New Twitter Competition
Posted by childofthehive | Filed under Child of the Hive, Original fiction
I’m celebrating the launch of Child of the Hive in paperback with a small competition. I will be giving away a signed copy of Child of the Hive as the prize. To enter the competition, simply post a message on Twitter with a link to the Amazon page for the Child of the Hive paperback. Be sure to include the hash tag #childofthehive for your tweet to be included.
The competition closes at midnight GMT on Wednesday 30th November.
Tags: Child of the Hive, competition, twitter
Child of the Hive paperback
Posted by childofthehive | Filed under Child of the Hive, Original fiction
My first novel, Child of the Hive, is available for pre-order in paperback edition. The official release date for this edition is 24th November.
Tags: books, Child of the Hive, paperback
London Film and Comic Con
Posted by childofthehive | Filed under Book signings, Publicity
I’m fully stocked with:
- 100 books
- Spare pens for signing
- Leaflets and cards with cover and blurb on
- A big poster
- And a bottle of diet coke for when I need a caffeine fix to get me through Sunday afternoon.
Looks like I’m all set for the London Film and Comic Con.
Tags: Child of the Hive, London Film and Comic Con, signing
New Teaser Video
Posted by childofthehive | Filed under Child of the Hive, Original fiction, Publicity
I’ve posted a new video offering a brief taste of Child of the Hive. This uses some of the footage we shot for the video played at the launch party.
Tags: adventure, Child of the Hive, novels, sci-fi, science fiction, video
Book Signing
Posted by childofthehive | Filed under Publicity
I will be doing a book signing tomorrow at the Waterstones on Broad Street in Reading. I will be there from 11am to 3pm. Please stop by to buy a copy of Child of the Hive, or just to have a chat.
Tags: Child of the Hive, signing
Child of the Hive – extract reading
Posted by childofthehive | Filed under Child of the Hive, Original fiction
This is a short video of me reading an extract from near the start of Child of the Hive. In this piece, Alex is pulled from her normal life into an unexpected adventure.
Tags: Child of the Hive, novels, Original fiction, reading, video
Child of the Hive: now in ebook
Posted by childofthehive | Filed under Original fiction
Just a quick news flash. My novel, Child of the Hive, is now available from Amazon in Kindle format.
Tags: Child of the Hive, ebook, kindle
What do your characters want?
Posted by childofthehive | Filed under Writing Talk
Everyone has needs and desires. Some are basic: we need to eat, pay the bills and keep a roof over our head. Some are noble: we want to end poverty, right injustice or stop global warming. Some are selfish: we want a new car, a day off or to get a bigger bonus than a despised colleague.
Your characters have got to want things too, otherwise they’d never do anything. What they want at any particular point will vary. Some desires are ongoing while others can be urgent.
If you’re ever struggling to figure out how a story should continue, ask yourself what your characters want then work out some obstacles. You have to have obstacles because without them, there’s no story. If a character wants something and just goes and gets it, then you’re story’s over in two paragraphs. Make it a challenge and people will keep reading to figure out whether or not the character gets what he or she desires.
I’ll explain what I mean about wants and obstacles by using Child of the Hive as an example.
Will wants an ordinary life. The obstacle is the fact that he’s in hiding.
Sophie wants to destroy the Hive. The obstacle: she risks being destroy by them.
Drew wants to capture Will. The obstacle is that Will’s good at hiding.
Rachel wants a date with Drew. The obstacle: her innate shyness.
Alex and Ben want to win the competition. The obstacle: they need Will to do it.
Here I’ve just given one desire for each character but the truth is that no one is that simple. We all want multiple things. Different things become priorities at different times. You can have great fun with characters when you make their desires conflicting. Take Will, for example. He wants to lead an ordinary life and be left alone. To achieve that, he has to stay hidden. But he also wants to help his friends in the competition, which risks exposure. Here we have two desires that are opposite.
You can build extremely powerful characters by giving them such dilemmas. Make them choose between two things they want badly.
Tags: advice, characters, Child of the Hive, writing
Village Fair
Posted by childofthehive | Filed under Writing Talk
I spent a couple of hours last Saturday at a village fete, standing with a pile of copies of Child of the Hive. I was sharing a table with a jigsaw lending library and about ten feet away from a second hand book stall. Despite succumbing to the lure of the second hand stall, I managed to leave with less books than I arrived with, so I consider the day a success.
I really enjoy things like this. I think most people enjoy talking about a subject that interests them so it’s hardly surprising that I love talking about books and writing. It was great to have an excuse to chat to people about Child and writing in general.
I just wish I had a bit more time to do more of these.
Tags: Child of the Hive, events, novels
