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Robin John Morgan shares his thoughts on Life, Writing, Publishing and HTTK

Posts Tagged adventure

Revue of 2012.

Dec 27

Posted by Rob in Revue of 2012, The Writer | No Comments

Its that time of year again, where most of us look back at the year gone, and look in hope to the coming New Year. I think there will be a very large amount of people around the world this year praying for something to change, as 2012 has been for just about everyone a very turbulent and difficult year. The global financial melt down of a few years ago has finally kicked in, and this year all of us felt the bite as people of the every nation have had to pay for the mistakes and greed of the very rich few. Talking as I do to people online or on the streets, the feeling of injustice is rife, and I think it is warranted, although knowing how the bankers have used their influence over the years, I think that they will wriggle out of it as they have in the past.

For everyone its been difficult, and for myself personally it has been a bit of a roller coaster year that started with some terrible news of a family member struck down with the threat of a terminal illness that had a very profound effect on me deeply, and changed some of my ways of thinking. That was followed up with troubles for my mother that stretched throughout the year making life at times very stressful to deal with, and for a while in the middle of the year, I lost my ability to focus and write, something that has never happened to me before, and that really tested my limits of endurance, as I fought my frustrations to redefine my focus and continue with the writing. There has been a lot more than usual for the shredder this year, poor thing, I think I have pushed it to the limit.

Summer was wet, again a frustration that encroached on my time outdoors in the garden, although I was still able to walk with the trees above my head, and watch my children splash in the puddles. I spent a great deal of time watching the rain run down the windowpane making notes for the moment when I could focus my mind on reaching the climax to the series of Heirs to the kingdom.

The landscape in the book world has changed again this year, and in the early part of the year printed books sales appeared to die, casting a bad omen for every writer. Like all other writers, I thought about digital books, and when I was emailed to inform mw that the Moby site had been taken down, I contacted my Publisher to discover that I no longer had digital copies of my books available. Over the month that followed and subsequent emails the New Digital Kindle editions were made available via the publisher, and I was pleased to see that in that first week quite a few copies were being downloaded, I must confess I am not a fan of Digital, and was sceptical as to whether or not the books would look decent on such a small screen, and although I am not 100% happy with how they look, the feed back from those who bought them was positive and gave me a lift.

Early winter saw a big change for me, as my wife took the Jaded Opals stall out on her own for the first time, its not been the best of years for bookings, but when the chance came up to run it for seven weeks, she took it and left me at home to look after the kids and focus on the writing. It felt so strange not having her there as I wrote to comment on my thoughts, and although I had written a few new things, I made the most of the quiet moments to look at HTTK and think of ways to improve on we have available to date.

Income has been hard to find this year, creating the largest frustration of all for me, as I have not been able to get the fourth book in the series out. Behind the scenes I have gone through a wide spectrum of emotion as I stressed myself out trying to force an issue that was not going to happen. I was bent all out of shape not wanting to let the readers down, and it did me no good as it just added to my frustrations, but finally with a few calming words from my wife, I accepted my fate and found I had clarity to move forward. With no book out, I have had to focus on promotion, and so for the last quarter of the year that has been my plan. On Facebook there has been an increase in what we post, which has included excerpts from the first three books, and behind the scenes I have worked on changing some of the pages to the website, as well as including some new ones.

I think a more positive outlook had a big effect on the world around me, as I saw my family member who had fought all year with ill health grow steadily stronger and better, there is still some way to go, but I feel positively thrilled that they have come through the worst and have it under control. My Mum who has struggled in terror, has moved to a new house, and that has solved most of her issues talking a huge load off my shoulders, and the best thing of all is that I found my stride and continued with a renewed vigour on the final book in the series, completing a full 24 chapters to date, with enough notes to write possibly another six books (Just joking this is the last one).

Feeling a lot more at ease and more creative than I have been in a long time, I took my notes and began work in mid December on a new aspect of the web site. On Boxing Day I put up the first of a series of interviews and situations experienced by a man I have named Gordon Waggstaff. He is a writer who runs the postal service out of Mottram on the edge of the Peak District. The idea behind this project is that this allows me to run a blog like newssheet from the heart of the woodland realm. I know I run the blog from the HTTK website, but this news letter known as the Tribune Today, allows me to give a view of life directly from the woodland realm at the moment the story happens. I have a quite a bit of work to do back dating some of the articles, but this also allows me to fill in the time gaps between some of the books, as well as provide more details and information of the life our hero and those around him live.

Editing HTTK always sees the loss of a few things, so the Tribune is a way of including them using the website as a vehicle to do so. Its still very early days, but hopefully it will bring another fun and interesting aspect to the whole of the HTTK experience. In my mind, I can only try and hope that you all enjoy it. Some early feedback has been positive, so I can only hope it continues that way as the articles open up and expand on the storyline.

Facebook has been difficult this year, they have made a lot of new changes of which most of them have restricted the way in which I send out posts and updates. They are starting to show their corporate credentials as they push to make page holders like myself pay for the content I post. I have to confess that if that becomes the case, I will not have the income to continue on Facebook, and so I have tried and will be trying a few methods to help get round the difficulties. The most obvious first attempt is with the free books giveaway, The Kingdom Christmas Giveaway, which although is still quite small scale, has proven that there are a lot of people out there who are not aware of the books and would be interested in reading them, hopefully over the coming year I will find a few more ideas that will do something similar. It has always been the goal of my wife and myself to try and get the books into the mainstream to attract the attention of the public, as I do believe there are a lot of people who would enjoy what I write, so each time a books sells we are one step closer, and can only hope that they recommend the books to a friend or two. It is a long-term view of things, but for a relatively unknown author such as myself, it is the only way I can move my work forward. I have been given a great deal of hope this year, as I have seen authors similar to myself make giant steps forward in the book world by using social media to promote, and so at this point I must say a very special thank you to each and everyone of you who has given a moment of your time, to like a post, comment or recommend my books to a friend, I really cannot put into words how grateful I am to those who have supported me, and helped me spread the word of my writing. There have been some pretty dark moments for me this year, and it is through your efforts that I have felt the greatest encouragement and resisted the urge to throw in the towel and get a proper job, so thank you to all of you, it really is a heart warming aspect of my long days sat here at the desk.

So the New Year is almost here, and what do I have in store for you all? My priority is the fourth book, I want it out like yesterday, and so my attention and focus is to drive hard and do everything in my power to get the book out there and continue the story for all of you. I personally think each book has a feeling all of its own that is very different to the previous book, Dunnottar as those of you who have read it know was quite dark at times, so I am really excited about the fourth book, which was for a long time my favourite book to write. The book is very bright and quite fast paced compared to the previous books, and I think its quite emotional in parts as our hero has many changes in his life to deal with, Jade and Jett take on a whole new depth, as more of their future’s is revealed and some of those characters around the edges will come forward and shine as you learn more about them. There a some new villains to personify the evil ways of the Knox family, and as always the Dark One has been cooking up a few new frights for the Woodland fighters. So hopefully I will be able to bring it all to you as quickly as possible, and in between I will be posting on the Blog, Facebook and the website to hopefully thrill and entertain you to the best of my ability. Behind the scenes I want to finish the series and then look at a few other things I have plotted out, and maybe if things run a little smoother than 2012, I will be able to introduce you to other realms and other people living life in a whole number of differing ways.

As always I thank you for staying loyal to HTTK, and I hope that as we turn the corner of another year, that you all find peace and happiness, and enjoy your life in safety. My very best wishes to you all for 2013… Robin.

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Learning From The Green.

Nov 16

Posted by Rob in Learning From The Green, The Writer | No Comments

We all have a powerful attraction to an element in our own lives, be it the car we drive or the house we own, each and everyone of us shares an affinity with some other element of this life on earth. In my case my deepest attachment has always been to the wild world of the woodland filled with trees, I have never really understood or been able to explain it, there just feels like something within a woodland that captures my heart and fills me with a sense of who I am.

Throughout my life it has been something others have been curious of, and even thought was a little bit flaky about me, and even though I have been asked a thousand times why I love the wilderness more than the modern world, its not something I have ever been able to adequately explain, and I have thought deeply about it.

Recently I took my children out without my wife, which in itself is not a common occurrence, as we tend to make going out into the woods a family affair. It was for me a very enlightening experience, as I walked slowly along watching my children run and laugh, enjoying the open space. It got me pondering my own times as a small boy doing pretty much the same thing as my own children, who had become filled with curiosity by the wonder and diversity of the wild.

Adults tend to look at woodland in two ways depending on their persona, some see it as a restful place to walk and talk, and share some moments of relaxation and reflection. Then there are those who see it as a resource, something free that they can chop and crop to earn money and enhance their life in the modern world. As a child sharing a large open woodland with my brothers and friends, I realised it became something completely different. Children see the wild through untainted eyes, and in doing so they react more naturally with it than adults do, because they have not yet been indoctrinated with the complex rules of life, which man has spent the last two thousand years weaving into our society, to instruct us as to what is or isn’t acceptable behaviour.

Wild open fields and dense woodland provided a completely different way of life for my brothers and myself back in the seventies, especially if we could climb over the back fence and escape the gaze of our mother or the neighbours. Having looked back on those amazing wonderful and happy times with my brothers in deeper detail, I realised something, which has never really occurred to me. Children are ruled by logic and more importantly instinct, they are not guided by morality or what society deems to be acceptable, they do not hold back as adults have been taught to do, because of fear and reprisal, or carry any deep rooted prejudice, they simply become one with everything and experience everything on a one to one basis.

We are at heart Mammals, and whether we admit it or not, we have a great many deep-rooted instincts from our gatherer/hunter past, and our connection to the earth. Children still have these instincts and they are more finely tuned than us adults realise. A child allowed to run free exhibits a great deal of the wildness we all once held, and very quickly they become one with their environment. I can certainly say that my brothers and myself did, as we explored each and every aspect of the world that lay just over the garden fence.

Being allowed off the leash we instantly lost all of the disciplines of being in the house under the view of a parent. We found a space where we could be our own natural selves, with no need for pretence or modified behaviour, and we did run wild and free and it was a glorious and wonderful experience to feel that connection with the natural world. Growing up out of view of the adults in a leafy green filled world gave us the ability to learn about whom we were, and whom those around us were. All of us had strengths and weaknesses, and we built a strong bond of understanding between us because of it. The wilderness taught to be resourceful, and how to construct by simple den making, or building a dam to create a swimming pond on the small stream. We learned to navigate using the many paths that wove through the trees, and overcame some of our fears climbing trees and making rope swings. We found isolated spots where we could sit alone and become at ease with ourselves, and as we developed as people, it gave us the confidence to be who we are today.

Like all families we have been through the good and the bad times, we have squabbled and argued and spent time apart, and yet somehow we have always found a way of overcoming our disagreements and meeting again as brothers. I know at this point they will once again think I am being flaky, but I do think that the bond we forged in an all natural environment is why we can find a way back from whatever we may have fallen out about. I think those times of being natural around each other allowed us to show the true sense of who we are to each other, and in doing so, we know we can overcome anything in life, as we did when we worked together out in the wilds on a project as brothers.

Today as I look back on what was one of the happiest times of my life, I think I have started to understand a great deal more about why I became the person I am today. Unlike the children of these modern times, I was not cotton balled by a parent who was afraid to let me out of view for fear of being abducted or hurt. There was no computer technology to lock me in the house and spend my day’s endlessly pressing buttons in hope of killing an animated villain. I learned from nature, and more importantly, I learned how to respond to nature, and it has imprinted on me deeper than I realised, for long after my brothers wandered off with their friends and built their own lives, I continued my association with the trees and fields of my home town, and did finally choose the path of Horticulture, such was my love of all things living.

In many ways I think being given the chance to unlock those instincts, which to be honest date back to the early times of mankind, has changed me on a very deep level. I walk a great deal and take a lot of joy from the simplicity of Nature, more than likely because my knowledge is deeper than a lot of others, who have never had the experiences I had as a child. I certainly know that when I meet with my brothers and we talk, I see the happiness on their faces, and I know that for them the memory is just as deep, but I think for me personally, it is not just the memories of that time that have had such a deep affect on me, it is probably more knowing how it made me feel deep down. When you have drank from a stream, or climbed the tallest tree to feel the wind in your hair, or smelt the deep rich scent of the soil and grass as you bask sweating, lay down in the bright sun, something does awaken inside you, and you feel very different as a result of it. I am sure many of those who read this blog will fully understand what I mean, especially if they were raised during or before the seventies. I think since that time more and more of the green wild spaces have disappeared beneath the buildings of modern man, or been fenced off forever, and sadly less and less children have had the freedom and chance to fully experience it. I do think we pander too much and cotton ball our children, as fear has taken over and added to the endless rules from society of what is and is not acceptable, and as a result I think we are depriving children of something very valuable.

To experience the sort of freedom I had when I was a child, I think opens your mind and enriches your life, I learned so much about myself, the world, and those around me and it prepared me for life. It taught me to question when I was told it was wrong to be natural in my thoughts and feelings, and it gave me the confidence to listen to my instincts and allow them to guide me. Feeling that sense of being free and at one with everything is a powerful feeling, and maybe for those who try to guide the rest of society it is not a good thing, as it does erode control, but I honestly think I am blessed because of it and I want my children to experience it as I did, so that they too know and understand that not everything suggested by society is the right thing for them, they will at least have a choice.

Today I have finally left Horticulture after almost 30 years, and become a writer, and yet the influence of my youth and a life of loving all that grows around me, has seeped through on to the pages of my books, and I think I have reached a point where even I can understand why I have such a deep affinity with the green world, and I can finally answer those questions. Put very simply, if I was a character in Heirs to the kingdom, there is no doubt at all I would be a woodsman.

The sense of being free inside and using nature as my guide has driven me forward for the largest part of my life, there can be no going back, which is probably why I walk out of sync with the rest of the world that surrounds me. I think mankind has lost its way, we have become far too occupied with money and possessions, it is nice to have a little of everything as its adds to life. I think we have now begun a process of hiding behind stone walls protecting what is ours, and we have forgotten to look over the wall at what else is out there. We have as a race become prisoners of our own making, writing the rules of society and its conduct, so much so that we failed to see we have given up something so very important that has always defined us as people, our natural instincts, and that is a path that because of my youth I could never walk, and so for as long as live I think my strange affinity with the natural world will continue to be my guide, and thankfully although we are few, I know I am not alone.

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The real price of something for nothing.

Jul 26

Posted by Rob in The real price of something for nothing, The Writer | No Comments

There is quite the debate going on at the moment about the price of digital books, and the question is being asked why it is that they are being offered for such a low amount of money. I have heard all the arguments, the most quoted being that the consumer has grown use to low prices, and therefore demand cheaper books, and also that it is a cheaper route to publication, and so therefore should be cheaper, but somehow I feel sat here isolated from the rest of the world at my writing desk, that out of all the arguments within the debate, the one thing that appears to be lacking is the point of view of the Authors.

I cannot really speak for other author’s as I have only my own experience of writing, but I can say that for myself it is a very worrying trend and I do feel concerned about the way the larger global companies discount books and offer them at such low prices, often below the price they have paid themselves. Discounting is and has always been a large part of the printed book selling industry, but recent trends in the movement to digital has seen a sharp fall in the sales of printed books, and as more and more people switch over to one of the many digital devices, I fear my time as an author may be coming to an abrupt end, because with digital books selling at lower and lower prices, I find it hard to see how I will earn enough revenue to actually stay afloat.

I have just finished writing the latest in the series of books I have been working on since 2006, (Heirs to the Kingdom) and currently have three of the series out and the fourth is ready for publication. Obviously because this is a detailed series and I had been writing long before I got the first published in 2009, I am at an advanced stage in the writing process, and as you can see I am six years into it. I work every day of the week on the books, and due to the plot and the many layers within the books, I have a constant run of threads weaving through the series that have to be picked up and woven into them. The latest book in the series has taken me just over a year at 14 months to research and write, it has been a long drawn out process checking every step of the way that I have not missed out vital key issues from the previous books, and has also involved a great deal of research and fact finding missions, to ensure that the book comes across as being realistic, even though it is a work of fiction.

The research for the books can consist of Internet searches, book purchasing and reading up, or visiting locations that allow me to take photographs to aid in the process of writing accurately. All of this has a cost that is borne out by myself, I am like so many other writers out there working hard to establish myself in the world of fiction and trying to build a reputation for myself. I have used a self publishing company to get the books out, which not only has a cost for production, it also means I have to fund the costs of promotion, which has many related extra costs. I pay for the web site to remain up and running, and I also have to pay many of the various sites that feature my books, I try wherever possible to use as much free publicity as I can, but that is a shrinking market and so more often than not, a new site to help me promote comes at a cost.

I have spent six years writing almost full time, earning extra income selling jewellery which my wife makes, and purchasing my own books at wholesale to sell at events, its a low income way of living, but with some clever budgeting we survive as a family and push forward.  When I first decided to publish this series, I sat for a great deal of time with my wife, and we looked at our prospects, having researched the subject in full, it was never going to be easy, but we have managed and have taken the long term view of slowly building up the reputation and taking it one sale at a time. To date we have invested quite a sum of capital into this project, its pretty much almost everything we had, and we have after three years of hard work, recovered around 5% of what we have spent, it is indeed a very long term investment.

This article is not a complaint, its an honest appraisal of what myself and others have done, for I know that in this I am not alone. I love writing, it has taken me a very long time to pluck up the courage to put my work into print, and now that I have, I can honestly say I am happier than I have ever been, as I have finally found something that I love and adore as a working lifestyle. I do not mind that its taken the last 14 months to put together the latest episode of my series, I have no qualms at all knowing I will now move forward to check the book over and over to ensure it is to the highest possible standard before it goes of to be proof read, a process that will take possibly another six months of constant scrutiny, because at the end of the day I know that there is growing readership of people who will read my words and gain a great deal of enjoyment from them, but I have to ask one very important question.

Why is it when it comes to the world of books and writing, that my efforts have so little value?

My books are not in a digital format yet, and even though this is going to be the future of books, you must agree that to sell what will finally reach 20 months of work for less than the price of a birthday card is somewhat insulting?

I know of no other industry where a man’s life and work have such little value, and yet that is what the digital readers demand, which in my case is a detailed book of over 200 thousand words for less than £4. The mad thing is that is not even my share, as profits have to go to the distributor etc… I think it works out about the total value of a cheap cup of poor coffee per copy sold. I must have drunk over a million whist sat here writing the thing. I suppose the question is… If I offer you a job and pay you the same, would you consider it for more than a millisecond? Of course you wouldn’t, who would?

Publishing is one of very few industries that exploits its most valued asset, the creative source, and no matter what happens in the future that will remain unchanged. All writers know that the odds of making a living that can sustain life are very slender indeed. There are a few very lucky writers who hit at the right moment and they are the 3% that make it as a full time writer reaping the rewards of their labour, the rest of us keep going in hope that one day someone out there will read our work and hopefully recommend it to their friends, which at the end of the day is how books become known, its no different to acting or dancing, all of us are waiting for that all important break, and some of us will never get it, but we live in the slim hope we may if we persevere. We love what we do, and we are happy doing it, but do not insult us beyond that, have the decency to understand how much time and effort goes into the process, and offer us a fair price for it. Digital may appear a cheaper option, but the costs are not really that much different from print for an author, it should be a cheaper version I agree, but lets keep the price a little fairer. It matters not how you read a book, whether its print or digital it has value, because for the reader it an experience that provides joy and excitement, and for the author it is often more than a year of their life.

Hopefully this will shed a little light which I feel enlightens the view, I shall remain a writer no matter what happens, and I shall see where that takes me, one thing I do know is that its going to be an interesting journey.

 

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Nature moans into the sky?

Jan 24

Posted by Rob in Nature moans into the sky? | No Comments

As anyone who knows me well knows, I do love the weird and the strange, after all I am the creator of Harry and Maggs, but recently around the world there has been a series of phenomena that has well and truly caught my imagination, and it is more relevant to me personally considering it’s the year of 2012.

For those of you new to my writing, I am currently in the middle of a series of fantasy adventures named Heirs to the Kingdom, which are based in the year of 2038, set against the background of a deadly virus (Red Death) that was unleashed by Nature 26 years earlier (2012) to curb the destruction of the world by man. So yes as the world stands fuddled and tries to work out the recent phenomena of strange sounds in the sky, I am delighted that it is being referred to as the sounds of Nature moaning in distress.

I will add that at the time of setting up my story which was in the late 1980’s I had not at that time heard of the Mayan calendar and the so called end of the world in 2012. I just chose the date as it fitted in nicely with the exhaustive list of generations I had followed for my hero, to link in well with his past, I was a little chilled to the bone when a good friend of mine handed me an article many years later that gave the prediction for the end of the world in this same year, and considering the time it has taken in between working self employed for many years, I never thought I would reach this year whilst in the middle of publishing the story.

I now feel somewhat delighted to find the many videos on Youtube of people stood frozen and unnerved as they hear the strange moans and wails coming down from the sky, and although I have absolutely no idea of what is causing it, all I can say is “Look to the coming of a Bowman,” and “prepare for death, for it is coming and its colour is red.”

I am delighted, but also curious, as I have been out in the woodland in all weather, and at all times of day and night, and I thought I knew pretty much every sound made by Nature, but even for myself, this is a very new experience and I am rather enjoying it, although if you are some of the few who have not heard it yet, then click the link below and have a listen, this article which has many serious and comical answers on it, also contains some of the best clips of this strange unearthly sound, and I will say when you first hear it, it is indeed quite eerie and unnerving.

I know I should not really exploit it, but I have to admit this is a little bit more of a coincidence than I ever expected.

 

Click the link and see what you think

http://dorsi.hubpages.com/hub/Strange-sounds-in-the-sky-from-around-the-world

 

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Modern Life

Jan 17

Posted by Rob in HTTK, Modern Life | No Comments

 

            In my series of books ‘Heirs to the kingdom’ I create a way of life that is new and developing, built from the ashes of the hectic modern life we all know today. In moments throughout the entire series my characters look back and question the past, which for us is the life we know now. The picture I paint is not a rosy one, and in my discussions with those who have read the books, it is often the main topic that is discussed, and there are a few who feel my picture of life today is far more gloomy than it needs to be, and it never surprises me that those who question my view, are actually aged under 35 years of age.

            I was born in the early sixties and grew up into my teenage years throughout the seventies, a decade I still think was the best for being a teenager. I have very deep and happy memories of those times, and I remember Britain as it was back then, and I am not simply being nostalgic, compared to the way we live today, it does feel like it was a completely different way of living, and I have to confess, I feel saddened that we no longer hold dear the values that we shared back then. Times were very different in My England, because to me, back then it felt like My England, simply because I actually felt like I was involved in it.

            It is impossible to get those who were born after to fully understand, because living in a community and around people who genuinely looked out for each other is an experience you have to have lived in order to fully comprehend it. Britain in the seventies had its faults and its problems, yet below the surface people were very different than they are now. Its sounds so silly, and yet when I walked with my mother down the road, people who were often strangers would greet her, with a polite hello, or take the time to ask how she was, so unlike today, where the few who are on foot, rush past you without so much as looking at you, in their pressing need to accomplish the tasks of their busy day.

            Life for everyone was a struggle, no one really had a huge amount of money, we all budgeted and saved for the few things we owned, we treasured and cared for our possessions, and we worked very hard for the little we had. Life was simple and straight forward, crime was nothing like it is today, and even the local few criminals actually worked with their own code of honour, its almost comical to think of now. If I had to pinpoint one specific point that stands out more than any other to mark life as it was back then, (and I have given this many years of thought,) I would say more than anything else, the one thing that stands out clearest of all from those times in my youth, would have to be the very simple use of showing respect. It is something I find lacking in today’s culture ,and I feel the decay of the eighties and nineties has simply rotted it from our daily life. I often smile as I am served in a busy local shop, when I present myself with a courteous approach as I request my items and pay with a bright cheerful thank you. It does stop people in their tracks, and I see how much of difference it makes, maybe it reminds them like it does me, of a time long gone.

            Britain changed in the eighties and nineties, personally I think the love of money and wealth has got a little bit out of control, although it should not entirely be given the blame. There was a time when every English man was proud of the country he lived in, and he served his community with pride. Playing a role at a local level was something to take pride in, but as we modernised and changed to larger regional councils and authorities, I think we all got lost at a local level and became confused about where our loyalties lay. Our high streets have disappeared as we took the car to the one large supermarket, leaving line after line of estate agents, tanning salons and empty shops on our main streets, and somewhere along the lines we have stopped talking to our neighbours. We use to buy and cook our own food, but now it is cooked and packed in plastic for us to heat up in our microwaves, there has been a revolution in sex, and its orientation, bringing more changes and confusion to our daily lives, religions have sprouted everywhere, confusing the masses more of where their beliefs should lie, and marriage has slipped to the point where it now matches the numbers of common law unions. Corporations have grown into giants, eating up all the competition, and the prices of cheap imports have devalued everything, including how we view each other. The banks have been de regulated to a point where they have brought this country to its knees, and all of this has been done in the name of making life easier for the masses, but honestly, has it?

            Call me a sceptic, but personally I think we have all been conned. The craving for power and influence has overtaken everything, and we have become drones trudging along to the beat of an industry geared up to make you feel so worthless, you buy more with your shrinking purse to feel better about yourself. Well that is my view of England today, innocence has been murdered and respect banished forever, and life I feel is anything but simple. I would gladly travel back to the past of my youth and live a simple life where I had choice and understood my place in the world, sadly with all of high tech wizardry of modern life I cannot, and so I visit the life that appeals to me between the pages of the books I write, and funnily enough, I do find there are a quite a few others out there who have chosen to walk with me.

            Having looked at the world today, I can only feel that we are moving too fast, and I think that the average person is getting left behind, and we seem to be caught in a trap of not being able to understand or choose the direction we should as human beings go in, at the expense of losing something that most people regard as precious. If a modern future is to be had at the expense of losing those all important values from our heritage, isn’t now the time to seriously look at where we are all going to end up? For years now we have changed things simply for the sake of progress, and yet we appear to benefit less. Technology has taken giant strides, and I cannot deny we have all had areas of our life improved as a result, but is the technology now reaching beyond that of our grasp as a simple human beings? I think it is, and as we surround ourselves with more and more possessions, I can only ask do we really need all this simply to exist and be happy?

           England and the British Isles are now a multi national and multi faith society, and I have no problems with tolerance and diversity, after all we are all human beneath our clothing, but a great deal has come at the sacrifice of our identity within this country, and linked with the introduction of so many different changes to our lifestyle, I think people in general have become lost and confused, swallowed into the daily routine that dictates who we are and what we should become. Surely there has to be some point where we can no longer continue as we are, after all the one thing we do know from history is that all Empires eventually fall. Recent days within the banking industry has highlighted the signs of strain on our way of life, are the days of Modern Man numbered? I can only speculate about the future, and one direction the world could take, I have highlighted that in my writing, and I do believe that only a catastrophic disaster will end the world as we know it and give us the chance to rebuild in a way more fitting for the community based way of life we once knew in the past. If it does happen, lets hope we use more common sense and less political correctness, and greed to address the way we live, and treat each other more respectfully, so that everyone will understand the importance of those around them, as we all once did. 

          I am labelled ‘Dreamer’ for my views, and in many ways I am, after all I have chosen the path of a writer, but it was once said that the dreamers of the world chose to take the giant steps that inspire man to move forward, and if making another person think about our world influences a change, surely that must be a good thing. I have created a world in which I would feel very much at home, and if I am honest, because I chose to write about it, I do spend a great deal of my time living within it, I just think it would be wonderful to put down my pen, turn around, and find I am still there.

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Simple Symbolism (Writing depth)

Dec 18

Posted by Rob in HTTK, Simple Symbolism (Writing depth) | No Comments

Blue Butterfly

The butterfly

      When I first began to write The Heirs to the kingdom, I wanted the story to be a simple tale that would captivate and inspire the reader. But being the person I am, and a lover of tales with many meanings, I also wanted to create a story, which could have many layers that if the reader so wished, they could strip them away to look deeper into the story and the characters.

     In the heirs to the kingdom, I have employed many different techniques to add greater depth, such as word play, name meanings, and cryptic rhymes, although in most cases I have kept them very simple, but in one area more than most I have used a great deal of symbolism. The Character of Runestone comes across in the books as being a simple living, deeply caring, attractive young woman, in whom my lead character is very much in love with, and yet she is without doubt, the hardest character to write as she is the most complex of all the characters in the books.

     For Runestone I have employed a huge amount of simple symbolism around her, to help reinforce whom she is as the complex woman learning to deal with the many talents for magic and life buried deep within her. I spent a long time putting her character together as I took small parts of many people with whom I had interacted over the years, and then looked for a symbol that would encompass of the qualities that fitted her. The symbol I chose was one that at its most basic level, everyone could identify with, and as I began to work on the second book, I started to weave it into her story and created the union of Runestone with the Butterfly.

     I love butterflies, I am sure you do too, for me and many ancient civilizations, it is the ultimate symbol of freedom and the beauty of the wild countryside, and also the most identified symbol of Nature, all of which are important in linking in with Runestone. The butterfly can be seen almost on a daily basis in today’s modern life, as it is used in a million different ways in our culture today, such is the power of this insect for which many of us only manage to get a fleeting glimpse each year. 

     For thousands of years it has been heralded as the ultimate natural symbol of women, and it has been linked with the qualities of serene beauty and feminine demure. It was once thought of as the carrier of knowledge, due to the fact that it possessed the ability to travel freely within the world and evade the watchful eye of man. Runestone use it to carry messages and also her magical power of life to her grandfather, and also the high lord of the woodland. The Celts linked it with the power to transcend this world and visit other realms to explain its fleeting sightings in the summer, mainly due to the fact that its life was so short lived and therefore it was absent from the landscape for the majority of the year, and explained away as being in another world.

     The most important link with Runestone and the butterfly is that of the transformation from one being into another. As the story of HTTK begins, Rune is a young girl approaching womanhood (A physical transformation) and as the story proceeds throughout the entire series, she embarks on a change from the young woman into the female magical entity her destiny has preordained for her. Nothing symbolises this more than the transformation of a plain nondescript caterpillar, into the creature of abject beauty and wonder that it becomes when it emerges from the chrysalis. It paints a potent image, and helps explain what is really going on mentally, physically and spiritually with Runestone.

     One thing that has always appealed to me, is this transformation from one state of being into another, helps mankind understand that change is always possible. No matter what we do, or where we end up, we have this wonderful symbol to inspire us, and yes, we can all change if we want to.

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Alternative venues for Authors.

Oct 18

Posted by Rob in Alternative Venues for Authors. | No Comments

     For most writers the experience of actually writing is a very solitary one, and that is very much the case for myself. I find that I need a certain amount of isolation when writing just so that I can fully concentrate on the story and nothing else, after all writers want to do their very best for their readers.

     Having said that, it is a wonderful and in many ways liberating experience to switch off the computer and head outdoors, to meet and greet those who are actively interested in what I write about. Such was the case last weekend where I packed up my computer and a box or two of stock, and headed to Bolton in the northwest of the UK to participate in the Autumn Festival, a medieval based markets event.

     Bolton has a rich medieval past and was once my home, so for myself it is a place that is close to my heart. I have been involved with this festival for some time now as a trader, I began by selling my plant stocks there, and as my horticultural business dwindled, I continued by using the event to help publicise my HTTK books. I share a modest stand with my fiancée who has her Jaded Opals jewellery business, and we don our costumes and join in to help make the event fun for everyone. It is a wonderful family event and our two children join in, and in many ways I suppose it is an odd sort of place to find an author and his work, but for me that is part of the appeal.

     With two books on display and a third being heavily advertised for release in the coming month, I am now in a position where I can talk to people who have read the first two books, and it is without doubt a rich and very enlightening experience. One particular member of the public already comes to mind as I write this, I think it was the way that her eyes sparkled, and her smile as she spoke to me about my second book, which has kept the memory of her visit so prominent in my thoughts. Seeing the enjoyment of someone who has read the books is simply wonderful to behold, to hear another person actually talk with great affection for those characters I have spent so many hours creating, really does warm my heart.

     In many ways it reminds me so much of my youth, and when I read some of my favourite books, and I do feel a little cheated, as I have never had the opportunity to talk to those great authors who I admire so much about their own work. I must confess I would have loved nothing more than to sit with Tolkein, or Harper Lee and let them know of the excitement I felt stir deep inside me as I ingested every line of their stories, and so as a new author especially, I feel that being available to those who wish to share their thoughts of the books is particularly important. I have never expected to be the biggest selling author, but to those few of you who have read the books and come along to support me, I am happy that you have enjoyed them, and it was delightful to have had the experience of meeting you all at such a wonderful event.

     Today’s publishing industry is in a state of flux, and many authors like myself are experiencing the wastelands, as publishing houses shrink their lists of authors and focus on household names. Self publishing is becoming the fastest growing area of publishing as more and more of us find it impossible to get a foot in the door, events such as the Autumn Festival may seem like an odd place to promote, yet more and more authors are now being forced to go it alone, and seek out places that they can meet and sell directly to the public. With large online and chain store retailers slashing the prices of books, it does look like it is a good deal for the public, but it is getting harder for authors to make a living, and our only means of survival will be to find other venues. I think this will become a fairly standard practice for authors, especially new one like myself, as it is our only means of being able to earn enough money to continue writing. On a more personal note I actually think it is better for us, listening and responding to the readers is the life blood of a writer, and that public engagement is actually immensely inspiring. I have really enjoyed my chance to get out there and be seen, and I hope there will be many more events in the future to set up my pitch alongside my family, and let all of you see what I have done and maybe give you a few hints about what I am about to do.

     To have your support is very humbling, and it adds to the joy of writing, and I feel very grateful for it, until we meet at yet another event I wish you well, and send you my deepest thanks, and look forward to our next encounter.

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Injecting reality into fantasy.

Feb 2

Posted by Rob in HTTK, Injecting reality into fantasy. | No Comments

            I first began to write the story of Heirs to the kingdom, as a made up addition to blend the folklore stories I told my daughter as a young child, and bring them into a more up to date setting. I had no idea at the time how the tale would expand, and allow me the pleasure of seeing its effect on the many who have began to read it as published work. Back then I jotted down notes so that I could keep the story consistent, more as a means of ensuring my daughter did not spot my inability to remember parts that for her had become special.

            By the time my daughter had grown up, and I actually had the time to sit and think about some of the stories I wanted to write, HTTK had become an elaborate catalogue of notes, filed in some disarray, but none the less a very comprehensive and detailed guide to the first outline of the series. Writing the first draft was not that difficult, as I had told the story thousands of times to my daughter aged four, and it flowed off the printer, a relatively painless experience. At this point I must confess that this has been a story I have worked on off and on for over 15 years, as it held a special place in my heart, and although it was at first somewhat of a child’s tale, it had in parts evolved into a more adult story over time. 

            The very first draft was well received by the few I allowed to read it, but I felt it lacked a great deal, and did not feel real enough to live on the pages. Looking back now I know that the time was not quite right, and the story needed a deeply thought out injection of reality, and it was in the following months as I struggled to hold my shop against the local council who wanted to demolish it, that the reality of HTTK was to become very apparent.

            In the later parts of 2007, I finally lost my shop to the all powerful force of the local council, who under a great deal of pressure finally accepted some of my terms, it was not the best deal on earth, but for the sake of my health, and to end the pressure’s and stress of over a year of living hell, I found a compromise that gave me a chance to end on my own terms. The Christmas and New Year that followed over the next fortnight saw me retire to my home and lock all the doors, as the pressure and exhaustion took its toll. I had reached a crossroads in my life, and in an exhausted state I collapsed into bed and slept, dreamed, and considered my bleak options for the future.

            To be quite blunt, I was indeed very ill, the stress had pushed me to breaking point, I lost everything in the fight to save my shop, and all I had left, was the ability to sit and look back on my life at the ups and downs to try to find some new direction to move onwards. I was escaping from reality by sealing myself in the house and refusing to open the doors, I was ill, alone and needed to hide from the world for a while in order to recover and begin again. My mind whirled with the reflection of the struggle and pain of the last twelve months, as I struggled to come to terms with the injustice I had faced, so I used writing as a daily focus to occupy my mind while it rested from my actual life.

            The time was finally right to put the jigsaw of HTTK together, and filled with reflection from 40 years of life and understanding what I wanted for my own future, I sat with a stack of cigarettes, a full kettle, and a huge pile of cheese and pickle sandwiches and I began to write the story again. With my mind filled with every happy moment, and all those moments of despair from my own life, I began to weave everything I had every felt or experienced into the characters of my story, filling them with a life lived in reality, but set in a world of make believe and fantasy.

            What had began its life as a children’s tale about two young 11 year old children, evolved into the life of two late teenagers, who shared a similar destiny together, in a world that was hard and unfair, and filled with the challenges that day to day life can throw your way unexpectedly. I used all my own thoughts and feelings of my own teenage times, as well as many that I observed from those around me, and wove them into the storyline. The end result was not a true autobiographical account of my life, but it was emotionally accurate. I did reflect on my early life, and the sense of community that surrounded me at that time, and it became an important source to add to the background of the village life, set around the two lead characters. I spent hours looking into the situations of each character to imagine myself in their shoes, and try to understand how I would react before writing in the pages of text, and I also added my hopes and dreams for the future.

           The end result, which will only really be fully understood, when the reader has read the whole series of books, is I hope, a richly filled and accurate account of the life of my two central characters and their adventures as they seek to fulfil, their destiny. I would hope that it does indeed jump into life as the pages are turned, and the reader is drawn deeper into the story, and I can only hope when the last page of the last book is finally closed, that the reader will feel a little sadness as they realise that their time in the realm is over, and like all good holiday, although it was wonderful, it is now time to leave and head back to normal life.  For myself, I think it was a very important learning curve in the process of writing. It felt very personal, and if I thought a certain chapter did not leave me feeling like I was actually there besides the lead characters, I scrapped it, and looked deeper into the personalities of them, before writing it again. 

            The irony of the story is that the journey I undertook in writing HTTK (Which is still ongoing as I write) and bringing it to life, is that it has indeed helped me to understand myself better, and has very much shaped my life. For you the reader as I write this, there are just two books of the series in print as I prepare the third for publication, but for myself I am obviously much further on as I have written this series back to back since New Year 2007. The story, which does contain much of the emotional journeys of my own life, has very much played a role in the shaping of my future. Like all good stories there are hopes and dreams that motivate the characters to continue, and although this is a fantasy adventure story, a little of that hope has passed across into my own life.

             Book two reveals a small character of a child, who plays a more important role in the future of the series named Iona Violet. At the time of writing, I described the sort of child I had always hoped for as a sister to my first daughter, for myself it was just a dream, as I had reached a point in my own life where it was a dream I had given up on. Ironically today as I write this for the blog site, I will celebrate the first birthday of my second daughter, who is in many ways almost the double of the child I wrote about back in 2007. I gave my story the essence of my life, and as a result I have been blessed with a meeting through the books with a person who has turned my whole life around and given that which I thought was never possible. When my partner suggested we name her Iona Jade, I was delighted, and for just a moment, like my characters I did wonder, if destiny was playing itself out in reality. The story and my life now seem to be bound up in a circle, and the story that began with the questions and happiness bound to the early life of my first daughter, have come full circle in the creation of my second daughter, who will begin her life in a similar way, hearing the tales of HTTK.

In conclusion, I now see how what was the worst and most heartbreaking time of my life, has indeed been a source of deep inspiration to my creative work. I must confess, I felt I was in a darkness that could not possibly provide any light, and yet today I see that even from a ruined foundation, there is the hope of building something new and more wonderful than before.

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