First impressions...

...are so important, aren't they? Which is why, even though I haven't actually finished writing the book yet, I've already begun work on the cover art for Drawn To The Deep End. Here's what I've got:

You'll have to imagine it without the "preview copy" watermarks...

If you've read any of the first draft excerpts, you'll know that The Tree is an important and recurrent motif, symbolising the narrator's struggle to move on from the death of his fiancée, Emma. You'll also know that there are lots of bad things going on in the narrator's life. So, lots of bad things, a tree... and this is what I came up with.

What do you think?

To have chapters, or not to have chapters... that is the question

I'm getting near the end of a novel-length work... well, the end of the first draft, at least. And it's just one long block of prose, continuous save for the odd "*" to break things up. In other words, there are no chapters... and I don't know if that is a good thing or not. Are people happy to read 85,000 words without them being broken up into chapters? I feel a quick survey coming on...

Write a review, win a prize...

Reviews help fledgling authors. There, I've come out and said it, no beating around the bush. Getting a good review is hard, and often involves (e)mailing out dozens and dozens of review copies and then sitting back, all fingers crossed, waiting and hoping.

Some of my titles have been reviewed on various book blogs around the world - you can find a list of the ones I know about here - and of course there are lots of reviews on Amazon, Goodreads and the like.

But I'm greedy. I want more. And you can help.

If you've bought either Dark Steps, Turn Around Where Possible or Cold and haven't written a review yet... well, what are you waiting for? Write a review on your blog, or on Amazon or Goodreads or Lulu or wherever else, then post a link to the review in the comments for this post. Then on the 1st of March I'll pick the best (by which I mean best written, not necessarily the most glowing) new review and the writer of it will win a free ebook from yours truly, either Dark Steps, Turn Around Where Possible or Cold (winner's choice).

How does that sound? Write a review online somewhere, let me know in the comments and, come the 1st of March, you could win an ebook. What could be simpler?

Old chestnut time

Written by Frank L. Visco and originally published in the June 1986 issue of Writers' Digest.

How To Write Good

My several years in the word game have learnt me several rules:

1. Avoid Alliteration. Always.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. Avoid clichés like the plague. (They’re old hat.)
4. Employ the vernacular.
5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
7. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
8. Contractions aren't necessary.
9. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
10. One should never generalize.
11. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”
12. Comparisons are as bad as clichés.
13. Don't be redundant; don’t use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.
14. Profanity sucks.
15. Be more or less specific.
16. Understatement is always best.
17. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
18. One word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be avoided.
21. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
22. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
23. Who needs rhetorical questions?

Minus two kudos points for anyone who comments that it should be "How To Write Well". Oh, and minus five irony points too.

Halloween... and I'll scratch your back, etc

As a writer with a couple of titles enrolled in Amazon's KDP Select programme (which gives the retailer exclusivity), I am able to offer those titles for free every now and then. The idea, I guess, is that the rush to download a freebie leads to a "bump" in downloads, a momentarily higher profile and then residual sales in the aftermath. To be fair, that has been my experience, although I should point out that the law of diminishing returns certainly applies - after four or five freebie weekends it seems that pretty much everybody who wants your story on their Kindle already has it.

Having said that, I'm planning one more freebie, and am writing about it here in advance in the hope of maximising the take-up. Turn Around Where Possible, my old-school horror yarn, will be available for free on Amazon on Wednesday, 31st October. Yes, a horror story free on Halloween. I'm nothing if not original.

Anyway, since I'm not only giving you stuff for free but also giving you plenty of prior notice, can I ask a favour in return? Two of my short stories, the aforementioned Turn Around Where Possible and Cold, are eligible for Wattpad's Watty Awards 2012. No, me neither, but hey, an award for a story would be nice to win. So can you help me get in the mix? It won't take much of your time, just a few mouse clicks really.

You can vote for Cold here: http://www.wattpad.com/8276776-cold

And for Turn Around Where Possible here: http://www.wattpad.com/8276710-turn-around-where-possible

If you don't have a Wattpad account (which I'm guessing is most of you) you can use your Facebook credentials to exercise your right to vote - exercise is good for you, right? And enjoy Turn Around Where Possible for Halloween.

Books vs e-books - has the debate gone away yet?

Or will it never go away?

Newsweek produced the following comparison a couple of years ago, and whilst things have moved on a little since then it still raises some interesting points, not least that the most eco-friendly way to read a book is to walk to your local library.

The question I'm most intrigued by is the strap line - does one have to win? Just because e-readers have taken off massively, and traditional book sales are down, does the former have to spell the end for what I try (and fail) to avoid calling "proper" books?

I have a Kindle, and it's great. But I love the feel, the heft and the tangibility of real books. I have an MP3 player too, but I prefer to buy CDs. Is it just me that still prefers the physical product? Guess I'm just a cup of tea man in a latte world...

How about you?

Free as a bird, apparently

First off, two points* to anyone who identifies the film dialogue from which this post's title is taken.

Secondly, in honour of having a nice long Bank Holiday weekend, I figure you need some short stories to read. So, today and tomorrow, Turn Around Where Possible will be free over at Amazon. Then, on Sunday and Monday, Cold will be free.

Here are some links:

Turn Around Where Possible: Amazon.co.uk • Amazon.com

Cold: Amazon.co.uk • Amazon.com

And as I've said before, don't worry, you don't need a Kindle to read e-books bought from the Amazon Kindle Store.

* Points have no value but hey, you earn my respect.