Interview with Mindy Klasky

Mindy Klasky is a fellow sfnovelist author, and her new novel SORCERY AND THE SINGLE GIRL is set to hit stores from today. (How can you go wrong with a librarian witch?!)

Mindy was kind enough to post responses to a set of interview questions, and I've included them below. Enjoy!

1) What was your inspiration for writing SORCERY AND THE SINGLE GIRL?

When I wrote GIRL'S GUIDE TO WITCHCRAFT, my theme song should have been "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". That book was completely light and fluffy, a fun escape from a busy work week, family commitments, etc. When I had the opportunity to write another Jane Madison story, I wanted to dig a little deeper - to look at the decisions that we make with regard to friends and jobs, the tough calls that force us to decide what is important to us. (I wasn't willing to give up on the fun, though :-) )

2) Who are your favorite authors and books now and when you were growing up?

When I was growing up, I read a lot of classic fantasy - J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and Anne McCaffrey?. I devoured Patricia McKillip?'s books, and I practically memorized every word of Katherine Kurtz's Deryni series.

Now, I read much more broadly, alternating between genre fiction for fun (my favorites in the past year have been Scott Westerfeld's UGLIES/PRETTIES/SPECIALS trilogy) and literary fiction for musing(most recently, Sherman Alexie's THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN). I also read a lot of non-fiction, especially popular non-fiction on narrow topics, like COD and SALT.

3) What is it about fantasy/science fiction that attracts you?

I've always enjoyed the sense of possibility in speculative fiction, the ability to explore other ways of thinking, other ways of being. Even as my own writing has shifted from classic fantasy (SEASON OF SACRIFICE and the Glasswright Series) to paranormal romance, I've continued to draw on the Sense of Wonder that first addicted me to reading.

4) Why did you decide to make Jane Madison a librarian?

I work as a librarian in my day-job, managing seven libraries for a fourteen-office nationwide law firm. In the course of that job, I've met hundreds of librarians who live fascinating lives. Yet, in the eyes of the public, librarians are still the people who say "shhhhh". I wanted to write about Jane Madison to make people realize that there's a lot more out there beyond the stereotype.

5) What (besides writing) do you do for fun?

I spend a lot of time watching baseball - I married into Red Sox fandom. To justify the time I spend in front of the television, I quilt - entirely hand-pieced and hand-quilted wall hangings, with a bias toward traditional patchwork patterns.

6) What sort of research did you do to write this book?/What kind of preparation do you do when you are writing?

When I start a novel, I create a spreadsheet. One column lists, in a few sentences, what happens in each chapter. The other columns track the number of pages, the number of words, and the date that the chapter was last modified.

When I'm ready to start writing, I just roll up my sleeves and go. I conduct a fair amount of spot research as I'm working. My characters tend to be much more fashion conscious than I am; I often need to check the name of a designer or a color of make-up. I also find myself regularly tracking down the qualities of various crystals and plants -- the essential "props" for Jane's witchcraft.

7) Jane and her best friend, Melissa, quote Shakespeare to each other frequently. Are you a fan of Shakespeare?

For years, I've held season tickets to the Shakespeare Theater in Washington, D.C. They do a phenomenal job with their productions -- even when the plays are not my favorite (and they present a wide range of classical theater, not just Shakespeare), their sets, costumes, and lighting design are spectacular. I used to stage manage plays in college, and Jane's love of Shakespeare brings that avocation back to me.

8) If you were Jane Madison, and you discovered that you were a witch, what would you do?

I probably wouldn't handle the situation a whole lot more gracefully than Jane does. She reaches out to her best friend right away. I would probably try to keep my powers a secret for as long as possible, because I'd always sort of worry, in the very back of my mind, that I was absolutely, totally, completely insane.

9) What are you writing now?

I'm hard at work on the third novel in Jane's series, MAGIC AND THE MODERN GIRL (which will be in bookstores in October 2008). After that, I have a new series for Red Dress Ink, about a stage manager who discovers a genie in a magic lantern.

10) Did you always want to write? Or did you stumble into it? How did you get where you are now?

When I was in seventh grade, my best friend and I decided that we would spend our spring break writing a sequel to the LORD OF THE RINGS. (Oddly enough, we didn't get it finished in nine days.) I learned, though, that I loved creating characters, building their personalities and then tossing them into challenging situations. I wrote off and on all through high school but fell away from writing in college. When I started law school, though, I was desperate for something to balance the dry cases that I was reading. I wrote my first published novel while I was working as a trademark and copyright litigator at a major law firm. Eventually, I quit practicing law to become a librarian (in part, so that I would have more time to write!)

11) What does a typical writing day look like for you? How long do you write, that sort of thing?

In a perfect world, I wake up each morning at 6:00, work out until 7:00, write until 8:00, then eat breakfast, shower, and get ready for work. (I have to be in the office by 9:30.)

In the real world, I travel a lot for my day-job, and publicity and promotion tend to sponge up my weekly writing time. I usually set aside one or both days of the weekend to write for three or four straight hours. When deadlines are approaching, I forfeit a week of vacation from the day-job, using the nine days (work-week, plus two weekends) to pound out around 35,000 words (approximately a third of a novel.)

12) Where do you write?

I have a home office on the ground floor of my three-story townhouse. I sit at a desk that I bought at IKEA about 15 years ago; it looks like leftover hardware from the space shuttle, but it has the best ergonomics of any computer desk I've ever used. I use a five-year-old Dell desktop computer, running Windows XP, and I write using WordPerfect? 10. I keep an Excel spreadsheet to track my story outline.

(When I'm traveling, all bets are off - I write on a hotel bed, on a couch, on a chaise lounge, wherever I can find a surface to balance the laptop I'm using -- which might be my own, a friend's, or a loaner.)

13) What is easiest/hardest for you as a writer?

I have a very difficult time starting a new chapter - the blank screen intimidates me, and I find a hundred and one excuses to keep from writing. (I have forbidden myself from playing FreeCell?, and I had to remove Tetris from my computer entirely.)

I love editing chapters that are already drafted - I truly enjoy reviewing the flow of the language. On my final pass of editing, I read everything out loud, so that I can make sure the sound is as close to perfect as I can make it.

14) This isn't your first book, tell us a little bit about what else is out there?

I have six traditional fantasy novels - SEASON OF SACRIFICE (a stand-alone novel about twins who are kidnapped from their medieval fishing village and taken to an inland town, where they are expected to participate in a terrifying religious ceremony) and the Glasswrights Series (GLASSWRIGHTS' APPRENTICE, GLASSWRIGHTS' PROGRESS, GLASSWRIGHTS' JOURNEYMAN, GLASSWRIGHTS' TEST, and GLASSWRIGHTS' MASTER.) The series tells the story of Rani Trader, an apprentice in the stained glass makers' guild who witnesses a murder and is accused of being the killer. She's forced to go under cover in her society's strict castes to unmask the true assassin.

I also have one other paranormal romance, the first of Jane Madison's stories, GIRL'S GUIDE TO WITCHCRAFT. It's about a librarian who finds out that she's a witch. But you probably knew that already :-)

15) What is the purpose of fantasy/science fiction, if any?

Different genre publications have different purposes. Some are truly written to entertain, to take us away from the cares and worries of our daily lives. Others are written as cautionary tales, to warn us about the dangers of politics, of science, of society, of whatever. Still others are written as elegies, reminding us of great men and woman, of leaders who may have never lived. The best genre fiction combines many (or all) of these functions.

Part of the purpose of the Jane Madison books is to raise money for First Book - www.firstbook.org - a national charity with the mission of giving underprivileged children their first books to own. I donate 10% of my profits on both GIRL'S GUIDE and SORCERY to First Book.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Day out

I dashed out for a 10k bike ride this morning, just to clear my head before carrying on with the novel polishing. Spring is a beautiful time of year in Western Australia, and it's a pity it's so short. (Only lasts a few weeks before we hit the long and very hot summer.)

Anyway, I snapped a couple of pics over the handlebars on the mobile phone. I also took a couple of brief clips with a load of bird song (more like feral screams, really) and I might put them online another time. Really have to get back to the novel.

(And if you thought WA was one big red desert with tin shacks, these images should change your mind ...)

Near Riverton Bridge

Looking across the water at Riverton Bridge

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Auto Summary meme

Here's the deal: Open your novel or WIP in Word 97 or later and click AutoSummarize. Change the options to 'create a new doc and put the summary there' and '100 words or less', then paste the result into your blog with these instructions. (This meme was my own stupid idea, btw.)

Here's the result from the first Hal book, where he sounds like a bit part in an 80's text adventure:


Hal Spacejock


Hal shrugged. Hal sighed. Hal sighed. Hal nodded. Hal blinked. Hal frowned. 'Clunk! Hal frowned. Hal frowned. Hal nodded. Hal grinned. Hal shrugged. Hal sighed. 'Clunk? Hal blinked. Hal nodded. Hal sighed. Hal sighed. Hal frowned. Hal nodded.
Hal nodded. Hal nudged Clunk. Hal waited. Hal frowned. 'Clunk? Hal shrugged. Hal shrugged. Hal frowned. Hal nodded. Hal nodded.
Hal sighed. Hal nodded. Hal frowned. Hal pointed. Hal grinned. Hal frowned. Hal groaned. Clunk! Hal sighed. 'Clunk? Hal groaned. Hal frowned. Hal nodded. Hal stared. Hal grinned. Hal grinned. Hal frowned. Hal smiled. Hal grinned. Hal grinned.


After all that I'm surprised his head hasn't dropped off. But hey, at least ol' Clunk got a mention.

And just for a real laugh, my Word Verification for this post was bashsf. Indeed!

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Ventus by Karl Schroeder

To celebrate the publication of Queen of Candesce, SF author Karl Schroeder has just released his first novel, Ventus (TOR, 2001), as a free ebook.

More details and the download links can be found on his blog post.

And here's why you should take a look, other than 'Simon Says':

New York Times Book Review: "Deeply Satisfying"

Kirkus Reviews: "Delightful and engaging, both intellectually and viscerally: a superb achievement."

You'll find more reviews if you follow the link.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Going the other way

The Grumpy Old Bookman recently posted a snippet about Siobhan Curham, mentioning that this multi-published author (four books with HarperCollins and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK) is turning to self-publishing for her latest work.

Here's a quote from her new Facebook group: I think the deciding factor for me in taking the self-publishing route was when an editor suggested I write something more formulaic as "it would be easier to sell to the supermarkets."

Now, I went through the self-publishing process several years ago*, and I have to say the hardest part was getting the books into readers' hands. Shops really don't want them, your work is lumped in with every other self-pubbed novel and opening your mouth in a mailing list or forum is a sure-fire way to start off the usual self-pub vs traditional publishing arguments.

I always believed that if you proved your ability first, maybe with short fiction sales to legit markets, then self-publishing could make sense. Therefore I'll be watching Siobhan Curham's progress with interest.

Also on self-publishing, but in a completely different way, Tansy Rayner Roberts has started putting the third Mocklore novel online chapter by chapter. A few years ago a publisher put the first two Mocklore books out, but for one reason or another they never got to the third. Full details and Tansy's comments are here.

* My publisher always likes me to clarify this: Although I self-published once, my current novels are not self-published.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Chat transcript

I did a live chat with members of "The Writers' Association" back in 2005, before Hal Spacejock was first launched. Adam Wieland was present at the time, and he's just posted the transcript on his blog.

The chat covered a few topics, from publishing to editing and several other things unrelated to either. Pop over and take a look, and if you have any questions feel free to post them here!

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Career meme

Nicked from Anysia

1. Go to http://www.careercruising.com
2. Put in Username: nycareers, Password: landmark
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.
4. Post the top fifteen results

Here's what I came up with:

1. Computer Engineer
2. Research Analyst (Financial)
3. Retail Buyer
4. Computer Programmer
5. Technical Writer
6. Media Buyer
7. Purchaser
8. Electrical Engineer
9. Multimedia Developer
10. Mechanical Engineer
11. Aerospace Engineer
12. Advertising Copywriter
13. Business Systems Analyst
14. Communications Specialist
15. Writer

The amazing thing is that I've done most of those for a living or as part of my regular day job. (All except 11, and given I write SF that's kinda sorta covered by the spaceships I design for my novels.)

I'd really love to do more of #12 - and funnily enough, a couple of weeks ago I had an email from a retired Madison Ave copywriter who'd just read through my spacejock.com.au website and reckoned I should be doing copywriting full time. Not the first time I've heard that, by any means. But how do you get into such a job when you live in the most remote capital city on the planet?

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Much happiness

After the brief phone call with my editor yesterday morning I was expecting the worst when I went to see her today. (She was noncommittal on the phone, which I took as a very bad sign. Well, I never said I was a confident writer did I?)

Turns out she loved the plot (best so far, yes!), loved the new characters and loved the way Hal showed a new side. Suddenly I'm full of confidence again after a damn near sleepless night, and I know I can nail this thing.

On the minus side, she pointed out that the first 100 pages need a lot of tightening and there's no real humour. Neither bothers me - I'd already flagged the beginning as too slow and I have up to 20,000 words of snippage available to me. As for the humour, I usually add that during the polishing stage, when the draft is almost there. (If this seems a bit mechanical ... well, I never claimed to be an ad-libbing comedian either.)

So, good news on all fronts. I have about three weeks to lose the verbiage and address all the other queries and issues Janet raised, and then I'll send out the final draft to my first readers. After I've selected them ;-)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

ASIM well received

I'm off to meet my editor to discuss Hal 4. Wish me luck.

In the meantime, let me leave you with some reading material. Horrorscope reviews ASIM #30:

"ASIM celebrates five years of continuous publication with one of its strongest and most even issues to date. Issue editor Robbie Matthews recaptures the magazine’s initial intentions for fun, entertaining speculative fiction with nine new stories that are light in tone but rich in story. The fiction here is ASIM at its very best: with stories written with entertainment in mind that don’t fall into the common trappings of cheap gags or preachy morals (a common fault of some stories in past issues). The end result is a collection of fun bedside tales and the perfect anti-dote for all those serious sci-fi warnings of doom and gloom."

Read the full review

1. Remember you can order the print or pdf editions online.

2. Do so.

3. You can also order our best-of-ASIM collections.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Murky Depths first look

Issue one of UK magazine Murky Depths lobbed into my mailbox recently, and I have to say it's one of the best-looking mags I've had the pleasure of laying my hands on. (The cover warns of 'Mature Content', so the link isn't for younger readers.)

As most of you probably know, I'm a founding member of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine where the design ethos was cheap 'n' pulpy. Well, the Murky Depths team has taken the opposite approach, and their art-laden mag with its heavy gloss paper is something to behold.

But never mind the quality, what about the contents?

I'm happy to say they measure up to the presentation. Many of the pieces are either heavily illustrated or are presented in graphic novel format. (Calling them 'comics' doesn't fit, not with the dark horror throughout.) Evocative and thought-provoking, I think MD is a great addition to the ranks of spec fic publications.

Fans of grim, bloodthirsty spec fic should definitely check this one out.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Someone's reading this stuff

... or at least, linking to it. Kathryn Linge just posted a top-ten list of Australian spec-fic blogs, and my halspacejock.blogspot.com blog came in at number 6.

Thanks to everyone who's linked to one of my posts or shared my blog with their own readers, because you're the reason this blog made the list. Let's face it, it certainly wasn't my toast posts or TV rants ;-)

(I just noticed my LiveJournal blog came in at #17. What can I say ... I'm a net addict.)

Thanks to Kathryn for posting the list - looks like a lot of work, but it was interesting to see a regional take on blog popularity.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Facebook

I don't even remember how I ended up on Facebook, but invites are trickling in and I'm happy to add anyone reading this. You'll find my Facebook profile here.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Another funny series

You've heard me talking about Hal Spacejock often enough, but there's another series you should be looking out for, buying and reading: Jim C. Hines' Goblin Quest. I read the first book and it's a hoot, so when I discovered Jim was giving away signed copies I had to mention it. Head over to his blog for details.

The other thing I'd like to mention is that I'm running a giveway of my own. I draw signed copies of the Hal Spacejock books every month, your choice of 1-3, and the September draw will take place soon.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Python Time

Those who saw my recent 'believe it or not' probably won't be surprised by this, but did you know I've never seen an entire episode of Monty Python? My only exposure was the Flying Circus cassette the BBC put out in the late 70's, which I wore out with repeat listenings. Oh, and the films of course.

Anyway, the 16 ton megaset lobbed into my mailbox today. It's all 45 episodes plus a couple of bonus disks, and that should be interesting. I didn't buy this for myself, though - this one's because my eldest daughter asked for it.

Over the weekend I watched season 1 of Angel, which was fun. I also spent the past three days - 9am until 10pm daily - spring cleaning the garage, putting up hooks & shelves and generally being the spiders' worst enemy. We moved into this place just on ten years ago, and let's just say the garage needed a thorough sorting out.

For the past two nights, following garage cleaning duties, I've been up until 1am sorting buckets of odds and ends into trays - thousands of mixed screws, nuts, doohickies, widgets and thingummies - and simultaneously watching a bunch of episodes from season 1 of Auf Wiedersehen Pet.

As for Hal 4: I'm not even thinking about it. My editor is hoping to get the report back to me Friday week, and when I re-read it I want to approach it completely fresh. Or rather, I'll be so sick of tidying up that re-reading a 100,000 word manuscript for the umpteenth time will be a nice break.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

More bureaucracy

Second prize for ineffective mailouts goes to the insurance company. Last week I phoned company X to say I'd switched to insurance firm Y, and today I got two letters from company X: a late payment notice in one envelope, and a credit note for the identical amount in the other.

But first prize goes to a Rather Large Phone Company (RLPC), and you'll need a little background for this one: Ten years ago we combined our home phone and two mobiles onto the same bill, thus saving a tiny amount of money and a whole lot of separate payments. Over time I moved my mobile to prepaid (never use it anyway), and the home phone to another provider. With me so far? Simple math will tell you that my wife's mobile was all that remained on this bill.

Recently, my wife and I agreed that our eldest daughter should have a mobile, and while my wife was out shopping she found a really good prepaid deal, including a very nice phone. So, she bought two of them - one for our daughter, and one for herself. Note that this was NOT with RLPC.

Now comes the fun bit. She took her old phone into a RLPC shop to cancel it, but they said they couldn't because it was on a joint bill in my name. All they could do was apply to have the phone removed from the joint bill, and once that went through we could then cancel the phone. With a bit of a shrug, my wife said okay.

Two weeks later we cut the phone off, and a week after that I get a bill for two weeks of network usage. Now, we'd already paid three months up front (until the end of September) before going to cut the thing off, so I was surprised to say the least. I dug out the old bill, and with both in hand I phoned RLPC mobile. Here's how it went:

Me: I have a query about a bill.
Them: Give us the account number.
Me: (New account num)
Them: I'm sorry, that's been cancelled.
Me: Yes, I know. But I have a bill here for $12.
Them: You need to pay it.
Me: But on this other bill for the same phone I have a credit for $50.
Them: What's the account number for that one?
Me: (Other account num)
Them: I'm sorry, that's a joint billing account. Would you like me to put you through?
Me: Sigh. Okay.
(Purr purr, lots of ads for their broadband accounts, then finally I hear someone on the line)
Me: I have this bill for $12 but you owe me $50.
Them: What's the account number?
Me: (1st account num)
Them: I'm sorry, that's a mobile bill. You'll have to speak to mobile.
Me: But I was just speaking to mobile and they put me through to you.
Them: That's because you said it was a joint account.
Me: It IS a joint account. (Gives joint account number) You see, mobile X was on that account but they wouldn't let us cancel it. So, we moved it off the account.
Them: The mobile number you gave me isn't on that joint account.
Me: Yes, I know that. We just moved it off so we could cancel it. There's NOTHING on the joint account. But you're trying to bill me for the mobile number on a new account and I still have a credit on the joint account.
Them: What's the new account?
Me: (1st account num)
Them: I'm sorry, I can't look at mobile phone bills.
Me: But you own me fifty bucks, and the guy on the other line wants me to pay $12. Wouldn't it be easier if you just offset them and paid me the difference?
Them: I'm sorry, that's a mobile bill. This is joint billing.
Me: But you're the same company!
Them: I'm sorry. Would you like me to put you through to mobile?
Me: Aaarrgghhhh!

So, I've paid the $12 on the new bill and I await my $50 credit with interest. So to speak.

(And just for completeness, this is the same company who messed me around with a 99c bill and a 1c credit for an internet account last week.)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

I love this stuff

I've had a dialup account with a major aussie ISP for the past few years, just as an emergency backup, and despite a couple of half-hearted attempts I've never been able to cancel it. Their automated phone system is the source of several jokes in the Spacejock books, and their website is worse. Example: To cancel my account online they wanted me to register for their feedback system and then give them my credit card so they could charge me for a consultant to process my request.

Anyway, my credit card was compromised a few weeks back so the bank issued a new one. Cue outraged squawk from ISP when they couldn't put through the regular monthly charge.

I emailed back to say I wasn't giving them the new number, and to cancel the account.

I got an email back inviting me to upgrade to broadband. (Something they used to phone me about regularly, even though I have a business broadband account with another supplier.)

I emailed back to say I wanted to cancel the account.

They asked for my credit card to facilitate the cancellation.

I said no.

They said they'd have to send me a bill for the used portion of the month.

I said fine by me. The charge was only $5.95 a month anyway, so how much could a portion be?

I received a nice printed bill for $0.99. (Cost to post bill, $0.50)

I decided to pay using BPAY (online banking) but got an error message: This company has a minimum payment of $1.00

Knowing exactly what would happen next, I debated whether to post them a cheque for $0.99. Then I thought stuff it, they started this and paid their $1 through BPAY. (Cost of processing a BPAY payment, for the recipient, is around $0.80. Cost to me - nothing.)

Today I got a letter from the ISP with a credit for $0.01 (Cost to post the letter, $0.50)

Now I'm wondering whether to ring up and demand a cheque.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Deadline +2

So, what does an author do right after handing in book 4 in their (hopefully) on-going series?

Me, I'm busy plotting Hal 5 in Freemind. I want to get the outline done before Hal 4 lobs back into my lap.

Why?

Mental trickery. If Hal 4 is all I have and my editor isn't that keen on it (happens) and sends me a long list of repairs (definitely happens) then my entire writing career hangs in the balance, I'm a failure in the making, etc, etc. However, if I have the next book on the go it gives me a crumb of comfort to cling to. That way, Hal 4 is just another project, not the ONLY project.

Did I mention the whole lack of confidence thing? Authors are steeped in it from birth.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Answer to my believe-it-or-not

A few days ago I posted a bunch of statements and challenged readers of my blog to guess which were true and which were false.

Without further ado, here are the answers:

All the statements were true.

And the lucky winner is ... M@!

Email me at spacejock (at) gmail (dot) com to claim your book. And well done ;-)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Mainly 28s reviews Hal Spacejock

One from the 'weird-places-to-spot-a-review' department ...

Mainly 28s, the "specialist 28mm wargames review site" has reviewed Hal Spacejock

And the second printing isn't even 28mm thick.

A snippet:

I think the highest praise I can give is that it reminds me of Douglas Adams rather than Terry Pratchett - it's more mature and not as "in-your-face" as Pratchett (who is one of my favourites). I really like Simon's style. The way the whole plot plays out reminds me of my past in sci-fi role-playing (Star Frontiers and that sort of thing) with its twists and Hal's vision of the universe and his place in it. I think that anyone reading Hal's adventures will see a little of themselves in him - I certainly did.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Hal 4 is winched onto the slab ...

Ten minutes ago I emailed the manuscript for Hal 4 to my editor, Janet Blagg. After she's read and analysed it (maybe two weeks from now) I'll get a report back with all the major and minor issues she's uncovered. At that stage I'll probably have one week to think about them, and two weeks to implement any changes (including altering the plot, rewriting whole scenes and basically turning the book into something publishable.)

Publication date will be April 2008 - and I'll probably push for the 1st of April, since it'd be an appropriate date in a Spacejockian sense. An April Fool book. Perfect.

Just out of interest, the current manuscript is 101,000 words, but I actually wrote 142,000. One third of the total was cut, chopped and snipped out for not being relevant, funny, exciting or interesting. Before this book goes to print it may well drop to 90,000 or even 80,000 words (as per the previous 3 titles.) As you can see, the finished effort is defined as much by what you leave out, as what you put in.

Do I like the book? I'll tell you when it's really finished ;-)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Writer's review of the Hal Spacejock series

You'll find the review here

I'm glad someone noticed the lack of adverbs ;-)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Haynes's believe-it-or-not

True or false, you decide.

First person to guess all the right answers wins a signed copy of Hal Spacejock (1, 2 or 3 - your choice.) Just leave your guess in the comments.

1. I never cracked open a Terry Pratchett book until after I'd written the second Hal Spacejock novel, in 2003.

2. I've only seen two episodes of Red Dwarf.

3. I watched the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy TV series in the mid-80's, and haven't seen it since.

4. I've yet to read Hitchhiker's Guide books 4 or 5.

5. I haven't opened a HHG book since the late 80's.

6. I first read the Dirk Gently books in 2007.

7. I haven't seen the original Star Wars films for at least 15 years.

8. I own several of the Stainless Steel Rat books, but haven't read any of them.

9. I own many of the Bill the Galactic Hero books, but haven't even finished the first.

10. I've never finished a Ron Goulart book.

11. I first watched Firefly in November 2006.

12. I saw my first episode of Buffy in December 2006.

13. I still haven't seen any episodes of Angel.

14. I haven't seen a single episode of Star Trek Next Gen (or anything ST since the original series.)

15. I still haven't seen a Star Trek movie more recent than II

16. I have never seen an episode of Babylon 5, Stargate, Alias, Millenium or Heroes.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Author Visit III

Just a short day today - down to the end of the freeway and off towards the coast. The library was very welcoming, and the group was fun to talk to. Most kids here in Australia are very surprised to learn that you could leave school in Spain at the end of year 8, at least when I was studying there. I'm sure half the kids go home to ask their parents whether they can move to Spain.

Afterwards I spoke to a writer who's already put together 180 pages of a novel, and is working on the next. Talented artist, too.

The principal and library staff laid on a nice morning tea, there were plenty of photos and then it was back home to beg my editor for a deadline extension on Hal 4. (I booked all these visits months ago, soon after the Westbooks Night With Our Stars evening. Back then I didn't know I'd be on the final days of my deadline for the next novel. Oh well.)

Anyway, that's me done for Children's Book Week. The Eat 2 and 5 message has been ringing in my ears for several days, I didn't send anyone to sleep and I managed to make all the sessions without any illnesses or other disasters. And now I've started getting enquiries for National Literacy Week from September 4-7. And I just realised that's very, very soon.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Author Visit II

Yesterday was the Eastern suburbs of Perth - All the visits took place in public libraries, and a couple of sessions were pretty much 40-45 minutes of full-on questions-and-answers. Always good to have questions - it's better than not-so-subtle yawns.

I often ask how many of the kids have written stories on their own time, as opposed to class-imposed homework, and I often see two or three hands go up. Those are the writers of the future, folks, and it's a shame publishers aren't in there giving out how-to-write books the way engineering and computing firms sponsor and mentor bright kids in those disciplines.

And school librarians ... maybe get in a couple of how-to-write books if you don't already have them. Find out which kids like writing, and become a Giles to their Buffy. Maybe they won't fight real vampires, but they can certainly write about them.

I also spent a quiet hour between sessions at one of the libraries, where I discovered the librarian attended WAIT/Curtin uni during the same years I was there - and also did LLC with June Parsons. We almost certainly attended the same lectures, too. (And for anyone who did English/Library studies/Town Planning or Architecture, my mum used to work out of the office in the Architecture building in the mid-late 80's.)

Has anyone reading this done an author visit? Or hosted an author at your school? Spill the goss in comments, good or bad. (If bad, maybe give the author the benefit of anonymity ... especially if you're talking about me...)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Author Visit I

I had a great time visiting primary school groups today - I met with several classes from the Northern suburbs of Perth, spoke at length and answered many, many questions. One class even gave me homework - a folder with all the questions I didn't manage to answer during the session! (If any of you are reading this, I promise I'll get to those shortly. I've got another day with more classes in the Eastern suburbs tomorrow and a shorter day way down South on Thursday. I'd probably be heading West on Friday, except I'd end up in the Indian Ocean.)

I think I managed to sign bookmarks for just about everyone, too. Over 200, by my count.

An interesting aside: after one session I spoke to a teacher/librarian who used to work for one of the educational book suppliers in Perth. She told me orders for my books always used to flood in after I'd spoken at a school, which is a good result since I rarely talk about my own books when I do a visit. I usually talk about being a writer, about the publishing industry, and about persisting with your dreams. I also talk about writers and money, which is a popular topic ;-)

Anyway, a big thank you to everyone who attended the sessions, and I hope you got something out of them.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Blog post on author school visits

I've posted my contribution to the SF Novelists shared blog, and you'll find my article on school visits by authors here

(My blog was promptly followed by Kate Elliot's post on The Disposable Woman, which is worth checking out. Commenters include Charlie Stross, Ted Chiang and some of the SF Novelists authors.)

So, check out sfnovelists.com, read and comment!

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

My snapshot 2007 interview

I was interviewed this morning as part of the snapshot 2007 series, and Tansy Rayner Roberts just posted the result on her blog.

The interview includes details of my involvement with Andromeda Spaceways and also a glimpse of my future plans.

There are many other interviews in the series, so please follow the links at the foot of Tansy's post for more insights into the people behind the Australian speculative fiction community.

(As an aside, why can't blogger manage to accept the first word verification when adding a post to a blog? Is it a time delay thing, or just a bug?)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Anything but dead

There's been some chat around the blogosphere recently about the death of short fiction, the decline in the short fiction market and so on. Well, it gives me great pleasure to announce issue 30 of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, the australian genre mag the experts reckoned would last about 2 1/2 issues.

ASIM is rapidly closing on some of the longest-lived Australian fiction mags, and more importantly, after five years we've yet to publish a double issue. Good stuff.

It's important to support the genre mags, because aside from exposing some great stories to a bit of publicity they also give new and established writers somewhere to submit their fiction to. Go back half a dozen years here in Australia, for example, and there were only two short fiction magazines left breathing, each of them managing just one or two issues a year. That's partly why ASIM was put together, with six issues a year and 8-10 stories per issue. And accepting subs only via email meant that we were open to writers worldwide, not just those with a cache of stamps.

So, without further ado, here are the details for the latest edition of ASIM. If you've never read a copy you can order a single printed issue OR there's a super cheap PDF edition which is identical to the print issue in every way - except the medium. And a big congratulations to every author and artist we've featured over the past five years - it's been great.

(By the way, I'm editing issue 42. Just thought I'd throw that out there so people can get a submission ready ...)

# - - - - - #

The Editor-in-Chief and his trusty sidekick have done it again!
Andromeda Spaceways proudly brings you ISSUE 30!

Edited by Robbie Matthews and Stu Barrow, this issue gives you:
* Really cool cover art!
* Bucketloads of fiction, including work by perennial favourites Dirk
Flinthart, Kevin Maclean, Aliette de Bodard and many others!
* Poetry! Rayguns! Time Travellers! Recipes!
* What more could you want?! (My beloved leader tells me I've now
used up my year's supply of exclamation marks. Wait – one more!)

For more information, and to get your copy, visit
http://www.andromedaspaceways.com



Full Contents:

Fiction

My Friend Fishfinger, by Daisy, Age 7 . . David Tallerman
Autumn's Country . . Aliette de Bodard
The Fairytale Cookbook . . Amanda Sichter
Fendraaken . . Kevin G. Maclean
Finding Each Other Again . . Kieran Morgan
Hare Redux . . Simon Petrie
Thyme Machine . . Darren Goossens
Collecting Whispers . . Bren MacDibble
Truckers . . Dirk Flinthart

Poetry

The Reluctant Orc-Maid to her Swain . . Marcie Tentchoff

Special Features

State of the Art: Rayguns! . . Dirk Flinthart
Devoted Husband, Intrepid Time-Traveller . . Stuart Barrow
Seriatem, Seriatum, Omnia Seriatem . . Ian Nichols

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

LibraryThing

If you're on LibraryThing, feel free to drop by and see how many books we have in common.

LT has this new 'also on' connection feature. If you add all your blog links to your profile it can scan your friends & contacts and tell you which of them are on LT. (LJ friends are supported.)

If you're not on LibraryThing, it's a pretty neat way to catalogue all your books. You can add up to 200 for nothing, and after that there's an annual or lifetime membership for a fairly decent price.

Authors: you might like to set up a profile, add your own titles and notify LibraryThing so they add the coveted yellow 'LT Author' badge. When your novels show up on someone's list, if they click your name they'll be able to see your profile page where you've (hopefully) listed links to your website, blog and so on.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

KISSing your manuscript

What am I on about? Okay, here's a hypothetical:

It's the first chapter. Your major characters have two items to give to two other characters. One of those characters will become a major viewpoint character who is going to appear throughout the book. The other is a throwaway you'll never see again.

What purpose does that throwaway character serve? None. Is the item delivered to that person important? Nope. Answer: Out they go.

Movies can have a cast of thousands because you get the benefit of facial recognition, but with books the only point of difference is the character's name (make them all distinct) and a dimly-remembered description some pages back. Over-populate at your peril.

So, in the revised version your major characters arrive and deliver an item to another major character. Distractions are avoided, which is very important in the first chapter. Don't forget, your readers don't yet know who the major characters ARE, and if you sling five new people at them they don't know which ones they're going to be following closely.

I always look for unnecessary duplication in my books and I kill it off ruthlessly. Two trips to the same location? Forget it. Two similar characters? Merge them. Four lines of dialogue covering the same ground twice? Make it two. I strive to make every scene fresh and new and interesting, and going over old ground is none of these.

And please don't mention rewrites ... I've just tossed out four chapters from the early part of Hal 4. The new version is much better, but I now have to write all the replacement scenes. Again.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

New initiative to help Australian authors break into US market

(Apologies if you've already seen this. Reposted from an email.)

They're not hoping for Harry Potter levels of success, but the organisers of a new initiative to connect Australian fantasy and science fiction authors with American and other international publishers expect that it will result in book deals and a higher profile for Australian writers in general.

The project, coordinated by ACT Writers Centre Chair Trevor Stafford, New York Times-bestselling author Garth Nix, renowned editor Jonathan Strahan and award-winning writer Deborah Biancotti, has at its core a print and web promotional booklet that will feature forthcoming books to be published in Australia in the year ahead, writer profiles and contact information for authors, agents and publishers.

In November the booklet will be distributed at several events in New York City, including a reception at the Australian Consulate for key publishing figures. The booklet will also be given to delegates at the World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga Springs, New York, a significant international industry event which gathers together several hundred agents, publishers, booksellers, librarians and other essential publishing decision-makers and gatekeepers.

"The catalogue will allow us to showcase Australian writers in the genre and we hope will result in book deals with publishers in the United States, United Kingdom and in translation," said Stafford. "Publishing is often about connecting a work with just the right person, and this catalogue will make Australian books much more visible to potential publishers and agents."

The catalogue will cover all forthcoming Australian speculative fiction book-length works that are to be published from October 2007 to December 2008, and will include an appendix for all Australian writers in the genre, whether they are writing novels or short fiction.

The project has been assisted through funding from Copyright Agency Limited and the Literature Board of the Australia Council.

It is being coordinated under the auspices of Conflux, which stages annual science fiction conventions in the nation's capital. Conflux 4 will be held from September 28 to October 1, 2007.

Authors and editors are invited to submit details of forthcoming books or short writer biographies at www.conflux.org.au/wfc by August 31, 2007.

The catalogue will be available for download in November.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

ASIM and bookplates

One of my little-known jobs involves maintaining the subscription list for Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine - and packing and posting out every issue. (I've just sent issue 30, and given I took over these duties after issue 6 came out, you can see that's a lot of posting and packing.)

So, that explains the Hal Spacejock bookmark subscribers receive with every issue ;-)

Apart from sending copies to individuals I also mail the bulk orders to shops, and when I sent this latest mailout I included a handful of signed Hal Spacejock bookplates. These went to Galaxy, Pulp Fiction, Infinitas, Fantastic Planet and White Dwarf (all in Australia), so you might want to put your name down for one if you like that sort of thing.

On a similar note, if you happen to have an Andromeda Spaceways subscription and you like the idea of a signed Hal Spacejock bookplate, just drop me an email in time for the next mailout and I'll include one for you.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Speaking up on Crazy Tuesday

Yesterday I received a last-minute invite to the Crazy Tuesday show on Passionate Internet Voices Talk Radio (Thanks, EM Sky!)

Anyway, the show airs from 10am on the first Tuesday of every month, and 10am in the states is 10pm here in Western Australia. I finally managed to get microphone + headset + skype working just after midnight my time, and a lively discussion ensued. (I think there were 5 or 6 authors on the line at the same time, but everyone was very polite and willing to let others speak.)

I also revealed one of many obscure jokes buried in Hal 1 which nobody has spotted yet (or if they have, they've yet to email me an Aaaaarrrgghhh!)

I'd certainly be happy to appear again, and if it does look like happening I'll give plenty of advance notice so folks can listen to the loon behind the Spacejock books.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

SF Novelists

I belong to a group of SF/F/H authors gathered under the SFNovelists banner, led by Tobias Buckell of Crystal Rain fame.

The original idea was to have a list where newly published authors could share horror stories, er, make that 'talk about their experiences working with editors, agents and publishing houses'. More experienced authors joined the list (some of them very experienced, with many books in print) which made it all the more useful.

Since then SFNovelists has grown in several ways, and the latest innovation is the SFNovelists site, where you'll find a communal blog, recent news items on member authors, upcoming releases and so on. It's a great central location to access a whole lot of writers, and I recommend you take a look and perhaps even bookmark it.

EDIT: Which authors belong to SFNovelists?

Charles Coleman Finlay, Tobias S. Buckell, Jim C. Hines, Jay Lake, Sandra McDonald, Mike Brotherton, Tim Pratt, Daniel Abraham, Karin Lowachee, Joseph Nassise, Chris Dolley, Karen Miller, Scott Lynch, Steven Savile, Nalo Hopkinson, Simon Haynes, Kristine Smith, Timothy Sanders, Joshua Palmatier, Jim Hetley, Greg Frost, Chris Roberson, Ilsa J. Bick, Barth Anderson, Cherie Priest, Jeff VanderMeer, Marie Brennan, S.L. Farrell / Stephen Leigh, Naomi Kritzer, Kelly McCullough, Mindy Klasky, Lyda Morehouse, Tate Hallaway, Martha Wells, Marjorie M Liu, Brandon Sanderson, Hal Duncan, Sean Williams, David Forbes, Sam Butler, Tanya Huff, Fiona Patton, Paul Crilley, Eleneanor Arnason, Maria V. Snyder, Chris Barzak, Paul Melko, Leah Cutter, Alma Alexander, Diana Pharaoh Francis, Kate Elliott, Sarah Prineas, Kat Richardson, Jenn Reese, Michelle Sagara, John Levitt, David Louis Edelman

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Uncovered during the rewrite

I had a series of scenes in Hal 4 where a major character was a bit of a spare wheel. (Relax, no spoilers here.)

This character wanted to help during a major crisis, but nobody needed the character's assistance. So, the character went off and fiddled around for three chapters while the others got on with things. I wanted to make the character feel lonely, isolated, unwanted. Maybe I did, but it made for poor reading and no tension.

Why? Because when disaster hit and the others came to ask for help, the character had no real involvement. It's a bit like an emergency worker waiting for a call-out - they know all kinds of bad things are happening out there, but until they're personally involved it's just stories from the pages of a newspaper.

So, how to fix this? I'm rewriting so that this major character will be involved in the crisis from the very first minute. The character is going to direct the whole thing, ordering the others around and taking complete control over the situation. Then, when things go wrong, the character is right in the thick of it.

Aside from being in the midst of the interesting parts, I can also build the character's emotions up - joy at being needed, the pride of performing a job well, etc. That makes the fall much harder .. and good plots are all about hard falls, not moping around for chapters on end.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Whole bunch of reviews

Reviews are like buses: you wait around in vain for one, and as soon as you decide to walk home a whole bunch of them run you over.


Australian Speculative Fiction in Focus has not one, but two reviews of Hal Spacejock Second Course. From the first review:

This "second course", then, while it offers much to entertain the reader, also manifests a slightly bitter undertaste that makes the amusement of the narrative the more delightful.

And from the second review:

As with the first, I liked the balance of humour and action within the narrative, giving the reader a story that they are interested in the outcome of, not merely to serve as an obligatory backdrop for the comedy [... ] readers who enjoyed Hal Spacejock (whatever the reason for reading in the first place) will enjoy the second helping. The book is very faithful to the theme and style of the first and fans of the characters will be finding themselves laughing away once more at their (mis)adventures.

You'll find the reviews here. (Minor spoiler warnings for the first one.)


EM Sky of the Mind Unbound newsletter just posted a review of Hal Spacejock Second Course.

Book two in the Hal Spacejock series by Simon Haynes is as good as the first. Maybe better. I know what you're thinking: "No way! Even better?" Indeed.

Read the full review here


Finally, Fiction Focus is a reviewing journal published three times a year by the Western Australian Education Department. It's a selection and buying guide for secondary schools and other institutions serving teenagers. And, according to my publicist, their latest edition contains a 'great' review for Hal Spacejock Just Desserts.

I'm very glad the Hal Spacejock series is finding an audience in high schools. When I were a lad, we were lucky to get a couple of Clarkes and a dusty old Gollancz yellow jacket in the school library. Youth of today don't know how good they have it ;-)

As soon as I get a copy of the review I'll post more.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Oddest phone call I've had for a while ...

My nine-year-old daughter just called from my mum's, where she's having a sleepover. The conversation ended up something like this:

Me: "What's up? Having a good time?"
"Yep."
"Great. So, we'll see you tomorrow then."
"Dad?"
"Yep?"
"On Linux, should I use Microsoft Java, SUN Java or default?"
"Huh?"
"This website wants to know which java plugin to use. I always choose the SUN runtime at home, but Nanny's PC is showing Default."
"Errr, yeah."
"I tried Microsoft but it took ages to load and then crashed."
"You got that right."
(Laughter)
Me: "Maybe try Sun."
"And I want to use the Gimp, but there's no icon in the start menu. Do I have to run it through the terminal?"
Me: "Ummm, yeah. Type gimp then press tab and hit enter."
Her: "Okay, seeya."

Half an hour later I get an email from her:

Her: "ive made an animated pic.... but how can i put it on my webpage from here??"
Me: "Send me an email with an attachment and I'll upload it for you."

Modern generation, eh?

The email just arrived, and so Flippo the animated bird is presented below for your viewing pleasure. (I've also added a guinea pig she did a few weeks ago.)


     

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Late night, end in sight

I was up 'til 1am yesterday (or is that today?) bashing out words for Hal 4. It's rare for me to write after 8 or 9pm, but I was into the climactic ending and couldn't stop. Didn't want to stop, to be honest.

Anyway, it rushed and rushed and I ended up with around 5,000 words, and the great thing about writing a slab in one hit is that it's all fresh in your mind - you don't forget things, and the writing is closer to second draft than early feel-in-the-dark work.

After (another) late night, I had to get up at 7am to take my youngest to school, and today I'm hoping to knock off the very last unwritten scene. (Not the last in the book. This one's around chapter 29 of 32.)

And if there's such a thing as a candle with three ends, I'm burning it. I've been up well after midnight all week, and still have to get up at 7am for school. Pity the night-owl parents, for they have no rest.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

I love it when a plot comes together

You hear athletes - and particularly marathon runners - talk about breaking through the pain barrier. Well, I reckon the same thing applies to writing a novel. Writing the last 10-20% involves more work than the first 80-90%, and there does come a time or three when you feel it's all become too much.

One problem I have is that I often end up with chunks of existing writing which I'm having to rewrite to fit into the plot as it now stands. Facing 2000 words of text in which the wrong characters say and do the wrong things to a version of the plot you discarded two months ago is not my idea of fun. However, if I break the 2000 word scene into the smallest possible units and tackle them one by one, it's much easier. I mean, how hard is it to rewrite a sentence or a paragraph?

Another issue is the drag of That Which Has Gone Before. Usually, multiple versions of it. Deep down I know I'll tidy it all up during the second draft, but at this stage my mental picture of the novel is that of 100+ dimly-remembered scenes, some of which have long since been discarded.

(That's a very good reason not to start rewriting until you get to the end of the first draft. Going through the book with all the later events more-or-less clear in your mind allows you to emphasise bits of the plot which foreshadow the ending, and submerge - or cut - the rest.)

Anyway, I can see the end now and the pain isn't as bad as I thought ;-)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Hal 1 sample as text file

A number of people have asked whether they could get the sample Hal Spacejock chapters in text format, presumably so they could load it onto their PDAs and read the thing under the desk at work.

I think that's a wonderful idea, because there's nothing like getting fired for laughing on the job. So, I've put the sample chapters up in an easily-hidden text file on this page:

5 sample chapters of Hal Spacejock in plain text format

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Handling Rejection - article

I've added another article to my website, this one on rejection. (The author kind, not personal relationships!)

You've spent months or years writing a manuscript, you've made a short list of agents to submit to, you've polished your query letter and first five pages until they practically glow in the dark, and you're just about to hit the post office. What's the most likely outcome?

This article also introduces my pyramid 'o' doom, as seen below:





(The pyramid is subject to revision, as are all my articles. I update them from time to time to correct rampant misinformation and physically impossible advice.)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Staying behind the curve

You know when some new gadget comes out and everyone's ooh-ing and aah-ing and plonking down serious amounts of cash? That's when I set a 3-4 year timer and go about my business.

Mobile phones, mp3 players, the original playstation, the Gameboy Advance, inkjets, laser printers, the PS2, digital cameras, just about all computer hardware ... you don't miss much by picking up slightly older or outdated gear. Or even waiting until a technology (e.g. Digital cameras) have matured to the point where a mid-range model now would have cost you $10,000 five years ago - assuming anyone had built such a beast.

For example, back in 2000 or 2001 we bought a decent digital camera at work to take pics for our product catalogues. I still have the camera in a box somewhere - Olympus, 3 x optical zoom, 1024x768 resolution and a memory card which can hold 4 pictures. (It uses a weird paper-thin wafer card, and when I tried to get a larger capacity I discovered all the bigger sizes use a different voltage and are not compatible.) The batteries (4 x AA) would take about five shots before they were drained. That camera cost my workplace $3600. The camera I bought late last year has a 10x optical zoom (28-300), takes pics at 3800 x 2600, holds 400 of them on the memory card and can take over 280 shots on one set of batteries. It cost me under $700.

Please note - I'm not saying nobody should buy the latest gear, ever. If you need the features and/or have the money to spend, I'm not getting between you and nirvana. For example, when it was time to upgrade my PC last October I chose an E6700 Core 2 Duo chip when the E6600 was half the price. Sometimes it feels GOOD to spend up ...

Strangely, the only thing getting more expensive year on year is software, and for that there's Open Source and freeware. (Just look at Firefox, Thunderbird, VideoLan Client, OpenOffice, The Gimp and many other apps ... and some of my own stuff, of course.)

As for tech, let's use PDAs as an example. Until yesterday I was happily using a Palm M125 purchased new in mumble mumble (yeah, a while ago). Nothing released this century has really caught my eye, and if it did it was over a grand. Devices and operating systems have come and go, and through it all I've held on to my cash.

Well, yesterday I sprung for a second hand Treo 650. This is a nifty phone/PDA/media player/etc in one neat little gadget, and while I can see the 680 or the 700 or the 760 or 9500 have more features (I can already hear the Palm enthusiasts rolling them off), I'll just wait a couple of years for those. Yes, Wifi would have been good, but that can wait.

With the 650 I can check my email on the go (at eye-watering data prices - won't be doing THAT very often), browse the web (ditto) and use a mini qwerty keyboard to write proofed, grammatically correct SMSs in plain English (Yes! I've avoided SMS until now, partly because of the leet speak aspect and partly because there doesn't seem to be a way of typing two letters on the same key without waiting for the cursor. Why isn't there a 'Yes, I want that letter. Now show me the damn cursor for the next one?' button? And don't get me started on predictive input. If my phone knows what I want to write, why doesn't it just go ahead and do it without me?)

The 650 has a few other tricks up its sleeve. Bung in the freeware TCPMP player and you can watch full size AVIs, resampled on the fly to the 320x320 screen. There's an MP3 player for the Treo too, and it'll play tracks off the SD card, so my 1 gig MP3 player is heading for retirement. There's also a bunch of emulators for older gaming systems - the ZX Spectrum, for example - which is like having an arcade in your pocket.

The 650 was apparently featured as the mobile of choice in the TV series 24, back when this PDA was over a grand (aussie dollars) and bleeding edge. Now they can be picked up relatively cheaply, and here's the amazing thing: They still have all the same features they had when they cost over a grand! Wow.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Get 'em while they're hot

With my publisher's permission I've put the first five chapters (53 pages) of Hal Spacejock online. There are 32 chapters in the book, so this represents just over ten percent of the total, which should be enough for anyone to decide whether it's their cup of tea or not.

You'll find the sample pages here. Right now they're page scans, but an electronic file is a possibility in the future.

Enjoy, and say hi to Clunk for me.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

I like my publisher ...

Fremantle Press is a great publisher for many reasons, and this is just one of them: For some time now I've had the first chapters of all three Hal Spacejock books online as free samples, but I just got permission to put the first five chapters of Hal 1 up. All it took was a quick phone call, and off we go. They're happy to leave it in my hands, and I'm happy to oblige.

I've just got the minor matter of writing a chunk of Hal 4 to deal with - now - but right after that I'll get a new section of the Hal Spacejock website set up to handle the 57 pages of freebie goodness. (The entire book is 350, so you're getting a decent chunk.)

The reason for five chapters? The first chapter doesn't contain any Clunk, and it's the Hal vs Clunk sections which make the entire series. Hal without Clunk is like a bookstore without Harry Potter.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Top 100 bestselling authors

This is the list of bestselling authors at Fantastic Planet bookstore since they opened their doors in 2005. (The books list I posted a couple of days ago was for individual titles.)

I made #34 on this list, and that's not bad when you look at the authors around that spot.

31..Isaac Asimov
32..R. A. Salvatore
33..John Birmingham
34..Simon Haynes
35..Neal Stephenson
36..Dan Simmons
37..Katharine Kerr
38..Arthur C. Clarke
39..Alan Dean Foster
40..Harry Turtledove

(The original list can be found on the web here)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Hal 5* on Powells

Just spotted a nice five star review of Hal Spacejock on Powells. I never ask people to leave reviews for my books on Amazon, Powells or anywhere else, but I really do appreciate it when people take the time to do so.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Another happy 'jocker

"I couldn't possibly count the number of times I laughed out loud."

Review here

Thanks, EM Sky ;-)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Back again

I just spent a lovely week in the South West of Western Australia with the family. Lots of bike riding, good food, crackling log fires and no rain (until today, but today was driving home so it didn't matter.)

Anyway, I'm back. I just synced all my email and source code changes across from the laptop and then I hit the web. And the first thing I saw was a blog post by Fantastic Planet containing their all-time bestsellers list dating back to when they opened their doors. Hal 1 and 2 both feature, which was a pleasant surprise. (Hal 3 has only been out 4 months, but it was a bestseller in January so it might show up next time.)

Here are the relevant portions of the list:

21..Nylon Angel…Marianne de Pierres
22..Woken Furies…Richard Morgan
23..Forest Mage…Robin Hobb
24..Flight of the Night Hawks …Raymond E. Feist
25..Hal Spacejock…Simon Haynes
26..Eldest…Christopher Paolini
27..The Blue Girl…Charles de Lint
28..The Gold Falcon…Katharine Kerr
29..Accelerando…Charles Stross
30..Altered Carbon…Richard Morgan

and slightly further down:

41..The Hallowed Hunt…Lois McMaster Bujold
42..White Tiger…Kylie Chan
43..Engaging the Enemy…Elizabeth Moon
44..Hal Spacejock: Second Course…Simon Haynes
45..Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell…Susannah Clarke
46..The Complete Chronicles of Narnia…C. S. Lewis
47..Bad Case of Loving You…Laney Cairo
48..Priestess of the White…Trudi Canavan
49..Court of the Air…Stephen Hunt
50..Iron Council…China Mieville

I don't mind being in that company, I can tell you!

View the full list here

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Hal supporters

I said I'd post links, and here's the first batch. Go visit them, say hi and commiserate on their folly.

Chief spanner holder
Engineer
Engine tester
AutoChef Tester
Robot polisher
Toolbox fetcher
Refueller

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

For the 3 people on Earth yet to win a copy ...

There's nothing I like better than giving away copies of my books, and now that my publisher has given ME a bunch of spare copies I've rejigged the Hal Spacejock Support Crew, turning it into another giveaway. Yes, it's another opportunity to score with Hal.

All you have to do is post the support crew info from this page onto your blog, and you're automatically in the draw for a signed copy.

Additional pleading will be viewed with favour, but may not affect the outcome ;-)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Free books ...

... but this time they're mine! Temporarily, at least.

*

I'm not sure whether you realise this, but whenever I give away books in my monthly draw I pay for the books and the postage myself. (Yes, I get a discount on the books, but the average draw costs me $120-$200 depending how many I give away and how many of them are going overseas.)

Aren't publishers supposed to do this sort of thing? Yes, and they do during the first few months after the launch, but they can't keep pouring cash into publicity when a book has been out for a year or more.

Anyway, I asked my publisher for yet another box of books to give away, and when they arrived I unfolded the invoice and discovered they hadn't charged me anything for them. 25 copies for nix! (I know they appreciate my efforts, and they know I'm spending up to promote Hal Spacejock. I guess it works both ways.)

So, that's the next couple of months taken care of. More draws coming up - get your name in!

* Amongst the box of new release Hal Spacejocks I received some of the original Hal Spacejocks. So, I had to include the other cover image.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Throwing it all away

I was working on draft scenes in chapter 25 of 32, and I finally reached a point in the novel where I had to make a decision. I've been glossing over this section (about 6 chapters) where people are flying all over the place and the bulk of the Bad Things happen, because quite frankly it didn't really work and I knew I could come back to it.

I'd already written the aftermath and the beforemath (?), and so it came time to tackle the math itself. Hence decision time.

And what a fun day it's been. When the smoke cleared I discovered I'd thrown out a whole chunk of material - about 12,000 words all told - but I did have my outline for the last 8 chapters.

Is it set in concrete? No chance. But each run-through gets closer to the finished product, and involves smaller and smaller changes.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Linux to the rescue

My daughter managed to stuff up the boot partition on her Windows XP by resetting the machine while it was still updating files. I added her drive to my PC and tried to access the partition, but after a few minutes of flashing lights Windows declared the whole thing corrupted. It's formatted NTFS, which makes things all the more fun. I couldn't even run the Windows Repair since the partition showed up as zero bytes, no data, no free space.

I do have a couple of backups of her data, one a partition image from March and the other a My Documents backup from last Monday. However, I wanted to salvage whatever I could so I took her drive from my PC and put it into a Ubuntu linux machine. Booted up, mounted the damaged partition and bingo! There are all the files.

I'm copying everything off now via the network, and the moral of the story is this: if you think you've lost everything off a hard drive partition, don't despair. Before you wipe it and start the long reinstall process, try the drive in a Linux machine first. You might be able to get everything back.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Anyone on LinkedIn?

I was invited to this a while back, made a profile but never let anyone know about it. So, if you're on LinkedIn, here I am:

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Hal 4 release date

Hal Spacejock No Free Lunch (book four in the series) had a provisional release date of January 2008, but after discussion with my publisher and editor we're now looking at April instead. (It would have been March, but there weren't any free slots.)

The main reason is that they'd need the final manuscript by the end of August to meet a January launch, and even then they'd rather have it mid-August. Depending on my editor's reaction when she gets the first draft that could be barely achievable or completely impossible, and so April is a much more sensible choice.





(I don't particularly like January launches anyway, especially when a book has a large YA audience. Schools are closed, everyone's on holiday and all the publicity, advance copies and launch announcements have to be done in December, only to be forgotten over the long Christmas break. Hal 2 and 3 were both January-ish, so I speak from experience)

So, big apologies to those hanging out for Hal 4, but it'll be all the better for the delay. And for those of you NOT hanging out for Hal 4 - now you have more time to pick up and read the first three.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Wild weather

I don't know the official figures, but Perth has been hit with loads of rain and some very strong winds recently. (Nothing compared to the flooding in Queensland and NSW, or the really bad flooding in the UK. But it always seems dramatic when you're caught up in it.)

Anyway, I thought I'd share a pic I took over the back fence yesterday:





As you can see - not your typical warm sunny Western Australian day.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

heARTlines Festival

I finally managed to visit the heARTlines expo at the Mundaring Art Gallery. Amongst many excellent exhibits were the original Dion Hamill paintings for the most recent Hal Spacejock book covers, which were shipped over specially. Pics below!

Big thanks to the organisers for putting on the whole event, and I hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did.




Acting the Hal 1 cover



Acting the Hal 2 cover



Acting the author

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Wet Ink Newsletter

EM Sky's 'Wet Ink...' newsletter for July 2007 is online, and includes several Hal mentions along with a link to a competition for Jim C. Hines' Goblin Quest or Goblin Hero. (To sum Jim's books up in a sentence, think of a dungeon-clearing adventure written from the viewpoint of a creature about to be cleared. I've read the first one and it was great fun.)

In the newsletter, 'Wet Ink...' has asked all their readers to email me to suggest I send a preview copy of Hal 4 ("Hal Spacejock - No Free Lunch") in for a review. And the emails have already started arriving...

There's lots more to read in the newsletter, and you'll find it right here.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

The entire Hal 4 outline - right here!

Here it is, my working outline with every plot twist carefully detailed:



(Relax, it's an old version.)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Okay, so where is it?

I was going to make this big announcement yesterday about finishing the first draft of Hal 4. Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the end.

My wife and I were putting together dinner last night (I was doing my special hamburgers - ultra lean mince, an onion, an egg, breadcrumbs, dash of herbs - while she made a garden salad), and I started telling her about my plans for Hal 5 (or was it 6?)

I started coming up with some great ideas with all sorts of neat twists and turns, shady characters and a great outcome, and then I realised I had to write it all down. So, mid-hamburger-making I raced for the PC and spent about thirty minutes writing out a 1000-word outline.

(Yes, I washed my hands before I hit the keyboard...)

I'd already written 4000 words of Hal 4 for the day, so this wasn't instead-of, but after getting excited about this great new plot I decided to put off the rest of Hal 4 until today. (And I haven't done it, thanks to a murderous headache.)

By the way, the burgers were really good ... as was the salad.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Hal Spacejock at Powells Books

A lot of my US friends are waiting for the Hal Spacejock books to appear over there - I know, because you keep writing to me and commenting in my blogs, asking when the hapless space idiot is going to get his stuff together and LAND already.

Well, it's going to be quite some time before you've all won free copies, and I'm afraid there's no word on any interest from a publisher yet. What I do have is an availability update: Powells Books are showing all three Hal Spacejock books as stock items. Hal Spacejock, Hal Spacejock Second Course and Hal Spacejock Just Desserts

They're back on Amazon too, so I guess that means the ship finally came in. It's a long, slow haul from Australia to the US, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Especially if he's trying to sell you cargo space.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Hal 4 - Nearing the end

I had an email from the general manager of Fremantle Press yesterday (that's Hal Spacejock's publisher). He's attending the annual Penguin sales conference over east, and I got the feeling he was confirming the book was actually being written before he started promoting it to a couple of hundred wholesale reps ;-)

And yes, the book is being written. I've knocked off 24,000 words in the past 7 days, including 3500 today, and I only have a chapter and a half to go before the first draft is done. This is a very rough draft, one where a quarter of the scenes will have to be rewritten, where all kinds of inconsistences will have to be resolved, and one where three or four characters are going to disappear so completely you'll never know I wrote them in the first place.

Still, if I finish by tomorrow night I'll be right on target, and that makes me happy.

As for the daily word count, I've discovered I'm not a 1000-words-per-day-no-matter-what kind of person. I'm the do-nothing-until-you-have-to kind of writer who then goes nuts to meet the deadline. I just write better under pressure - I have to accept that and plan for it.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Hal Spacejock Book 4 progress

I'm not one to post daily word counts (because I have software to do it for me!) but I do like to report on how it's all going from time to time.

My editor wants a copy of the Hal 4 draft on the 9th of July. Right now I have 14 new scenes to write and 28,000 words of existing material to rewrite. (The latter are scenes from earlier versions which no longer fit the current plot, but which more-or-less cover the same ground. Instead of stopping to rewrite them every time I have a brainwave, I just update the summary in yWriter and mark them as Draft - REDO.)

A few weeks back my plan was to write 1000 words a day. Then, the day after I upped this to 2000 per day, I got a case of the flu which addled my brain for a whole week. There's a lesson in there somewhere - i.e. do not give your brain any warning about lots of upcoming hard work.

After the flu I scraped out 1000 words a day for a while, until I got the email from my editor asking for the book. Then I realised I was going to have to up my limit, and 2000 it was. But over the past week I've upped that again, to 3000 words per day. I suspect it'll be 4000 before the end of next week.

I've also found that I'm thinking about the book 24/7 (yes, including my dreams) and that's helping me write it. I'm practically living the characters' lives by this stage, and slipping into writing mode is easy. It also helps that I'm working on the last quarter, where things get exciting, gripping and dangerous. (Those 14 new scenes are ALL from the last 6 chapters, and comprise pretty much the entire ending.)

I've given myself 5 days to write those scenes, and a further week to rewrite the 28,000 words in REDO parts. Then what?

Okay, at that stage I'll have a rough first draft, which certainly won't be ready for my editor. I'll print it all out, about 400 pages of double-spaced type, and then retire to a quiet spot for a read-through with red pen in hand. THIS is where the book really starts to take shape, as I strengthen a few connections, add some foreshadowing and look for parallel or similar events. And while I've tried a number of times, I cannot do this stage on the screen. On the plus side, at my book launches I've been known to hand out signed pages from one of these drafts, including all my scribbled comments, so they don't go to waste.

Apart from marking slow bits, rubbish, mistakes and so on, I also tend to cut the dialogue a fair bit at this stage, looking for every set of four sentences which can be trimmed into two. (You know the kind of thing: A says this, B retorts with that, A has a comeback and B says yah boo sucks to you. If I can turn that into just A then B, it's much tighter and reads a lot better.)

You'll note I've not mentioned spelling or grammar. I'll mark any typos, but this draft isn't supposed to be word perfect. (Typos are about the extent of it anyway - I correct as I write, and never intentionally let anything slip by. My most common error is editing a sentence and leaving a stray word in, or not updating all the parts of it at the same time - e.g. Hal went to grabbed a bucket. )

Okay, the draft is getting closer. It takes about a week for me to read and re-read it until I'm happy, usually going through a new draft each day, and entering all the changes that night.

Then I'll send it off, and what happens after that has been covered in an earlier post ;-)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Will they, won't they?

This came up during today's writing session. The plot calls for one character (A) to go off and leave the other (B) behind. There's a prospect of danger for B, but they both agree it's the best way to handle things.

(I'm deliberately muddying gender so I don't give anything in the book away.)

During the writing of the scene I changed one tiny little thing: A and B always intended to leave together, but at the last minute B reveals they're not going (and explains why)

Is a little change like this really that important? Hell yes.

In the plot outline A and B knew they were going their separate ways and the reader would have got used to the idea over a chapter or two. When the characters parted it was expected, normal, boring.

In the new version, character A - and more importantly, the reader - is caught completely by surprise. B's suggestion is logical but unwanted. Conflict and tension result, and instead of the reader getting a couple of chapters to digest the idea you smash them in the gut with it in a single sentence. They don't want it, but they can see why it must be so. And that's what keeps people reading.

When plotting and writing keep an eye out for this kind of change. It's so easy to do but it's very effective.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Setting it to music

I know some people like to write while their favourite music is playing, and others prefer silence. I'm a silence person myself but there are special cases.

For example, if the kids are home and making a racket, music through headphones is a great way to isolate myself for an hour or two. I don't mean I wander round the house 24/7 in a musical daze, but if I need a couple of quiet hours of writing time to finish off my word count this is the way to get it.

Second, if I'm writing an important scene I find the right music can really help to set my own mood, and therefore the mood of the piece I'm writing.

And that's really the reason for this blog post.

You see, although you might listen to music while writing, how carefully do you select the pieces? I use my own yPlay software which allows 100 named playlists, but anything else with similar features should do. And here's what you need: a playlist for each mood and style of writing. Have a Romance playlist with gentle love songs, an Action playlist with heavy drumming and wild electric guitars, perhaps a Classical playlist for a bit of culture - something to listen to while you're writing about a visit to a posh hotel or restaurant, for example.

What you don't want to do is have one playlist with all your faves mixed up. It's very hard to write a touching romantic scene when heavy metal is hammering your ears one minute and Cliff Richard is going on about his walking talking doll the next.

Does anyone else use specialised writing playlists? If so, what categories do you use?

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

What to do when it starts to fall apart.

Has this happened to you? Your plot outline is nice and detailed, you've written half your book in record time and yet you have this horrible feeling it's not working.

Maybe your characters aren't behaving, or your big plot twist is more of a slight bend, or you've crammed in too many subplots ... whatever it is, you start to feel swamped and the big worry is that there may be too many problems to overcome.

I've experienced D) all of the above during the writing of each of my four books to date, and so these days I expect this kind of self-doubt. The only thing I have on some of you is that I've worked my way through it and am fairly confident of doing so again. I still experience strong self-doubt, though. Just ask my family.

So, remind yourself that it's quite normal for a novel to go through the disorganised mess stage. in fact, you can plan for it and even insure against it. Here's how:

First, if you have a major plot and several subplots, concentrate on writing the major plot scenes first. Leave markers in the text describing the subplot scenes and then skip over them.

Couple of reasons: One is focus, because you're sticking to the main plot and so it's harder to stray. Two is structure, because it's easier to follow the main plot arc if that's all you're writing. Three is complexity and word count: if you leave the subplot scenes until last you can drop an entire subplot if it doesn't work any more. You can add another subplot if needed, and you can also work out how many words you have to play with to meet your target count.

Example: You're writing a 100,000 word novel and your main plot alone comes in at 75,000 words. If you were planning five different sub-plots you'll now be able to work out how many words you can spend on each. Believe me, agents do not want to see sprawling 300,000 word novels from first time authors. Dropping subplots and characters after the fact is a lot more work than not writing them in the first place.

Next, only write your protagonist's scenes. If it's a multiple viewpoint novel, just put summaries in your text for scenes from the antagonist and secondary character POV. Why? Because while you're writing the protagonist's scenes you'll keep getting ideas for the other characters, and you can just dump those ideas into your notes. It's also much easier to get in character and write an authentic POV if you're not head-hopping every couple of thousand words.

Another reason for writing all of one viewpoint first: By finishing the protagonist's scenes you'll know exactly what the other characters have to do in their own scenes. No major rewrites and no wasted words. Again, if you're heading for a massive doorstopper of a novel you can cut out some of the secondary character scenesa and write less for the rest.

When I started writing my first novel I began at chapter one and tried to type the whole thing out sequentially, right through to The End. Nowadays I'm convinced that's the wrong way to approach the task. Look to the world of film for the best example: Movies are always shot out of sequence so that actors and sets can be employed for the shortest possible time.

Translating that to writing, it's easier to have consistent characters and locations if you stay with them until their scenes are done. And remember, your readers won't know how you built the thing. It's the result that counts.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Travel to Mars

Okay, so we might never get there ourselves but this is pretty amazing all the same.

For somewhere closer to home, try this one. (And try zooming the map right in for a google giggle.)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Why write a novel?

The problem is, about 9 out of 10 of people who set out to write a novel don't actually finish, either due to time constraints or because it turns out to be a lot more work than they thought. Usually - and this happened to me - the words and sentences hitting the page don't match the lofty ideals in the mind, and it's all too discouraging. The trick is to plough on regardless, because good books come about through rewrites, editing and revision. They don't just pop out fully-formed.

Because so few ideas turn into finished books, publishers don't want to know about your plot outlines or your plans for a series of fifteen volumes. They want to see finished product. (And once they see it they turn around and reject 998 out of 1000 unsolicited submissions.)

If it's all so difficult, why do people bother?

Usually because they have a burning desire to write a book ... for example, their characters are living in their brain and won't stop bugging them, or the tale has to be told no matter what the sacrifice. Every time I considered quitting I'd picture Hal and Clunk fadng to black, unseen by anyone but me, and the thought of losing them forever was enough to get me going again. Usually with a severe reprimand from Clunk and a sarcastic comment about quitters from Hal.

Anyway, there's all this and a lot more in my articles on writing and publishing.

Hope that helps. I don't mean to sound discouraging but writing a novel is a huge challenge. It can be frustrating but it's also a massive rush when the first draft is done and you can start on the polishing and rewriting.

This is the text of my reply to an emailed query on writing a novel and getting published. I did give it a light edit before publishing it here ... force of habit.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

heARTlines Festival

Dion Hamill's original paintings for all three Hal book covers (below) have been shipped over for the heARTlines Festival, which is taking place here in Perth, Western Australia from the 1st of June to the 1st of July.

Update: just got an email letting me know the ABC featured the festival on the news tonight, and they even showed the Hal covers ;-) Thanks Ted!




That's not the only attraction of course. The program features any number of authors and illustrators ... for more details and a PDF copy of the program check the Mundaring Arts Centre website.

heARTlines is curated by author Louise Schofield and proudly presented by ArtsWA Department of Culture and the Arts and Healthway Drug Aware.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Social networking for books

I'm already on LibraryThing, but Good Reads looks like an interesting site too. I wonder which will come out on top?



Edit. Just thought I'd add this. It's a Technorati search on all the people kind enough to join Hal Spacejock's Support Crew:

hal spacejock support crew

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

10 things

Spotted on Buzz, Balls & Hype ... 10 things an author shouldn't do

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Hal 3 appears on the 'Page 99 Test'

An interesting blogging concept: Authors are invited to submit the full text of page 99 from their current novel, and to follow it up with a brief essay on the snippet. In their own words:

For the Page 99 Test, I hope to have authors comment on whether Page 99 reveals "the quality of the whole" about their books. We'll try the test on new books, contemporary classics, and a few time-honored books, with recognized experts applying the test to the text.

My effort is here.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Competition Winners

A big thanks to all who entered the wonderful sets competition, and I really wish I could send everyone a book.

However, there can only be one winner and Rob in Denver was first out of the virtual hat. The prize includes all three Hal books and airmail postage - you'll just have to supply the reading part of it.

Update: I couldn't leave it at that, and so I've picked a second-place winner for a copy of Hal Spacejock: Matt B

To claim your prizes just email me here: spacejock at gmail dt com

Again, thanks to all who entered and please keep an eye out for more chances to win Hal. For example, this one and this one.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Wonderful sets

This competition is now closed, but there's another right here

If you've followed my blog for a reasonable amount of time (say, two or three days), you'll know that I occasionally give away copies of my books.

Today is a bit different, because instead of giving away copies to multiple winners, I'm drawing ONE set of Hal Spacejock books 1, 2 and 3.




Yes, that's what three books look like.


The winner will take the lot, and I'll post them anywhere in the world. All you have to do is leave a comment below telling me why the whole Hal Spacejock thing appeals to you.

I'll give it a couple of weeks, then draw one winner at random. Good luck!

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Death of a character

No, not that kind of death. Nobody gets killed in Hal Spacejock books. They just disappear in a mysterious fashion.

When I submitted the Hal 4 outline to my editor, one of the minor characters was a gruff desk sergeant, semi-retired. You know the type - worldly wise, unflappable, full of useful information and a father figure and guiding light to one of the major characters. He was Roger Murtaugh to Martin Riggs, William of Baskerville to Adso of Melk, and any one of those countless wise older hands which populate books and movies.

In other words, the perfect example of a cliche character.

So there I was last night, writing the scene where my major character returns to HQ and encounters good old Ted, sergeant cliche of the movie tropes squad. And I didn't want to write him in. I just couldn't do it. So, I gave up and played NFS Underground 2 against my kids until the game crashed. (For that I have to thank EA, Intel Dual Core, Microsoft Windows XP and Nvidia.)

Anyway, around 1am I found myself mulling over the Ted problem. The lights were off, the house was quiet and I was supposed to be going to sleep, but I never let minor challenges like oncoming unconsciousness distract me. Instead of coming up with a replacement for Ted I decided I'd introduce a third character, an original one which would be great fun to write. I ran a few conversations in my head, and my new creation held up just fine. A few minutes later I realised this new character had already supplanted staid old Ted: everything Ted could possibly bring to the plot this new character could do better, and with laughs to boot.

So long Ted, and may you live on in Hollywood buddy movies.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

7000 down

... 73,000 to go.

Actually, I'm feeling quite good. I mean, apart from having had chronic back pain for the past two weeks AND a sharp pain in my abdomen for which I'm having an ultrasound next week AND a nasty intermittent ear-ache which I only experience when I wake up suddenly in the middle of the night.

But I've still managed to write my 1,000 words a day, which is the important thing. The first two chapters are done, the words are flowing and my writing muscles are getting used to unfamiliar work. As time goes by I'll up the daily count to 2,000, and I still have a load of pre-written scenes which will have to be shoe-horned into the right places and then pounded into shape. Looking good for a first draft by the end of May. (I think I gave myself until the end of June, but time is tight for this book.)

One of the characters has undergone three complete transformations since I first came up with her. Her age and her position have both changed, so all the scenes I wrote with her slightly cynical take on things now have to be rewritten from a younger viewpoint, with a lot less cynicism. Dialogue, thoughts, actions .. it's like changing actors halfway through a film shoot, then having to redo the screenplay because the new person's personality and presence are so different. And in an earlier version she was definitely on the opposite side to Hal, whereas now ...

Of course, some time in the future I'm sure I'll need a cynical older female character, so I can't just delete bits or write over the top of them. First I have to store away every scene, adding to the 700,000 word pile sitting in my 'for future use' folder.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Happy International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day!

Today, writers all over the planet are giving away a piece of their work completely free, as a protest against an ill-conceived article claiming that ALL writers who put their work online for free are some kind of techo-scabs reducing the earning power of legitimate authors.

My contribution is the first chapter of a YA-oriented novel I started on between Hal Spacejock 1 and 2, way back in 2001. The novel is called the Golden Lyre, it's a space opera, and you can download and read chapter one from here

You may share the chapter with friends, family and others as long as there's no commercial gain, but you can't post the contents or the file online. Please refer people to my blog post instead.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Hal 4 - Plot Done

Okay, I've just finished combining all my plot junk into a brand new yWriter project. (In the end I wrote an importer which took my text file full of paragraphs and created a fresh scene from each one, using the whole para as the long description and the first sentence of the same para for the short scene title.)

I decided to program the importer for 3 scenes per chapter, then ran it. Imagine my surprise when the finished chapter count ended up at 33. All three Hal Spacejock books to date have had exactly 32 chapters, and the funny thing about this one is that 3 scenes (1 chapter) are just markers for the start, middle and end points. I removed those and my plot outline came out at exactly 32 chapters. It's a sign, I tell you.

Now, bear in mind I still have two folders on my hard drive - one is Hal 4 2005 and the other, Hal 4 2006. Each contains a substantial, but unfinished, draft of the book with very different plots and totally different characters. My job now is to start writing Hal 4 2007 and only take bits from those earlier efforts which fit this one. Everything else will be thrown into my spare parts folder.

So, do I like the new plot? Yes I do. My only concern is that the event which drives the major plot story doesn't occur until several chapters have passed. But hey, I've never claimed to be part of the SMS generation. I even enjoyed the first hour of Peter Jackson's King Kong.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Freelance editing

The editor who worked with me on the first three Hal books, Janet Blagg, has started a new freelance business. Anyone requiring editorial assistance should head over to her website for more information.

Actually, you should have a peek for another reason: I designed and implemented the site as a big thank-you to Janet for her work on Hal Spacejock. I reckon it came together quite nicely, and the site ain't too bad either. (Boom boom.)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Plotting

Back when writing was just a bit of fun (that'd be before I got a publishing gig) plotting was something I'd tried and discarded as a devious kind of torture. I tried writing a novel to a plot a couple of times, and it was like memorising the screenplay of a movie before sitting down to watch it for the first time. Every twist, every turn laid out like the guts of an expertly dissected frog.

Where's the fun in that?

Well, one thing plot-haters soon learn is that their carefree and wasteful writing methods don't fit the commercial publishing model. If you have a deadline to meet, you can't spend eighteen months writing fun scenes just because they caught your fancy.

But how many second, third or fourth books have you read which didn't capture the fun and excitement of an earlier title by the same author? Ever feel a book was rushed out to meet a particular timeslot? Or that the plot was agreed to early on, and subsequently served as a strait jacket for the author?

I'm stitching my own strait jacket right now - I have an eight-page outline for Hal 4 which I've been revising and tweaking for some weeks. The idea is to have this comprehensive document I can discuss with my editor. (That's 'discuss' in the way that the English and French discussed Agincourt.)

I only hope that when I start writing I discover my dissected frog has a second heart, nine limbs and an electronic brain.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Andromeda Spaceways issue 28 available

Issue 28 has (finally) left the launch pad.

Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine issue 28, edited by Zara Baxter, is now available.

Why finally? Issue 28 has changed places in the publication schedule TWICE. Originally slated to be released as issue 26, then 27, this glorious issue was munched up by the space/time continuum and has only now been spat out! At last you can read the wonderful works filling this issue, which include:

Fiction
Grace . . . Ian McHugh
Sweet Potato Woman . . . Chris Barnes
Polish . . . Kaaron Warren
Rest Stop . . . Marissa K Lingen
The Dark and What It Said . . . Rick Kennett
The Eradicator . . . Ben Cook
The Bluebell Vengeance . . . Tansy Rayner Roberts
House In Love . . . Gail Kavanagh

Special Features
This is How the World Ends — Not with a Bang but with a Rip . . . David Clements
The Art of Balance — Interview with Trudi Canavan . . . Gillian Polack
Retro-Review . . . Ben Cook

With cover art by Daryl Lindquist, issue 28 is available in Print or PDF from www.andromedaspaceways.com NOW. Don’t miss out, remember PDF availability is strictly limited!

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Swancon SF Convention - coming up

The latest (last?) Swancon progress report is online, including the current version of the program.

Some time back Russell Farr asked me whether I'd be interested in doing a panel on professional promotion. Now, I don't do a lot of panels at cons, mainly because you could pick almost any topic and there'll be someone at the con with more knowledge and/or experience of that topic than myself. Or at least, someone more willing to talk about it. (I don't mind public speaking - I regularly talk about writing, my books and myself to gatherings of schoolkids, and if you ever want to find a tough audience ...)

Anyway, I said yes, and I was pleased to see the panel listed in the program.

Time: Friday 3pm
About: Professional Promotion
Panelists: Russell Farr, Matthew Reilly, Angela Challis and myself.

By the way, "Professional promotion" is the kind where you don't need a thick skin and lots of very forgiving friends.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)