Nom nom bread.

It’s been two weeks since the book launch, and it’s had its first reviews! :) Quite a few people are in the process of reading it too, and I’m looking forward to hearing their verdicts. In the meantime, I’m ready to start my next project. This one is going to be a fantasy novel. I do have more sci-fi stories to tell, but for now it’s time to put away the lasers and crack out the swords.

The hardest thing about starting a story is getting those first few pages down. It’s daunting to look at the blank page and think of tackling the entire word count all in one go. I like to have some structure before I start typing, and the best way I have found to do this is with good old pen and paper. It’s a tip that I picked up from an interview with Tim Schafer – just write everything down. I have a pad and I put all of my ideas into it. I highlight what I like, cross out what I don’t, and sometimes a coherent story appears. It can be difficult to do this. I guess most people would have the same feeling of not wanting to “ruin the page” by putting down something that you don’t think will make it into the final draft. But it helps to clear it out of your head anyway.

I’m feeling the onset of autumn this week. Really the weather has been autumnal all summer here, but today it was really dark when I woke up, giving that feeling of the sun not having yet risen. This has caused me to go on a baking spree. I had my first attempt at making wholemeal bread, which didn’t turn out too badly, considering I misunderstood one of the instructions. (It is pretty dense.) I’ll try again soon.

It’s actually one of my favourite parts of fantasy stories. What kind of bread do they have? The type of bread gives you so much information about the world and the character. When they are on the road, are they eating coarse black bread, soft white loaves, or magical sweet lembas? A city lined with vendors selling spiced flatbreads will give you a different feeling altogether than a row of shops selling rolls. (Batches!) I automatically have respect for a character that can bake their own bread and it comes out light and fluffy, because that’s hard to do! They must have practiced quite a bit to get the technique down.

 So whatever happens to the characters in my next story, you can bet that bread will feature somewhere.

The Eye of the Beholder

It's the moment you have all been waiting for!
The Eye of the Beholder is available on Amazon Kindle now!

Take a look, read the first story for free!
(And please leave an (honest) review!)

Don’t judge a book by its cover...

Unless you think the cover is awesome, in which case, feel free to judge away!

Presenting to you, “The Eye of the Beholder” cover art.

As you may have guessed, this means I’m onto the polishing stage for the collection, and I’m looking to launch it within the next couple of weeks.  I’ll have an official date for you as soon as possible!

So get your Kindles ready and I’ll see you soon!