editing

Buy The Book!

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Since the release of The Hunted by Charlie Higson, I’ve had loads of visitors to my blog post The Latest Book in The Enemy Series: The Hunted by Charlie Higson. While I appreciate the hits, I don’t appreciate people looking for a free download of the book.

Charlie Higson has spent at least a year of his life working on this book. Carefully writing, editing and crafting this story. Writing a book is hard work. Consider that he has probably spent at least a year on each book in the series. That’s six years of his working life telling this story.

I don’t think the prices of the various formats are unreasonable for the amount of work he’s put into the book:

The publisher has probably considered that this is a children’s book and as such children may have a limited amount of pocket money. This is because they have provided the book in various formats and with varying price ranges. All of the formats being published at the same time, so that children who can only afford a Paperback copy or Kindle version don’t have to wait an additional year for the story – unlike most mainstream publishers.

So support Charlie Higson and buy the book! There’s a format in everyone’s price range.

Write soon,

Antony

The Z-VIRUS Series

Z-VIRUS Powers

The Z-VIRUS mutates people’s DNA. The majority of infected people become zombies, but a minority seem immune but the virus causes them to develop powers.

At first these powers like invisibility, telepathy and telekinesis aided survival. But as the Z-VIRUS continues to mutate, the powers become more and more destructive.

Forced with no other choice, one group goes in search of a cure. But will they survive the roaming zombie hordes long enough to make an epic journey across the country to find the cure?

Join Alexis, Vis, Chan, Luke, Natalie, Grace, Chloe, Kyle, David and Goliath on this journey in Z-VIRUS Powers, the first instalment of this three part story.

Z-VIRUS Monsters

The Z-VIRUS is mutating, now affecting plants and animals.

A group of people, most with supernatural powers, are in desperate hunt for a cure.

Their powers which once helped their survival, are now becoming destructive.

Can they survive for long enough to find the cure? And if so, what will happen when they take it?

Join Alexis, Goliath, Luke, Lucy, Kyle, Natalie, Erin, Sophie, Kevin, George, Zoha, Harry and Ryan on this epic, entertaining and thrilling adventure.

Share on Social Media:
Books & Authors, Money / Finances, Thinking, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

My Writing Process for The Good Teen

Reading Time: 2 minutes
the-good-teen-plot-line
The Good Teen Plot Line

I recently self-published The Good Teen, a modern-day telling of The Good Samaritan parable, with a hint of magic. I want to tell you a bit about my writing process for this short story.

The idea came from my childhood. Being brought up as a Christian we were told the The Good Samaritan parable. It’s a story that has stayed with me and one that I wanted to retell with my own twist. So I wrote/drew out the plot on flipchart (Left: My flipchart for The Good Teen, click on image for full size).

I like to develop my ideas, plots, sub-plots, settings, characters, pacing and description on flipchart as it’s faster than typing and allows me more creative freedom. The creative freedom to draw pictures, arrows and anything else I want to.

I originally decided to publish The Good Teen as a christmas story for my readers. Hoping to start an annual tradition. But then I saw a call for submission on the BBC Writers Room website for the BBC Radio4 Opening Lines programme and decided to write, edit and submit The Good Teen.

I had already written a To Do List for The Good Teen (below) and changed the timescales to meet the submission deadline.

the-good-teen-to-do-list
The Good Teen To Do List

The editing process, as always, was maddening. I had to cut to the word count limit, which meant some scenes were either cut, not written or combined.

Unfortunately, The Good Teen was not long listed by the BBC. So I decided to self-publish it online.

If you liked this post, you may also like:

Write soon,

Antony

More Content From Antony

Here are the books that Antony has published:

Share on Social Media:
Creativity, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Book Review: The Wolf in His Arms (Runes Trilogy Book 2) by Adrian Lilly

Reading Time: 2 minutes

The Wolf in His Arms is the second book in the Runes Trilogy. The first book is The Wolf at His Door, which I reviewed here.

Alec & Jared the gay, werewolf lovers are back. With Lucy, Alec’s sister, they set out to reveal the truth about what happened to them by decoding documents they found in a underground lab and to find their pack. But they are not the only ones looking for their pack. The Wolfs are hunting members their pack and offering them a choice: join them or they’ll kill them and their family.

Along the way, Alec & Jared are at it like rabbits while Lucy is coming to terms with her new inner wolf. They track-down other members of their pack including:

Maxwell another gay werewolf and his best friend Haley, and Nadia and her mother Helena.

Alec, Jared & Lucy discover the Wolfs have much bigger ambitions, than just recruiting their pack. The Wolfs are bent on world domination and already have a plan set into action. Alec, Jared & Lucy decide they must stop them. They learn about the elusive Tutelars, protectors of humans. Will the Tutelars recognise that Alec, Lucy and Co are trying to help or just seem them as another pack of werewolves?

The story builds to a fantastic ending as the Wolfs set their plan into full motion, sending human society into panic and disarray. Can Alex, Jared and Co stop them or is it too late? This is where the book ends and it leaves the reader wanting more.

The Wolf in His Arms is written in third person with a good show and tell balance. It keeps the reader hooked throughout with it’s fast-paced, ever-twisting storyline. The Wolf in His Arms is a brilliant, superb and reasonably told story.

At times, a lack of editing did let The Wolf in His Arms down. It was repetitive on occasion, overly used description of weather – which wasn’t always consistent and used dialogue tags that distracted from the dialogue.

I recommend reading The Wolf at His Door before The Wolf in His Arms. The Wolf in His Arms gives an adequate backstory, but doesn’t give the reader the same emotional connection as The Wolf at His Door does. I can’t wait to read the final book in the trilogy.

The Wolf in His Arms is available in ebook format only and its short chapters mean that it is perfect to read on bus, train or tube to work. The Wolf in His Arms is available to buy on Amazon.

Review soon,

Antony

The Z-VIRUS Series

Z-VIRUS Powers

The Z-VIRUS mutates people’s DNA. The majority of infected people become zombies, but a minority seem immune but the virus causes them to develop powers.

At first these powers like invisibility, telepathy and telekinesis aided survival. But as the Z-VIRUS continues to mutate, the powers become more and more destructive.

Forced with no other choice, one group goes in search of a cure. But will they survive the roaming zombie hordes long enough to make an epic journey across the country to find the cure?

Join Alexis, Vis, Chan, Luke, Natalie, Grace, Chloe, Kyle, David and Goliath on this journey in Z-VIRUS Powers, the first instalment of this three part story.

Z-VIRUS Monsters

The Z-VIRUS is mutating, now affecting plants and animals.

A group of people, most with supernatural powers, are in desperate hunt for a cure.

Their powers which once helped their survival, are now becoming destructive.

Can they survive for long enough to find the cure? And if so, what will happen when they take it?

Join Alexis, Goliath, Luke, Lucy, Kyle, Natalie, Erin, Sophie, Kevin, George, Zoha, Harry and Ryan on this epic, entertaining and thrilling adventure.

Share on Social Media:
Amazon, Books & Authors, Reviews, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Book Review: About Writing and How to Publish by Cathy Glass

Reading Time: 2 minutes

About Writing and How to Publish by Cathy Glass is a guide to creative writing that both published and non-published writers/authors alike will find useful. It’s split into four sections: About Writing, What to Write, Publishing and Self-Publishing.

The About Writing section covers lots of important aspects of writing including the importance of a writing routine and editing what you write.

The What to Write? section covers different types of writing such as articles, poetry, short stories, diaries, memoirs, biography, non-fiction, novels, plays, children’s books and ghostwriting.

The Publishing section covers Agents and Publishers as well as submission guidelines.

The Self-Publishing section covers independent presses, print on demand (POD), ebooks and marketing.

The great thing about this book is that it’s very precise and to the point. It’s a quick read, which I read in one evening. However it also meant that Glass covers the topics far too briefly for me. Advice around double spacing, using arial font and font size 12 was reiterated often.

Cathy Glass is a bestselling author who writes inspirational memoirs based true life stories. These stories come from her experience as a Foster Carer. You can see some of her books on the Amazon widget below.

About Writing and How to Publish isn’t a comprehensive guide, but it does have some great tips and is available to buy on Amazon.

Other Content

If you liked this post you might like:

Review soon,

Antony

Learn more about lifetime Fanatic membership.
Share on Social Media:
Amazon, Books & Authors, Reviews, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Scroll to Top