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davidr
Posts: 308
Comments: 1344
Whose fault is it then? Dennis Compton's?

5 votes

davidr's Calendar

May, 2012

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Tags - novel

I Give Up

February 14, 2010

1 comments

Bits & Pieces

I tried, but somehow, I just can't get it. I never could.   I dabbled with non-fiction and I thank those of you who commented on the disability living piece, but writing this stuff is just not me.   I always say that by the time I get a few hundred words in, I can feel a novel coming on. Well, it's happened again and chapter one of Siren is up on Arena Book Chapters.   You'll notice a lot from it which you're probably already aware of. A man recuperating in Tenerife after a heart attack. Write from life, that's what I always say. There's something else in there, too. A girl turning up in a dream and telling him she'd like to see him again. Check out my blog and the post entitled <a href="../blogs.php?action=show_member_post&ownerID=11&post_id=7467">In Dreams.</a>   It's at this point that the novel and real life part company. I didn't have a heart attack before I flew off to the Canaries and the former colleague mentioned in my blog is still very much alive.   The first 1,000 words are up on Arena, and they are raw, with only minor edits, hot off the word processor. They took less than 4 hours to get down. I welcome all feedback.

Tags: novel fiction real life

It's Me Again

March 29, 2010

5 comments

Bits & Pieces

You may have been wondering where I've been for the last week. On the other hand you may have been saying "thank god, for a bit of peace and quiet."   I've been busy writing. In the space of this last seven days I have finished two books which have been loitering on my hard drive for the last year or two.   I'm in the final stages of proofing DW's Guide to Holidays, which will go out as an ebook on Smashwords in the near future. Voices is the other one, and it has already gone off to a publisher.   At 118,000 words, Voices is not the longest piece I've written, but it's one of the best, even if I do say so myself. A psychohorror/thriller/sci-fi, it started life, like most of my works tend to, as a consequence of issues in my own life. I'm very deaf, and at the time, I had a broken ankle. How do you get from that to a full length novel?  Well isn't that what we're all about as writers?   It's what I love about writing full length fiction. Take any trivial event in any day of the week, ask yourself "what if ..." and take it from there. The Haunting of Melmerby Manor (plug plug) came about after my wife and I stayed in a seaside hotel which was ten times spookier than Norman's place in Psycho. Every time I left our room and walked to the lift, I kept expecting to see the Grey Lady wielding a machete.   That same hotel gets an oblique mention DW's Guide to Holidays, which hilarious (in my opinion) set of grumbles should be available within a week or two. Watch our for the plugs on this and other sites.   I'm thinking of following it up with DW's Guide to Arthritis, DW's Guide to Marriage, DW's Guide to Movies, DW's Guide to DIY and DW's Guide to Sex (but according to Her Indoors that last one's likely to be more of a pamphlet than a book.)   And talking of health, that's also been on my mind this last week. I'm now getting nerve spasms in my leg, and they're not the pleasant ones like when my knee twitches and I kick some brat up the backside. This feels like someone has stabbed me with a pair of blunt scissors. It's all down to Angie's gramophone. They nicked a nerve when they drilled a hole in my leg. Either that, or Carol has made a voodoo doll of me ... again.   And I've had to take the dog to the vets. He has a bad chest. I think he's been smoking my ciggies when I wasn't looking. Cheeky sod. Why can't he buy his own?   There's no justice. I've just turned 60 and stopped paying for my prescriptions. Now I have to pay for the dog's.

Tags: novel fiction real life writing publishing self novel book humour horror health dog vet

Spookies

May 31, 2010

16 comments

Bits & Pieces

About 2 years ago Virtual Tales, an American publisher, put out one of my novels in paperback. Understandably chuffed to bits at having my name on the front cover of a real book, I was nevertheless disappointed with the result. At Virtual Tales' insistence, the spelling in The Haunting of Melmerby Manor was changed from British English to American English. Over and above that, I had to explain many of the terms and gags used in the text, and there was some confusion over idioms. For example, ticked off in England means you've been scolded. In America it means you are fed up.   The upshot of all this was that I lost interest in what I had planned as a multi-book project. I made some half-hearted attempts to place the sequel(s) but never too seriously.   A couple of weeks ago, Mo asked whether I was working on more Spookies tales and I answered no. I was developing them along different lines, but not specifically Spookies. Afterwards, I took The Haunting of Melmerby Manor from the bookshelf and re-read it. Surprise, surprise, it's not as bad as I thought. It's littered with spelling and grammatical errors which I never caught on the final proofreading (and neither did the editor) but these were nothing that could not be corrected. Not only that, but I completed a rough draft of the next title in the series, The Man In Black, and I'm now working on the third, I-spy.   Spookies is back on the agenda.   So for those of you who don't know, here's the bottom line on Spookies.   They are essentially ghost stories; supernatural thrillers with a slight twist. Three members of the team are human, the fourth is, himself, a ghost. The key protagonists are Sceptre Rand (real name Lady Concepta Rand-Epping, Countess of Marston) Pete Brennan, a disgraced ex-policeman turned private eye and Kevin Keeley, a former electrician turned wheeler dealer. Sceptre's butler, Albert Fishwick, who was killed on the first day of the Somme, is the fourth member of the team. The team's name comes from the initials of the lead characters: Sceptre, Pete, Kevin: S-P-K: Spookies.   The problem with ghost stories is they're always set in draughty old manor houses. I wanted Spookies to be different, so I set the first story in a draughty old manor house ... but I added a criminal subplot, interwoven with the hauntings, and I had apparitions turning up all over the place, including a council flat rented by the team, and a sleazy nightclub.   For book two, The Man In Black, I set it in a public school, and the world of pop music and for the third, I've gone really ambitious and linked the hauntings to a borrowed painting which is hung up in one of the rooms in ... wait for it ... the Big Brother House. For obvious reasons, I haven't called the fictitious TV series Big Brother. I may be daft but I'm not totally stupid.   For now the work is flowing. I have at least three more books planned. But there is a problem. In order to lend some kind of reality to I-spy I'll have to watch a few episodes of Big Brother.   There's always a downside.

Tags: novel fiction real life writing publishing self novel book humour horror health dog vet spooky ghost story novel paperback humour crime thriller

Boaring

July 20, 2010

1 comments

Bits & Pieces

If you can't be bothered reading this, you can listen to it, <a href="http://audioboo.fm/boos/154719-boaring">here</a>   I know the title is spelled wrong. It's supposed to sound like Homer Simpson saying it.   I love writing. I love watching a novel take shape, emerge from my mind and appear word by word, page by page on the screen. But there are times when it is ... boaring.   Right now I'm on the final read through of a manuscript which is due at the publishers today. I'm at that stage where I have written this thing, read it, corrected it, read it again, polished and revised it, read it again and again, changed wording here and there, read it again, cut this, added that, read it again. I've read it so many times that I could almost recite the entire 110,000 words. And it's ... boaring.   But it has to be done.   One of the most vital elements in any work, written, spoken or visual, is continuity. If you make a change on page 10, how does it affect events on page 233? If you decide that a character's name resembles too closely that of a famous person, so you change it, did you catch all instances of the original? You cannot submit a manuscript with Fred Bloggs cast as an electrician on page 13 and have someone bell him for his plumbing skills halfway through the book.   So you read and read and read again until you have it just about perfect.   Boaring.   When the parcel arrives, you open it with feverish hands and take out the contents. It produces a wonderful feeling to see your name on the front cover. I remember when I unpacked my copies of The Haunting of Melmerby Manor. I forgot all the hours slaving over a hot word processor, the trials and terrors, the highs and lows, the success and frustrations that went into it. All I knew was this exhilaration at reading those magical words ... by David Robinson.   The present project doesn't have a front cover yet. By David Robinson is written in Times New Roman on the title sheet, and I wrote it.  That exhilaration is months away.   For now it's just ...boaring.

Paranormal Piffle

July 31, 2010

5 comments

Bits & Pieces

I've always been fascinated by the paranormal. UFOs, ghosts and things that go bump in the night. And I don't mean banks crashing on the Nikkei while we're all asleep.   To me, it's all good fun. I freely admit that I don't know what happens after death and I'm in no rush to find out. I don't know if the inhabitants of the planets orbiting Sirius are visiting earth, but if they are, they must be a gang of sad sacks. With an entire universe at your disposal who wants to come to this sorry little speck of dust? It's like taking a week's holiday and going to Accrington.   As a novelist, the paranormal gives me great scope. Whether ghosts exist or not is irrelevant. They do in my world. Whether UFOs really are nuts and bolts machines full of aliens doesn't matter to me. They are what I make of them in my novels.   So a few years ago, I published a novel entitled The Haunting of Melmerby Manor. It's still available from Virtual Tales. I was never happy with the finished product, and efforts to write a sequel have foundered. Still I persevered and showed it all to a publisher a few months back. He came back to me, saying no thanks, but unusually for a publisher, he pointed out what he felt was wrong with the project. It couldn't make its mind up whether it was a whodunit, a paranormal comedy, or a supernatural thriller.   I mentioned it to Greg McQueen at Big Bad Media, and he suggested I go back to the drawing board and redraft is as a series of young adult novels involving those perennial favourites of young adults ... ghosts. No sex, because young adults aren't interested in sex, are they?   Aren't they?   Then how come we have the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe?   I'm digressing into politics. Let's stick to fiction, (although admittedly, there's not always a lot of difference.)   So it's back on the drawing board. Notwithstanding the fact that I hate teenagers and never even thought of writing for them, I'm having a bash so watch this space.   Me? Writing for young adults?  I'll be listening to Eminem and Kylie next.

Kicked The Tyres, Can't Light The Fires

August 3, 2010

17 comments

Bits & Pieces

It's six o'clock on a wet August morning. This is the fourth washout summer in a row.   As a younger man, I used to find inspiration in miserable weather like this. Possibly because back then I liked to be out and about and the rain kept me in with nothing to do but roam the landscapes of my imagination.   Not so these days. The imagination is still there. My head is chock full of tales, overflowing with cliffhanger scenes, packed with sparkling dialogue. But the rain seems to dull my desire to put pen to paper ... or fingers to keyboard.   Greg's home from his holiday. Pretty soon he'll be firing up the main engines on Big Bad Media and it won't be long before we're steaming ahead under the thrust of pre-publication warp drive. If you're listening, buddy, Voices still needs another read through from my end, plus whatever input you may have.   Beyond Voices, there are other projects bubbling away under the surface, each one trying to fight its way out of my consciousness and onto the screen. And much of the work, particularly on Voices, needs to be done in the next couple of weeks.   But I'm in the doldrums. I'm finding it hard to muster the energy. My get up and go has got up and gone.   You see? Even my gags are old and stale.   When you work for an employer, finding the spark of motivation is easy. He says, "Do it or you're fired," and you do it. When you work alone, at home, tucked away in that corner designated your "office" there is no one to threaten you, other than the missus, and threats from her are easy to ignore. She never means them anymore than I mean it when I threaten to cut her off at the credit cards.   It's all in there somewhere. Deep down, beneath the indolence and ennui, the fires are stoked and they need only to be lit.   But every time I strike the match, the rain puts it out.   If, like me, you can't be bothered, then maybe you'd prefer to listen to this post. You can do so <a href="http://audioboo.fm/boos/162067-anyone-got-a-light">here</a>

Novel Beginning Critiques

August 29, 2010

0 comments

Bits & Pieces

After I replied to a member's request via the site email and the message didn't get through, it occurred to me that others may be having a similar problem.   If you tried to contact me, requesting a critique of your Novel Beginnings entry, and I haven't yet responded to you, please email me on <a href="mailto:Dwrob96@aol.com">Dwrob96@aol.com</a> with an email address where I can get back to you.   If you were not aware of the offer but would like a critique, please see the Novel Beginnings results page <a href="../novelbeginnings/html/judge.html">http://www.writelink.co.uk/novelbeginnings/html/judge.html</a> for terms and conditions.

Novel Blogging

November 21, 2010

3 comments

Bits & Pieces

I've started yet another new blog, but it's a bit more serious this time (which is highly unusual for me.)   I'm working on a new project entitled Channels. It's a psycho thriller with horror overtones. As is the custom for me, it places ordinary people in extraordinary situations.   I may post the odd snippet of the book on the blog, but my main concern is blogging the production from typing Chapter One, which I did on November 6th, to etching in those final words The End, planned for January 5th. About two months.   Target wordage is 120,000.   Many of you may ask, "How can you write 120,000 words in 60 days?" It's easy. Remember how Jack Nicholson did it in The Shining? My prose is slightly more varied than repeating, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," ad nauseum, ad infinitum.   The target completion is for the first draft only, and equates to 2,000 words per day, which is not difficult when your life is as sad as mine.   The blog should chart the highs and lows of getting the work down, then editing, revising, polishing until it's ready for submission in the latter half of next year, when it will go to my appointed editor. Even held at gunpoint, I could not disclose that editor's identity to you, but she's a well-known lady on this site (hello Mo.)   If all goes according to plan, Channels should be available in time for Santa's visit next year. But if all goes according to plan, I shall eat my Y-fronts, to paraphrase Bart Simpson.   If you want to keep tabs on the process of writing and editing a full length novel, you can do so at <a href="http://dawr.wordpress.com/">http://dawr.wordpress.com/</a>   You can subscribe by email so that you get to know when new posts appear. You can also pick up the new posts on facebook and Twitter. And can also comment. As ever, I welcome constructive criticism.   Thank you all in advance for your indulgence.

Self-Publishing = Lower Standards?

October 23, 2010

9 comments

INFO CAT: SERVICES FOR WRITERS

I came across a free e-book. I won't name it or the author because I've no particular desire the plug the thing and no wish to embarrass the writer, but in the first four pages I found the following errors.   Whitechapel was spelled white chapel. And this was on the publicity page!   "I bet it has flees". A character talking about old clothing. Did the writer mean fleas?   We next meet a work scared barman. He was terrified of work, or are we supposed to translate it as work-scarred?   Talking about a pub, one of the men says, "The White Swans not far ..." How do we interpret that? The White Swans are not far, or the White Swan's not far?   Another character was described as anemic instead of anaemic, after which one of the men said his pal was about to "complement your friend." He was going to add to her rather than compliment her.   I couldn't read further than those four pages, and it occurred to me that this books is overpriced at free. I did some research on the writer which led me to a website run by a small bunch of writers who "came together collectivly to self-publish ..."   That's not a typo. It's exactly how the "about" page describes the site.   There are any number of possible reasons for these problems.   The writer could be lazy. The writer may not have proofed the M/S properly before putting it online as a finished work. The writer could have uploaded an earlier version by mistake and not realised it yet. The writer could also be ignorant of basic spelling and grammar, which means what? He/she should not be writing? Of course not, but he/she should be looking to improve the basic skills.   To those who say, "you're just being over-picky," let me pose a question. Would you ask a plumber to repair your car, or a gardener to install your central heating? Then why ask someone who has no conception of written English to entertain you with fiction?   The book in question raises several issues related to self-publishing.   Novels take long time to perfect, and even then we don't always get it right. I can write a full-length novel in a month. That's 100,000+ words. The final draft, however, usually takes between one and two years. Before it goes to any publisher, before I even consider self-publishing, I have it read by another writer or editor and I take their feedback seriously. Where I disagree with it, I will try another reader or two and take a consensus opinion. But unless they are blatantly wrong (which doesn't happen often) I never argue about errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar.   The piece in question, which is over 40,000 words long, has obviously never been read by a professional writer or editor. Even the prose of the blurb on the e-book site is questionable.   This kind of poorly written fiction inevitably tars the self-publishing industry with a brush that is not justified.   Times are tough for writers. It's near impossible to break in with the mainstream houses. Your work needs to be of the highest calibre and it needs to drop into the submission editor's lap at the right time. If, like me, you turn out average pulp fiction, your chances are nil. If you can't find an independent willing to take the risk, you're faced with self-publishing or not at all. I've been lucky. I've found independent houses willing to take my work, but even so I've published a couple of titles off my own back and I now there are other members who have, too.   And there are many fine self-published volumes out there, but what chance do they have if the reader drops onto poor examples like the one above?  One look at it and the potential buyers says, "Forget it. I'll check out the biggies."   So what brought on this particular diatribe? I've just self-published a full-length e-novel, and it's priced at ... FREE.   The Man In Black is not a classic. It's a Spookies mystery (for those who remember The Haunting of Melmerby Manor) a supernatural thriller with a little humour here and there. Despite the price, there is no skimping. It runs to about 90,000 words and it's available for download in a variety of formats from the following url: <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/27623">http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/27623</a>   It's destined to become a marketing tool, but for now, there are no strings attached. There may be errors in it. If so, they won't be in the first four pages, and there won't be quite so many as those in the above example.   Enjoy, and if you're so minded, please email brickbats and bouquets to <a href="mailto:fans@dwrob.com">fans@dwrob.com</a>

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