Northern Star

Hi folks,

as promised in my previous post here is a synopsis and cover image for the fourth story in the Lucy Harlow detective series of short stories. It will be out free of charge on Smashwords this Saturday (9 Feb) and also will be available of Amazon. It is 9600 words long.

Synopsis

Rich wild child Carrie Marchant has made a phone movie of herself in the throes of ecstasy with a former lover Craig Stapleton, a rough diamond who she calls her Northern Star. But the clip has got into the wrong hands and a blackmailer is trying to extort a price from Carrie’s mother Rebecca. Carrie isn’t too bothered about who sees her in action, but Rebecca believing the blackmailer to be Stapleton calls in Lucy to investigate. However the enigmatic Sara Bradbury, Carrie’s elder sister, would much sooner brush things under the carpet and pay off the blackmailer. Lucy begins to understand why as she opens the can of worms that is Carrie’s life.

 

Northern Star is a tale of blackmail and murder and is the fourth in the Lucy Harlow detective series.

Writing etc

Hi folks,

I finished my latest novel, The Brent Street Haunting 10 January, and by 21 January I had been through it and made the necessary adustments to the first draft. I then put it away and set about revisiting a story that I wanted to publish just before Christmas, Summer Soldier. SS is a Lucy Harlow detective story and I was unhappy with it just before it was due for publication. I was too busy to give it the attention it needed as I was embroiled in Brent Street. Therefore, with Brent Street out the way for the time being, I revisited SS and made the adjustments that I thought necessary for it to be published.

However, I remain unhappy with the story. This is not a new emotion for me. I will not publish anything I am not happy with for whatever reason. A couple of my short stories from 10 years ago - Climb To The Stars and Season's End - remain unpublished for the same reasons. Never say never, and sometime if the mood takes me, I may well publish these and SS, but for the time being they will remain on the shelf.

So, that brings me round to what to do next. I am acutely aware that I have not been publishing enought lately. Opera Flowers - the third in the Lucy Harlow detective series of short stories came out in October last year. Since publishing stuff is just about the best publicity an aspiring author can get, it is about time I put something else up. Therefore, I will publish what is now the fourth Lucy Harlow story - Northern Star - this weekend. It will be free of charge on Smashwords and will also be available on Amazon. I will post seperately a synopsis and a cover image today.

Next up for publication will be Double, a mystery born out of the characters in Oxygen Restriction (the first Lucy Harlow). This is a paranormal story that I like very much and is an important landmark in my writing career. It will be out in a few weeks on Smashwords and Amazon. The Brent Street Haunting will follow a few weeks later (probably April).

Best Wishes

Saul.

Brent Street under review

Hi folks,

The Brent Street Haunting is now going through its first edit. I've been through about 15k words of the 76.5 k since Monday evening. It's easy to read and there is not an awful lot of correcting to do. I am doing both a copy edit and a line edit, with also an alteration of some of the proper names. For instance I was unsure about the name of the chemical company that is central to the location, so in the first draft I referred to it as the Company. Funily enough this works for most of the narrative and so will remain, but I did want to have a proper name from the start and so have opted for Albiston Chemicals. Similarly, one or two of the proper place names I used in the first draft needed some manipulation and that has been done.

I think I've said before that I wrote this on a right first time basis. After writing every portion (could vary from 500 to 1500 words) I stopped and went through what I'd written at least 3 times (sometimes more). This was obviously a line edit, but also with reference to the geography of the tale that I'd mapped out was also a copy edit. Thankfully, from what I've seen so far the practice seems to have worked. Indeed the most copy editing will be required in the early chapters of the book, and though there has been some it has been minimal. Therefore, I expect less as I go on, and the whole process should become a simple line edit.

I reckon I'll be through with this now in early February. I will write a short and long synopsis and then put the story to sleep for about 3 months. In the meantime I will publish, Summer Soldier, Northern Star and Double. Double is a great short story in its own right, and all this work will pave the way for Brent Street.

Best Wishes and Regards

Saul.

Brent Street Finished

Dear Readers

Yesterday, I finished my new novel, The Brent Street Haunting. I set out on October 30 last year to write a paranormal thriller of 75 k words. I have worked on it none stop until I put THE END after the final sentence yesterday. The book actually finished at 76.5 k so I more or less hit my target bang on. It took a little over ten weeks, so the maths are 7650/ week, around about 1100 a day. I write first in pencil in a notebook and then usually type up what I have written a few hours later. Like I have said before I work full time and am a single parent of young adults so it's been a big ask.

The book is more or less right as it is. There are some very minor changes I have in mind to place names, the name of one particular company (which I couldn't settle on before I set out), but other than that all I anticipate is a line edit.

I will start this on Monday, and expect it to last a leisurely 4 - 5 weeks. I will then do a synopsis (long and short) and seek someone to do a cover for me. I will put the text away for a few months and get on with publishing my other completed stories Summer Soldier, Norther Star and Double. This will enforce a much needed break from Brent Street, which I will revisit one more time before publication. I expect to look at it again in June and have August this year in mind for publication.

I am happy and relieved to have completed Brent Street. Until you put the full stop behind the last sentence it is not completed, it does not exist. But when the last word is written it has been created and is yours.

I look forward to 2013 as a year of publishing!

Best wishes

Saul

Brent St. et al

Hi folks,

Here's an update on The Brent Street Haunting. The story passed 70k words today. I now have around another 5k to do. So God willing the story will be done in another week. Because of work and family committments, I was reluctant for the actual writing (the hard bit) to go on much into the New Year. So I'm pleased with the progress.
This has been a very structured project and I took the advice of a lady called Kristin Lamb, who in a very good article on writing put forward the view that thrillers should be around 75k words in length. On this basis I set out on 30 Oct.
The story has been relatively easy to write. I have stopped only about 4 or 5 times to check navigation and to read/review the road map of the tale. Nevertheless, writing fiction is one hell of a task, especially doing it in spare time, and the narrative has consumed me. I feel physically and mentally drained, and to be honest, even doing what should be the trivial task of completing the ending is a far more daunting experience than doing the first few chapters when the peak of Everest lay many thousand feet in the sky.
As a result of my preoccupation with Brent Street I have not written this blog often enough. I have hardly bothered with Twitter except for the most trite updates, and my Facebook presence remains ridiculously tenous. And most importantly I still have three completed stories to publish: Summer Soldier, Northern Star and the haunting Double.
Therefore, after completing Brent Street, I will focus on the other side of writing, namely publishing and marketing. The priorities will be to publish my existing work and to market it properly. Here I will focus my energies during 2013.
Summer Soldier and Northern Star will be available free of charge. I was going to publish Summer soldier - a Lucy Harlow series detective short story - over the festive period. But I was not happy with it, and with the all-consuming Brent Street I did not have the time or the energy to make the necessary changes, review/revise and publish. Therefore, this litte tale will be attended to in the Quarter 1, along with Northern Star - a blackmail story in the Lucy Harlow series.
Next will come the stupendous Double. This is a paranormal mystery born out of the characterisation in the Lucy Harlow series. I have high hopes for this story. I haven't even looked at it since it was drafted, reviewed and revised, in the very early summer, (June 2012 I think), but I reckon it by far and away the best story of the six I did in the first half of 2012.
During writing Double I realised what I wanted to do. A lot of my material contained a paranormal theme, but Double settled me firmly into this genre, mysteries and thrillers being my forte.
As a result, Brent Street followed. This full length novel is the best of the lot, and I have a date in the Summer of 2013 in mind for publication (after the other three).

Therefore, my resolution this year, besides losing weight and cutting down the booze, is to deliver these stories to you.

Best wishes and a Happy New Year to you all.

Saul

The Brent Street Haunting etc etc

The Brent Street Haunting is my new novel. It is a paranormal thriller and will be about 75k words long. I started this on 30 October and now I have 50k words. I hope to do most of the remaining 25k over the Christmas holidays. It's hard work writing fiction part-time and that is why I have been so tardy in publishing my existing work. I have delayed publication of Summer Soldier, and hoped to publish on 22 December. However, I realise with the workload from Brent Street I have not been able to attend to all the issues with Summer Soldier. Therefore, I have delayed publication again until I finish the novel. Expect to see it free of charge on Smashwords and on Amazon in the New Year.

Summer Soldier is the fourth in the Lucy Harlow series, which was an attempt to write a series of crime short stories. All these stories with, the exception of TV Torment do not have a paranormal element, deliberately so. But from these came what I consider the best short story that I have done for some time - Double, and this almost certainly has a strong supernatural theme. Because of Brent Street I will only publish the last Lucy Harlow - Northern Star - probably in late February/early March. Double, which is an important story for me, will be out in the late spring, probably May. I intend to write an unconnected short story of about 3 - 5 k words with a paranormal theme in quarter one of 2013. I hope to get this out quick in June/July in order to pave the way for Brent Street which will be out in summer (late July/early August).

The Brent Street Haunting is by far the best thing I have done to date, and I think settles me into the paranormal mystery/thriller genre for the forseeable future. I feel comfortable with this kind of fiction, and will try to produce something every year, God willing.

As a writer, I don't blog as often as I should. I am focussed entirely on the work. I suppose marketing is everything, but if you don't have novel you ain't got anything to market. A catch 22 of sorts. Nevertheless, once Brent Street is out the way and into its review and revise mode, I do intent to make more of an effort with social media, publicity, book covers and everything else that goes with promoting my work.

For those of you who download Summer Soldier I hope you enjoy.

To everyone, most of all my readers, I wish you all a joyous and peaceful Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year.

And speaking of Christmas, I have a little house party to furnish with a buffet and beer, so I'll dash off now.

Best wishes

Saul

Summer Soldier

Hi folks,

I was going to publish Summer Soldier as a freebie on Smashwords on Saturday 22 December 2012. However, I feel that there are on or two issues that need attending to. Therefore, I have decided to delay publication while I revisit the text. With hindsight, I have attempted to publish while I am fully occupied with Brent Street and consequently missed one or two things. Even though it is a free story, I would much sooner it be right, hence the change of heart. Expect to see it in the New Year.

Here's a synopsis.

After two particularly audacious attacks in May 2008, a lucky break brings about a sea change in the life of a serial rapist. The attacks stop and the trail goes cold. A bounty of fifty grand attracts Lucy Harlow to the case, but soon she’s as frustrated as the police. Meanwhile, a young woman on holiday in Spain proves a temptation too much for the latent rapist. But now he can’t run away from the scene and thus the trappings of his new successful life, and so the latest victim pays with her life. The murder seems totally unconnected to the rapes, but a foray into the macho world of carp fishing gives Lucy a new angle and puts her on the trail of Summer Solider...

 

Summer Soldier is the fourth in the Lucy Harlow detective series of short stories.