The process of writing and editing

There are no rulebook methods for writing and editing, so all I can do is waffle on about my own methods and hope they're of some interest. Although it seems like a simple two-step process – first write the book and then edit it – I find it's not that simple at all. I edit to some extent throughout the writing process, and then some more after I'm all done. And then I edit again. And again.

It goes on and on. Some writers seem to have a methodical approach in that they write the entire first draft and then go through a set number of edits looking for certain things in each edit. That doesn't work for me, but maybe that's just because I'm not so well organized. Other writers write a chapter, then edit it to death before starting on the next. That doesn't work for me either, as it breaks the flow of writing. My own process is this:

Write a chapter or two; read those chapters through and edit them; write some more; go through and edit again, then change what I've written because I just thought of a better idea; write some more; keep writing because I'm in the flow, aware that this is going to need some serious editing; go back and edit; forget where I got to, then remember and write some more; edit some more, but not from the beginning as I've done that twenty times already; get dejected about all the editing I keep doing; write, write and write to the end of the book; put the book away for a month or two because I can't face the task of reading it again...

And so it goes on. My personal belief is that if you're not sick and tired of the manuscript by the time you're ready to publish it, then you haven't edited it enough. And even when you publish it, be prepared for yet more typos to fix in time for the second print run.

The following are tagged/related posts from my blog...

A third of the way through Mountain of Whispers

Posted on February 19, 2010

Time is marching on and I'm about a third of the way through the first draft of Mountain of Whispers. I'm still on schedule, but since I aim to finish by the end of March, I need to crack on instead of playing LEGO Indiana Jones and Star Wars on the Wii.

I added a Progressometer™ to the right hand side of the website, and if you're really interested you can view a little more detail here (scroll down past the teaser blurb). This is mostly for my own benefit; I find that a constant reminder of how I'm doing (or not) helps me move it along. And giving myself a deadline is essential! I'm aiming to launch around June, and there's a long way to go yet.

"So," I hear you ask, "if you're planning to finish the first draft by end-March, how come you won't be launching until June?"

During the first draft I just write and get the story down in the right order and with all the elements in place. During this process I tend to think of new ideas, or remember things I need to add, and I go back to add them in. So it's a fairly messy process. It's all about the getting the story down. As for the text itself, even though I use a spell-checker as I go (which means I spot typos instantly and correct them) I tend NOT to use a grammar checker (because grammar checkers are useless and annoying). So while my first draft may contain words that exist in the dictionary, I may have used the wrong variation of a word, or a word might be missing entirely. One mistake I made in my first draft of Labyrinth of Fire was to use the word reigns instead of reins – very embarrassing, but luckily it was caught early on! But both words exist in the dictionary and so my simple spell-checker didn't have a problem.

When I reach the end of the draft, the next step is to go through the entire thing again. I read it on the computer because there's often a LOT to alter as I read, whether it's a typo or a badly constructed sentence or a repetitive use of words or whatever. Maybe I just decide that I need to have a little more description here or there... or something isn't clear when read with a fresh pair of eyes... or something just isn't flowing. Whatever it is, I'll correct it. So this second draft is a long process too, although not anywhere near as long as the first. Maybe a couple of weeks at most.

Then I print the manuscript onto paper. I only do this once, but it's necessary because reading something on paper somehow reveals many more typos and issues that weren't previously noticeable on a computer screen. I don't know why this is so, but most writers agree that text is better proofed when printed. I go through with a red pen and read the entire thing again, and then make all the alterations on the computer. By this time I'm pretty fed up with the book!

The next step is to send out the "final" manuscript to two or three educated, literate people willing to proofread it for me. This is not a read-through by people who just like to read; this is a read-through and proofread and overall critique. With Labyrinth of Fire I ended up removing an entire scene and rearranging another – all for the better, but it was something I hadn't really thought to do until it was pointed out by my proofreaders. There was a myriad of other things too, too numerous to mention. But all in all, being proofed by at least two people is essential.

Once again I go through the manuscript making all the suggested corrections. By now I can't stand the book and just want to go bury my head in the sand. But finally I get to a point where I'm "finished" and I upload the files to CreateSpace and order myself a proof. Believe it or not, with Labyrinth of Fire I actually went through this proof book too – yes, I read the entire novel AGAIN. And a good job too, because I found even more things to fix. It's hard to believe so many little bits can be missed four or five times, but it happens.

When the book is finally launched, guess what? Occasionally a sharp-eyed reader will spot something wrong. For all those who have Labyrinth of Fire, look on page 183 and you'll see that Blacknail drives them through a "never-ending plane of lush grass." Did I really say plane? Yikes! I meant plain of course. This has been corrected in my manuscript, so future editions (when I get new stock) will be just a teeny bit improved. There's another bit that was wrong too, a very minor continuity error; again, this has been fixed. And the other day someone spotted something in Island of Fog; Hal's dad was winding the clock and he said it was 7:30 AM. Yet Hal then had breakfast, went to fetch some water from the stream, and had an altercation with Fenton on the way to school... and still arrived at 8 AM. This seems a little tight, so I've altered the text so that Hal's dad says "It's just after seven."

Minor things, but worth fixing. And that's why, when the first draft is finished, it's going to take a further couple of months (at least) to get this book polished to where it's "finished."

Mountain of Whispers

Posted on January 3, 2010

I finally decided on a title for the third and final book in the Island of Fog trilogy. Actually, the title sort of decided itself. The story heavily features a mountain, so I was leaning towards "Mountain" from early on; it was the other part of the title I was having trouble with. In the end, "Whispers" made a lot of sense for various reasons, so "Mountain of Whispers" it is.

Mountain of WhispersAbout the book

Armed with the new title, and with the chapter summary fleshing out and taking shape, I now have a very clear vision of the mountain, so I've gone ahead and created the book cover too. Does it seem strange that I would put a book cover together this early on? Maybe. On the other hand, since I know the story already, having a book cover actually makes it a little easier to set the scene. It's either that, or I set the scene and then try to find a suitable cover image!

Being a website designer by trade, it's only natural (to me) that I register domain names for my books. They just point to the relevant book detail pages on this website, but sometimes it's better to use the domains because they're shorter and easier to remember. Therefore:

You'll see that these links go to the book detail pages on this website, and that the Mountain of Whispers page is obviously very sparse at the moment. But I'll keep it up to date as I go.

Book III: The plot thickens

Posted on December 29, 2009

With Christmas over, I've been able to relax and concentrate more on Island of Fog: Book III (as yet still untitled). The plot is now so thick that I can stand a spoon upright in it. Things are falling nicely into place at last. A tip for anyone struggling with laying out the details of a plot: Just leave it alone and let your subconscious mind sort it out in its own good time.

I've always known exactly what happens in this third book. But, as the saying goes, the devil is in the details. There were a couple of fairly important WHYs rattling around at the back of my head, as well as a few WHATs, but suddenly these came together in a sudden light-bulb-flashing moment and now huge chunks of the plot are firmly in place. The biggest question in my mind right now is not what happens in Book III, but how much space it will take up. At the moment it feels like I have way too much going on, but it won't seem so much once I have it down on paper. In reality it's probably only enough to fill two thirds of the book! It's hard to judge just how many pages all the different scenes will span... although it turned out that I was fairly accurate with my chapter summary for Labyrinth of Fire, so perhaps I'll do as well with this new one.

The title still eludes me though. I've stopped thinking about it for now; maybe my subconscious will figure it out and I'll wake suddenly in the night.

I'm not about to start giving spoilers, but in Book III the children have two major problems to resolve as well as a few minor ones. Those who have read Labyrinth of Fire will probably guess what the two major problems are. There's something else though, and this is a subplot I'm still wrestling with. It's one of those things that's not essential but which I feel would round off everything very nicely – if I can make it work.

Before Christmas I delivered/dispatched a number of Labyrinth of Fire books, and some of them are only just now reaching their destinations (especially to those in Australia, who have been suffering postal strikes). And as I had done with Island of Fog, I sent a copy of Labyrinth of Fire to bestselling fantasy author Piers Anthony, and he kindly sent me a letter to say that he had received it and was hoping to read it very soon. Today, in response to an email I sent him about something entirely different, he mentioned that he had started reading the book as planned but had been delayed by "half a slew of pre-emptive chores" and that he would return it to shortly. No problem at all – I'm just pleased he's interested! In his letter, which arrived just after Christmas, he said, "I remember Island of Fog with pleasure, and look forward to seeing the continuation of the story."

Meanwhile I received my first reader review:

"Great new book! I absolutely loved the sequel and thought that it might even have been better than Island of Fog! I loved getting to know Darcy, Emily, Lauren, and Dewey way better. I have grown to find those characters way more likable now that I know more about them. Thanks for giving me a great new read!" – Canaan

Anyone else out there who's finished it yet? Or is halfway through? I'd appreciate feedback, whether positive or negative, and once again I'd like to urge those who have something to say to post a review on Amazon if they can:

And if you haven't bought Labyrinth of Fire yet... what on earth is WRONG with you? :-)

BookcoverISLAND OF FOG BOOK II
LABYRINTH OF FIRE
by Keith Robinson
Available in paperback for $11.95
ISBN 978-1-4495-3803-3
Buy the Book

Replacement order, watery events, and ideas for book title

Posted on December 9, 2009

Today I was assured by my book printers that a replacement order is on its way by UPS 2nd Day Air, so (fingers crossed) I should be receiving it fairly soon.

I went to Calhoun Library last night. It was raining lightly as I headed south on Hwy 136 and, when I arrived an hour later, it was raining a little harder. Shortly after I got inside it started tipping down, and it continued tipping down for the rest of the evening. There were people already at the library when I arrived and so I was able to sell a couple of books straight away, but then it emptied out... and the place was deserted. *Sigh*

It was good to talk to the other authors, and the few people who came in out of the rain, and the library staff, but otherwise it was a bit of a wash-out thanks to the weather.

On the way home, with wipers thumping and puddles sluicing up the side of the van, I started thinking again about the title for the third book. I've been mulling this over for some time now, and have many possibilities but none that I've settled on. Just for a laugh, and maybe for a bit of inspiration, I posted on Facebook (see to the right of this website) and asked for suggestions, keeping in mind the "[Geographic] of [Element]" format. We already have Island of Fog and Labyrinth of Fire – what's next?

I suggested, with tongue firmly in cheek, the following:

  • Peninsula of Snow
  • Hillock of Drizzle
  • Knoll of Smog

Lysa Charpentier up in Rhode Island immediately suggested:

  • Mountain of Mist

Oddly enough, "Mountain" has always been high on my list of contenders because the third and final part of the trilogy features a mountain! But "Mist" is too close to "Fog" so that's out.

Next, Trevor Moss from the local area came up with a slew of ideas:

  • Forest of Stone
  • Cavern of Light
  • Volcano of Tar
  • Valley of Sand
  • Swamp of Voices
  • Mountain of Crystal
  • River of Earth
  • Land of Silence
  • Wall of Jade
  • Hills of Rain
  • Ocean of Sun
  • Chasm of Lighting
  • Valley of Thunder
  • Craig of Steel (er, what?)
  • Plateau of Wind

Jennifer LeCroy from Rome (in Georgia, not Europe) then chimed in with:

  • Quagmire of Tranquility

This reminded me of the old eighties movie, The Neverending Story, which featured the Swamps of Sadness. While giggling over these titles with my wife, I couldn't help coming up with a title that we thought was very funny. Nessa posted it immediately:

  • Pass of Winds

Jennifer then came back with a title that she suggested should come right before Pass of Winds:

  • Gorge of Legumes

And that's as far as I've got. I should also mention a few titles that came up during a recent chat with my brother Darren in the UK. Between us we thought of:

  • Table of Desserts
  • Valley of Dust
  • Mountain of Dust
  • City of Dust
  • City of Breezes
  • Town of Gales
  • Valley of Passing Winds
  • Citadel of Gusts
  • Hamlet of Wafty Drafts
  • Mountain of Wind

...and there we left it. Town of Gales just made me think of a load of women, all named Gale and always squabbling. But despite the silliness of many of these suggestions, it's got me thinking! Without giving anything away, the third title needs to be something that refers either to a mountain or a city, and to wind or storms. So, with that in mind, I wonder who can come up with the cleverest title?

And yes, I'm expecting a deluge of daft suggestions as well. :-)

Grammar, and other pointless trivia

Posted on October 30, 2009

I wondered if y'all would be interested to know what kinds of daft things I've had to edit in my Labyrinth of Fire manuscript. I doubt this post will interest everyone, but maybe a few of you get hung up on equally silly things. In my case I have a few extra hang-ups because although I live in America and have chosen to adopt American English as my primary language, I'm still British and this tends to show through sometimes.

For example, words that end with "-ward" in the US tend to be "-wards" in the UK, like backwards, afterwards, forwards, inwards, outwards, downwards, upwards, etc.

Then there are words like dreamt vs. dreamed, and leapt vs. leaped. For some reason I have no problem switching from "dreamt" to "dreamed," but I cannot stand the idea of using "leaped." In the end I used "dreamed" and "leapt" – sometimes either is okay as long as the text is consistent. But I might change my mind about this...

Now take burnt vs. burned. There's an argument that says "burnt" is an adjective whereas "burned" is a verb, so you might say "the burnt house" and "the house burned."

Another funny one is crept vs. creeped. You can say "creep into a tent" or "he crept into the tent" but "creeped" is normally reserved for "he creeped me out" (a different meaning altogether).

It seems like Americans just stick "-ed" on the end of everything, like spelt vs. spelled. But then along comes the word "dived" which is used primarily in the UK and is laughed at in the US. Just to be awkward the US uses "dove."

Moving onto might vs. may, many think "may" is preferable. You can say "I may go to the party" or "I might go to the party," and some will say that "may" is more correct, and that "might" is used in past tense such as "I might have gone to the party if I had known about it." So why do I use "might" far more often? I don't know if this is a British vs. American thing, or just me. In any case I decided to leave all my uses of "might" and my occasional uses of "may" – a guy could drive himself mad worrying about this stuff!

When I was at school, the plural of "hoof" was always "hooves." But the plural of "roof" is not "rooves," it's "roofs." So why can't I use "hoofs" instead? Turns out I can, according to both my American AND British dictionaries. Who knew? Not me, apparently. It's funny what you learn and then have to unlearn.

In England it's "storey/storeys" when referring to floors of a building, and "story/stories" for tales. In America it's just "story/stories" for both. I kind of miss the "-ey" ending. (Just as an aside, in England the lowest level of a four-storey building is the ground floor, with first, second and third above. In America, a four-story building's lowest level is the first floor, with second, third and fourth above. There's a four-story building in my book and I removed the bit where it said they "entered the first floor" as that might confuse British folks!)

Some say that "anymore" is better than "any more" but "any time" is better than "anytime." To be safe, I've just stuck with "any more" and "any time."

Switching to a different subject, I wondered what dragon groupings are called. You know how you have a herd of elephants and a litter of kittens? Many of these grouping names are shared, for instance you can also have a herd of horses and a litter of puppies. But I was surprised to realize that, in addition to a flock of birds and a flock of sheep, you can also have a flock of elephants as well as a herd of sheep! I wasted many minutes on the internet looking up this stuff. Grr!

But what about dragons? There are no such things (no, really, they're make-believe), but I guess they're fairly close to alligators, so I used alligators as a starting point. So we have a bull (male), a cow (female), and a hatchling (young 'un). You can have a congregation or bask of alligators, so I guess that works for dragons too... only I preferred to use a fleet of dragons, thinking I'd heard that term before. Turns out I can't find much about a fleet of dragons anywhere, so maybe I dreamed/dreamt it!

Then there's the place where dragons live. Typically this is a lair, although I see a lair more as a cave for a single family of dragons rather than the entire fleet or congregation. So I decided on kingdom, which seems to suit dragons well. I looked it up and "kingdom of dragons" shows up quite a lot.

While writing Labyrinth of Fire I used a phrase, "cute as a button." I was told this should be "bright as a button." Well, it turns out that both phrases are fine, but "cute" is American while "bright" is British:

"Cute as a button" – as in the button quail, a small, gray and super fluffy bird.

"Bright as a button" – the British version of "cute as a button" which means "cute, charming, attractive, almost always with the connotation of being small."

So there you go. It always amazes me what pointless trivia I find out when I delve into something! This stuff is going to rattle around in my head for years to come. *Sigh*

104,227

Posted on September 18, 2009

I wrote the final words of Labyrinth of Fire last night. If I smoked I would have lit a ciggie, and if I had some champagne I would have popped the cork. Instead I watched The Office and ate a frozen strawberry popsicle.

104,227 is the total number of words (227 pages) in this first draft. This is longer than the previous book, but I have some editing and cutting to do so hopefully it will squeeze down to Island of Fog size, which is 95,000 words (218 pages).

I was a little surprised at how things turned out. I had a list of things to wrap up, and I did wrap them up, but in a different order to what I expected. Plus, a couple of extra things happened that I didn't expect. Funny how that happens! As with the first book, the ending resolves almost everything but points urgently to the next episode. This second book feels bigger in that there's more to see and learn – lots of places to visit, more people, more monsters... but the children also discover a number of new things about themselves and the world(s), some good and some not so good. The ending sets up what should be an even bigger third book to round off the trilogy.

The reason I overshot my "finish date" was not so much because of word count but because I didn't take into account how carefully one has to tread near the end. Loose ends to tie up, that sort of thing. And I had to do some thinking about what kind of ending I wanted. If you've seen the original Star Wars movies, you'll know that the first movie ends on a high, a complete story in itself. The second, The Empire Strikes Back, ends with the immediate plot points taken care of but a bigger one to deal with (ie, the rescue of Han Solo) thus leading into the third movie, Return of the Jedi. Likewise, the three Back to the Future movies did the same thing, and so did The Matrix, and so did Lord of the Rings... anyway, you get the picture. The theory is that if you've made it all the way to the end of the second story, then you're already committed to the third. So an "Uh-oh" ending in the second story is perfectly acceptable because you know that all will be fully resolved in the third.

Yes, you guessed it. Labyrinth of Fire ends with a huge "Uh-oh." I felt a bit like M. Night Shyamalan, director of The Sixth Sense, gleefully saying to himself "What a twist!" But I should add that I planned this ending way back before I started writing the prologue, and had vague ideas about it before I finished the previous book. The only difference is how it played out, which was never completely clear to me until last night.

The next few weeks will be editing, editing, and more editing.

Final chapters of Labyrinth of Fire

Posted on September 11, 2009

I've been keeping tracking of my daily word count as I approach the last few chapters of Labyrinth of Fire. In my last post I said I needed to do an average of 2909 words a day for the next 11 days. Well, I have something like 14,300 words to go, which is now an average of 2860 a day for the remaining 5 days (including today). I'm getting there, and am still on target!

Of course, word count doesn't mean a whole lot. Page count is probably a better system to work to, in my case. Being fussy, I have this idea that I'll match Island of Fog's exact page count (218) and number of chapters (23). Well, if that's true, I have 41 pages and 5 chapters to go, which is just over 8 pages per chapter – spot on!

Then again, I also expect to cut out some rubbishy bits and do some serious tightening up throughout, so that will probably mean the overall length ends up shorter. I could compensate by writing more now, knowing it will shorten... but I don't think I need to do that. I'm well on the way to ending the story and don't need to pad it unnecessarily. If it ends up shorter by 10-20 pages, then so be it.

On a slightly different subject, I'm already thinking about my next book. When I say "my next book," I don't necessarily mean the next book in this trilogy. The third book will be ready sometime early 2010, as planned, but before then I'd like to do something totally different, a one-off novel that I can actively send out to publishers. As fun as this self-publishing lark is, I'd still like to be published in the "traditional" way, and I need to attempt that with something entirely new and original. So my next project will be, er, something entirely new and original, which I'm afraid YOU, folks, won't see any time soon unless I find a publisher.

The theme of this entirely new and (hopefully) original book will be along the lines of ghosts and ghouls, but I haven't settled on any specific idea yet. Something very dark though, and aimed at the same 9-12 age group.

With the word counts I mentioned above, I could conceivably write a first draft novel in a month at a push, but more likely two months. Then the editing would be a further month or two. So I think 3-4 months is reasonable without killing myself in the process!

Oh – and I have some "brilliant" ideas for this website. I plan to do some free online webisodes focusing on non-essential but maybe interesting scenes in the life of Miss Simone and some of the others – like "fill-in" scenes that don't need to be in the books but might be fun to read anyway. For instance, what was it like for Miss Simone when she first transformed? Or, closer to the book, how about Abigail, or Darcy, or Lauren? We've only heard their stories secondhand and I thought it might be interesting to expand on that. Comments, anyone?

Lava tubes and dragons

Posted on September 4, 2009

Progress on Labyrinth of Fire is slow but sure. I'm still on target at the moment, so I'm not worried. Yet. Some parts are easier to write than others. Yesterday I managed 3360 words, the day before 2190 words, and before that – well, I've forgotten. I don't mark the exact places I start and stop. Anyway, the point is, I plan to finish the first draft by around September 15th, which gives me about 11 days to write approximately 32,000 more words, which is, uh, 2909 words a day. A little tight, but do-able. Maybe.

That September 15th deadline is my own. After that, I can spend the next entire month editing, editing, and editing some more. The real deadline is 15th October, when I need to get a few proof books out for review, and then make adjustments as necessary. Hopefully, by mid-November, the finished book will be ready to go.

I mentioned that some scenes are easier to write than others. I can usually get through a lot of dialogue very quickly. I like talky scenes; I find them fairly easy going. But then again, I always think I've written too many talky bits, so that's not so good. But then again again, I'm told that most kids like talky scenes, and no one yet has mentioned that Island of Fog is too talky.

In this new book, harder scenes include the chasm where the labyrinth starts. There's a volcano looming nearby, and it keeps spewing lava down into the chasm. I did some research, which is kind of fun but eats away the hours. I enjoyed learning about lava and its viscosity, how it starts to skin over when it emerges into the air, how poisonous gases escape as it's pouring along, and how, as the gases escape, it slows and becomes thick and stodgy.

I also enjoyed reading about lava tubes, which typically start as rivers of lava on the surface of the hill, running down from the volcano eruption. Like water, lava usually creates a channel or three, rather than spread out across the entire hillside. Bits of lava spatter off to the sides of these channels and cool quickly, forming walls on either side, while the lava continues flowing between. Sometimes the flowing river of lava forms a crust on top, and sometimes that crust welds itself to the channel walls and stops moving while the lava below continues to run. So a river of lava can look gray and solid on the outside, but is still flowing inside. A lava tube forms. Eventually the volcano stops spewing lava, and an empty tunnel remains. Later, fresh lava might once again pour down the tunnel, or it might not, but in any case more lava often piles up on top of it, so the tube ends up deep underground.

Well, I find it fascinating even if you don't!

Another scene that's been interesting to me, but quite difficult, is where Hal meets the dragons. I didn't want to convey the dragons' dialogue in the usual way, within quote marks, because somehow that made them seem less fearsome. Let's not forget that they don't actually talk human; they speak in grunts and roars, and Hal is mentally translating what they're saying. So I'm keeping their language short and brief, and spoken with italics rather than quotes, for instance when the dominant male makes a demand:

Choose. Human or dragon.

Although I have (or had) a chapter summary all planned out, it's amazing how I still find myself going off in different directions. I keep getting to a new, unexpected place and thinking, "Oh! Yeah! I like it!" and often (although not always) it turns out to be better than what I planned beforehand. This just goes to show that you can't constrain yourself too much when writing. I had a "brilliant" idea that practically wrote itself, which means I now need to go back a few chapters and alter a couple of small things in order to foreshadow my new idea.

In good old Enid Blyton books, the author would often get her characters into a situation where they needed a rope, and one of the boys would say, "Oh, well, I happen to have a rope wrapped around my waist." I've always been stunned and amazed by this; if he "happens" to carry a rope around all the time like that, it must chafe really badly. With a little editing, the author could have gone back a few chapters and had the boy say, "Do you think we'll need a rope? I guess I'll take one, just in case..." and then it would be perfectly acceptable to produce one later.

So, I like to make sure I go back and fix such things so it doesn't look like I'm making it all up as I go along... even if I am!

Speaking of making things up as I go along, I'd better stop waffling. I could have written part of a chapter by now!

Treatments and manuscripts

Posted on August 18, 2009

In between doing book talks at libraries and getting on with my day job, I'm still managing to find some time to write.

I finished a treatment for Island of Fog this morning and sent it to Whitt Brantley, my film agent (Heh! It never gets old saying that!). I'm sure he'll do what is necessary to make it "producer-readable." A treatment, in case you don't know – and I didn't until recently – is a full summary of the story, often told in a "film" style. "We open on..." and "Cut to..." and so on. Mine turned out to be eleven pages, which I thought was amazingly concise but probably could have been about four pages if written by a professional!

I also got on with Labyrinth of Fire, Book 2 of my trilogy. This picks up directly where Book 1, Island of Fog, left off. I'm about to start on chapter nine, and things are hotting up. Also, I made a decision today to include a scene that, in a movie, might take it from a General Audience rating to Parental Guidance. But I think it's necessary. Sorry, but I can't give anything away!

Thinking ahead, I plan to finish the first draft of the book by mid-September. Then I'll spend the next month editing, editing, and editing some more. All being well, I'll meet my target release date of "sometime in the fall" – around November. Then it'll be on to Book 3 (as yet untitled) which will be completed sometime in 2010.

I wish I could tell you all about Labyrinth of Fire. But to do so would spoil things a little for those who haven't yet read the first book. But sometime in the next month I'll add a section to this website for those who HAVE read Island of Fog – you'll be able to log in using a certain keyword contained within a certain page. Ooh, I'm crafty!

Tweeting and writing

Posted on July 21, 2009

I got back from vacation a few days ago, a week-long trip to Virginia that included a 2-day stay in Washington D.C. I took my computer but didn't use it once, partly because we had no wi-fi internet. It should have been a perfect time to write, but somehow it didn't happen. Vacations are tiring.

Before I left to go on vacation, I opened a Twitter account. I've heard that Twitter is great for selling books and generally getting the word out, but honestly I think the whole idea of Twitter is silly. Who cares if someone you've never met is having a coffee or heading to work at that precise moment? I just don't get it. But I opened an account anyway, and started searching for people to follow. Naturally I searched for "authors" and in particular "children's/YA authors" and soon began to follow a few of these. One looks interesting – he posts mainly about writing-related matters, maybe once or twice a day. Another seems to post every few minutes and the result is a long list of seemingly irrelevant comments. That's someone I'm going to stop following shortly. But on the plus side, through Twitter I've already found an author with a new book – so in theory people will find my book through Twitter too, as long as I post something "meaningful" every so often and try to build a list of followers.

My Twitter profile is http://twitter.com/unearthlytales if anyone is interested.

Someone asked me what else I had written other than Island of Fog. Well, several things. On my Enid Blyton website I have a full-length mystery novel, The Mystery of the Stolen Books. It's fan fic, written (hopefully) in a similar style to the original author, and of a similar length. But, apart from a few short stories that have appeared on various websites, most of what I've written is on my computer, as yet unseen by anyone else. A quick summary:

Flying Saucer in the Woods is finished and actually published, but for my viewing only. It's a complete story, fairly short, and the first of many. The printed book is sitting in front of me on my desk, but I don't plan to make this available to the public just yet; I want to write two more in the series first, so that I can launch Books 1, 2 and 3 in one go.

Quincy's Curse is perhaps my most promising unfinished novel, although I'm struggling with it a little. I thought it would be neat to tell a story where each chapter is from a different viewpoint. The story follows the two main characters, but as they travel from place to place, so the viewpoint shifts to secondary characters that they meet along the way. This method is working great, but the story is difficult to tell, hence the "struggle" mentioned above. Quincy is a boy who seems unable to avoid extreme good or bad luck falling on him. For example, he might find a bag of treasure lying in the grass, only to lose it in a freak accident moments later. The story involves dragons, an incompetent knight, a cyclops, a few mermaids, a wizard with a door that opens at random anywhere in the land, a genie in a bottle, the creepy red-legged scissor man, and more once I get done.

I love the idea of Bubble World, another unfinished novel, but I don't like the way I've written it. I wrote it with adult characters, and for some reason it just doesn't work for me. I might try and rewrite it with younger characters in mind. I think the reason I don't like it is because older characters bring with them "baggage" from real life, such as rent and bills and cars and jobs and so on. Kids don't have any of that boring stuff. Anyway, the bubble world of the title is... well, I shouldn't say, lest someone steal my idea!!

Unearthly Tales is intended to be a collection of short stories featuring, well, unearthly tales. I'm not certain yet whether the collection will be in the form of totally independent stories, or the same characters involved in different cases. Right now I'm veering towards the latter, and in fact it's looking like a novel split into "parts" where each part is a different unearthly event. As an example, the first part is where the main character, Logan, and his chubby friend Billy, meet Madison – a very strange girl indeed. Logan first meets her as she's struggling through a hedge in the park holding a sheet of paper. On the paper is scrawled a cryptic message which she apparently wrote herself the previous evening and is now struggling to make sense of it. This naturally (or unnaturally) leads to the ground opening up and short, bald people from another dimension coming through.

I have another full-length novel, The Secret of Gromble Gorge, about a girl named Rebecca Tinklepott (hehe) who meets a young dragon. Unlike most people, Rebecca can understand the dragon's language perfectly. She also has a terrible secret, which is revealed as the story progresses. This is one of my earliest novels, and is complete except that if I read it again today I'd probably edit just about everything. I like the general plot and idea though, and may do something with it in the future. I would probably change the dragon to some other creature, as dragons have been done to death!

I have other pieces that I started years ago, but nothing worth mentioning as they'll probably never go anywhere. One thing at a time – Labyrinth of Fire is my only project right now. And, of course, promoting Island of Fog.

Labyrinth of Fire

Posted on July 3, 2009

The sequel to Island of Fog has warmed up and is backing down the drive as we speak, with five chapters written and a full summary completed. It'll be a few months yet, but I hope to publish Labyrinth of Fire sometime later this year.

This book picks up from the exact moment the first book left off, and the labyrinth of fire itself comes into play around halfway through. But beware: the sequel is merely the second book of a trilogy, not because I want to stretch it out, but because there's a lot to tell and I can't fit it into less than three books! By the end of the second book there will be a lot resolved... but still some left to tell. The third book, in 2010, will wrap things up nicely.

On the other hand, even after three books there will STILL be a lot of stuff to explore. I'm thinking that this trilogy will be from Hal's point of view, and complete in itself, but beyond that I might switch to another character, whether that character is one of Hal's close friends or someone else entirely that we haven't yet met. I have ideas... lots of ideas...

I was surprised to learn that both my parents have now read my book. (Hallo Mum and Dad!) Actually, I wasn't surprised that my mum read it, as she reads a lot anyway, but my dad...? I've NEVER seen him read a novel. Ever.

This morning I stopped at a gas station for fuel. Well, when I say fuel, I mean beer. Anyway, as I was paying, the lady behind the counter asked me when the next book will be available. I was startled for a moment, but then I remembered her from Down Home Days (she was one of the few who had bought a book that day). She said she enjoyed it a lot and was looking forward to the next one, and I left the gas station with a big smile on my face feeling like I wanted to rush home and get on with it. That's the best kind of motivation!

Thumbs up from Piers Anthony

Posted on June 7, 2009

A few weeks ago I sent an email to Piers Anthony, the successful sci-fi/fantasy author best known for his magical Xanth series. A quick potted history: I started reading Piers Anthony's books way back in 1986, when I was sixteen and actively looking for a new author to "collect." I found book #9 of his Xanth series, Golem in the Gears, which at the time was the latest. Today there are 34 books and more to come! For the next ten years I was hooked on Xanth and anything else by the author, including his Incarnations of Immortality, Bio of a Space Tyrant, and Adept series, plus many one-off novels like Shade of the Tree, Macroscope, and Total Recall (the novelization of the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie). To date, Piers has 139 books to his name.

Around 1995 or so, having collected many of his books available at the time, I somehow moved on. 1995 was when I met Vanessa, so maybe I had other things on my mind! (We were married the following year.) Anyway, somehow or another my Piers Anthony collection, along with many other books, sidled away to make room for other things. I don't even know where those books went, which now seems a great shame. At some point in the last few years I "reconnected" with Piers Anthony, but have yet to re-build my collection. I've started, and those original Xanth books are fantastic to re-read... but I have yet to acquire and read many of the later ones.

To get to my point, when I finished Island of Fog and self-published it, I always planned to send the book to Piers on the off-chance that he might a) find time to read it, and b) like it enough to mention it in his monthly column. So, a few weeks ago I emailed him (via his website) to ask if it would be okay to send it. I don't like to assume anything; I'm sure he gets whole slews of books sent to him for review.

Piers kindly said yes, by all means send it. He was frank and honest in his response, as I would expect, saying that he would read just enough to "get its measure" and if it was "hopelessly amateur" he'd let me know. I like that he didn't dress up his words with flowery politeness; I don't want to be patted on the head and told "your book is very good, now run along." I want to be told the truth, so frankness is important.

So I sent my book in the mail and went about my business, carrying (as usual) the nagging doubt that my book is just not good enough for the professional market. Even though I've had positive reviews so far, including one from a professional editor and several from smart people who I specifically requested should be brutally honest rather than polite, for me the ultimate test was sending the book to a successful author who has had many New York Times Bestsellers.

After a few days, he wrote:

Dear Keith Robinson,

This is to let you know that I received Island of Fog on May 30, 2009. I was jammed at the moment, clearing my decks for my long June Column and Survey update, so didn't start reading until yesterday.

Now I'm through the first 7 chapters, and have to say that this is an interesting, well-written story. I will surely finish it and review it in my next – July – column. I had not expected to find twelve year old children exciting, but these are. Thanks for showing me this, and more anon.

Piers Anthony

Of course I beamed, printed off the email, and shoved it under Nessa's nose to prove how brilliant I am. I tried to be nonchalant and humble, but it didn't really come off. Anyway, after a few more days I received a new email:

Now I have finished reading Island of Fog. I love it! The story is interesting throughout, and builds nicely to a reasonable explanation for all mysteries. Normally I don't find children's fiction all that interesting; this was an exception.

This is a clean copy, but I did spot a few typos.

[three typos listed]

Congratulations on a fine juvenile novel.

Piers Anthony

It was particularly decent of him to take the time to list those three typos. Every typo I correct in my manuscript makes it that much cleaner.

I asked if I could quote him for promotional and general bragging purposes, and he said yes – hence this post. I'm also very much looking forward to a mention in his long monthly column on his website. But most of all, I like the idea of having a "blurb" on the book cover, a quote something like:

"... interesting, well-written ... builds nicely to a reasonable explanation for all mysteries ... Normally I don't find children's fiction all that interesting; this was an exception ... I love it!" –Piers Anthony

It amuses me that Piers said he doesn't find juvenile fiction all that interesting, when the entire Xanth series probably suits juveniles and young adults more than anyone else. He may argue that the series is written for adults, judging by all the Carry On-style naughtiness! – but, as well as adult characters, there are plenty of young central characters as well, including 12-year-old Dor and 3-year-old Ivy. So the target audience of the series is curious in that respect – perhaps for adults who like to guffaw, or juveniles who like to read "adult" material disguised as innocent fantasy. For me it's a lorra lorra fun with some very serious moments. Many of the earlier books have remained firmly stuck in my mind.

Going off on a tangent a little, Piers mentioned in his June column that he was re-reading and editing some of his old manuscripts for re-publishing. Even books by successful authors can go out of print (look at Enid Blyton!) but in this day and age it's not too difficult to get those books back into print. While his Xanth books, and others, continue to be published "traditionally," Piers is self-publishing many of his old books as well as new ones. I've gotta check those out!

Something that sets Piers Anthony apart from other authors is the way he includes a chapter-long Author's Note in the back of each book, at least with his Xanth series, in which he thanks readers for ideas and proceeds to sum up important events in his life since the last book. I always loved these Author's Notes, and often found myself reading them before the novel itself! I always wanted to do that myself – assuming I was successful enough for anyone to care what was going on in my life. Maybe one day... but if and when an Author's Note appears in the back of my book, blame Piers Anthony for inspiring me. In fact, blame Piers Anthony for making me like fantasy in the first place – because I find most high fantasy incredibly tedious. I liked the Lord of the Rings movies, but could never read the books. I read Terry Brooks' original Sword of Shannara trilogy around the same time as I started Xanth, and while Terry Brooks is an excellent author, by the time I was through I felt that I'd read enough "serious fantasy" to last me a lifetime. Xanth appeals to me because it's light-hearted – and full of puns.

Meanwhile... I've begun work on the second book in the Island of Fog trilogy. I've named it, but want to check out the title to make sure it's not been used recently. If it has, I may feel a need to alter it slightly. In any case I've written a chapter summary of the entire book and, once I've mulled over a few major plot points, I'll start writing very soon.

Final, final, FINAL edit

Posted on January 11, 2009

Yesterday I was pottering about with my novel Island of Fog. The printed manuscript that I sent to the literary editor a while ago is full of little red marks, and I'm now running through them and making corrections as necessary. In doing so, I've converted the document to proper manuscript format.

Now, I've always had a good idea about the correct format in which to send a manuscript to agents, but until now I've not bothered with that aspect too much. Printing the manuscript for a literary editor back in October involved using double line spacing (as usual) and her preferred font, Times New Roman. But perhaps a more proper format is to make the manuscript look like it's been typed on an old typewriter, and that means using good old Courier New. This font is monospaced as opposed to proportional (in other words each character uses the exact same amount of space, whereas with a proportional font the letter "m" uses more space than the letter "i") and the result is fewer words per line and thus many more pages to print. So I've gone from 295 printable pages to 480, almost an entire ream of paper. And that's just for 95,000 words, a pretty modest total compared to, say, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which is, according to Scholastic, a total of 257,045 words. I imagine J. K. Rowling hired a removal van to ship THAT manuscript off to her agent! (This is the longest book in the Potter series, and while some readers say they couldn't put it down, I personally had trouble picking it up.)

Some of the corrections I've been making to Island of Fog are because I'm an Englishman in America, a bit of a half-blood when it comes to writing. A Brit would probably write "Hal looked about" while an American would write "Hal looked around." Not a big deal, but these little "Brit" nuances might make an agent or publisher frown a little, so I want to get them right. Unfortunately I can't even ask my wife because she's just as bad, having spent five years living in England and being influenced by my Britishness. So it's often a bit of a surprise when someone – either a fellow writer nitpicking my work, or a website client correcting some text that I might have added to their site – says something like, "Whoa, what's a 'car park'? Do you mean 'parking lot'? And as for 'enquiry'... we use 'inquiry' in this country, pal." Throw in some colloquialisms from my local hillbilly town and I'm in real danger of having characters say stuff like "Where's it at?" and "I might oughta get home now" and "I'm fixin' to mash this button."

The manuscript is back!

Posted on November 23, 2008

On November 5th, which in England was Bonfire Night but in America was just another Wednesday, I sent my manuscript to Ann Fisher, a Literary Editor in Marietta. Ann called the week before to say she was ready for it, and I rushed to finish the last chapter. I had a bit of a nightmare with Microsoft Word as it somehow removed all my italics throughout. This meant I'd have to go through the entire thing again and italicize those words and sentences that require emphasis. WHY I was using Word I don't know – it's not the first time I've had issues with formatting! I must remember to use something simpler next time, like WordPad or even a simple text editor. Word is good for final preparation – setting up page headers, auto page numbers, and so on. But in my experience I can only safely preserve formatting by using a simpler program.

Anyway, I finally finished Island of Fog. (Fanfare please.) It runs to about 95,000 words and 23 chapters – exactly what I expected. It took ages to print and my wife, Vanessa, called downstairs at one point and said, "What are you printing – a novel?" She thought she was being funny, but I had the last laugh. It printed to 295 pages at the required double-spacing, inch-wide margins, and so on. I packaged it up, wrote a check, and sent it via UPS to Ann on that momentous Wednesday afternoon, November 5th.

The manuscript returned two weeks later on November 20th. Prior to sending it back, Ann phoned me twice to let me know how she was getting on. The first call was when she got to Chapter 11, and at that point she seemed very happy with it overall. This was a huge relief, but I was still nervous about the second half. I hadn't put quite so much time into polishing the second half, particularly the last five or six chapters, and I also wondered whether the overall plot would come to a satisfactory end for an objective reader.

The second phone call came just before Ann sent the manuscript back. I was grinning as she told me she had enjoyed it immensely, and that she hadn't found an awful lot to edit. She said she'd done a "light edit" only, offering suggestions here and there as well as correcting typos and colloquailisms (I have a problem separating British from American these days!). All in all, she said the manuscript needed very little editing. There were no big scenes to cut, nothing major to revise; in fact she advised to leave it alone – just run through the light edits and send it out to agents.

The manuscript arrived back home with a very nice letter that started:

The good news is that I have no bad news, which is very untypical when it comes to evaluating a client's novel. In the case of Island, it is, first of all, in much better shape than you may have thought and, as we discussed on the phone, your "concerns" were minor. Very possibly because you are (as with most writers) too close to your book and not quite able to be objective enough, and even finding fault where there is none.

The letter is three pages long and very detailed, and the manuscript is littered with little red marks that suggest changing this to that, and so on. All of this I find extremely helpful, regardless of whether the comments or suggestions are positive or negative. Still, I was frankly amazed that most of the comments were positive. Since this is the first time I've had the novel appraised as a whole, and by an experienced literary editor no less, I was perhaps thinking expecting a wake-up call, to find that I'm a very long way from publishable! I do still have a long way to go yet, trying to find an agent, but at this point I at least feel able to move on to the next step – finding an agent.

Between now and Christmas I expect to run through the manuscript one last time and correct numerous small things. After that, probably as the New Year begins, I'll begin the process of finding and writing to agents.

Sending Island of Fog to an editor

Posted on October 19, 2008

A month ago I spoke to an editor who lives in Marietta, near Atlanta, about an hour and a half from my house. I asked if she'd be interested in applying her editing skills to my novel, Island of Fog, and she said yes, as soon as she's finished with a couple of other books she's working on. We spoke again recently, and it looks like she's going to be ready to start on mine around the end of October – assuming, that is, I get it finished! Well, I aim to; it's always nice having an actual deadline, otherwise time just keeps on slipping by. So in the next week, two weeks at most, I expect to finish off and get it ready for a professional, critical eye. *Gulp*

The editor's career profile is pretty impressive, including roles such as script coordinator for Jack Nicholson and Mel Brooks! Yet her prices seem very reasonable. I have good vibes about her anyway, and am going to plunge in and go for it. One thing she mentioned in passing was, "Have you checked to see that the title, Island of Fog, has been used before?" At first I answered, "Of course!" Then I had pause for thought, because it was so long ago that I thought of the title (2002) that I honestly can't remember. Plus, there may have been a similar title published in the last six years. So, off I go now to Google...

The first result I found for "island of fog" was http://www.islandoffog.org. Now, I'm pretty certain that wasn't there when I first thought of my title. As for the web address, I bought islandoffog.com in February 2005, whereas islandoffog.org was created in December 2005. Looks I got in just in time.

Other than that, the top results for "island of fog" seem to be for foggy islands in Maine or California.

I looked on Amazon for books featuring "island" and "fog" in the title, and the first page yielded such titles as The Spirit of Fog Island, Nantucket Recipes from the Fog Island Cafe, Haunting of Fog Island, Fog Island, Fog Island Secret, Dark Towers of Fog Island, Phantom of Fog Island, and – oops! – Island of Fog. This mass-market paperback was published by Beagle in 1974, a gothic horror by Myra Kingsbury. Some more digging reveals that it repeatedly gets listed alongside another title of hers, Beware the Bog, published in 1975. Beyond that there's nothing that I can find about the author, although I found a blogger who is currently reading Island of Fog. Well, I'm not too worried; Kingsbury's book is three decades old and out of print. And other similar titles, such as Haunting of Fog Island, are just as old and out of print. "Fog" and "Island" just go together so well and are bound to be used in a horror or supernatural setting. There was even a movie called Fog Island, although that was back in 1943.

It does make me curious though. It's sort of a shock, seeing your carefully chosen title used by others, especially when you've lived with the title for a while. It becomes "yours" and then it's almost a feeling of indignation when you see it's been used elsewhere. But it's just a title, and a pretty generic one too; "island" and "fog" are two very common words and, used together, easily conjure up an atmospheric setting. I'd be much more concerned if I had titled the novel Islet of Stratus Clouds and found it had been used before.

More important is: Has the plot been used before? Well, not that I know of. But, as "my editor" reminded me, there are only six or seven basic plots in story-telling anyway. All stories follow one of these plots in some way, shape or form. Apparently.

Writing, writing, writing

Posted on August 23, 2008

I recently dusted off my old novel, Island of Fog, which I started way back in 2002. I wrote the first eight chapters fairly quickly, but then went into development hell and ended up revising everything I'd written. Then I wrote a few more chapters, and promptly went into development hell again. I completely re-arranged everything. Finally my ducks were in a row and I was able to advance to the next few chapters. By this time I had reached chapter twelve, and ideas/excerpts for several more chapters were taking shape.

Then, towards the end of 2006, I had to put my novel away and concentrate on working and being a father to my new little baby while my wife went back to school. I vowed to return to Island of Fog as soon as Lily started school.

She's now four and at Pre-K, and my novel has been calling me. "Keeiiiitthhh," it's been whispering in my dreams. "Open me up. Dust me off. Finish meeeeeeeee." So, in this last month I've written quite a bit – something like 21,000 new words in addition to numerous read-throughs and further edits to older chapters. I'm now on Chapter 18, about 68,000 words in total so far. I plan to finish somewhere around Chapter 23+- depending on how things go, so I guess it'll be around 90,000 words when it's done.

On a few occasions I've been able to start and end a chapter in one session, which makes me very happy! It makes me feel very good about myself, and I can go and have another beer in celebration. When I don't make it through a whole chapter, I have another beer as a boost to my confidence. Oddly, when I don't get ANY writing done, I have another beer to drown my sorrows. So beer is a big factor in all this, no matter what. Still, beer tastes better with a little smile on my face than a grumpy frown.

I'm finding my characters easy to re-acquaint with. I know them very well by now, but I don't know everything about them yet. There are eight kids, all the exact same age, and each an only child. They were born and raised on this foggy island, and have never seen a blue sky, nor been Out There to the world that their parents abandoned. One of the kids, Abigail, is convinced they're all part of some experiment, and before long Hal and Robbie get the idea to build a raft and escape the island (see this website's masthead). It's risky though. The mainland is not too far away... but it's supposed to be a dead place now, and besides, there's talk of a hideous sea monster hanging about in the water surrounding the island. Is there really, or is this just a story? Meanwhile, Hal develops a strange itchy rash on his arm that comes and goes at random times, and it becomes apparent that this rash is the beginning of Much Bigger Issues...

I know about 95% of the story, but there are some details I haven't worked out yet. This is almost a case of watching it all unfold, as good old Enid Blyton did... but not quite. Like Blyton I tend to write and write with a vague sense of direction, but unlike Blyton I tend to stop and think, "Er, now what?" Don't get me wrong – the path ahead is still clear. It's just that's there's a chasm I have to cross first. That's when I walk away, go and pick Lily up from school, clean up the kitchen, hack a few weeds, tidy out the van... Finally, inspiration hits and I get back to my writing. (I hasten to add that picking up Lily from school is something I would do anyway, regardless of how my book is going!)

Even when I finally write the last word of the last chapter, I have a lot of editing ahead of me. There are endless ways to refine sentences, change passive to active, and so on. I write fairly easily, kind of editing as I go, thinking things through and trying to tighten up my wording... but no matter how careful I am, I still find more to edit when I go over it again. Some writers are methodical about their edits; I heard about one who said he runs through the entire book exactly eight times, looking for a set list of different things with each pass. That sounds too regulated to me. And eight times? I think I've read my stuff a billion times by now, and it's still not write.

(Sorry, I meant right. Believe it or not, that's the kind of error I find from time to time, even after several read-throughs. *Sigh*)

Feeling an urge to write

Posted on July 28, 2008

I don't believe in fate but it seems I've had several "signs" lately saying I should brush the dust off my unfinished novel, Island of Fog, and start writing again. The first sign came from the Enid Blyton Yahoo Group – recently a member finished his chapter (actually two chapters) for the latest Round Robin, The Jungle of Adventure, and then it was my turn. For those who don't know, a Round Robin is where a group of people write a short story or novel, with each participant contributing a piece. I completed my segment on Saturday – 3804 words, which I split into two chapters. Took me about four hours. So now the Round Robin has nine completed chapters, and it's over to the next writer to continue from where I left off.

This was the first time I'd written any fiction for... well, I forget how long, but it's been a while! It was fun, and it seems like I was never away. The only problem (as always) is my typing. I can type fairly fast, but my fingers are sort of all over the place and I make a lot of errors and have to back up and correct as I go. I must learn how to touch type one day!

Anyway, I digress. The second sign came with the realization that my wife is now working almost full time and earning good money, and my daughter is starting Pre-K school on August 1st – meaning I can work less and have more time to myself. I remember back in November 2005 when I finally decided that work and toddler-duties wasn't giving me any decent writing time, and I put my novel away and told myself I'd pick it up again when Lily started school and Nessa was working. Well, now that time has come.

The third sign was when, out of the blue, a friend of mine in England suddenly appeared back on the scene with his own writing. We hadn't spoken for a while, and especially hadn't talked about writing, but here he was with a new piece, purely by coincidence.

The fourth sign came a few days ago when I received an email from Trevor Bolton, author of the Blyton serials that are currently online at the Enid Blyton Society. Trevor actually corresponded with Enid over several years, although, because their correspondence was so frequent, he never thought to save any of the letters. A shame! I'll bet he's kicking himself now. Anyway, much, much later, for his own amusement, he started writing one sequel for each of the popular mystery and adventure series. The Society website now has online full-length novels such as The Canyons of Adventure, The Mystery of McGregor's Farm, Five Return to Kirrin Island, The Raynam Marsh Mystery, and – the current serial – The Adventurous Four to the Rescue! All these novels are true to the original series in terms of length and style.

If these four signs aren't blatant enough, then add these to the mix: I have a website client who is not only a published author of ten non-fiction books, but also the co-founder of a small publishing company and has some kind of control over a bookstore in Chattanooga. Anyway, we were emailing back and forth the other day, as he just had another book published and needed a front cover picture added to his website. Well, as I sat here typing part of this post, this same guy emailed me to say he wants to talk about another website – a big one involving books and publishing and all that good stuff.

And, I have another non-paying client who has a new and used bookstore. I created her site for free, with a loose agreement that I can pop into her store anytime and pluck secondhand books off her shelves and walk out with them. We tally things up loosely, but as it stands today I need to pay her a visit and stock up on books! Anyway, she contacted me recently too and asked to make some website changes. Nothing too strange about that except that it's been about six months since we last spoke.

It's like everything in my life these days has something to do with writing or books.

So, with these "signs" leaping out at me left, right and center, I now plan to pick up my unfinished novel, Island of Fog, and continue where I left off. I started it back in 2002, and it's seen many incarnations in that time, but I'm happy with the current revision. Now I just need to stop messing with what I've written and write the final chapters. I've always known roughly what happens in those final chapters, but it was just a couple of days ago that I had an idea I'd never thought of before. Mm, yes, I think it'll work!

I won't bore you with the details, and I'll add that I don't really expect my novel to see the light of day. Getting published is hard, so I've heard. But if you can't dream and hope, then what's the point in doing anything?

Enid Blyton fans will know that she had her own special way of writing stories. Trevor Bolton summed this up pretty well in his email to me the other day:

"...This is where I write differently from Enid who said/wrote on more than one occasion that she saw events happening on a sort of screen in front of her. Despite the fact I do actually have a screen in front of me, I have to be participating in the adventure although letting the children control it. I made up my mind to try Enid's method when I sat down to write THE RAYNAM MARSH MYSTERY. I intended starting with the family arriving at their holiday destination so I closed my eyes, fingers at the ready. Yes, the car appeared on the right... moved slowly across my mind's "screen"... and promptly disappeared off the left hand side without my having written a single word! I tried a couple more times but the same thing happened. Then I realised there were no people in the car so, next time, I had faces at the windows – but to no avail! By now, Enid would have been on the second chapter or third chapter. Back to my own method. As soon as I was in the car, Snubby was immediately unintentionally annoying an exasperated Uncle Richard, Loony was barking, the other children were moaning and the chapter unfolded."

I have to say Enid's method of writing doesn't work for me either. It's true that I let the action and dialogue unfold as I write it, but I usually have a sense of how the scene needs to end. I certainly don't see the story "unfold" like a movie on a screen, no sirree. My stuff comes out fairly easily, but usually I have to go back and edit a lot of it, and often, several chapters later, I feel a need to go back and alter things fairly drastically so a character or plot idea goes off in a different direction. I'm kind of messy in my planning and plotting and it seems to take me a lot of work to get all my ducks in a row. The end result is okay though, I think, and when I opened Island of Fog yesterday and browsed through the first couple of chapters, I thought, "Mm, yes, that'll do..." (which is a modest way of saying that I think it rocks!).

Heck, if a writer doesn't feel a surge of pride at what he's written, then why bother continuing? Whether anyone else thinks it's good is another matter entirely!