Sea-ing the Stories #amwriting #inspiration

I talk a lot about how where I live influences many of the settings in my stories, but especially the sea. For someone who is supposedly a fire sign, I have a much greater affinity for water. Perhaps it was all those childhood holidays by a Welsh river or the annual camping trip to nearby Aldeburgh for the yearly carnival followed by fireworks on the stony beach. More recently it's the wide, golden beaches of Frinton-on-Sea, the mud and stones of Mersea, or hunting for prehistoric shark teeth at stony Walton-on-the-Naze. Alien mudflats, marine worlds, and tropical island paradises have all been created as a result.

Mud flats and weird sun shots at Mersea

Frinton

Odd stone formations at Mersea

Shark's tooth

Whichever, I love to be by the sea, and apparently for good reason. It's been proven scientifically that a trip to the beach changes your brain. It reduces your depression, makes you more creative, de-stresses you, and changes your perspective on the world. I guess that's why I not only find it calming but good therapy for the muse, as well as the sea ending up featuring so often in my stories.

But although we've had some glorious weather in the past two weeks, it's not quite warm enough to spend a day at the seaside, even though I was itching to do our first visit for the year, and you can guarantee it'll be colder on the coast than inland. However, Sunday's forecast promised a dry, warm, if somewhat cloudy and windy day for last Sunday, so I suggested a walk and a picnic.

Not exactly sundrenched...

The two boys weren't particularly enthusiastic, but it wasn't cold, we bribed them with an ice-cream, and apparently the conditions were perfect for an odd phenomena I'd not seen before and made things interesting...

Spooky, huh? It reminded me of a scene from Sleepy Hollow starring Johnny Depp, where faithful servant Masbath is watching the woods from his wooden hut and the mists creep out, reach up ghostly fingers and snuff out the torches. *shudder* In this case, it's just very dry sand being blown across by the wind, but a great effect, right? And it leaves cool patterns on the beach too.

We also picked up some interesting shells, including some Turrids (the long, pointy shells) which we'd never seen there before (great spot by my husband). Shells of that kind were the inspiration for T'rill's coral palace in Keir - a fact hubs actually remembered as I asked him to try drawing it for me many moons ago. I'm not sure what happened to the picture though... Unfortunately you can't see the glorious play of colour in the mother of pearl interior on the broken topshell in this shot.

Turrids and topshells

Something like, but imagine it as a giant shell in pink coral

Despite the high winds and heavy cloud, it was warm with patches of sun, and I definitely felt the benefit. Even a couple of hours at the beach has the same effect as going on holiday for me (although the scrumptious blackcurrant and clotted cream ice-cream helped a bit too), and it was blissfully quiet - something that won't last once the temperatures rise! I can't wait until we can go more often, even though it'll also mean busier beaches. Oh, for that private tropical island all of my own!

Status Update
We had some truly gorgeous warm spring weather last week, so I spent a large part of my days sitting in the back room with our patio doors wide open to enjoy the garden, and letting my chooks have the run of the place. So it's probably a bit odd to have spent some of that time working on a winter solstice SF mystery set on an icy planet that I started a couple of years back but still haven't finished. I hadn't touched it since May 2016 (what did I do last year?!). I have no idea when I might finish it, if I do, and I don't have any finances for edits on it anyway (though I do have a cover). But since I'm still very iffy about my writing and finding everything hard, even adding a few words I don't completely hate is progress, so I'm not going to complain about that.

Also, I've caved and decided to do NaNoWriMo. Yes, I know I said I was quitting writing. Apparently I'm not done yet. Camp NaNoWriMo will be used to complete edits on two projects I've already paid for so maybe I can put them out and start earning an extra pittance from them. And just maybe I'll feel a little less under pressure from all the unfinished WIPs I have hanging around.

The dress part of the Tauriel cosplay is done, as are the arrows. I'm moving onto her fighting daggers now - my first time working with foamboard - then all she needs is a quiver and sheaths. I'll post pictures again when it's complete. Then I'll be moving onto middle child's Witch-King of Angmar cosplay.

Chook Update
We're now getting two or three eggs a day (yummy!), and the girls have been out and about enjoying the nice weather with me. Or making themselves at home inside MY home!

Ah, this dust bath is going to feel soooo good!

Scoop

Pitch

Chook incursion!

Teaser Tuesday - Spooky Scenery Under The Sea #scifi #free

Because my two boys got a bonus day off school yesterday (drat those non-pupil days!) I'm sharing another excerpt for today as I'll only just have got back to work. This week it's the opening of my free scifi short and my first publication, The Bones of the Sea. Enjoy!

The place gave her the creeps. Myasi could admit that to herself now, as she made her third and final survey of the site. The morbid name given to the strange construction by early explorers couldn’t have seemed more apt as she sat in the flattened base and gazed up into the lurid green glow of the water. Above her head, the metallic legs of the structure curved up, round, and then slightly inward, like a twelve-legged spider hunched in on itself. Or a clawed hand clutching at nothing in its final, fatal spasm.

She shivered and checked her wrist display. She’d only been under a few moments, but it felt longer. The water chilled her despite the figure-hugging, bespoke thermal suit that encased her generous curves. Even if corporation regulations had permitted buying one off the peg, no standard suit would’ve fit her. Thanks to her height—above average even for a human male and with the bulk to match—all her equipment had to be made specially to order. A soft collar molded around her neck, its ugly protuberances housing the artificial gills that moved in machine-regular beats and fed modified air to the mask over her mouth and nose.

A visor covered her eyes, and in it, a bright schematic outlined the murk-dimmed pillars of the Bones of the Sea so that she could see her way, despite the gloom. The discoid base of the structure measured a modest ten meters in diameter, matched by the height of the twelve arched legs. Beneath the visible structure, buried in the soft silt of the seabed, the Bones formed a huge teardrop thirty meters long. The overall shape vaguely resembled an old Terran cephalopod—a squid. The klingeln framework, impenetrable to scans, had become encrusted with the native corals and small, static shellfish that summarized the typical level of life on Ulto Marinos—nothing more complex or dangerous than jellyfish and crustaceans. No one knew where it had come from or what it had been intended for…and no one cared. It was an obstruction to the seagrafters, and the corporation wanted it removed. Destroyed. Out of their way.

And so, they had recruited her.

A Scifi Short Story
Goodreads | Webpage
Available from... Amazon
Kobo | Omnilit | iTunes
Smashwords | B&N

Hopefully next week I'll have something more than an excerpt for you *pokes brain* :) In the meantime, the first two Portals volumes are also available to download for FREE.

Out Celebrating

Right now I'm spending some time out with hubs as we celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary and I failed to think up some thing to blog about before the weekend. I also managed to take a chunk out of my right pointing finger on Saturday, so typing is a huge struggle right now - hopefully I'll at least be able to ditch the oversized dressing by tomorrow so I can get back to work...sigh. So just a couple of quick updates this week.

Status Update
Edits on The Bones of the Sea are now done, and I've uploaded the new version. However, I can't find it in the Kobo store despite an email saying it's there, D2D wouldn't allow me to set a pre-order because it's free so I'm going to have to hit publish on the 16th, and right now I'm doing the 'make my book free' tango with Amazon. Sigh. Right now the updated version is only available for free at Smashwords, and free pre-order at Omnilit.
The planned June release is still in edits with me, while the first round of edits on Revived is awaiting my attention.
The first volume of Portals should be releasing next week, with the rest releasing at fortnightly intervals (if all goes to plan). All four will be totally free first chapter samples from right across the spectrum of science fiction romance (and trust me, it's a vast range of sub-genres we'll be crossing!).

The Blue Moon Blog Hop will start next week.

Chook Update
Effie and Kyru now seem fully recovered, though still missing large volumes of their feathers - I'd take a picture of Effie stretching her remnants of wings but she doesn't keep still long enough, lol. I'm still feeling incredibly guilty over the loss of Spaghetti and Rush, especially as Spaghetti was youngest's new chook. And while I can't say I forgive the fox, I know it only did what was in its nature and the fault fully lies with us in failing to safeguard our pets knowing the fox was around. We've learned our lesson. We've built a newer, stronger run (and hence the finger injury, though it wasn't weaknesses in the old one that were at fault, I still think it's a sensible precaution to do it), and though the chooks are begging to be let out, their garden time is now restricted and strictly guarded ie when at least two of us are out in the garden with them AND with the lower end of the garden (where the fox comes in and can hide in undergrowth) strictly off limits with a barricade. So far we've had no sign of the fox, so it's probably off hunting something easier at the moment.


Ping Pong
Last week Donna posted about the five things she wanted from a science fiction romance. So for contrast, here's a post I did last year on the exact same topic over at the RWA FFnP website at the invitation of Cathryn Cade.

Back To The Very Beginning #amediting

A long time ago in a blog post far, far away...

Well, the 14th of June 2011 to be precise. That was the day I did my first post at Spacefreighters as a guest, talking about the inspiration for my very first publication - a scifi short story called The Bones of the Sea. My *coughs* unofficial publishing debut, since it was very much an experiment in all respects and a self published piece. I formatted it myself using the Smashwords style guide, bought a stock image for the cover and added the text, then got a couple of friends to read it over for obvious mistakes, and launched it on Smashwords only as a freebie. The story has had a new cover since release, courtesy of the ever fabulous Danielle Fine, but it's never had an interior makeover. Until now.

Original cover

I've decided the time has come for Bones to get a formal edit, a revamp, and perhaps to finally go up up on Amazon (yes, it's never been available there). I've almost five years of updated bio and links to add to it, and the plan is also to put it in the back of my June release as a bonus story (as they both feature the same planet) and thereby getting it into print as well (it's way too short to qualify for print on its own).

Current cover

Bones is my shortest published work at just 3000 words. I haven't succeeded in writing that short since. But I'm also not writing as long either. In complete contrast to Bones, the revised Keir is 111K. Most recently my titles have been around the 10K mark for a short, or 30-50K for the longer pieces. I'm planning to get back to some really hefty novel-length word counts next year.
I'm hoping to have Bones redone by the end of the week ready to do the whole 'tell Amazon of a lower price' tango, since they're about the only retailer that won't just let you set a book at free. *rolls eyes*

In the meantime...

Status Update
I won Camp NaNoWriMo well ahead of schedule but hung around to encourage my cabin-mates while adding to the June project having completed first round edits on it. The story got a whole new chapter, as well as additional material throughout. Bones will be added to the back for release.

I finally dared to crack open the third round edits on the original draft/first round edits on the revised content for Reunion. But I've only looked through the first, mostly unadjusted third. I haven't braved the revision section yet. In fact, at the moment I'm not sure I want to continue with it at all. One of the advantages of self publishing is that, if I don't feel a book is ready or working, I don't have to put it out. And right now that's how I'm feeling about Reunion. It's so far off where I would like it to be that I think it's broken beyond repair. So I'm going to focus on other things:
Bones and my Rebecca finalist Revived both went to my editor last week as she found herself ahead of schedule. So you may get the second Venus Ascendant story this year after all. No promises! I still don't have an official title for it yet, and frankly I don't know what I'm thinking. Four sets of edits on the go at once? Insane.

Happenings

I'm part of a huge Scifi and Fantasy event starting tomorrow and running until the 29th, with 56 top SF, UF, and Fantasy titles going on sale, free or discounted. There's also a big giveaway - two Kindle Paperwhites, one US and one UK (UK contests are so rare I strongly recommend going for this!), plus Amazon giftcards. It'll be open to US and UK entries from the 27th. For the occasion, my urban fantasy/superhero romance novella When Dark Falls is part of the event, and is reduced to 99 cents/99 pence until the end of April. Superheroes for the win!

A Superhero Romance Novella
Goodreads | Webpage 
Amazon | Kobo | B&N
iTunes | Smashwords | ARe
Print edition
Amazon | CreateSpace | B&N
The Book Depository

Next month I will be celebrating Keir's fourth book birthday and my fourth anniversary as a published author. It will also be my 23rd wedding anniversary. Together with seven other awesome SFR authors, we'll be holding the Blue Moon Blog Tour later in May for your entertainment! There'll be posts on the blue theme, and a rafflecopter giveaway including books and giftcards.

The Portals project is coming! If you stopped by to read Laurie's post yesterday, you'll know there's an exciting set of scifi romance volumes coming up - first chapters from a variety of authors in varying subgenres. Looking for love in an alternative world? Portals will take you there for free...

Back to my mountain of edits...

Redesigning A Cover

Current Cover

The conversation with Dani ran something like this -

"Would you like to do an updated cover for The Bones of the Sea?"
I looked at the current cover. To be fair, it does look a little...shabby...compared to Keir and Terms & Conditions Apply. "Do you think Bones of the Sea needs a new cover? I know the text isn't great - I did that myself and the image was just a stock photo from Dreamstime." And despite having had GIMP for two years, I still can't figure out how to use it to put decent titles on my own cover art. Plus it is just a single stock image, one anybody can buy and use. But still...
"The text could be better, but I think it's a pretty good cover. I like the image."
I love the image but I would like the text to be better so we go for that. And so begins a day of ranting on Twitter, as not only do I fail to find the stock image on my memory sticks (always back up ALL your stuff, people!), but the DVD disk drive on my computer packs up. Argh!

Then Dani comes to the rescue and sends me this -

I was actually speechless. I LOVED it! Without even a discussion over image ideas, Dani had picked up on the key elements I'd always wanted in the cover but had neither the skills nor resources to achieve myself back when I published it in May 2011. I'd used a bought single stock image, with some text added - a wonderful image that I loved and I felt was evocative - but also easily available to anyone else to buy. This was just a rough draft she'd put together to get my thoughts on. And once I'd seen it, I wanted it.

Anyone who has read the story should be able to immediately identify with the image. Seeing this threw any plans of mine simply to put new text on the old cover. But the amount of bubbles meant that even at this size it was hard to make out the diver. At thumbnail - which is how most people will see it when browsing - it becomes impossible. So, much as I loved it, tweaking was needed. Below are three more versions, each with a tweak.

Larger Diver

No bubbles

Different diver

Dani wasn't prepared to give up tweaking until I was completely happy with the cover, and I have to say she's a joy to work with and one very talented lady. So this is my final new shiny cover for my free scifi short The Bones of the Sea - designed by Danielle Fine. Ta da!

Isn't it purty?! This will be replacing the old cover over the next week - I need to make adjustments to the interior of the book before re-uploading it to Smashwords. In the meantime, I highly recommend checking out Dani's website here if you're on the hunt for a cover design. (pssst, she also does editing and book trailers!).

In other news...

Action!

It's #pitchwars! This is "an upcoming event where agented authors, industry interns, and editors team up with aspiring writers to shine up their manuscripts and pitches to present to some awesome agents." You can check out all the details here. Currently the submission window is open until the 5th December for you to pick three mentors from the list (check carefully who is accepting what genres, as many are looking for those outside their normal preferred genre to read or write!) and submit your query and the first five pages of your manuscript. I have my mentors chosen and my query all ready to go, I just haven't...submitted yet. >.< This will be my first time pitching so I admit to being nervous. Yes, even with two book contracts under my belt. O.o There's also the #pitchMAS workshop on the 5th December here and you can see which agents and editors are judging the pitches here. The best of luck if you're taking part in either or both of those.

Discoveries

In line with Laurie's post about the latest space news, an article on io9 has shown the possibilities of exploring beyond our own solar system are getting closer to a reality rather than remaining a science fiction idea. Warp drive! Physicist Harold White is convinced he has a theory that will result "in an engine that can transport a spacecraft to the nearest star in a matter of weeks — and all without violating Einstein's law of relativity." Of course it's all theory at the moment - there's no time scale on when this might happen, but his convictions seems to take it from being more a case of if to when. So, it's unlikely in my lifetime - unless one of those technological leaps occurs - but perhaps our grandchildren will be hopping from one star to another in a matter of weeks. It's a wonderful thing to consider. You can read the entire article here.

Pippa's Journal - Inaugural Post

Hello! *waves* As the new girl onboard I thought I'd better introduce myself before progressing to more insane ramblings. So hi, my name is Pippa Jay - author, blogger and self-proclaimed goddess of angst. I'm extremely honoured to be joining the Spacefreighters Lounge.

What else can I tell you? I'm a UK author with a US publisher, which makes life a little interesting. I fell into writing sfr by mistake - I'd always thought of myself as a straight scifi author but my characters decided otherwise and now I don't seem able to write anything in speculative fiction without a dash of romance. I can't say I'm sorry about that in the least. For twelve years I worked as an Analytical Chemist in the Metals and Minerals industry, but I've been a stay-at-home mum for the last decade. I started writing Keir in 2009 as a way to save my sanity, although my husband views my literary endeavours as proof that I completely lost it, lol!

Action!

So, in July 2011 I signed a contract with Lyrical Press Inc for my sfr novel Keir, which now has a release date of 7th May--less than 100 days from now! To say I'm excited is an understatement of epic proportions. :) I've already got dates and places lined up for the virtual book tour which will run from the 1st May (Beltane) until the 14th, and you can find the itinerary on my blog here. There's also several guest posts scheduled by visiting authors, and a couple of blog hops including a day of sfr related posts and events over at Backward Momentum for the 14th February which will be well-worth a visit! 

In the meantime, I'm trying to get a scifi short finished and self-published on Amazon, have a scifi novella and an sfr short story out on submission, and I'm trying to hammer out the flaws in my sequel to Keir ready for submission. However, an sfr novella that grabbed my muse over Christmas - Tethered - is proving a constant distraction, especially after the blurb for it won the SFR Brigade Pitch contest last month. :) I also have a free scifi short - The Bones of the Sea - up on Smashwords.com. It was an experiment, both in terms of writing a short story, something I've had difficulty confining myself to, and as a self-publishing project. At the time I'd yet to know my first contract would be coming my way.

Bookshelf

I've just finished reading the third book that I set as part of my SFR Reading Challenge 2012 but have yet to review it. I've been posting the reviews here as I go. So far I'd heartily recommend Nebula's Music by Aubrie Dionne (a fellow Lyrical author) which is scifi with romantic elements. Also a stunning sfr read is Ambasadora by Heidi Ruby Miller. Heidi has a second book set in the same universe coming out later this month, so I'll be adding that one to my TBR pile. :)

Ping Pong

At Laurie on subject of prophecy. Considering the number of Armageddon predictions that seem to have cropped up over the last few years, I worry that at some stage mankind might seek to make them self-fulfilling. I don't believe in the ability to predict the future completely, because surely the knowledge would alter the certainty. However I do believe in the ability to foresee a vague shape of the future, whether by individuals or as a global consciousness. I believe in premonitions because I've had them myself. 'Interesting' is a word I find myself using a lot, and I agree times are interesting. A disturbing thought since "May you live in interesting times" is apparently a Chinese curse!

The Bare Bones of Inspiration

I'd like to thank author Pippa Jay for guest blogging today at Spacefreighters Lounge.  I got to know Pippa through the Six Sentence Sunday exercise, and became intrigued with her thought-provoking and well-crafted excerpts. We've been exchanging thoughts and ideas on writing and publishing ever since. 

When I read her recently published short story, I was highly impressed with her visual prose and the dilemma her main character faces, and asked if she'd be interested in guest blogging. 

The Bare Bones of Inspiration
by Pippa Jay

I see authors being asked this question all the time: “Where did you get your inspiration from?” In truth, there are as many answers given as there are books: music, art, family, scientific discoveries; anything and everything. Sometimes certain stories have one single spark that brought them to life. Sometimes you have to search for them. Sometimes you have to really dig …

“Oh, damn!”

Aggrieved sigh from husband. “What?”

“My tutor said that final assignment didn’t count as a short story. Said it wasn’t complete.” Well, a 1500 word limit when I’ve been writing 40K plus for a year was always going to be a challenge.

“Did you fail?”

“Oh, no, I passed. Not as good a mark as I was hoping for, but I passed.” Guess I wasn’t teacher’s pet.

“What are you worried about then?”

“Well, I wish I could write short stories. I guess I’m no good at them.”

Husband makes a disapproving noise. “Now you sound like our eldest.” Mimics the whining tone of our petulant, eight-year-old daughter. “I can’t doooo it! It’s toooooo hard!”

“Oh, shut up!”

Husband’s eyebrows raise. “Well …”

A few weeks later and I’m sitting on a stony beach with the sun blazing down and a chill wind skimming off the water. The children are throwing pebbles into the estuary, their laughter a distant sound. Behind me, the scraggy grasses clinging to the dunes hiss and whisper loudly as the sea breeze dances through them. Strangely it’s very soothing, if a tad cold. It’s a little like waking up from a deep sleep - - a bit hazy, nothing quite real.

Among the stones and sand lay hundreds of shells, thousands of them. Cockles mostly, though there are plenty of oyster shells, a delicacy for which Mersea is famous and that drew the conquering Romans to ancient Britain. A few whelks, winkles and mussels. Pieces of driftwood. String, odd feathers, bits of sea-smoothed glass and the inevitable tatters of plastic. The Bones of the Sea, I thought, and the thought stuck. I started scooping the shells and smaller pieces of driftwood into a pile. “Darrin?”

“Hmm?”

“What does ‘Bones of the Sea’ make you think of?”

“Er, dunno.” Silence for a moment. “Whale bones?”

Big curving rib bones at the bottom of the dark, dark sea. I poke some of the sticks of wood into the ground, making a circle into which I pile the shells, working without any real thought. An image comes to mind, the cover of one of my favorite books: Drowntide by Sydney J Van Scyoc. A shadowy figure hovering in murky water. My weird construction looks like bony fingers reaching up out of the sand, with all those empty dead shells in the center. And in among them is the glimmer of an idea, the start of a story. The Bones of the Sea.

Three thousand words later and I have a story. A short story. A moral sci-fi tale tied into the same Universe as my main manuscripts. It’s had 126 downloads so far and four readers have left five-star reviews. People seem to like it. And all it is came from what I saw in a pile of shells and a few sticks on the beach.

So now let me ask you: Where does your inspiration come from? And what’s the weirdest thing that’s sparked an idea for you?