Looking Back on Crush Depth in a Bikini

 

It has been a while since I had even thought about this book or its history. This was, in part, because I did not like remembering the crap I went through to get it out. But, I had once written that I would write about what I went through with it, so this blog entry will tell that story.

After a really crappy time, when my first book had done terribly, thanks in part to a poor choice in an editor, and a second that sank without a trace, I had not had any ideas or inspiration for a book for a long time. I loved science fiction and still do, but the ideas were just not coming. I had always wanted to write a mix of a science fiction movie and a disaster one, but still, nothing arrived. Just as I thought about shelving the idea, a strange and interesting story appeared in the news.

Mikaela Kellner was an off-duty cop in Sweden who was sunbathing with a friend when she nabbed a thief who had stolen from them. The news spread because she had done so wearing a small bikini. She acted without thinking and became an Instagram star. Last I read about her, she had quit the police to become a bodybuilder. 

Respect to her.

The story stuck in my mind and I played with it. What sort of situation could I put someone in, where they had to act without thinking, while stuck in a bikini? From that, Crush Depth in a Bikini was born.

Writing it was the fun part and I had a blast. The editing process was what turned it into a nightmare.

First, I tried running an Indiegogo campaign for the book's editing and production. That failed, mostly I suspect, that I was a complete nobody and had no real following. But throughout the process, I had come to know an editor, a lady who had done the work a long time ago (she told me) and wanted to get back into it. I thought I was in luck with finding her. Jesus, how wrong I was on that one.

Now, for the sake of this story, I will not refer to her by her name. Why? Because I know how the internet works and I really don't want anyone going after her.

She had my book for about two months, if I remember correctly, and returned it with some good notes. I went through them in the space of a day and sent them back to her. She assured me that they would be returned in a month's time. I thought this was great and went about my business.

Four months later, I get them back. What awaited me was nothing short of a red-marked blood bath.

I couldn't understand where the newer edits had come from. She had found those parts fine in the first draft but was now tearing them up in this one. I accommodated them in the first draft, but there was one I ignored. The scene was a homage to a moment in Aliens, where the characters begin a fight to the death after the creatures break in through the ceiling. The editor told me it would work better in a different way, but I did not agree, so I ignored the comment. In the second draft, she had seen that I ignored the comment and demanded to know why I was fighting her on it. Later on, she instructed me to remove another scene as she found it boring and that it added nothing to the story.

This was where I got annoyed with her.

I responded that, if I removed the scene, one character would disappear without explanation, and two others would arrive at a new destination, also without explanation. Her response? "Oh, yes. I see your point there. You might want to get someone else to take a look at it."

I got so angry at that response. I had no money to pay another editor and my patience had run out. So, I edited the book as best as I could, but my morale had long since dried up and I did a terrible job. There were many grammar mistakes that remained in the book, ones I completely missed, and I kicked myself about it for a long time. My confidence was at an all-time low and it would be almost a year before I would write again.

To be fair, she did improve some parts of the book, I have to acknowledge that. I did try working with her again, thinking the experience was a one-off, but it was just the same. Peta, my cover artist, and her husband suggested she had been this way with me because she was trying to write the book by proxy, something I thought was not far off reality, but I never investigated further. I haven't spoken with this editor in a long time and have no idea what she has done since, besides publishing a book of short stories.

Fast forward to this year and I remembered Crush Depth shortly after publishing Ataris Station. I had such a wonderful experience working with my editor, Ellen Klowden, that I asked her to take a look at the old manuscript. She did her thing, but in retrospect, the story was very much an imperfect one. There are a couple of plot elements that are a bit of a stretch, but I decided not to change those as I still look fondly on the book.

I added some of my own fixes, like splitting the chapters and formatting it better, but ultimately, it will always be a learning experience for me. The main lesson? Pick your editor well. They will make or break a novel, in my experience.

Crush Depth now sits on Amazon at the lowest price I can make it and is now part of Kindle Unlimited. Will it encourage new readers and break the bank in sales? I doubt it, but at least there is now a version of it out there I can be happy with. I know people say you should always be looking forward, but I have found it is good to look back once in a while, and I know I'm going to do that at least one more time.

Presenting: Ataris Station!

I will always thank Marc Secchia for this.

Why? A long time ago, we were talking about the craft and what I wanted to write next. This was while I was writing Niven's War and was going to tackle Escape From Crescendo Station One after. He suggested I try writing a LitRPG novel, probably after I mentioned I had been a gamer in the past. At the time, I didn't know what the genre was, so I decided to do some research and see what it was all about.

Over the next few months, I found a number of titles and purchased them, all while getting to know other authors in the field. I listened to audiobooks like J. Arthur Klein's Extra Credit, Justin Monroe's Zee Locked In, Josh Walker's They Think I Invented Pizza, David Bushman's Darklands Online, and Ben Ormstad's Daemonorg Prison-Lab, to name a few. The authors themselves were amazingly helpful with advice and were also very encouraging. It is the one thing I will forever love about authors, we encourage each other to no end. After getting through a few of the books, I grew a massive love for the genre that invoked many memories of my time gaming, but there was one problem I could not get over.

I had no ideas.

As much as I tried to think of something, nothing came, so I eventually forgot about it. It's never good to force out an idea. They always end up crap.

At that time, Escape From Crescendo Station One was still with my other editor, and I was surfing Youtube to find something to watch. I came across a series of retrospective documentaries from a channel called Avalanche Reviews and found he had done a series on Dead Space. I had enjoyed the series very much when I had my Xbox 360, many moons ago, and decided to watch them. As I was watching the video on the first game, a single thought ran through my head:

"What would I do if I were in such a situation as Isaac?"

Before I could continue watching, my eyes went wide as an idea popped into my head.

Over the next week, I worked the idea into an outline I grew increasingly excited about. Finally, I began working on it, knowing the book would become the biggest manuscript I would write.

During that time, I spoke with the other writers about who I could get to edit such a thing, feeling that I needed an editor that knew the genre well. One of them suggested a lady named Ellen, informing me that, not only was she good at what she did, but she worked at an amazing speed. He introduced me to her via a message chat and we spoke at length about what I was writing, and that it was my first time writing in the genre. Ellen asked to see the chapters I had written, so I sent them over and called it a night. About a day later, she returned them to me, edited. She asked when she could have the next chapters, and my mind was blown. From there on, she became my editor.

Over the course of the following two months, she would keep me on my toes with questions about the story, characters, and anything else she could think to ask. It was a wonderful experience and one I came to learn from a great deal.

The manuscript was completed, polished and edited, and is now available for purchase. I'm hoping it does well. I feel like it was one of the best things I have written, and my beta readers who have read my previous works say the same thing. Time will tell.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: Ataris Station. A science fiction LitRPG novel.

UK readers can find it here.

USA readers can find it here.

Thanks once again, Marc.

Opportunistic Practices.

I have never liked TikTok. I tried it a while back as a way of advertising my works but just did not like it. If any of you reading this do, awesome. However, users of that platform decided to post videos that would start off an ugly, wrong, and blatantly opportunistic trend.

Those people, who I will refer to, as kindly as I can, as... individuals, posted videos suggesting that people can return ebook purchases to Amazon after reading them, provide whatever reason is available, and get their money back. I will not post links to the videos here for two reasons. First, I do not want to give the individuals or their videos any more attention. Second, I know how the internet works. I don't want this turned around on me and be accused of "bullying" the individuals in question. Needless to say, this has had a negative impact on the authors caught up in it.

One author had (at the time of writing this) forty-seven returns last month. This month, which has yet to end, he has had ninety-seven. Another author had twenty-one returns in the last thirty days. There are many other examples out there. I have even seen one of an author who was put in a position where they owed Amazon money as a result. That is insane.

We authors all share a dream that one day, we can make a living from our writing, especially us indies. We pour our hearts and souls into our work, pay editors to fix the mistakes, pay artists to design a cover for us, and even pay for advertising when we can. We want our books to reach as wide an audience as possible, because we want to entertain every reader who buys our work. When people do things like this, it is stealing, pure and simple. Don't try to make up reasons or excuses to defend such a practice, because there will never be any that I will take seriously. For those who will try and play the "can't afford it," or the "we're living in tough times," cards, don't bother. We are all living in tough times. Authors need to pay bills and put food on the table. You are stealing from us.

But, I have hope. For those of you who are still happy to continue stealing from authors, pay attention to this last part.

You may think you are happily gaming the system by stealing like this, but do not count on it lasting. A petition on change.org has gathered a large number of signatures, including mine, and is almost at its goal of 75000 at the time of writing this. Hopefully, Amazon will take notice soon.

You must also be made aware that this constant theft of our work may get detected by Amazon and could put your account at risk. Yes, I am aware that this is a hypothetical, but it is something that I am confident of. As far as I am concerned, that sword you're swinging cuts both ways; it is just a question of when.

Finally, remember the controversy surrounding John Locke. He was an author who thought he could game the system.

Ironic, I know.

For those who don't know, Locke purchased reviews for one of his books and was catapulted into the limelight before the truth was revealed. For further reading, I would suggest checking out this article. When that scandal hit, Amazon came down like an anvil on the review process, but the damage had been done and other indie authors took the brunt of it. As far as I'm aware, Locke is still writing, but his credibility was forever tarnished.

Please take notice of these examples. It is not too late to stop what you're doing. And, please don't try debating this with me or any other author. Your chances of justifying it will be low, at best.

It's Been a While.

 

I had planned to write at least one blog post a month. Sadly, I failed at that this year, but it was with good reason. Allow me to explain.

Another author had recommended that I try writing a LitRPG novel some time ago because I used to be a massive gamer growing up. I liked the idea of it, but I had no ideas for a story, so I let it be for the time being. Well, one day, the idea for a novel hit me a month after I had finished writing a passion project of mine. This would be titled, Escape From Crescendo Station One, but I will tell that story later.

My debut LitRPG novel was written in two months. Titled, Ataris Station. It is something I am very proud of. I ended up working with a new editor, a lady who specialises in the genre, and she helped shape the manuscript into something wonderful. I am looking forward to releasing it when the time comes.

Other ideas for stories in the genre hit me while I was writing Ataris Station, including two more standalone stories and two series. I decided I needed to change things around to reflect on where I would be taking my writing. So, I wrote a prologue short story for the first series, called Annex of Alhena, that tells the origin of one of the main characters. It will be a mailing list exclusive, replacing Wasteland Vigilante, which will get its own proper release shortly.

As a result, the next two months will be busy ones for me with three releases in total. I am excited about it, because it feels like real progress for me. I have also developed working relationships with other authors who have been encouraging me along the way. It is so nice to have such wonderful people cheering me on.

For those of you who have stuck by me throughout this time, I thank you for doing so. I will do my best to keep entertaining you.

For new subscribers to my mailing list, please paste this link into your browser: https://t.co/7ACSUuFBmr

Niven's War Released.

Finally, Niven's War has been released, making it my first book of 2022. It took a little while longer than I had planned. I went through it several times, making sure the manuscript was as polished as I could make it. Also, as I had said in past blog entries, it was my first time delving into military science fiction. I wanted to make sure I did a good job.

At the time of writing this, the campaign has mostly been fulfilled, with only a few copies left to mail out to backers. What makes me even more proud is that I have managed this with two months still to go on the project's clock. I don't want to gloat, but if I can fulfill a crowdfunding campaign, preparing and mailing out all the copies on my own, certain other individuals out there have no excuse.

With that, I continue on with other projects. Once I have finished writing the one I am on now, Niven's War book two will be started, and I can't wait to delve into that again. But, one thing I have found is that I enjoy branching out into other areas of science fiction because I can really let my mind go nuts. I have three other projects planned, different from what I have done before, and the ideas alone excite me. Not to mention, I have really improved my editing, so that has become a much less painful chore to endure.

Finally, I wanted to thank everyone who has been with me on this journey, reading my work, or supporting me in other ways. It will forever be appreciated.

New Year, Good Plans.

This year was a good one for me.

Well, creatively at least.

I shared in the struggles of many these past couple of years, including the loss of a relative to the virus. I chose to keep myself busy instead of watching the continuing misery unfold outside, as it seemed the best course of action. Sadly, I feel it'll be like this for a while, but we will prevail. I'm sure of it.

I wrote three good books in that time. Some of my best work, in my opinion. Even my editor, Tim, has commented that my writing has improved since we first began working together.

The first was the second in my Furman Simms series, Furman Simms vs the Anti-fun. I enjoy writing pulp-length books and this one was a prime example of that. Plenty of mayhem, action, fun characters, and a few nods to other stories I was inspired by growing up. This will be out towards the middle of next year.

Niven's War was my second, and was successfully funded through Indiegogo. It will be fulfilled and released in January, two months before the target date. It was my attempt at a military science fiction novel, and came out great. It is to date, my longest book yet and the first I worked on with a different cover artist, Carla Tornielli. I wanted a manga/anime cover, and she was a perfect choice for it. Since she has now focused on other ventures, I will be working with a different artist for the second book's cover. I have seen the rough draft and it looks great.

The third book I wrote this year is the one I am most proud of. Escape from Crescendo-Station One was a love letter to a genre of movie I cherished growing up, underwater science fiction. It has elements of action and horror, and is without a doubt the book I'm most proud of writing. It will be my second release of the year.

I only released two books this year, Wasteland Vigilante and The Adventures of Furman Simms, because a lot of time was spent improving my craft. My editing process is much better and I can now submit a much more polished draft to my editor. As a result of this, the time to edit will hopefully be reduced and make his job easier. The audiobook of the Harem Nights omnibus is still in production and I have been listening to the chapters. Michael is doing an amazing job for sure.

I want to thank everyone who has been with me on my continuing journey, either by encouraging or reading my work. Your support has meant the world to me and I do not want to ever disappoint you. I hope all of you have a great Christmas and a happy new year.

See you all in 2022.

Audiobook!

 

Alright!

I am so very pleased to write that the audiobook for the Harem Nights Omnibus is officially underway!

I advertised the project on ACX, the website used to create audiobooks, hoping I would catch the eye of a narrator, and continued working on my current project. Sure enough, I got an email informing me someone had submitted an audio audition while I was at work, so I couldn't wait to get home and hear it.

The audition was by a Mr. Michael Beckett, and to be blunt, it blew me away. I listened to the audition a number of times, purely out of sheer enjoyment, before offering him the job. Of course, he accepted and began working on the project. 

Part of the process of recording an audiobook on ACX involves the narrator submitting the first fifteen minutes before continuing, so the writer can approve. Michael submitted it Friday evening (UK time) and I listened to it first thing this morning (Saturday) and was, again, blown away. At the time of writing this, he's now working on the rest of the project.

It's stuff like this that makes being an independent author fun. Hearing another creative's take on your work is something of a thrill, especially when you look forward to hearing what he does with the characters further into the story. And, already, when I'm thinking of future projects, a little part of me is wondering what Michael could do with them.

More updates will follow on this, but for anyone interested, Michael has narrated another book, A Knife in the Dark. You can find it here. I've already added it to my wishlist. Do pick it up, you'll be supporting an independent author and narrator.