The Guardian Great Sci-Fi Hunt

Just a quickie and bit of a request.  Thanks to Twitter I have spotted The Guardian in the UK is running a scheme to find the best independently published SciFi/Fantasy novels.

Nominations are made via the comments box at the bottom of this page and this is where I need your help. I would love it (if you love PI as much as I do) if you could add a nomination or recommendation.  To comment you have to register with The Guardian which takes about thirty seconds (just remember to uncheck the boxes so you don't get marketing emails).

Self published writers find it hard to get word out about their work without great big publishing houses and their budgets behind them - this is a real chance for you to nominate all those self published writers you adore.

Go on!  What are you waiting for?

Not procrastinating, honest.

What?  I should be writing?  I am, can't you see?  Oh, my next novel.  Well, yes I am.  I just thought I would take a little break to update you on my current projects.

Paranormal Investigations 4 is obviously on my agenda - although the title has changed from Risk to Into The Realm of the Fae as the plot has adapted.  Unusually this novel does not take place in London - although there is another English town featured.  I won't spoil it by telling you where this is, although I know some people are really going to enjoy this setting.

When I was looking for possible book designers (my fabulous designer for PI has been extremely busy with other things of late) I found a pre-made cover perfect for a historical novel I had written (although it needs a good edit).

I could not believe my good luck, so I quickly emailed the designer to reserve it.  I then had to decide on a suitable title which I did with the help of Facebook and Twitter friends.  Sometimes I guess simple titles are the best.

I've been editing Marian since then and have finished the first half (65k words).  Unfortunately I have now realised that was the easy half.  I want to change a character in the second half and that takes a lot more concentration than I have at the moment.  So, I have switched over to PI4 which is a bit easier as I can just make stuff up as I go.  I also wrote Marian before I discovered 'my' way of working.  What I do now is write a 3-5k chapter at a time and then have a quick edit to make sure it is readable and then move on to the next chapter.  What I did with Marian was write the whole draft first - which is why it has taken me so long to begin getting it into shape.  It takes forever to edit 130k words, especially when you need to make some important changes!

What?  Oh, okay.  I'll get back to some actual writing then.  Don't forget - you can follow me on FB or Twitter and read PI4 as it's written here!

Oh, and don't ask about The Reed Bed - it's another WIP I have to find time to work on.  I can't resist the world of PI though, it sucks me in every time.  I'm sure historical Norfolk will pull me back in it's own time...

Sneak Peek - PI4

This is the cover for PI4, so yes - now you know I am committed to writing it.  I was going to call it Risk, because there is a huge game of Risk involved - watch out for Al the Guardian Angel, I'm not sure he can be trusted to honour pacts.  It's new title is 'Into the Realm of the Fae' and I think you can guess from that what it might involve.  However, I intend to write something completely different before I move on to PI4, perhaps something historical which is my passion.  I love the past - perhaps that is why I made Leo a time traveller so I can live my time fantasies through her - should she ever master the skill that is.  Right - I can't hang around here all day, I have several chapters to attempt to finish.  Adieu.

Jane Austen

There is something very comforting about curling up and losing yourself in the world of Jane Austen.  I'm not one hundred per cent sure what it is: a bygone world of civility?  Stories where the good people always end up with the right outcomes?  A joyful romp through Regency England?  Whatever it is there are times where only Austen will do.  At the moment I am surrounded by boxes and bags as we pack up to move out of Leo's Cat Hill flat that has been our for three years.   It is not chaos, but it is not a comfortable environment at present.  Little wonder then I long to escape to the world of Miss Austen, the only question is which novel should I step into?  Old favourite Persuasion or perhaps one I am not so fond of, such as Mansfield Park?  Let me find my Kindle and choose...

The World of Paranormal Investigations (Cockfosters) - the Cat Hill Flat

Feline Court

As I am sure you know Leo lives in a tiny flat on Cat Hill in East Barnet.  I know this flat intimately because it's mine - at least it remains so for another sixteen days until I move out.  I have been on Cat Hill for three years and last November when I was looking for a fictional home for Leo it seemed the easiest thing to make mine her's - it saved on imagining a fictional place.  This is something I have done with almost all the settings in PI - they are all real and if you wanted to, you could do a little PI tour of Barnet and Cockfosters.

I chose my flat as the setting because I wrote PI1 for Nanowrimo last November; I was writing quickly and wanted to make my life as easy as possible in those thirty days.  There are aspects of my life in Leo's (although not all) and much of her background mirrors my own.

Trevor's culvert in the car park

It is a tiny flat and would be very crowded with all the strange visitors and family Leo has descend on her, so as I move it may also be time for Leo to move on.  I guess I'll just have to see how attached to the flat Leo is and whether I can make her part with it.  She has some money coming her way so it would be possible for her to move on - I just can't imagine her being anywhere without Bob across the hallway and that might be enough to make her stay as I move on.

The World of Paranormal Investigations (Cockfosters) - disused tube stations

This tube station is part of the Piccadilly Line (the royal blue one on the maps).  You can tell it's PL because the outside is 'oxblood' in colour.

Strand Station is actually called Aldwych, although when it opened in 1907 it had the former name for all of seven years.  It was never part of the main line, it was merely a spur from Holborn and when replacing the lifts proved too expensive the station was closed in 1994.

In 1908 the eastern tunnel was taken out of use due to lack of demand and in World War One it was used to store paintings from the National Gallery.

Between the wars it was often considered for closure because not enough people used the service, but it managed to hang in there until temporary closure between 1940 and 1946 when, during The Blitz, the tunnels and station were used to store works from art galleries and museums including the Elgin Marbles.  It was from this nugget of history I wrote into PI2 that there were still a few artifacts milling around down there, long forgotten.

I used this location as the home of the undead dead of London, in reality this would not be possible for, unlike most of the disused stations, Aldwych is not mustering away forgotten underground.  If you have seen a film featuring a London underground station - it was probably Aldwych starring as itself or pretending to be another station.  It featured in V for Vendetta, 28 Weeks Later, Atonement and even one of the Superman films!  A few days after I took these photos the station was even used by the emergency services for practice drills in preparation for the Olympics.

So, closed - but not forgotten and certainly not idle!

Olympic Procrastination

I am great at finding excuses not to write and it seems these days there are so many reasons not to.  If I am in the midst of an exciting chapter I can't be torn away from it, but if I've had an enforced break (such as the workload for my day job becomes all consuming) and I am in a 'bridge' chapter it is really hard to get back into it.  

I call a 'bridge' chapter one that doesn't tell much story in itself, but it is an important bridge to other parts of the story.  It is sometimes hard to find the word count and I often doubt the worth of the book at these points.

Today there is another option for procrastination to join the usual (Facebook, Twitter, doing the laundry, washing up, writing a blog, etc, etc) - the Olympics!  Last night my sleepy eyes were glued to the Opening Ceremony and today I just cannot tear myself away from the rowing and swimming heats and the cycling road race.  How is it possible for a human being to cycle 156 miles and still manage a sprint finish?  Amazing.

So now I shall get back to pretending to write whilst most of my attention is given to these amazing athletes of London 2012.  I wonder how long it is before some unconscious aspect of the Olympics slips into PI3?