Showing posts with label The Tube Riders Revenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Tube Riders Revenge. Show all posts
Sunday, 13 September 2015
New covers!
Recently I had new covers down for the three books in the Tube Riders series. These were done by the very talented Elizabeth Mackey at www.elizabethmackeygraphics.com.
Saturday, 15 March 2014
Restarting on Rise of the Governor
This might surprise some of you (sadden, even...? :-) ) but I've aborted my first attempt at the Tube Riders prequel, The Rise of the Governor, and start more or less over.
Why?, I hear you screaming in your millions ....
Basically, while I was writing the story I wanted to write, I wasn't writing it in the way I wanted to write it. I had decided to get all arty, with a weird title, strange flashbacks, and a gradual build up of emotional turmoil, but I had an epiphany a couple of days ago and realised I wasn't writing a Tube Riders book.
And since the whole point of writing a Tube Riders prequel is to write a Tube Riders book, then I need to ditch the art project and write that instead.
Yes, so most of the characters will be different, but this is the entire history of why Mega Britain is Mega Britain and because only Tube Riders fans care about that I have to write a book for them - for YOU - not for me.
Of course, there will be some crossover, haha. I don't think I could do anything else. But all the elements that made Tube Riders awesome will be in there, in place of all the internal dialogues and emotional turmoil that was starting to take over the manuscript.
It's not all bad news. No words are every wasted and while many of the 30,000 I've written so far won't make it into the final book, I feel like I've been hanging out with the characters a while and I know them a lot better. It's always easier to write a book when you know your setting. And there's lots of kick ass stuff that will move over to the new version - crashed spaceships and gulags and mutant killer hounds and crazy Russian superhumans - I'll just be setting it out in a slightly different way.
Onwards and upwards. I'll keep you posted on progress.
Chris Ward
March 16th 2014
Why?, I hear you screaming in your millions ....
Basically, while I was writing the story I wanted to write, I wasn't writing it in the way I wanted to write it. I had decided to get all arty, with a weird title, strange flashbacks, and a gradual build up of emotional turmoil, but I had an epiphany a couple of days ago and realised I wasn't writing a Tube Riders book.
And since the whole point of writing a Tube Riders prequel is to write a Tube Riders book, then I need to ditch the art project and write that instead.
Yes, so most of the characters will be different, but this is the entire history of why Mega Britain is Mega Britain and because only Tube Riders fans care about that I have to write a book for them - for YOU - not for me.
Of course, there will be some crossover, haha. I don't think I could do anything else. But all the elements that made Tube Riders awesome will be in there, in place of all the internal dialogues and emotional turmoil that was starting to take over the manuscript.
It's not all bad news. No words are every wasted and while many of the 30,000 I've written so far won't make it into the final book, I feel like I've been hanging out with the characters a while and I know them a lot better. It's always easier to write a book when you know your setting. And there's lots of kick ass stuff that will move over to the new version - crashed spaceships and gulags and mutant killer hounds and crazy Russian superhumans - I'll just be setting it out in a slightly different way.
Onwards and upwards. I'll keep you posted on progress.
Chris Ward
March 16th 2014
Sunday, 16 February 2014
The latest WIP is finished! (and more news)
Got over the line in the latest book last night. The first draft came in at 94,560 words. It was a lot sparser than some of my other drafts so I'm fully expecting to add a few thousand words in the first revision, but its always nice to get that first draft done.
I started it properly around the end of December, and finished it within two months, which is the fastest I've ever written a full novel. In fact, I wrote it so fast that it almost doesn't feel like a novel at all, but a 300-page short story.
In any case, while its a little rough around the edges it was full-on sci-fi thriller action adventure that should appeal to fans of my Tube Riders series. There's even a little link in there to Tube Riders, suggesting that both stories take place in the same world. It's up to the reader to spot it!
I always thought of myself as a bit of a literary fiction writer but I find writing kickass action sequences and cool plot twists so easy that it's hard to stop writing that kind of book. Still, as long as I'm enjoying myself I'm confident that the readers will be happy too.
So what's up next?
I set myself a goal to write four full novels in 2014, so to have finished the first one by mid-February puts me ahead of the game. I'm going to take a couple of days off to work on some other stuff such as formatting, editing a couple of short stories, and perhaps dredging up one of the trunk novels for a bit of a refresh.
One big Tube Riders thing that's in the works is an ebook boxed set, containing all three novels, all the short stories and an interview with me. If anyone has any questions you'd like me to answer regarding the events in the series, please post them below or PM me through Facebook if they contain spoilers.
And then of course, the next major project will be the Tube Riders prequel, currently titled The Rise of the Governor. While I've been writing the current book I've found it hard to get out of my mind, and although I did a bit of a false start on it last year this time it will be getting my undivided attention.
It's going to be difficult to write in a sense, because the central character is the most hated man in the Tube Riders world. I have to make him a bad guy again but also relatable in his circumstances. While there probably won't be any tube riding in it (I'm saving that for another book for later in the year) it will possibly link to one or two characters from the series as well as introducing a few new ones. It'll be dark, scary and badass. It'll be full of action and heartbreak and all the other cool stuff you've come to expect from the Tube Riders book. I promise you now - this book will be so astonishingly good that it'll make the Tube Riders Trilogy look like it was written by a four-year-old. Trust me on this. The Rise of the Governor is coming. Be afraid, and be very, very excited ....
And in the meantime, remind your friends that Tube Riders book 1 is still perma-free. Ten days as the best"selling" free book in the UK now with almost 4000 downloads. The Brits are loving a bit of chaos on the London Underground, so its time for readers across the pond to catch up. It was recently described as "Dystopian Perfection" in a review, so I hope you're paying attention. I'm bringing the badassness, and I hope you're taking it away into a dark corner and reading the shit out of it.
Laters.
Chris Ward
Feb 17th 2014
I started it properly around the end of December, and finished it within two months, which is the fastest I've ever written a full novel. In fact, I wrote it so fast that it almost doesn't feel like a novel at all, but a 300-page short story.
In any case, while its a little rough around the edges it was full-on sci-fi thriller action adventure that should appeal to fans of my Tube Riders series. There's even a little link in there to Tube Riders, suggesting that both stories take place in the same world. It's up to the reader to spot it!
I always thought of myself as a bit of a literary fiction writer but I find writing kickass action sequences and cool plot twists so easy that it's hard to stop writing that kind of book. Still, as long as I'm enjoying myself I'm confident that the readers will be happy too.
So what's up next?
I set myself a goal to write four full novels in 2014, so to have finished the first one by mid-February puts me ahead of the game. I'm going to take a couple of days off to work on some other stuff such as formatting, editing a couple of short stories, and perhaps dredging up one of the trunk novels for a bit of a refresh.
One big Tube Riders thing that's in the works is an ebook boxed set, containing all three novels, all the short stories and an interview with me. If anyone has any questions you'd like me to answer regarding the events in the series, please post them below or PM me through Facebook if they contain spoilers.
And then of course, the next major project will be the Tube Riders prequel, currently titled The Rise of the Governor. While I've been writing the current book I've found it hard to get out of my mind, and although I did a bit of a false start on it last year this time it will be getting my undivided attention.
It's going to be difficult to write in a sense, because the central character is the most hated man in the Tube Riders world. I have to make him a bad guy again but also relatable in his circumstances. While there probably won't be any tube riding in it (I'm saving that for another book for later in the year) it will possibly link to one or two characters from the series as well as introducing a few new ones. It'll be dark, scary and badass. It'll be full of action and heartbreak and all the other cool stuff you've come to expect from the Tube Riders book. I promise you now - this book will be so astonishingly good that it'll make the Tube Riders Trilogy look like it was written by a four-year-old. Trust me on this. The Rise of the Governor is coming. Be afraid, and be very, very excited ....
And in the meantime, remind your friends that Tube Riders book 1 is still perma-free. Ten days as the best"selling" free book in the UK now with almost 4000 downloads. The Brits are loving a bit of chaos on the London Underground, so its time for readers across the pond to catch up. It was recently described as "Dystopian Perfection" in a review, so I hope you're paying attention. I'm bringing the badassness, and I hope you're taking it away into a dark corner and reading the shit out of it.
Laters.
Chris Ward
Feb 17th 2014
Saturday, 1 February 2014
The Tube Riders is now perma-free
With Exile and Revenge now published and available, I have had the first book in the series, The Tube Riders, price matched to zero on Amazon. That's right, it's completely FREE.
Last night Amazon USA price matched The Tube Riders to free and with no promotion so far it has risen to #638 in the free store, #1 in Genetic Engineering and #9 in Dystopian. I want that #1 spot in Dystopian so give me a hand by downloading the book and sharing the news on your blogs and Facebook pages.
Thanks very much! Enjoy reading my baby. It was a joy to write, and I hope it will be a joy for you to read.
Last night Amazon USA price matched The Tube Riders to free and with no promotion so far it has risen to #638 in the free store, #1 in Genetic Engineering and #9 in Dystopian. I want that #1 spot in Dystopian so give me a hand by downloading the book and sharing the news on your blogs and Facebook pages.
Thanks very much! Enjoy reading my baby. It was a joy to write, and I hope it will be a joy for you to read.
FREE at Smashwords (all formats)
FREE at Barnes & Noble (Nook)
Available NOW
Friday, 10 January 2014
Goals for 2014
Well, it's that time of year again. This morning I went back and read my "Goals for 2013" thread, just to see how close I got. Hmm... it was a bit off the mark, but I still got a lot done, haha.
So, without further ado, here's a few thoughts on the year and what I'm hoping to achieve in 2014. I'll be doing a fuller roundup of what happened in 2013 in a couple of weeks when I reach my two-year self-publishing anniversary (Jan 24th).
So, the current state of play is that I have 32 items available for sale on Amazon on my own account, under four different pen names, Chris Ward, Michael S. Hunter, Michael White, and one that's a secret, haha. Don't worry, it isn't porn, just an experiment that was kind of fun. But anyway.
In 2013 I added two novels to the canon, Head of Words, and the long awaited Tube Riders: Exile.
Tube Riders: Exile is selling pretty well. Head of Words isn't. It should, because its one of the best things I've ever wrote, so go and check it out.
In addition, I published four collections of short stories, the Five Tales Series. There will probably be more of these as and when I get around to it. For these, because I'm a cheapskate, I did the covers myself. Five Tales of Horror sold amazingly well over the summer but has sold nothing since. The others sell the odd copy. Still, better out than in, and all that. These collections are made up of some stories that are in magazines and others that are available elsewhere. There's also an exclusive in there somewhere in each.
I also published two new action comedy novellas under the name of Michael S. Hunter, one in January and one in September.
They sell bugger all, but they're awesome and the covers look great, so I'll likely publish more in the future.
And in addition to this, I published several short stories under the name of Michael White. Again, proving my versatility, these are simple tales of village green heroism featuring my favorite sport. Believe it or not, they actually sell pretty well, particularly when there's a Test match on!
I also have my fingers in a number of other pies, including The End of the Road anthology, and Insignia, a collection of Japanese short stories. Early this year, I've been featured in a dystopian boxed set with many far more famous names than me, and also in a forthcoming anthology by the publishers of The End of the Road, entitled The Kiss. My contribution is a Tube Riders origin story. An important one to check out.
So, all in all, 2013 was a pretty busy year for publishing. My sales, which I'll be saving for the look back post in a couple of weeks, were triple 2012. I'm expecting a lot more of 2014. Here's a few things I'm aiming to do.
First of all, I don't believe in luck. You could say that my whole life is one long stretch of luck, in that I'm still here whereas several close friends no longer are. That I'm healthy, when others are not. That I'm not starving to death, not every day at least, haha. In writing, though, what I consider luck to be is a spontaneous take-off of sales, for something that wasn't selling to suddenly break out and make me rich and famous.
Yeah, it might happen. Whatever. I don't do the lottery, and I don't believe in it (although I'm partial to a scratch-card or two when I'm back in the UK!). What I do believe in is graft. As long as I continue to work hard, listen to those around who are doing better and continue to improve my craft and my business sense as well as increasing my backlist, then I'll see myself all right.
Because I live in an out of the way part of the world, I've not had to put up with as much of the stigma towards self-publishing that a lot of others have, but I've still had to put up with plenty. At the end of the day, I don't care. I know a lot of people have this attitude that self-publishing is somehow cheating or that I'm not a real writer because I'm not giving 85% of my earnings to some traditional publisher and then waiting for two years for them to pay me, but that doesn't matter to me. I don't care if people think I can't write (read the Amazon reviews, haters :-) ), or that I shouldn't be publishing or that me being a self-published writer becomes an elephant in the room in certain situations. I don't care about any of those things. What I'm doing is building a supplementary income to help my family and building a legacy (and hopefully some income) for those who come after me, and that's way more important that what a few people still rooted in the past think. I'm long past the "gee up" stage. That was fifteen years ago.
So, what I'm going to do this year, to give myself as best a chance of being successful as possible -
1. I'm going to publish Tube Riders: Revenge.
In fact, it should be out within the month. I'm just waiting for the proofreader, then I'm going to give it one last read though. Then ... here it comes. You won't be disappointed. Trust me on this. It's a beast. I still laugh and cry every time I read it, even though I can practically quote whole paragraphs.
2. I'm going to get involved in as many promotional projects as I can. I've mentioned several above already. The biggest one so far is the dystopian boxed set A Taste of Tomorrow, which is rocking the Kindle charts as I type this. Tube Riders is book number 6, and I think it can hold its own in a group of really great writers. I'm currently enjoying reading through the other books in the collection, and for $2.99 for 11 books, you can't go wrong.
3. I'm going to concentrate on writing novels. Short stories are easy to publish, but they don't sell. I'm aiming to write four novels. Last year I wrote a little under 300,000 words, but this year I'm going to push that on towards 500,000. I could do more, but that's a solid figure, and would get me the number of books I want.
First up will be a horror novel that I'm working on now. In addition to this, I'm going to finish another one that I started last year, and also if I can publish an older horror novel. Then I'm going to brand all three as well as Man Who Built the World into a horror series. While not connected stories, they are connected by genre, and probably will be by length. Branding is sooo important. Look at my Michael S. Hunter books. THAT is branding. My Tube Riders stuff too is familiar. The rest of my stuff, not so much.
4. There will be more Tube Riders books. I've got at least two in the pipeline. The main trilogy is done, but there will be at least two connected books, featuring some of the smaller characters in the main series. I was going to get to it right away, but I needed to step back from that world for a while. The horror I'm working on should be done by mid-Feb at the current rate of progress.
5. I'm going to be everywhere. I'm part of a really special group of writers who've helped me so much with both craft and marketing. You'll be finding me cropping up all over the place this year, particularly in social media, but if I can branch out of that into the "real world" :-) I'll let you know. 2014 is going to be big for me, but the only way I can do that is to get out there and make it happen.
So that's about it. A nice short list, haha. Anyway, any comments would be great. For now, though, I have to go and get some words done (and feed the cat!).
Chris Ward
January 11th 2014
So, without further ado, here's a few thoughts on the year and what I'm hoping to achieve in 2014. I'll be doing a fuller roundup of what happened in 2013 in a couple of weeks when I reach my two-year self-publishing anniversary (Jan 24th).
So, the current state of play is that I have 32 items available for sale on Amazon on my own account, under four different pen names, Chris Ward, Michael S. Hunter, Michael White, and one that's a secret, haha. Don't worry, it isn't porn, just an experiment that was kind of fun. But anyway.
In 2013 I added two novels to the canon, Head of Words, and the long awaited Tube Riders: Exile.
Tube Riders: Exile is selling pretty well. Head of Words isn't. It should, because its one of the best things I've ever wrote, so go and check it out.
In addition, I published four collections of short stories, the Five Tales Series. There will probably be more of these as and when I get around to it. For these, because I'm a cheapskate, I did the covers myself. Five Tales of Horror sold amazingly well over the summer but has sold nothing since. The others sell the odd copy. Still, better out than in, and all that. These collections are made up of some stories that are in magazines and others that are available elsewhere. There's also an exclusive in there somewhere in each.
I also published two new action comedy novellas under the name of Michael S. Hunter, one in January and one in September.
They sell bugger all, but they're awesome and the covers look great, so I'll likely publish more in the future.
And in addition to this, I published several short stories under the name of Michael White. Again, proving my versatility, these are simple tales of village green heroism featuring my favorite sport. Believe it or not, they actually sell pretty well, particularly when there's a Test match on!
I also have my fingers in a number of other pies, including The End of the Road anthology, and Insignia, a collection of Japanese short stories. Early this year, I've been featured in a dystopian boxed set with many far more famous names than me, and also in a forthcoming anthology by the publishers of The End of the Road, entitled The Kiss. My contribution is a Tube Riders origin story. An important one to check out.
So, all in all, 2013 was a pretty busy year for publishing. My sales, which I'll be saving for the look back post in a couple of weeks, were triple 2012. I'm expecting a lot more of 2014. Here's a few things I'm aiming to do.
First of all, I don't believe in luck. You could say that my whole life is one long stretch of luck, in that I'm still here whereas several close friends no longer are. That I'm healthy, when others are not. That I'm not starving to death, not every day at least, haha. In writing, though, what I consider luck to be is a spontaneous take-off of sales, for something that wasn't selling to suddenly break out and make me rich and famous.
Yeah, it might happen. Whatever. I don't do the lottery, and I don't believe in it (although I'm partial to a scratch-card or two when I'm back in the UK!). What I do believe in is graft. As long as I continue to work hard, listen to those around who are doing better and continue to improve my craft and my business sense as well as increasing my backlist, then I'll see myself all right.
Because I live in an out of the way part of the world, I've not had to put up with as much of the stigma towards self-publishing that a lot of others have, but I've still had to put up with plenty. At the end of the day, I don't care. I know a lot of people have this attitude that self-publishing is somehow cheating or that I'm not a real writer because I'm not giving 85% of my earnings to some traditional publisher and then waiting for two years for them to pay me, but that doesn't matter to me. I don't care if people think I can't write (read the Amazon reviews, haters :-) ), or that I shouldn't be publishing or that me being a self-published writer becomes an elephant in the room in certain situations. I don't care about any of those things. What I'm doing is building a supplementary income to help my family and building a legacy (and hopefully some income) for those who come after me, and that's way more important that what a few people still rooted in the past think. I'm long past the "gee up" stage. That was fifteen years ago.
So, what I'm going to do this year, to give myself as best a chance of being successful as possible -
1. I'm going to publish Tube Riders: Revenge.
In fact, it should be out within the month. I'm just waiting for the proofreader, then I'm going to give it one last read though. Then ... here it comes. You won't be disappointed. Trust me on this. It's a beast. I still laugh and cry every time I read it, even though I can practically quote whole paragraphs.
2. I'm going to get involved in as many promotional projects as I can. I've mentioned several above already. The biggest one so far is the dystopian boxed set A Taste of Tomorrow, which is rocking the Kindle charts as I type this. Tube Riders is book number 6, and I think it can hold its own in a group of really great writers. I'm currently enjoying reading through the other books in the collection, and for $2.99 for 11 books, you can't go wrong.
3. I'm going to concentrate on writing novels. Short stories are easy to publish, but they don't sell. I'm aiming to write four novels. Last year I wrote a little under 300,000 words, but this year I'm going to push that on towards 500,000. I could do more, but that's a solid figure, and would get me the number of books I want.
First up will be a horror novel that I'm working on now. In addition to this, I'm going to finish another one that I started last year, and also if I can publish an older horror novel. Then I'm going to brand all three as well as Man Who Built the World into a horror series. While not connected stories, they are connected by genre, and probably will be by length. Branding is sooo important. Look at my Michael S. Hunter books. THAT is branding. My Tube Riders stuff too is familiar. The rest of my stuff, not so much.
4. There will be more Tube Riders books. I've got at least two in the pipeline. The main trilogy is done, but there will be at least two connected books, featuring some of the smaller characters in the main series. I was going to get to it right away, but I needed to step back from that world for a while. The horror I'm working on should be done by mid-Feb at the current rate of progress.
5. I'm going to be everywhere. I'm part of a really special group of writers who've helped me so much with both craft and marketing. You'll be finding me cropping up all over the place this year, particularly in social media, but if I can branch out of that into the "real world" :-) I'll let you know. 2014 is going to be big for me, but the only way I can do that is to get out there and make it happen.
So that's about it. A nice short list, haha. Anyway, any comments would be great. For now, though, I have to go and get some words done (and feed the cat!).
Chris Ward
January 11th 2014
Monday, 30 December 2013
Revenge has gone off to the proofreader
Tube Riders: Revenge is in its final stages of production. I hope to be bringing that bad boy to you in the next couple of weeks. If you thought Exile was good, just wait. Revenge takes the Tube Riders story to another level. Possibly the best book I've ever written.
And tomorrow is another year. There will be no respite, I'll be coming out of the blocks and starting immediately on the next book. I can't tell you want it'll be yet, because I haven't decided where to focus my concentration, but I have a number of options available and whichever one I chose it'll be awesome, so look out for that in a couple of months.
In the meantime, my book Man Who Built the World is currently reduced in price, so if you haven't read it and plan to, now is a good time. It's my highest rated book and, if I do say so myself, astonishingly good, haha.
Happy new year to everyone. See you again soon.
Chris Ward
31st December 2013
And tomorrow is another year. There will be no respite, I'll be coming out of the blocks and starting immediately on the next book. I can't tell you want it'll be yet, because I haven't decided where to focus my concentration, but I have a number of options available and whichever one I chose it'll be awesome, so look out for that in a couple of months.
In the meantime, my book Man Who Built the World is currently reduced in price, so if you haven't read it and plan to, now is a good time. It's my highest rated book and, if I do say so myself, astonishingly good, haha.
Happy new year to everyone. See you again soon.
Chris Ward
31st December 2013
Friday, 27 December 2013
A Merry Xmas to you all
A very Merry Xmas to you all from me, Chris Ward, here at A Million Miles from Anywhere. I hope you had a great Xmas with your families and whatnot and that you have another great time at New Year.
For me, being in Japan, Xmas was unusual as always. I usually have to work as Xmas isn't a national holiday here, but this year I took the 25th to the 27th off and went up to Hokkaido with the wife for a couple of days for a look around. I'll be posting pictures and stuff on my other blog, Living in Nagano, over the next couple of days.
Back to the books. Exile is out now and available for your reading pleasure. Not being one to keep you waiting long, Revenge is just around the corner. I got it back from the editor a couple of days ago and as I have all of next week off I hope to have it ready to go fairly soon.
In addition to this, on January 6th, The Tube Riders will become available as part of an eleven-book dystopian boxed set featuring several luminaries of the sci-fi and dystopian field. I'm hopeful that this will expose the book to many new fans, as well as introducing Tube Riders fans to other great writers.
Okay, that's all for now.
See you soon,
Chris Ward
December 27th 2013
For me, being in Japan, Xmas was unusual as always. I usually have to work as Xmas isn't a national holiday here, but this year I took the 25th to the 27th off and went up to Hokkaido with the wife for a couple of days for a look around. I'll be posting pictures and stuff on my other blog, Living in Nagano, over the next couple of days.
Back to the books. Exile is out now and available for your reading pleasure. Not being one to keep you waiting long, Revenge is just around the corner. I got it back from the editor a couple of days ago and as I have all of next week off I hope to have it ready to go fairly soon.
In addition to this, on January 6th, The Tube Riders will become available as part of an eleven-book dystopian boxed set featuring several luminaries of the sci-fi and dystopian field. I'm hopeful that this will expose the book to many new fans, as well as introducing Tube Riders fans to other great writers.
Okay, that's all for now.
See you soon,
Chris Ward
December 27th 2013
Saturday, 21 December 2013
The Tube Riders: Revenge cover art
Now that Exile is finally out, its time to reveal the covers for Revenge, which will be published in January, all being well.
First up, the ebook -
Those eyes, of course, belong to the Governor, and that thing that looks a bit like a mouth (intentionally so!) is a burning train.
And the paperback -
On the back cover is Clifton Suspension bridge in Bristol. Yes, we used the same picture for Head of Words. While there is no overlap in the stories, there is a little overlap in the settings.
Again, these were the work of my regular cover designer, Su Halfwerk at www.novelprevue, and again she did a great job.
I hope you're enjoying Exile and looking forward to Revenge! If readers enjoy it half as much as I enjoyed writing it, then my job is done!
More news soon.
Chris Ward
December 22nd 2013
First up, the ebook -
Those eyes, of course, belong to the Governor, and that thing that looks a bit like a mouth (intentionally so!) is a burning train.
And the paperback -
On the back cover is Clifton Suspension bridge in Bristol. Yes, we used the same picture for Head of Words. While there is no overlap in the stories, there is a little overlap in the settings.
Again, these were the work of my regular cover designer, Su Halfwerk at www.novelprevue, and again she did a great job.
I hope you're enjoying Exile and looking forward to Revenge! If readers enjoy it half as much as I enjoyed writing it, then my job is done!
More news soon.
Chris Ward
December 22nd 2013
Tuesday, 26 November 2013
Exile release date ...
Okay, the time for talking is done. The Tube Riders: Exile will be released on December 16th 2013, come hell or highwater. There will be no delays or date changes. The book will be out on that day unless I get pancaked by a steamroller or something (I'm touching the wooden tabletop right now so hopefully not!). I'm also intrigued to discover that "to pancake" is actually a verb. Will be using that one...!
In better news, I'm almost done revising Revenge, so you should only have to wait a month or so for that badboy to drop as well.
So, let's have another look at that fine cover ...
In better news, I'm almost done revising Revenge, so you should only have to wait a month or so for that badboy to drop as well.
So, let's have another look at that fine cover ...
DECEMBER 16th 2013
Sunday, 24 November 2013
Edits are done!
Yes, you read that right. I've finished editing Tube Riders: Exile, someone else has finished editing Tube Riders: Exile and the corrections have been made. I've sent it out to a last proofreader for a final check and shortly after it will be available. I can't give you an exact date yet because I haven't decided it, but it will be early to mid December.
I finished the first draft in February, as you might remember me saying. That's nine months of messing around, rewriting, reworking and generally struggling (oh, and I wrote another Tube Riders book in the middle there ...). This was definitely the hardest book I've ever written. I think, though, that it came out okay. Some betas have said its as good as the first book, others have said its better. I'd settle for almost as good. I guess the readers will decide.
The return of Marta Banks and the Tube Riders is coming soon ....
And in the meantime, if you haven't read it yet, The Tube Riders (book 1 in the series) will be $0.99 until the release of Exile.
Buy it here or click the pic.
Chris Ward
November 24th 2013
I finished the first draft in February, as you might remember me saying. That's nine months of messing around, rewriting, reworking and generally struggling (oh, and I wrote another Tube Riders book in the middle there ...). This was definitely the hardest book I've ever written. I think, though, that it came out okay. Some betas have said its as good as the first book, others have said its better. I'd settle for almost as good. I guess the readers will decide.
The return of Marta Banks and the Tube Riders is coming soon ....
And in the meantime, if you haven't read it yet, The Tube Riders (book 1 in the series) will be $0.99 until the release of Exile.
Buy it here or click the pic.
Chris Ward
November 24th 2013
Thursday, 21 November 2013
Update November 23rd
I just got back from a two week teachers' conference up in the mountainous hills above Matsumoto in Nagano pref, Japan. Had an interesting time although it was a bit chilly.
Came back down the mountain to two bits of good news. The first was that England were smashing Australia in the cricket, and the second was that my editor had finished with Exile. Even better, he thought it rocked. For the last ten months of battle I've been worried it would suck, but that bodes well. Now just to make the corrections and change one or two minor things and then its off to the formatter.
More news coming soon ...
Chris Ward
November 23rd 2013
Came back down the mountain to two bits of good news. The first was that England were smashing Australia in the cricket, and the second was that my editor had finished with Exile. Even better, he thought it rocked. For the last ten months of battle I've been worried it would suck, but that bodes well. Now just to make the corrections and change one or two minor things and then its off to the formatter.
More news coming soon ...
Chris Ward
November 23rd 2013
Monday, 18 November 2013
What I did today Monday 18th of November
Pretty quiet day at work today. Had to do speaking tests for one of my classes and then some speech contest practice after school. In the evening I went to the local insurance place to get a discount voucher for my second cat's neutering operation. Of course, in true Japan style, even though I went to the place the vet told me to go to, they told me I had to go to another place halfway across the city. It being 6 p.m., I didn't really have time, so it'll have to wait. Sometimes you think it would be easier to just pay for these things.
In writing related news, I got the cover back for Tube Riders: Revenge. It looks awesome, but I won't be revealing it until after Exile comes out. So stay tuned for that. I also got a few more chapters of the third draft of Revenge done, and its looking great. One chapter felt like the best thing I'd ever written. It was just perfect. Pretty sure no one will notice, but well ... :-) Two more hours of painting ceilings took up most of my writing time unfortunately. Tomorrow I'm working until 9pm, and Wed/Thurs I'm going to an English teacher's conference, so there won't be much writing for a few days, unfortunately. More updates soon ...
Chris Ward
18th November 2013
In writing related news, I got the cover back for Tube Riders: Revenge. It looks awesome, but I won't be revealing it until after Exile comes out. So stay tuned for that. I also got a few more chapters of the third draft of Revenge done, and its looking great. One chapter felt like the best thing I'd ever written. It was just perfect. Pretty sure no one will notice, but well ... :-) Two more hours of painting ceilings took up most of my writing time unfortunately. Tomorrow I'm working until 9pm, and Wed/Thurs I'm going to an English teacher's conference, so there won't be much writing for a few days, unfortunately. More updates soon ...
Chris Ward
18th November 2013
Sunday, 17 November 2013
What I did today Sun 17th November
I've not had a lot to say on the blog recently so I thought I'd change tack a little bit for a while and use it more like a diary. I'm not sure how much my boring life will interest people but here are a few of my thoughts for today.
So, what did I do today?
First up, I went over to my new (old) house and continued the renovation work on the man cave / office room. This is a tiny room about 2.5m square at the back of the house, facing on to the neighbour's tiny back garden. It's wood framed so the other day I went out and bought what I thought looked like a nice colour but what actually turned out to be a poo-brown. Still, once I had the paint I thought I might as well use it, so now the wooden frames and the crossbeams of the ceiling are a fetching warm brown. Figuring white would go well with it, yesterday I painted the inner window frame (also wood) and this morning I was putting on a base layer of white paint across the ceiling with the hope of it brightening the room up a bit. Next week I'm hoping to be ready to wallpaper and then put some kind of carpeting down.
After a very brief lunch I had to go to a high school speech contest at a local college. For those who don't know, my day job is as any assistant language teacher in a Japanese high school, in Nagano, a smallish city in the Japan Alps. In this contest I had one student from one school doing the speech, and two from my other school (my "visit" school - I go there on Tuesdays and Thursdays) doing the recital. My speech student came second, which was nice. My other students didn't place unfortunately, but their pronunciation was beautiful, and I think if the judges weren't so taken in by all the wild gestures and dramatics of some of the other students they would have placed higher. Still, they're only first years so its good experience if they do it next year.
One thing I learned, actually, from the speech contest and my reactions to some of the OTT speeches, is that you can't lie to your audience. As a speech coach I insist on students acting natural, being believable. If a student is doing a speech about a trip to Germany, I want to believe that they have actually been there. Same with fiction. I want to believe it isn't fiction. I want to believe it's something that actually happened.
Afterwards, I came home, put out the trash and went for a jog. Up to 2010 I used to run half-marathons quite regularly, and actually completed Nagano full marathon (which half killed me). In the last 18 months I've been writing like a demon with over half a million words chalked up, about the same I produced in the eight or nine years previously, but one thing all that sitting around does it get you fat. I've gained a good five kilos in that time, so I figured it was time to start taking it off. I did about 5km in 31 minutes which is nothing special but a decent start. Got a feeling I'm going to hurt tomorrow ...
And so if you've trawled this far through my not particularly interesting day I'll give you the best writing updates that I can right now. Exile is finished and with the editor. I'm hoping to get it back within the next week or so. Revenge is also finished. I'm currently going through it for the third time, mostly fine-tuning and making sure the character motivation is right. For example, for a character to decide to do something major they have to be seen to be coming to that decision, they can't just do it without prior warning. I've added in a couple of extra chapters. The cover is almost finished too. I'm expecting it back in a couple of days. I've seen a draft and its proper badass. I'll be keeping it under wraps until after Exile is out, though.
I've also be thinking about plans for next year. I want to keep stepping up the writing and produce more books, so I've set a tentative plan to write four novels, each taking two months with the interim months for editing and stuff. I'd also like to get out a trunk novel, so best case scenario would be five new novels. What they'll be, I can't say. While the Tube Riders main story is done, there is plenty of scope for further stories within the same world, so I'll be thinking about some of those. I also have half a horror novel I want to finish. I'd like to do another novella in my Beat Down series under a pen name. No one buys them (the first is free on Amazon) but they're fun to write. We'll see.
Anyway, there's still an hour or so left in the day so I need to go and see what Marta Banks and friends are up to ...
Chris Ward
Sunday 17th November
So, what did I do today?
First up, I went over to my new (old) house and continued the renovation work on the man cave / office room. This is a tiny room about 2.5m square at the back of the house, facing on to the neighbour's tiny back garden. It's wood framed so the other day I went out and bought what I thought looked like a nice colour but what actually turned out to be a poo-brown. Still, once I had the paint I thought I might as well use it, so now the wooden frames and the crossbeams of the ceiling are a fetching warm brown. Figuring white would go well with it, yesterday I painted the inner window frame (also wood) and this morning I was putting on a base layer of white paint across the ceiling with the hope of it brightening the room up a bit. Next week I'm hoping to be ready to wallpaper and then put some kind of carpeting down.
After a very brief lunch I had to go to a high school speech contest at a local college. For those who don't know, my day job is as any assistant language teacher in a Japanese high school, in Nagano, a smallish city in the Japan Alps. In this contest I had one student from one school doing the speech, and two from my other school (my "visit" school - I go there on Tuesdays and Thursdays) doing the recital. My speech student came second, which was nice. My other students didn't place unfortunately, but their pronunciation was beautiful, and I think if the judges weren't so taken in by all the wild gestures and dramatics of some of the other students they would have placed higher. Still, they're only first years so its good experience if they do it next year.
One thing I learned, actually, from the speech contest and my reactions to some of the OTT speeches, is that you can't lie to your audience. As a speech coach I insist on students acting natural, being believable. If a student is doing a speech about a trip to Germany, I want to believe that they have actually been there. Same with fiction. I want to believe it isn't fiction. I want to believe it's something that actually happened.
Afterwards, I came home, put out the trash and went for a jog. Up to 2010 I used to run half-marathons quite regularly, and actually completed Nagano full marathon (which half killed me). In the last 18 months I've been writing like a demon with over half a million words chalked up, about the same I produced in the eight or nine years previously, but one thing all that sitting around does it get you fat. I've gained a good five kilos in that time, so I figured it was time to start taking it off. I did about 5km in 31 minutes which is nothing special but a decent start. Got a feeling I'm going to hurt tomorrow ...
And so if you've trawled this far through my not particularly interesting day I'll give you the best writing updates that I can right now. Exile is finished and with the editor. I'm hoping to get it back within the next week or so. Revenge is also finished. I'm currently going through it for the third time, mostly fine-tuning and making sure the character motivation is right. For example, for a character to decide to do something major they have to be seen to be coming to that decision, they can't just do it without prior warning. I've added in a couple of extra chapters. The cover is almost finished too. I'm expecting it back in a couple of days. I've seen a draft and its proper badass. I'll be keeping it under wraps until after Exile is out, though.
I've also be thinking about plans for next year. I want to keep stepping up the writing and produce more books, so I've set a tentative plan to write four novels, each taking two months with the interim months for editing and stuff. I'd also like to get out a trunk novel, so best case scenario would be five new novels. What they'll be, I can't say. While the Tube Riders main story is done, there is plenty of scope for further stories within the same world, so I'll be thinking about some of those. I also have half a horror novel I want to finish. I'd like to do another novella in my Beat Down series under a pen name. No one buys them (the first is free on Amazon) but they're fun to write. We'll see.
Anyway, there's still an hour or so left in the day so I need to go and see what Marta Banks and friends are up to ...
Chris Ward
Sunday 17th November
Wednesday, 6 November 2013
The bloopers reel
Yes, I'm a borderline genius and yes, The Tube Riders is a book that far too few people have been lucky enough to read, but my first drafts can still be pretty ropey. I just finished the second draft of Revenge (Exile is on the editor's desk, if you're wondering) and here's a few shockers that I picked out. See if you can figure out what the hell these sentences were supposed to be ...
... basically, his character was floored.
The room was furnished with old but
adequate tables and conches.
The road was bumpy from tree routes.
... rolling over out of site.
In one bottom corner of the slap ...
Her voice had blasted out of that speaker,
so full of home.
... the family of his surroundings ...
... doing a sweep across the sitting.
Behind him came a rustle of moment.
... for one many to find three people.
His face was read and flustered.
… as he shook off his own cuffs, not even
looked …
Yeah, I'm pretty embarrassed, haha. But the book absolutely ROCKS, and it will be following closely on the heels of Exile once that one is out. No more 18 month waits, I promise. I learned from all the issues I had while writing Exile and so the first draft of Revenge was significantly tighter from the start. I have to add a couple of bits in there, but nothing much.
Dates coming soon.
Chris Ward
7th November 2013
Monday, 28 October 2013
Revenge teaser snippet
Okay, so this is jumping the gun a bit and I know I said I'd shut up until Exile was done, but there is a bit of news. Exile is now in my editor's queue, as in, I've finished what I needed to do with it and its gone for its polishing. I've also commissioned the cover for Tube Riders: Revenge, which I'm now working through in second draft.
And as always when I go over a book I've had on the shelf for a while, I come across little sections that I just love, so I thought I'd share one with you today, from fairly early in the book.
I'm not saying who this character is. You can guess, but I'm keeping my lips sealed for now ...
Chris Ward
29th October 2013
And as always when I go over a book I've had on the shelf for a while, I come across little sections that I just love, so I thought I'd share one with you today, from fairly early in the book.
I'm not saying who this character is. You can guess, but I'm keeping my lips sealed for now ...
Slight vibrations buzzed in his hands, and he knew that
in a lab somewhere they were testing the electrical connections in case he was
having second thoughts. They always did this; the government was like a little
monkey on his back whispering into his ear, reminding him what it would feel
like if he disobeyed.
He didn’t want to pull off his clothes, but he was tired,
it was warm, and he never slept well in his boots. He unlaced them and slid
them down over his feet, pulling off the black, holey socks to reveal one
normal human foot and one plastic molded lump with rounded outcrops for toes.
It fused seamlessly with his skin just below the ankle, the synthetic skin that
covered the flexible plastic barely discernible from human skin except for its
greater elasticity, its hairlessness, and that he felt nothing when he touched
it except a tug on the skin of his lower leg.
He hated the foot. He didn’t care about the scars that
cross-crossed his body because they scared people away and no woman that he
wanted would turn down the money he could offer, but the foot … it was his
leash. It reminded him every moment of every day that he was a government dog
and even the casual freedom that anarchists and dissenters claimed within the
walls of London was not his to share.
He rolled over and pulled a blanket over him, hiding it.
Chris Ward
29th October 2013
Friday, 6 September 2013
The Tube Riders: Part One - London is now free
For anyone wanting to test drive Tube Riders, part one of the first novel, approx. 215 pages, is now free on Amazon.
+(1)-002.jpg)
+(1)-002.jpg)
Using the original artwork from the first edition of the novel, I hope that this will allow readers to decide whether they want to continue reading the remainder of the series.
Happy reading!
Chris Ward
7th September 2013
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
And we're done ...
Yesterday I hammered out the last five thousand words of Tube Riders: Revenge, finishing the book up at ten minutes to midnight.
Then I had a little cry, and after that I went to buy a beer. Then I went to bed and at three thirty a.m. I got back up to feed the cat. Such is life.
That's it, done. You have no idea how I feel right now. Partly empty, with a huge gap in my free time that I'm going to fill for a couple of days doing absolutely nothing (okay, so I'm going to read a book, or maybe edit a couple of short stories, or write one or two more ... okay, you get it, I have no trouble filling my free time, "free" is a concept that doesn't really exist), and partly relieved. It's over. It's finished.
I wrote the short story Tube Riders in 2002. It was published in a special edition of a little magazine called Not One of Us in 2007 and I later published it myself in my collection Ms Ito's Bird and Other Stories.
In 2009, looking for a novel idea, I turned my mind back over my short stories and thought that the one with the kids hanging off the sides of a train might work. I got a piece of A3 paper, covered it with lines and scribbles, and what would become a 600 page novel was born.
It was originally never intended to be a trilogy. I don't like series - I don't like reading them and I don't much like writing them either. I actually prefer books which have a single enclosed story, but I found at the end of The Tube Riders that it was just part one of what would need to be a wider story if I was to really show what happened to the likes of Marta, Switch, Paul, Owen, Dreggo and even the horrible old Governor.
Until I come to self-publish it in March 2012 I had no real motivation to write any more. I had failed to sell it to publishers despite it being everything a commercially successful book needs, and I felt pretty much down about the whole writing thing. At pretty much my lowest ebb as a writer, I decided to give it a shot out in the world and it did okay. Not spectacular, but the reviews were decent, and finally I really felt like I needed to complete the story.
I wrote Tube Riders: Exile (TR#2) between September 2012 and February 2013. I hadn't really written anything in three years up to that point, and while its got a good story I was a bit ring rusty. I worked for a while on editing it, but then released that the third part in the trilogy, Revenge, was calling out to be written. So I shelved Exile for a while and got to work.
Thanks to the encouragement from several writer friends, I busted my ass to get this book done. And in less than three months - the quickest I have ever written a novel - I got to the end.
At 132,010 words, the first draft is a lot short than both book one and book two, but I tend to add a lot of detail in when I rewrite, so it'll probably end up a similar length. I think it's a good book. It's tighter, leaner and is absolutely relentless. There's no fat on this book at all, and I think it's a worthy end to the trilogy. I as certainly cut up writing the final scene yesterday.
So what happens now?
First, I'm going on holiday, next week in fact. I'm going to stay away from writing and stay away from the internet as much as possible - unlikely, but I'll try ... - and just relax for once. At the same time, though, I'm going to reread book one and make any minor changes that I feel necessary. I won't be changing the plot, but its my book and with the series now finished there might be one or two places I feel that clarification is necessary so I'll do what has to be done. Plus, a polish never hurts. Apologies to anyone who's read it who feels the need to read it again - you can get a free update from Amazon.
Then I'm going to begin the biggest task - revising Exile. I'm feeling sharp now and in control so it shouldn't take too long. Then, now the cover is done and the formatting has been commissioned I'll be putting it out for your appraisal. And then it'll be on to Revenge.
I want both books out by Christmas. That's the plan. I want all those little Tube Rider computer pixels to be filling virtual stockings on Xmas Day, and then you can all find out what happens in the end to Marta Banks and her friends. It'll shock you, it'll horrify you, and it'll make you gasp with excitement. It'll be worth it, I promise.
In the meantime, thanks for sticking with me. The story is told. That's the hard part. Now I just have to get it cleaned and dressed and ready to step out into the world.
It was quite some ride ...
Chris Ward
3rd September 2013
Then I had a little cry, and after that I went to buy a beer. Then I went to bed and at three thirty a.m. I got back up to feed the cat. Such is life.
That's it, done. You have no idea how I feel right now. Partly empty, with a huge gap in my free time that I'm going to fill for a couple of days doing absolutely nothing (okay, so I'm going to read a book, or maybe edit a couple of short stories, or write one or two more ... okay, you get it, I have no trouble filling my free time, "free" is a concept that doesn't really exist), and partly relieved. It's over. It's finished.
I wrote the short story Tube Riders in 2002. It was published in a special edition of a little magazine called Not One of Us in 2007 and I later published it myself in my collection Ms Ito's Bird and Other Stories.
In 2009, looking for a novel idea, I turned my mind back over my short stories and thought that the one with the kids hanging off the sides of a train might work. I got a piece of A3 paper, covered it with lines and scribbles, and what would become a 600 page novel was born.
It was originally never intended to be a trilogy. I don't like series - I don't like reading them and I don't much like writing them either. I actually prefer books which have a single enclosed story, but I found at the end of The Tube Riders that it was just part one of what would need to be a wider story if I was to really show what happened to the likes of Marta, Switch, Paul, Owen, Dreggo and even the horrible old Governor.
Until I come to self-publish it in March 2012 I had no real motivation to write any more. I had failed to sell it to publishers despite it being everything a commercially successful book needs, and I felt pretty much down about the whole writing thing. At pretty much my lowest ebb as a writer, I decided to give it a shot out in the world and it did okay. Not spectacular, but the reviews were decent, and finally I really felt like I needed to complete the story.
I wrote Tube Riders: Exile (TR#2) between September 2012 and February 2013. I hadn't really written anything in three years up to that point, and while its got a good story I was a bit ring rusty. I worked for a while on editing it, but then released that the third part in the trilogy, Revenge, was calling out to be written. So I shelved Exile for a while and got to work.
Thanks to the encouragement from several writer friends, I busted my ass to get this book done. And in less than three months - the quickest I have ever written a novel - I got to the end.
At 132,010 words, the first draft is a lot short than both book one and book two, but I tend to add a lot of detail in when I rewrite, so it'll probably end up a similar length. I think it's a good book. It's tighter, leaner and is absolutely relentless. There's no fat on this book at all, and I think it's a worthy end to the trilogy. I as certainly cut up writing the final scene yesterday.
So what happens now?
First, I'm going on holiday, next week in fact. I'm going to stay away from writing and stay away from the internet as much as possible - unlikely, but I'll try ... - and just relax for once. At the same time, though, I'm going to reread book one and make any minor changes that I feel necessary. I won't be changing the plot, but its my book and with the series now finished there might be one or two places I feel that clarification is necessary so I'll do what has to be done. Plus, a polish never hurts. Apologies to anyone who's read it who feels the need to read it again - you can get a free update from Amazon.
Then I'm going to begin the biggest task - revising Exile. I'm feeling sharp now and in control so it shouldn't take too long. Then, now the cover is done and the formatting has been commissioned I'll be putting it out for your appraisal. And then it'll be on to Revenge.
I want both books out by Christmas. That's the plan. I want all those little Tube Rider computer pixels to be filling virtual stockings on Xmas Day, and then you can all find out what happens in the end to Marta Banks and her friends. It'll shock you, it'll horrify you, and it'll make you gasp with excitement. It'll be worth it, I promise.
In the meantime, thanks for sticking with me. The story is told. That's the hard part. Now I just have to get it cleaned and dressed and ready to step out into the world.
It was quite some ride ...
Chris Ward
3rd September 2013
Saturday, 31 August 2013
An update on Tube Riders: Revenge
I've been writing like a pack mule these last two months, 70,000 words in July and now 73,000 in August, the two biggest months of my entire life by some distance. I've had barely any time to promote the books already out and my sales have dropped off a cliff. However, Tube Riders: Revenge, the book I wasn't even planning to start until September (oh, the pointlessness of making plans, haha) is in the closing stages. I'm sitting at around 120,000 words, and I'm hoping to finish it in the next week. That's right, the next week. I can't guarantee it, but it's looking like it'll wrap in about 15,000 words, which is only 2k a day. Easy ...
After that, I'm going on a short vacation, and when I get back I will be jumping on the editing treadmill to get both Exile and Revenge out as soon as possible. I'm not just doing this for the readers, I'm doing this for me, because I really want to see these two books out of the door. They're long, and they've taken up the vast majority of my free time for the last year. I've become a bit of a hermit, I've put on far too much weight (I'm not joking, like 4kg, haha) and I really want to see the Tube Riders story, at least this part of it, over. I'm right up there in the dying embers, and its great. Cool stuff is happening, and the end is in sight.
That's all for now.
Be on the lookout!
Chris Ward
September 1st 2013
After that, I'm going on a short vacation, and when I get back I will be jumping on the editing treadmill to get both Exile and Revenge out as soon as possible. I'm not just doing this for the readers, I'm doing this for me, because I really want to see these two books out of the door. They're long, and they've taken up the vast majority of my free time for the last year. I've become a bit of a hermit, I've put on far too much weight (I'm not joking, like 4kg, haha) and I really want to see the Tube Riders story, at least this part of it, over. I'm right up there in the dying embers, and its great. Cool stuff is happening, and the end is in sight.
That's all for now.
Be on the lookout!
Chris Ward
September 1st 2013
Saturday, 10 August 2013
An update on the Tube Riders series
Yesterday I finished Chapter Thirty of Tube Riders: Revenge, the final part in the Tube Riders Trilogy. It's currently totalling just under 80,000 words, so based on the lengths of the previous two books its about halfway done.
My original plan was to start writing Revenge in September, write it over the winter and then publish it next summer. My current plan - one that is pretty likely at my current rate of progress - is to finish it IN September.
I've had a couple of angry emails asking when Tube Riders: Exile (Tube Riders Trilogy #2) will be out, because as readers of this blog will know, I finished writing the draft way back in February. I've done a fair bit of editing work on it, but Revenge was crying out to be written and I had to answer the call.
It does make me feel a bit stupid to be talking about the progress on Book 3 when Book 2 is still sitting on my hard-drive, but finishing Revenge before I release Exile actually makes a lot of sense for me.
The Tube Riders was written in 2009 and was originally a standalone book. I had no plans to make it into a series. The Tube Riders had to escape Mega Britain, that was about it. However, the wider world required a longer, more complete story.
As a writer I offer just enough "world" for the reader to expand it themselves. However, when I started writing Exile and now Revenge (a lot of which takes place in London again) I needed to expand the world a bit myself. I needed to show a bit more about life inside Mega Britain, and there were times when I'd write something in Revenge and realise I needed to clarify it in Exile for continuity's sake. In hindsight, writing the whole trilogy before releasing any of them would have been the best option (but probably one that would have driven me mad). As I wrote Exile and then Revenge, I found myself needing to tweak the odd line in the original book in order to keep the continuity the same. The most major amendment was that I made a very minor character (so minor that most readers will have forgotten this person, it was a blink-and-you-miss-it thing) two or three years older, because I wanted them to become a major character in Revenge. It didn't fit before, but now it does. Forgive me.
A lot of writers rush things. They bang out new books once a month and write series after series. I don't know if I'll ever write a series again after this. Before Tube Riders I was all about the standalone, and while no one buys my standalone books I've always preferred writing a story that was contained in a single volume. That's the artist in me talking, not the bookseller. The two engage in fisticuffs regularly.
I want the Tube Riders series to make my name and I want people to be reading it and recommending it in ten, fifteen years time. I want it to be good.
To that end I'll take as long as necessary, but I do think that its quite possible I can have both books out by Christmas. Providing I don't run into any major plot walls in Revenge, I should be able to finish it in September. Then I'll take October to edit Exile again, and November to edit Revenge. In December I'll drink beer and go snowboarding. Something like that.
So bear with me. Both books will be with you soon. But in the meantime, keep the angry mail coming. It's really quite addictive to know people care so much about your books. I can see why George RR Martin releases his six years apart. Unfortunately I don't have his patience.
Back to the writing desk ...
Chris Ward
11th August 2013
My original plan was to start writing Revenge in September, write it over the winter and then publish it next summer. My current plan - one that is pretty likely at my current rate of progress - is to finish it IN September.
I've had a couple of angry emails asking when Tube Riders: Exile (Tube Riders Trilogy #2) will be out, because as readers of this blog will know, I finished writing the draft way back in February. I've done a fair bit of editing work on it, but Revenge was crying out to be written and I had to answer the call.
It does make me feel a bit stupid to be talking about the progress on Book 3 when Book 2 is still sitting on my hard-drive, but finishing Revenge before I release Exile actually makes a lot of sense for me.
The Tube Riders was written in 2009 and was originally a standalone book. I had no plans to make it into a series. The Tube Riders had to escape Mega Britain, that was about it. However, the wider world required a longer, more complete story.
As a writer I offer just enough "world" for the reader to expand it themselves. However, when I started writing Exile and now Revenge (a lot of which takes place in London again) I needed to expand the world a bit myself. I needed to show a bit more about life inside Mega Britain, and there were times when I'd write something in Revenge and realise I needed to clarify it in Exile for continuity's sake. In hindsight, writing the whole trilogy before releasing any of them would have been the best option (but probably one that would have driven me mad). As I wrote Exile and then Revenge, I found myself needing to tweak the odd line in the original book in order to keep the continuity the same. The most major amendment was that I made a very minor character (so minor that most readers will have forgotten this person, it was a blink-and-you-miss-it thing) two or three years older, because I wanted them to become a major character in Revenge. It didn't fit before, but now it does. Forgive me.
A lot of writers rush things. They bang out new books once a month and write series after series. I don't know if I'll ever write a series again after this. Before Tube Riders I was all about the standalone, and while no one buys my standalone books I've always preferred writing a story that was contained in a single volume. That's the artist in me talking, not the bookseller. The two engage in fisticuffs regularly.
I want the Tube Riders series to make my name and I want people to be reading it and recommending it in ten, fifteen years time. I want it to be good.
To that end I'll take as long as necessary, but I do think that its quite possible I can have both books out by Christmas. Providing I don't run into any major plot walls in Revenge, I should be able to finish it in September. Then I'll take October to edit Exile again, and November to edit Revenge. In December I'll drink beer and go snowboarding. Something like that.
So bear with me. Both books will be with you soon. But in the meantime, keep the angry mail coming. It's really quite addictive to know people care so much about your books. I can see why George RR Martin releases his six years apart. Unfortunately I don't have his patience.
Back to the writing desk ...
Chris Ward
11th August 2013
Tuesday, 23 July 2013
Words are my Playground ...
... which means you'll have to wait a little bit longer for Tube Riders: Exile.
Sorry about that. Let me explain why.
It's done, it's drafted, it's had a couple of good edit passes. It needs perhaps two more and then it'll be ready. No major problems.
And then a friend suggested a little wordcount challenge - 70,000 words in July.
I finished Exile's first draft in March. After that I got to work editing an older book called Head of Words, and once that was published I got into editing Exile. Pretty much March, April, May and June was all editing.
Writing is fun, but editing is work, and it tires me out. I needed new words, so I signed up for the challenge.
I'd been itching to write Tube Riders: Revenge for a while. As always, I made a plan to start in September, after Exile was released and after I'd done some other stuff. As always, I decided to change my plans.
Now the good news.
I started writing Revenge, and now I can't stop. I'm right in there, and I'm doing it everyday, slowly letting it unfold in front of me. I wrote The Tube Riders in 2009, failed to get an agent for it, then left it on a shelf for three years until I came to self-publish it in March, 2012. And after it started to get a little success, I knew I had to go back to it and finish the trilogy.
Exile was a hard book to write. I was just getting back into the world and getting to know the characters. I like it and I think it's a good book, but Revenge was always going to be the absolute apocalypse of the series, a big, fat steamroller of a book that would blow everything else in the genre out of the water and leave people with chin-burn from their jaws scraping along the ground.
I really, really, wanted to write that book.
After I finished Exile, I was right where I wanted to be. I had the characters where I wanted them, and I felt ready to get stuck in. Exile is a complete book with a complete story arc, but it's still only part of a wider story, and I felt like I wanted to get on with that story. Revenge starts a little while after Exile finishes - I'm not telling you how much, but its enough to allow a few side stories, possibly featuring different characters, if I want - but for me I couldn't waste any more time. I thought I'd just write a few chapters, and see how it went.
And it's going swimmingly. I've got 40,000 words down so far, roughly 14 chapters. Ideas are flashing into my mind on a daily basis. I wrote Exile over seven months, and there were whole weeks when I didn't work on it because I was finding it difficult to see the road ahead. With Revenge I've been writing several pages a day, and even though I've hardly done any plotting at all, the stories of all the various characters are revealing themselves quite willingly.
So the bad news is that you'll have to wait a little longer for Exile, but the good news is that Revenge will be along shortly after. Bear with me. It'll be worth it, I promise.
Chris Ward
24th July 2013
Sorry about that. Let me explain why.
It's done, it's drafted, it's had a couple of good edit passes. It needs perhaps two more and then it'll be ready. No major problems.
And then a friend suggested a little wordcount challenge - 70,000 words in July.
I finished Exile's first draft in March. After that I got to work editing an older book called Head of Words, and once that was published I got into editing Exile. Pretty much March, April, May and June was all editing.
Writing is fun, but editing is work, and it tires me out. I needed new words, so I signed up for the challenge.
I'd been itching to write Tube Riders: Revenge for a while. As always, I made a plan to start in September, after Exile was released and after I'd done some other stuff. As always, I decided to change my plans.
Now the good news.
I started writing Revenge, and now I can't stop. I'm right in there, and I'm doing it everyday, slowly letting it unfold in front of me. I wrote The Tube Riders in 2009, failed to get an agent for it, then left it on a shelf for three years until I came to self-publish it in March, 2012. And after it started to get a little success, I knew I had to go back to it and finish the trilogy.
Exile was a hard book to write. I was just getting back into the world and getting to know the characters. I like it and I think it's a good book, but Revenge was always going to be the absolute apocalypse of the series, a big, fat steamroller of a book that would blow everything else in the genre out of the water and leave people with chin-burn from their jaws scraping along the ground.
I really, really, wanted to write that book.
After I finished Exile, I was right where I wanted to be. I had the characters where I wanted them, and I felt ready to get stuck in. Exile is a complete book with a complete story arc, but it's still only part of a wider story, and I felt like I wanted to get on with that story. Revenge starts a little while after Exile finishes - I'm not telling you how much, but its enough to allow a few side stories, possibly featuring different characters, if I want - but for me I couldn't waste any more time. I thought I'd just write a few chapters, and see how it went.
And it's going swimmingly. I've got 40,000 words down so far, roughly 14 chapters. Ideas are flashing into my mind on a daily basis. I wrote Exile over seven months, and there were whole weeks when I didn't work on it because I was finding it difficult to see the road ahead. With Revenge I've been writing several pages a day, and even though I've hardly done any plotting at all, the stories of all the various characters are revealing themselves quite willingly.
So the bad news is that you'll have to wait a little longer for Exile, but the good news is that Revenge will be along shortly after. Bear with me. It'll be worth it, I promise.
Chris Ward
24th July 2013
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)