NaNoWriMo 2011

Signed myself up for NaNoWriMo 2011 !

The goal: To write a novel in one month. November to be exact.

It’s seat of your pants writing and anything can happen.

I’m taking a break from writing about werewolves and have gone for an odd fairytale type story.

WIP title -”The Tale of the Clee”

Check out how I’m getting on here – http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/frankwhelan/novels/a-tale-of-the-clee/stats

 

A Tale of Hunters

I’ve just uploaded a free novella: “A Tale of Hunters”.

It’s part of the Diary of the Wolf series and slots in between books 1 & 2.

Cover is stitched together from book 1 and 2 and also features a rose emblem.

The focus is moved from werewolves and placed on the hunters, Jenny & Red to be precise.

The two hunters pose as tourists in a small English village while they hunt down a killer werewolf.

While the novella is self-contained, I hope it’ll add to the experience for readers of both book 1 and 2.

This book also features the first mention, in print, of the black wolf. So there’s some long term story value there.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/94941

 

Research takes over

I’m finding the writing process being slowed down by the interesting nature of my subject matter, or rather, the background of my characters. So here’s a little glimpse at the sources of some of the tangents I’ve wandered off on…

Ciaran Connelly and his adventures are easy, he’s a twenty-something male living in Dublin. I’ve spent my life passively researching the character and all that was needed was some work with maps etc. Other characters on the other hand…

Rose Hawthorn – A native Briton in the time of the Roman occupation. Research went into when and how the Romans invaded Britannia. Rose had to be placed in a time where she would be meeting the black wolf when she was old enough for romance, but also it had to make sense in the black wolf’s story. The black wolf needed a reason to be in Britannia, and more importantly he couldn’t be elsewhere. So, this aspect of research was pretty fascinating, and took up quite a while.
Rose’s story then spans thousands of years, but since she only features in a short story, well, the history of England doesn’t need to be explored just yet (thankfully, or nothing would get done.)

Kraven – Here was some research that was as tricky as it was interesting. Kraven comes from Poland, his life spanning countries and wars. So much is known about WW1 and WW2, that you can’t just bumble through and hope to maintain the realism established in Diary of the Wolf. The interesting aspect is obvious, but the tricky bit comes in issues with language and distance. What does Krakow look like in 1904? What are the locals into? How do careers progress? World War 2 is less tricky, as Krakow is well documented, especially in relation to the treatment of the Jewish population. The Nazis were going to show Kraven the lows of humanity, but it had to be realistic, so that led to a lot of tough reading until I found the scene to recreate. From Poland Kraven travels through Europe, and this led to hours looking at troop movements and researching old escape routes for refugees etc.

The Black Wolf – Well… this is the monster research task that feeds into all others, but I guess it’ll remain a secret until about book 5.

 

Amazon: The Forgotten …

Well, Diary of the Wolf has been up on Amazon for ages now!

How did I forget that one.

Amazon.co.uk for any UK types

Amazon for everyone else

(Unless you’re German)

I’m lucky enough to have nothing but positive 5 star reviews (especially since I didn’t write any of them!)

So, whether you want to keep my fivers rolling or you hate my face enough to roll a one, please leave a comment if you purchase on Amazon.

 

Oh Words Electric

Electric Picnic was last weekend. It was fun. Energy levels are low. I may have been exploring new places in my head, all while writing. I assume it’s all nonsense, but I will look back on it over a cup of tea.

For the first time ever – No camera! I’ll have to scribble down all the happenings, because I’m sure to forget the guy falling from the tree, Bob’s heart attack, the phantom shitter, the super reality during Pulp, the amazing performance by The Walkmen to a near empty tent… and other stuff that’s already drifting away…

My discovery for the weekend was “Thirst” – A short enough vampire novel by author Claire Farrell. I downloaded it for free and used it to pass some quality “Not ready to face world” moments during the festival. Thirst is about a young vampire/human hybrid, basically she’s got a thirst for blood but none of the soulless evil vibes going on. It reminded me of Diary of the Wolf in a few ways: Very Irish vibe to it; pop culture references; efforts to make up new rules for the werewolves/vamps; told from the perspective of the protagonist; sprinklings of humour. I haven’t finished the book just yet, but so far it’s kept me interested. Ava is slowly learning about the lore, just as Ciaran does, and coming at it as a reader rather than the writer, I must say it works quite well. I was always afraid that I hadn’t set “the rules” out early enough, but a bit of mystery works fine.

Her author blog is here if you’re curious.

 

Twas but a taste!

My week long holiday is over, and alas I’m back to work on Monday. For once Friday isn’t a celebration.

Yes, because I, like most aspiring writers, have to keep up the day job to pay the bills, but yes, this week was a taste.

I work better at night, so I found myself proofing and reading til 5am. Out of bed time was anywhere between 10am or 1pm. Apart from my continued assistance in constructing a massive Ikea wardrobe, my week has been spent doing nothing but writing. The freedom felt wonderful. Yes, in one way I took a week off work to work, but I now have a book for sale, which is great.

A fellow writer lives by the rule that you need six books published before you can earn a living off writing. The Diary of the Wolf series contains five, so I better root  through my idea book and find me a sixth

Writing, like anything else, takes hardwork… and it’s very much a long-haul game-plan.

 

The wacky world of werewolves

Well, it seems writing and talking about werewolves is a popular thing to do.

Sure, I pretty much assumed as much, but for the last few years I’ve deliberately refrained from seeing what else is out there, and now that I’m promoting rather than writing… wow.

It’s a tricky field to wade into. A groundswell seems to have come from that Twilight lark, with youngsters not only accepting that vampires sparkle, but also often quite aggressively state that YOU CAN’T BECOME A WEREWOLF! YOU HAVE TO BE BORN A WEREWOLF! Right so, that’s the whole basis of my series shot then. Oh my.

Next you have the super serious crew, who I didn’t realise existed for werewolves, I always thought it was more of a vampire thing. Haven’t delved too deeply, but I think the tortured soul element can represent angst regardless of bat or wolf.

I’ll admit, I have been stamp my mark rather randomly about the place. Kids arguing about who would win in a fight, a werewolf or a vampire… well, I had to throw in the usual “a full moon werewolf would easily take all but the most powerful of vampires. At other times the vampires usually have the edge.” Ok, so it’s the lore I have in place, but it’s also pretty damn common throughout the myths : Vampires are only afraid of werewolves.

At this stage in the game, with absolutely no name in the industry, I’ve mostly been giving out coupons for free copies of the book. I’m slightly amazed that people haven’t jumped on this. I’d definitely download a free book if I was even slightly interested in the subject matter. Sure, I may not read it, but at least it didn’t cost anything.

 

Diary of the Wolf – Online!

It’s finally online! Hooray!

My first full length novel, “Diary of the Wolf”, is now online

Latest cover for Diary of the Wolf

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/82181

If you use this coupon – JR75F – you can download it for free! The coupon expires on Friday 26th of August, so download it soon, even if you don’t have time to read it just now.

Please review it online when you’re done.

 

The Council of Thirteen

Free short story!

The council has met ever century for millenniums. Always 13 members, always in the same chamber deep beneath the rock.

Download from my Smashwords account in loads of handy formats.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/80405

 

Sinclair’s Game of Chance

Free short story!

A finance mogul plays a final game of chance.

Download free from my Smashwords account. Loads of formats.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/79834