Author Notes Vol 2

Unclaimed Outpost

I finished the final draft of my debut Sci-Fi Novella the other day. I still need to give it a quick once over for any silly mistakes before I send it to the editor, but I think it’s in good shape. I have an editor in mind, so hopefully there will be no drama there (because there always seems to be something) and I can have the story ready to hit the stands (or Amazon digital store) by February as planned.

It’s been a lot of fun writing Unclaimed Outpost. I haven’t published anything in almost two years (previously under a different name) so it was good to get that rush back of knowing something is almost ready. I have completed two other books during that time period (Taten Chronicles) but I'm putting them on here as serialised stories first as they’re part of an ongoing series that I don’t want to rush. Plus, it means I can concrete on other ideas rather than being almost obligated to work on a single project.

Unclaimed Outpost had its challenges, especially the ending, but I think I've overcome them. It reads a lot like the story I had in mind when I started writing it, and that’s normally a good sign for me. The WELLS character grew significantly compared to my initial thoughts, while Max is how I envisioned him. I’m happy with the little story, and feel it’s a good beginning to what will hopefully be a substantial body of work over time.

The novella took a little longer to complete than I thought it would, but that’s the beauty of Self Publishing, there’s no strict deadline or time restrictions. If I over-run by three weeks it isn’t a big stress. The important thing for me is putting the work out in the best shape it can be, not hitting some arbitrary date.

I’ll have a final update on Unclaimed Outpost next month, and will be able to share the synopsis and cover.

What’s Next?

The original plan was to go back to work on 2922 after I finished Unclaimed Outpost. It’s a book I'm about a third of the way through and already very proud of, but I’m going to put it to one side at the moment. Tonally, it’s quite a serious book, and I feel like writing something a little more fun and silly.

Whether that’s a sensible choice or not I’m not sure as 2922 definitely works better alongside Unclaimed Outpost than the Alien Abduction story I'm working on instead. But, as I mentioned in a recent article I wrote, I like to write what I want to write. The more sensible choice would be to establish a voice and type of book I'm known for, but I'm interested in all sub-genres of Sci-Fi, and want to play around in the whole genre rather than just a corner of it,

So, my next novel (as of the time of writing this) is going to be the aforementioned Alien Abduction story, that does have a title, but I don’t want to give it away yet. It’s a story I've had in my mind for maybe seven to eight months now, and intended to write it as my third or fourth book, but it’s jumped the queue.

I just found myself thinking about this story more and more. My brain connecting pieces together in the background. My love of the central character began to grow and it became the story at the forefront of my mind. Instead of rushing through other books to get to this story, why not just write it now.

It saddens me a little to put 2922 aside once again. I feel like the book could be the work I love the most over time, but I also want to do it justice. Give it my full attention. Make sure it’s the best thing I've ever written. It’s time will come, but that isn’t now. Hopefully I'll get back to it later in the year.

Short Stories

I’ve been a little distracted finishing Unclaimed Outpost and beginning Alien Abduction to work on to many shorts of late, but I have written more of Popsicle, and published a Collection of Short Stories in my shop. I’ve also jotted down a ton of ideas for other short stories.

Going forward I've given myself time each day to work on short stories. It’s something I feel will be important to my overall body of work as it gives me a chance to play around with new ideas, and find more sub-genres within sci-fi that I love. Also, it means I can share more work on this website rather than having to wait months on end for a new book to be ready.

I have a bunch of stories planned within a future collection called Edison Rift, and you can read the first story for free here.

Edison Rift is another thing that’s been on my mind more of late. I think it will take a while to complete this collection of shorts as I have to many other stories on the go, or in the pipeline, but I hope to add to that collection each month and build it overtime to an eventual book.

In the meantime, I'll be adding some of the stories to any Lambency Belt Story Collections I put out, and posting them on my website. One of the stories, Wait Until Night Comes is already available in the first collection of short stories I mentioned, and will probably be the next story I make available on the website.

Time To Write

I’ve been working on the idea of a writing schedule of late and think I'm going to go ahead with it. This has never really worked for me in the past, and I'm not sure what makes this time different, but I'm going to try it. I think previously I’ve always been too strict with myself, and when I didn’t keep to the schedule for a few days that was kind of that. But, this one will be more flexible. I’m going to give myself room to take days off, and have lighter days, rather than pile on the pressure. I’m not a young man anymore, I need my rest and movie days, so why not just make room for that too.

I’m good at getting stuff written so can rely solely on my own discipline, but I really want to start getting Lambency Belt into a place I'm proud of. This schedule would allow me to tackle all the areas I need too, making sure that I'm working the right amount of time on my main books, and the supporting short stories alongside it. It will even give me a chance to write some novelettes, and consider how to market my books and stories as at the moment that hasn’t been happening.

There’s a lot of writing ahead, but I'm looking forward to it. I’m feeling motivated at the moment and want to capitalise on that as much has possible. There will be ups and downs along the way, but I have my eye on the bigger picture rather than feeling I've let myself down on any short term goals.

So, it’s time to start writing.

Author Notes Vol 1

Introduction

With so much writing planned over the next few years I thought I'd try to journal a lot of what I'm up to, hence the beginnings of my Authors Notes page. The intention of this ongoing blog is simple, to let everyone know what I'm working on, what obstacles I've come across during the writing, and how I'm feeling about the work and the genre. A peak behind the curtain. A look behind the scenes. You know, the good stuff.

It’s meant to be a little more personal than the Essays and Articles, and also a chance to elaborate more on Self Publishing as a whole, rather than tackling the occasional individual subject. I’ve never written any Author Notes in any of my books and probably never will, so this will be the place to read those little tidbits instead.

What Am I Currently Working On?

My main focus at the moment is getting my debut Science Fiction Novella ready: Unclaimed Outpost. I’m currently aiming for a February release and feel on track for that. Unclaimed Outpost wasn’t originally going to be my debut novel, but the book I was working on is much bigger (therefore takes more time to write and is more expensive to edit) so I briefly put that aside for something more manageable that I can get out into the world sooner. But, the moment Unclaimed Outpost is written, edited, and fully ready for release, I’ll be straight back on 2922 Days.

Unclaimed Outpost is a Novella set on an Outpost near the Asteroid Belt, following the story of its lone worker, Max, and the effects being alone in deep space in having on him.. I’ll go into more details on my next Author’s Notes as the novella will be in the editing stage by that point, and hopefully I'll have a full articulated spellchecked synopsis by then too… rather than butchering it’s premise thoughtlessly now.

I’ve been writing Unclaimed Outpost since around September, although had outlined much of it before then while I was busy working on 2922 Days. It’s a simpler story than the bigger book I've been putting together, but is hopefully a good representation of what my work will be like within the genre, although, I have also been putting some time into two more outrageous Space Operas. You should get to see both sides of my love of the genre over the next year. Some work that’s based in some loose sense of reality, and the more pulp Space Opera crazy stuff that I absolutely adore.

Short Stories

I’ve also been working on several short stories over the last few months with the intention of releasing the first batch as a collection on my Buy Me A Coffee Page. The idea is to try and put out at least one short story per month, to go alongside my serialised Space Opera Taten Chronicles (which will have a new entry every 2-3 months). The shorts will be available to read for free on the website, or to buy slightly earlier as part of an Ezine Short Story Collection that I'm planning on issuing every few months.

The Shorts have been great fun to write. A couple of them are purely standalone (Terraroid and Time Travel Paradox) but a few of the others (Edison Rift and Analog Apocalypse) are also things that over time can be expanded into bigger ideas. Maybe collections, novelettes, or anthologies. Have too many ideas at the moment, so it’s just about trying to organise them, and then prioritise which order to write the stories.

I’ve just started writing another new short on the side of my main work called Popsicle, but I’m having to do a little too much research for that one at the moment. So, I might have to put it on hold until I've finished the novella. We’ll see.

The Website

As some of you may have notice the website has also undergone a drastic transformation. This is in preparation of getting a lot more writing done. Having a place to share my Short Stories, my serialised space opera Taten Chronicles, my Author Notes, Essay’s and Articles, and the Review’s I've been writing on Sci-Fi books and films over the past year.

I want the website to be the central hub for everything I do, while I've set up a Buy Me A Coffee Page as a place to sell my digital Short Story Collections, and upcoming wacky Novelettes (I also take donations there ;) )

My main books will be available on Amazon when they’re ready, but I haven’t decided whether to enrol them in the KDP. If I don’t, they’ll also be digitally available to buy on my page. I like the idea of enrolling them on KDP, but hate that I can’t put them elsewhere if I do, so that’s a decision I'll need to make at some point.

My Buy Me A Coffee Page will also feature a Free Short Story you can get right away once it comes back from the editor.

What Does The Next Month Look Like?

My priority is finishing Unclaimed Outpost, but also getting this website fully operational. Then, it’s to continue the next book, and don’t look back. I want to get back into the habit of writing every single day, and publishing 3-4 books a year. Whether that’s possible at the moment I'm not sure, but it’s what I’m going to aim for. I’ve got a lot of books in me, and it’s about managing my energy with my health the way it is so that I can write them all.

I’m excited for the future, but also anxious to get started. And hopefully, over time, people will start to read and enjoy some of my work.