Thursday, August 28, 2014

Setting the scene...

Taking on board some of the criticisms/observations offered from readers of both Russian Redemption and Fated Encounters I have approached the new book from a slightly different angle. Don't get me wrong the criticisms/observation were offered in a friendly manner, designed to help me. 

I think it is very easy for a new author to make simple mistakes here, and these mistakes lead on to bigger mistakes, or at the very least an incomplete 'feeling' for the reader. The main focus is on the character development aspect - what (you may ask) has character development got to do with setting the scene? Quite a lot actually. Y'see you don't have to give a two chapter character history in order to give character development - Miss *** was born on ...... in ... weighed .... measured... she likes .... and .... so on - let's be honest, that would be incredibly boring for the reader. So, I'm practicing the art of subtlety for my next book.

Also, an incredibly important thing for me to remember is that the reader can't see what I can. For those new to this site I should probably explain that my method of writing is a little unusual in so much as my stories are more like recordings of what I see developing whilst sat in the private cinema inside my head - told you it was unusual! I need to focus more on painting the picture for the reader, the scene. But, in doing so I also want to work in little character details, a depth to their individual characters. 

I do have one slight concern though; I think it will be very easy to overplay the detail. I quite like giving the basic outline to my characters, descriptively. I actually want my readers to fill in a lot of the detail with their own imagery. I honestly think that this helps with the reader 'buy-in' to the story, characters that they can associate with. It's a fine line and, as always, there will be some people that want more or less.

Anyway, here is my latest offering, the first draft opening to my newest WIP temporarily known as 'A New Beginning'.

"Stood in an empty room, only twelve metres square, the light beige carpet revealed the indentations of where the furniture had settled for all those years. Tan line type rectangular shadows, perfect outlines of the pictures that once hung there, adorned the walls. He coughed, the echo bouncing around the empty room. He was deep in thought. In his head he could hear the ghostly voices of the memories that this room held; the children laughing, calling his name ‘Dad, Daddy’, plates smashing on the ground, the shouting, the anger, the crying; but mostly, the laughter. The four bedroomed, two story building, had been such a happy place for many years, but the last twelve months had been horrible. What made him feel worse was that he knew it was his fault.
His head was an unpleasant place to be right now, too many thoughts and memories racing around to make sense of, but none of it changed the situation he now found himself in; thirty one years of age and alone and it had to be that way.
He walked over to the window and looked out through the double glazing onto the overgrown weed ridden flower beds that used to be so perfectly kept, what was once a manicured lawn was a mass of tall yellow dandelions and patches of daisies. In the very centre of the compact garden, in its own ornamental circular bed of earth grew a rose bush, it’s fallen red petals scattered around, tinged brown with age and decay. He remembered buying that bush as a small twenty centimetre sapling, a present for his wife Julia after the birth of their first daughter.  It was a cloudless blue sky that filled his peripheral vision.
The family dog nuzzled at his masters thigh, nudging, pushing, almost encouraging him to walk away, to leave what was once the family home. Habitually the man bent forward and patted the three year old ex-rescue dog,
“Well mate, me and you against the rest of the world now, hey”
The dog licked the hand that was patting him, although his Master didn’t notice.
A deep sigh escaped his lips as he fought back tears. It wasn’t a matter of wanting to turn back time, it was the realisation that his family, his kids, were gone and that he would probably never see them again. That’s very hard for a parent.

After a couple of extra pats to his loyal dog and a quick ‘C’mon then’ they both turned and walked slowly from the bare room. Once outside he locked the front door, slipped the key into his pocket and walked to the car. He sat for a moment before starting the engine, a quick and painful last look at the white fronted house that had until very recently been their home, before following the removal truck as it pulled along the drive. A glance in the rear view mirror brought involuntary tears, even the dog, Muppet, whined as if he knew that their lives were about to take a massive leap into the unknown; they were both apprehensive."

I'd welcome any feedback or thoughts

ajwilsonbooks@gmail.com or contact through the website AJWilsonbooks.net

Sunday, August 17, 2014


Badly behaving Authors......

This seems to be an ongoing popular topic of conversation so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and voice my views and experiences on the subject.

Firstly, what is a 'Badly Behaving Author'? - this in itself is quite subjective, what one person sees as bad behaviour can easily be seen by others as acceptable, a variation in the individual moral compasses. But in general terms the BBA battle exists mainly in the realms of Facebook and Reviews.

As an aspiring Author I want the world to know that I have published a book, unfortunately I don't have the budget to hire huge billboard space, television commercial time or even radio ad's so what do I do? I have a Facebook page, a website, Pinterest, Twitter and this blog site, so as far as Social Media is concerned I have most angles covered. I belong to a few 'Groups' that are superb sources of information for newbies like me (The Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards and Indie Author Group) - both discourage book promotion, or even blogsite/review promotion of ones own blogs and reviews, but this is understandable when both are sites more about like minded people sharing experience and advice. And this is where a lot of newbie Authors start down the road to becoming BBA! Bomb your own page with all of your reviews, launches and review announcements BUT don't bomb other peoples without permission. That said, even if you bomb your own, people will soon lose interest to the point where you actually become 'invisible'.

Have just finished writing the worlds next best seller, clutching a hard copy in your hands, the excitement can get the better of you. Email the world, barge into as many forums or FB and announce to everyone that 'IT' is finally here. Nope - don't do that. Whilst many sites will be understanding of your euphoria, excuse your naivety, there are many more that will just bring all guns to bear in your direction and open fire. And even those that were forgiving to start with will soon run out of patience if you continue. So, Rule No 1, check out the policies of any group that you belong to before you bomb the site with your book release, promotion or reviews.

Reviews - now there is another BBA breeding ground. Face facts, your book is not going to be liked by everyone, it's just not possible. Authors get very protective of their books, some comparing them to 'children'. I do not subscribe to this train of thought. At the end of the day it is a manuscript of a story that I've written, and spent a ridiculous amount of time and money getting it to the polished stage, ready for the public. This is where my involvement kind of ends. It could loosely be compared to parenthood in so much as you do your best and hope you've done enough for it to survive, and possibly flourish, in the big bad world, but that is the only comparison between the two. There is always an emotional connection between me and my books because, like it or not, each book contains a part of me, it has to. But that's me, not the reader. I am lucky enough to have received some exceptional reviews for Russian Redemption, described by the Wishing Shelf Awards as dark, horror-filled look at Russia in 1941. Powerfully written and fascinating". And yet Fated Encounters  has only received one review. I'm surprised because for me it is the latter that is the more powerful - BUT there is nowt stranger than folk. 

I have seen so many Authors absolutely explode at reviewers for not giving them 5 stars. This is a bit like pressing the self destruct button - it really is a no win situation so why on earth would you bother getting involved?!?! I also chuckle to myself when I see some Authors moan and bitch about one or two star reviews but conveniently fail to mention those 5 stars from family and friends, or worse, people that haven't even read the book! We're a fickle bunch hey. Every review that both of my books have are all genuine, real people whom I have never met. (There were a few from work colleagues but Amazon quickly removed those.)

Once a book is released into the public domain Authors have to accept that the public will voice their own opinions, opinions that they are entitled to. Unfortunately this can mean personal attacks "As far as ******** Author skills are concerned, I completely recommend that he takes up painting" sort of thing, or even worse. In my view this is a step too far but ultimately the very nature of the reviewing system provides a stage for that small minded group, those that put their own ego ahead of the fundamental purpose of the Review system - the Simon Cowell syndrome. BUT, in the interest of fair play, there are also a number of Authors out there that 'game' the system for their own gain, create false accounts (Sock Puppets) and review their own 'masterpiece' with inflated ratings or misleading content. 

I suppose, like life itself, individuals make choices but in the Kingdom of Authordom, people have long memories, and can be very unforgiving. Enjoy the whole book writing experience for what it is - a fascinating and yet frustrating journey into the unknown. Check the trash talk and BBA Attitude at the door and explore everything with an open mind. You just might make it through! Best of luck.

On a completely unrelated subject - I am going to be publishing the first chapter of my WIP on the news feed of the website AJWilsonBooks.net  so if you want a sneak preview just register.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

What can a blog site tell us? An exercise in communicating random thought #1

Blogsites are just a method by which a person or business can interact on a global platform. Yes, that interest can be developed into sales which, if course, equals money. Or it could be an advertising medium, again thinking of money. Maybe it's just a way of attracting interest from like minded people, or trying to help others, or even (and I think this is me), an on-line diary of experiences, learns and lessons, a record of the journey. People have 'blogsites' for all sorts of reasons.

Over the last 51 years I have learnt many things but one of the big things I have learned is that 'people' tend to be creatures of habit; they set patterns.

Patterns exist everywhere, home, work and play. These patterns generate behavioural trends that are recorded as surveys, then converted to a graph - and that's raw data. A 'graph' of human behavioural patterns. Ergo, when a graph changes noticeably it must reflect a change in human behaviour. Human behaviour only ever changes for a reason, something motivates that change.

(For those of you that are still with me on this..)

The point to all of this is that I have noticed a very definite change in the flow of visitors to this blog site - the graph tells me!

If you can imagine a heart monitor, flat line-bleep, flat line-bleep spike, flat line, spike - you get the picture. And that is what the graph that monitors this blogsite looks like - until recently. All of a sudden it's starting to look like a seismograph reading.

Is this a good thing? Well, it would be nice to think so BUT I'm not so sure.

1) Whereas before I would post something on this site, they'd be a spike of activity and then it would quickly die off - I haven't posted much over the last 8 or 9 days yet almost the same amount of visitors have visited each day (give or take a couple) - more than 10 times the number of visitors I would expect.

2) IF these were visitors taking a healthy interest in me all of a sudden, I would expect a proportionate increase in website visitors, but this isn't the case. (The graph tells me!)

3) The vast majority of these visitors are from the US, with a very unusual second place going to France. If these visitors were from certain other countries such as I may have mentioned in an earlier post (Does Facebook Advertising work - Take 2) then I may be more suspicious.

So, I'm none the wiser; Something is going on but I just don't know what. If anybody has any ideas please let me.

The impossible is just something that hasn't been done YET! 

Sunday, August 10, 2014


Dedicated writing time yes or no?

This is going to sound a little confusing, but try and follow me.

I've never planned or allocated specific time to writing. Shock horror! It's one of those things that for me has always been driven by the urge to write as opposed to the time of day. It's been one of those "Dog and squirrel" moments from the film 'Up'. "Write....... must write - right" and I'd be off, laptop under my arm and that would be me for however long it took.

BUT this time was different, this time I planned a whole day of writing. Well maybe not entirely, but it was a bit of a break through for me. Friday afternoon I got that compulsion to write; in a few minutes my brain had downloaded the concept of a story. Even though I was at work I had to write it down, to capture the thoughts. So I did. Now normally I would wait until the same compulsion hit and just hoped it coincided with time in the day where I was in a position to explore further. Previously I have tried sitting at a computer and forcing ideas but that hasn't worked out well for me. 

So, Friday night I did no writing at all - family time. But Saturday morning I decided that I was going to take myself into a suitable environment and see if I could tap into the inspiration of the day before. I took precautions, stocked up with a few pickies, emptied the immediate vicinity of wife, kid and television and placed an post on my Facebook page telling my 'friends' that "Today the world can get by without me, I'm having a writing day" - which basically translates as "Do Not Disturb". And, I actually did manage to reconnect. I can honestly say that this was my first 'planned' writing session. Now I am sure that most people reading this are thinking 'Big Deal we do that all the time' - but for me it was a big deal, almost like finding a level of control over the writing, a relationship with the 'inspiration' where it is a team effort as opposed to IT telling me when to write. And the 6,000 words we churned out are looking pretty damn good for a first effort. The story is planned out to the finish, the notes are fairly comprehensive, all from one session.

Well, I just thought I'd share that experience. Hopefully some can relate to it, and others won't call the white coat brigade and have me committed!

Sunday, August 3, 2014


My 'fun' Challenge....... or not so much fun?

At the beginning of the year I thought I would create a small but fun challenge for myself, or to be more exact, for my website www.ajwilsonbooks.net  - I decided I wanted to see how long it would take to have a visitor from every one of the 50 States of America visit the site. To be honest I thought it would take around 6 months and would generate a bit of interest BUT I really hadn't done my research properly. I'm originally from the UK, now living in New Zealand. In my years I have visited many parts of the world, which includes a handful of those States, but I suppose it would be fair to say that there have been very few places where I have actually stayed long enough to get to know the local culture.

Anyway, back to the challenge. If you look at the progress map on the website (Ajwilsonbooks.net/#!blank/c1o51) you'll see a definite trend, no-one in Northern/central America has visited my website. This was bugging the crap out of me, I couldn't understand why West coast, East coast and Southern Central were repeatedly visiting the site, but no one north. You've heard me mention Judi of ProofreadNZ/ Santel e-publishing on numerous occasions before, and it just so happens that Judi is an American, so in conversation I happened to mention my frustrations and lack of understanding of why this was. 

I really didn't do my research! If I had spent a while investigating the demographics of the States of America I wouldn't have given myself such a massive challenge, even though it was just for fun. One word - Biblebelt.

Yesterday Vermont was ticked off as the 30th of the 50 States to register a visitor but that original 6 month target is long gone, and to be honest I think maybe a couple of years is needed to get all 50! I may have to send Judi on a tour with a laptop and a Winnebago.

Lesson learned.
Learning as I go....

From the beginning of my 'writers journey' I have openly admitted that I may not be that familiar with some/most/all of the tricks of the trade. I've never studied writing in any way, shape or form and some may say that this is apparent, others may disagree. I think this is the real beauty of writing; what works for one person definitely does not work for the other. From a commercial perspective, I suppose an Author makes a very conscious decision at a given point in time - do I write for money, or do I write because...... ?

Some Authors (cleverly) cover off both by using alias's; they'll write commercial stuff to pay the bills and develop their personal writing preferences behind a veil of anonymity.  I wonder which one they actually prefer?

Anyway, that's not the topic of this post so I'll get back on track:

I'd heard lots of references to writing with 'Arcs', and arcs within arcs and so on but had no real understanding of what that all meant. So, in typical Wilson fashion, I did some research AFTER the fact. The thing is that somehow, both Russian Redemption and Fated Encounters kind of followed the whole 'Arc' thing without me knowing any different. I'm not condoning my methodology, but at the same time it demonstrates that I had an understanding of what makes a good story even though I hadn't learnt it through formal education - I think this is the result of reading a lot, subliminally understanding the writing formula so to speak. 

This is a great article from Daily Writing Tips http://www.dailywritingtips.com/how-to-structure-a-story-the-eight-point-arc/ which explains all about the 'Arcs', but does so in a manner that is easy to understand. I would have to say that it all seems like common sense but then again so does World Peace, and look where that is right now. I would recommend a visit to this page, if nothing else it could prove a valuable refresher for the more seasoned Author. 

There are loads of sites offering tips, advice and 'must do' type instruction for budding Authors. Each Author must find their own way to write the stories they want to write, and in a manner they want to write it but it all comes back to that questions: Why Do I Write, what is my motivation?

Russian Redemption has recently received another five star review, which is great for the book, but it also highlights the fact that one persons poison is another persons pleasure! Those 'gory' and unsavoury scenes that prevented some judges from finishing the book, were the same scenes that other readers have found to be 'well handled' and 'not too disturbing'. The point being that people are different on so many levels, and you just can't please everyone so don't try. Another example of this is '50 Shades of Grey' - It is a shocker, an awful book (in my opinion) that targets the viewer demographics of the Jeremy Kyle show, daytime tv garbage. BUT hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people have bought it and will no doubt watch the film once it's out next year - it's a cash cow. The marketing strategy behind it reminds me greatly of the story about the Emperors Cloths, you know the one, only stupid people can't see the Emperor's nice new outfit when in fact there is no new outfit, but people are too concerned about what others think of them so, not wanting to be branded 'stupid' they went along with it. The clever people in that story were the 'tailors' that made the imaginary suit and charged a shed load - clever marketing, playing on peoples vanity.

I'm still finding my feet as an author and I am loving the journey - it doesn't matter that some people don't like my books, what matters is the books I write get better. One of my biggest influences in my own personal development is a guy called Dinni Jain, a guy I used to affectionately describe as a short arsed ethnic from New York - "Andy, you can learn just as much from the cleaner as you can from the Managing Director, in fact sometimes more" and is absolutely right. In this instance I can learn as much from those that don't like my books as I can from those that do. I learn more about my strengths and weaknesses, and get to make informed decisions. That, to me, is how I am going to achieve whatever it is that I go onto achieve, because when I started this writing lark all I wanted to 'achieve' was to get a good book published, now I've already got two and there's more coming people :-)

Isn't it great to be an Author!