide to take a day off work and write. Then I can get a lot done!

What software do you use?

I've tried different things but always end up back on Microsoft Word (the old 2000 edition, just because I don't have the newer version).

What encouraged you to write this book?

The thought of being a world-famous author and earning millions of dollars and having a blockbusting movie made.

Does Hal ever fly?

You'll have to read other books in the series to find that out. ;-)

What was your favorite part about writing this book?

Finally getting past Chapter Eight. I wrote those first eight chapters several times and finally got it where I wanted it. I was super-excited when I at last moved on to the next act.

How old are you?

43. Why, does that change your opinion of me? *sob*

Who is your favorite monster in Island of Fog?

I have to go with the manticore here. I just think they're so deliciously sinister.

How long have you been writing?

About twenty minutes. Oh, wait, you mean overall? Since February 2002, so eleven years or thereabouts.

When did you start like writing and know you wanted to be a writer?

I always liked writing. The big question here is when I wanted to be an author. There's a difference between wishing I were an author and knowing I could actually be one. That transition came around November 2008 when I sent the manuscript to a professional editor and she said that, apart from a list of minor typos, it was publishable. I was amazed.

Could you have included a unicorn in the book?

I could have, but didn't. I had a centaur already, and I thought one equine-type was enough. But you'll discover, later in the series, that there are unicorns. One of Miss Simone's friends is one.

Do you like how Britain runs the government?

Uh -- wow! Um. Honestly, I live in the USA now and have lost touch. But if you speak to someone who lives there, they'll probably say no, the country is going downhill for various reasons. But you could say that about any country. Everyone has a complaint. I don't remember a time when people walked around beaming and saying, "I just LOVE how the country is run at the moment, don't you?"

Do you have a map of Miss Simone's world?

Great question! I do have a map, although it's not publishable yet. It's something I intend putting together at some point. It includes the island plus all the surrounding area and coastline -- in both worlds.

Does Miss Simone's world have a name?

It's simply Earth, as Hal's is. Both are the same place, just different. In retrospect I wish I'd called Miss Simone's world something different so I didn't have to keep saying "Hal's old world" and "Miss Simone's world," but oh well. Live and learn.

How did you decide to make the front cover a manticore?

It just stood out as being an obvious choice. The original cover was just the woods, but since later books had a creature of some kind taking centerstage, I decided I needed to do the same for Island of Fog. And rather than change it too much, I simply added the manticore, thus keeping the same scene of Black Woods in the background.

How long did it take you to write the book and edit it?

About six years in all. But subsequent books in the series have only taken six months. The main difference is that the first book was more of a hobby than anything. Once it was published and I started selling it, I got serious.

Do you like sports?

Um... well, I do like Dragon-Tag. Have you played that? It's just like normal tag, only with dragons. You need some friendly dragons, though; it can get messy when you involve the vicious types. I also like Hide-and-Seek-Dryads, but they always, always win for some reason.

How long have you known Mr. Clopper?

Since March 2010, which was when I received my first batch of letters and artwork for Island of Fog from the class at that time. We and our families eventually met in Asheville, which is about a four-hour drive for each of us, about halfway between his home in North Carolina and mine in Georgia. That was a great weekend break, yet still nowhere near enough time to talk about writing and drawing. Bah!

Do you know any other writers?

I know several, yes -- Brian Clopper for a start, and Roger Eschbacher (who has written a lot of Scooby Doo episodes), and numerous others -- and of course a best-selling author, Piers Anthony, whose books I read when I was sixteen.

How many books do you think you've read?

Since I learned to read? 1,404,232 and counting.

Do you write during the day or night?

Just whenever I can. It doesn't matter when as long as it's quiet. I write for longer periods during the morning (sometimes 3-4 hours) but I write more often for an hour or so late at night (after everybody else has gone to bed).

Does Mr. Clopper help you use our Word of the Day?

I don't know about your Word of the Day, but he does sometimes introduce me to a word I haven't used before. Like recently he used "tamped" and I decided I needed to make use of that one. It's a funny word. At the time, I said I hadn't heard of it before, but I suppose I had -- it's just not one I've ever used. Now I see it everywhere I look!

Why did you make the goblins trustworthy?

And why not? Do you have something against poor goblins? Why should they always be the bad guys? ;-)

How did you come up with the creatures for the kids?

I just used whatever creatures popped into my head. Some were obvious choices, but about half of them were ones I decided on later. I wanted to make sure they were all different. I didn't want to have a manticore as well as a griffin and sphinx, for example, which you might say are similar in that they all take the form of a lion.

How many more IOF books will you write?

I have six in total planned at the moment, plus a prequel. Then I'll be taking a break. But I do plan to return to the series in the future, maybe after a year of doing other things.

Will you make another series?

Yes! I'm looking forward to the challenge of writing not only standalone books, but a new series as well.

How did the sea serpent get to the island in the first place?

The same way it got home at the end of the book.

Who is the sea serpent?

Ah, now, that's an interesting question. As it happens, the sea serpent is just a sea serpent. But when I was writing the book all those years ago, I had ideas about Miss Simone being the sea serpent. In the end it just didn't fit into the plot well enough.

What is Emily?

She's a naga.

What does a naga look like?

Half human, half snake. Take a look here for examples.

What exactly is Fenton?

He's a rare, unnamed monster lizard. At first the children thought of him as a gargoyle because of the way he stuck to walls and spouted water, but he's not that at all, as Graham the Gargoyle will confirm. In a later book, Miss Simone wanted to call the monster an oroborous, which is a giant serpent symbolizing infinity. The creature might be found circling a moat and chewing on its own tail, thus forming a complete circle. But Fenton remains unnamed. He's a creature I made up.

Did you get any of these ideas from childhood experience?

Oh, sure. I was always tangling with dragons and manticores and the like. :-)

Are there any writers who inspired you?

Enid Blyton (an English author who died in 1968, the year before I was born). Her books were fabulous, full of adventure and mystery. Oddly enough, I didn't read fantasy back then, just young detective stories -- but these days I don't read crime and mystery, only fantasy and science fiction. Later, in my teens, I read Piers Anthony, Douglas Adams, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, and many others.

Who will play Hal in the movie?

That depends on when the movie is made. As you know, children grow up fast, and there's no point speculating about a young actor to play Hal when that actor might be too old by the time the movie is made. Plus of course, it would help if a movie were actually being made in real life instead of just in my head.

What color is Abigail's hair?

Dark brown.

Will Hal and Abigail start dating in other books?

Maybe. ;-)

Well, I hope that answers all the questions successfully! Students, thanks so much for taking the time to write and draw. I hope you enjoyed Island of Fog. The real test is whether you went on to buy any of the other books in the series. But either way, isn't it better to read about shapeshifting children than boring old Shakespeare?

Calling for Chamber of Ghosts beta readers

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 22:14:01 -0400

I'm now ready to compile a list of beta readers for the forthcoming Chamber of Ghosts (Book 6 in the Island of Fog series). I have four names already and would like about ten in total. Interested? Please email me at keith@unearthlytales.com.

What is a beta reader?

As Wikipedia says, a beta reader is "a person who reads a written work, generally fiction, with what has been described as a critical eye, with the aim of improving grammar, spelling, characterization, and general style of a story prior to its release to the general public."

You don't have to be a professional proofreader or anything like that. I just need fans of the series who are willing to provide some feedback with regards to anything that seems slow, silly, unrealistic, too dark, clunky, confusing, and so on -- basically drawing attention to anything you feel could or should be improved. Also, some of you might be adept at catching typos and grammatical issues, all of which would be gratefully received and dealt with.

When will the book be ready?

I'm working on a quick sweep to eradicate glaring typos so that your copy is as clean as can be at this stage. I still need a bit longer, but even if it's not completely ready, I'm aiming to be send it out to beta readers on Wednesday March 20th (a week from now).

How long do I have to read it?

The publication date is set in stone as Wednesday April 24th. I need about two weeks beforehand to iron out any final wrinkles and put things in order, and to prepare the book for publication. So that means I need comments and thoughts back by April 10th, or as early as possible. That gives you exactly three weeks.

Do I have to review the book afterward?

No, you don't have to, but ratings and reviews would be very welcome. The thing about beta reading is that the book may not be at its very best -- hence why you're beta reading. So if you read it and find things that could be improved, you would need to take that into account if and when you rate and review it. For instance, you might think it's a 5-star rating but only if a particular bit is rewritten, otherwise it's only a 4-star rating. And for that reason, I would suggest holding off on your review until you've seen the very latest pre-release version, or at least the relevant updated text.

What I don't want to happen is for beta readers to have posted reviews saying, "It was great apart from this really daft bit," when in fact that really daft bit was edited out before publication. So if you do rate and review the book, please take last-minute changes into account.

Where and when should I post a review?

You'll be able to post a review on Goodreads weeks before launch date because I'll have a book page set up already.

It would be great if you could copy-paste your Goodreads review into Amazon as well. Ideally, if you had to choose, an Amazon review is the most important to me. The problem is that you won't be able to post a review on Amazon until the book is actually published, so be aware that I'll be hounding you on launch day to go ahead and post those reviews! :-)

Do you care what rating I give your book in Goodreads and Amazon?

Heck yeah! Ratings are very important, particularly in the early days. I do want you to be honest, though, so if you think the book is only worth 3 stars or lower, then fair enough -- but then please don't rate it. No rating is better than a low rating! I'm hoping for 4- or 5-star ratings only, so if you think the book is worth it, then please shout it out.

In what format will the book be available for beta reading?

For beta purposes, Chamber of Ghosts will be available as a Kindle .mobi file or a standard .epub file that will work on Nook or other electronic readers. I'll also make it available in .pdf and .doc format. You'll need to let me know what format you prefer. It won't be available in print. That just takes too much time.

Will I get a copy of the book once it's finalized and published?

Yes, indeed -- those who provide useful feedback and/or a review will receive a free copy of the final book in either electronic or print form.

When the book is published, will it be available in print at the same time as on Kindle?

Possibly. It may be a few days later. When the book is finished, it takes no more than an hour to get it from a Word document into ebook format and uploaded to Amazon's Kindle system. The book is then available shortly after, usually within half a day. But the print process is much more complicated. Still, I'm aiming to get it in print on the same day. Just don't count on it.

Why are you pretending to be somebody else and asking all these questions?

Well, because -- well -- splutter! Look, this is just a nice, clear way to lay out a post, all right? Besides, I often talk to myself. Some of my conversations are really interesting, you know. Why, just the other day...

Anyway, stay tuned. And email me if you're interested in beta reading. Just to recap:

March 20th -- send book to beta readers.
April 10th -- last call for feedback.
April 24th -- publish to Kindle!

If you want to be a beta reader, don't forget to let me know what format you'd prefer the book in.

Thanks!

Late edits to Chamber of Ghosts

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Sat, 9 Mar 2013 11:09:46 -0500

About a week ago, I was ready to hand out Chamber of Ghosts to beta readers. But I allowed Brian Clopper a head start, and he immediately pointed out the error of my ways.

Recently I had commented on one of his unfinished novels to say that an opening chapter lacked "umph" -- that is, it started out by filling in the reader with a lot of background before getting to some action in real time. And what happened? I did the exact same thing with Chamber of Ghosts. Looking at it again, I can clearly see that my first two chapters are really not needed. Some of the content is necessary as quick reminders, but I can sprinkle that stuff into the third chapter where there's some real action going on.

And so I've now lopped off two chapters and made my third into Chapter 1. I'm currently adjusting it here and there, but overall the novel will have about 5000 words cut. The result is a leaner, meaner opening.

This, of course, is what beta readers are for! A writer gets so close to the book that he fails to see the woods for the trees, and a beta reader can come along and point out something that should be glaringly obvious.

While reading Mountain of Whispers just now, I came across a few small but important details that I need to address in Chamber of Ghosts. Nothing major, and very easy to alter in an unpublished book... but these things would have been highly embarrassing if they'd slipped through. Which was, of course, why I decided weeks ago to read all the books again from start to finish. I'm finding all kinds of minor details I'd forgotten about.

There may be other things in this new novel that I need to address, but right now I'm hoping to get this book into the hands of more beta readers sometime during next week. More on that soon.

Website overhaul

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Wed, 6 Mar 2013 13:43:36 -0400

Regular visitors might have noticed over the last few days that I've been tinkering with this blog and website. At first glance it looks basically the same, but there are some differences.

One of the biggest differences is the text size. In this age of iPads, Kindle Fires, and other tablets, not to mention smart phones, more and more people are browsing on smaller screens. Although the text is often auto-enlarged or zoomed to a readable size, it still messes with layouts and generally looks like a big old mess.

For a while I had a "mobile phone" version that cut out some of the surplus widgets (like the right-hand sidebar) and made the content simpler. But although the content was shared, it still meant two different website templates.

In the end I redesigned the site so that it has a fluid layout with fairly large, nicely readable text. If you minimize your browser window and scrunch it down so it's really, really narrow, you'll see that the site squeezes down accordingly and the content wraps to fit. It should work on most smart phones without any sideways scrolling or special zooming.

See how my ugly mug slides to the left, the text wraps, and the book images shrink to fit.

I've noticed that most blogs these days use large text, perhaps for the reason described above, or perhaps because people are so fast-paced now that they only glance at computers as they're rushing past! Anyway, I too have "gone large" with the text. I've also dropped the right sidebar, which is a nice-to-have on a website but is very rarely included in mobile phone versions. My simple, fluid layout avoids the need to show or hide that sidebar depending on whether it's a computer or handheld device -- which, let me tell you, is a pain to deal with.

The site isn't perfect by any means. I expect to keep tweaking things as I find more bugs and annoyances. Still, it's getting there. There are some snazzy widgets I used to have that I'll miss, but hey, it's a blog. The purpose of a blog is to impart information as easily as possible to the reader.

So what do YOU think? Found any bugs here? Is there anything you like or dislike when viewing this blog on a computers vs. handheld device? Do you even care? :-)

The ISLAND OF FOG fantasy series

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 14:12:38 -0500

I've been quiet on the blogging front lately, but I've been busy behind the scenes. I went to England for a couple of weeks this month and caught up on reading and editing every chance I got. Obviously I was editing Fog Book 6, Chamber of Ghosts, which is scheduled for release on April 24.

But what was I reading?

Why, I'm glad you asked. For the first time, I'm reading my own Fog series from start to finish. Naturally I read each book numerous times while writing, editing, proofing, and publishing, but I haven't read any of them since other than dipping in once in a while to check facts and continuity.

For the most part, I'm pleased. I found Island of Fog to be a little rough around the edges in places -- sentences that I'd write differently today, a number of minor technical faults and typos, that sort of thing. Nothing major, but I still managed to come away with a list of 69 tiny edits. Most of these were missing or incorrectly used hyphens, or repeated words, or clunky phrasing. Anyway, I went through the book and put things right.

I also noticed on Amazon recently that a certain phrase in the book has been highlighted by readers. Kindle users can do this. They can highlight something they liked or disliked and make their highlight public. In the case of Island of Fog, four people highlighted one particular sentence. Taken out of context, I have to admit it's pretty funny:

Clever readers will know that this is a scene in the classroom when Hal spoke to his friends right after he belched up fire and burnt the back of Lauren's chair. It made sense when I wrote it, but okay, I admit, it's a funny comment for Hal to make when taken out of context like this. I've altered it slightly to avoid ridicule, and this new version of the book (sans typos) will be live in the next week or so. I'll be interested to see if the highlight remains on Amazon once the text is altered!

Overall, I liked the story. It's not perfect, and I do see it for what it is -- a debut novel. But I stand by it and have no plans to change anything other than those minor typos mentioned above.

Labyrinth of Fire is, I think, better written, at least from a technical point of view. I breezed through page and page without finding a single word out of place (in my opinion anyway). That's not to say it's a literary masterpiece, just that I'm really happy with my own work.

Someone recently mentioned that it was slow to start, and it is a little, but I think that's a problem more for older readers than young. I recall reading Enid Byton's mystery and adventure books when I was around 9-12, and I loved all the stuff that happened before the story got going. The young adventurers would spend a good quarter of the book just reuniting and going on a picnic and catching up, and infuriating the village policeman, and so on -- all before the plot kicked in. It was brilliant. Today, all that stuff seems superfluous. Similarly, in Labyrinth, I guess older readers might be less interested in the initial scenes where Hal and his friends are checking out the village and settling in. That said, I didn't really spot anything that was unnecessary.

The action scenes with the harpies and dragons were (again, in my opinion) top-notch! Hehe. And then there's the glass faerie ball. Two much-respected readers suggested this was a case of deus ex machina, where a seemingly unresolvable plot problem is solved by a lucky break. I never saw this when I wrote it, nor later when it was mentioned, and not now either, having read the book fresh. So although I understand and respect the point of view, I still don't agree with it. The reason is because I planned it this way from the very start, and there are plenty of references to the glass ball from early on. So it doesn't feel forced to me at all. The trick, though, is convincing the reader that it was planned. It really was, and it makes sense to me, but... well, that's not to say I'm right about it.

Anyway, again, so far I'm pleased. I can't wait to get stuck into Mountain of Whispers, and I have it all cued up and ready to go on my Kindle.

All this re-reading, by the way, is something I always planned to do before I launched Chamber of Ghosts. I wanted to make sure there was nothing I'd forgotten, no threads left untied. In re-reading the books, I'm finding small details I'd actually misremembered, or details that have since evolved, and there's one thing in particular -- fairly minor -- that I want to adjust in Chamber to avoid a continuity problem for sharp-eyed readers.

So as much fun as it is to read my own books for a change, I still consider this work, work, work.

Collaborative novel writing

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 10:29:22 -0500

Writing a novel is hard work. Writing a novel in collaboration with another author is something else entirely. Splitting the work does not necessarily make it easier and quicker to get that book written! But if you're collaborating with the right author, it can be a very interesting and rewarding experience.

So Brian Clopper and I are three quarters of the way through our first collaborative novel, Fractured, and looking to finish the first draft in the next week. How's it going? Let's ask myself some questions...

What the heck is the novel about anyway?

It's a sci-fi/fantasy mash-up. My character resides in a futuristic sci-fi world ("the city"), and Brian's lives at the far end of the land in a simpler, magical kingdom ("the enclaves"). My character Kyle, and Brian's character Logan, both end up in the vast area between, known as the Ruins or Broken Lands, and eventually cross paths. That's all I'm prepared to say at this moment!

The entire novel is written with alternating chapters, so we're each able to write our stories as separate mini-novels, but when merged together, the reader gets to enjoy a complete, intertwined story.

Has the novel's plot gone the way you both intended, or has it veered wildly off course?

I'm happy to say it's gone exactly as intended. We had plotted the story beforehand, writing a brief paragraph per chapter to explain what will happen where and when. Sure, some of the details have evolved, including some background history stuff, but overall it's the same story we planned from the beginning. The biggest change is the length. The first part of the novel was intended as four chapters each, after which the real journey would begin. But it quickly became six chapters each, and the novel grew.

Then our characters got so involved in the journey itself that we added to those chapters as well. And the novel grew. We've now written the crossover section and are on the final leg of the journey to each other's world.

Wait. What? Your characters are swapping places?

Yes indeed. My sci-fi character Kyle ends up in Logan's enclave, and vice versa. How will they deal with this complete switcheroo? More importantly, how will the two authors deal with a world created by the other? Well, so far, so good. We're respectful of each other's work to the point that yesterday Brian asked me what my road-cleaning droid looked like, and I sent him a picture and some basic notes that I had stored in my head. In turn, I asked him how big his canyon clacker monsters are, and what Glider-spirits look like.

This is an interesting exercise, and a little scary in places. Up until our character crossed places, we were involved in our own journeys in our own halves of the world, and could invent and create whatever we wanted within the rules of the game. Now we're feeling our way through territory created by the other, and for that we need to read the other's work very carefully and ask for clarification where necessary. And if one of us gets something wrong, it's up to the other to say so. For instance, in one place I described long grass, and Brian said, "No, actually it's short grass just there." Hey, it was his vision, and he'd actually written short grass, so I'm happy to go with it.

Likewise, Brian asked me if a certain campsite is to the north of the lake, and I confirmed that it was. Honestly, it might have been weird to imagine one thing and have Brian write something entirely different. This attention to tiny details is important -- but on the other hand, sometimes it really doesn't matter. Unless there's a direct conflict in the plot or continuity, or it's something we're particularly hung up on, then it's okay for the other author to take liberties.

What's this 'crossover' scene you mentioned?

It's where the two characters cross paths. Up until this point, we've timed our separate threads so that they come together at an exact time on the third day. After they split and continue their journeys, the timing is again planned so that the climax of the novel ends at the exact same moment.

The entire novel is written with alternating chapters, but the crossover chapter involves both characters at once, so we alternated scenes within that single chapter. It's a long chapter compared to the others, but it works.

How is it to work with another author?

I can't speak for other authors because this is my first collaboration, but I've found that it's very easy working with Brian. We appear to be on the exact same wavelength, so conversations easily yield ideas that we both like. Being respectful and ready to compromise is the key, I think. We haven't really had to do any major compromising, but there are occasions when one or both has had to adjust something. I planned to have my character wake up at dawn in Chapter 34, but Brian's story continued at nighttime in Chapter 35. From the reader's point of view, it would have been weird to have a morning scene and then go back to night again. So I adjusted my thinking slightly and will now write Chapter 36 as a continued nighttime scene rather than a morning scene. No big deal.

Brian writes faster than me (or he's had more time to write), so I've been struggling to keep up. On the other hand, I think my pieces are slightly more polished, so perhaps I'll have less editing to do. We've sent a ton of emails back and forth during this process, most of them quick questions and answers -- about 55 emails each through January so far.

The way we're doing this collaboration is not the same way that others will do it. It's just the way that works for us. We planned and plotted for three months, then set aside January to "knock it out." This has worked well. I don't think it would work anywhere near as well if we wrote this on and off for a year.

So is it nearly finished? Will it be published soon?

No. It's true that we're three quarters of the way through the book, and will finish in the next week, but that's just a first draft. Do you think it'll be ready to publish right away? No sirree! We have a lot of editing and cleaning up to do, both individually and as a whole. The editing process itself will be interesting. I'll carefully go through mine and edit as I go, trying to add in or alter details based on what Brian wrote. And he'll do the same. Then we'll probably read the entire thing again as a whole and both make line edits wherever we spot them, then correct our own pieces afterward. Then we'll probably put it out to proofreaders, etc.

We're looking to publish in May or something like that. And it will be a free book, available to all from our websites, readable on the screen, on devices, and maybe even in print (at cost).

More soon!

Fractured - a free sci-fi and fantasy novel

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Wed, 2 Jan 2013 12:22:35 -0500

I have two writing projects for January 2013. One is to commence editing work on Chamber of Ghosts, which I've started and have already completed five chapters. The second project is to start writing Fractured. I'm a little ahead in that respect because I cheated and started a week ago!

Fractured is my first collaborative novel, written with author Brian Clopper. We've been discussing it since October via email and phone, and have slowly been putting together a chapter summary to use as a fairly rigid guide.

I've read a few collaborations over the years, but although the books may be conceived, planned and edited by two authors, it seems to me that they're actually written by just one. For instance, Piers Anthony and Robert E. Margroff wrote the Dragon's Gold series, but who wrote the initial draft? I always wondered how two authors can claim equal status with the actual writing of the novel. The Tunnels series is written by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams, but it looks to me like Gordon wrote it and Williams did the illustrations, while both most likely planned the series and edited it.

Just to be different, Brian and I came up with a truly level playing field. We would write a novel that follows two distinct characters on a journey that culminates in them crossing paths. Each journey would parallel the other. So we would create our own individual stories and alternate the chapters throughout the novel. This means the authorship is truly equal.

I won't give away the plot, but we have two different worlds -- one a futuristic sci-fi setting and the other a fantasy land full of spirits and creatures. I'm writing the sci-fi world, and my character is thrown into a situation that mirrors what's happening to Brian's. So while they're ultimately trying to achieve the same thing, their obstacles are wildly different.

The cover you see here is a mockup only. The finished cover will be different in the details but overall something along these lines. Our characters won't be bald. It's not two men but two 14-year-old boys. The mention of "one soul" is irrelevant. So there are things to change, but the finished version will look roughly like this.

The reader will see this as a traditional novel with Chapters 1-31 or thereabouts. My story will start at Chapter 1, Brian's at Chapter 2, and then I'll continue mine with Chapter 3, and so on, and Brian will end with Chapter 31. (The mathematically inclined among you will spot a flaw here. This is because there's a special chapter near the end where our characters cross paths, and that chapter is actually a joint effort where we alternate scenes, thereby tightening the to and fro between characters.)

I'll be really interested to learn whether readers will notice the difference in writing styles, and whether the difference will be interesting or off-putting. And whether one story will be more interesting than the other! There's no competitiveness here; we both want a single, solid novel with each thread working equally well, and of course we'll be proofreading and editing each other's work, which will help blend our styles.

As the month goes on, we'll both be blogging about our progress, especially as we intend to finish our halves by the end of January. This is a fairly short novel, and we're splitting the workload, so the first draft is going to fly by!

Look for publication around May, if not sooner. And this book will be available TOTALLY FREE for anyone who wants it. Apart from the complexities involved with splitting profits for sales, we just decided that this would be an interesting experiment and a good way to get both our names out there. There will be links to our other books in the afterword, so maybe readers of this free sci-fi/fantasy novel will want to pay a few bucks for some of our others.

More soon.

First draft of Chamber of Ghosts is finished

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 23:54:24 -0500

I had always aimed to get the first draft of Chamber of Ghosts finished before Christmas, and I just about did it. It's not finished finished; I need to wind down with a few more pages, perhaps even write an epilogue, but the final important scenes are in place.

The next step is to walk away. I'm putting this aside for a month while I work on something completely different. Then I'll come back and start the editing process. Currently the novel is over 105,000 words, which is longer than it needs to be. I expect to cut 5,000-10,000 words during the editing.

This book is definitely on track for release in April 2013. After that, you can expect a number of other releases throughout the year, including one or two standalone novels and several Island of Fog short stories.

While Chamber of Ghosts wraps up the primary story of Hal and his friends, it also introduces a new important character named Chase and paves the way for the prequel novel. Actually, today I decided that the prequel novel might have to be a trilogy instead! It's not my fault, honest. The plot of the first prequel novel is already firmly fixed in my head, but then I want to know what happens right after that story is told... and that's where Books 2 and 3 come in. So although the prequel is initially about Miss Simone and her classmates first transforming at eight years old, the story moves on and follows Chase into territory that even Miss Simone knows nothing about to this day.

Those of you who have read the series so far may have picked up on a small detail regarding Miss Simone's class. At the end of Chapter 11 of Labyrinth of Fire, Charlie Duggan mentions that there were twelve of them in that class. In later books, Miss Simone insists there were actually ten of them, not twelve. Both are correct, but in Miss Simone's view, only ten made it through the shapeshifter program and so only ten are worth mentioning. But what happened to those other two? We'll find out in the prequel trilogy.

Starting in January, I'll be embarking on a collaboration novel with fellow author Brian Clopper. This novel, entitled Fractured, is a serious sci-fi and fantasy mash-up. And it will be free for all. So stay tuned!

Dragon book series

keith@unearthlytales.com (Unearthly Tales) — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 18:47:04 -0500

What would YOU do if you found out you were a dragon shapeshifter? This series of fantasy books for all ages deals with that issue... and a whole lot more.

Hal Franklin is a twelve-year-old boy with a worrying and embarrassing secret: he has a green, itchy rash on his arm, and it's starting to turn scaly! It comes and goes, but it's definitely getting worse.

When Abigail, an annoying girl from his class, turns up at his house one night, he reluctantly goes out to the garage to see what she wants... and she tells him something startling, something that he refuses to believe. She says they're all turning into monsters.

This news is difficult to swallow, but he can't deny that something weird and frightening is happening...

As he stood there, candle held high, he noticed with a shock that the back of his left hand was covered with the same dark green rash as his forearm. His mouth dropped open. Candle wavering, he pulled back his sleeve. The rash, or whatever it was, had spread fast and now encompassed his entire lower arm. It had crept up past his elbow and was almost to his shoulder. It didn't hurt, but it itched.
His heart hammering, Hal knew he'd have to tell his mom about it in the morning -- if he dared wait that long. He'd surely have to go see Dr. Porter, for this was no ordinary rash. It felt tough and smooth, and scaly in the center where it had started.

The knowledge that he might be turning into some kind of lizard-boy is hard enough. But what's beyond the fog that's covered the island all their lives? Are Hal and his classmates really all that's left of the world? Have their parents been telling the truth about that, or is there something else going on?

Could it be that the children on the island are subjects of a sinister experiment?

Island of Fog is the first book in a fantasy series for readers of all ages nine and up. It features unwilling shapeshifters and all manner of creatures from myth and legend including (but not limited to) a faerie, an ogre, a dragon, and a manticore as shown on the book cover.

If you like creepy mystery and adventure, imagine an island smothered in fog where classmates are, one by one, transforming into monsters...

Buy Island of Fog for your Kindle at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. Print editions are also available.