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Category: ALTERNATIVE HISTORY
Now I will talk about themes, the threads that bind a story together.
As I mentioned in part 1, no single idea will make a complete book. If it’s a good idea, it will spawn more ideas. Let’s assume you have your ten ideas as well as your main idea:
Main idea: Santa’s sleigh breaks down on Christmas Eve Continue reading “How to Write a Good Vampire Book – 2. Developing Themes”
Almost 2 years ago now, I edited a great book – The Journals of Raymond Brooks. It has now been released as a second edition and it looks stunning.
The link for the book is always on my Editing Services page.
Click here to see what you think!
Description
Raymond Brooks was born a thousand years ago, an orphaned boy lost in a foreign land. Growing up during the Dark Ages was no easy feat. Reaching old age was highly unlikely. Surviving to see the turn of a millennium? Impossible!
These are The Journals of Raymond Brooks, a mythical figure from the Dark Ages. Uncovering the mysteries and adventures he experienced during his unimaginable lifespan. The Journals force humanity to face a terrible realization: there are monsters of horrifying power hidden from mortal eyes. They pretend to be sheep when they are wolves, pulling our strings and making us dance…until now.
Could the supernatural creatures really walk amongst us? And if they do, they must preserve their secrecy at all cost. Why then would Raymond commit virtual suicide by revealing their existence? What happens now, when all hell breaks loose?
This will be the first post detailing what I have learned about: How to write a Good Vampire Book. Note, I am not saying a great book. I don’t feel I have written a great book yet, and by that I mean something like Lord of the Rings, A Tale of Two Cities, Wuthering Heights, Far from the Madding Crowd or Silas Marner. When I do write such a book, I will be sure to update the title of this post.
Writing about Vampires?
Vampire Santa is a bit of fun, but the rules here apply to all books. My only advice specific to writing about vampires, werewolves or other shifters is not to use common English names; it’s hard to believe in a vampire called John Smith. On the other hand, posh English names including titles such as Lord can work well.
I will make permanent pages for the general techniques (without vampires) so that they are always available as pages in the menu at the top. So let’s gets started. Continue reading “How to Write a Good Vampire Book – 1. The Idea”
The votes are in on your worst Movie Turkey!
It’s been an interesting vote. Obviously more people have seen Jupiter Ascending than I thought! And I am obviously not the only one who thinks The Hobbit Trilogy is bad. So here we go with the top 3:
Tying in 1st Place with 5 Votes: Jupiter Ascending
There is not a lot of trivia I can give about this film but here goes! The Wachowski siblings second film that Natalie Portman dropped out of, following Cloud Atlas (2012). Continue reading “RESULTS: VOTE FOR YOUR MOVIE TURKEY!”
Okay all the nominations are in so its time to vote! Thank god there haven’t (so far) been any remakes of these movies!
The nominations are described in more detail 2 posts further down the page.
You have 6 votes per person. Please give 3 votes to your favourite (click the yellow ‘Vote’ button between each vote), 2 votes to your second favourite (click the yellow ‘Vote’ button between each vote) and 1 vote to your third favourite. Click ‘View Results’ if you want to see how the vote is going. Everyone should be able to vote, no matter what your browser.
Voting closes Sunday 10th January at midnight GMT. Continue reading “It’s New Year: Vote for your Movie Turkey!”
圣墓寻踪
I am delighted to announce that Ordo Lupus and the Temple Gate is now available in Chinese! Unless you read Chinese, you won’t want to read the rest of this post!
这个神秘的惊悚片可在以下网站：
https://www.pubu.com.tw/ebook/61681
内容介绍
为什么一个声名狼藉的宗教暗杀组织要保他的命？男主人公亲眼目睹爱女被卷入一场血腥谋杀，女儿被遗弃的幼小尸体破碎扭曲，死状惨烈。身为退隐的军情六处特工，他决定找出女儿惨死的真相，却陷入了警方和妻子的怀疑。拥有预见能力的他为了洗清自己的罪名展开了探索之旅。此时的他只有一名身为历史学家、现代的医院骑士团成员的朋友，在这唯一朋友的帮助下，他踏上了一条惊心动魄的拯救之路，却发现自己痛恨的宗教组织暗中保护自己……神秘学，超自然，悬疑，狼人，吸血鬼，幽默，超能力，情节生动。喜爱作家丹·布朗神秘历史感风格的作者一定会爱上这本神秘学小说——一个描述黑暗力量、情节惊心动魄的故事！
本书分类：小说，惊险小说，超常现象，神秘学&超自然，悬疑，狼人，吸血鬼，幽默，超能力，情节生动。
It wouldn’t be Christmas without turkey and if indigestion hasn’t already set in, maybe there’s space for a bit more? What is your top nomination for movie Turkeys? It doesn’t have to be a Christmas movie but just one so bad that you either reach for the remote or fall asleep.
How to spot a Turkey Movie
Turkey movies can be hard to pick out: you often don’t remember their names or who’s in them. But of course if it’s a sequel or a remake it has a very good chance of being a Turkey! Some movies are so bad they are actually fun and good for a few laughs. These aren’t those movies. Continue reading “It’s Christmas: Nominate your Movie Turkey”
The first three places are:
1st Place, with 6 votes: Focke-Achgelis_Fa_223 – A dual rotor helicopter
When Otto Skorzeny was planning his raid to abduct captured Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from the Albert Rifugio hotel on the Gran Sasso in September 1943, his original choice of aircraft was a Fa 223. The Fa 223 would be able to land directly in front of the hotel.[14] However, the chosen aircraft broke down while en route, and Skorzeny instead was forced to use a Fieseler Fi-156.[14]
The Drache could transport cargo loads of over 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) at cruising speeds of 121 km/h (75 mph) and altitudes approaching 2,440 m (8,010 ft). Continue reading “Hottest, Coolest WWII Gadget Vote Results!”
It’s time to vote!
To celebrate the release of my new book in January, December Radio, which describes what might have happened had the Nazi’s built a viable nuclear bomb, we are voting on the hottest or coolest gadget in WWII. The nominations, with links so you can read more information, are below the voting box. Make your choice carefully.
You have 6 votes per person. Please give 3 votes to your favourite (click the yellow vote button between each vote), 2 votes to your second favourite (click the yellow vote button between each vote) and 1 vote to your third favourite. Click ‘View Results’ to check you have voted.
Voting closes Sunday 13th December at midnight GMT. Continue reading “Vote now: Hottest, Coolest WWII Gadgets!”
This was created by an iPad
While on Holiday in Spain more than a year ago now, my partner’s iPad appended a story manuscript with this at the end of the file, gradually adding to it over a period of weeks:
Lopressor
Copyright © 2013 by my partner’s iPad (Serial Number on Enquiry)
All Rights Reserved
Hello again hello hello we’re just now hello hello hello how are you doing my dear Lopressor
I named it Lopressor for copyright reasons (I want to protect the iPad!).
Just look at this masterpiece of fiction, assuming it is fiction! Not only has it constructed a full sentence but it has created a name from nowhere. Lopressor is not a name used in the work of fiction in the rest of the file. This is a completely new name. Not only has the iPad created a story, but has invented a name. It’s also interesting that the name ‘Lopressor’ is almost an anagram of ‘Processor.’ Continue reading “First unprompted story written by computer?”
Occult, Sci-fi & Military 