Tag: editing

How to Write a Good Vampire Book 3. – Characterisation

Basic Rules of Characterisation

So, in our story about Vampire Santa’s sleigh problems, we have Santa, Vampire Rudolph, and Rudolph’s wife, Erma!

Now how do you create characters for them? There are no hard and fast rules, but be wary of simply writing the story as it comes into your head without setting the characters. If you do this, the most likely outcome is that all the characters will sound like the same person, or sub-personalities of the same person. For instance:

“Wow! I got an egg for my birthday. Thanks Erma. I really love you. It’s exactly what a male reindeer wants!”
“It’s okay Rudolph. Wow! I really love you too. I’m glad it’s what you wanted.” Continue reading “How to Write a Good Vampire Book 3. – Characterisation” →

How to Write a Good Vampire Book – 1. The Idea

Rachael Tyrell from Blade RunnerRachaell Tyrell from Blade Runner. Who hasn't been inspired by this marvelous film or book? — Rachael Tyrell from Blade Runner. Who hasn’t been inspired by this marvelous film or book?

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” →

Is it taking me longer to publish books?

Ordo Lupus and the Temple Gate Front Cover today

Actually, I know the answer, it’s a rhetorical question, but readers keep asking me this question, so here is how I do it. Other processes might be better so please tell me what you do; I am eager to know!

When I first starting publishing books, independently in 2006, nobody had any interest in my books at all. Apart from one short story, which a few kind souls told me had merit, I could get nobody I knew to read my stuff, not friends or even family.

By the time of completion of my first draft for Ordo Lupus and the Temple Gate, things had changed. Several people were now interested and I felt lucky to have three readers of the manuscript (MS) before publication. This helped me a great deal to improve the book although I really had to bit the bullet because I needed, among other things, to cut 15000 words from the overlong manuscript. This resulted in a big improvement so I had learned that readers of your pre-publication MS, beta readers, can be a very useful part of the writing process. Continue reading “Is it taking me longer to publish books?” →