That method was strict planning, chapter by chapter, and it concentrated on one question: WHAT. What happens in Chapter 1? What happens in Chapter 2? And so on.

Over the past couple of years, however, I’ve been playing fast and loose with that methodology and, in the past year, have discovered that I’ve been consistently moving away from the straight-down-the-line chapter-by-chapter outline. That’s not to say I’ve become a pantster (i.e. writing “by the seat of my pants”, otherwise known as “spontaneous” or “organic” writing). I dislike organic writing because it’s my opinion that it can so often lead to writing myself into a dead end, sagging middles, or — most wasteful of all — abandoned manuscripts. A plan of some sort negates a lot of those problems.

Instead of asking WHAT, I realise that I’m now asking HOW and WHY. And answering those questions doesn’t easily fit a mechanical outline. However, it does fit a synopsis.

Three books on, I’m finding that a synopsis is now the best vehicle for planning how I want my story to look. And, by reading the synopsis, I can also quite accurately estimate how long the story’s going to be. I suppose that bit comes with experience. The other plus with writing a synopsis is that my DevEd prefers it. He can quickly read through two pages and come back with questions on action, motivation and the general arc of the book. Not only does it sharpen my thinking but also saves us both a lot of time further down the track, when the manuscript has been written, double-self-edited and passed to him for further comments. (And has the potential to save the kind of re-structuring I had to do with THE CHECK YOUR LUCK AGENCY before it passed muster.)

The synopsis. I know writers usually hate them but I now consider them one of my tools to increase efficiency. Write the synopsis, write the blurb, then write the book. If the first two aren’t right, or at least sound the least bit compelling, then the book itself isn’t going to be right. That discovery alone (one week’s effort for synopsis plus blurb) is enough to save me two to three months’ worth of work, if not more in terms of possible rewrites.

I’d say that’s a pretty good trade-off.

ADDITIONAL The original two-page synopsis for BALANCE OF TERROR, the sequel to IN ENEMY HANDS, is now with DevEd for his comments. I’m hoping he likes what he reads but I’m also reminding myself that it’s much easier to fix the flaws in two pages of writing than it is to fix them in 80,000 words. I’m a lazy writer like that.

Welcome, stalwart reader! I have news! My latest novel, QUINTEN’S STORY, about a bitter and maimed man and the crewmember he buys is now percolating through your favourite etailers. This means Amazon, XinXii, Smashwords and Omnilit/All Romance Ebooks. The price for his novel (approx. 70,000 words) is currently set at US$3.99, with it going up to US$4.99 at the end of the month. So, if you’re hankering for a copy, I’d get one now rather than later.

As is usual, you can read a bit of the background, and the entire first chapter, of the book at my website. If you’re after a summary page of where you can buy it, please click on this link to be taken to Sandal Press.

And that brings up the second piece of news. Sandal Press has also put together a sampler of all its 2011 releases, which includes the first two chapters of QUINTEN’S STORY. It is available from Sandal direct for the princely sum of…FREE!

That’s right, partials of all of Sandal’s 2011 releases plus a bit of our first 2012 release. All in all, that comes to 39,000 words. I’m hoping it will generate some interest, and drive paying customers to my door but, regardless, I think it a valuable annual exercise and have already started to construct the 2012 sampler to make my life easier this time next year.

Having been brought up in a repressive Roman Catholic environment, it’s difficult for me to really trumpet about my latest novel, but I know it’s required, so here are some summary points:

• It’s set in the Republic
• There is a love story at its heart but no romantic happy ending
• The novel gives greater insight into the Transitional (shapeshifter) species and how it fits into Republic space
• Yes, I will be releasing a sequel, hopefully at the end of this year or the beginning of 2013.

BLURB:

Quinten Tamlan was once the scourge of the Republic. Then he disappeared….

It’s been seven long years for Quinten Tamlan. Scarred and bitter, he has lost direction and the spark of idealism that once fired his resolve.

Until he decides to take on a new crewmember. Quinten believes he has his own problems. He believes he is alone and forgotten. He is wrong. Quite wrong.

Again, links to my website and Sandal Press for your convenience.

I am not resting on my laurels. I am still finishing up the first draft of Cara d’Bastian’s next book, THE RETURN OF THE HANTU. Once that is off my plate, I’ll be plotting out…the sequel to IN ENEMY HANDS, currently titled BALANCE OF TERROR. I know its basic structure but will need to sit down and see if Kad Minslok can’t throw a few spanners into the machinery of Srin and Moon’s pharmaceutical dependency problem.

And, lastly but not leastly, Katiebabs is holding a 2012 Lesbian Appreciation Event at her blog, Babbling About Books, and a few of us authors (Cathy Pegau, Jessica E Subject and myself) will be having posts up during this event. I believe mine will appear on Sunday. For some great books for you to add to your reading list, make sure you visit. You won’t be disappointed.

* I published a short SFR story set on Europa (one of Jupiter’s moons) called, appropriately enough, EUROPA EUROPA. This story was included in Total-E-Bound’s SEEING STARS anthology, as well as being released as a standalone short in digital and audio formats.

* I was chuffed enough about EUROPA EUROPA to write another short for Total-E-Bound, called TAINTED LOVE. My first evah vampire story, I now think I should have published it under the Cara d’Bastian pen-name, just to give a bit of additional focus to that new name. Ah well, what’s done is done. I thoroughly enjoyed writing TAINTED LOVE and might revisit Cleo and Bryce at some point.

* J and I started up Sandal Press and published an SF novel as our first self-published release. At 90,000 words, WAR GAMES was the book that several agents said they loved but couldn’t sell. I could either let it languish in a drawer, have it and my career hog-tied to an otherwise well-respected small press with the vilest contract terms imaginable, or publish it ourselves.

* A vacation to Poland provided the impetus for a small travelogue on the Silesian and Moravian regions of Poland and the Czech Republic, respectively. It was called IT’S 10AM, WHY AM I STILL SOBER? (Sandal Press) and is currently making the rounds of the family, so it’s just as well I kept my normal swearing to a minimum while writing it.

* The vacation itself and release of the travelogue pushed out the publication of THE CHECK YOUR LUCK AGENCY (Sandal), which still emerged in October (yay!), although Kobo only managed to get it listed in December and then without its cover. Sigh.

With those three releases, J and I met our initial milestone of three Sandal releases in 2011, even if they weren’t the three we had initially envisaged.

Have we made any money with Sandal? No. We’ve spent hundreds of dollars in editing, cover art and sundry business expenses without making a tenth of it back. BUT…I didn’t expect to. When I was first pitching the idea to J, I told them that self-publishing was a long-term proposition and that I wasn’t expecting to see any serious money come out of it for three years. Yep, we have a thirty-six month event horizon on Sandal Press. At the time of this writing, we’re barely five months in. Sure, I’m disappointed I’m not an overnight sensation , but we’ll just stick to the plan for now.

What does this mean for 2012?

We all have plans and I’m sure that whatever I put down now will change by the time the next release comes out, but 2012 looks like fast becoming The Year of the Sequel.

* I’m planning on releasing the next two or three books in d’Bastian’s Check Your Luck series (Book 2: RETURN OF THE HANTU, Book 3: WRATH OF THE HARIMAU).

* Okay, a space opera set in the Republic coming out in January (QUINTEN’S STORY) is not a sequel but bear with me.

* A few of you might be pleased to know I’m also contemplating the sequel to IN ENEMY HANDS.

I thought I’d still have time to write some stories for some other publishers but wonder if I’m being overly ambitious about that, so I think I’ll just stick to my Sandal plans for the time being.

What about you? Anything you’d like to share about what you did this year or what you’re planning for 2012? Is there any other Augustin title you’d like to read the sequel to?

This is normally the time when I wonder why the damn hell I wrote the book in the first place, because all I can see are amateurish marks, turns of phrase that make me cringe, and other characteristics that make me think I’m looking at a page I wrote when I didn’t know how to (write, that is).

I’ll get over it around the three-quarter mark. I usually do. But, in the meantime, every sentence, every paragraph is a potential guillotine victim.

In this frame of mind, I’m sure you’ll understand if I stay mute for another week. Have a good one and hopefully I’ll have something more productive to say next Friday.

So, while it’s making its rounds of various etailers, I’m here to tell you that IT’S 10AM, WHY AM I STILL SOBER? is now available at XinXii and Smashwords. Because of today’s significance, I thought I’d give you an appropriate excerpt from the chapter on Kraków (appropriate, not because it has to do with Polish National Day but because it’s about a battle and Poles love battles; they’re very Klingon like that):

The initial view [of Kraków] is favourable and entertaining, from the cobbled streets to the artistic, renovated buildings. I posed for a photo in front of one of the places where Stanisław Wyspianski (Stan-is-wahv Vis-pee-en-ski) once lived. (He moved around a lot, it seems.) I’ve been a fan of one particular work of Wys ever since I saw his take on the Battle of Grunwald (Groon-vault). Grunwald was where, five centuries ago, a whole bunch of mostly Germanic Crusaders went up against a whole bunch of mostly Poles and got their arses thoroughly whipped. (There’s a recreation every year right at the spot. One day, we’ll make it there.) Wys, although painting around the end of the nineteenth century, delivered an extraordinarily modern interpretation of one of the archetypal paintings (by national hero, Jan Matejko) of the battle.

Matejko's painting of the Battle of Grunwald

In essence it was an interpretation (or, er, parody) of a portrayal of a battle. Poles are generally aghast that I’d want a copy of such a parody of Matejko’s much loved and admired masterpiece but there’s such an unbridled exuberance and clear understanding of space to Wys’ work that I find myself smiling each time I see it.

Wyspianski's parody of Matejko's painting

 

I know I’m going to end this excerpt with an unfair question. After all, Matejko’s painting is an undoubted masterpiece, full of symbolism, a merging of three events during the historic battle, passion and emotion. BUT…which do you prefer?

***

While IT’S 10AM, WHY AM I STILL SOBER? will be available at Amazon, and so on, I would really recommend that — should you consider purchasing a copy of the book — you get it from XinXii and that you get the PDF copy in particular. This is because there is quite a bit of advanced formatting and a fair number of photos in the book and PDF is still the best way to present such information. However, if you’re a diehard Amazon fan and can’t do without that format, then rest assured that you should have a copy available at Amazon US by the end of this coming weekend.

I should have the first chapter (after the Introduction) of the book up at my website by the end of today, if you’re interested in reading a longer excerpt. IT’S 10AM, WHY AM I STILL SOBER? is 30,600 words long and will set you back US$2.99 It would be a nice gift for Thanksgiving or Christmas (hint hint) but I wouldn’t get it for any God-fearing, puritanical armchair traveller…unless you want them to have a heart attack. Your choice. (Never know, might be fun.)

We shall return to regular (homeschooling) programming next week but, in the meantime, have a good weekend.

POSTSCRIPT: I’ve never considered doing this before, hence the ad hoc nature of this offer, but if you can’t countenance XinXii and would still like to buy a copy of the book (and I really really think PDF is best), you can Paypal me the money and I’ll forward you the book via return email. Contact me at KS -at- KSAugustin -dot- com for the Paypal details if you’re interested in that option.

Charles starts off with a blunt question:

First, there’s the “Big Six” publishers. Guess where they’re based and who their primary audience is?

He talks about the issue that the flow of books is one-way; that is, away from the developed world towards the underdeveloped. (Not that the underdeveloped/developed divide is even true any more. As far as infrastructure goes, I’d much rather live in Malaysia than the United States. For a start, the roads are better. But, for simplicity, let’s stick to cliches for the moment.)

Charles talks about how the size of the North American market naturally lends itself to economies of scale, something that can’t be taken for granted in a lot of other countries:

If you’re wondering why local [Filipino, but also s-e Asian --kaz] publishers don’t have Advanced Reader Copies or ARCs, it’s because they can’t afford to do a separate print run.

There’s public perception:

Import books get their own diverse shelf categorization: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Romance, Horror, Science Fiction, etc. Local books get one shelf….

It’s true here in Malaysia too. We have a “Local writers” category that, in addition, is never at the front of the store. Fancy that. And we sure don’t have an Amazon with all that wonderful free shipping, gift wrapping, streaming video, and so on. Book Depository comes close but, while I love them to bits, they just don’t have the range of stuff that Amazon has.

Charles goes on to talk about ebooks and you really should go read his essay because it’s chock-full of home truths, but let me diverge at this point and talk about Amazon and my experiences with them as a self-publisher.

Together with hubby, J, we are running our own little publishing house called Sandal Press. And because I want to get my books in front of the widest audience possible, of course I’m going to sell them through Amazon. Here are the problems:

– Because I’m not in an “Amazon” country, I cannot install the Kindle tools that are available to content creators in countries where Amazon exists. When I pointed out that it was ridiculous inviting non-Western content providers to publish on Kindle but refusing to give them utilities available to their Western counterparts, the India-based Support team told me they’d “pass along” my suggestion to the Marketing team. Gee thanks.

– I’m not even allowed to download the Kindle reading app for my PC!

– I can’t see my own books after they’re published. This is not so bad for my Sandal Press books because I can get sideways access to the pages via my KDP Administrative panel but, for my books that are not published by Sandal, Amazon behaves as if they — and I — don’t even exist.

Charles’ essay bites especially deep because I’ve just finished uploading a book by my alter-ego Cara d’Bastian. Yes, the first book in The Check Your Luck series, The Check Your Luck Agency, is finally up and being processed. But do you know the kicker?

I won’t know what it looks like.

I know I passed through clean clean code (having been an ex-programmer) that’s been validated by every HTML engine I can find, but the fuzzy preview tells me that the first letter of each chapter (which I coded as an image, with its corresponding text character as an alternative display) isn’t appearing!

It’s driving me completely batshit because I can’t check to see if it’s my problem or the previewer software’s problem. And I can’t take a post-conversion copy and pass it along to an American friend to check because Amazon doesn’t allow any content provider to download a free Kindle copy of their own book.

Am I pissed? You bet I am. The deck is stacked so much against any person of initiative who happens to reside outside the Holy Western countries, that I’m completely wrung out — mentally and physically — whenever I hit the “Save and Continue” button.

Uploading to Amazon is nerve-wracking because it’s like baking a calzone for the first time. You’ve followed the recipe exactly, you’ve listened to all the advice available, the thing looks good when it comes out of the oven, but you can’t tell how it actually tastes because the calzone is for someone else. All you can do is guess and when it’s your own professionalism at stake, that is a terrible terrible thing.

Charles finishes with:

[W]ill eBooks be the great equalizer? They could be. Just not in the ecosystem of Apple or Amazon….

Damn straight. Apple is as much a restrictive closed-garden environment as Amazon is. I watch every day for news of successful competitors to these two arrogant behemoths, which is why I also publish with Kobo (they’re not without their own problems though), Smashwords and XinXii. (And don’t get me started with those poxy bastards at Nook, who even — amazingly — make Amazon seem tolerable at times.) With recent news in mind, I’m hopeful that Apple will repeat its history and disappear down the drain. Hopefully, this will open up the field a bit. I’m waiting.

At first, the decision seemed very simple. Two different genres, two different pen-names. Augustin sometimes writes erotic stuff and mostly sf, d’Bastian keeps it fantasy and sweet.

The problem, however, is how to cross-pollinate between the two. Now, I’m not sure I want d’Bastian readers to follow me back to Augustin (especially as the UF books can be read by my kids with my full blessing, whereas some of my Augustin books…ahem, not so much). On the other hand, being a greedy little writer, I’d like some of my Augustin readers to try my d’Bastian books.

I have no answers here, I’m just thinking it through on this blog. Maybe I can put a link here somewhere to d’Bastian? Would that work? I’ll try to get that up next week while I continue thinking.

Taaa daaaaa!

The book itself is a-l-m-o-s-t ready for Dev Ed, which is no problem as it’s not due for release till December. QUINTEN’S STORY, while it has romantic elements, is not a romance. It’s straight space opera, set in the Republic (ON BLISS, PRIME SUSPECT, A PIRATE’S PASSION, IN ENEMY HANDS).

After meeting the firebrand Kiel Souiad, Quinten Tamlan falls in love with her and joins her in creating the ST Alliance, a rebel group that is trying to bring down the Republic. But something happens, Kiel dies, and Quinten spends the next seven years wallowing in grief. However, his ship — too big for one person to handle — is disintegrating and he’s finally forced to take on a crewmember.

Quinten thinks he’s been forgotten by the Republic and forgotten by the people he and Kiel tried to liberate. He’s about to find out that he’s wrong on both counts.

Hey, that doesn’t sound too bad, does it? I may try to work some of that into the official blurb.

Anyway, that’s the news for this week. A book trailer AND a new cover. Have a good weekend.

You can go back to last week’s blog post (just look down below this one) and make a comment. That’s a second chance to win a copy of WAR GAMES.

You could sign up for my newsletter (click the envelope in the sidebar) and ask for a copy, but then I’ll be asking you to pretty please post a review somewhere. Third chance.

And next Monday, I’ll be at Charlie Allden’s blog, Smart Girls Love SciFi. Fourth chance.

Don’t say I’m not helping you out here! I’ve got more jobs than time available at the moment. If someone could please make a day last 48 hours, instead of 24, I think I may just get all caught up.

Have a good weekend and I’ll catch you next week.