Those readers that know me well will already be aware that I have dedicated this year (2011) to writing a trilogy. I am greatly pleased to report that yesterday (16th June) I finished writing Book 2. They say that there is at least one book within everybody, and I though you might be interested if I share my experiences with you – perhaps even encourage some of you to put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard at least.

I am still full of the joys of finishing this second volume, which has come as a great relief and a sense of euphoric satisfaction. This compares with book 1 which I finished some three months ago now, and which felt like a great accomplishment, but the rapture was tempered by ploughing straight into the second volume.

So you might ask; what is it like to write a book? How do you choose what to write about; how do you manage to put so many letters on all those pages?

Introduction

I think that to be a successful writer, and by that I mean any kind of writing; that you have to have a passion concerning what you are writing about. I began by building websites – perhaps more than ten years ago now. I made websites for other people, for examinations for my University courses, and later for myself. The latest incarnation is this website: www.china-expats.com

I began with the premise that I wanted to inform people about the real China I see on the daily streets of my everyday life. Through time I added many sections as over the years the site grew in complexity and amount of free resources. It began simply enough: How do I get a visa, how do I start a business, how do I form a company, etcetera. This was then complimented by information pages detailing such things as: what is the electricity voltage, how do I rent an apartment, get a driving licence.

Throughout this time I was also sending letters back to friends in UK and elsewhere in the world, and decided to include these on the website also. Most are funny, most highlight the differences between eastern and western culture; and some are very long – perhaps a novella (60 pages in print form).

I then added some massive sections like: Chinese history, Chinese music and film including bio’s and links for popular Chinese artists, and later expanded to include recipes and DIY. But then why am I telling you all this, for it is obvious if you look at the website! Well, the point is that I got accustomed to writing every day.

For some years I had been thinking of writing several books, but the thought of not knowing how long it would take me to turn out a novel held unknown fear and seemed an impossible task. Then last autumn we had a holiday in Siam, and I simply returned and wrote about our daily experiences. I thought originally it would be one long missive. In fact it turned into a short book in its own right, for in published form it would be around 120 pages!

I thought to myself: ‘That was easy and only took ten days’. Then it began to sink in that if I wrote three times as much it would be the length of a standard book. This simple fact gave me the confidence I had been seeking, and so in late 2010 I began writing in earnest.

Castaway

I had several ideas on the back-burner, but the one that started plaguing me was Castaway – a film I never really got into perhaps because of Tom Hanks? I found it to be totally ridiculous, and all that stuff about the ‘cocoanut’ and the ‘raft’ bit was utterly boring. The first and final bits were fine – although you may not know Hollywood changed the ending from the original, where the boy was originally Castaway’s own son!

So I begin by making changes – the island has to be in the pacific somewhere, but not a desert island, more a sub-tropical one. Then I set out to write about how normal people would deal with arriving on the island and struggling to survive. Cummon! How do you catch a fish when you have nothing? How do you make fire? Simple life skills most of us have never even been taught.

Then I had ‘a gusher’ for the pages simply rolled off the computer. It was so easy I was up to chapter six within a long week, and had a strong sense of what I had left to write. It was going great, even though I took one day out to write a timeline – as a screenwriter would, planning it down to a film 110 minutes long, or two television episodes. The next day I battled with Word and eventually got it to provide me with a paperback book version and Index. I then considered the plot once more and spent the next two days re-reading and editing what I had written.

The following day I again sat down to finish writing the next instalment, which was due to be two more chapters, but somehow I spent most of that day worrying about what was on and not on the island. It was an outside shore of a long extinct volcano, so what sort of rock was it. What colour sand did the beaches have became my next consideration.

Research

And all this time I was still beginning to worry more and more about what flora and fauna was available. For instance, ‘palm trees’ can grow all over the world and many can survive cold weather and even sub-zero temperatures. Unfortunately the species that produce cocoanuts are only found at certain places in the tropics. I spent two days alone researching palm trees, whilst regular interruption from our daughter helped greatly, not. I was still writing sections of the website also, so this was taking time I wanted to use on other things.

It became very evident that I had to define the exact location of my fantasy island on the map of the world that hangs on my office wall. Therefore days passed as I researched islands of the Pacific, and also those within my starting point for the disaster that brought me by current drift too the island in the first place.

Tahiti became the basis of my ideal island, and later my specific starting point, but where was my island to be? I spent hours studying the Pacific floor before finally deciding upon a small area which was also far from regular shipping and aircraft routes. I had my location at last!

The next week passed as I honed the island resources, meaning that I had a list of what was, and was not on the island = very important when you are writing about survival, for this all had to be based in real and checkable fact. I hit the jackpot with French Melanesia, although later would specifically refine this to Lord Howe Island. This gave me a real place to start from.

However, I also studied volcanoes in more depth, deciding that mine was a ‘shield volcano’ as per Hawaii, some of which can be very large. Then I realised that Hawaii has active volcanoes = fine, and beaches with white sand = the geological mix is different from the black beaches I had originally gone with. ‘Uh-Oh!’

You may wonder why this would be important? Well, volcanoes that give rise to black beaches do not have quartz and certainly not flint. You may now begin to see how this becomes ever more complex – given you are basing your fiction in actual physical fact.

I won’t bore you with the rest of the research, which became a daily investigation for several weeks. However, I did log and reference all of it, creating a separate document to contain it all in the process. This project alone was soon over 100 pages long and growing exponentially.

So I came back to the original book and rewrote the first chapters to reference white sand, and updated some other things that were now either available or not. It only took a few hours. So then I was ready to begin writing again, and nothing happened. I was not blocked, but there was something I was missing, but what?

For some weeks another idea had been bothering me a lot, another book I had a vague idea about making into a story, which had been with me for several years. It was half-assed at best, but continued to tickle my imagination because the possibilities were totally amazing! However, I did not have a scenario for it and I knew that even if I did, this work would require a lot of research.

As I hope some of you will want to read the book I will refrain from giving the plot away. Instead I will simply tell you that this involved another film, or rather a set of three that I also found tedious to try and watch, Planet of the Apes. I mean, the basic premise was at best ‘ok’, but the films were utter rubbish really, although presented well enough to make a lot of money for the producers.

My version of Planet of the Apes was very different, simply because it was set ‘today’ in the modern world here on planet earth! There weren’t actually any apes in it either, but I will finish there and not tell you any more for fear of giving the plot away and this spoiling your enjoyment of the trilogy.

However, my third idea was also plaguing me – that it can be regarded from the mythology of many indigenous peoples, that there are always legends of long-lived people with white hair and blue eyes. These people were very tall, very scarce, and an element in all ancient cultures that have memories predating the last ice-age, or say, 10,000 bc if you prefer to generalise. The Bible could reference these same people also, especially if you read some of the books that the Vatican specifically excludes from their modern theology.

So back to the book I was writing, and I am outside the walls of an ancient volcano trying to simply survive until the next morning. Then it all comes together one day as a new and monstrously original series of books begins to form in my mind.

The excitement, the pure adrenalin rushes through me as I know that I have something to write - and it will take me many volumes and many years to complete. I then know how I will get from outside the volcano to the inside, and also why an island 30 miles across cannot be seen by modern satellites. I even know exactly who is living there, for everything simply falls into place within these moments of true inspiration.

However, in my other life outside of this book, the website is reaching a point where I can leave it for a while. I rattle off a few missives and contemplate Christmas in China for the eighth successive year. I know these days will be full of interruptions of many various kinds, so simply write-off the rest of 2010 to finishing all my outstanding tasks and compiling a lot of research for other aspects of the now trilogy.

One aspect I pay particular importance too is sea level, and I am talking about sea-levels 10, 20, 50 thousand years ago. Even with today’s internet information it is at best scant, and usually totally conspicuous by its absence. Therefore I have to do this research as best I can, myself!

Remember, the Australian Aborigines have a spoken history of circa 30, 000 years, which you may know of as ‘Walkabout’. So what was that all about then; where did they come from – and why?

I will endeavour to explain that in Book 3, but I did need to complete the research for other more important reasons, that begin with the second part of Book 1.

But research is an on-going requirement for most good authors, for even though Book 2 absolutely flowed from the very first page, at times I had to stand back and commit myself to ensuring everything was real.

A small example is a tragedy in Book 1, where I had to specify which artery or vein in someone’s neck was deliberately cut. Answer: Research; arteries and veins (Usually listed separately), remember to save the weblinks, and stick it all in the appendices for valid reference.

Another occurred a week ago as I was almost finished with Book 2, for I needed to know on exactly which day and date in mid 2015 there would be a new moon. That is date and day of the week. That was actually quite easy to sort out, again referenced and saved everywhere I can think of.

However, the upshot from this was that I also had a lot of references to ‘full moons’ in this book, and had to relate the passage of time as I had written it in the text many chapters back, to also make sense with the phases of the moon – and yes, it is all correct throughout!

So I lost a whole day, plus some of the next, as I went through both volumes and wrote a specific and independent ‘timeline’, a reference if you prefer. What happened when, and including days, dates, and phases of the moon. Then there is also an eclipse in Book 2, and a very important passage – so the phases of the moon in 2015 then have to link on that specific day to the passage of the Sun. Result: - An eclipse of the Sun will physically happen in real life on that day.

Now perhaps you may begin to see how so much research is vitally important. My aims are to try and time-scape these books as much as possible, and base them all in readily accessible fact. I actually had to alter one chapter so that the phases of both the sun and the moon were kosher to the calendar projection and real dates.

Therefore having a whole host of ideas and conceptions banging around in my head, we celebrate Christmas and New Year here in Toisan, and eventually the year turns once more till on 3rd January 2011 I start writing again in earnest.

Describe Writing

I rip up my original idea, but keep the core as it was very well written and the exact scenario I need for my new ‘Trilogy’. This takes me a whole week actually, as it becomes a major edit rather than something new. Then I scrap it all (Saved) and simply rewrite it – because that is the way words are fresh and invigorating!

You may have experienced the same thing; in fact I am sure you have. Perhaps you have written the most excellent email, or produced a brilliant Word document; and then the work save fucks-up, or the email is not sent and somehow all trace of your hard work has completely and utterly disappeared – totally lost! Drives me crackers!!!

You try to write it again, but you cannot. You can get very close perhaps, but the ‘essence’ of what made it so very special has gone. And this is why I decided to completely rewrite the first book from scratch – for it was humming once more.

And so this leads me to tell you about the way I write, and quite possibly nobody else writes the same way I do? What is important is that you write with a style and way that is comfortable for ‘You’, and sod everyone else – at least until you are looking for a publisher (Something – a demon perhaps I will come to later).

My writing skills go back to primary school, where I was an avid reader, and in spite of teachers, not because of them. During English we were taught to make letters, and then simple story’s, and yes; I do still have one of my early efforts from age nine-ish lying somewhere about – a grand space epic thingymagig vaguely based upon ‘Fireball XL5’.

In the last year of primary school we were taught ‘joined-up writing’ which was based on a classic if defunct style know to older literary genius as ‘Copperplate’. It is still the font used for specific writing styles usually associated with Royalty or stuff from ‘æons’ passed. Oh, did I mention this included ‘Latin letters’?

At Secondary school we were forbidden to use Copperplate, and instead were taught to write in ‘italic’. The whole point of this new font appeared to be to make the letters as skewed and small as possible, so many of us did just that! Hence it is usually impossible for anyone (Often including myself) to understand what I have written in longhand. My handwriting is so illegible I consider it worthy of a distinction for a Medical Doctor’s examination – or prescription!

Secondary school also introduced me to another of mankind’s’ teachers weirdest inventions, the ‘essay’, or rather; what you had to do to write one. Now I never had a problem writing essays, précis, any of that stuff – I simply ‘did it’. The problem was that by the ages of 15 and 16 (I have no idea what ‘Grades’ those are, so you will have to interpolate if you understand them); we had to do this thing in every single essay which was called ‘The Plot’.

Hello? I don’t write like that, as I have absolutely no idea what I am going to write about - and even if I did, by the time I have written the plot it will be used, old, redundant – not something vital, original, and fresh to awaken the senses.

However, for our GSE’s (Yes, that is correct spelling and I am that old) we had to write a stupid plot – and it was worth between 8% and 10% of the total marks for your entire effort. Keeping true to my writing skills I had over time worked out that if I left twelve lines clear at the beginning and under the title, then I could write the plot in after I had completed the essay. It worked a treat, and so much so I was one of the best writers in the class.

So how does that fit with my writing today you may ask?

Well, the experience of having to try and adapt the beginning of book 1, from what was essentially something else did not work. It hindered my writing greatly – hence I scrapped it and started afresh. However, later I did edit it (A completely different thing) and included much of the original work, but based around the new theme and to enhance it.

So how do I write?

Well I have absolutely no idea! I know from ages past that any sort of a ‘plan’ is deadly and counter-productive. However, I keep mental signposts in my head so that I am always aware of where I am in the book, which characters are doing what, and why; and where it is headed – at both: page, chapter, book, and trilogy level.

Within this framework I simply sit down at the keyboard every day and tap out whatever the muse of creativity dictates. Sometimes one part of my mind is stroking the keys, whilst a higher part is watching the words appear with growing astonishment – for there are times I have absolutely no idea what I will write in the next paragraph; nor how our heroes will escape the current situation as it develops on the screen before me.

At first I was very worried by this phenomenon, but stayed with it until the ‘Sar Tan’ bit in Book 1. This really shook me, because it was completely outside the box. However I had the nerve to keep writing whatever came into my head, and it all worked, and was mega!

After that I also gained the confidence to just follow what my fingers wrote, think about the impact on the reader – and make it a first-copy. You see, everything always works out in the end if you have a simple and solid belief in yourself.

What I love

I love the freedom that writing gives me, the power to say things that no one has ever thought about before, or perhaps parody these as insights into the real world(s) we inhabit today. There is also a special sense of confidence that comes with writing one book, but to finish Book 2 also and be minds ahead within book 3 is awesome.

I love the challenge and the knowing that this is all my own work; and it is completely original. You know you have the inherent knowledge, ‘I did that’!

But perhaps the greatest release is actually to bind with the characters of my books and observe how they endure. Sometimes I go to bed so worried about the situation one of my favourite characters is facing, and so much so that I cannot sleep wondering what will happen to him, or her; or it.

I have been known to be so concerned that I have gotten up at 4 in the morning and set fingers to keyboard, simply to know if the person is ok … eventually, or not.

I have cried as I have written sentences, and cried wholeheartedly when I have reviewed certain sections – or; been so happy for a great rejoicing that I have stood to go get a beer from the fridge to join their celebrations, this time crying tears of true happiness as the hero/heroine was saved.

My point is: that although I am perhaps biased, this epic like some of my previous missives does ring the heart-strings. It does make me angry, happy; and cry for all the right and wrong reasons. I have stood with my characters as they have wielded weapons against insurmountable odds, and joined their festivities when they won the day. I becomes inside me once again.

Therefore, what I love is to get inside a character’s head and use my figures to explain that person to any reader in a way they will understand.

Pet hates

Time is not a consideration, for it passes as the books develop. What I have come to hate intensely are certain aspects of Microsoft Word, for it remains brilliant at times, and totally fuckwitted at others.

In my naivety I had presumed that when I went into ‘Page Setup’, that when they offered several ‘book’ formats, that these actually related to writing a book. No they do not!

This is a concept of Word that presumes that American Corporate secretaries want to create something – thin ‘Outlook’ here. There is absolutely no relevance whatsoever to actually providing parameters consistent with any form of written media – it is an absolute load of bollocks!

However, the Gold Medal goes to Words intensely infuriating inability to even offer a guess at what British English should be. Let’s begin with the simple word ‘Staff’:
1. In British English, as with American, this either means a piece of wood, or an undefined number of employees.
2. A Piece of Wood:
a. It is highly unlikely that either version of English would ever use the plural of this word, but if they ever did, then ‘staffs’ would be correct. How I would ever write a sentence, clause or paradigm that included that word is irrelevant. It simply does not happen even one time in one billion.
3. A person:
a. This is the part that I cannot and refuse point-blank to get my head around, for Word always uses the American version, despite this supposedly being British English.
b. British English:
i. Staff means one or many people
ii. It is always singular and never has an ‘s’
iii. To add an ‘s’ to British English would require a very specific situation, although it is perhaps not totally impossible in theory.
c. American English:
i. Staff is always spelt ‘staffs’, totally regardless of whether it refers to a single person or many.
ii. This is totally illogical, Captain – and undermines the British invention of plural – letter ‘s’.

There are many more examples for intrepid writers to try and comprehend, the majority arising out of the way we refer to people, for example:
1. ‘Yourself, yourselves’ is not allowed in the American version of British English. These should be replaced with the corrected American grammar which appears to be the words ‘you or us’ respectively. Hello?
2. Word’s versions of ‘are vs is’ are horrifically similar also, to the point where I wonder if they have any comprehension whatsoever of tenses?

What I do find unforgivable, is that this is a reference only (Unlike spelling), and there is no option whatsoever to teach Word the British English grammar = Unacceptable!

The other most infuriating thing is Word’s capacity to move your ‘click’ placed behind a letter, to be in front of the letter when you make an alteration. It appears that the centre of any letter you type is offset 75% to the rear, so 25% of the letter is behind, and 75% is in front of the middle of the said letter.

Then you may happen to copy/paste, except the cursor shows at the beginning of what you pasted, not at the end. This is ludicrous for writers and definitely leads them to consider committing suicide. Yes, yet more confirmation that Word is totally fuckwitted, as if you hadn’t already worked that one out for yourselves.

Now, what I really want as a writer, although I have also wanted this or ages; is the ability to control multiple copy/paste’s on a right mouse click. When you read these books you will find a lot of strange names being repeated a lot, many of them using simple Latin characters or Welsh spellings. What I need is the ability to store - even 10 letters or words so I can right-click and paste whatever I want; and not be restricted to the very last thing I did … perhaps days ago!

Then I have the last fuckwitted thing to always dismiss, for having copy/pasted my days work from original to one or several formats = usually the whole chapter; I close Word. Well, Word does not close. Instead I get this same pop-up every time, ‘I have copied a lot of info to the clipboard. Do I want this available to other applications (apps in today’s parlance)? No!!!

Now, I have had to add many British words to Words’ British English dictionary – basically because it is total crap. What really pisses me off is that after I have added the word in question; I then have to add all it’s variations, like adding ‘s’ to make the thing plural. Hello Word? I seriously do not need this, especially as I am adding a word that already exists – albeit in true British English.

Like many people I have grown to absolutely hate Word, and yet – I have found nothing remotely better to replace it with = Well done Bill Gates.

Publishing

Once you have written your book, the real fun begins; because if you do not know anything about how to get your work published, then basically you are up shit creek without a paddle!

You will probably come to rue the day you started writing, for virtually all publishing houses do not accept direct submissions from an author, and so you need to find an ‘agent’. These are another kettle of fish trawled from another galaxy who appear to inhabit a rarefied world where your efforts are already in what they call the ‘slush’ pile before they can be bothered to let you have all their submissions gobbledygook; and they simply have too much to do to bother with your creation. Hello!

In total I have spend several weeks researching publishers and their agents, and it is like opening a can of worms – for they are very nespotic, or only interested in proven authors of best sellers. That stated, there are publishers who do accept new authors’ works, and there are agents who if you submit in their preferred format, say they will read your book.

Then you look at contracts, and they usually offer a very little for you signing away your copyright and being tied to them for a lifetime. Therefore self-publishing is an option many writers choose, but the authors will have to do all the publicity and marketing themselves – like approaching every single branch of Oddbins in order to have them stock one or two copies of your book, suitably hidden from display on one of the least favoured shelves at the back of the store.

Like the music industry, the cards are highly stacked in favour of either existing artists, or industry created pseudo -writers who churn out the prescribed modern whim. Therefore I become disillusioned, as I know my work is excellent, but there appears to be no channel for me to use. No! Hold-up, because I have found a few publishers and agents who will take a look at my work seriously.

Of the alternatives, then I am seriously considering ePublishing, but wouldn’t you know, just like modern movie and music files, some companies only support certain formats, and definitely do not support others. The same with eReaders, for Kindle supports different formats from the mainstream, and does not support the most popular format (.epub), which most others do support.

However, I really like the idea of ePublishing, because this allows me to add links to pictures and supporting information that do not make sense with a standard hardbound book. Therefore I have the opportunity to add extra content that some readers will use to elevate their reading experience. This goes as far as in the next generation of eBooks and eReaders, offering website links to references, appendices, and supporting author websites where more detailed information is available.

Today I still want to publish a real physical book, but spending longer looking for a publisher or agent; than the time taken to write the books is looking a bit dodgy and a waste of time.

Summary

For me, writing this trilogy is not a trouble, it is a release – one I have enjoyed immensely. I know I have grown as a writer, and as a person also. I know that research matters, and collecting all your research in a folder somewhere, with links to websites is a must.

My plan is to edit the first two books and then submit for publication before writing book three. I may write book three instead, or write certain sections as the muse takes me.

Final review and editing are probably my next target when I resume writing at the end of this month (June 2011). However, I may continue and write book three instead, I really have no idea until I begin. I know that book 2 is highly readable and that through both tomes I have grown considerably as a writer. I actually do consider myself to be a writer of novels. These missives are of a considerably different approach and style in case you wondered.

At one point quite near the end of book 2 I did have a problem, for I couldn’t remember specifically which year I was now in. Sounds crazy? Well read the book and you will understand – for time jumps 18 months. I had also changed the original 2010 start date to 2011, which I later changed back again. Now perhaps you begin to see why clearing your mind and re-reading the work as a whole is so very important.

What I decided to do was write a ‘timeline’, which saw me going back to day one of the story and date stamping any notable event or passage of time in a separate document. What I was not expecting was to be drawn into reading my work on several occasions, for the story kept grabbing my attention and making me want to finish reading the whole chapter – and then the next!

If it can do that for me in its unedited form, then hopefully the same will hold true for readers. However, the editing process is an unknown factor for me, as I need to proof read it, and also second guess criticism – so any offers to read it and offer constructive criticism will be favourably received - and yes, it is already subject to copyright. On the other hand, with each book around 190, 000 words and likely to exceed 500 pages in standard paperback form (Main text only), so it is not something for the light reader to take on, enjoyable though it may prove to be.

Final Thoughts

If you have ever wanted to write a book, then I urge you to begin. The release of writing something ‘wot U rote’ is exceptional and enriches your life in many ways. I will of course continue to let you know of my experiences, especially those as regards ‘publishing’.

However, with one eye on the future I have already reserved domain names (Web site addresses) for my book, my pseudonym, and myself; simply in order to promote the project after it is published. This is perhaps more important with e-Publishing, as you can bring in so many other aspects of your work – and all based upon either your research, or to embroider the story with character details and bio’s; or to fill in background information that could become lost within the text – such as my: ‘Twelve Tribes of Mankind’, ‘The Prophesy’, or ‘The Rings of Power’.

I will leave you with that taster and will look for comments on the website from other budding authors. So best wishes to you all and may the Three Ladies that govern our small lives always walk with your endeavours:
Fate, Luck and Serendipity.