Between 1997 and 2001, throughout my military service, I wrote my first proper fantasy book. It was a hefty effort, 630,000 words in total. The book had everything: magic, monsters, lore, epicness, colorful protagonists. Only I never published it. Simply put, I tried sending it to various agents and publication houses, and they all turned it down. Rightfully so, because it wasn’t very good. In fact, it was pretty bad.
Readers of mine, welcome. I think I’ve just broken a personal best when it comes to finishing a book. The previous record stood at 34 days for Prince Dietrich, the first volume that is. Now, I’ve managed an even better lap time. Just ten merry days of writing.
Storytelling is universal. From Ancient Greece via medieval Italy to modern-day world, the fundamental formula that makes or breaks any story, EVERY story, be it in written form, on-stage play, or a movie production remains unchanged. Well, it’s one ingredient only: conflict.
Ah, this is the question that every author has asked themselves, at some point in their career. Now, I personally believe that one should not write books for money – as opposed to getting paid to write, ’tis a subtle difference. One should write with love and passion, and if a work makes it into the big beyond, then it’s a nice bonus. A really nice bonus. Now, regardless of what your motives are, the question remains. And the answer is: no, of course not, don’t be silly.
Ladies, gentlemen, swoon not. For what I’m about to tell you will make you … swoon. I am starting the publication process of the second book in the most wittily and elegantly named fantasy series of all times, Woes & Hose. Our beloved anti-hero is coming back in The Glorious Adventures of Glamorous Prince Dietrich!
Normally, I don’t do big annual summaries, but then, this year, I felt it actually might be a useful exercise. Sort of recap what I did, what I wrote, what got published and where. If you’re a numberophil, this little article ought to be interesting.
It’s been roughly six years since I published my first paperback – The Betrayed. Although I’ve published books before (technical stuff) in digital format, my official entry into the world of independent authoring, the way people perceive it, started in 2012.
In the past six years, I had a chance to release seven novels, with another five books, bearing my name out either as a primary author or a co-author, also seeing the light of the day in that same period. A nice dozen. That’s a sizable volume of publications, and I believe I can share some of the lessons and insights I’ve learned since.
Like many an independent author, I was surprised by the (somewhat) unexpected and for me, rather ill-timed, announcement that CreateSpace would cease its professional services offering. This inopportune change coincided with my imminent decision to publish another book. All of a sudden, I was left in a lurch. Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) was suggested as an alternative, but it’s mostly self work, whereas I really wanted someone else to do the actual editing piece for me. So what now?
Ladies, gentlemen, extraterrestrials! Another novel nailed. Roughly two months since I started writing the book, it is now complete. One hundred thousand crisp words. Faster than light travel, lighter than air encounters of the fourth kind, galactic political intrigue, space battles, you name it, it’s all there. Well, most of it. The name of the book? The Paradox.
The genre of science fiction is not new to me. I’ve already dabbled in it quite some over the years, including a fair range of short stories, featuring space travel, robots, androids, dystopian, futuristic, and apocalyptic themes. But I’ve never written a full sci-fi book.