Hey everyone,
As my novel Central Locking is free on Kindle Store/Amazon for the next few days though I might just take the time to put up a short post about some of the ideas behind it and some of the themes involved, just to go past the book blurb a little. The idea for Central Locking started in my head after seeing a TV segment on a popular car program. The piece featured an Audi racing round a track with no driver involved. Straight away this fired up the idea for the book in my head, because I'm weird like that, lol. The impact of such technology on all our lives if it were to become mainstream, and the challenging questions it would throw up for society were clear to see. Beyond the base premise of a guy getting taken prisoner by his malfunctioning vehicle, another idea that gripped me was the idea of the ostensibly perfect system, as the Transport Network is portrayed in Central Locking, and how far people might go to cover up any glitches that may be present in the system when there is a LOT of money involved. One aspect of the book which I feel provides a lot of tenseness is the survival aspect of things. The main protagonist Jack is stuck in his car for some considerable time with very little supplies to rely on. To try and illustrate accurately the mental and physical effects of such an ordeal I did quite a lot of research into how a prolonged lack of food and more importantly fluids can negatively effect an individual, and tried to get across the crushing claustrophobia of the situation and the moments of panic an delirium. Hope that comes across for the reader too! There are also parallels to be drawn between Jacks ordeal, trapped by the machine and taken against his will across country, and his life in general, with Jack trying as best he can to deal with the demands of his life and a job he despises, which have for long periods taken him away from the important things in his life. There is also a love story in there too, although not your typical Hollywood fodder. Quite often you see the guy in the book/film realising he has messed up, and much of the piece is about him sorting out that mess, with the pay off being the often ostentatious, very public reconciliation. With Jack and Kate I wanted to try looking at something different - like what happens after the big romantic gesture when the hard work starts. At the beginning of Central Locking Jack has just been accepted back into the family he once discarded to concentrate on his career, but there is still a lot for him still to do to make it up to them. What I wanted to show was the frustration of a man who gets his second chance, only to be then spirited away just as he tries to make good. I tried to convey the random unfairness of it all and hope I succeeded to some extent. Remember guys, we're free until Sunday - if you get chance I would really appreciate it if you had a look. Also if you do take a look, any feedback would be welcome D.T.
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HI All,
Just thought I'd put on a quick update about how day 1 of my free event for my book Central Locking is going so far A good few hours in, uptake and downloads have been fair so far but by no means spectacular. I'm hoping as the days go on a bit of momentum is going to kick in to drive downloads up a little more. One thing I have been pleased with however is the generosity of other authors on twitter in re-tweeting my tweets to help get the message a little further out there. It is much appreciated guys. As it is Friday I'm also looking to utilise the #freebiefriday and #freefriday hash tags to reach out to those markets also. So far much of my promotion is centred around twitter, but hopefully some of the free book sites I have submitted to will get on message soon and give me a bit of a plug also Anyhow - should probably get back to it - until next time! D.T. Hi Guys and Happy New Year!
Speaking of new year, its a time when we are all usually making plans, which prompted me to think about a book I read recently - How To Write More Words More Easily by Terrance Field First off, I'm not usually one for self help books or books offering writing advice, but as the book was free and only 52 pages long I though I'd give it a look. I must say I am very glad I did. Orwell Said the best books tell us what we already know, and I'd say that is the case with this book. As you can imagine from a 52 page book the advice is straight to the point and direct. There is no magic formula here but what there is there is a simple plan, a scalable model to be applied to any gestating novel. It makes sense. Reading it I was thinking to myself "well yeah that's obvious"...but as obvious as it all may be I certainly haven't been doing it so far! Previously I have been of the belief that people can either write or not, and that if you have at least a little talent, you can improve it by working at it. Mostly I am still of that opinion...but I'm now going to graft onto that that a little more planning doesn't go amiss (obvious right?) For myself, like many aspiring writers my time is limited and sometimes it can seem as though you are getting minimum returns on the time you spend. Having a detailed plan of each chapter of your novel and racheting up the 'crisis' throughout to keep up the pace, I feel will really help my progress. I am definitely going to make it my new years resolution to apply this books techniques and tips to keep my next book on track and to help me deliver a quality novel hopefully more quickly than the first one I would definitely recommend it to other aspiring writers and even if you don't find it useful, hey its only 52 pages! D.T. |
BlogThis is where I will put semi regular musing about things that interest me. I cannot guarantee they will do the same for you guys Archives
May 2022
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