Spike The Cat

All Spikethecat Publications Now Available for Kindle

2011-12-08T13:24:00.000Z

It seems that the Amazon Kindle is the number one requested birthday and Christmas gift, so just in time, all the Spikethecat publications are now available for the Kindle from the Kindle store on Amazon.

The prices are set at a sensible level (less than £1.50), so if you get a Kindle for Xmas, or if you know anyone who is getting a kindle for Xmas, now is their chance to buy a Spikethecat publication and enjoy amazing short stories, etc etc....you know the sort of thing.

Compliments of the Season to you all.

Cover for the Parenting Group

2011-08-25T18:29:00.000+01:00

Somehow it seemed highly appropriate that my daughter should create the cover for this soon to be available e-book. The Parenting Group is a story about six sets of parents who are thrown together by their attendance at pre-natal classes. As it says on the cover: New parents; new babies. What could possible go wrong? My daughter is only seven by the way, and the fact that she can be given a title and a brief and produce something from that is remarkable even though it did cost me her weight in Cadbury's finest.

Which Writing Books Do You Take When You Move House?

2011-08-18T18:13:00.000+01:00

It is interesting when one moves house - in my case from Buckinghamshire to Dublin - which books it is that one chooses to leave behind and which have to go with you.

So, for example, I brought very little fiction with me and the vast majority of my paperbacks have presumably by now found their way to a charity shop somewhere. I did hang on to my first edition of For Whom The Bell Tolls and a 1953 copy of The Old Man and The Sea with magnificent illustrations by C F Tunnicliffe and Raymond Sheppard. (With the inevitable dominance of the e-book just around the corner, when people talk about the pleasure of holding a book in their hands - this is what they mean. They even smell like the nineteen fifties.)

Anyway, the point of this post was that it was interesting looking at which writing books (of the many dozens that clutter my shelves at home) that I chose to bring. The first book I made sure I packed was:

Stein on Writing by Sol Stein (Simply superb.)

Followed by:

From the Elements of Fiction Writing series:

Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card (Essential reading)
Scene and Structure by Jack M Bickham (Also essential reading)
Conflict, Action and Suspense by William Noble (For when the work just doesn't have that indefinable it which makes it readable)

From the Write Great Fiction series

Description and Setting by Ron Rozelle (Superb)
Dialogue by Gloria Kempton (How to fix your dialogue problems in one book!)

Gotham Writers' Workshop Writing Fiction - Edited by Alexander Steele (Fantastic!!)
The Writers' Digest Handbook of Short Story Writing Volumes 1 and 2 (Not only brilliant but also incredibly rare and difficult to find!)
The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman (Wisdom in book form)
How to Write and Damn Good Novel and How to Write Damn Good Fiction both by James Frey (For when you don't think you can write another word - these will make you do it!)
Writing in General and The Short Story in Particular by Rust Hills (A remarkable book that makes you want to write and write well)
Between the Lines by Jessica Page Morrell (Wonderful intelligent book)
Master Class in Fiction Writing by Adam Sexton (A really well put together book that brings out the best of the best.)
The Power of Point of View by Alicia Rasley (Really good focused book on what is probably the one aspect of fiction that can make a story or kill it before it starts!)
How Novels Work by John Mullan (For me this was not an easy read but it was worth every ounce of effort.)
Creating Short Fiction by Damon Knight (Another personal favourite - wonderful book)
Make a Scene by Jordan E Rosenfeld (Not finished this yet, but it is superb so far.)

And that was what was in the box when I unpacked it. I am sorry I didn;t bring The Seven Basic Plots or Norman Mailer's On Writing but they will be there when I return.

Let's see if a combination of the advice in these books and the literary power of the Dublin air and water produce something worthwhile in the next two years!

Someone Has To Die Volume Four - In The Post

2011-06-20T18:37:00.000+01:00

In a plain brown wrapper with no distinguishing features, copies of Someone Has To Die Volume four have been dispatched today. Posted in twelve different post offices by someone disguised as a circus clown wearing surgical rubber gloves, speaking in Spanish with a Lithuanian accent and as a result not drawing any attention to himself whatsoever, they should be with all the winners shortly.

Someone Has To Die Volume Four Critiques done at last....

2011-06-10T12:30:00.000+01:00

Thank you everyone for your patience if you ordered a critique with your entry in the Someone Has To Die Volume Four competition. I am inordinately pleased to be able to tell you that they are all now complete and in the post. Finally!

Someone Has To Die Volume Four E-Book Available Now

2011-05-24T08:22:00.001+01:00

The E-Book of Someone Has To Die Volume Four is available now. For a limited period it was available free, but now it's on Amazon Kindle so it's not free any more. After all, Amazon just doesn't have enough money.

Adventures in Time and Space Volume Two - Back from the Printers!

2011-05-23T21:47:00.000+01:00

Adventures in Time and Space Volume Two is back from the printers and it looks great!!!

Author copies are packaged up and waiting to go. They will go first class in the morning.

Thanks for your patience. Hope you agree it was worth it when they arrive!

Cover for Someone Has To Die Volume Four

2011-05-04T14:19:00.001+01:00

Covers available now for the soon to be released e-book of Someone Has To Die Volume Four.

Keep an eye out for more news soon.

The Xandra Function by Alan Cash

2011-03-18T16:17:00.000Z

I have for some time been meaning to give a mention in dispatches to Alan Cash and his novel the Xandra Function. There are many more details about it on Alan Cash's Website where there are also sample chapters to read.

I even get a mention at the beginning as I had a look at the first couple of chapters before it all went to print. The reviews on Amazon are all pretty positive and I remember being quite taken with the main character.

So many congratulations to Alan for finishing writing a novel and actually seeing it though to print as well.

Adventures in Time and Space Volume Two - The E-Book

2011-03-18T14:29:00.000Z

Faster than a speeding meteor, brighter than an exploding star, more aliens than Area 51, and more eagerly awaited than a manned mission to Mars, it's here at last.

Adventures in Time and Space Volume Two The E-Book is available now. So, if you need a dose of shape shifting aliens and humanoid robots to get you through to the summer, then just request a copy in an email and have your free copy emailed right back.

Someone Has To Die Volume Four - THE RESULTS

2011-02-07T13:41:00.000Z

Thanks to everyone who entered the Someone Has To Die Voume Four competition. Some of you have become increasingly scary over the last couple of years......I hope it isn't anything I did!! However, some really excellent stories this time as well. So congratulations to the winners as they did so against some tought competition. To those who did not win this time - take comfort from the fact that one of the winners this time is a story that had not been selected for publication in an earlier competition but has since been significantly reworked to create a much more compelling tale.

So here, and without having to call a premium rate number or pretend to know anything about ice-skating, ballroom dancing, or talent shows in general are the results of the Someone Has To Die Volume Four competition.

Winner

Kate Measom - A Dish Best Served Cold

Runner Up

Gerry Knight - Strike a Light

Selected for Publication

A Curiosity in Market Square - Catherine Howarth
Catching a Stranger's Eye - Louise Gibney
Cardiac Arrest - Barbara Stevenson
Panic on the Lawn - David Hamilton
The Summer House - Don Nixon
The Reunion - Simeon Whiting
The Dance - Lee Kite
The Same Wavelength - Linda Lewis
Letter to Madge - Sandra Wood-Jones
The Gentleman's Book of Secrets - Greta McGough

All those selected for publication (and the two winners obviously) will all received a winners copy of the printed version of the anthology. Special congratulations to Gerry Knight as (from memory) I think this is his second, second prize - and also those of you have got a second publication as well.

Will update on dates as soon as I can. Priority will be to get the critiques done as soon as possible.

And will also soon have news on a new format for Spikethecat publications in the future.

Someone Has To Die Volume Four Progress

2011-02-02T13:20:00.000Z

Judging is under way and should be complete by Monday 14th Feb - which of course is Valentine's Day and I am fairly sure I should be able to get a joke out of that but for the life of me I can't think of one. Any ideas, please post as a comment.....best joke on the subject of finishing the judging of a short story competition on Valentine's Day wins a free e-book of Adventures in Time and Space Volume Two.....

At Last - Finally - Phew - Thank Heavens

2011-01-26T13:39:00.000Z

Finally, all the critiques from Adventures in Time and Space have been written, printed, packaged and are waiting for the postman.

It has taken a while and I can only apologise for that, but I hope they prove useful. Any questions, please feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer them.

Art Work For Adventures in Time and Space Volume Two

2011-01-26T13:37:00.000Z

Hi Everyone

We have the art work for Adventures in Time and Space Volume Two. The winning story was called "Endless Summer" by Anthony Murray and you will need to read it to see just how good the cover art is for the story!!!

Suffice to say we all love it and think Zoe has done another great job.

Adventures in Time and Space Volume II

2011-01-03T20:15:00.000Z

Happy New Year to everyone. Just to let you know that Adventures in Time and Space Volume Two production continues apace.

The anthology has been put together with all the individual stories and is now just awaiting an ISBN number. The winning story (Endless Summer) is with the artist and the cover will be available shortly.

Cheques have been sent to the two winners (something to help offset the VAT rise tomorrow).

Critiques are being produced at the moment and should be available before the end of January.

Will keep you posted.

Free Spikethecat E-Books

2010-11-11T10:18:00.000Z

If anyone would like a free PDF of any of the Spikethecat publications just drop an email to richard@spikethecat.co.uk and I will send one.

The theory of this being that you will be so impressed by what you read that you will immediately rush and buy a printed copy....this not being that much of a theory but sadly the best one I have.

That previous sentence was very nearly in English.

Christmas is coming...order now for guaranteed delivery....

2010-11-11T10:14:00.000Z

With Christmas coming I have no doubt that some of you are thinking of buying a quite remarkable number of copies of Spike publications to be able to give as gifts.

If this is the case then drop me an email to richard@spikethecat.co.uk as

a) I will be able to do a better price for you!
b) We are nearly sold out of

Someone Has to Die Volume Two
Adventures in Time and Space Volume One
Someone Has To Die Volume Three
Secrets and Spies Volume One

Thanks as ever...

Adventures in Time and Space Volume II - RESULTS

2010-11-11T10:09:00.001Z

The Adventures in Time and Space competition that closed in September had some of the best entries of all time. Some really good stories. For some reason a large number of "time slip" stories which made it difficult to judge after a while as filling the whole anthology with just time slip stories didn't seem like the best idea. Having said that, there are still a lot of time slip stories in there.
We had some of the best titles of all time as well - although not all of them were chosen for publication Elvis Drowned in Chocolate, Visions of Custard and There's Plenty More Fish People in The Sea, were particular favourites.

There were also three selected for publication that were quite short but seemed to work particularly well (at least one of them I am not sure how or why, but it left a deep impact on me)

Thanks for all your entries. Enjoyed reading all of them. Although as ever I have to say, you are not the most optimistic bunch as a rule!

Winner

Endless Summer by Anthony Murray

Runner Up

There's Plenty More Fish People in The Sea by Neil Renton

Selected for Publications

#7 17 Earth by David Sowels
The Guardian by Don Nixon
Gotcha by Adrian Bagley
A Place to Live by Linda Lewis
Teratoma by Alan Wood
Hack and Burn by Paul Tero
Wormholes by Keith Spiers
Her Friend Harold by Kath Mackenzie
Legion of the Storm by Andy Bottomley
Beyond by Peter Rolls

And that concludes the voting for the Latvian jury. Congratulations to all concerned. For those of you not in the dozen selected please remember it is necessarily subjective and I could easily be wrong. There were in particular this time probably twenty in total that could have easily made it and another dozen that with a very slight edit could have been selected.

I am not going to promise any dates right now, but will of course let everyone know when the anthology is available - we won't make it for Xmas - but we it will be early new year I hope. Critiques as soon as possible.

Thanks everyone....

SIgned E-Books - who would have thought it?

2010-11-04T12:19:00.000Z

Now I have to admit I would never have thought of this. I actually think it's a lovely idea, although it does seem once again to be an example of an attempt to try to apply the old paper model to the new technology - but in this case it is at least being done creatively. Of course you could just buy Adobe Photoshop and have your picture with anyone you like...and lose ten pounds and have blonde highlights at the same time...

http://publishingperspectives.com/2010/11/open-road-authography-solutions-to-personalizing-e-books/

The First Line

2010-11-03T21:08:00.000Z

For those of you who do not know of "The First Line" is it a quarterly edition of a shorts story magazine where all the stories start with the same first line. Their standards are very high and the sheer joy in seeing how different people can take the same first line in so many different directions is remarkable. (They published one or two of my stories in the past, so I obviously think they have great taste as well.)

Regardless, being able to say you had a story in The First Line actually means something! I would encourage everyone to have a go.

Anyway, the first lines for 2011 have just been released. And they are

2011 First Lines

Spring 2011: Sam was a loyal employee.

(Submissions due February 1, 2011.)

Summer 2011: “We need to talk.”

(Submissions due May 1, 2011.)

Fall 2011: Edwin spotted them the moment he stepped off the train.

(Submissions due August 1, 2011.)

Winter 2011: It had been a long year.

(Submissions due November 1, 2011.)

In the past you have been able to submit a story for all four as a series but they need all four by Feb 1st. Check their web site for details at www.thefirstline.com

E-Books and ISBNs

2010-11-03T20:48:00.000Z

An interesting article below on e-books and ISBNs. It is probably not the world's most important issue in and of itself (well OK it is quite important) but it is indicative of the fact that most of the publishing industry infrastructure is simply not set up to deal with e-books. As another example I keep getting letters from the National Library of Scotland asking me for five copies of an e-book to be delivered by post to an address in Scotland - despite the fact that I have emailed them and agreed to send it to them as an email and they can make as many copies as they like - but presumably because someone somewhere hasn't stamped n that five e-books arrived in the post.....I keep getting the letters!

Also, one has to question why have more than one repository working to collect e-books (by sending letters out in the post is another obvious question) - surely one body could collect them and then send a copy to the other repositories - if we need a national one for each of the constituent members of the UK, Perhaps I should write to the culture secretary and let them know how they could save a whole load of money on postage if nothing else!

In a nutshell the ISBN issue is that I (as a publisher) am supposed to give an ISBN number for any different format. So, if I sold a copy as an MS Word file, that would be one ISBN, if it was PDF then that would be another, if it is EPUB format then that would be another, if it was on CD then that would be another, etc etc. If you are selling ISBNs you could see why this could be a good thing.....and my guess is that it's the people who sell ISBNs who decide what should have one....and thus have a really good way of managing their own vested interest in maintaining their central position within the publishing process/industry. Call me cynical if you like.....

http://publishingperspectives.com/2010/11/isbns-and-e-books-the-ongoing-dilemma/

But worry not…

2010-11-03T16:54:00.001Z

However, do not worry. Both Adventures in Time and Space Volume II and Someone Has To Die Volume IV will be completed and go through to publication.

The Last Competition – For a While at Least

2010-11-03T16:51:00.001Z

It seems that Someone Has To Die Volume IV may well be the last Spikethecat competition for some time. Strangely this is not a bizarre marketing ploy to make everyone enter as soon as possible (although should it have that effect it can only be a good thing) but due to a change in personal circumstances which will see Spikethecat and family relocating overseas. Although the powers of the Internet are such that this need not spell the end of Spike I think that it will require a change in the way we do things so there will be a (short??) hiatus while we sort logistics and also try to figure out how Spike can continue.

We will need to find new suppliers and also work out whether Spikethecat as a legal entity can operate from foreign shores. Which all sounds as if it should be rather more grand than it really is.

Unfortunately, the dream of relocating for the purposes of tax avoidance is sadly not the case.

So, if you were waiting for another competition then my advice is don't wait any longer. This is it. The final countdown, the last picture show, the end of an era, the….you get the idea I am sure.

Adventures in Time and Space Volume Two - or is that Volume II

2010-10-04T14:04:00.000+01:00

We're now well past the closing date for Adventures in Time and Space Volume Two (or Volume II as it shall now be known.)

For those of us strangely and let's be honest, quite sadly, fascinated by such things

32 entries in total (this is two less than Adventures in Time and Space Volume One)
4 critiques
14 received by email, 18 by post
14 entries received in last seven days before closing date (yes I was in a bit of a panic)
20 male entrants
12 female entrants
22 have previously entered a Spikethecat competition

Will keep you up to date on the judging process - but the plan is to be able to announce winners by the end of the first week in November (half term is at the end of October which will - quite literally - disturb the judging process).

Good luck to all who entered. The Adventures in Time and Space Stories have been some of the most enjoyable to read!

National Short Story Week

2010-10-04T13:53:00.001+01:00

Details of National Short Story Week.

http://www.nationalshortstoryweek.org.uk/

Help celebrate by entering the competition for Someone Has To Die Volume Four (Note to self: start using Roman numerals - Someone Has To Die Volume IV seems much more authentic) which has a closing date of 30th November.

The usual vague and poorly defined rules apply.

Buying Three Copies of The Last Laugh

2010-09-21T13:50:00.000+01:00

So, good things really do come in threes. Have had more than one person (three to be precise - if a little spooky) ask whether they can buy three copies of The Last Laugh and couldn't bring myself to say yes if you buy one copy three times. So below is a Paypal button that will let you buy three copies at a randomly selected but hugely discounted price.

Web Site Updated

2010-09-20T12:47:00.000+01:00

Finally, you can now buy a copy of The Last Laugh, and Someone Has To Die Volume Three. Also now available the Someone Has To Die Box Set, which doesn't come in a box but may well be the most fun available as a packet of three apart from.....well you can probably see where this is going.

Some small other updates, but nothing earth shattering. I am slowly catching up with everything.

Ask The Author - Dealing with rejection and poor reviews

2010-09-07T14:03:00.000+01:00

Spikethecat: How do you deal with rejection? Also, add to that the related question of: How do you deal with poor reviews? Especially when they can be fairly immoderate on sites such as Amazon. Do you read them? Do you ever repond to them? Do you take note of them? Do you think they are genuine or are they being generated by people with an axe to grind?

S J Bolton

I thumb my nose, in true Shakespearean fashion, at the meanest, most vitriolic critics. Their harshest comments hold no fear for me. Because when it comes to cutting me down to size, sticking a pin in the bubble that is my author-ego and reducing me to a quivering, paranoid wreck, none of them, not a man, woman or basement-dwelling, Amazon-reviewing troglodyte, can come anywhere close to my nearest and dearest.
Take my mother, for one. When the proof copies of Sacrifice (my first novel) arrived, I despatched one straight to her. I was glowing with pride and foolishly assumed she would be too. Her response? "Hmmn, I think I'll have to read it again." I waited, breath baited. Her more considered response? "I enjoyed it towards the end when you stopped waffling."

A year later, no you're right, I will never learn, I sent her Awakening. She said "I didn't like it as much as your first." And I'd dedicated it to her as well. I didn't bother sending her Blood Harvest. Unfortunately, she bought it for herself. "Bit too close to home for me," she says. "Not my favourite of yours."

In my late forties, I'm starting to have adoption fantasies.
Then there's my agent, Anne Marie, whom you might expect to play the same role in my professional life as mum does in my personal one. I sent her the first draft of my third book. "I really like the title," she replies. "Let's talk about the rest."
Husband isn't much better. He's a bit more wary of causing offence because when all's said and done, he has to live with me, but his comment on finishing my first manuscript was, I kid you not, "Well, you're not Jane Austen, are you chicken?"
So there you go. As far as the rest of you gripers are concerned, if your review is considered and honest, I will try and learn from it. If it's just plain mean, don't waste your time - I've been insulted by better than you!

Adrian Magson

I've always treated rejection as a numbers game: the more submissions you make, the more you increase your chances of success. You have to be realistic. On any given day, your submission could be absolutely right... but for the fact that they may already have a story like yours, or have recently published one, or don't publish that particular topic, or yours is too long/short for their guidelines and they have others which are right on the button. Accept it as part of the job and send it somewhere else.

Every writer stands a chance of getting a less-than-flattering review. This can range from the mildly disappointed to the furious outpouring of bile from someone who really shouldn't be allowed near a pen or pencil - or indeed anything sharp. You have to learn to take them all in your stride. The bilious ones you can ignore, because they are rarely helpful or practical. The ones with even a mildly critical touch can be harder to dismiss, but I always look for something I can learn from them which might be useful for my future writing.

The nice ones, however, are fantastic and the icing on the cake. If I can track them down (not always easy on Amazon, etc), I try to thank the reviewer. They're the ones I write for.

Someone Has To Die Volume Three

2010-09-07T13:56:00.000+01:00

Just a quick update on Someone Has To Die Volume Three in that the proofs have been back from the printers and are now approved and the go ahead to print has been given. The printed copies should arrive very shortly and they wll be sent out same day - or very shortly afterwards.

More Success for Spikethecat's SJ Bolton (of Ask the Author fame)

2010-08-28T14:18:00.000+01:00

In the absence of a restraining order I feel completely justified in continuing to refer to Sharon as Spikethecat's S J Bolton. She is, for those of you who are not aware, one of our three authors who regularly contribute to the Ask the Author feature.

Some more great news in that Spikethecat's S J Bolton has had her third novel, Blood Harvest shortlisted in the final four for the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award 2010.

This will be presented early in October, at a televised ceremony in Grosvenor House, London, as the culmination of ITV3's Crime Thriller Season. Starting on 31st August, this series of programmes will examine the crime genre, ask viewers to vote for their favourite TV detective and showcase the final books for each of the dagger awards.

So finally, the chance to watch something on TV with your family and do the writerly equivalent of "that S J Bolton was in the back of my cab last week" and bask in some hard earned reflected glory.

Congratulations to Sharon - and fingers crossed for the Gold Dagger.

A semi colon is a thing of beauty.

2010-08-28T07:24:00.001+01:00

See the link below.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon

Thank you Sara.

And this is why...well one reason anyway

2010-08-22T21:23:00.000+01:00

Interesting stuff below and an interesting business model for print and e-books.

http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2010/richard-curtis-ebook-folly-leads-to-innovation/

We're going to do it - oh yes we are - we really are - honestly - yes we are -

2010-08-22T15:46:00.000+01:00

Exciting stuff. We've been thinking of doing this since day one but now at last we are going to do it .....

Spikethecat Limited is going to publish a novel - or two, or three, or even hundreds, who knows.

It seems only right and proper that the first people to know of this should be the regular supporters of Spikethecat, so it will be a few weeks before we do any publicity anywhere else.

So, here's the deal:

1. Publication will be as an e-book.
2. Publication might (or it might not) include publication as a short run or PoD print book - unless of course there are a hundred thousand advance orders in which case we would probably print a warehouse full.
3. We will pay a high royalty rather than advances. (Can't afford them!)
4. Book will be edited, proofed, formatted, a cover design done, original cover art commissioned, ISBN assigned and all the rest of it. Quality of production will be similar to the Spikethecat anthologies that you have hopefully all bought (if not then why not?) Feedback has so far been universally good on them - so that has to be a good thing!

Submission Details

We are going to publish Detective Fiction and Sci Fi.
You are welcome to send other genres or even literary fiction but it will have to be pretty amazing
Even amazing poetry is probably not going to cut it - we just don't understand it enough to tell the difference between good and bad poetry
You can try non-fiction, but that is even less likely to make it than poetry - unless it is on the subject of writing in which case it has a pretty good chance
Electronic submission only. Prefer MS Word but will do best with other formats.
Send the whole thing, No point sending the first three chapters and a synopsis.
We will not publish everything.
Send to submissions at spikethecat.co.uk (replacing the at with an @ - but you knew that)

This is not a competition, there is no fee, there are no prizes apart from the possibility of being published.

We are especially open to unagented and unsolicited submissions.... we're funny like that.

Book Review - The Writer's Digest Handbook of Short Story Writing (Volume One)

2010-08-20T18:59:00.000+01:00

I'm not sure whether I have been living in a cave for forty years, but for some reason I had never come across this until it was recommended to me by a friend.

As far as I can tell it seems to be out of print now (it only shows up from used book sellers on amazon.co.uk and is out of stock on amazon.com) - which is an absolute tragedy, and I had to go and get a second hand one (note to self, 'used acceptable' means someone else found it acceptable and not that I will find it acceptable). The book dates back to 1970 and is a collection of Writer's Digest articles on short story writing - some dating back to the nineteen fifties. While a lot of writing books are a product of their time, with only one or two small exceptions, the vast majority of the articles in this book seem timeless.
The book is divided into sections that roughly follow a possible process for writing a story: Getting Started, How To Get Story Ideas, Characterisation, Dialogue, Description, The Scene, Plotting, Conflict, Viewpoint, Flashback, Transition, The Story's Opening, The Story's Middle, The Story's Ending, Revision, The Writer as Reader, A Writer Never Quits, Marketing.

The book is at its best when it is dealing with specifics of writing - so sections on Characterisation, Dialogue, Description, Scenes, Plot, Conflict, Viewpoint, and Transition were the best for me. (There is a small article on transition called Five Suggestions for Writing Transitions which is as good a piece on story writing as I have ever read - and distilled into three pages of superb advice.)

This is a really good book for beginners and experienced story tellers - there is something in there to make everyone think about what they are doing. It's well constructed, well thought out and well written. It's easy to read straight through - and easy to use for reference as well - which is a neat trick if you can do it! I guess it is a testament to the quality of the advice that it is still relevant and fresh some forty years after it was written.

I would strongly recommend anyone getting hold of a copy while they still can. I have just ordered Volume Two - so will let you know what that is like when I have had a chance to read it.

At Last - The Last Laugh Copies Are On Their Way

2010-08-20T17:01:00.002+01:00

The Last Laugh copies have arrived from the printers, a passing ten year old has been forced into some unpaid envelope packing, the chap in the sorting office has explained that Royal Mail don't do a 96 p stamp, despite the fact that a first class large letter is 96p, so instead he has to use some odd combination of old stamps to get to 96p - or he was going to just put 97 p stamps on (this being enough to go airmail to the USA), and then left me with the challenge of explaining why there is an 88p stamp, but laughed at my suggestion that it was because 88p was half of £1.72. It seemed like a reasonable answer to me although math was never my strong suit.

Finally they made it into the post. They should be with the winners tomorrow or Monday with any luck - and assuming they didn't go air mail to the USA.

By the way - they look really, really good. If you didn't get a free winner's copy then buy one while they're fresh!!

New Books from Spikethecat's very own Adrian Magson

2010-08-18T11:48:00.000+01:00

Some great reads from Adrian as he embarks on not one, but two new series of books.

Available from 26th August:

'Red Station' is the first in a contemporary spy thriller series featuring MI5 Officer, Harry Tate, who is banished overseas after a drugs intercept goes horribly wrong. Unfortunately, his new posting, known as Red Station, is a punishment post for washed-put spooks, but also finds itself directly in the path of Russian troops crossing into Georgia. As if this isn't enough, Harry discovers that his bosses don't want him back - and have arranged for his termination by a government team called The Hit.

Available from 6th September:

'Death on the Marais' is the first in a series set in France in the 1960s. Inspector Lucas Rocco, transferred from his home base of Clichy, Paris, as part of a nationwide 'initiative' to broaden police operations, finds himself in the village of Poissons-Les-Marais, Picardie. It may be rural, but it's certainly not serene. With the discovery of a woman's body in a British military cemetery, Rocco finds himself up against high-level official obstruction. He also discovers that there are still powerful echoes of WW2, the Resistance and SOE operations, where those who were involved will do anything to stop him digging too deep.

Good luck from all at Spikethecat.

P.S There is a launch party in London in September and I'm trying to wangle an invite for a Spikethecat competition prize. Watch this space.....

Secrets and Spies - Seriously Spooky Stuff

2010-07-23T16:02:00.001+01:00

Check out the link (thanks Adam).

http://news.uk.msn.com/world/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=154190468

The image on the left from the Microsoft Network News website. Image on the right is the cover to Secrets and Spies. Or is it the other way round? We could run a spot the difference competition I guess?

Explanations on a postcard dropped behind the third brick from the left at midnight. Code word is Cucumber.

Fascinating Stuff on enhanced e-books

2010-07-20T09:31:00.000+01:00

Interesting.

http://ereads.com/2010/07/one-word-explanation-of-why-enhanced-e-books-wont-work.html

Someone Has To Die Volume Three - The E-Book

2010-07-16T14:11:00.000+01:00

Ahead of the www.spikethecat.co.uk website being updated you can buy the e-book of Someone Has To Die Volume Three below. Still only £1.49.

Cover Art for Someone Has To Die Volume Three

2010-07-16T14:04:00.000+01:00

More great stuff from artist Zoe Day and we now have the cover art for Someone Has To Die Volume Three. Derived from Dave Clark's winning story Out of Body Experience. (Interestingly I had an email from Kath - who by the way has a story in Someone Has To Die Volume Three - this week saying that one of the reasons she entered the competitions was because there was the chance of having art work produced from a winning story. I think we're the only competition that does that - unless anyone knows any different. It's neat to have a cover - and if I can I send a cover proof to the winner so that they have got something to frame as well should they so desire!)

Here's the new cover for the e-book which will be available over the weekend with any luck.

William Faulkner Recordings

2010-07-16T11:44:00.000+01:00

I don't generally just share links on here, but this one is just too good to keep to myself.

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful recordings of William Faulkner discussing his own work and writing in general with American literature students. Even if you're not a huge Faulkner fan it is just amazing to listen to a great writer sharing his thoughts in this way. Completely engrossing and fabulous to listen to.

http://faulkner.lib.virginia.edu/

PS Don't follow this link if you have a deadline coming up as you won't get much work done for the rest of the day. (Well, I'm not anyway.)

Job Avoidance Activity - Thoughts on the Future

2010-07-13T12:09:00.000+01:00

I have been engaging in some serious job avoidance activity - which means I have been reading some of the discussions regarding the state of literature/publishing/writing in the world today. In particular there is a rather fun 'the novel is dead' debate going on.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/jul/12/apocalypse-now-lost-cultural-way

http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/where-have-all-mailers-gone

For what it's worth here's a view from Spiketehcat on the state of the world.

There a a huge number of discontinuities currently having an impact on the literary world. These include:

1. Pressure on traditional bookshops as a sales channel due to:

increased discounting of traditional books at retail level (both online and bricks and mortar)
increased sales of a limited range of books through Tesco and the like - removing high turnover items from traditional book stores,
increased online sales
easy online availability to second hand books - reducing backlist sales. This is one of the major changes the importance of which I think is easily missed. Second hand books generate no author income and no publisher income.
increased digital e-book sales

Personally I have no doubt that if I owned a book store I would be looking for something else to sell in it rather than books. (Even Amazon is no longer an online book store.)

2. Democratisation of Publishing

It is remarkably easy to set up as an independent press or to self publish a traditional book, given a very small sum of money and a computer - and it is possible to publish an e-book for nothing at all. Whether this is a good or bad thing I am not sure, but it is certainly more democratic. Does it change anything? I'm not sure. It is argued that there are already too many books being published (probably true -search Amazon for books on Feng Shui for incontrovertible evidence). Most of them disappear without trace - I only have to check my royalty statements for evidence of that - every now and then one resurfaces - and maybe that is the defining business model of the future for fiction. Millions of "books" being created and published - and a few making it beyond the circle of family and friends of the author.

3. E-Book Pressure

At this point in time the only things that are stopping e-books completely removing the printed book from existence is a) the pricing policy of the publishers b) the age distribution of regular readers - i.e.either the very young - and not to be entrusted with a expensive piece of e-reader kit that leaves the house - or the very old with a perceived desire to remain loyal to the printed matter (and possibly also not to be trusted with an expensive e-reader). Once e-readers are cheap enough to let the kids have one and the first digital native generation is in its collective bathchair then books are probably gone - except as a specialist archaic gift - like a pocket watch today, perhaps.

A big publisher will break ranks and will cost price an e-book before long - or enough small publishers will do the same that it will force the big players to reduce prices (look at the history of the telecoms industry from 1990 - 2000 to see how this works - anyone remember paying more than a few pence a minute for long distance and international telephone calls?). The price will eventually be effectively "near zero" as the ease with which an e-book can be produced will reduce the cost of the production process (i.e.no advance, limited editing etc) and will allow more books to be published to a "long tail" niche audience and the successful ones to then be marketed to a wider audience - all without the concern for print runs etc,

4. Outmoded Business Practices

There are a number of completely outmoded business practices that will probably end soon. This will include a) the advance on royalties as publishers find a way to use authors prepared to take the financial risk of the time to write a book without being underwritten by the publisher, and b) returns. The end of returns will hasten the end of both the bookshop and the printed book - which is why they still exist - but sooner or later the inevitable will happen.

5. More writers than readers

I suspect we are not far away from the time when there are more people writing a book than there are reading one. The market for most of this work (certainly for fiction) is limited to family and friends. This is not
necessarily a bad thing, but when everyone is writing a book, the reading population diminishes.

6. What it is that is sold as fiction

I agree with some of what has been written about the demise of the novel in that there seems to have been a fundamental change in what is published as fiction. The majority of fiction that is produced is oriented to a specific market and has become more "customer focused". This is normally a good thing, but in this case it has meant that it can be argued that the publishing industry has given up on "literary novels" if there is no immediate market for them. Some of this comes down to what the publishing company feels they can sell - if a popular celebrity 'writes' a novel then that is a marketable commodity - a brilliant first novel by a complete unknown - not so much.

But was it ever any different? Is it just that public interest in writers has waned and a fascination with heiresses and models and television presenters has made them the more bankable option? Should every celebrity have a CD, a perfume, an action figure and a book? The book is just another commodity to be sold on the back of temporary celebrity.

So it is that even the books that come from real writers are marketed in such a way as to ensure temporary success. The books that are most successful appear to have sales that result from the public buying into a marketing event rather than the book itself. The success of the television book clubs is an example of a readership for an event - not for a book in its own right.

With temporary success comes a need for temporary books - i.e.e books that do not offer any of the insight to the fundamentals of humanity that great literature used to deliver, but instead offer a fictionalised account of current affairs - nothing more than narrative non-fiction without the need to check any facts or worry about libel.

The marketability test seems to drive the publishing industry down some very well worn routes - specifically the need to market a series of books (Harry Potter, Twilight, Discworld, any detective you choose to mention) etc - or when there is no obvious series then to be able to market "an author". Again, I think we have to ask, was it no ever so? At least at the "popular" end of the scale, Agatha Christie, PG Wodehouse - they represent a recognised brand that book buyers could rely on.

It is this brand trust that would seem to be the most difficult thing to protect in a new publishing landscape.

So what might be part of a new publishing landscape?

1.Hundreds of thousands of small publishers.
2. Millions of self-published authors.
3. Near zero pricing for e-books
4. New e-reading devices - at significantly lower cost
5.Changed business models - subsidised reading devices (as per mobile 'phones) - advertising supported content - no author advances - no returns - enhanced second hand market - books as part of an overall product marketing package - (along the lines of films that make all their money from the sale of merchandise, or music that sells the concert tour).

This would seem to be a consumer centric future in which publishing means almost nothing except as a means to be able to alert consumers to the existence of a product that includes something that may have been produced by an writer.

There will be more opportunities for writers to make their work available to the public - which we can call publishing if you like, but will bear little or no resemblance to what publishing is today. It will be small presses, e-books publishers, self-publishers, blogs and whatever else comes along. The mainstream publishers will be able to focus on finding those authors who are developing a brand on their own (just as record companies sign bands with a following, or publishers today already look at converting a blog to a book) and developing them with a marketing budget.

As a writer - more than anything else it means do what you can to build an audience for yourself - and hope that someone notices.

Spikethecat on Ink Slinger.com - Kinda Cool SIte

2010-07-09T14:35:00.000+01:00

Ink-slinger.com is a new venture I recently came across, working to make e-books available across a range of reader platforms (Nook, Kindle, Sony Reader etc) rather than just the Adobe PDF format that my limited technical skills can manage.

You can see ink-slinger at www.ink-slinger.com where you will undoubtedly recognise some of the fine e-books on sale. All six of the Spikethecat e-book publications are there and looking rather wonderful, even if I say so myself. (When you see all of the covers together in one place it looks rather impressive - well it did to me.)

Although the (friendly and very helpful) guys at ink-slinger have been kind enough to put the Spikethecat e-books on the site, they are also very much aiming directly at writers who would like to be able to make their work available as e-books but may not have the time or the technical knowledge to be able to do it for all the platforms - or may be unwilling to spend as many happy hours on Mobipocket as I have.

It is as simple as registering and then uploading your work - they do the rest and then split any earnings with you. It seems to me to be a worthwhile venture and we at Spikethecat wish them every success.

Quick Update on Anthologies

2010-07-05T13:16:00.000+01:00

1. The Last Laugh print anthology is at the printers waiting for a proof to come back to me for checking.

2. The Someone Has To Die Volume Three E-Book and Print Anthology is with the artist for the cover art to be produced.

3. Everyone (who should have got one) should have now received their winners' copy of the Secrets and Spies print anthology. If not then please let me know.

4. Everyone whose work was included in the e-book of Spike's Hot Flashes should now have received a copy by email. (Again, if not then please let me know.)

5. Someone Has To Die Volume Three critiques are being worked on now.

6. First issue of Spiked is still planned for the end of July.

The First Twelve Months

2010-07-01T14:30:00.000+01:00

Well, it feels like only last year, when I thought about starting Spikethecat, and bizarrely it is in fact only twelve months in August since this adventure started. In that time we will have:

Published work by 57 different authors
Published: 5 print anthologies
Published 7 e-books
Published 74 short stories
Published 21 pieces of flash ficton
Awarded more than £1,250 worth of prizes. (The bad news is that number is a bit of a shock to me.)
Seen the web site go from 30 hits a month in August 2009 to more than 10,000 hits a month.

As a general rule, I do try to avoid being smugly self congratulatory (not sure whether that is English but hopefully you know what I mean) however, the above strikes me as pretty good.

Writers' News

2010-07-01T14:12:00.000+01:00

Winners list for Adventures in Time and Space was in Writers' News this month so thank you to them. Page 8 if you are a subscriber. The best scan my aged equipment can manage is below.....

Also worth mentioning on the front page an article on some of the cons that other competition companies may try to get you with. In particular the one where just by entering you assign rights to your work to the competition. Just to reassure you we DO NOT do that at Spikethecat. The only rights we get from entrants is the right to publish the twelve winners (which we think is the main point of entering the competition so if you don't want to be published then probably the best bet is to save the entry fee.) If you are not one of the twelve then we don't retain the rights to anything you have sent us. I have to be honest, I'm not sure what we would do with them if we did.

Secrets and Spies Copies in the Post

2010-06-29T12:56:00.000+01:00

Less then four hours after they arrived from the printers, the winners' copies went out by Royal Mail yesterday - as did the prizes for the Flash Fiction competition. All pre-ordered copies also went in the post yesterday.

Postal workers are threatening to strike due to the increased workload. Royal Mail management have threatened a programme of modernisation along with revised pricing for delivery of tablets of stone to mountaintops without a post code.

And sometimes you just want to weep....

2010-06-28T09:23:00.000+01:00

I actually checked the date on this to make sure it wasn't an April Fool.

http://www.booktrade.info/i.php/27979

I can add no more...

Spike's Hot Flashes Volume One - The E-Book - AVAILABLE NOW!

2010-06-24T14:17:00.000+01:00

Don't buy one if you're in it as I'm going to send you one anyway! If you're not in it, then please buy one - there are some really good stories in here in 200 words or less!

Fiction is irrelevant - or then again maybe it isn't

2010-06-24T13:41:00.002+01:00

Some interesting thoughts.

Original article in New York Observer

http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/where-have-all-mailers-gone#

Rebuttal in LA Times

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/06/fiction-is-dead-again.html

Handbags at dawn anyone?

Update

2010-06-21T16:16:00.000+01:00

A quick update on a few things:

1. I have been in touch with the printers and the Secrets and Spies Anthology is printed and waiting to be bound and should be with me by the end of this week. Will be sent out immediately it gets to me. Well, maybe no immediately, but you know what I mean.

2. Prizes for Hot Flashes (The Flash Fiction Anthology) will be sent out at the end of this week as well.

3. The Flash Fiction E-book should be available by the beginning of next week.

4. Someone Has To Die Volume Three Critiques should be available by 7th July at the latest.

5. The Last Laugh Print Anthology should be available by the end of July at the latest.

6. No idea at all on Someone Has To Die Volume Four as yet!!

The Last Laugh - The E-Book Available Now

2010-06-21T14:48:00.000+01:00

Here it is, finally, The Last Laugh e-book. Only £1.49 and available from all good websites with the url. www.spikethecat.co.uk.

Spike's Hot Flashes Cover Art

2010-06-21T10:33:00.000+01:00

So we now have the cover art complete for the flash fiction publication, now enjoying the unlikely title of Spike's Hot Flashes

Flash Fiction Competition Results

2010-06-16T10:57:00.001+01:00

There were some great entries to the Flash Fiction competition - so much so that I have emerged changed from a flash fiction cynic to a true believer. Thank you to everyone who entered. I am in complete awe of those of you who can tell so much of a story with so few words and in particular those of you who were able to tell as much with what wasn't written as you did with what was! (I think that makes sense as a sentence.)

But there can only be one winner, and they win a copy of Wannabe a Writer by Jane Wenham-Jones, as well as the current Spikethecat publications including Someone Has To Die Volume One, Someone Has To Die Volume Two, Adventures in Time and Space Volume One and a limited edition Spikethecat T-Shirt as well.

The winner is A Goat by Chris Smith

As usual though there were several entries that were so good it just didn't seem right not to do something else and a limited edition Spikethecat T-shirt will also go to two other entries.

Alan Murphy for his story Busking on Mountaintops
Susan King for her story The Predator.

Note that 'limited edition' just means I didn't get very many made.

This Appealed To Me

2010-06-16T09:40:00.000+01:00

This poster is available to buy from http://www.826national.org/content/258/novel-poster-picture-gallery (nothing to do with spike) - just came across it and thought it was wonderful.

May well get one for the office!

Publication Opportunity Database

2010-06-14T14:46:00.001+01:00

I have been pointed at a really good searchable database resource for opportunities for writers available on the web. I have had a quick look and although a lot of the opportunities seemed to be non-paying and a lot of US based e-publications, they do provide another way to build that writing CV that I'm convinced is important for anyone who wants to try and make a go of writing as a career. You can search by genre, length, etc and get a pretty good view of what is out there. It looks like a good tool to me. There is even some system for tracking your submissions which has to be a good thing.

http://www.duotrope.com/

Let me know if anyone has any success through this. Bon chance!

Ask The Author Question 9 - On The Desk

2010-06-14T06:54:00.001+01:00

Spikethecat: What's on your desk (or close to hand) when you write?

Sharon Bolton

Post mortem photographs of all five victims of Jack the Ripper. They are particularly relevant to the book I'm finishing at the moment, being a 21st century take on the old stories, but they also serve to remind me that, no matter how much time has passed, murder is a horrific business and must be treated as such. Even, or possibly especially, by those who use it as entertainment.

Also, my dog. A greyhound cross, she's far too big to sit on the desk, although it has been tried, but she stays very close by and reminds me to take a break every day at noon. I swear she can tell the time. Being interrupted can be frustrating but I find there's nothing like the steady rhythm of walking in the open air to keep the ideas flowing.

Adrian Magson

A pad for noting (a) any research points I need to look up, (b) text changes or (c) future scenes I need to think about, etc. A thesaurus, dictionary - all the usual technical writing tools. Coffee is good (tea in the afternoon), and a supply of biscuits (for brain food - well, that's my excuse). The internet is hardly ever off, for all manner of things to be verified, and maps are never far away as I like to base my books on real places, even if I play with the geography a little... or even a lot. Having somewhere real as a base allows me to keep the continuity right through the book(s).

Sue Moorcroft

Gosh, my desk! I work at a large iroko desk that my husband made. It was never intended for me to work at - it is a nice piece of furniture, which stood in the dining room at our old house. But this house doesn't have a dining room so the desk ended up in the spare room. And so did I.

I keep the desk covered with paper so my husband can't see how much I've battered it ...

I have some family photos on the desk and also a printer, a stack of trays that hold the computer router and modem, a card index, a tape dispenser and my beloved iMac. And a lot of paper. In the vicinity is a phone/fax, more trays, a stack of music CDs, some postal scales, a camera, the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, Chambers' Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms and a few other reference books. And a lorra lorra books on shelves above and around. My latest purchase is one of those copy holders that clips to the top of the computer. This is brilliant when I'm writing a critique of a hard copy competition entry, for example. Of varying degrees of usefulness are two mobile phones, a broken watch (but the battery is still good), a peanut sweet, some stuff for sore lips, a memory stick, some cash (payment for books), an empty coaster (which means I've put my drink down somewhere) and a little black memory stick.

There's a shelf of ornaments beside me: a dog in a basket that was a joke first anniversary present; a tortoise with a goofy expression; a clock shaped like a juke box; a pen from the bank I worked in when I left college; a piece of Moorcroft pottery; a dish with a rabbit in it (which just never got put anywhere else) and a stone that looks like a hedgehog's face, found on a family holiday. And, presently, I'm afraid, some dust.

Banned

2010-06-10T19:56:00.000+01:00

The below received by email for which many thanks. It made me laugh.

"Good to see the website back. For some reason my work have banned it. Considering they only do that for porn sites, gambling ones or occasional the BBC, that could be a blessing in disguise or the ultimate insult!"

What can I say. Perhaps we will refer to Spikethecat as "....banned writing website, Spikethecat..."

Useful Links Being Developed

2010-06-10T13:21:00.000+01:00

In an attempt to ensure this site remains as useful as possible to everyone, a links section is being added to the weblog to provide links to writers who are associated with spikethecat (in any way) and also any useful short story resources.

If you have anything that should be included please email at contact@spikethecat.co.uk Not really looking for lists of publishers or to replicate any of the lists of competitions already done by Sally Quilford for example (I will link to Sally's site rather than duplicate it - if for no other reason than she does a far better job of it than I am likely to!)

Obviously the list will be maintained (honestly, it will) so new links can be added, but I would like to get a first list out by the end of next week (18th June) so let me have anything amazing by then if you can.

Spiked

2010-06-09T22:25:00.000+01:00

Someone asked me what Spiked is going to be like. Well, someone recently sent me something (they know who they are) that reminded me of what for me counts as "the good old days" - and I don't mean Roy Hudd dressed in a boater pretending to be a music hall act on BBC2 in the eighties.

We were having one of those genuinely enjoyable email discussions about the spirit and ethos of spikethecat and this arrived.

This was quite iconic in its day and a bit of research shows that it probably first appeared in a fanzine called Sideburns, and was then reproduced in the Stranglers' fanzine Strangled.

And the reason this is relevant is that it is the "punk rock" ethos of being able to form a band whether you could play or not that is what defines spikethecat. (Of course, we're not actually forming a band, but you know what I mean.)

So, what will Spiked be like? A punk rock style fanzine for writers.

Fortunately time has moved on and I won't have to do the headlines with marker pen, type the text on an old Remington and break into the school office to make 100 copies on the old pink roller printer with 'property of the English Department' stuck on the side.

One of the reasons why Spiked needs to be a punk fanzine is that there are already lots of people trying to create the next full scale literary magazine. I came across a really professional one today at www.writersrelief.com. It's incredibly professional, with masses of information and beautifully done, but with all the energy and attitude of nine minutes of Prog Rock. Spiked will be two minutes and 20 seconds of the Ramones.

Web Site Updated - Lots of Good Things

2010-06-07T19:48:00.001+01:00

The spikethecat web site www.spikethecat.co.uk has been updated and now includes:

The option to buy a printed book with an e-book discount
The option to buy five copies for the price of four
The chance to register for a FREE quarterly electronic writing magazine that we are going to produce, with the first edition out in July 2010.
Details of competition for Adventures in Time and Space Volume Two
Details of competition for Someone Has To Die Volume Four

It takes a while, but it's worth waiting for!!

Prices - Good News as Well as Not So Good News

2010-06-07T14:41:00.000+01:00

I have said on a few occasions that we need to look at re-vamping the prices at some point. The main reasons for this being

Postage prices have gone up.
I completely misjudged how many pages 12 short stories would be and so the books have cost more to produce than I expected. Those who have seen them have been impressed by the quality and I would really rather not reduce the quality for the sake of a pound.
I did not really understand just how long it would take to do a critique.

So, the next short story competitions will have an entry fee of £4.00. (Those of you who have speculatively already sent an entry for an as yet unannounced competition are OK and do not need to send the extra £1.) Critique and submission has gone up to £12.00 from today. Critique only option now £10.00.

The price of the printed books will need to go up to £6.99 starting from Secrets and Spies Volume One. This will still include postage. Note that those of you who have pre-ordered Secrets and Spies are fine at £5.99.

However there is good news and it is is:

The web site will be updated to allow for a "buy 4 get one free" option.
A new system is being introduced so that you can buy an e-book to see if you want to buy the print book and then take the price of the e-book off the price of the printed copy if you then decide to go crazy and spend the £6.99.
If you buy a printed book without buying an e-book via PayPal you will automatically get an e-book sent as well, free of charge.
E-book prices are pegged at £1.49.

So, it;s not all bad news. I am hoping the e-book option will let you "try before you buy" with £1.49 to see the e-book and check it's something you would like as a printed book before you buy it.

I hope none of this will put anyone off. They are not bad prices generally and believe me, retiring to the house on the beach in the Seychelles is as far away as ever! It is possible that a weekend in a caravan in Bognor Regis may be on the cards in a couple of years.

Ask The Author Question 8 - Great Beginnings

2010-06-07T10:23:00.000+01:00

Spikethecat: What makes a great beginning, and in particular a great opening line?

Sue Moorcroft

A great beginning, I think, is one that plunges the reader into the story at a point of interest, significance or change. It generally has a hook, too, a kind of question that the reader will want to know the answer to, in the first paragraph or two.

The first page should create a desire to read the second. And on.

It's a good idea to keep Chapter 1 clear of flashbacks and give only the minimum necessary both of background information and scene setting. Flashbacks are backward looking and background information and scene setting are static whereas you want Chapter 1 to have forward momentum. Think of it as an access corridor to the rest of the book and keep it uncluttered so that the reader can move through it without losing their way.

The opening should also set the tone of the book. Whether it's lighthearted or gritty, romantic or hard hitting, the tone of page 1 should reflect it.

Think of your potential reader standing in a book shop and reading the blurb and page 1 before deciding to buy. Use page 1! It's an opportunity to haul that reader in.

Adrian Magson

A great beginning should be short, sharp and intriguing - and a promise of things to come. The first page has to make people want to continue reading (especially browsers in bookshops). It doesn't have to be loud and full of bangs, not should it be full of nice descriptive prose, such as birds in the trees, sunlight filtering through the branches and so forth. But it should be eye-catching. Putting yourself in place of the reader, you have to ask, having read the first two or three lines, do I feel sufficiently drawn in to want to carry on?

An example I used in my first book was 'The first old man died on the beach'.

That was the first line. It set up (I hoped) the question, why 'first'? (Presumably there must be other old men). Who were they? And why on a beach? Where? How did he die? (I didn't let that out immediately, either. '... was shot...' or '... was stabbed...' gave it away too early. It's all to do with what they call the hook.

Get the hook right and you're away.

Sharon Bolton

An opening line is a bit like an elephant. Not too easy to describe but you sure do know one when you see it. I think Dick Francis is a master of the opening line. His are invariably short, simple, original and with terrific impact. So, I suppose that's what I aim for. That's not to say, of course, that a longer opening can't be great. Think Pride and Prejudice : "It is a truth universally acknowledged..." Hardly short or simple but very funny and engaging.

It seems almost too obvious to say that a great opening should engage the reader from the first few words, but its surprising how many successful books do nothing of the kind. Frankly, I get a bit cross. Especially with established and successful authors who seem to feel they don't have to bother making an impact because their readers will stay with them anyway. This business is so competitive, with so many good writers waiting for their chance, that no one, bestselling author or not, can afford to let anything slip. Especially something as important as the opening.

An Update on Secrets and Spies Print Anthology

2010-06-07T09:50:00.000+01:00

The proof is now back from the printers and I will be going through that over the next couple of days and it will then go to final print Wednesday of this week. So the winners' copies (and the advance orders) will be posted as soon as the copies are here.

Not long now...

Winners of Someone Has To Die Volume Three Competition

2010-06-07T09:46:00.000+01:00

My apologies for the delay in the results. Thanks for your forbearance and also thank you to everyone who entered. One reason is that this has been by far the most difficult competition to judge with the initial read through producing 26 winners which showed just how good the overall standard was. (This beats the previous most difficult competition which produced an initial 18 winners.)

The sadness of this is that there are some really good stories that did not make the final winners list. All I can say is that there is no doubt that those writers will win other competitions in the future. The joy of it is that if you are on the final winners list you know that it really does mean something!

After several more readings, the final winners list was whittled down to thirteen, but it was impossible to exclude any more, so there are thirteen stories selected in total. Apologies to anyone with extreme superstitious tendencies. The variety of winning entries is remarkable, and the writing impressive. I absolutely loved so many of these stories for their intelligence, wit, style and stories. Congratulations to all who entered, and especially to those below.

So, the winners were:

First Prize: Out of Body Experience by Dave Clark
Second Prize; Surplus Baggage by Dave Hopkins

Selected for Publication in the Anthology:

You by Tracy Kay Preston
Dimitri by Simon Fairnington
The Prisoners' Friend by Don Nixon
Benefit of the Doubt by Leslie Marcus
Monster by Tom Rayner
A Twist of Time by Keith Collins
This Mortal Coil by Kath Mackenzie
Farewell, My Bubbly by Peter Rolls
In Deep Water by Sandy Wardrope
Toys That Talk by Anthony Murray
The Salvation of Sheng by Martha Stephens

The Last Laugh Cover Art Is Here

2010-05-19T14:36:00.000+01:00

And The Last Laugh cover art is with us now as well. Fantastic as always and based on the winnings story. It is a bit of a bonus to winning one of the short story competitions at the moment in that you get to see original art work based on your story. The Last Laugh E-Book is being edited right now so should be available soon (I hope).

Secrets and Spies Volume One The E-Book

2010-05-19T12:47:00.000+01:00

Finally it is here. Edited until it gleams like a secret microdot under an x-ray and the only commas out of place are those with a hidden meaning, with more secrets than a government minister's expense claim and more spies than, well, something with lots of spies. For your eyes only, highly confidential and liable to self destruct after reading.

Secrets and Spies Volume One - The E-Book is available from the web site now and it is still only £1.49.

Go to www.spikethecat.co.uk

Someone Has To Die Volume Three Competition Closed

2010-05-19T12:20:00.000+01:00

My apologies to all that things have been a bit quiet - I won't bore you with the details - however normal service is about to be resumed.

Anyway, I should formally close the Someone Has To Die Volume Three Competition, which ended at the end of April.

The details:

41 total entries
20 electronic and 21 by post.
International entries received from Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Canada.
Six entries requesting critiques which is a new record.

And a first which is that the total receipts from entry fees and critiques actually covers the prize money fund!

Details on when judging will be complete etc will be on here as soon as I can figure them out!

Thanks to all who entered and good luck.

S J Bolton Wins The Mary Higgins Clark Award for "Awakening"

2010-05-02T07:12:00.000+01:00

Great news from the big publishing world in that S J Bolton, who from now on (or until I am legally restrained by her publisher) will only be referred to on these pages as "Spikethecat's Sharon Bolton" or "our very own S J Bolton" has won the prestigious Mary Higgins Clark award for her second novel "Awakening".

Sharon is of course one of our three authors (Sharon, Adrian Magson and Sue Moorcroft) who generously gives her time to provide answers on our "Ask the Author" slot.

This is amazing news and I am sure that everyone here at spikethecat will be as thrilled as I am for her! Great stuff. Has made my weekend.

Ask the Author Question 7

2010-05-02T07:05:00.000+01:00

Spikethecat: What is it that makes for a great ending?

Sharon Bolton

If the novel is a mystery, then a good ending depends upon getting the balance right between surprise and expectation. Enough clues have to be laid along the way for the reader, at the moment of truth, to slap his hand on his forehead and exclaim, 'Of course!' but not so many that he guesses everything by chapter 10. What absolutely will not work, in my view, is a solution that bears no real relation to what has gone before. Pulling a rabbit out of a hat is no way to end a mystery. I'm afraid I lose patience with writers of mystery/crime/thrillers, who say they have no idea themselves 'Whodunnit' until they are writing the last chapter. I mean to say, if the killer could be anyone, what is the point?

It's also fairly essential to have a tick box list of all the issues raised during the story so, somehow or other, they can be resolved before the end. I try to get as many of these out of the way in the chapters leading up to the final one, so as to avoid the rather cliched all-is-revealed confessional style conclusion in the last chapter.

I'm rather a sucker for a happy ending. So much so that if I know a book will end badly or sadly, I usually won't read it. And this can prove a bit of a challenge because completely happy endings tend not to sit very well on thrillers that deal with very dark subject matter. I try, if nothing else, to give the reader a bit of hope for the future of the characters he's invested so much time in.

And I do love to end on one simple, haunting line.

Sue Moorcroft

I'm a writer - and a reader - that likes a satisfying ending that 'pays off'. Open endings are not for me and, to be honest, I usually think they're a bit of a cheat.

As I write a lot of romantic fiction, hero and heroine will get together or there will be hope of them getting together. What the reader wants to see is how, and if I can make them believe that the final obstacles between the characters and happiness are insurmountable. The trick is to make the characters believe that they're insurmountable, too!

I'm quite a fan of epilogues, which allow readers to extend their enjoyment of the Happy Ever After ending. The end of the final chapter contains the drama of heroine and hero finally reaching out to each other, then the Epilogue shows some aspect of their happiness in practice, so that reader feels secure in leaving, knowing that the characters are going to be OK. In many romantic novels, the hero and heroine's wedding is shown in the Epilogue but I haven't thought that the right way for me to end a novel, yet, because my heroes tend to be unpredictable. All That Mullarkey, which comes out on 1 June 2010, contains a quirk in the Epilogue that echoes something in the Prologue - and it's a quirk that's so typical of mercurial Justin that when it occurred to me I ran upstairs and rewrote the whole Epilogue in order to include it. It suits Justin, it suits the book and it provides a circular element, which means that although the readers have been on a journey with the characters, they feel they're leaving by the door by which they came in. This, too, provides a lot of reader satisfaction.

And that's how I want readers to feel when they put down my books after the final page: satisfied. Even if they're a bit sorry that the book is over.

Adrian Magson

I think a great ending is made up of a combination of Satisfaction (with the story, characters, situation and theme, etc) Conclusion (everything wrapped up - or seemingly so... the potential for a sequel) and Rumination (being left with thoughts in your head about what you've read). I try to aim for Satisfaction and Conclusion every time - it's part of the job - but I'm not sure I can guarantee the reader will ruminate much on what I've written, much as I'd like to!
As part of the human condition, we naturally like to see the good guys come out on top; for the main character(s) to overcome difficulties and triumph in the end. But a happy ending isn't always possible or even feasible. Sometimes we have to settle for the best outcome among dubious alternatives (think 'Gone with the Wind').
However, if we're left with a feeling of hope for a character, it's better than nothing, and might inspire us to pick up the next book in the series rather than being left feeling short-changed.

Now I promise I'm not making these up....

2010-04-23T06:23:00.000+01:00

below is the text of a letter sent to Writers' News - and I promise it wasn't me and I'm not making it up. Thank you.

Dear Sir,
I recommend any would be short story writers to look at the website of a recently established independent publisher - Spike the Cat (spikethecat.co.uk). The editor Richard Hallows is seeking to find writers, some new and some already published. I have had two short stories accepted for publication by him and have found him helpful and encouraging. He publishes stories in themed anthologies and his website is packed with useful tips and information. I have had a number of short stories published by other publishers but do think Spike the Cat is particularly worth supporting by submitting work and perhaps buying one of the anthologies I cannot be easy to do what Richard Hallows is doing and he deserves to be successful for there are not many good bona fide outlets for new writers. I urge anyone with a short story ready for submission or still at the drafting stage to look at his website.

Ask the Author Question 6 - Themes

2010-04-23T06:12:00.000+01:00

Spikethecat: Do you actively weave a theme or some underlying message into your stories? Do readers see messages you did not intend?

Sharon Bolton

I certainly never start out with the intention. My books are complicated enough for my poor tired brain to handle, without the likes of themes and underlying messages.

They can sometimes, though, creep in by themselves. As I progressed with my second book, Awakening, it soon became clear a theme was emerging. That of - awakening - handily enough. The snakes in the village were waking up after their long winter hibernation, heroine Clara found herself being dragged out of her sleepy half-life and forced to start living properly, dark secrets were emerging after fifty years and human evil, having long lain dormant, was rearing its head once again. Once I saw the pattern, I was able to make the most of it, and probably gained for myself a reputation for cleverness I don't fully deserve.

Sue Moorcroft

I do weave themes into my books and am keen to find a way to encapsulate the theme in an interesting way for the first line of the synopsis. 'Starting Over', you'll be unsurprised to hear, is about starting over. That's a popular theme for novels, having to begin again after a giant life wobble. To create conflict, Tess is good at starting over because she's had so much practice - she's not used to standing her ground and battling through because whenever life overwhelms her, she just moves on. The theme developed, so that the finale depended on Tess finding something that was worth sticking it out, fighting for what she wanted and not just starting over.

Theme is important to me as knowing it helps me write with focus, to think, 'This book is about starting over.' Then I don't go waffling off exploring what people will do for money or the relationship between revenge and love. Those are other books.

I'm not aware of readers seeing themes that I didn't intend but they do sometimes talk about character motivation that hadn't occurred to me. I find that really interesting. If a reader wants to discuss my characters with me as if they're real people that we both know, I'm always incredibly flattered.

I think that many readers don't bother with identifying themes. Not consciously, anyway. But a writer who doesn't identify their theme is missing an opportunity to write tightly.

Adrian Magson

If I do, [weave in a theme] it's likely to be a subconscious one. I prefer to deal with a specific crime or background (e.g. the machinations of certain members of the security services to avoid public scrutiny, in my next novel), and weave the story around that, if only because it gives me something very tangible to deal with and chip away at as the story goes along. If there's a constant theme in all my books, it's that crime doesn't pay... or at least shouldn't - and certainly not for long! But there are always human themes and underlying messages about hope, transition, revenge, love, etc, which come through on their own without necessarily being specifically planned.

I'm sure readers do see unintended messages and themes, because I do when I read a book. The brain has a fantastic ability to fill in gaps (even when no gap is intended) - but that's all part of the pleasure of reading.

Perfect for the Beach - The Spikethecat T-Shirt

2010-04-22T12:09:00.000+01:00

Here it is, just what you were waiting for. The Spikethecat T-Shirt. Available in one size (XL) and one colour (white). Wear Spike with pride. Lettering reads Spikethecat above the picture and ....it's a name -not an instruction..." below, along with the web address. Only four have been made, so cannot guarantee any more than that!

Price is £8.99 which includes the post and packing to a UK mainland address.

Adventures in Time and Space Print Copies Just Arrived

2010-04-21T14:38:00.001+01:00

Bigger than a volcanic ash cloud and more delayed than a New York flight to Glasgow, finally the print versions of Adventures in Time and Space are here and will be sent out to winners and all those who have ordered them by the end of this week.

Delays (allegedly) due solely to a lost proof in the Royal Mail system and a lost email sent in the BT system. It's hard to believe they all used to be the same company when it was the Post Office well maybe not that hard.

Hints and Tip Number 15 - Avoid Fatal Flaws

2010-04-05T21:51:00.000+01:00

Strangely, some of the best writing is contained in some of the most frustrating entries. These are the entries that are well written, well presented and could easily qualify as a winner, but they contain something that makes it impossible for them to win. The fatal flaw. As a rule of thumb I think it is safe to assume that an OK written story without a fatal flaw is more likely to win than beautiful prose with a fatal flaw.

As an example, I wrote a story some time ago called Striking Twice, in which a murder is manufactured to occur as a result of a lightning strike in order to make it look like an accident. It was, I was told, well written, suspenseful, believable and enthralling, right up to the point at which the generally accepted laws of physics no longer applied to the properties of electrical discharges. For some unknown reason the editor of this magazine was unable to get past the fact that the superbly clever cause of death I had designed was technically impossible. That would count as a fatal flaw.

One of the most common reasons for a story failing at the last hurdle is proving to be the unbelievable coincidence or a dependency the story has on something that is simply not believable. There was a very well written story in the first competition that depended on two identical twins being so alike that not even the wife of one of the twins could tell them apart. Sadly, this was simply not believable in the story. One of the very best written stories in all the competitions depended on someone's father appearing by unbelievable coincidence in order to end the story. It was a beautifully written story - but I just couldn't get past the extent of the coincidence required.

So, make sure the story doesn't have a fatal flaw. I hope that makes sense.

A Lovely Letter in Writers' News

2010-04-05T16:42:00.000+01:00

My thanks to Adrian Magson for pointing out to me that our very first Spikethecat Winner (Martha Stephens - author of Death of a Dvornik in Someone Has To Die Volume Two) had written a letter to Writers' News about Spike. Many, many, thanks to Martha for her kind words (and also for entering Death of Dvornik in the competition - it really was a stunning story.).I really appreciate the letter and I shall keep this copy of Writers' News somewhere safe for the kids!

It's moments like this (of which there are fortunately many) that make it all worth while!

And to think I had looked at Writers' News to see if they had used the press releases I sent them about the winners of Secrets and Spies and Adventures in Time and Space and on finding nothing had not read it properly. That will teach me.

Catching Up - an Update

2010-04-05T16:29:00.000+01:00

I hope everyone had/is having a great Easter. I am slowly but surely catching up.

All the winners from The Last Laugh have finally had a letter or email of congratulations sent to them which has been preying on my mind. (I had sent cheques to the winner and runner-up earlier.)

I now only have three critiques outstanding - I owe Chris a critique from Secrets and Spies and Sallie and Clare a critique from The Last Laugh.

I am waiting for the final proof of the Adventures in Time and Space printed anthology to come back from the printers. This will be touch and go for 15th April now, but if it does miss that date it won't be by much.

The Secrets and Spies e-book is in final edit and on track for the 15th April.

The Last Laugh e-book is being put together right now.

There is still time to enter Someone Has To Die Volume Three and Spike Flashes.

Phew!

Book Review: Short Circuit - A Guide to the Art of the Short Story

2010-04-02T19:00:00.000+01:00

Short Circuit: A Guide to the Art of the Short Story (Salt Guides for Readers and Writers) (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-84471-724-8

I really can't recommend this book highly enough. I started carrying it round with me and taking it in the car so I could keep reading it. (When parked I hasten to add.) It is that good.

It is a collection of essays on aspects of short story writing from writers (and creative writing tutors) who have won major short story writing awards. The advice and guidance is practical and always gives something to think about. Every essay would be of use and interest to a short story writer regardless of whether they are just starting out, studying or they have years of experience. It is hard to pick a favourite but I will admit I really enjoyed "Thoughts About Writing Fiction, At the End of Term" (which gave me enough to think about for about six years)but also the essays on Endings, Originality, Myth and Magic, Flash Fiction,Micro Fiction - well there isn't one in the whole book that I didn't enjoy. I would normally expect to find something that didn't reach the same heights - but I didn't.

Every essay is also followed by comprehensive lists of works that are referenced, lists of favourite short stories of the author of that essay, and exercises for further thought. All wonderful.

Spikethecat Welcomes New Employee

2010-04-01T07:28:00.000+01:00

Spikethecat Limited is delighted to announce the appointment of it's second psuedo-employee. (A psuedo employee being someone who works for the company but without pay, employment contract, perks of any kind or being declared to HM Revenue and Customs.)

Sara will be joining the company with immediate effect as our Kindle Validation Executive. Having been attracted to the role by a job title with ten syllables she will be responsible for randomly (and only when she feels like it) validating Spikethecat e-book formatting on the Amazon Kindle. Spikethecat founder, Richard Hallows said, "Sara has ideal qualifications for this role, being the only person I know with an Amazon Kindle."

Sara's appointment follows the instant dismissal yesterday of the company's nine year old Fulfillment Executive and Head of Envelope Stuffing following an unpleasant incident involving the cat and the shredding machine.

Please join me in welcoming Sara to the company and wishing the cat a speedy recovery.

Cover Art for Secrets and Spies The E-Book

2010-03-28T16:07:00.001+01:00

Here are the front and back covers for Secrets and Spies.

Ask the Author Question 5

2010-03-23T07:23:00.000Z

Spikethecat: How do you go about constructing a character?

Adrian Magson

I think about what I want them to do - or be. Part of it is appearance, which has to 'fit' with what they are if possible. Then I ask what would this person look like; what are their values; what's their background; age; situation in life; how would they react in a given situation. If I don't have answers to any of these, I find it difficult to picture them or their personality. The names come from almost anywhere... but I find the credits on tv and film the best source. There are some great names out there, and I mix and match first names with second names until I have one that feels right and fits the character and era. (But Find and Replace under the edit button means if I get halfway through and don't like it - quick name-change!)

I never knowingly base characters on real people. I prefer to make them up. If anyone sees themself in them, that's purely accidental.

Sharon Bolton

Names are the most important starting point for me. Once I have an idea for a character, I wait for the name to come to me. Usually it does - just out of the blue - and I know when it feels right. I keep a book of baby names on my bookshelf for when it doesn't happen and there are websites that list the most popular names in any given year. These are useful for matching names with ages. The ones that work the best, though, are the ones that just seem to pick themselves.

Because the plots behind my books are very complex, I tend to concentrate on those and let the characters sort themselves out. At the outset I'll know their names, ages, occupations and have a brief idea of what they look like. After that, they form themselves, in their reactions to events and in the way they interact with each other. I find doing it this way gives a much more natural and realistic result.

I'm often asked if any of my characters are based on real people. I always say yes, because there's nothing like it for freaking people out, but the truth is, it isn't really possible to put real people in a book, especially the sort that I write. Thrillers deal with extreme and unlikely situations and I find it impossible to imagine people I know from down the street or the school run dealing with them. What I am shamelessly guilty of, though, is borrowing. I borrow names, habits, hairstyles, mannerisms, jokes, you name it. I name corpses after friends of mine and they seem fine with it.

Sue Moorcroft

I often get a picture in my mind of how a character is going to be. It might be an actor (Ratty in Starting Over came to me after watching Kevin Kline as the pirate king in The Pirates of Penzance) or a pastiche of people (Justin from All That Mullarkey is a mix of actor Bryan Brown, motor cycle racer Carl Fogarty and tennis player Fabrice Santoro). But Diane, from Want to Know a Secret? began as the woman in front of me in the post office queue who had a long plait of hair that swung about as she talked and gesticulated. The crosser she got, the more the plait wiggled. It really drew my attention.

Appearance, however, is just a detail.

I need to know what makes characters tick. So I begin a book with scribbled notes about each character in turn. It's necessary for central characters' conflicts to impact upon one another and, often, for the motivation of one prevent the resolution of the conflict of the other. When writing romantic fiction, this takes the form of creating obstacles that will keep the hero and heroine apart. So I think about that quite early on. Inborn or bred-in character traits come early, too - a laid back hero might allow a heroine's impatience some rein, whereas if both of them were impatient they'd never be together long enough to have a conversation. Likewise, if one is stubborn, that's fine. If two are stubborn, they'd spend the book ignoring one another. Yeah, right, like that's going to work ...

Character history is pretty important, too. In Starting Over Tess is wary of men because her last dumping was particularly humiliating - and this has consequences throughout the book. I question my characters, too - why did you do that? How did his action make you feel? Why? Why? Why? Without those building blocks of writing, why? and because ..., plots tend to fall apart because there's an absence of logic. So character development and plot development are inextricably linked.

I feel that characterisation is a bit of a jigsaw. The picture becomes clearer as I progress and my pile of notes about a character grows and grows. When I have a big enough pile of notes and about half a book's worth of plot points, I begin.

And that's when I really get to know my characters. When I'm with them on a daily basis.

AMAZING NEWS

2010-03-18T10:51:00.000Z

Spikethecat has now reached an agreement with the publishers Creme de la Crime whereby the winning entry from each Someone Has To Die competition will be sent to Creme de la Crime for their editors to look at. If they like what they see then they will invite a full length work to be sent from the winner for consideration by Creme de la Crime.

Note that Creme de la Crime are only looking for work of 70,000 to 80,000 words so please don't start sending short stories to them. A lot of you who have entered the short story competitions have made reference to the novel you are also working on. This is a great chance to get that novel in front of an innovative publisher who actively encourages new writers.

There are no promises of course - but it is an opportunity.

This really is great news. What it means is that if you win a Someone Has To Die Competition with Spikethecat, your work will be put in front of a publisher of full length crime fiction who will be prepared to give your full length work a sympathetic reading on the basis that they have seen your winning short story and so they have decided there might be something there that could be nurtured!

This is the kind of thing that Spikethecat was always intended to be able to do in order to try and meet the objective of helping writers get published. (Those of you who have seen the business plan know that it depends on at least one of you being a multi-millionaire author with a generous nature at some point in the future).

As this news may be of interest to some of you we are also extending the closing date for Someone Has To Die Volume Three to 30th April 2010.

You can see more about Creme de la Crime here.

P.S. We are trying to do the same thing for Adventures in Time and Space, but no luck yet.

Ask the Author Question 4

2010-03-18T09:57:00.000Z

Spikethecat: Do you prefer to have your novels plotted in detail or do you let your characters drive the plot?

Adrian Magson

I've tried plotting in detail, but always end up going off-piste. It probably reveals an inability to focus! Whether a short story or book, I have a general idea of the storyline - or, sometimes odd bits of it - and let it develop as I go. I'll often find myself writing scenes out of sequence (on the grounds that it's easier to write scenes I can envisage rather than struggling with ones I can't). I suppose the writing is driven partly by the characters, but also by events... how the characters react is often governed by circumstances. Sometimes the characters themselves develop in ways I hadn't planned, which is fun. And that's what writing is supposed to be - fun.

Sharon Bolton

I'm in complete awe of writers who start out with a basic idea, a couple of characters and see where it takes them. Straight to the gin bottle is where it would take me.

The more detail I have plotted out at the beginning the happier I am and the more rounded and complete I think the finished book will feel. To my mind, unsatisfactory loose ends are a sure sign of too little plotting at the beginning.

Also, most crime and thriller novels are very complex. Not having a clear idea of where you are going to end up is just asking to find yourself heading, at top speed, straight over a cliff-top into a squirming mass of alligators.

Sue Moorcroft

I'm quite a messy planner, or plotter. I used to simply begin at page one and let the characters take me but, sadly, I found that they weren't rational or logical and would insist on doing things that simply had no impact on the thrust of the story. They would forget their quests, ignore black moments and miss their turning points. It was a bit like telling a class of eight year olds, 'Take me from Birmingham to London!' They might have been to both places but would simply race into the world with bags of enthusiasm but no map-reading ability or logic.

I don't think that it's any coincidence that my first book that got published, Uphill All the Way, was the first book that I had a reasonable plan for. Not a chapter-by-chapter plan but a story arc that had a lot in common with one of those dot-to-dot puzzles I used to love as a kid. I knew the plot points. All there was left to do was join those points up.

I'm now in the very first stages of planning a book. I have other projects that I need to complete in the next few weeks but then I'm going on a research trip and beginning the new book in earnest. But it has been bubbling in my mind for weeks and so I know the two central characters and that the heroine is an American woman, Honor, who has come to a British seaside town to find her British mother (so that's her quest and it will drive the plot). I have answered some questions on her behalf - why her mother left her, how her father felt about it, how far through the book she'll a) know who and where her mother is b) the reader will know the same information c) when they'll meet d) how this impacts upon Martyn, the central male character. These are some pretty major dots in my puzzle, or story arc.

I know a lot about Honor's background - both known and unknown to her - and I know a lot about Martyn, who is, on the face of it, more of a 'what you see is what you get' character. But, of course, the face of things can be quite deceiving - so I think I still have a lot of 'dots' to come from his story. His family has a certain dynamic that will affect Honor's story. And he will affect Honor.

So that's my plotting process: dotty.

Spikethecat is on Facebook

2010-03-17T20:49:00.001Z

Spikethecat is on facebook. I am not a hundred per cent sure why, or even what this really means, but I am assured that this is a good thing to do.

Follow the link and become a friend. Of course you can not follow the link and still be a friend.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Spikethe-Cat/100000289724645

Winners of The Last Laugh Competition

2010-03-15T11:04:00.001Z

Yes, I know this wasn't going to happen until March 31st, but I suddenly acquired some time I didn't know I had and I really wanted to get the results out on the date originally promised - I personally hate waiting for results.

Many thanks to everyone who entered. There were some really good entries and it really (honestly) was the most difficult of the three competitions so far to pick the twelve winners.

Congratulations to everyone. I will try and write or email individually to everyone in the next week.

The Last Laugh Winners

Winner – Paddy and Ems by Wendy Chard
Runner-up – Eternal Frogs by Eileen Gilmour

Published Entries

Smile by David Sowels
A Match Made in Heaven by Linda Lewis
Charlotte and the Frog Prince by Carlton Boyce
The Lost Journeyman by Ben Ellis
Looking Back by Don Wells
Calamity, Jayne? By Cate Howard
Deathly Cold’s Warm Front by Geoff Bensberg
The Inter-Galactic Inspection by Fay Marshall
Mobile Madness by Peter Graves
The Last Tango by Don Nixon

Thank you again.

NEW COMPETITION - Spikethecat Flashes Volume One

2010-03-15T10:59:00.000Z

by popular demand - a new competition for Flash Fiction

Any subject
200 words or less
Closing Date 31st May 2010
Entry Fee £1.00
Electronic entries only (If I take £1.00 cheques to the bank they really will get annoyed with me)
First Prize is a bundle of books including Wannabe a Writer by Jane Wenham Jones, and one copy of the first three Spikethecat publications, Someone Has To Die Volume One, Someone Has To Die Volume Two and Adventures in Time and Space Volume One. (Prize also includes fame, glory and the respect of your peers.)
Top thirty entries to be published as an E-Book

Poll Results - What Type of Different Competition Could We Run

2010-03-12T09:55:00.000Z

The votes have been counted; the pundits were wrong; the exit polls were misleading and the final result is such a surprise that the army are on the streets quelling the mass of demonstrating short story writers with a water cannon.

Children's Stories - only 2 votes. (I will have a very disappointed nine year old who fancied his chances at helping to pick the winner.)
Literary Fiction - only 2 votes. This one not a huge surprise, I think because there are any number of 'literary' outlets for short fiction but very few for genre fiction.

The winner was a tie between Ghost Stories (not a surprise) and Flash Fiction (huge surprise to me).

Watch the blog for more information as we will run a competition for both of these in the near (ish) future.

More Spikethecat Milestones

2010-03-12T09:48:00.000Z

A couple of milestones achieved. The E-book of Adventures in Time and Space is now available which is great, and the print version went to the printers this morning.

We have also had our first distribution foul up with two books going missing in the postal system. At one point I thought it might have been a whole batch of books that had gone missing but fortunately a couple of confirmations show that is not the case. I could complain to Royal Mail but I have tried that before and I now know that would just be an hour of my life I would never get back.

Also, have had some very nice letters and a 'phone message (thank you David) just wishing spike well, which have all been very affirming.

Adventures in Time and Space The E-Book Available Now

2010-03-11T22:56:00.000Z

The E-book of Adventures in time and space is here and available for only £1.49. Click on the buy now button below to purchase. The E-book will be delivered as a PDF file, hopefully within 24 hours.

Last Laugh Winner Announcement

2010-03-11T10:13:00.000Z

Very sorry but at various times I have said end of the month but have also said 15th March for the winner announcement for The Last Laugh. It is very unlikely it will be the 15th March now due to reasons far too tedious to explain, but which I will if anyone is suitably fascinated.

My sincere apologies.

Hints and Tips Number 14 - Dialogue Attribution

2010-03-10T11:09:00.000Z

Do think about how you attribute dialogue to characters. There are a number of different ways to do it.

For example:

"Let's rob bank," said Harry.

or

"Let's rob a bank." Harry checked the chamber of his revolver and snapped it shut.

or

"Let's rob a bank," whispered Harry.

Things to bear in mind:

1. The main point of dialogue attribution is so the reader is clear about who is saying what.
2. There is nothing wrong with "said". It has the positive benefit in that it is easy, simple and does not get in the way.
3. The attribution can be used to show how things were said, whispered, yelled, squealed, screamed etc. This can be used to make it more interesting but be careful that as a reader it does become hard work if every dialogue attribution is something to think about - it should enhance and not detract from the dialogue itself. (Confession time in that I once wrote a story in which one character always had a bizarre dialogue attribution - squeaked, squealed, snivelled, sniffed, the lot - it even annoyed me when I read it and I had thought it was pretty clever at the time! I was young.)
4. Be very wary of attributions such as 'laughed' as in "Let's go to the pub," he laughed. Try laughing and talking at the same time - it doesn't work. Nobody laughs dialogue!
5. When using an action to indicate the speaker be careful it doesn't slow thing down too much. The action has to work as more than just an attribution. So in example at the beginning if I wanted Harry to check his gun then I can use it as an attribution as well. It has added something to the story - I wouldn't have Harry check his gun if I only wanted something to attribute the dialogue.
6. If it is clear from the dialogue who is saying something then no attribution is also OK and in fact can keep the pace up and let the dialogue flow.

Hope that makes sense.

Ask The Author - Question 3

2010-03-05T16:33:00.000Z

Spikethecat: Do you have a set routine for writing, and if so, what is it?

Sue Moorcroft

Are we talking about some mystic order of doing things that will miraculously awaken my muse? Or how many hours a day I devote to writing?

As writing and teaching creative writing combine to earn me a living (haphazard and irregular though it is) I tend to divide my days into: mornings = working with students; afternoons = writing. The snag with this is it allows no time for promo, bookkeeping, emails etc. So these things have to be shoehorned in as circumstances allow. Or at weekends.

Once in a while I have a red letter (or deadline looming) day and write all day.

But, so far as writing is concerned, there's no mystic process involved - I decide what it is I'm going to work on and I sit down and work on it. That might be research or planning or working through a narrative, might be on the computer or on a pad. If something is going badly I might abandon or postpone it and work on something else. But, as Mickey Spillane once said, 'Inspiration is an empty bank account.'

Completely agree, Mickey!

Adrian Magson

I try to keep office hours. Sort of. But that doesn't allow for waking up in the middle of the night with blinding flashes of inspiration (if I don't write it down, it's gone by morning). I need the discipline of routine, I suppose. Also, if I go too long without writing, I begin to get the jitters... a sort of literary version of cold turkey. So, what's the routine? I start off with a game of Solitaire - I know, mundane - but it's just to remind my brain and fingers that they have a job to do. Then I review my current project(s) to see where I am. And to panic if required. After that, it's straight down to work, with new writing, editing or research. The main thing for any writers who are passionate about the craft, is to keep writing. Like a muscle, if you don't exercise it, it can go flabby.

Sharon Bolton

I am a creature of routine and get very distressed if I'm forced to deviate from it. After I wave my son off to school, I walk the dog. She's a big dog and needs to be out for at least an hour so as long as she's behaving herself (usually a 50-50 chance) this is the start of the working day for me. I start thinking about the scene I'm working on, how I can structure it, I might start running through snatches of dialogue in my head. By the time we get back I'm raring to go. I sit at my computer for the next three hours. At noon, I swear she can tell the time, the dog makes me take her out again. After lunch, I try to do a bit more before its time for the school run.

I aim to write 2000-3000 words a day and at 3000 I make myself stop because at that point the quality plummets faster than a downhill ski race.

Book Review: Wannabe a Writer by Jane Wenham-Jones

2010-03-04T18:19:00.000Z

Wannabe a Writer by Jane Wenham-Jones ISBN 9781905170814

Let me say first off, I really dislike the title of this book. I don't know why; perhaps it is that the "wannabe" term has always been applied in a derogatory manner - real meaning "never will be" - and usually used to describe to the desire of the untalented to achieve pop superstardom. Such thoughts should not be applied to the more noble pursuit of literary excellence - something like that probably. (Unfair, but there it is. I thought I should confess up front)

However, the title does not do the book justice. The book is far, far better than the title for me! The style is very chatty and chirpy - probably to the point of annoyance for some people - but there are enough dry tomes on writing out there already - so I actually found the bouncy puppy dog enthusiasm of the first few chapters positively uplifting and reinvigorating; they genuinely made me want to go and sit down and write something!

I have read some of the other online reviews of this book, and although I can understand where some of the comments are coming from, I don't think the criticisms about it being very personal should be allowed to detract from the underlying fact that it is full of useful advice and is a fun read!

A lot of the book is based on the author's personal experience - which means there are sections of the book that are stronger than others - but she does point out where this is the case - so honest in approach - and even when it is very personal experience the advice is good - and certainly matches my experience as well. I am sure the book is disappointing to anyone who envisages that most writers' lives consist of being feted by the literary establishment while dividing their time between Paris and New York. Life isn't like that any more - and the book gives an accurate picture of writing for a living these days in that (for the vast majority) it involves, writing novels if you can, short stories, magazine articles, web site copy and blogs, running writing groups, teaching on residential courses, teaching in schools and all the rest of it - and still earning less than a Polish plumber.

So, the advice is good (if unwelcome perhaps), the style is actually rather fun for the most part,the first half of the book is better than the second in that it starts to get somewhat bitty as it deals with areas that look as if they were added in for completeness rather than because it was what the author wanted to include, but it is well worth reading - especially if you have stars in your eyes and have just told your family "I'm going to write".

If you want a good introduction to what it means to being a writer these days and how to try and go about it - this is a very good book to start with.

Poll Results on "Should We Change The Spikethecat Competitions?"

2010-03-04T16:19:00.001Z

The results are in, the votes have been counted, the hanging chads have been discarded,and a ballot box stuffed full of voting papers from a thousand people who all live at the same address in Burnley appeared from nowhere at the last minute, but, as valid as any vote, here are the results of the last poll on whether we should change the spikethecat competitions:

20 votes in total.

18 votes to leave things as they are.
1 vote to have less frequent competitions but bigger prizes
1 vote to change to no entry fee and no prizes just publication.

The people have spoken....well, more muttered I suppose...

Next poll will be available in a couple of minutes....or as soon as I think of a question I need an answer to, which may be sooner...

Comments Back from a Critique

2010-03-03T22:14:00.000Z

Just so you can see what one of the writers thought of their critique. Below is unedited comment.

Many thanks for this. It's really really useful. As a first story (that no-one else had read) there was a fair amount of anticipation over this feedback and you didn't disappoint. The bits you pointed out that could be improved make complete sense and I wish I had read before i submitted my next story; so look out for some more missing metaphors and full stops!
Some of the positive comments are about things i was doing without thinking about it so it was interesting to read and good to be aware of them.
I have to say I am very glad you raised your critique fee to £10, it is well worth it and probably should be more. Spike is a worthy enterprise and I'm sure none of your loyal followers want you to slog your way to emotional and financial ruin until we have finished using you and reached unprecedented levels of wealth and fame ourselves.

Read Nice Things Being Written About Spike The Cat

2010-03-03T14:41:00.001Z

Read nice things being written about Spike. (Thank you, thank you, thank you.)

Friend of Spike, Sharon Bolton

http://www.sjbolton.com/2010/2/21/spike-the-cat.aspx

The First Draft Cafe Blog

http://firstdraftcafe.blogspot.com/2009/11/spike-cat.html

Also we were in Writers' News again this month - just a short reference to our Ask the Author feature, but it's great that we have got some press again. Writers' News described Spikethecat as "Small Press Spikethecat" which I admit isn't "huge multinational publishing behemoth Spikethecat", but it's not a bad start for six months.

The Last Laugh Is Now Closed - And Good News on The Prizes

2010-03-03T08:43:00.000Z

The Last Laugh Competition is now closed. Thank you to everyone who entered. Everything had the correct postage and most of the cheques were signed. Some of them were dated as well. All the email entries were readable.

The results will be out no later than 31st March. Although if they are out earlier then I will put them on the weblog as soon as it is decided. I do try to get the results out as soon as they are known rather than wait for the end date if they are ready earlier. I then (as soon as I can get to it) try and write to everyone individually - but this can take a while - just ask the Secrets and Spies winners who are opening their post this morning.

Note that we do still have the Someone Has To Die Volume Three competition running until the end of March, so please have a go at that as well. Stories of murder, mystery, mayhem - doesn't matter but a death or two would be good. (No more serial killers and no zombies please, and if you could avoid anyone or anything eating the victims that would be appreciated.)

And now the real last laugh. As you (hopefully) know I wanted to try running the last laugh with a prize fund based on the number of entries. On the basis of 40 entries this would have meant a first prize of £40 and a second prize of £20. Anyway, I have decided this wouldn't be fair so the first prize will be £100 and the second prize will be £50 as it was with all other competitions.

Cue huge round of applause and canned laughter. (However you do have to promise to use this site to go to Amazon any time you want to buy anything there.)

For those of us fascinated by such things:

Total Entries 40
M/F Split 50/50 exactly.
Down to the wire award went to Don who had a whole 4 hours and 14 minutes left until closing.
10% of entries from Wales which is a record. (No jokes about the Welsh being a funny bunch.)
From reading the titles there seems to be a strange obsession with vermin as well. Although that seems to be prevalent in the Midlands and Devon.

Thanks again everyone. Do make sure you enjoy your writing.

Adventures in Time and Space Critiques All Done

2010-03-01T12:13:00.002Z

All the critiques from Adventures in Time and Space are now done and emailed or posted.

Advance warning that after the March Somone Has To Die competition the cost of critiques will go up to at least £10. They are £5 at the moment. (So don't believe the government when they tell you inflation is only 2% or something).

Sadly, I can only do three in a day by the time I have read the stories closely enough to do any more than just say 'very good', 'not so good', and actually try and think about what could improve a story or help it to get published if it was not successful.

Unfortunately at £15 a day I could get a better wage and free food from MacDonalds, which is not a happy thought.

I think most of the critiques have been useful so far - but I would say that anyway wouldn't I? I am not going to post anyone's critique up here,but if those who have had a critique would care to comment (critique the critique, so to speak) - then that would be useful.

What happens once the winners are chosen

2010-02-27T06:44:00.002Z

This (as best I can remember) is the process of what happens once the winners are chosen. (Or as is sometimes the case, what it supposed to happen.)

1. Post winners details on the web log.
2. Email or write to winners letting them know the good news. (Send winners' cheques).
3. Write press release for writing magazines on winners.
4. Send winning entry to artist for them to do the cover art.
5. Create new document with winning entries embedded.
6. Scan in any entries received on paper only and correct the optical character recognition failings.
7. Proof the copy (my least favourite task.)
8. At this point we know how many pages it will be so get quote from printer.
9. When art work arrives, update web site to allow advance orders.
10. Add cover text to art work
11. Assign ISBN number and log the book on Nielson Book Data. (This is what bookshops look up and what eventually works through the system to get a listing on Amazon - as far as I can figure out!)
12. Create bar code for back cover.
13. Send front cover to Nielson so that it can be included with the book details.
14. Create separate cover for E-Book version - assign separate ISBN - add e-book to web site - send to Nielson
15. Send completed print version to printer
16. Wait for proof copy to return.
17. Go through proof copy for hours on end until eyes and head hurt. (In terms of elapsed time believe it or not this is the longest stage.)
18. Send proof back to printer long with any corrections.
19. Wait for copies to arrive.
20. Jump around with excitement until spotting spelling error on page 3 that you missed in step 18 and step 7.
21. Send copies to winners.
22. Press release to writing magazines on availability of books.
23. Drink copious amounts of red wine.
24. Remember it is lent and you're not supposed to be drinking wine.

And that's all there is to it!

Hints and Tips Number 13 - Be Lucky

2010-02-26T20:21:00.002Z

Be lucky.

A bit of a cheat in the grand scheme of things, but there is no way I am writing anything else down for hint 13. I'm already surprised the computer hasn't locked up, my broadband connection failed, and a previously undetected comet hit the house even as I type.

Actually, all joking aside, it is worth acknowledging that there is a fair bit of luck involved in winning a short story competition. You have to be lucky in terms of the other entries that come in, the timing of the competition and the like. Of course, it is also true that "the harder you work the luckier you get" and the more competitions you enter the more chance of winning you have.

The same applies to any submission to a publisher - if anyone has read the quite brilliant (and free) "On the Survival of Rats in the Slush Pile" by Michael Allen you will already know that the basis of being chosen from the slush pile as an unpublished author is almost certainly down to a significant slice of luck.