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Showing posts from 2011

The Woman in Black - YouTube Ghost Story Competition

When I saw that Daniel Radcliffe was launching a ghost story competition for the release of the film adaptation of The Woman in Black I thought I'd have a go. The criteria being that the story must be read aloud by you on YouTube in 2 minutes. I tried chopping back an old 1600 word story but that was taking way too long to read, so I thought I'd write something original, and calculated that it needed to be about 400 words in order to fit the time slot. Not easy to tell a story in 400 words, but here's my entry... I uploaded it yesterday, and saw that of the other 77 entries in the official YouTube channel for the competition, only a handful seem to abide by the actual entry rules. Many entries came from the US but the competition is only open to UK and Ireland residents. Some people had uploaded existing videos of "true" ghost stories. Some had uploaded videos that were radically overlong (yes, I know mine clocks in at 2:08, but some entries are over 4 minute

From "Idea" to "Published Story" in 24 Hours

On Friday 18th November 2011 I managed to do something that I never thought possible. Whilst walking to work I was listening to an old Level 42 album and pondering a new idea I had for a story. When I got to the office, to preserve the idea, I opened up Google Docs and jotted down a couple of sentences. At lunchtime I re-read my notes and decided to turn it into a story. By the time I'd written about 400 words I realised that this would easily work as a 600 word story for 365tomorrows.com, who publish a daily flash-fiction piece in the sci-fi genre. The last time I submitted something to 365tomorrows they rejected it weeks later, on the grounds that there was no narrative to the story (the story was written in pure dialogue). Once this new story was completed I made two changes. I changed the gender of one character and the name of another. By the end of the day I had submitted the story, entitled "Freedom Someday" to 365tomorrows. The usual turnaround response

A Map of the Floating City, Autumn, and Inspiration

The musical creativity of Thomas Dolby has influenced me greatly over the years. In my writing I  am inspired by soundscapes and the changing of the seasons and when it comes to Autumn, for some reason, Thomas Dolby's music captures the feeling perfectly. I had only a fleeting knowledge of Thomas Dolby in the eighties when his single "Hyperactive" came  on my radio and I can't say it grabbed me much. The sounds were a little to harsh for my young ears and it all seemed a little too jokey. Tears for Fears and Level 42 were as far as I was willing to go at the age of twelve. It wasn't until 1992 when I was watching the ITV Chart Show one Saturday morning that I heard his single "Silk Pyjamas", which I loved on first listen. I took a punt on the album "Astronauts & Heretics" and it very quickly became one of a my all time favourite records. My girlfriend at the time had negated to tell me (not that I expected her to) that she already had

Spireclaw - Print Version Coming Soon

I have always maintained that I would never make profit from Spireclaw, and my feelings on that stems from the subject matter of the novel. It is freely available as an e-book that can be read online on my website, downloaded as a PDF or text file, and even listened to as an audiobook read by me. Many people have praised the novel and that really makes me want the story to reach a wider audience. There are plenty of people out there who can't or won't read a novel on a website. For the novel to appear in the two most accessible formats (print and e-Reader), I would need to publish it through a print-on-demand service that formats for devices like Kindle automatically, and releases through Amazon. So I have decided to take this route. I am compiling a print-version of Spireclaw, which will be for sale on Lulu and Amazon. I will zero my profits from it, so that the cost of purchase purely covers the charges Lulu and Amazon impose for creating the product for you to hold in your

Checking In

It's been a long time since my last post, although those of you who follow me on Twitter know what I've been up to. Writing has been sporadic of late. Work has been all-consuming as our company has seen it's busiest year (with fewest staff, but isn't that the case everywhere?). When you want to write, it's a shame that life gets in the way. That said. I have had some real, though occasional bursts of creativity; pushing forward with a novella that was previously titled "The Fourdrinier Operator" and has since gone through two more titles and a 5,000 word boost in its word-count. The first draft went to my mother for review (she's just completed an Open University creative writing course and her opinion is valuable in these matters). A positive response on the whole but she identified areas for revision and reworking. So that's a job for later. In the science fiction area I've been thinking up the next batch of Axiom Few stories and once t

Facebook Pages for you to "Like"

For those of you who have been swallowed into the populous Facebook, which is apparently some sort of website for seeing what your ex-partners now look like, you might be interested to know that I have created a couple of pages on there. One for Spireclaw and one for The Axiom Few . If you have a moment, please visit, and click the "Like" button when you're there. On the pages you'll find links to reviews of the stories, among other things. See you there...

New Spark

For those of you wondering where I've been since my last blog post, apart from travelling to Malaysia and Australia, you would be able to find out if you followed me on Twitter. For those of you who don't, and those of you who do (follow me on Twitter that is) I've been on a hiatus from writing while I recharged the batteries over what has been a most uninspiring season. My writing skills, and my desire to write, hibernate when the nights draw in. Then a funny thing happened two days ago. I was walking to work listening to a decidedly "January" album, entitled "From Monday to Sunday" by Nick Heyward. And suddenly I was thinking out my nemesis novella, The Fourdrinier Operator, for which this album (along with "Astronauts" by The Lilac Time) has acted as a sort of soundtrack. Readers of this blog will know how much pain I've felt in concocting this piece of fiction. But the music helped me have a revelation. There were two things I needed