Ordos

Recently I got my limited print run of 75 paperback copies of my alternate history novella for friends and family. The e-book will hopefully be out early next year. I'm currently writing a horror/slasher/mystery novel about a serial killer who kills bikers. In past writing projects, there were lines I did not cross in describing graphic details of violence, sex and profanity. In this book I hope to cross all of them. This book is the most raw of my emotions and thoughts put into words. The working title is 'The Bike Gang Killer' but I'm open to titles like 'The Roadside Ripper' or 'Roadkill'.

My daughter just finished the cover art for my book and my brother wrote the synopsis/blurb for the back cover. My Dad was a critic and editor for my book. While I wrote the book, my family helped me get it ready for publishing. Anyway, the pieces are all assembled, and now I can publish it (as soon as I learn how to convert the file into an ebook).

A few days ago I finished my third round of editing my book (originally I indented just 2 rounds but I saw room for more improvement). The book itself is definitively finished but not yet published. My book now clocks in at just over 53000 words. Now I need to work on the front cover art and the blurb/synopsis before converting it into an ebook/kindle ready for online sale. I will also print about 50 paperbacks in case anyone insists on reading it on paper. When the book is published, I'll give the link.

I am self publishing. I found it on a google search, but the search result have been updated from the looks of it. Still, a novella is 10 000-40 000 words from what I'm looking at. I do hope I can stretch out the narrative just a little bit with the feedback. The genre? It's a survival adventure story within an alternate history setting and with just a pinch of dystopia (particularly in chapter 4). There should be a new thread soon...

My novel qualifies as a novel but only just. A short story is 10 000 words or less. A novella is up to 40 000 words. My book is just shy of 48 000 words although that includes the Author's Note and the glossary so it's probably just shy of 47 000 words. It's still a short book because the average novel from what I found on Google is 50 000 to 60 000 words. I'm hoping the feedback I get will give me ideas to expand the book. I put a lot of work into this book for months so I want page and word count to show it. It's the most work I've done on a single book.

I finished my first round of editing. I passed the draft out to 8 or so friends and family to give feedback. Then I'll go through my second round of editing and the text will be done.

Just finished writing my book. There is still a LOT of work ahead; drawing the cover art, possible illustrations to compensate for the relative shortness of the book, two rounds of editing, creating an online account to publish an ebook/kindle. But at least the story is done. After my editing, I will pass out my book early to friends and family for feedback so I can make the book even better. There will be a limited number of paperbacks printed. The book is called: The Coffee Thief

Still working on my current book, but I just wrote the outline to a possible next book. I'm dipping my toe into teen and young adult literature with some romance. It might raise some eyebrows among people who know me. I try to imagine what might have happened had I expressed my interest to my high school crush. At the time I was in a long distance relationship. What if I had kept my options open? Characters will be re-named from real life counterparts as well as the setting. The basic circumstances will remain the same just before the point of divergence. I cannot say for 100% certainty what would have happened, but this is one theory of what might have (and in my opinion most likely) happened. You have life regrets? Write about them! At least this way, I can turn regret into a fun piece of literature, get a profit from sales and answer my own question.

I'm pushing towards finishing my book, but I just realized how much more material I still have to write. Chapter 12 will be too long so I will have to finish with chapter 13. Chapter 12 describes life on a ship out at sea. Chapter 13 will include the climactic storm and reaching the island.

Writing the last chapter of my book. After I've finished writing it, two rounds of editing and the book is done. I am hoping to be done in early to mid October.

My story is told in a first person narrative told from a poor and/or working class person. Apart from one incident, he does no heroic acts and even witnesses others do heroic acts including saving his life as well as witnesses heroic acts from a woman. I was criticized on another forum that my main protagonist is not a heroine, but to make up for that my main protagonist is a witness to strong female characters. My only defense is that I'm not a woman. While the structure of my book puts limitations on how much of the world my character can see as opposed to a person higher up in social status, this viewpoint is what the majority of people would be seeing. He also does no heroic acts because I really wanted to have readers be able to put themselves in my character's position. For most of the book, my character only struggles to survive. I wanted to try to imagine what I would be doing in a warped reality. These limitations also give me liberty to not focus too much on world building and instead tell the story I want to tell. My main character has one brief moment of revelation and a window to the bigger picture of his reality (the alternate history of his world) in the latter half of the book. It's one of the things the story is building towards. The payoff (is that the correct term?)

Just finished Part 1 of my book consisting of 8 chapters. Part 2 will only have 4 chapters. No prologue or epilogue. I'm well on my way to meeting my February 22nd deadline for finishing my book. With editing it, I'm not sure yet. After I've finished writing the book, I will go through 2 rounds of editing. Then It will be ready to be published.

Added a glossary at the end of my book for the non-English words of which there are quite a bit.

I am just about halfway through writing my alternate history novel. While I would not consider my book a dystopia, I did my best to set up an authoritarian government. Anyway, this will probably be my only experiment with the genre as I'm more comfortable with my regular novels set in the real contemporary world. I still don't know how to convert my word file into an ebook and then how to contact an online distributor/publisher. I will print my book on paper, but that's only for my bookshelf. I have written notes for my book, but my Dad suggests using powerpoint to create a plot flow chart. I'm actually doing fine without one. I don't have writer's block, but I do have some gaps in my story between events that I'm not entirely sure how to link up. I'm well on my way to beating my own imposed February deadline.

I thought about introducing a second plot thread in my book. This first takes place in my hometown in Indonesia from the perspective of my main character. The second would take place in my place of birth which is a university town in The Netherlands called Wageningen from the perspective of another character. Doing this would expand the view of the alternate world I'm building. The trouble is my place of birth probably would not look all that different than it did in the real 1953 and possibilities for a profound story are limited. Maybe there is some material here for another future book.