A Cautionary Collection of An Indy Writer’s Musings.

Posted on 20th Dec 2022 by deteremineddespitewp

Melodrama

In case you weren’t aware ‘Indy Writers’ are folk who eschew for various reasons the conventional route to getting into print by submitting their work to agents or publishers. ‘Tis a long hard road often with scant, if any reward. Yet they do this for various reasons, and operate or strive by various maxims. Here are some of mine. I should warn you I have found regular doses of Sardonic Humour help me through the scant periods, which do seem to be rather unjustly long.

I am playing the long game. My grandchildren’s children will clean up when my work is discovered.

‘They’ don’t know what they are missing.

Arrogance in a writer is like seasoning. A smidge enhances the work and motivation. Too much makes everything unpalatable.

The first draft is supposed to be terrible, if you think it’s not, you’re not doing it properly.

When it doubt, just put words down and sort them all out afterwards.

Awww Geez Louise you guys. It’s different already. You don’t want to be on the wrong side of literary history when this work of mine breaks on through..

Well. We’ll see in 200 years time WHO is held up as an shining example of early 21st century use of the artful and incisive working of sub-text and adventuresome extrapolation when employing the Fantasy Genre as a mirror to the complexities of Human societies while celebrating the heroics of the independent folk of varying stations and maintaining an optimism that evil will fall before determination. Uh? WE’LL See!

I have not failed. I simply keep encountering folk who don’t understand what this book is about (You then say ‘Thank you Mr Thomas Edison for allowing me to plagiarise your original statement)

It’s not my fault Amazon’s search engine is faulty and doesn’t direct folk to my Kindle work.

Maybe, just maybe my last marketing drive wuz a bit off-the-wall.

Folk have very many books To Be Read. Be patient .

And if all else fails…..

Hah! If that’s what I gotta write to get successful. Well PFFBBBBBBT! To the lot of them…….PFFFBBBBBBBBBBBBBT!!!!

Whimsical 2

(However you don’t want to get to that stage. No seriously. Just keep on keeping on working the nuancing and talking with other writers, but don’t read ‘How To….’ books they just lead to excessive PFFFFBBBBBBBBTs, and that’s not good. And if you do make it, just give a small mention to this post…Huh guys?….Just a tiny mention….A word mebbe?…Huh?)

Just for Marketing and Giggles II (The Plagiarism Approach)

Posted on 9th Jun 2021 by deteremineddespitewp

Skirmishers

shy-man-party I looked at the Kindle Report page……Sales…….umm less than the first primary number….

As did we……..Oh…….oh….That this too solid flesh…….wouldst ……..melt

Pondering one No….I don’t think the tragi-comic-self-referential ploy is going to work, we’ve done it once, and like I said at the time with Dostoyevsky references it might have worked better.

Just for Marketing and Giggles- The Comic Tragedy Approach

Shakespeare 1 I wouldst suggest; the Bard. For have you not already allowed a quote in the opening sequence? Everyone is aware of some Shakespearean hex-tracts. T’would resonate.

Existential crisis Ahhh, yessss. TOOOOOO, BEEEEEE or NOT tooo BEEEEE…… THAT is the…….question????

We’ll let you know

Writer 2 Well, here’s one that occurred to me.

Skirmishers

Romeo and Juliet Balcony (2) But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Our Skirmishers of Lace, Steel and Fire is the sun

enthusiastic It’s cookin’ I tell ya!!

Pondering two I don’t suppose they’d go with adapting The Prince of Verona’s last tines…. “For never was a story of more woe than this thy hapless marketing show”

Whimsey 6 Hmmmmm…..Maybe another of THE BARD’S works might be more…..shall we say…amenable to the project.

enthusiastic 2

You got it chuckles!!

Chuckles!…I love it

Plot Image 1 This is a winner!

richardiii-1 A book! A BOOK!! My kingdom for A….. BBohook!!

Do not worry

Do not fret

Here’s a choice, you’ll not regret.

Available on Amazon Kindle at 0.99

Pondering one They got the link OK. I’ll give them that. I’d still go with Dostoevsky though.

shy-man-party Aye, “To go wrong in one’s own way is better than to go right in someone else’s.”…..I think we could use that

Pondering one See what I mean. You got to go with Dignified Irony….Anyway let’s quit while we’re ahead for the day. Raya and the Last Dragon ok with you?

shy-man-party There is a form of dignity there.

Arketre On The Prowl screenshot (2) Ya’ll have to admire the persistence though…. I mean, yeah Stupid… but still kinda admirable.

Karlyn on the road (2) That’s true Flaxi, I kinda see wot they was tryin’ and if you’re not tryin’ to seriously sell stuff it’s a bit of fun. And since they are books about us anyhow, we should have a say….. See, like this…..Ahem…

“Now can the grumbly winter of your discontent at ol’ books
Made glorious summer by these exciting volumes

The Precipice Dominions
An’ all the clouds that low’r’d upon your moods
In the deep bosom of the ocean Kindle be buried”.

Aww, was fun…! Go on Whychie (That’s ‘Trelli ‘to you readers!) you give it a try

Trelli At Ease screenshot (3) …. Alright then, otherwise I’ll never hear the end of it:…….(deep breath)…

“The quality of writing should not be force(d)

It should floweth as the small stream through the glade

Upon its happy way. It is twice blessed:

It blesseth them that writeth and those that do read

‘Tis fayre in its modesty. Yet becomes

The impressive volumes when written for their own sake.”

Yes, ok…That was a bit of a giggle. You’re turn now Arketre. Otherwise it won’t balance properly…

. Since you two are set on us being so singular; here’s mine then

“Writers, readers and easy-goers, gimme some time yeah?

I’ve come to tell you about these books, but not to sell them, right?

The intensity in some stories really holds many folk.

While the casual, feel good is also worth a read

So let it be with the Precipice Dominions series.

Right, we’re done………………..You take care, then…………..And we’ll be seeing you

(Chorus)……………BECAUSE THERE’S ONE MORE VOLUME TO COME !!!

.Masterful Delivery, I tip my hat…………………Yes, they saved it. Could get sales.

Dignity…At All Times Dignity (Or how to deal with a writing idea being by Chance & Fate…torpedoed)

Gallery

Posted on 13th Oct 2020 by deteremineddespitewp

Foreword….. Take this seriously or with a snigger I don’t mind. Though actually the event has happened to me….. this year…….no kiddin’ I swear on a pile of Brandon Sanderson & Joe Abercrombie books I was not even aware of … Continue reading →

Musings on Writing- You Should Always…. 3

Posted on 12th Oct 2020 by deteremineddespitewp

(Publication delayed by all sorts of stuff)

You should always…..

Strive to constantly maintain even just a silver of the positive about your writing

The only difference between you and a successful author, quite frankly is luck

They got the agent or the editor in a good mood on the right day

That’s my opinion anyway.

So there!

Probably not the most interesting blog post on WP…but what the heck!

Posted on 21st May 2020 by deteremineddespitewp

Warning:

Just about a book I’m writing

So the first draft…..well you know how that goes…..Blaah!

Second draft, it’s the working one!

cartoon-boy-doing-a-happy-dance-by-toonaday-6279

I am ridiculously cool with it!!

Working title: ‘Daughters of the Hard Road’….. not really what I was looking for.

Revised to ‘Daughters of Circumstances. Arbiters of Consequences’

(Volume 3 -or III- and conclusion of ‘The Precipice Dominions’ )

The Precipice Dominions

Of Patchwork Warriors

Our Skirmishers of Lace, Steel and Fire

Now to check for spulling, syntax and other stuff.

Just had to post this up….. writers will understand.

Ah well…. off to the self-editing…..

Wives and lover husband coming home

Musings on Writing- You Should Always…. 2

Posted on 25th Mar 2020 by deteremineddespitewp

You should always…

Upon receiving a rejection maintain a dignified air

Vintage engraving of a victorian era professor or schoolmaster reading a book.

True, there is nothing wrong in a small private release and annoyance

Royalty-free vector clipart of a little girl dressed in orange and pink, sticking her tongue out while holding a doll.

Upon receipt of that rejection notice….

You might even indulge in a modest amount of arrogant dismissal of the opinions voiced there in….

(Women writers are advised not to don a moustache and beard while doing this as it detracts from the overall aura of that most devestating of weapons……female distain)

However once the disappointment and annoyance are out of your system…

Tricycle 1

And you have returned to equilibrium

Remember this:

Behind every successful writer are editors who rejected their work and would now rather not be reminded of it

Musings on Writing- You Should Always…. 1

Posted on 20th Mar 2020 by deteremineddespitewp

You should always…

When you are conducting that most perilous of tasks…THE RE-WRITE

Alice in Wonderland

Upon re-discovering one of those true gems you created (you might think inadvertently…The Muses know better )

Muses

say something like:

‘Yessssssss!’

Wives and lovers happy woman

Congratulate yourself Laughing Guy …..Yep! You’ve earned it.

Let off steam with a little dance…physical or allegorical

cartoon-boy-doing-a-happy-dance-by-toonaday-6279

And treasure this interlude through the rest of the hard-slog that is the lot of the Writer.

Know ye this…..

plato

Let the words flow (you can sort them out later)

Writing 2

Writing 3

Writing 4

writer-2 ….. See…….. I can do it!

Virus Post. Walls down. Emotions on Display.

Posted on 17th Mar 2020 by deteremineddespitewp

OK. It has arrived THE PANDEMIC, the one The Medical Community knew would happen-Fact.

Sour observations: The one survivalists have been just praying to happen.The one you read about in SF/Dystopian Fiction but never thought would happen in your lifetimes and now those books don’t seem quite so ‘entertaining’ do they?

Personal Commentary (No self-pity. No ‘Oh that this too, too solid flesh would melt’ soliloquy). Just facts, brief. Like about 50% of the population in affluent West, our Lives have their buckets of problems. For many reasons we can’t get to see our three children and five grandchildren- no personal rifts just those ‘Circumstances’ that dog many a life. We were planning to visit our son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons- Pandemic arrives. How many other folk have seen plans pulled down I would not like to say.

We have health issues of one sort or another which limit our getting out as a couple to ‘go places’, ‘do things’. Pandemic puts the lid on the few opportunities. Life wasn’t much fun before, now? Do the allegorical maths. So us and a few tens of millions around the world. Didn’t need this, but we got it. It happens folks, it happens. Compare this to what is happening in Syria, Yemen or too a host of minority communities around the world and what’s happening to you, me, us in The West…..Just a scratch…At present almost a walk in the park. Of course it could get worse.

My Own strategy

So what do I do? Try and adapt, obviously.

But what else?

Write, of course.

In this we are fortunate. My wife writes poetry, is in contact with other poets, gets work published, gets good feedback and has a collection she sells privately. I am so proud of her and every time she gets a poem published I am so damn happy. Gives me the fuel to carry on.

Me?

Well, to summarise….. there’s R J Llewellyn on Kindle. Of late I’ve been working away on a fantasy series, self-published (still with those typos)

Precipice Dominion series

Y’know what, folks? Here I am stepping out of my normal British character here, but overall, typos and syntax aside I-am-so-very-pleased with these…There I said it! The characters are alive (so much so they nag me all the time) and the plot is chaotic as it was meant to be. (If you read some military history you will get to appreciate wars are won on the basis of the other side making more mistakes than yours- there are no perfect plans, no villain is always ahead of the game until the last few improbable chapters)

Vol III was having a re-write for typos, continuity etc, when I thought

‘Heck (or words to that effect) we can do better than this’

Learning to Live with ‘The First Draft’ and its Consequences.

And now it’s undergoing a whole re-work. This will be finished, virus or not. I will have my Three Volume Series (was supposed to be four but reflection suggested the narrative and plot would be getting thin in Vol IV and a lot of repetition would take place–too slow). I have an upbeat ending, because I like positive endings, it is a quirkly good one….There I said it (again). Three Volumes completed, I will be content, pleased, at rest.

Now this is how I personally tackle a Life-Threatening, Life-Changing Pandemic. This is my way of minimising the effects.

I-WILL-WRITE.

I WILL BELIEVE IN MY WRITING

Let this be your pledge to yourself in these uncertain times

Seriously folks… The Joys of Writing

PS. Explanation. Some regular readers might by wondering about the amount of unusual and aggressive affirmation regrading my personal opinion on my own writing. This is due to a severe case of Full Metal Jacket haranguing at me by one of my characters Arketre Beritt, a solider, of an elite unit. If you are new to writing be prepared when the characters take over, it happens)

The Smidge of Arrogance (A post revisited….and revised, a smidge)

Posted on 30th Jul 2019 by deteremineddespitewp

If I was a very popular blogger beloved by millions

…… No, that’s freaky……I’ll start again….

Idiot man 2 As you know, WP and Akismet once decided I was Spam (You guys up there in Cyber-City…… I am never, ever gonna let that go) and I decided my whole blog had to be consigned to cleansing flame 250px-Fire_whirl_(FWS)_crop That might be a tad dramatic, but I love the image…..

Anyway now I am back I thought I would rummage through a few of the old posts (tip: Keep your stuff on a Word Doc….you never know when…..) and, y’know Copy & Paste them….I mean like…who is gonna remember ? fed_up_woman-620x412

I do...…. (Oooh, there’s always one, isn’t there?)

Anyway… This was a post from 2018 which was all about the need to have that Smidge of Arrognace to get you started or keep on going…..I’ll let it explain itself (with editorial alterations)

“Average Body Weight 60,000 grms

Average zinc content in body 2 grms

Percentage of zinc therein = 0.00333% per body (one three-thousandth).

Yeh, that’s an estimate of how much zinc your body needs, scientifically the figures might be slightly off, but you get the idea……Not a great amount, but it’s vital, otherwise, things go wrong. Also, too much and things go wrong. You need a smidge…a very, very, very small smidge, but you need it.

Bit like something you add to a meal, if it’s not there, it’s bland maybe, if you put too much it…..Hello waste bin…..

‘So prithee dear blogger’, you ask me

werke_321_orig

“Hey!!…..You do not normally post up tips on health or cooking. What the frib goes on here?”

Bear with me here, hear me out.

A scene at the ‘desk’ (allegorical) of a writer……

sturm_drang2

“Oh what is the point of it all?”

You know how it goes don’t you? Consider the following:

You put down the latest well-selling book…..OR…..Sitting there reading someone else’s erudite or inspiring or funny or informative blog post and even worse when they combine them some or all together, and you wonder….’Oh what have I got to offer? I’m like ….blaahh-city!’

OR……

A part way through your book or short story and you start to slow down or notice on a re-read that the continuity is all skewed OR the main character is as fascinating as a small piece of cardboard, in fact you reckon the cardboard is more interesting. You are there thinking ‘why am I bothering, I just don’t have it! I am just less than the dust beneath the chariot wheels of other writers….Oh (you say once more) WOE (or any other word you care to use).

OR…..

you get up OR sit down and think ‘Aww. Why bother! There was no great response to my last effort and I followed all the marketing tips…Let’s face it, I’m a nothing-writer. Who cares! (At this point you may well stick your tongue out at the latest best seller by someone you normally like, but today…..Hufffffffff!!! And foreswear never to read a book again because they only remind you of your own let-downs. You’ll buy boxed DVD sets series 1-15 of something and binge watch)

It happens folks. Doesn’t it?

And we all wonder just what can be done about it. Because we do so love to write, we do so want to be read. We have something to offer.

The Arrogance of such a thought…..Really?

This is where in comes the smidge. The very, very small pinch of Arrogance. That little piece of flint which sets off the spark for the writer to try one more time, and the time after that, and after that and just never give up.

Because you can! Because YOU have something to offer.

Let me just elaborate on this notion and bear in mind this is to illustrate just where the smidge comes in.

I write fantasy, I read fantasy.

Joe Abercrombie is gritty, this is the world big warts and all. His continuity is superb, a minor character is one book is central to another, the background from one book to another align. The action scenes are gory but so well choreographed! His characters are alive.

Q: The Smidge….

‘Haven’t they got their own swear words in this world Joe? I mean like what’s with this old goat having everything as part of his cunning plan, like not new & squaresville man. Where’s the chaos? Where’s the variety in the language. Uhh I got my own views. I’m gonna give that genre my own shot.’

Annnnddddd……

Brandon Sanderson creates whole worlds with their own science in the Mistborn, and an encyclopaedia of characters who flit in and out, have their own vital parts in the plot, no one is wasted. How could I complete?….But soft, who is that knocking on my door of creativity

Q; Smidge

‘Yeh that was fine Brandon. But Stormlight and the Way of Kings, I’m there saying ‘Get on with the plot, the guy is down a big hole and trying to inspire a bunch of other guys, I get it….What about the pacing!..I can wrap up a tale quicker than that..note to self- when writing vol III of my series, don’t do a Way of Kings on the readers.’

Frib!(shameless plug…read about this and other fascinating words used by characters in The Precipice Dominion series….. available on Amazon Kindle…. terms and conditions apply) ) You say, that sounds like sour grapes and suchwhich. I reply…..No, that is the Smidge speaking, it is that which drives me on. The danger would be to lambast everything Abercrombie and Sanderson do just because I targeted on a few little facets which jarred with my style for I reckon I can write without those….

I…. reckon…..I can write……

And there you have the explanation dear readers/writers, the smidge is enough, just enough to get the words flowing. Any more and you will be sour, bitter and getting nowhere apart from joining the breed who scratch out 1 & 2 star reviews on Amazon because they can’t write and have a pathetic deluded ‘Kritik’ kick going in their own sad dusty little world.

There is one other smidge you should add to Arrogance and that is the Wry Smile.

How does that work……Oh wierd one?

Glad you asked Jeremy….

You can enjoy those works by succesful authors and still pick holes in them. Do not be angry, and let jelousy seep in. Just be at one with the belief- no writer is 100% perfect. Therefore you can offer your own take in your own work and you are going to show the world. Never mind who says what……. It does not matter….. You…. ARE…..

Yes…You ARE A WRITER and let no one take this away from you. You have your own style, your own drive, your own images.

Repeat to yourself, without any doubt…

I AM

I WILL WRITE.

BECAUSE I CHOOSE TO.

Just that smidge folks.

Then get to work.

Good luck, and fortune to you all. You are worth it.”

Writing Despite Computers and Programmes

Writing writing and more writing

Category Archives: Smidge of Arrogance