Novel Kicks was very pleased to be a part of Luca Veste’s blog tour for his great debut novel, Dead Gone. Later on, Luca will be chatting to us about his book. Be sure to also check out the other stops on the tour. 

Coming up, a review of Dead Gone which is available now in e-book format. Below, a sneak preview (warning, there is a small amount of bad language.)  

Experiment Two

She hadn’t been afraid of the dark.

Not before.

Not before it entered her life without her knowing, enveloping her like a second skin, becoming a part of her.

She hadn’t been claustrophobic, petrified the walls were closing in around her. Crushed to death without knowing they’d even moved. Not scared of things that crawled around her toes. Wasn’t afraid to sit alone in a darkened room and wonder if something was touching her face, or if it was just her imagination.

Nope. She wasn’t scared before.

She was now.

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Jon Rance, the author of This ThirtySomething Life and Happy Endings, talks about his route to publication…

Whenever I talk or write about my route to being published, I always end up using the same words. Unusual. Different. Unconventional. When you think about getting a publishing deal you generally think about someone having an agent first and then the book being shipped around various publishing houses until the inevitable bidding war results in a large three book deal. This generally isn’t true either, but I didn’t even have an agent and I wasn’t really looking to get a publishing deal at all. I guess I should start at the beginning.

I started writing properly ten years ago. I wrote four full-length novels and followed the traditional path of trying to get an agent and failing each time. It always felt a bit strange though. I would spend a year and a half pouring my heart and soul into a book and then I’d send off thirty letters to different agents, wait for the rejections to come back before starting all over again. It’s a strange thing to do. So after I finished writing my fifth book, THIS THIRTYSOMETHING LIFE, I decided not to approach agents and instead self-publish it.

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Pratchett launches his 40th Discworld novel on-board the Iron Girder.

We were very excited to be invited to the launch of Raising Steam, the latest novel by Sir Terry Pratchett and the 40th book in the Discworld series. On Friday 22nd November at 3pm sharp, we arrived at the Watercress Line at Alton Station where we were greeted by the billowing steam of the train that was to be the Iron Girder for the day.

On the platform stood Sir Terry, proudly wearing his train conductor’s hat. Soon after arriving, we all boarded the train where we would have afternoon tea of scones, jam, cream, a cup of tea and even a small glass of sparkling wine. We were even Continue reading →

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We are happy to welcome Ali McNamara and her blog tour for her new book release, Step Back in Time. Today, we go back to the decade of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and mini skirts….

60s Fashion 101

Women’s fashion evolved so much in the 1960’s that it’s difficult to pinpoint just a few trends…

At the beginning of the decade the height of fashion was the style favoured by Jackie Kennedy, the first lady of the United States. Her quintessential look was the smart suit, pillbox hat, and neat court shoes.

Then is 1964 hems shot up when Mary Quant introduced the first mini-skirt, and the monotone black and white look, that is so synonymous with the sixties today became popular. Make-up was pale, and the androgynous look made famous by the British model, Twiggy was the style to aspire to.

Towards the end of the decade – the hippie movement also exerted a strong influence on fashion, with bell-bottom jeans, tie-dye and batik fabrics being extremely popular amongst the young, hip and trendy set.

If I’d been a teenager in the 1960s….I think I’d have been a Mary Quant girl!

Step Back in Time by Ali McNamara is published by Sphere and is available to buy now. 

Ali’s blog tour continues on Monday where she is stopping by One More Page and Life on Magrs

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Every time you hear the theme tune to EastEnders start writing. When you hear the end credits stop. Do the same for the Sunday omnibus and you’ll have a book within a year. Jenny Colgan told me that and I believe her.

Mike’s full interview.

Mike’s new book, Turning Forty will be released in July.

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Children’s book author and creator of The Planets series, Phamie MacDonald talks about her favourite writing moments and shares her writing space….

My favourite writing moment so far – is any moment at all when I get lost in the story. Every writer knows that frustrating blank page syndrome when all the words seem to have fallen out of your brain so it’s always a joyful, glorious time when the words flow, the story fits together and you can feel a new world being created. Bliss.

Phamie MacDonald

Phamie’s writing space.

My favourite, favourite, favourite writing moment ever was when I first conceived my children’s book series idea, The Planets. Continue reading →

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Novel Kicks would like to welcome back Pauline Barclay to our blog….

Laura, thank you for having me here on your fantastic web site and thanks to your hospitality, I’m not a stranger here having appeared twice before. Though this time, as much as I would love to talk about my books and of course my new book due out at the end of this year, I will save all of that for another time if you’ll have me back.

Today, I’d like to tell you about Famous Five Plus which is an Indie Author Group. As an Indie author I know how hard it is to get your name out there to the widest audience. And of course whilst you are marketing yourself, you are not writing. Added to trying to balance writing and marketing you can often feel isolated having no one to talk to, to bounce ideas off or to share any success that might come your way. Writing is for many a solitary occupation and being an Indie author you can often feel even more isolated, but by sharing thoughts and ideas can make you feel less on your own. These are just some of the reasons I decided to set up Famous Five Plus to bring like mind people together who could share their experiences and support each other. So on 31^st October 2011, I launched Famous Five Plus. To get the group off the ground I invited five authors I had become friendly with to join me. Since then many authors have asked to join the group.

Famous Five Plus is about working together as a group and supporting each other. Everyday I update the FFP web site with a new post, an extract from a member’s book, highlight an author, highlight one of the member’s trailers and more. All members are asked to promote these changes through social media:  Twitter, Facebook or their own Blog / web sites. What is wonderful is that during the month everyone is promoted and everyone gets involved.

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The defeat of Charles II by Cromwell’s forces at the Battle of Worcester on September 3, 1651 set off one of the most astonishing episodes in British history—Charles’s desperate six-week odyssey to reach safety in

Portrait of Lady Jane which is hung at Mosely Old Hall.

France. It came to be known as the Royal Miracle because he narrowly eluded discovery and capture so many times.

One of the players in the astonishing tale was Jane Lane, an ordinary Staffordshire girl who risked her life to help the 21-year-old king escape. She had a pass allowing her and a manservant to travel the hundred miles to visit a friend near Bristol—a major port where the king might board a ship.

In a story that sounds like something out of fiction, Charles disguised himself as Jane’s servant, and she rode pillion (sitting side-saddle behind him while he rode astride) along roads traveled by cavalry patrols searching for him, through villages where the proclamation describing him and offering a reward for his capture was posted, and among hundreds of people who, if they had recognized him, had every reason to turn him in and none—but loyalty to the outlawed monarchy—to help him.

It was an improbable scheme. Charles was six feet two inches tall and very dark complexioned, not at all common looking for an Englishman of that time. But time after time he rode right under the noses of Roundhead soldiers without being recognized.

If he had been caught, he would certainly have been executed, and it is an open question whether the monarchy would have been restored as it eventually was after the death of Oliver Cromwell. What Jane did took great bravery, and she risked not only her life but the lives and lands of her family, as the fugitive king had been proclaimed a traitor, and anyone who helped him would be executed for treason. Continue reading →

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The thriller genre has always been a personal favourite, whether by way of novels or films, since intrigue and deceit, sprinkled with a generous helping of twists and turns, hold my interest and are heaven made for strong subtext. Because I believe it’s vital to stimulate the reader and maintain strong story momentum I tend to write in short chapters, which gives me an opportunity to break up the narrative and insert cliff-hangers in order to build tension and elements of mystery.

I think it’s important not to be didactic or preachy in any way, whatever points are relevant to the story with regard to human interaction, politics, greed, and so on. Whilst storytellers often feel it is part of their responsibility or even purpose to offer the benefit of personal insight and enlightenment to their readers, I tend to focus on creating a strong plot with interesting, credible, characters written in humorous vein. Snapback is a comedy-thriller created for entertainment value rather than anything of deeper significance, with a sting in the tail that involves invasion of privacy and our obsession with celebrity, these personal concerns being worked into the story without the need to bash the reader over the head with a metaphorical sledgehammer. Whatever serious situations occur within a story, the overall effect for me has to be a combination of mystery and fun, the prime objective being to sustain interest and be thought-provoking, but never to tread water, and always to entertain.

For this reason the hook, or set-up, is critical and after the first draft is completed I often rework the opening chapter, or write a completely new one, to ensure that the reader is swept immediately into the unfolding narrative. Tying up the plot lines is also essential. Readers should never be left to imagine their own endings (unless that is a specific intention) or be confused about any elements within the story. To that end, covering my tracks is part and parcel of the writing process. Continue reading →

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Trisha Ashley, the author of Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues, The Magic Of Christmas and Wedding Tiers takes over our blog and tells us about her process between the first draft and finished manuscript.

I write directly onto the computer, touch-typing, though I need to see my words in print on paper before the world I am writing about becomes real to me, so I print everything out.  This can also be useful if your computer loses the chapter and you forgot to back up onto a memory stick or whatever.

My first drafts are usually somewhere between eighty and a hundred thousand words long and written in the stream-of-consciousness style made popular by James Joyce, since I just pour the words out onto the page and don’t always bother with the punctuation or typos.  If I’m too tired to think creatively in the afternoon, though, I will often go back and tidy up the work I did in the morning. Continue reading →

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To Plot… Or Not?

Plotting has always been a source of great debate amongst writers. Should you, or should you not? Many authors dive right in to their manuscripts, content to  ‘write into the mist’. Personally, I am not a ‘writing into the mist’ kinda gal – I’m always afraid I may never emerge! I need something to drive toward, and I have to know where my character will end up, when everything is said and done.

But how much plotting is too much? After all, you don’t want to stifle any creativity that might occur. New characters could pop their heads in, just begging to be written. Events might not always happen according to plan – in life and in fiction.

I always start with a few key questions. What does my character want? Who or what will stop her from getting it? And by the end, how will she have grown and changed? In Watching Willow Watts, my most recent novel, Willow begins her journey as a person who’s keen to keep everyone happy. By the end of the book, she’s learned that her own happiness is important, too, and she needn’t lose herself to please others. Continue reading →

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What do you do when you get invited to meet Jane Fallon at the Ivy? You get yourself down there as quickly as possible.

Jane, Helen and Laura

Joe from Penguin and Helen.

Novel Kicks got to go to the Club at the Ivy to meet the lovely Jane Fallon, author of Getting Rid of Matthew, Got You Back, Foursome and her latest, The Ugly Sister which is due out on 29th September 2011. Thank you to the guys and girls at Penguin for a wonderful night.

Helen and I arrived and we were immediately taken aback by the Ivy. I’d never been to anywhere like that before and I was so excited to go in and have a nosy around (and not actually be thrown out again.)

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Laura has asked me to write a few words about Indie publishing as my latest book, Sometimes It Happens… is published on Amazon Kindle. The ease in which you can publish your own book has changed dramatically over the last year. E-book publishing is now extremely fashionable with sales souring and in some cases outselling conventional paperback / hardback books. Adding to this, the launch of the Kindle and iPad has created a whole new experience in reading.

I choose the route to Indie publish for several reasons, but one main reason is that I don’t live in the UK. I live on the beautiful island of Lanzarote in the Canary isles. There are many good reasons to live here, but it does distance me from agents and publishers who like their clients to be closer at hand. So in light of my location, I decided to publish my books independently.

Independent publishing does mean you do everything; from publishing to marketing, and you can do much of the necessary steps yourself, but there are stages in your writing when you do need to use a professional. For my third book, Sometimes It Happens… I was fortunate enough to work with the brilliant author, Helen Hollick. www.helenhollick.net

Helen has been my writing guide and editor and saw me through the entire manuscript of Sometimes It Happens… Her expert eye checked for continuity, believability, repetition and so much more. These are areas that as a writer you cannot always see yourself and a fresh, experienced set of eyes can. My published book as to compete with all the other well written books in this highly competitive market, therefore it not only must be a good read, but a professionally polished publication. I cannot stress enough the importance of having an editor to check your writing. Helen’s help has been invaluable and her knowledge and experience has taught me so much more. Continue reading →

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