Samhain

As it's Samhain, or Halloween, here's a wee story for the season...

Samhain

 

The light is fading. Burnt orange, matching the leaves, the sun sinks closer to the horizon. I almost believe it will hiss as it kisses the water of the loch; my lips curl upward as this fails to happen.

There is a vague shape in the sky, sort of an anti-shadow, as the moon begins to assert its dominance. A shape wheels across the sky, flitting through the light.

The air has a greasy feel to it. The static charge is high, causing the hair on my arms to rise as though in response to an ancient calling. I feel the pull inside me, hooking into every fibre of my being.

The sun passes its limit, disappearing below the waves. For a few moments, stray ripples of light remain to colour the water; then it is gone, leaving only blackness behind.

Darkness falls, an absence of light punctured by pinpricks of starlight. The temperature falls, cold drawing in close. I can feel it, the closing in of…something.

It is Samhain, you see, the night of the year when the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest. I can feel it, bulging in places and stretched almost to breaking point. It reminds me of a plastic bag that is overfilled, the material stretched taut and almost transparent, ready to tear.

Like now.

A soft splash murmurs across the water, some unseen fish breaking the surface. Ripples spread outwards, mirroring the ripples I feel in the surface of reality.

I stand there, allowing the night to wrap me in a velvet embrace. I can feel…things…moving just outside my perception. Hunting, searching, looking for a way to bridge the divide.

I shiver. The moon is full now, casting silver light across the waters.  I feel a tear begin in the veil and close my eyes. A presence leaks through, liquid and alien. It settles on me and soaks into my being, imposing its will on mine.

Calmness suffuses me. I am expecting evil, inhumanity, something; not this.

My innermost desires and thoughts are laid bare. Stripped of all obfuscation and examined, I almost cannot feel the pressures that are applied.

It is over almost before I know it has started. The presence is gone, leaving behind nothing but a hollowness inside.

I feel my smile grow without it touching my eyes. I know how to fill that emptiness the presence has left behind. I feel a purpose suffuse me.

I start to walk. Away from the loch, back towards the town. My smile grows as my steps quicken. The hollow feeling is soon to be banished, at least for a while.

As I walk, the knife drops from my sleeve and into my hand.

Clean Reader - Legal or Ethical?

I've been hearing and reading a lot recently about an app called Clean Reader that has been developed to, according to its developers, 'remove unnecessary profanity and blasphemy from a book.'
I have to say that this idea fills me with dread. If it's legal (and I have my doubts) then this is the thin end of the wedge for overly aggressive censorship.
The idea that someone can take a piece of work I've written and randomly change words makes a mockery of the creative process. Like all authors, I weigh my word choices carefully in order to evoke a specific feeling or setting. Change one word and the whole sentence/paragraph loses its impact and clarity.
I very rarely use profanity in my daily life, I've never felt a need for it. (Plus, as a father to two small children, I have to be careful what I say, but that's a whole other story...)
My books, however, do contain profanity. They also contain sex and violence and blasphemy. I write horror stories, for Christ's sake (oops, wonder if clean reader works on blogs?) and, to write a believable character, they need to behave in a way that is consistent with real life. So, for example, if someone is in severe pain, I believe they would resort to good old Anglo-Saxon (i.e. swearing) rather than saying something along the lines of, 'Oh dang, my leg's hanging off, that stings a bit.'
My current WIP deals with the relationship between a group of four students on a hiking holiday. There is a typical student drinking session involved, and yes, the language does get rather choice. Ever been on a student drinking binge? Enough said.
I also want to touch on the legality of this app. The makers say they have taken legal advice and that, because it performs the word substitution on the fly, without changing the original downloaded text, it is legal. I disagree. My considered opinion (and I do have a legal qualification) is that what the app does is just as much an infringement on the intellectual property as changing the source file. It's the same as going to an art gallery and placing masking tape over the naughty bits on a painting. The original is still there, you just can't see it. And I wonder how well you'd fare in court if you tried this and claimed that you weren't altering the originals, just providing a different version that didn't offend your religious and cultural sensitivities. Not very well, I suspect.
Another thought that occurs to me is this: what is the position re reviews? I mean, having seen some of the app's attempts at cleaning up the original text (a quick search of the internet provides several examples), it's clearly not very good. But if a reader tries a book and writes a scathing review based on the clean reader version, how valid is this? I mean, they haven't read the original book, so how can they review it? It's like watching Under The Dome on TV and then trying to write a review of the book. (And again, a quick search should unearth that particular shit storm. (Oops, dang it all to heck, another target for clean reader!))
I've no idea (yet) if it's possible to find out if a book has been modified by clean reader, although I'm looking into it and following the debate with great interest. If it is possible, then I shall be keeping an eye on it and requesting any of my books be excluded from it. If you don't want the language, don't buy the books. I don't believe this app is legal or ethical - how much uproar would there be if I produced an app that modified parts of the Bible? Or any other religious text, for that matter? We only have to look at the recent Charlie Hebdo attack  to see where this kind of tinkering can lead us., So, through gritted teeth: Leave. The. Books. Alone.

Mike Wells Official Website: 10 Tips to Enhance Your Fiction Reading Experience...

So often, as a writer we post about the art of writing. This is a refreshing slant on adding, as opposed to writing, that still bears relevance to the writer's life.



Mike Wells Official Website: 10 Tips to Enhance Your Fiction Reading Experience...: Here are some tips that may help make your fiction reading experience even more enjoyable.  Some of them may be obvious and well-known, but ...

Poetry

I've been ultra-busy these last few weeks, what with the day job being full-on due to the rollout of a new project as well as myriad writing projects to juggle. Oh, and family life to be a part of as well! Where do we get the time? I've been working on numerous short stories, including one for an anthology of selected works by a group of indie authors (more on that very soon), as well as having two novels on the go. It's a fine line to balance it all, I can tell you.
Anyway, my bi-monthly writer's group is a great way of letting off steam and connecting with other writers for a couple of hours. During the last meeting, we were discussing Japanese poetry and its various forms. I'd heard of Haiku, even knew a little bit about it; Tanka, on the other hand, was completely new to me. It's a poem composed of 31 syllables, arranged in 5 lines: 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables, 7 syllables and 7 syllables. It sounds really easy until you try it.
We were set an exercise and given one word to use - as a theme, title, inspiration or within the poem - and asked to produce a Tanka. Oh, and the time limit was ten minutes!
So, off I went, cogitating. To my surprise, I produced 2 poems within the ten minutes - I don't claim that they're masterpieces, but they were well received. I found that having such a tight, proscriptive set of rules focussed my mind and allowed the words to flow. I was also writing I've always enjoyed and found to give me a more immediate sense of connection to the words.
So, here they are. The word I was given was 'Journeys':

Wave

 

Water leaks from shore

Cold and lonely deeps

Shoreline out of reach

Salted spray and white-tipped foam

Endlessly journey onward

and

Wind

 

Cold wind stirs the leaf

Without pause, a breath of life

Flutter in the trees

Light and soft, caressing breeze

Never still, a restless touch

Point of view

I joined a writing group last week, after struggling with a bit of stagnation in my writing. I wouldn't call it writer's block, as I still managed to churn out a reasonable word count; the problem was when I re-read it, it sounded dull and wooden.
Part of the writing group involved the usual prompt to create something for the next meeting. It was a list of seven words and a brief to write either a piece of prose or a poem using five or six of them.
I tossed a few ideas around, and scrapped them all as dull and clichéd, before trying something new.
I set out to write a deliberately short (i.e 1,000 words or less) piece of flash fiction. The major difference was in my choice of point of view. For this work, I chose to write in the second person. Voila! My fingers flew, the ideas came and in just over an hour I had a coherent story of exactly 1,000 words.
After leaving it for a few hours, I had a re-read and tightened it up, managing to get it down to 950 words. I do plan a second re-write, as I think it would benefit from some more tweaking - I need to change a few details to better fit the story, I think - but it was remarkably clean for a first draft.
Using this point of view (and its not a commonly used one) was quite constrictive but this seemed to enhance the creative flow rather than hinder it. It forced me to re-evaluate the way I used the language, and enforcing a short word count also helped add to the story's punch. With no spare words for padding, I had to ensure that every word would count.
I would recommend everyone try using a different POV to improve their writing, and pick one that is not a mainstream choice. So, no first/third-person. You could try first-person present, second person (as I did), or any of the others. (Do a quick search online; you'll be surprised by just how many options there are!)
Or you could choose something other than a person for your POV. A murder seen from the point of view of a knife, perhaps? Difficult to pull off, I think - I'm not a fan of animals or non-sentient objects being major characters generally - but doable. And the point is to get yourself thinking about the language and how you use it.
If you really want a challenge, you could combine both and write for an unconventional protagonist from an unconventional point of view!
So there you have it. Give it a whirl, you might be surprised at the results.

The next book

I've spent the past few weeks working hard at the day job and researching various subjects for my new book.
My next book deals with witchcraft and ghost in a small village in the remote highlands of Scotland. The initial idea seemed fine to me; however, when I started to research the Scottish witch trials of the 1500s, I discovered that they had all taken place in the Lothian region of Scotland, I.e. the lowlands. Many frowns and head scratchings later, I had a brainwave - the lack of highland witch trials could be used to develop the plot.
All seemed to be going well until I realised that I was spending more time researching stuff and creating copious notes. I know from experience that this approach to writing doesn't work for me - research, yes; detailed plotting, no. As a result, I became bogged down in the
So, I put the notes away and took a few days off, worked on something different for a week. Over that week, it's become clear to me where I've gone wrong. I've thrown out a lot of plot lines, some of which I've no idea how to resolve. The last couple of days, I've been editing the first draft (at least, the 20,000 words or so that are written) and cutting ruthlessly. I've got it down to about 14,000 words now and it reads much better, the prose is tighter and doesn't wander. Moreover, I can now see how I want to progress the story. Is it how I originally envisaged it? No. But does it feel right? Most definitely.
I'm hoping to really plough on with it and have the first draft finished in the next couple of months or so. Once it's finished, I'll compare it to my notes to see just how far off the track I was. For now, I'm going back to my golden rule: write, write, write. Research as and when you have to, but for God's sake, keep writing!

Genre

I've been thinking quite a lot recently about genre. More specifically, about how difficult it is to define the boundaries of genre. When does one genre become another? Is it possible to write a book that fits into more than one genre and appeals to fans of both?
Take the films Alien and Star Wars. One of them is definitely horror (Alien) and the other is Sci-Fi (Star Wars). Yet Alien is more grounded in the realities of science than Star Wars, which I've always fondly seen as a kind of Cowboys and Indians film that happens to be set in outer space.
My own novel Nanobite is a horror story at its core, but it is underpinned by quite a lot of science, some of which is grounded in reality and some of which was extrapolated from the facts available now. Yes, I made a few things up, but they were educated guesses based on the current level of science.
So, does this make it a horror story with sci-fi underpinnings or a work of science fiction with elements of horror?
This is where things get difficult. So many books cross multiple genres, or mix them (with varying degrees of success). Twilight is a fantastic example - it successfully melds YA fiction with elements of horror. It was so successful they invented a whole new genre of paranormal romance to categorise it.
I could list lots of permutations. Crime/supernatural blends seem to be becoming very popular at the moment; whether this is just a passing fad remains to be seen.
The question is, will blending genre fiction alienate die-hard fans of one genre who wouldn't normally read other styles? On the whole I don't think it will (although there will be those who refuse to read outside their preferred genre); I think people will embrace this expansion, and along the way discover new and exciting authors that they'd never previously considered.

New Book Launch

I made it! My new horror novel Nanobite is now available on Amazon for Kindle. I was thinking about the process, so here's a few thoughts on it.

Writing the novel is the easy part - especially with this one. From the initial concept to the finished first draft took about three months altogether. The story seemed to flow really well, although the finished draft was somewhat different to the first ideas.

As an example, when I wrote the first few pages, I envisaged a story about the whole world being overrun by vampires, with just a few bands of survivors fighting them. About twenty pages in, I realised that what I really wanted to do was focus in on a small group of people and examine how they dealt with the situation they found themselves in. For me, this made the novel better (as attested to by the beta readers who kindly read and commented on the manuscript).

After the writing though, the hard work started. Re-read, edit, rewrite. Repeat. Consider all the beta readers' comments and incorporate those that I felt fitted the story or improved it in some way. I didn't keep track, but I reckon that almost three quarters of all the comments and suggestions received had some value and were used - some as they were, some were modified to better fit my vision of the story. (After all, it's my story and I'm in charge, right?)

Each round of editing caught less and less - the first read-through caught numerous typos and grammatical errors; by the final round of editing I only caught a few. Hopefully I caught them all.

So, write, edit, rewrite - this novel went through five rounds of editing and rewriting. Formatting came next - I did this in an evening using Amazon's excellent 'Building Your Book for Kindle' eBook. No major issues here, it's a simple process to follow.

I designed the cover myself - having taught Graphic Design for three years I was confident in my ability to realise the vision I had for the cover myself. This took a couple of evenings; it helps to have a firm idea of what you want the finished cover to look like.

Finally, uploading to the Kindle store. Again, a fairly straightforward process. Took me about an hour all told, taking it nice and steady. This is where the feelings of dread start to kick in - it's like your kid's first ever day at school - you nurture them until it's time to send them out into the big wide world on their own.

Once uploaded and published, it's time to think about kicking the marketing up a gear. I started marketing Nanobite from the minute I knew it was a viable concept; now it's released, I can concentrate on promoting it.
Except I've now got the beginnings of a plot for my next novel. Need to find time for that as well. Oh well, a writer's life is never dull.

New Cover



Okay, here's the first peek at the prospective cover design for Nanobite

 

Book Review: I Am Eternal Cowboys and Vampires by Athanasios

First off, let me say that I enjoyed this story. It's such a refreshing change to read a vampire story that isn't in the vein (sorry, couldn't resist that) of Twilight and all the other books in the current crop of teen angst-ridden vampire literature.
However, for me it was too short. Frustratingly so; I came away wanting to know more. It reads like a prologue to a much longer novel.
But that is my only real complaint. Due to the brevity, the characters are sketched in rather than fully realized; however, I found myself empathising with the protagonist. Yes, he is a killer, and all romantic notions of vampirism are stripped away; but the richness of the backdrop and historical authenticity adds a depth that makes you wonder what it would be like to exist (not live; the protagonist is very clear about this) for millennia. It also makes you wonder what effect the ennui of so many centuries would have on the mind.
There is also the beginnings of a sub-plot cleverly interwoven. The author manages to switch from dialogue-driven action in the first part of the story to a narrative voice for most of the remainder in a way that is seamless to the reader.
So, if you fancy a quick read and like vampire fiction, check this out. I really hope the author follows this with a longer novel that gives us more detail about Simon's life (or should that be unlife?).
I Am Eternal: Cowboys and Vampires

Surface RT, technology, and writing

Last week, I finally took the plunge and acquired Microsoft Surface RT with the type cover.
I know, lots of people will say, 'Why didn't you buy an iPad?'
The truth is, whilst the iPad is very nice, it's not for me. I see it as a device to consume content rather than create it. Typing on an onscreen keyboard is unpleasant to say the least, for any significant length of time. I know you can buy add-on keyboards but that just adds to the price, and without Microsoft Word, I'm forced to go looking for alternate apps to work with.
Whilst the Surface doesn't come with a keyboard as standard, even buying one only takes the price into iPad-only territory, and the type keyboard is, quite simply, very good. It also feels like it was meant to be with the Surface - no clunky work-rounds or docks to connect it; it just snaps into place and away you go
Another benefit for me is not being forced to tie it to a computer and - my most hated piece of software - iTunes. Whilst it's okay on Macs, on Windows it is an abomination - slow, bulky and resource-hogging. So, no iTunes on the Surface.
It's true that Windows RT is not full-blown Windows 8. Is this a bad thing? No, in my opinion. the clue is in the previous sentence - not full-blown Windows, i.e. it's not bloated, having to support all manner of legacy software. No, I can't just install any old software from the internet - this means I can't use FocusWriter, my usual method of writing. I've not really looked for an alternative in the Windows store yet, although there appear to be quite a few. I'll post more on this when I find one I like. I'm currently writing straight into Microsoft Word 2013, the version that comes pre-loaded on the Surface RT and it is fine - quick, responsive and easy to use.
Another plus point for me was the ability to add storage. Want to add another 64GB of storage? Just slot a card in (currently around £45 for a 64GB card). Make use of Microsoft's SkyDrive cloud offering (I do)? No problem - it's there, built in to the OS. The new Windows 8.1 refresh coming soon should make this even better.
And the hardware is simply gorgeous - it feels like a substantial piece of hardware. Yes, it doesn't look as sexy as an iPad, but - for me, at least - it is far more useable.
So, in the space of a week, it has become my sole machine for writing, in fact pretty much everything, replacing the old Acer and HP notebooks I was using. I've even used it in tablet form, unsnapping the keyboard and using it for casual browsing and email. I could've probably got a new laptop for the same price but I would've been looking at non-touchscreen models. Not the best option with Windows 8.
Is it perfect? No. In my opinion, the desktop mode is unnecessary and should be stripped out. I know a lot of Windows users think the desktop and start menu are sacred, but for me, being unable to load legacy software makes it superfluous. The Microsoft Office programmes do dump you onto the desktop but other than that, I don't use it. The Windows Store could be better. Not necessarily just more apps, but useful, productive apps.
So there we have it - my thoughts on the much-maligned Surface RT. They are a fantastic device if you know what they can and can't do. For those who want full Windows 8, there are other, better options. Usually more pricey, but hey, that's how it goes. I like my Surface RT, and I'll be sticking with it. Might even persuade me to move to Windows Phone when I next upgrade, who knows.

New release

Hold on to your hats! My new collection of short stories is released tomorrow on Kindle and will be available through Amazon. I've been working hard to get it ready for release in order to coincide with the Edinburgh Book Festival.
It was fun revisiting these stories again, rewriting them to tighten up the text and update them in general.
I also had fun designing the cover. I had a few options to choose from, but this one really stood out for me. It's graphic, and communicates the essence of the tales within.

 

I also wrote a little introductory note for each story, giving an insight into their inception and creation.

There's a wealth of material inside, from  science-fiction horror, to ghost story, and a Lovecraft-esque nightmare along the way.

Not for the faint-of-heart though. Beware, there are things in here that will haunt your dreams. They may bite...

Developing plot and characters

The first draft of my latest novel, Nanobite, is racing along towards what I hope will be a satisfying conclusion. I've had several bemused looks when people ask me how it's going and I tell them that I can't wait to find out how it will end.

The usual response is along the lines of, 'but you already know how it ends - you're writing it!'

This is true only in the vaguest possible way. Yes, I do have a plot sketched out bit it's more of a work in progress than a finished document. I like to start by putting characters in a situation and seeing how they deal with it. Sometimes it follows my initial plot line quite closely; more often it deviates wildly from it.

I usually just go with the flow when this happens. I find it makes for far more fluid and believable writing and dialogue. On the few occasions where I've forced the story to stick to the plot (usually in a mistaken belief that it is essential to the story) I find I end up with stilted dialogue and wooden characters. More often than not, the scene will either be cut or rewritten.

Allowing characters to breathe and develop their own personalities is what makes them real for me, as opposed to two dimensional cardboard cutouts.

I also find that this way of writing works really well in terms of story development. You find yourself going off on a tangent to your initial plot and exploring other themes; this invariably makes for a more realistic narrative. For me, it also makes it more fun to write.

It's that magic moment when the characters come alive on the page and start talking, almost of their own volition.

I also find that some characters take on larger roles than I originally planned; in Nanobite, I suddenly realised that I'd brought in a character from my last book, The Surgeon. Totally unexpected and initially I thought it would be a bit part. Turns out this character has become quite important, which pleased me as it gave me a chance to explore their personality in greater detail.

So there we have it, my musings on plot. I have an idea how Nanobite will end, but whether or not the story follows that idea is another matter.

The Joy of Rewrites

I've spent the last week going through my children's fiction, after deciding to republish it on Kindle. What I thought would be a fairly simple process has now proved to be a rather larger task than I originally envisaged.
I should have known better than to think it would simply be a case of proofread the manuscript and format it. That's what happens when you re-read something written between 12-15 years ago.
After one reading, it was obvious that I needed to do some fairly extensive revision and editing. I've changed as a writer in the years since these were written (hopefully I've gotten a lot better), and rather than tack together a few loosely connected stories with a longer novella, I've decided to rewrite it as a young reader novella, incorporating the shorter works into the longer one in a way that makes the story flow better. I'm also going to make some of the themes a bit more subtle - I figure that, as I'm changing my target readership from parents reading to toddlers and aiming it more towards 5-8 year olds, it doesn't need to be as blunt in its messages.
It's also my first attempt at using yWriter 5 as a writing tool. Up until now, I've been using Focus Writer to draft my manuscripts before importing into Microsoft Word for editing and proofing as well as formatting. Early impressions of yWriter are good - it appears to be quite flexible. I'll post a more detailed review when I've figured it out properly.

Inspiration

Someone asked me the other day the classic question all authors seem to get - where do you get your ideas from? What inspires you? It is the one question most authors dread, because it's sometimes very difficult to answer. For me, it can be any number of things. My current novel (Nanobite - sneak peek coming soon) was originally inspired by a word association game. I'd just published The Surgeon and was sat looking at the dreaded blank screen, trying to think about what to write next. After about an hour of typing precisely nothing, I began to play with word associations, trying to come up with something. Before I knew it, I'd written over 600 words and had a head full of potential plot lines. However, that is a new method for me. I'm really lucky in that I live in an area of great natural beauty (Scotland) and right on the coast. As a horror writer, stormy weather often features as an element of my work; and I often find that a walk or bike ride to admire the views will give me what I think of as 'micro-ideas' - elements that may fit into one story or another. I don't keep a notebook, just let the ideas bounce around in my head (my wife would say there's plenty of room, ha ha) in the hope that two or three disparate elements will combine and give me a flash of inspiration. However, I do like to take scenic pictures; these I do keep. It might be just so I can look back on a particular view and use it to try and recreate the mood it conveys; or it might be simply to use as a reference for description. I keep a scrapbook of clippings from myriad sources for this purpose - old calenders, newspapers, brochures, the list is endless really. So, that's how I get some ideas. Probably I've missed a few, it's not really a conscious process. I think most writers of fiction (whatever the genre) use a multiplicity of methods to first ask and the answer the question, 'What if...?"

1 Book Lover' s Opinion: Author Feature Neil McGowan

1 Book Lover' s Opinion: Author Feature Neil McGowan: Author Biography for Neil McGowan Neil is the author of The Surgeon, a gritty horror novel described as ‘fast-paced’, ‘nic...

Free Promotion on Amazon

Been a very busy week. Sorted out a free promotion for The Surgeon, from Fiday 28th June to Sunday 30 June inclusive. It's available for download from Amazon, five star reviews. This free promotion is to celebrate myself as featured author starting on Friday 28th on , I heartily recommend popping by this site, some very interesting stuff on their. I also uploaded a short story to Wattpad, another great site that's well worth a visit; there's a free iPhone app as well, so you can download and read stuff offline. I can see myself making good use of this, dipping into a short story when I have a few minutes spare - the Kindle is fantastic but not as practical for short periods of time - a ten minute train journey is ideal for consuming a short story, but not so good for trying to finish the latest Stephen King novel on the Kindle. The Surgeon is also available now in print format as well, via , or from Amazon. Fantastic to see my work actually in a physical print format. The Kindle version is still doing well, with five star reviews and lots of downloads, had some really nice feedback on it. The Surgeon will soon be available on other ebook retailers as well, including iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Kobo etc. Meanwhile, I'm still hard at work on the new book, Nanobite. There'll be an exclusive posting soon of the first couple of chapters, so keep checking back in order not to miss it.

Edinburgh Book Festival

After a busy day writing, I'm now checking the Edinburgh Book festival programme. Julia Donaldson is a must for the kids, whilst I'm looking at some of the writer's workshops that are available - Val McDermid will be there, as will Denise Mina, plus many more. Should be a chance to pick up some tips from seasoned professionals; might even see if I can take The Surgeon along as well for some promotional work. Leave a comment if you're going, with details; there's a chance to win a copy of my book for the most interesting post.

Reviews

Well, The Surgeon has been out for five weeks now and the response to it has been amazing. Frome the reviews: "Nicely inventive...Extremely graphic" "Fast-paced and gripping" One of the best comments I've had though was from a reluctant reader, who said that they found it so good that they were compelled to keep reading it; apparently, it's only the fourth adult book they have ever read! That is awesome, if I can inspire people to read like that, makes it worthwhile writing. Not that I write for people, though. Even if my work never saw the light of day I'd still do it; but the fact that other people read it really takes it to the next level for me

Back to the grindstone

Well, after a few days off writing due to family commitments, it's time to get back to work. Just been checking the rough draft of my new book today (and wincing at some of the typos that have slipped in), ready to get back to it tonight. I am itching to get back to it though, can't wait to dive back into the world of vampires and technology again. Spent this afternoon researching some stuff on nano technology - found out a few things that I thought I'd made up are actually true! At least it gives the book some veracity. I always like to try and finish writing with my characters at a cliff-hanger point if possible, in order to drive momentum when I start the next session's writing; this time I've already sketched out in my head how it is going to progress. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out when I've written it - it's never usually quite how I imagine it to be; and if it is, then it usually means a fairly hefty chunk of rewriting.