Novella

Good Evening, 14th January 2021

Peter Germany Cat, Editing, Life, Lifestyle, Novella, Planning, Preparation, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good evening, folks!

I’ve had a few quiet days writing wise, but I’ve managed to edit about 3000 words in the last couple of days.

I do find it harder to get a lot done when I’m on early’s but it’s something I’m getting better at. It’s definitely something I need to get better at as I do a lot of early starts, but I can do that by getting to bed earlier.

I’ve got a week off early February, so I’m going to start thinking about what I’m going to achieve in those seven days. I won’t be off out anywhere as we’ll most likely still in a lockdown. I’d like to be done with this read through of Black Blood and have an idea of what I’m doing with the ending by the end of that week.

I’ve got tomorrow off, but I have work to do on a non-writing matter that could take up a fair part of the day, but I’d still like to get about 3000 words worked through. I’d really like to get some fresh words written as well. I’m getting an itch to properly write as well. It’ll be great if I could put an hour aside and just knock out some words. Music on, and write! Simple as that.

Raven exploring the space under the stairs as I was putting the Christmas decks away last week.

I am really going to try and get myself organised better in the next month. I’ve got a dry/erase board and a diary. So I should be making better use of them. I need to write weekly, monthly, and yearly goals. Adjusting as I go depending on what comes my way.

I’ll wrap this post up by pimping out my Buy Me A Coffee page, where if people have liked my work they can contribute to the costs of writing. I’m working as an independent author at the moment, and any funds I receive go straight back into the writing pot. I’m going to be searching for paying markets for short stories and I have the funds in place already to self-publish my first release. I’m waiting on the editor to be free, I’ve got formatting arranged (although I’d like to learn how to do that myself in future), and the artwork looks amazing! I do understand times are tough, and I’ll never push hard and start bugging people about this.

I meant to post these weeks ago, the Christmas lights from my hometown of Gravesend.

Right, I’m off to watch a movie and then an early night. Although no work tomorrow I’d like to get an early start for the day. I’ve a lot I’d like to get done and getting an early start will set the day up nicely.

Good Morning 25th of October 2020

Peter Germany Cat, Editing, Horror, Horror Writer, Life, Lifestyle, Mental Health, Nanowrimo, Novella, Outlining, Planning, Preparation, Short Fiction, Vampires, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good morning folks! I hope all reading this are well.

I’ve enjoyed the extra hour in bed that the clocks going back have given me. On the downside it means a later start to writing today than I had planned, but I’ll still get a few hours done. I’m hoping for a mix of writing, editing, and planning. This time next week, NaNoWriMo will have started and I’d like to be a little more prepared than I am at the moment.

Dizzy looking grumpy but purring away šŸ˜Š

I have had pretty much the whole week off. I needed to ease off in one area of my life and writing is the easiest to do that with. But the silver lining to that is it’s helped me solve a couple of little hiccups I’ve had on projects. I can see how to improve a short story in my vampire book now, and my war child story. With the war child story it was a moment where if I was in a cartoon I’d have a lightbulb appear above my head. The problem is I’m now itching to write it! But it’s got to wait which is torture!

I can’t remember where I heard this but apparently someone once said “a non-writing writer is someone courting madness” I may not have the quote word for word spot on but it’s something that does apply to me. When I’m not writing I’m finding it harder to deal with the everyday. So I’m never going to for more than A few days not writing. I’ve suffered from that mistake and I won’t let it happen again.

In November I’m going to have more time to write than I ever have done and I cannot wait. I will be blowing each day (hopefully) and I am 100% going to write a novel this year. I’ve done short story collections for the last two NaNo’s, which worked well the first year but not so much last year.

Fills my heart when friends and family send me things like this! šŸ˜Šā¤ļøšŸ˜Š

I’m super excited for NaNo this year. I’m going to miss the in-person meets, but we’ve worked on ways to do online events and hopefully have one that’s going to work out well.

Okay folks, I’m off to start word wrangling! Have a good day one and all!

19/10/2020

Peter Germany Dog, Editing, Horror, Horror Writer, Insperation, Life, Lifestyle, Nanowrimo, Novella, Outlining, Planning, Preparation, Vampires, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good evening, folks. I wrote 751 on the vampire book this morning before work and during my break. It was nice getting some words down before I started the day job, it always is. I find it sets me up nicely for the day that way.

I have also been making notes on my NaNo project. Not many so far, but I’ve got the ball rolling.

Iā€™ve got a lot I want to get done by the end of the month, tomorrow will be looking at the vampire story Iā€™m on to see what I can cannibalise from it. Thatā€™s what Iā€™ve got to do with all the stories in this book going forward.

Todayā€™s random picture is of the one and only Max!

Friday 21st of August 2020

Peter Germany Editing, Home Office, Life, Novella, Short Fiction, Writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good evening folks. How is everybody doing?

I have had a good day, well aside from waking to see I had to do a forth coat of paint this morning. That green really was a bastard to paint over. If I could go back and slap myself sixteen, seventeen years ago I would do. That said, I think it looks good. I ran out of the paint I was originally using, so used some my parents had left which I actually like a lot more.

It felt good though, best part of two days of moving furniture and painting. It was nice to do something practical. The news I had Monday hit me harder than I realised and having something I was able to get physically stuck into that is something I needed. Iā€™ve been doing something that will aide my long term goals with writing. I know how lucky I am having this space and Iā€™m going to make the most of it.

As you can see from the pictures the original colour was very patchy after two coats. Iā€™m okay decorating, but itā€™s not something Iā€™m skilled at. That said, the fourth coat went on well this morning (sorry I forgot to take pictures), and I gave it a couple of hours to dry. I literally had just enough to do that fourth coat and two in the wall cupboard.

Once the paint had dried it was time to get the furniture in place. Although an office I need to have my wardrobe and a chest of draws in there. The wardrobe was the hardest to move just because of the weight but I got it where itā€™s going. Then slid the desk against the chimney stack and then a plastic unit by the chest of draws.

Raven investigating.

I had shelves in one of the alcoves which I couldnā€™t get to go back in, so my dad is going to get some wood and make me three more shelves to replace the ones that didnā€™t fit back in. After probably twenty years, theyā€™d warped and it just wasnā€™t going to work. Having those shelves there will be handy, so Iā€™m glad Iā€™ll still have some there.

The green lampshade will be going at some point.

The layout was easy, one of the things I like is a nice bit of floor space. I donā€™t like feeling boxed in too much and how itā€™s laid out now I like.

I like the basics of this set up. Desk in the middle, printer to my left. You can see the brackets for the shelves on the left hand side alcove. That will pretty much stay like that. Iā€™ll probably get a new unit for the printer to go on one day but itā€™s not a priority. The shelves Iā€™m going to use for file storage.

On the right hand side in the other alcove you can see containers of paperwork. That is mainly old drafts that I almost threw out when I moved out, Iā€™m glad I didnā€™t. Iā€™ll find storage for them now Iā€™m back here. Thatā€™s my history as a writer. Iā€™m not going to just toss it aside. The sad part is thereā€™s a lot more and when I was planning to toss it, a lot got mixed up. So Iā€™ve got a lot to sort out at some point. eventually there will be a book case in that alcove.

Some new curtains will be added as well.

I really like this layout. Iā€™ve got plenty of room to move and pace when Iā€™m stuck. Once I finished getting it all sorted (the wall cupboard is still a bit of a mess but thatā€™ll have to be sorted properly later on), I had a shower and got a little bit of writing done. Only 487 words but good words.

This evening Iā€™ve also edited 16357 words this evening after I ate. This gets my zombie novella done with this stage. Tomorrow Iā€™ll print it out and red pen it in the next few days.

Iā€™m thinking about whatā€™s going to be handy to have in here, I think one of the first things will be a dry/erase board, which I think Iā€™ll put on the wall above my desk. I donā€™t really need much, but thereā€™s things Iā€™ll add to the space over the next few years thatā€™ll be both for decoration/inspiration but also practical things thatā€™ll aide with the writing process. Iā€™ve got a few items to decorate the space already, which are things I have in my room. Iā€™ve just got to choose which ones.

So, itā€™s a been a very productive day. Iā€™m looking forward to taking advantage of the space and upping my productivity. I know how lucky I am having this space, I really do. Iā€™m not going to squander it.

How about you? Do you have a space to write in, or is it a case of writing wherever you can.

Forest Underground by Lydian Faust

Peter Germany Audiobooks, Book Review, Books, Horror, Novella , , , , ,

Forest Underground was very interesting and gripped my attention pretty quickly. Some books can take some time for me to really get committed to them, but this one had me within five minutes.

I liked how Lydian Faust teased a lot of the world but stopped short of really revealing what was going on. I think that may have broken the pace of this novella up too much if thereā€™d been a lot of scene setting.

The story is really interesting and splits into telling the story of the two main characters, and you end up feeling a little for each one and the trials that life has thrown at them.

Pippa Baileyā€™s narration is on point and works well for the story. She brings an energy that adds to the story incredibly well.

Definitely worth a read/listen, and left me wanting to know more about this setting.

Flash Post 22/1/18

Peter Germany Books, Novella, Writing ,

I just wanted to post real quickly. I’m roughly sticking to my target of 500 words a day. Some days is a little higher, some days it’s a lot lower. The average is about that 500 a day goal though. I have written everyday this year so far though. Even a couple of nights like tonight where I’ve been writing much later than I normally would.

I got stuck on the story I was working on so I’ve switched to another one and the words have been flowing easier. I was writing a short story for an anthology I was going to submit to but I’ve got seriously stuck with it. I’m planning to look that over again and see what I can do with it.

Thanks for reading. You can find my social media links on the right hand side of the page.

This is a phone post so please excuse any typos.

Slow Day, But Words Written

Peter Germany Novella, Outlining, Planning, Writing

Today was not the best for writing. I managed two hundred words on a story that’s set in the universe Owen and I have created. This story is fun, but rather challenging as it’s a more dialogue piece than an action sort of piece that I tend to steer towards.

I did have a brief conversation with Owen today, and I think we’re getting pretty close with the next major project from this universe. We’re meeting Sunday, so hopefully we’ll get the outline locked down.

That’s all for now. I’m going to try and update my progress each day, I’m hoping this helps me get back into a decent writing routine again.

Another Update

Peter Germany Audiobooks, Books, Comic Books, Editing, Novella, Writing , , , , , , , , ,

I finally finished the second (might technically be third) draft of last years NaNoWriMo novella. I’m pretty much going to dive straight into the next draft as I want to try and have it done in decent time.

There’s three main points that I’ve got to work on. Adding a new character to the mix; continuing a storyline that kinda of got forgotten about; and adding some more depth to my protagonist. There’s a couple of seeds I want to plant in the story for storylines down the line, and a couple of other tweaks that need to be added. I’m sure I’ll find more to work on while I’m working my way through.

I got some Beta notes back in the week on a story that Owen and I have put together, and finally had a look at them today. I’m looking forward to getting stuck into them in the next week or so.

Reading wise I’m about halfway through Wool by Hugh Howey. I’m enjoying this novel, and have been surprised by some of the twists and turns in the story. Sometimes I’ll think I’ve got it sussed out, and then Howey takes it in a direction that I didn’t see coming.

The comic I’m reading is volume one of Wilds End by Dan Abnett (writer) and I.N.J. Culbard (illustration). This is a comic with anthropomorphic animals in the countryside of 1930’s Britain. So far the story is pretty captivating, and growing at a nice and steady pace. The artwork has got a beautiful look to it. At my first glance I found it beautiful for its simplicity but as I’ve looked more at it I’m really admiring how well Culbard has managed to put so much heart and character into these characters.

I’ve just started listening to No Worse Enemy by Christopher G. Nuttall. This is the second book in Nuttall’s The Empire’s Corps series. I’m about ninety minutes into it so I’m not fully engaged into it yet, but I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the series and I’ve got high expectations for No Worse Enemy.

 

Tuesday, 3rd of March

Peter Germany Editing, Novella, TV, Writing , ,

In three sittings I’ve managed to knock out 1200 words today, all in longhand. I’m well chuffed by this. It feels like I’m slowly getting back into a groove a little bit, even if writing with a pen is killing my hand.

This rewrite of Avoiding The Game is coming along well and I think it is taking shape well. Last week I was a little worried about how the middle of the novella would work out but I think I’ve found where I want it to go now. I am a little torn about when I should start typing it up though. Part of me wants to wait until I’ve got a complete draft but another side of me says to start typing it up now, just in case something happens to the paper draft. If I start typing it up though I’ll start editing it and I’m not sure I want to start looking at it with a critical eye until I have a completed draft. I think I’m more inclined to hold off until the draft is done, that feels like the right thing to do and I’m trying to follow my gut instinct a little better at the moment.

That is me done for the night now though, I’m going to dive back into Game Of Thrones series four šŸ™‚

Looking To 2015

Peter Germany Books, Novella, Outlining, Planning, Short Fiction, Vampires, Writing, Zombies , , , , , , , , ,

I’ll just mention my words from the last two days. Yesterday I managed 933 but it was a struggle, today I’ve gotten 1321 words done and it felt a lot easier and much lees of a struggle.

Now, to what I’d like to achieve this coming year. I think my first priority is to get Earth, After Liberation and it’s sequel, Oppression, finished. I’m 33,000 words into the Earth, After Liberation re-write. I’d like to say I’m half-way through it but my 60,000 word target is a soft one and very flexible as the story will be as long as it needs to be. With Oppression I’ve all but decided to re-write it as well. I think it’s pretty good but I’m going to need to change a lot so it fits into the world I’m building with Earth, After Liberation. I could go and retro-fit it all but I’ve tried to do that before and it really doesn’t work for me, I’m finding re-writing is a much more efficient way for me to work. Now, depending on how the second book comes out in the re-write will decide on whether I make this into a trilogy or not. That was my original plan but as I was trying to get words for the 50k that is NaNoWriMo I found the story came to an end. Now if I can work the re-write out so that I have between 45,000-60,000 words without wrapping up the details then I’ll look to write a third, and final book that focuses on these core characters. I’ll only do that though if I have enough story for a third book, I’m not going to write three books with these characters just so I can say it’s a trilogy.

Earth, After Liberation should hopefully be done by February, hopefully. Then I’m tempted to jump straight into the re-write of Oppression. Owen and I were hoping to start the re-write of Project Apollo on February 1st but I’ve got a feeling that may not be a realistic ambition. Apollo is a big and complicated story and I’m not sure we can outline two thirds of the story in a month.

Owen and I have talked about more stories in this universe and I think we’ll be writing a few synopsis’ for these so we can make sure they tie in together when and where we need them too.

Another goal for the early part of this year is to get my vampire collection tidied up. I’ve had one Beta Reader’s notes back. Another is still looking at it, and i have one other person I really want to look at it, but they’ve just moved house and got their hands full getting settled in. I’ve got a date in mind that I want to release it, but again, thats a soft target. This collection has been five years in the making, holding it off a little longer isn’t going to make much difference to the book.

Brainstorming of The Residents is pretty thorough at the moment, and I think the next stage will be to start working on a timeline. There’s a few things that we’re waiting to sort out before that, but the story is looking pretty good šŸ˜‰ I’d like to write more about what we’ve got planned, but that’ll be spoiling it šŸ˜›

I’ve got a zombie novella that I’d like to write this year as well. I’m thinking it’ll be about 30,000 word or so. I’ll write that for NaNoWriMo if I don’tĀ write that third book I mentioned earlier in the post. The zombie story is roughly thought out but needs outlining and character work. The story is quite simply but the rest of the setting needs building up some before I make a start. If I don’t write it for NaNo I’ll try and squeeze it in at some stage.

Getting a few short stories written and submitted is also a goal for the year, but those will be more of a back burner item. I want to focus on getting some longer pieces completed.

There it is, my rough goals for the year. I deliberately didn’t mention much about publications. I am hoping to have my vampire collection out this year, I’d like to think Earth, After Liberation and Oppression will be close to being ready too, but I’ve made promises to self-publish before now and I’ve failed in those promises. Before I even think about announcing any dates, I’m going to have the story in mind edited, cover art done and formatted. So I’m not rushing to get everything together in a time frame.