It's been six months to the day since I released Eria on Amazon. Originally I'd planned on releasing it on my birthday, but some last minute formatting issues and finalizing the cover art delayed that. In the end I was happy to have it out before Xmas.
Initially sales were good, as you'd expect. I put most of the sales in the first month down to friends picking up a copy. It was still nice. It was satisfying to see people getting behind me and my novel.
The next couple of months were just as good, and I was quite impressed. I couldn't put all the sales down to just friends because, and let's be honest, I don't really have that many friends.
In those first three months I got some reviews (which are always nice - I can't stress enough how much I love reviews), and some nice feedback from people on places like Google + and Facebook.
Since then things have kind of petered off. I knew it would happen, but it is still a little disheartening. In the last three months my total sales of Eria have been what the monthly average sales for the first three months was. I love that people are still picking up copies, and I'd like to think that it's through word of mouth, people discovering this blog, or maybe my presence on the social media sites. Not that I just pimp my stuff there (I find it a huge turn off when other people do that), but I do post often on those sites.
I launched my novella The Dragon's Spine in April, not really a prequel as much as a story set in the same world a few hundred years earlier. It was good fun to write, and I hope it was good fun to read, as well.
I've definitely learnt a few things over the last six months, but I might leave that for another post, as lack of sleep is kicking my ass...
Showing posts with label Prequel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prequel. Show all posts
Monday, June 11, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
The Dragon's Spine
Today I finished the "first draft" of the story I was working on (the working title was Krullus, but the actual title will be) The Dragon's Spine. It also went from a short story to a novella. It seems I seriously underestimated the length of the story, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
It needs a few runs through the editing machine, but so far I'm quite happy with it. The editing process, I think, should be fairly painless this time around, partially due to the length (it weighs in at just over 13,000 words), and partially due to the way it was written.
With The Dragon's Spine I was really editing as I was writing. Initially, as I was sitting down to write for the day, I would start at the beginning, reading and editing as I went, to get the creative juices well and truly flowing, as well as to tighten the whole thing up. As things progressed, I would start at a story break, rather than at the beginning. When I reached the end of the "editing" part, I found I just flowed straight into the writing for the day. It was quite seamless. It was also a good way to write, at least for me, on this particular story.
So, what's it about?
The story is set in the Eria universe, several hundred years before the novel. It focuses on a young warrior Krullus, and his two companions - a mage, Aldor, and a rogue, Nystar, and their trip to The Dragon's Spine Mountains. Rumors abound about the mountains, and Krullus, having found no one that claims to have been to the mountains, decides to go there himself. Why has no one else been there before? Is there really a dragon under the mountain?
I'm not going to give away any more than that - where would the fun in that be?
I will say, however, that I went in to the final phases of the story with two possible endings in mind, and in the end (after a fashion) used both. Yeah - I didn't think it was possible, but it was, and it worked, I think. I guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks when it hits the Kindle bookshop!
It needs a few runs through the editing machine, but so far I'm quite happy with it. The editing process, I think, should be fairly painless this time around, partially due to the length (it weighs in at just over 13,000 words), and partially due to the way it was written.
With The Dragon's Spine I was really editing as I was writing. Initially, as I was sitting down to write for the day, I would start at the beginning, reading and editing as I went, to get the creative juices well and truly flowing, as well as to tighten the whole thing up. As things progressed, I would start at a story break, rather than at the beginning. When I reached the end of the "editing" part, I found I just flowed straight into the writing for the day. It was quite seamless. It was also a good way to write, at least for me, on this particular story.
So, what's it about?
The story is set in the Eria universe, several hundred years before the novel. It focuses on a young warrior Krullus, and his two companions - a mage, Aldor, and a rogue, Nystar, and their trip to The Dragon's Spine Mountains. Rumors abound about the mountains, and Krullus, having found no one that claims to have been to the mountains, decides to go there himself. Why has no one else been there before? Is there really a dragon under the mountain?
I'm not going to give away any more than that - where would the fun in that be?
I will say, however, that I went in to the final phases of the story with two possible endings in mind, and in the end (after a fashion) used both. Yeah - I didn't think it was possible, but it was, and it worked, I think. I guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks when it hits the Kindle bookshop!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
A Long Overdue Update
I've been away on holidays. I know the internet doesn't take a holiday, but I'm human, haven't been away for over a year, and so I took a couple of weeks off. I had planned on posting while I was away, but the internet gods were not happy at all with my mobile internet device, which was both odd and annoying.
So, what did I get up to? Lots of driving (15 hours each way, plus a few smaller trips of 2 to 4 hours thrown in for good measure), visiting my daughter that I haven't seen in nearly 2 years (yes, I have a daughter - she'll be 5 this year), catching up with a variety of old friends (school, old gaming friends, ex-house mates), visiting the places I once lived and frequented, and some good old fashioned chillaxing.
It wasn't all fun, though. My return trip was interrupted by a series of floods, and I came up close and personal with some floodwater (which is not good in the early hours of the morning when you've been driving all night and hit it at highway speeds). That which does not kill me can only clean my car.
As a result of my trip, one of my friends has offered me her spare room if I want to move back to that part of the world, which I will more than likely be taking her up on. I lived in Brisbane for the best part of 2 decades, most of my Australian friends live there (or close by), and the employment opportunities are (at a rough estimate) about 50 times what I have here. Don't get me wrong, living here has allowed me to pay off debts and save a wad of money, but my social life has been non-existent, and of late I have just felt myself getting in more and more of a rut. A big, ugly, frustrating rut. So, unless a brilliant, high paying, challenging, rewarding job with room for advancement comes my way by Easter, I'm moving.
Enough about me.
February was my best full month for sales of Eria, which is just awesome. It's nice to know that people are still buying and (hopefully) reading my novel. Additionally, I had a couple of reviews, which is very nice. It's a great feeling.
My current story about Krullus is moving along nicely. I really like the way it is coming together. It's longer than I'd anticipated at the outset, but it's still in short(ish) story country. All going well, I'd like to have it finished and out there by the end of the month. Watch this space - I'll be sure to keep y'all posted.
I've also been making a few notes about a follow-up story featuring Krullus. There's more to say about him that just doesn't fit with the current story (well, not without making it feel forced). My only concern (if that is the right choice of words) now is that it might not be a short story, or a series of short stories, but a full blown novel. We'll see once I lay out all the notes and ideas.
As well as Krullus, I've been making some notes for a sequel to Eria. There's some good stuff in there, and I'm definitely interested in pursuing it. I'm not going to say much more about that just yet, however.
Last, but by no means least, I've got some ideas for 3 short stories. One is a playful little story about Dren. The second is a less-playful story about Bædyr. And the final one is about Zelton. More about those later, when they are more than just ideas, and I have something better to say about them.
That's where things stand at the moment. Busy, exciting times ahead, for me, and for my writing. Hopefully I'll have something fun for y'all to read soon!
So, what did I get up to? Lots of driving (15 hours each way, plus a few smaller trips of 2 to 4 hours thrown in for good measure), visiting my daughter that I haven't seen in nearly 2 years (yes, I have a daughter - she'll be 5 this year), catching up with a variety of old friends (school, old gaming friends, ex-house mates), visiting the places I once lived and frequented, and some good old fashioned chillaxing.
It wasn't all fun, though. My return trip was interrupted by a series of floods, and I came up close and personal with some floodwater (which is not good in the early hours of the morning when you've been driving all night and hit it at highway speeds). That which does not kill me can only clean my car.
As a result of my trip, one of my friends has offered me her spare room if I want to move back to that part of the world, which I will more than likely be taking her up on. I lived in Brisbane for the best part of 2 decades, most of my Australian friends live there (or close by), and the employment opportunities are (at a rough estimate) about 50 times what I have here. Don't get me wrong, living here has allowed me to pay off debts and save a wad of money, but my social life has been non-existent, and of late I have just felt myself getting in more and more of a rut. A big, ugly, frustrating rut. So, unless a brilliant, high paying, challenging, rewarding job with room for advancement comes my way by Easter, I'm moving.
Enough about me.
February was my best full month for sales of Eria, which is just awesome. It's nice to know that people are still buying and (hopefully) reading my novel. Additionally, I had a couple of reviews, which is very nice. It's a great feeling.
My current story about Krullus is moving along nicely. I really like the way it is coming together. It's longer than I'd anticipated at the outset, but it's still in short(ish) story country. All going well, I'd like to have it finished and out there by the end of the month. Watch this space - I'll be sure to keep y'all posted.
I've also been making a few notes about a follow-up story featuring Krullus. There's more to say about him that just doesn't fit with the current story (well, not without making it feel forced). My only concern (if that is the right choice of words) now is that it might not be a short story, or a series of short stories, but a full blown novel. We'll see once I lay out all the notes and ideas.
As well as Krullus, I've been making some notes for a sequel to Eria. There's some good stuff in there, and I'm definitely interested in pursuing it. I'm not going to say much more about that just yet, however.
Last, but by no means least, I've got some ideas for 3 short stories. One is a playful little story about Dren. The second is a less-playful story about Bædyr. And the final one is about Zelton. More about those later, when they are more than just ideas, and I have something better to say about them.
That's where things stand at the moment. Busy, exciting times ahead, for me, and for my writing. Hopefully I'll have something fun for y'all to read soon!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Krullus - A Short (?) Story
Firstly, there were no blog updates last week, but you probably noticed that - I could pretend that it was due to a lot of things - I was busy at work, I was writing, I was changing my ISP, my netbook crashed - but the real reason is that I went away for a few days to visit with family, and my netbook was left sitting at the end of the bed, all ready to go into the bag that it never went into.
With that out of the way, on with the topic at hand!
I started writing a short story the other day about one of the characters that is mentioned, albeit briefly, in Eria - Krullus. The only thing that anyone who has read Eria knows about Krullus is from the one line in the novel:
'Surely you recognize the Sword of Kings,' Bædyr said. 'The weapon wielded by my father, Zandor, and his father before him, bestowed by the ancient Kings of Eria, handed down to the first King, Krullus, by Pael himself!"It's not a lot to go on.
I know who Krullus is, and I thought I might write something so that everyone else could find out a bit more about him. So, I started writing a short story. And, as happens, Real Life reared its ugly head, and I had to put it on the shelf for a few days. At which point my subconscious decided that the story really needed another character added to it. I thought about it, and it made sense, so I thought about the implications of the re-write and what it'd do to the story, and it seemed okay, so I did what I normally do, and slept on it. The next day my subconscious decided that, instead of the one additional character, it really needed two. I thought about it some more, and realized that this was actually an even better idea. We'll see how it pans out, I suppose.
I love the way my subconscious does that - contributes to the writing process while I'm asleep. It keeps things fresh and flowing for me, even if it does result in several re-writes along the way.
So, the plan is for a short story, at the moment. I put it that way, because these things have a way of escalating - like going for "one beer" after work on a Friday sometimes results in you sneaking in at 6am on Saturday morning.
As to what to do with the short story, I'll throw it out onto Amazon for 99 cents, and see what happens. But I'll talk about that more on Friday!
Friday, December 23, 2011
Prequel, Sequel, Or Something On The Side
When writing something new in the same universe there are always options. With the rich back material that I created for Eria, it leaves several options open for me, hence the title of this particular blog post.
I could write a prequel to Eria. There are a lot of things mentioned in the novel that can easily be fleshed out. Depending on how far back I wanted to go into the history of Eria, there are several different generations of stories that I could explore. By stepping back one generation, I could look at when Galdor was an apprentice, like Elrath was in the novel, and see how he was trained; I could explore the creation of the Guardianships, and what it took to establish them; or, I could go back to the first conflict with Rathgar, and how he was defeated that time. I could take the story back several generations to when Krullus wielded the Sword of Kings, and the Dragonknights were around. Who were they? Why were they needed? Was there magic back then? Or, I could choose somewhere in the middle.
Writing a sequel would be a simple enough matter, as well. I just pick up from where the story ended, and go from there. The characters are already there, and there are plenty of opportunities that await them. They have a big job ahead of them, no matter what they decide to do. Do they explore the magic mystery further? Do they go back to Waydale to check on their loved ones? Do they explore the extent of the damage around them? There are a lot of options there.
Lastly, the something on the side option means that I can explore other events that were happening while Elrath, Bethany and Baedyr were 'participating' in the novel. There are other Guardianships and Guardians mentioned in Eria, and their fate is just assumed, or mentioned. What really happened to them? Likewise, the Druids, and the Tenford Fighters Solidarity are mentioned. the latter are not seen or encountered, whilst only one group of the former are seen.
So, where to next? A sequel seems like the obvious option. I feel that the characters deserve (for want of a better word) to explore the world that I have thrust them into for a little longer. A prequel would be a lot of fun to write, because there are so many options there, and it's always fun to flesh out some of the gaps, and make good use of the back material that I've created. And I think something on the side would be an interesting experiment.
So, once again, where to next? Maybe I'll try all three...
I could write a prequel to Eria. There are a lot of things mentioned in the novel that can easily be fleshed out. Depending on how far back I wanted to go into the history of Eria, there are several different generations of stories that I could explore. By stepping back one generation, I could look at when Galdor was an apprentice, like Elrath was in the novel, and see how he was trained; I could explore the creation of the Guardianships, and what it took to establish them; or, I could go back to the first conflict with Rathgar, and how he was defeated that time. I could take the story back several generations to when Krullus wielded the Sword of Kings, and the Dragonknights were around. Who were they? Why were they needed? Was there magic back then? Or, I could choose somewhere in the middle.
Writing a sequel would be a simple enough matter, as well. I just pick up from where the story ended, and go from there. The characters are already there, and there are plenty of opportunities that await them. They have a big job ahead of them, no matter what they decide to do. Do they explore the magic mystery further? Do they go back to Waydale to check on their loved ones? Do they explore the extent of the damage around them? There are a lot of options there.
Lastly, the something on the side option means that I can explore other events that were happening while Elrath, Bethany and Baedyr were 'participating' in the novel. There are other Guardianships and Guardians mentioned in Eria, and their fate is just assumed, or mentioned. What really happened to them? Likewise, the Druids, and the Tenford Fighters Solidarity are mentioned. the latter are not seen or encountered, whilst only one group of the former are seen.
So, where to next? A sequel seems like the obvious option. I feel that the characters deserve (for want of a better word) to explore the world that I have thrust them into for a little longer. A prequel would be a lot of fun to write, because there are so many options there, and it's always fun to flesh out some of the gaps, and make good use of the back material that I've created. And I think something on the side would be an interesting experiment.
So, once again, where to next? Maybe I'll try all three...
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