Hal Spacejock - #3 Bestseller

Three weeks in the charts, and now at number three...

Dymocks SF Bestsellers w/ending 24th September

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

On to Hal Spacejock Just Desserts

Hal Spacejock is out and Hal Spacejock Second Course has been handed in, so I'm doing what any sane mortal would do - I'm working on the draft of Hal Spacejock Just Desserts.
The third book in the series is my favourite, and even after all the editing improvements to books one and two I still think it's the best of the bunch. This one was the easiest to write, too. After struggling with the previous books I had a better idea of this novel-writing business.
One downside to this is that I've been laughing along with book three, wondering whether I can write something like this again. I mean, now that I know the sheer amount of work involved after starting with a blank page it looks like a hell of a lot of work.
Am I still up to writing fresh new books?

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

Hal moves up to #4

I was pleased to see it debut at #7, but for Hal Spacejock to stay in the bestselling SF list AND gain three spots is a huge boost:

Dymocks SF Bestsellers w/ending 17th September.

I've lived with these characters for over ten years now, and it's heart-warming to think their adventures are being read right across Australia ;-)

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

Hal Spacejock Second Course

Here's a pic of the finished draft of Hal Spacejock Second Course. I printed two copies, one for my wife and one for my eldest daughter... if it meets with their approval I'm ready to hand it in ;-)

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

Hal Spacejock debuts at #7

Hal Spacejock debuts at #7 on the Dymocks Scifi bestseller list (week ending 10th September) Thanks to all who bought a copy!

Dymocks have 80 stores across Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

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

Book launch aftermath

Between 80 and 100 people circulating amongst the bookshelves, browsing and catching up with friends and acquaintances. A dozen people from Fremantle Arts Centre Press and Dymocks, trays of sandwiches and drinks. Loads of copies of Hal, gleaming under the downlights. An excited buzz.





There were a couple of brief speeches and then the cash registers began to rattle and beep. It was two hours before they fell silent, and then we retired to Hans Cafe en masse for a celebration dinner.





To all who attended, thank you. It was a very special evening, an overwhelming event after so many months and years working on my books with only self-motivation to keep me going. Now, when I'm struggling with a tough scene, I'll just pull up an image of one hundred smiling faces.

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

Lots of writery things

First off, the Hal Spacejock book launch is tomorrow night. People are still RSVPing despite the 26/8 cutoff date, which is great. Sounds like we'll have more than 60 people, and one newspaper is going to run a writeup on the launch after the event.

Which leads me to my next item. Nyanda from Fremantle Arts has worked tirelessly on publicity, and has already organised press & radio for me, the launch and the books. I wanted to mention that publicly, because usually it seems to be the author who gets all the attention. FACP have a great team, and I'm more than happy to push them into the limelight while I keep working on the followup Hal books ;-)

In other news, my editor believes Hal 2 is a nice leap ahead from Hal 1, which is great. The last thing you want to do is follow the first title with something not as good. Not that I'd write endless Hal novels to cash in - I write to entertain myself, so each book had better be snappy, funny and moving or I'll find some other series to read.

I've had no email for 48 hours, thanks to a series of problems with my ISP. It's been vewy vewy quiet, although people can still get hold of me through my contact page (http://www.spacejock.com/contact.html)

During a trip to Dunsborough I saw copies of my novel in Dymocks Busselton, and then spotted them in a couple of bookstores in Perth. Dymocks Carousel has a large display with several posters and a bunch of copies, and I happened to walk in the other day just as someone was paying for theirs. Without a word, Stefen took the book and handed it to me for signing. Perfect timing :-)

I've just about finished the mods to Hal 2, which goes back to the editor on the 6th of September. I'll get it back a week or so later for a final polish, and then it'll hit production. I think this one will be out in April next year, and I'm setting up a 'Hal 2 notification page' combined with a draw for a free copy upon release.

Enough for one post. If you're coming to the launch tomorrow night, say hi. And if you emailed me since Sunday night - I haven't got your message yet.

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

The big moment

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

Whoo-hoo-HOO!

I got the red-inked manuscript for book two back today, along with five pages of notes from Janet Blagg, super-editor extraordinaire. And what did I find tucked in the padded envelope with this slab of work? A pristine, new, 3cm thick, real live, dead-set gorgeous copy of Hal Spacejock! 393 pages of my blood, sweat and tears, printed on natural, recyclable paper from wood grown in sustainable forests and lovingly bound in a cover designed by Adrienne Zuvela using Les Petersen's terrific artwork.
This isn't a wishy-washy tome of slender dimensions, it's a thud-worthy novel of hand-to-hand combat proportions. If I was stuck in the trenches, I'd want a couple of these protecting MY vitals from stray bullets, I can tell you. Hopefully the vast majority of the book-buying public will agree, and with a bit of luck Hal Spacejock will hit the counters in army surplus stores across the nation. Hey, if I had to light a cooking fire in a hurry, I know what I'd choose!

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

How to lose customers - FAST!

I have a spare dial-up internet account with a major Australian phone company. This is purely a fallback in case my broadband goes down - although my regular ISP provides a dialup service, it's bound to be clogged within minutes of any outage.

This spare account costs me $5.95 per month, and I get 1 hour of 'free' usage in that time. I never use the thing, I just check mail via my usual ISP once every few weeks to get the spam and the occasional credit card billing notice.

Today I got an automated reminder telling me that my card had expired (I got a new one a couple of weeks back.) They wanted me to log in and update the expiry date so they could process the $5.95 bill. Duly chastened, I went to their web page and entered my login details from memory. Wrong. Tried again. Wrong again. Tried one more time, and got a message to the effect that my account was now locked for three hours for my own safety.

I figured I'd email them to let them know that I would try again tomorrow. In their 'update your card' email I found the following: If you have any questions regarding these charges, please contact the Customer Support Centre by e-mail on accounts@bigphonecompany.com (name changed to protect the twits) So, I wrote to them and a few minutes later I got the following reply: ** This is an auto-generated message to let you know you have sent an email to an unattended mailbox. Please do not respond to this email. ** This email now told me to visit a special customer page to contact them. I did so. It asked me for an email address, so I gave them my regular one, and I skipped all the crap about which software I'm using, how much money I have in the bank, the names of my children and which OS I have on my PC (I once made the mistake of picking Linux for this kind of thing, only to get a curt email telling me they didn't support Linux - despite the fact I was emailing to upgrade my internet account...) Now I just make it all up, confident that whatever I put they will ignore it and get me to explain it all over again.

I hit SUBMIT and was immediately struck by two things. One, they wanted me to complete a full page of information on my address, phone number, etc, etc because they didn't recognise my email, and two, they wanted $14.95 to proceed with my 'support query'. Do what!? I'm writing to let them know that I can't enter my card details because I'm locked out, and they want me to pay for the privilege?

Yes, I stuffed up my password a couple of times, but any company which employs Monty Python to design their customer support department doesn't want me as a customer. Therefore, I'm cancelling the account.

If I need a backup ISP I'll pick a small, local company with real people on the other end.

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

Feedback times three

I had three lots of nice feedback lately, a nice reward after striving long and hard to get the novels into shape.

First, my publisher tells me the reaction to Hal 1 has been very good. The distributors and book reps are behind it, and one chain store is apparently going to make the novel a group purchase and will feature it in their September catalogue. That's the sort of lift for a novel which money can't buy.

Second, my editor sent me a quick email to let me know how much she's enjoying the revised edition of Hal Spacejock 2.

Third, I got an email from someone who bought a copy of Hal Spacejock off me a couple of years ago. (That would be the first edition, hope he's still got it ;-) He told me that my novel inspired a love of reading in his eldest son, to which I say... Magic! As an author, nothing could please me more.

When I hear about Harry Potter breaking records and Harry Potter making millions for JK Rowling (good on her!), all I think about is hundreds of thousands of kids with their noses in the latest book, lost in another world as their imagination works overtime. After seven books, you can bet they'll be casting around for more. Here's a tip - if your budget doesn't stretch to new kids novels at $20 a pop, just drop by a Salvation Army or Red Cross charity shop, where you can pick up armfuls for 50c to $1 each. Don't worry about whether they're any good or not - your kids will develop taste all by themselves. Simon's Law: Every child should own 300 - 400 novels.

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

Get 'em while they're hot...

My publisher organised a batch of fridge magnets to celebrate the upcoming launch of my novel. If you want one, see my fridge magnet giveaway page.

(I promise there are no plans for a Hal Spacejock talkie-doll.)

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

In she goes...

There's nothing quite like it. After four months of rewriting, rewording and replotting Hal Spacejock 2, I finally emailed it to my editor. And I beat the deadline by one day, which is icing on the cake.

I finished the original novel in 2003, and you might wonder why it needed 4 months of work when I already considered it done way back then. First, a book is never finished. You can always cut more flab, and you can always improve the plot or characters. Second, writers get better with practice. After you've written three or four novels, your earlier stuff can start to look pretty dire. During a rewrite you can address both of these problems.

The first edition of Hal 2 weighed in at 79,500 words. From March to late June 2005 it grew to 90,000, thanks to new and expanded scenes. Then I had three weeks to trim it back to a target of 80,000. Guess what, it ended up at 79,500. (No, I didn't just remove the same words I spent 3 months adding!)

Yesterday I read straight through the first ten chapters with a big smile on my face, enjoying myself immensely. I suppose the parallel is when a director first sees the final cut of their film - for ninety minutes (or three hours, if you're Peter Jackson...) you close your eyes to the camera angles, editing and hastily-completed sets and just enjoy the thing, soaking it up like a regular cinema patron.

Am I happy with the finished novel? Yes, very. I've always liked Hal Spacejock: Just Desserts the best, followed by the original Hal Spacejock, and finally Hal Spacejock: Second Course. Now that books one and two have been rewritten and edited, I'd have a much harder job picking a favourite. (I should say Hi to Jules, who would like nothing more than Hal 4 ;-)

Anyway, Hal 2 is in. I'm sure Janet (my editor) will send the file back with dozens of comments and clarifications for me to address, but that's just another step in the process. One I'm really looking forward to ;-)

Then, on to book three!

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

Jaw-dropping internet

I've been spending far too much time on the google maps site lately. For those who don't know, you can visit maps.google.com, click satellite and then view an aerial photo of pretty much anywhere.

For example: The Pyramids. Once the page loads you can drag the map around by clicking and holding your left mouse button. (I didn't realise they'd excavated so much of the area surrounding the pyramids.)

You can zoom right out until you can see the whole planet, then have great fun locating Disneyland, Heathrow airport, your own house (if your area is one of the high-rez images), and anything else you can think of (I've always wondered what the Rock of Gibraltar looked like from the air. Or the London Eye, Meigs airfield in Chicago and the Statue of Liberty.) For example, I found my house and showed my kids an aerial view of the drive to their school, following the roads.

Much fun. Big time waste. Beware.

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

Yippee on two counts

I got a really nice surprise yesterday: Hal Spacejock is now listed with the big three in Australia! (There are three major bookselling chains in this country, with 70-100 or so stores each: Dymocks, Angus & Robertson and Collins Booksellers)

So, this morning I woke up inspired. After several really tough days on the book (a tough day being one where little happens) I vanished into the bedroom with my laptop and worked from 11am until 11pm, with two breaks for meals. In that time I polished off 95% of the remaining work, leaving one little scene to rewrite tomorrow.

Next up, I'll print the whole thing out (currently almost 90,000 words) and delete one word in 9 to get the thing back to about 80,000. At the same time I'll reword, insert, adjust, trim, rewrite and scribble on every single page.

My goal is to have the draft finished by the 30th so I can stick it in a drawer and forget all about it for two weeks. Then I'll give it another polish and send it in to my editor. Then I'll want a holiday.

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

Motivation

Want to motivate yourself to finish writing your book? Try dangling a carrot.

Back in 2002/2003 I wouldn't let myself see Lord of the Rings (Two Towers) at the movies until I'd finished my novel. The film came out in December, and I had to wait until March. That's three whole months until I allowed myself to see the thing!

In 2004 I repeated the dose with the third film in the series. This time I got to see it in February.

I just bought myself a copy of GTA San Andreas for the PC, a game I have been looking forward to for the past 12 months. The packet is sitting in my line of sight, right above my monitor, but I won't open it until I've handed Hal 2 in to my publisher.

It doesn't matter what the carrot is. Use it.

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

Grading

I've mentioned this before, but when I'm writing or revising a book I use my yWriter software. (Over 1000 downloads in the past 7 days - it's spreading.)

yWriter allows you to give each scene in the book a rating, using the following choices: Outline, Draft, 1st Edit, 2nd Edit, Done. In the beginning it's all outlines and you have a lot of work ahead of you. My current novel has 136 scenes in it, and according to my latest work report there are 11 at the outline stage, 46 drafts and 79 at 1st edit. The work report uses a deadline for each stage to show you what you have to complete each and every day - for example, today I have to turn 4 draft scenes into 1st edit.

Now, these ratings are subjective and I've been known to push a bunch of scenes from one rating to the next just to get them off my work schedule. For example, today I went through all the scenes and decided seven or eight of them were more like 1st edits than drafts, thus completing two days work with several mouse clicks. (Then I get on with rewriting the next 3 or 4 scenes, happy that things are moving nice and fast.)

Used properly, you can keep a tight rein on the book. On the other hand, seeing a 3 page list of scenes to be rewritten is almost enough to turn you to film making.

This is the hardest part - I'm currently spending 8-14 hours a day on this novel, and the thought of doing that for the next 3 weeks gives me something to worry about at night. All I can do is nibble away at it, and if promoting scenes above their status is what it takes - so be it.

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

Writing links

Thought I'd post a couple of highly recommended resources for writers:

Allen & Unwin's Writing Center

Ian Irvine's Guide to Success and Truth about Publishing

No point paying for it when you can get it for free, eh?

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

I love the smell of panic in the morning

I just realised my revisions for book two amount to 40 new scenes. I dropped this little fact into a casual email to my editor, and I should get a reaction early next week. Right after the paramedics have finished with her ;-)

It's not as bad as it sounds. A lot of these new scenes are nothing but a quick cut away for another angle on the action. Shorties with 3 or 4 sentences. Promise.

Others are single scenes split in two, leaving the reader on a cliff hanger while I insert a brief unrelated scene to heighten the tension. Or to drive them mad. Or both.

Anyway, writing 40 new scenes is a fair slab of work. It's not in the 'let's tweak this a bit' category, it's more along the lines of 'let's write half the book again' I'm sure the Press would rather I stuck to tweaking, but I went through a similar crazed author process with the first book and that was ready two months early.

I wrote one scene yesterday and another three today. At this rate I'll have them all done in two weeks.

Who needs sleep anyway?

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

Update

I've updated the Hal Spacejock site, adding a bunch of my raytraced images. (Raytracing involves creating a 3D scene in a modeller and assigning textures to all the objects. When it's done you render the scene using a program which simulates how light would react with the surfaces. The classic raytracing example is a couple of glass balls on a chequerboard background, but you can do just about anything with it.) If you're interested, look up the Moray modeller (shareware) and the PovRay renderer (free). Here's a scene I just put together for an example:



Clicking the image will take you to my raytracing page, where you can grab a couple of images for use as desktop wallpaper.

I'm still working on Hal 2, tweaking a shorter version of the summary. It's nearly ready now.

Lots of interaction with my publisher - last week there was a flurry of activity with the cover designer, the sales rep (bookstore sales) and the promotions manager (press releases, etc). There's a Penguin sales conference in June where the sales rep will be presenting upcoming Fremantle Arts books. (Penguin distributes FACP titles outside of Western Australia.) So, last week I worked on a kind of cheat sheet for my book, something to show the 200 or so Penguin reps who will be in attendance. Because humorous SF is a bit of a departure for FACP they're getting me a bit more involved with this kind of thing, which is great. They're also working with Penguin, who DO publish this kind of thing. (e.g. Red Dwarf)
Earlier this week I paid a visit to Westbooks in Burswood, a book store catering to kids and young adults (they sell to the public, but their main business would seem to be with schools around Western Australia). Anyway, I met one of the buyers and introduced myself, and she promised to look out for the book when it comes out. Just think, if they get Hal into schools I could single-handedly put hundreds of kids off reading serious books. As if they need MY help with that ;-)

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