Free Web Fiction: More from Steampunk Nell
Every week in Friday Free Web Fiction I post a first draft scene from my work in progress (WIP), or a short story, or an excerpt from one of my books. Today’s offering is from my Prunella Smith WIP, Past Worlds, The Lock Smith’s Secret. Click on the link above to read the previous parts of this story. Bert burst into Nell’s office. ‘Have you got the copy for your column yet?’ Nell screwed up her face. ‘I’m working on it.’ Bert’s eyebrows rose. ‘How many words have you got so far?’ Nell shrugged and hoped he wouldn’t walk around her desk and look over her shoulder at the blank sheet in her typewriter. He looked at her overflowing wastepaper basket and frowned. ‘Hmm … I want it by five. We need to hit him back straight away.’ ‘My mother told me I shouldn’t inflame people, particularly not men, and especially not Lords of the realm,’…
Friday Free Web Fiction: More from Steampunk Nell
Every week in Friday Free Web Fiction I post a first draft scene from my work in progress (WIP), or a short story, or an excerpt from one of my books. Today’s offering is from my Prunella Smith WIP, Past Worlds, The Lock Smith’s Secret. Last week I introduced you to Nell, this week I have the second edition in her story. Enjoy this free steampunk story Nell twisted the knob, rolled the paper into her typewriter and stared at the blank white sheet. A string of expletives that would’ve made her mother blush rolled through her mind. She blamed the stable hand—if not for him she’d never have known such words existed. But that wasn’t what Bert wanted her to write, was it? Anyone could swear—except her mother. She’d have to take a more sophisticated approach if she were to show Lord Burnett he was wrong about her. She lifted her hands above the keyboard,…
Free Steampunk Web Fiction: Introducing Nell
Every week in Friday Free Web Fiction I post a first draft scene from my work in progress (WIP), or a short story, or an excerpt from one of my books. Today’s offering is from my Prunella Smith WIP, The Lock Smith’s Secret. One strand of this book is a steampunk novel that Ella is writing. The protagonist in it is Nell. Nell leaned back in her chair and twisted her mouth into several different positions before settling on a grin with her lips pressed together and a knowing shake of her head. The solution was simple, Bert could publish a short piece to counteract the smear on her name Lord Burnett had written in his latest column in the Burnett Weekly. Her boss would do that for her, wouldn’t he? She stood and smoothed her hands down her leather corset. Like all modern-thinking women, she wore something more practical than the huge skirts favoured by the older…
What is active writing? Introducing ‘The Elements of Active Prose.’
When I first started writing, I searched for an answer to the question: what makes good prose? I gleaned information from various places: workshops I attended, courses I undertook, books and blogs I read, and mainstream publishers, authors and editors that I worked with and talked to. I searched for the answer over a period of five years while I wrote and refined my Diamond Peak Series. Even when the manuscript of the first book, Lethal Inheritance, was doing the query rounds of the big publishers with my agent, Debbie Golvan, I continued my study and line edited my book again. I found pearls in a variety of places, but never did I find all the vital information in one place. When I began writing reviews of both mainstream and indie published books, I discovered that many indie books lacked the quality of prose I saw in mainstream fiction. Though…
Friday Free Web Ficton: Corridors of my Mind
Every week in Friday Free Web Fiction I post a first draft scene from my work in progress (WIP), or a short story, or an excerpt from one of my books. Today’s offering is from my Prunella Smith WIP, Past Worlds, The Lock Smith’s Secret. A corridor opens up before me. Or is it a corridor? It doesn’t seem to have walls, and yet it does. I sense a universe outside, and I glimpse a star field beyond the walls, as if through thick tinted glass. Stars sparkle and galaxies swirl around me. I stare at them as I pass. I feel their power, their pulsing energy, yet they remain apart, beyond the walls. A faint light draws me on and the sound of metal tools working echoes faintly down the corridor. Someone’s down there. I quicken my pace but seem to get no closer. Suddenly, the light is to my right, no longer…
Wednesday Words: What makes a good writer?
When anyone with a computer can publish themselves, what determines the value of a writer? What makes a good writer? You can dash off a story, whip up a cover, upload a file, press a button labelled Publish and have your book appear on a book-selling website instantly. Okay, so it isn’t quite that simple—you do have to be able to make your word document clean enough for ebook-making software to turn it into something readable on an ereader—but you don’t have to pay an editor. You don’t even have to edit it! And you can throw the cover together yourself in a word document! Sure, the result is likely to be crappy—very crappy—but the point is that you can do that little and still have a published book to your name. Then readers can find it—if they’re unlucky or you’ve spent a bit of money in advertisements or have…
Friday Free fiction: Ella and the Beast.
This is the first of my weekly free fiction series. Sometimes it will be a short story and sometimes it’ll be an excerpt. This weeks offering is an excerpt from Prunella Smith:Worlds Within Worlds, but like quite a few of the scenes in that book, it’s also a short story. Normally, the Friday Fiction will be available for one week only, but I’m going on holiday next week for a couple of weeks, so you’ll have longer to read it before I delete it and replace it with something else. My feet pounded the hard earth, jarring my bones, but I couldn’t stop. The monster closed in behind me, his breath coming in hard, loud pants. I tripped and stumbled over a fallen branch, only just saving myself from a fall. An evil chuckle reverberated through the darkening forest. ‘I’m going to get you, bitch.’ The chill in the beast’s voice…
Wow, don’t they look pretty!
My achievements in publishing: Six novels written, plus one book of short stories (not shown) published by S & H Publishing. (Previously published myself under Catapult Press) Three books published by my publishing company AIA Publishing.