(vol 4) CHAPTER 05: "Creating Brisk Worlds - part 2"

Last Monday something amazing happened. 

I released my first ever self published book.

Check me out.



THE CLIMB

It's been a tough journey and, if I'm totally honest, it's been mostly my own fault that it's taken this long.

I've wanted to be a writer for many, many years. I wrote stories as a kid. I wrote screenplays while in college. And finally, in February 2014 I put it all out there and started a blog that would follow my process from zero to getting a book self published.

So many projects have been labelled 'the one' over the last forty three months. So many projects were talked about, promoted, started, restarted, all before finally being binned.

And then, as I mentioned in the last post, I realised that three years of Flash Fiction had given me a lot of material to work with without worrying about plot and characters across a 100k word count.



THE FIRST TIME ACROSS THE LINE

The release of BRISK WORLDS ended up satisfying two goals. The first was having a finished book out the in the wild with my name on, all a solo project. The second was to learn the process of self publishing.

Putting an e-book up on Amazon is equal parts simple and horrifically daunting. When I was growing up, I always knew that it was a tough door to get through and thus very few people did.

And then e-books appeared, and Amazon called to all of us wannabes and showed us that there would be no gate keepers. The readers would be the ones that decided. 

The only difference was that now a writers journey didn't stop at handing in that final draft word doc and signing off on the cover a few months later. Now, the author was on the train all the way until the final station.



NEW SKILLS

I spent a good couple of weeks going over my draft with a fine toothed comb (though I still missed a few spelling errors). 

I was starting to get sick of the words on the page. 

I was hating all of my stupid stories. 

The deadline I'd given myself was unrealistic. 

The cover was rubbish. 

I was going to fail. 

It was all a little . . . 

And then one Saturday afternoon, things unexpectedly snowballed. In a good way.

Frustrated with the project, I had popped over to Amazon just to have a look. To get away from the cover and the manuscript I thought I'd just see what the next step in the process was, get a little heads up, maybe see how bad the next part was going to be.

Suddenly I found myself creating a KDP profile. It was all very exciting. I was just window shopping. I thought that I'd just go as far as I could without putting the book up.

But before I knew it I had uploaded the manuscript and was checking it in the Kindle viewer (it's exciting seeing it on a mock up Kindle device). I clicked next page, and next page, and next page, all the way to the end. This thing I had created actually looked pretty damned good. And complete.

Later that afternoon I jumped ahead further. I'd given KDP my bank details and Tax info. I'd set a price and entered a PreOrder date. Before I could put on the brakes I was waiting for confirmation from Amazon to say my book was available.

I was buzzing (while the wife was getting sick of words like 'book', 'kindle', and 'I did it!'). It was early evening by then and time for my son to have a bath and go to bed. I left the laptop alone and headed upstairs.



SO MUCH TO DO

A little over an hour later my phone alert went off; fellow author Liz Hedgecock (who I had been bothering all afternoon with KDP chat) had sent me a link; my book was available to PreOrder on Amazon! 

I may have let out a little scream.

I was over the moon. It was such a good feeling that something I had created was available for people to read. I'd finally done it.

I should have closed down the laptop and stuck a movie on. I mean, I'd worked my butt off all afternoon. I'd earned a break, right?

Instead, I spent the next couple of hours doing more to prepare my books launch by setting up a couple of other things.

My Amazon Author's Page - here.

The books Goodreads page - here.

And I may even have popped over to CreateSpace. Because, let's be honest, a paperback version would be nice too.

Sure, the work of writing and editing and cover design are time intensive if you want to get it right. But once you have a product, I was so impressed at how simple it was to release it into the wild.

Now we have to see if people read it and, more importantly if they like it. 

And of course, my next book is snarling in it's cage, wanting to be released too.



FIRST JOURNEY COMPLETE

Thank you to anyone who has picked up a copy (hello mum). If you haven't had a chance yet, the links are below. And if you could leave a review, that would be equally appreciated.

And let me know what you think of BRISK WORLDS in the comments or on twitter @BrianSCreek (or use #BriskWorlds).

Next post I'm hoping to have an interview with an awesome Indie author.

Until then, go write.

(vol 4) CHAPTER 04: "Creating Brisk Worlds - part 1"

Well, it's a day I've been working toward for some time and it's nearly here.

This coming Monday (September 11th) will see the release of my first solo project; a Flash Fiction collection titled BRISK WORLDS.

IT WAS THERE ALL ALONG

The last couple of years have seen me struggle to complete a solo project and release it into the wilds. Despite heavy denial, I've come to realise that I was irking over what my first release was to be, thinking it had to be 'super special' and 'absolutely amazing'. But that was holding me back.

I was constantly struggling to meet my own high standards every time I held a different first draft in front of me. That's the hurdle I've been stuck at for so long; the first f***ing draft. It's one of the toughest stages, but it's also still quite far from the finish line. 

So I would constantly give up on a project which held even the smallest of flaws, seeing the whole book as 'broken' and not worth the effort. Then I'd come up with a better project which would have a reason why it should be easier to complete or be received by more readers.

COMPLETE WHAT IS ALREADY COMPLETED

And then one day, not that long ago, while another project started to scare me off, when dark thoughts of complete failure were looming and I thought that this would be my last attempt, I looked up on my FlashDogs bookshelf. On that shelf are several impressive novels and novellas.

And in among these self-published works sat two small books that showed me another way.

Double Vision by Tamara Rogers

Bitesize by Liz Hedgecock

These fellow authors had put together little collections of their Flash Fiction writing. When I read these collections, I recognised several stories from the various Flash Fiction contests I'd taken part in . These stories I was reading in a paperback book held by my very hands, hadn't I competed with these stories weeks, months, and years ago in the online contests. And here they were. In real life.

Why couldn't I do that?

And so I stopped everything else and got to work.

THE BACK-CATALOGUE

Over the last four years I have accrued many, many stories, but I knew immediately that I wouldn't be able to use them all; some of them are real stinkers.

I proceeded to upload everything I had written since THE LADY IN THE WOODS into a single Scrivener file. And then . . . then I began culling. I read the stories over and over, day after day. 

I then printed the book out (400+ pages) and carried on, trimming, pruning, destroying. Smaller and smaller the project got, with a  little editing here and there (some of it was typos, other bits were improvements). 

When I had my final contenders I began working on a cover (a process covered here). It was all coming together.

THE LITTLE BOOK THAT COULD

And that's all there is. BRISK WORLDS, a collection of my Flash Fiction written over the last three years. Some of those sites are gone now (Flash Friday!, Angry Hourglass, Micro Bookends), others are still going (Microcosms, Paragraph Planet). But without any of them, these little gems would not exist.

This project is a way to get my writing out there, but more importantly, it's a way to get over those first hurdles, and to learn what I can about the process of self publishing by doing it and not just reading about it. Its been educational, and everything I've picked up, all the tips and tricks, will go into the next project, and the next, and so on.

So, below are the links. I will appreciate every purchase and every review (the good and the bad - it's all part of the job). Thank you for taking the time to read this, and if you pick up a copy of BRISK WORLDS, thank you even more so.

Next week I go into more detail about the actual process from finished Scrivener file to seeing the book up on Amazon.

Until then, get writing.

We live in one world . . . 

. . . but inside all our minds are thousands more.

(vol 4) CHAPTER 03: "Collection Needs A Cover"

Hello readers. I need your help.

HOME MADE COVERS ARE EVIL?

While I'm not ready to shout about this yet, I'm planning to release a collection of Flash Fiction soon. It's coming along nicely and I'm learning all kinds of stuff regarding formatting. Seriously; I have watched a lot of YouTube videos recently just for learning purposes.

But that's not my problem. You see, along side said project, I've been working on its cover. I know a lot of people say you shouldn't attempt your own covers unless you've got the skills (I do not), but at this early stage in my 'career' I am aware of two important factors.

1) I really can't afford to pay someone to do a much better job than me. 

2) It's a learning process first and a product second. I need to do this so that my skills can grow. My next book will have a homemade cover, and the one after that. But I plan to get to a point where I can afford covers to be redone.

IT STARTED WITH A BANG

So, like I said, I've been working on this cover for a while. The basic original design has remained the same, but a title change and a lot of tweaking has got me close to being done.

Because this is a collection, a mix of fantasy, thriller, horror, sci-fi and more, I knew I didn't want anything specific on the cover like a location or a character; nothing to shout a specific genre. I pictured an explosion, a flash if you will, and set about building my idea using very primitive tools (also known as Microsoft Office).

Step one was opening up Powerpoint (the best program I currently own for manipulating and layering text and images). I set the slide to portrait and, because I'm planning to eventually print this collection too and I'm a fan of the 5x8 sized books as opposed to the 6x9, I set the slide size to this these dimensions.

Next was to 'build' the flash. I used the shapes function in Powerpoint and pulled out two; 'Explosion 1' and 'Explosion 2'. Alternating them, rotating them, and reducing the size per layer, I then added the colours before putting a banner along the bottom that would later hold my name.

While the image goes over the edge of the slide, 

the thumbnail on the left only shows the contents of the 5x8 

Next I added my name along the bottom and the working title, FLASHTASTIC FICTION using font OCR A Extended. You can see that I made the 'tastic' lower case and the 'Flash' a different color to help the mostly made up word stand out and read better. The wife talked me out of this.

The next stage was the important one. Using the thumbnail, I copied the 5x8 image into Word and then utilised the Artistic Effects option. Below is the effect called 'Glass'. I liked it immediately because it destroyed the perfect edges and gave the explosion a more chaotic and natural look.

And that's where I left it for a few weeks. At the time I thought it was the best my skills could accomplish.

30 VERSIONS LATER

While working on the book itself one day, I took another look at the cover and felt a lot more unhappy with it. While I knew going in that I was only going to get a basic looking design, I thought I could do better. And instead of tweaking, I decided to start again.

Losing the blue background worked straight away. I also made the explosion a little better, took out a yellow level, and added white and red outlines to the shapes.

And then I changed the title. 

FLASHTASTIC FICTION was originally called FLASHTASTIC 500, but having that many stories I was happy with turned out to be more than optimistic. Then, the more I looked at the cover, the more I realised I didn't even want the words FLASH or FICTION in the title. I don't know why. 

It wasn't until I looked on my FlashDogs book shelf and spotted Liz Hedgecocks 'Bitesize' and Tamara Rogers' 'Double Vision', that I figured out what direction I wanted to go for the title instead.

So I sat and stared into space, mulling it over, for about 40 minutes (I'm not joking), trying to think of words that would make a good title until . . .




THE TITLE SAYS IT ALL

BRISK WORLDS does exactly what is says on the tin. Each story is its own new world and the stories are super quick reads. Read one, read many. Doesn't matter. But it will be a roller-coaster ride through universe after universe, each one stranger than the last.

So I entered the new title and played around with layout, fonts, and colours. 

I tried ERAS Bold ITC. I tried TW CEN IT. I went back to OCR A Extended. Finally settled on Gungsuh. This I can't tell you why. I scrolled up and down that list, trying every font Microsoft Office had to offer and Gungsuh just felt right.

I carried on tweaking; little things here and there. The title font went black then blue then white and then, finally, clear.

I added a border, raised the title bar, enlarged the explosion once more. I went back to Artistic Effects and saw what else I could do.

It turned out that I liked a lot of the effects as a finished piece. From the twenty-three effects on offer, I found nine that worked. A couple of friends narrowed this down to four.

WHEN TO STOP

That's where it should have stopped. The final four looked good. They each make a fine cover.

But, as I sat down last Saturday, my wife out for the evening and my son heading off to dreamy dream land, I went through the covers again and again. Something still wasn't right.

It would have been a waste of an evening if the idea hadn't eventually reared it's ugly head. It was the title font itself that looked so out of place. The effects were beautiful, but the title looked false, stale, just laid over the top like it was.

And the lines of the explosion were still too clean.

So I went at it again. This time I did two things different. 

First I changed the template version to 'glass' effect and THEN I changed it to another effect. This made the explosion look wild and natural, more so that any other version I'd done so far. 

And then I made the second artist change WITH the title involved. 

I really couldn't be happier. And I'm glad I didn't give up. I know there has to eventually come a moment when the product is complete. But you also have to be 100% happy with it. If something irks you, even a little, if something is gnawing at the back of your mind, it's probably a good idea to listen to it. You'll only regret it later. 

I'm glad I kept going. I have liked each step better than the last. But the irking has stopped now so I know I'm finished. I've done all I can with the limited tools and skills I own.

I now have four designs that I really like.

And that's where I need you help.

YOUR OPINION COUNTS

Below are the final four designs. I would be happy with any one of them being the final cover for my Flash Fiction collection. And as I stated at the beginning of this artical, it's not professional, but I've done the best I can with limited tools. Down the line it'll get a revamp. But what ever the result, I'm happy for my first ever published work to go out dressed in one of the below outfits.

So, use the comments, tweet me @BrianSCreek, or use #BriskWorlds or #BriskWorldsCover and let me know which one you favour. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and if you comment, thank you for your opinion and assistance.

So, without further ado, the four finalists vying to be the cover of BRISK WORLDS.

A

B

C

D

(vol 3) CHAPTER 11 – “Coming Up”

MEANWHILE . . .

So, projects are currently boiling away, with the second half of the year planned to be where all things writing start to escalate (I have a proper, grownup plan and everything). There’s also beta reading done, and more to do (sorry Michael; I haven’t forgotten).

Outside of that though, things have been quiet. It’s been a couple of months since I wrote a Flash Fiction story (the very form of writing that got me back into writing just over two years ago). I’ve been meaning to jump back in but either time doesn’t allow it, or the ideas just keep evading me. I still keep my eyes on the current contests though; it’s nice to see the old writing buddies continue to produce awesome work.

And talking of Flash Fiction . . .

#NFFD

Coming up in a little over two weeks (June 25^th to be exact) is National Flash Fiction Day. Still a young event, NFFD is a promotional event day of the form of short (short) writing. As well as a couple of things taking place in Bristol this year, there’s also a collection of Flash due to be released on the same day. For more info check out:

nationalflashfictionday.co.uk

nationalflashfictionday.blogspot.co.uk

Also, if I remember correctly, a fellow Flash Fiction author is releasing their second collection into the world on the same day. Check out Liz Hedgecock's BITESIZE, available to preorder on Amazon now.

OFF TO CAMP AGAIN

And finally it’s that time of year again when I drop words over at CampNaNo. That’s right, despite everything else going on, I plan on being busy writing a 25,000 word story. And what’s the plan I hear three people at the back mutter? Well, this time last year I had yet to write anything longer than Flash Fiction for Chris and Mike vs The World. Last year’s CampNaNo saw the birth of book one; vs The Rising Dead, while Novembers NaNoWriMo carried on with books 2 and 3. So, you can see where I’m going with this, right? No? Oh. Then let me tell you.

This July I will be working on book 4 in the series; Chris And Mike vs The Clockwork Killer. As I’ve mentioned before, the series has its shape now, its overriding plot. With all the early books backed up and worked on, the plan is to release them close together (not too close, but comfortable enough that readers are waiting ages for the next instalment.

For the last couple of NaNoWriMo’s I’ve talked through the process and plot as I write each project. But now, with the hope of releasing actual books with actual plots, it seems unwise to talk you people through book 4 while dropping major spoilers to books 1-3. I’ll take a different method me thinks.

SHORT BUT SWEET

Anyway, that’s’ all fore this week. Lots going on but not many things I’m ready to talk about at the moment.

Hope everyone is happily working through their own projects. Never forget that a story is made from words, and no matter how tough it gets, we only need to write a word at a time; the rest will take care of itself.

(vol 3) CHAPTER 07 – “Over The Word Limit”

AWAY FROM THE OFFICE

First off, let me apologise. It irks me to even consider skipping a blog day, but that is what almost happened. I’ve spent the last two days away from work on a training course all about learning to give a training course (yes, it’s just like INCEPTION).

Add to this that I made the decision to walk home both days (around 60mins) so that I could pick up my son from nursery (his smile was totally worth the exhaustion) and Mother Nature deciding to throw a mini two-day summer, and all I can think about right now is sleep.

But then I thought no, I’m going to do it. So here we go.

WHEN FLASH JUST ISN’T ENOUGH

In my last post I brought to your attention three awesome authors who allowed me to beta read their latest works. It was an awesome experience and I hope that I can use what I learned from the outside of their projects to improve the inside of my project(s).

A few days after this I thought about other work that has been, is currently, or will soon be, published by the FlashDogs, and it turns out that there’s quite a bit.

It’s because of this that I decided to make a place where they can all be collected together. Because it’s awesome that these people, all brought together by their skill and love of the short, short form of fiction, all successful in their own right across the Flash Fiction circuit, are not just content with testing themselves in the limited form.

There’s Craig Anderson with his trilogy of novella’s, Liz Hedgecock with her collection of bite-sized Sherlock stories, and Michael Blackbourn with his intelligent and thought provoking sci-fi shorts.

But who else, I hear someone call out from the back row.

Well, there’s Tamara Shoemaker who is currently writing two fantasy trilogies at the same time (madness).

There’s Holly Geely with her own fantasy trilogy on the go as well as a collection of shorts (which I’ve recently added to my Kobo).

Let’s not forget Emily June Street who not only just rereleased The Velocipede Races but is also working on an epic(!) fantasy series herself (yes, the fantasy genre is well represented).

And, there’s also Margaret Locke, currently making a name for herself with her period-romance-with-a-twist novels.

These people are just the one’s I can remember off the top of my head while I sit at my laptop tonight (dinners nearly ready). I know that there are a few others from the pack who are like me; close to realising that publishing dream and once their projects are released, they’ll be going up on the list to.

So if you like what you’ve seen through the various works already linked on this blog, if you’ve read the amazing Flash Fiction written by my fellow FlashDogs, or if you’re actually one of them and have a couple of favourite authors you feel you’d like more from, check out the OTHER AUTHORS page. It’s a work in progress. I’m adding authors I’m currently aware of throughout this week. If you like the fantasy genre then you’ll be well catered for.

And that’s all for now.

Hope you’re all enjoying the sunshine while it lasts. I’ll be back in two weeks for an update on my WIP.

ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING

Tim stood in front of the machine and gave the key components another check.

“What’s that?”

Tim turned to the hooker sat on his couch. She was naked from the waist up and smoking a post coital cigarette while watching him tinker with his project.

“Nothing to concern you,” he replied. Satisfied that everything was in order he left the machine alone and walked across to the large floor to ceiling window that took up the whole south end of his penthouse apartment.

“It looks like a hot tub,” she said. “You didn’t say you had a hot tub.”

“It isn’t a hot tub.”

“You seem bothered,” said the hooker. “Was our tumble not to your satisfaction?”

Tim chuckled to himself and caught her eye in the reflection. He wasn’t fond of her smoking inside the apartment, but there wasn’t much point telling her off. It really wasn’t important once he left everything behind. “You were a delight,” he said. “Satisfaction, on the other hand, well that is something in short supply as of late.”

“Oh honey, what’s her name?”

“Excuse me?”

“The girl who broke your heart. You’re wearing it on your sleeve, bright as day.”

Tim chuckled, out loud this time. His mother always said he was rubbish at hiding his emotions. She said he should keep his sorry attempt at a poker face far from the bright lights and green tables of Vegas or he’d end up penniless.

“So, what did she do to you?”

“She didn’t do anything,” he replied. “It was my fault.”

“Did you cheat on her,” said the hooker. “Am I not your first lady of the night?”

He could see her smiling, heard the jest in her words. “I have never, and would never, betray her. She means a great deal to me. Things just got . . . complicated.”

“And there’s nothing you can do to uncomplicate them?”

“There is.” He glanced at the machine sat across the room. “But it’s . . . unconventional.”

“If it works then that’s all that counts, right?”

“My dear, you not only know all the right moves in the bedroom, you seem to know all the right words to make things make sense.”

“Good to hear. And I won’t charge you extra.”

Explosions and bright lights grabbed Tim’s attention and he looked back out at the world beyond his penthouse. Fireworks lit up the clear night sky. Another year over.

The hooker stubbed out her cigarette and joined him at the window. She rested her chin on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his waist. The feeling was nice, he thought, but they were the wrong arms.

“Any new year’s resolutions?” she asked softly into his ear.

“Only to try and do it better this time.”

“I wish you all the best.” She kissed him on the check as the orchestra of rockets and gunpowder came to a close. “Unfortunately you’re only paid up until the stroke of midnight.” She headed back to the couch and grabbed what clothes weren’t currently covering her modesty. “I’ll tell you what, though, things don’t work out with this woman and you get sad again, you give us a call.”

“That’s sweet,” said Tim.

“What can I say, it’s nice to be with a man who likes it gentle, for once. You were a breath of fresh air. I’d offer you a discount too,” she said as she glanced around the penthouse apartment, “but I know some rich folk get offended by that kind of thing.”

Tim smiled and led the hooker towards the elevator.  “You’re a nice woman. Maybe things don’t work out, I’ll whisk you away from this world and show you the wonders of the world.”

“Maybe see you later.”

Another kiss, a gentle hug, and then he was watching the elevator doors close. On the hooker, on the night, on the year that had passed once more.

“Not if I see you first,” Tim whispered.

He waited a little while before making his way around the apartment; lights off, curtains closed. He didn’t know why he carried out this ritual every time he used the machine. Once he left, none of his stuff would exist. But his mind had it that he was ‘going out’ so the routine just felt natural.

Once satisfied, he grabbed his coat, knowing that it was a cold night where he was going, and then settled into the machine. A dome closed over him. He set the date, the time, the location.

He was going back to that party, New Year on the balcony.

The woman. He couldn’t get her out of his mind. She had proven quiet the pursuit.

He knew where he’d gone wrong.

He pulled the lever. The machine whirred to life.

Back again. Back to relive the year over once more. He would keep trying until she noticed him, fell for him, loved him.

She was worth it.

(vol 2) Chapter 39: “Where a prompt can lead”

2015 TOTAL WORD COUNT =           69365

This week has been busy, and in all the wrong ways.

It’s because of this that today’s post is nothing short of a stop gap until next week.

But, not one to waste an opportunity, I thought I’d use last week’s explosion of ideas over at Micro Bookends to demonstrate one very simple point; it’s amazing were the authors mind can go from a simple prompt.

At Micro Bookends last week, the prompt words were PERFECT for the start, and PITCH for the end. A beautiful picture of a young woman (below) was also required to somehow be tied into out pieces.

What follows are four entries I wrote over the course of October 1^st, four stories that are very different from each other, despite all starting and ending with those same words.

Enjoy.

MY WHOLE WORLD

Perfect body. Perfect smile. Perfect eyes.

That first band practice, I was uncontrollably drawn to her; following in her scented wake for the rest of the day, the week, the year.

She was my inspiration, my rock, a goddess, sent down to dance around us mortals, to give us a taste of something beyond our fragile mortality.

Yet she was much more than something to just idolise and crave. While her body and mind were temples, ones she’d graciously gifted to me, she took such pleasure in leading me on adventures, expanding my mind, and showing me the world.

We love and laugh, while our hearts beat in fever pitch.

---

THAT MOMENT

Perfect silence; the crowd sits with bated breath.

It’s the final ball of the game; two strikes down, one more for glory.

I smell the grass, feel the tingle of the chilly evening air. I tug the peak down to shield against the spotlights.

This is what it all comes down to; the innings, the game, the whole damned season. We make it to the big leagues and I might just make enough to get me and Beth outta that crappy one bedroom.

I rub my fingers across the cowhide, get a final feel for the ball, let it sit perfect.

Here’s the wind up, and there’s the pitch!

---

JUST TELL ME YOU DID IT

“Perfect way to spend the evening,” I said to the piece of scum sat opposite. I threw the first picture across the table. “Know her?”

He didn’t answer, didn’t look at the photo.

“Karen Newton. 29. Ran her own ad firm. Loved playing that guitar,” I said, tapping the picture.

He just shrugged. Heartless bastard.

I showed him another, and another, ones from the murder scene now. Flesh, blood, death. This time he looked, face twitching with each image, something pent up inside him, wanting out.

“Fine!” he yelled. “I did it! I killed her!” He took a breath. Two. Three.

“Why?”

“That snobby bitch turned down my sales pitch!”

---

JUST THE TWO OF US?

Perfect weather is no silver lining when you’re stranded on a desert island.

I wish I was anywhere but here right now.  I swear to God, if she plays Kumbaya one more time, I’m going to wrap that fucking guitar around her neck.

I mean of all the people from the cruise ship to survive besides me, why did it have to be the crazy bitch from the ‘Entertainment Squad’?

She’s smiling. I hate it when she smiles.

I’m about to tell her exactly that, when the island growls, as if it was waking from a deep, deep slumber.

And then I feel the island pitch.

---

That’s all folks.

See you in seven.