Phill's Phollies

12:29pm: The NaNo grind and Transgressions.
I've just released chapter seventeen of the serialisation of "Engelian Adventures: Transgressions". And, here's an excerpt to whet the appetite.

He started to run but as before I stopped him with my voice. "Come here," I commanded.

He turned and stumbled towards me against his will. His hand fumbled at his side and he brought out a small belt knife.

"It burns," I commanded, and he dropped the knife hastily.

"Please," he gasped, wide-eyed with fear.

I took pity on him. "Kol, I do not want to harm you, I just want to talk. I will even pay you for the right information."

He seemed not to hear my offer and a wet stain appeared on the front of his trousers. Perhaps I had overdone it a tad.

It's a day late because of the grinding machine that is NaNoWriMo. It might not sound like a lot, but for my trying to fit in my 1,667 words each day is starting to take its toll. Not that that amount of words is hard, but to do it day in and day out. And, if you slip a day it gets even more daunting as you have to catch up.

And, of course you all know this, so please excuse the whinge.

6:44pm: An interview with Alan Baxter and Engelian Adventures Chapter 16 released.
Forgot to mention this last week. Click on the link to read an interesting interview with Alan Baxter, author of RealmShift and MageSign, about writing the fight right and things lots of authors get wrong with hand-to-hand fighting.

Hand-to-hand: An Interview with Alan Baxter

Also, I've just released Chapter 16 of Transgressions. You can find it here.

And here's an excerpt from this chapter for those interested:

"Sorry milady, but I am having trouble getting anyone to help me." He looked apologetically at Lord Vead. "They say that the tower be haunted. Peoples have gone in and not come back out and thems that were brave enough to go looking for 'em say the place be empty, but full of strange magickal stuff that frightens them."

Keep reading and writing everyone.

Phill.

12:23am: Transgressions Chapter 15 and NaNoWriMo
Just released chapter 15 of Transgressions which can be found here.

And here's an extract:

She silenced me with a finger on my lips. "Please be quiet and let me have my way." Then with a mischievous smile she said, "I promise you an experience unlike anything you have ever had before."

And, if you think this sounds raunchy, then you're right, but perhaps not the way you think, if you haven't been reading the story.

I'm also taking part in NaNoWriMo again this year and am currently 7100 words into the second novel(la) concerning 'The Changeling Detective'. It's called "Devilspawn or Devil's Pawn" which sort of says a lot about how I'm doing NaNo this year. Last year I did a lot of plotting before hand and had the character development cause all sorts of strange things to happen with the storyline. This year I've worked on the characterisation and left the plot to find its own way ... at least it should be interesting.

Keep writing everyone, especially those of you doing NaNoWriMo.

10:17pm: Why and why not?
I've neglected LJ in favour of Facebook now for a number of months, but now I've decided to announce the regular release of my serialisation of my main work-in-progress here as well so that I at least post here weekly.

Apologies for a sort of cross posting, but I will try to value add here as well ...

Speaking of which. I find that all my flash fiction is of the horror variety, which is not my most favourite genre. Is this because horror is better suited to the twist at the end of the story, which suits the short sharp hit of flash fiction? Do people write flash fantasy? I've seen flash science fiction, but not flash fantasy.

What do other people think?

And now the plug. Engelian Adventures: Transgressions - Chapter 14 released.



Find it and all the previous chapters at: www.phillberrie.com.au/Fiction/Transgressions.html

Excerpt: Lieutenant Daval sighed and said, "Currently, the only evidence of wrongdoing I have seen here today is something you have admitted doing yourself." The Lieutenant gestured towards the corpse at Victus's feet. "Captain Hurst was a well respected man. His death will need to be explained, my Lord."

Welcome to Magudonya, a magical world with historical connections to our own. The kingdom of Engle is a far flung part of the wide-reaching Sorendenese empire. It is a country where elves are real and lions myths. A place where a numerically smaller invading force rules over an indigenous population that is still cowed by the sacrificial excesses of their own long-dead priest kings. A place where an ageing wizard with a mysterious past was just wanting to live out the last days of his life in peace until an act of kindness towards a fellow magician changed everything.

Artwork by Bradley Wind.

9:58pm: An LJ Story Plug
Been a while, I know, sorry.

And, I'm really only here to plug a story by one of my flist whose publishing a story on LJ but is requiring an increasing number of friends for each instalment to see if the story can pick up momentum.

Anyway, the story is called 'Fresh Meat' and its science fiction. You can find it on the avepasifika journal.

We need extra readers for each instalment and we currently up to chapter 6. Please have a look as I want to read more of the story.

4:40pm: The Changeling Detective - THE END.
Put up the last chapter of 'The Changeling Detective' today and promised more to come, but until it gets written I'll be putting up chapters of my Magnum Opus 'Engelian Adventures: Transformations'.

I think I find writing to a deadline to my taste, in that at least it gets something done. This is the second time I've published stuff on a regular basis on my website (Tales of Talis was the first for those who remember) and it's the thinking that perhaps someone out there is waiting to read the next instalment that helps me get my writer's bum on my seat and words on the page. Not that TCD wasn't finished, but it needed a good polishing and that helped add several thousand more words to the tale.

For those interested you can find all the chapters of TCD here.

You can also find my latest Reality Bit(e)s article, a "History of Artificial Intelligence", here and I hope to have the next instalment in this series up on the A Writer site by the end of the week now that the more important fiction work is out of the way.

Keep writing everyone.

1:43pm: Twice in the same month ...
That's my LiveJournal entries that I'm talking about. Yes, I'm here daily to read, but don't seem to get the urge to write much. Today I've just popped in to spruik my latest Reality Bit(e)s article over at the 'A Writer Goes On A Journey' website. I'm starting a new series of articles about the reality of Artificial Intelligence.

In a previous life I was an Information Scientist, so this is something I know a little bit about from first hand experience. The first article is relating some of the history of the discipline. You can find it here if you're interested.

I'm also nearing the end of the episodic telling of my 'The Changeling Detective' novella. Chapter nineteen and the reality of Devils (or is that Deyvills) is being related to an unbelieving protagonist (who is one of these beasties himself). For those interested all the currently released chapters can be found here.

Comments and suggestions as always gratefully received.

8:52pm: Silver, the Esoteric
My latest Reality Bit(e)s article 'Silver, the Esoteric' has recently gone up on the 'A Writer Goes On A Journey' website. You can find it at the URL below.

Silver, the Esoteric

Ghastly images of the real disease/syndrome called 'Argyria' caused by ingesting too much Silver.

And, for those interested in a bit of fiction I have just posted chapter fifteen of my episodic urban fantasy(?) 'The Changeling Detective' on my personal website, which now features an RSS feed for the story. You can find that here.

And, as I've recently consumed most of a bottle of Shiraz I shall be very surprised if this post is coherent, let alone works.

Cheers everyone.

Phill.

P.S. Did you know that it you cut your finger with a knife and suck on the wound and drink lots of wine you don't need a bandaid ... it's been an interesting day.

10:34pm: What has children's homework come to?
In my day, limericks were written on the school toilet walls.

Nowadays, they are being used as examples of poetry and my youngest daughter had to make some up for homework. This morning, she, the wife and I mucked around with a few lines this morning.

Here's my best effort.

There once was a child quite sensible
whose limericks were incomprehensible
Her Irish father was sad,
her English teacher got mad.
Her position was quite indefensible.

Anybody else got any other offerings?

3:48pm: What have I been doing?
Saw Wolverine and Star Trek on the weekend. Liked the latter but not the former, which was a bit of a surprise for me as I expected it to be the other way round.

My latest Reality Bit(e)s article on the basics of Silver is up on the Writer Goes On A Journey website and can be found here if any of my flist is interested in reading it.

I'm also up to chapter 12 of 'The Changeling Detective' which I'm releasing on my own website. That and the earlier chapters can be found here. Chapter 13 should be available in the next day or so.

I've been generating my own potential market for this on FaceBook through playing games and inviting other players of those games to join my alliance. Some of the cynical amongst you might think this is just me goofing off, but as well as helping me succeed at the games, I am also building a huge list of FaceBook friends (almost 400 now) who get to see my notes. And, they aren't just my usual suspects. These are people from all over the world ... who not only gain an ally, but also get to see my promotional material when I announce it on FB.

I wonder if it will work.

11:51am: Iron the Esoteric
After a too long hiatus the second Reality Bit(e)s article on Iron has recently gone up on the 'A Writer Goes On A Journey' site. This article delves into the more esoteric uses of both 'Cold Iron' and 'Meteoric Iron' in both fact and fiction. You can find it at the following URL:

Iron, the Esoteric

I'm also up to episode (i.e. chapter) ten of the self-publishing of 'The Changeling Detective'

The Changeling Detective

Comments and suggestions always welcome.

Keep writing.

Phill.

11:30am: My first love short story.
Put in a short for a competition earlier this week. It's for a woman's magazine and the main character had to be a woman. Not normally my thing, but the prize is good and includes a chance at novel publication and, my better half thought I would be crazy not to.

This is two first for me. First the MC is definitely female (unlike Transgressions where he is becoming a she) and its a love story. Call me traditional for that I supposed, but the story was a fantasy and part of the back story for Transgressions, so it covered all bases.

Speaking of stories, yesterday I published Chapter 7 of 'The Changeling Detective' on my web site. For those interested you can find it here.

I have also decided to let my subscription to the Online Writers Workshop lapse. Not that I think it is a bad site, but I now get there so rarely that there is no real value in the money it costs. Maybe when I have more time I'll go back to it, but I'm hoping that the contacts I made there can be coaxed into following me to the other sites I frequent.

Keep writing everyone.

10:34am: The Changeling Detective
My Masques Anthology short story ended up being called 'The Changeling Detective'. It was originally 'The AAA Detective Agency, RIP'. I was not completely happy with either name for the short.

However, 'The Changeling Detective' is a great name for the novella that it turned into last NaNoWriMo and the novella is a great place to start a foray into electronic publishing. I am publishing chapters of the story weekly both on Authonomy and my own private website. For those interested you can find them here.

Authonomy Version

and here

Phill's Phollies Fiction

Comments and suggestions on the story and the process are very welcome as usual.

Enjoy your Easter break.

11:36pm: I opened the book and there I was.
After the Masques launch last Friday some of the contributors went out to dinner - Indian food - very nice.

I was seated next to Kathleen Jennings who did some of the graphics for the anthology and at one point she pulled out her sketchbook. A tiny thing, more like a visual diary than a sketchbook as I know them. I asked if I could have a look at her work and when I opened it up there I was.

Phill Berrie and Liz Gorinsky at Conflux

This is picture of Liz Gorinsky (one of our overseas guests) and I that Kathleen did during a panel we were both on. The main difference between the drawing an the picture above is the glasses; back then I didn't wear them.

Have a look at the rest of Kathleen's sketches. She's a mighty fine artist. You won't regret it.

12:04pm: First Book Signing
It has been far too long since I have been here, but yesterday was a special day, so I thought I should record something here.

Yesterday was the launch of the CSFG's Masques anthology. This was a real milestone for me: first piece of non-self published fiction, first book launch in which I was one of the authors and, first time I've signed a piece of my own fiction for somebody else.

The launch went very well and the CSFG, the editors and helpers should all be congratulated for a job very well done.

The Guest of Honour was Gary Hampson, a local author and entrepreneur who spoke about the changes occurring in the publishing industry and how he, like many others I have been listening to recently, see that electronic publishing is the way of the future with a greater cut to the authors because of the lower overheads involved in production.

Preaching to the converted here, but it was interesting to see just how far the ground swell has travelled.

Speaking of electronic publication ... my latest Reality Bit(e)s article has just gone up on the 'A Writer Goes On A Journey' website. Following on from my article on the real and speculative properties of Gold I have been asked by nyssa_p (the 'A Writer' web mistress) to talk about some of the other common metals referenced in speculative fiction. This new article is on the basics of Iron.

Those interested can read this and other Reality Bit(e)s here.

Havagoodweegend.

5:21pm: Facebook and new Reality Bit(e)s article.
I am now on Facebook with a growing circle of friends that now numbers 23 including family and friends that aren't LJers. In fact, I've corresponded more with one of my brothers since joining Facebook than I have in the entire previous year. That must be a good thing.

So if anyone reading this wants to find me there, I am the only 'Phillip Berrie' on Facebook. Friend me.

And, after a brief hiatus I have put up another Reality Bit(e)s article on the 'A Boy' site. This one is about the poor treatment of gravitation technology I read of in a scifi book I'm reading.

The Gravity of the Situation

As always comments welcome.

Now where was I?

6:23pm: Article on Authonomy
It's been a while, but for those who are interested in such things I recently published the last installment of a four part article on HarperCollins UK's Authonomy website on the 'A Boy Goes On A Journey' website. You can find the articles here, but be aware that the site stores them in reverse order, so you'll need to go back to find the first article.

Authonomy Article

It's a writer's community website where they can get critiquing done by the community and the top highest ranked books each month get to go on the HC editor's desk. An interesting idea which I think is useful but not sure lives up to its own defined goals with the system it uses.

8:45am: My first piece of published fiction
This week the list of authors for the latest Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild (CSFG) anthology was announced and your's truly was in the list. The anthology has the theme of 'Masques' and my short is titled 'The Changeling Detective'. I for one am looking forward to seeing it in print.

This was also the basis for my NaNo project and I'm now working on expanding it to proper novel size and then looking for a publisher. It's an urban fantasy with a twist and there's enough material here for a series ala the Harry Dresden books.

My main fantasy WIP is still underway as well, but I think I'm going to have to at least finish the whole first draft of the story arc with that one before I go looking to sell it, as the connections between the books are very important.

Funnily enough, I think having two major projects to swap between is helping me write both.

2:21pm: Authonomy, a new speculative fiction writing community
I heard of this HarperCollins site today and went and had a look and am really excited about the concepts behind it.

Authonomy

I am already in Critmonsters, the CSFG crit group and the Online Writers Workshop. The first two of these are only really useful for short fiction and the OWW has significant overheads in terms of time and money.

I was wondering if anybody else on my flist has looked at this site and heard anything, either good or bad, about it.

To me it seems like a win win situation for all concerned and a resource that many different people from all areas of the writing/publishing industry could make use of.

Or am I just being naive?

Oh, and yes, I have put up some of my own work, and will be providing feedback for other authors. If you're interesting in reading the prologue and first two chapters of my own main work in progress click on the following link.

Engelian Adventures: Transgressions

Any comments and feedback gratefully accepted.

Addendum: If you got here through the Australian Speculative Fiction Blog Carnival, I am currently writing a series of articles on my experience on Authonomy on the 'A Boy Goes On A Journey' website. If you're interested, you can follow this up here

11:21pm: NaNo Update


Well I finished and submitted tonight at 50,150 words after going through and elaborating on the existing story.

Fortunately, I have also identified a new subplot and characters I can add to the story and know where to slot them in, but that's a project for another time. A couple of weeks so I can come back to it with fresh eyes.

Not sure if I mentioned this here before, but the short story that spawned this NaNo novel has been long listed for the CSFG's 'Masque' anthology. Hopefully it will be good enough to make it into the book, as that can only help me when I've finished the full novel and go looking for a publisher.

And lastly, my domain name (i.e. www.phillberrie.com.au) finally seems to be working properly. Yaah.

Nice ways to finish the working week, eh?

9:38pm: NaNo Update
Current Word Count: 48,653 (Expected Count: 45,009)

NaNo Thought: Explore all your characters fully. It not only makes the more real, it also clocks up the words.

Still doing the light edit elaborating as I go. It's looking fairly certain that I'll make the 50,000, but doubling its size? I don't know.

10:00pm: NaNo Update
Current Word Count: 46,827 (Expected word count: 43,342)

I'm now doing a light edit looking for parts of the story I can elaborate on.

NaNo Thought: First drafts are where you tell the story to yourself. I've learnt lots about my original idea that I didn't know existed before I started. Now I need to add colour and characterisation and elaborate on some subplots to turn it into a proper length novel.

5:39pm: NaNo Update
Current Count: 45,183 words (Expected Count: 41,675)

However, I've run out of story.

Eeek!

Looks like I'm going to have to look at the structure and add some more events partway through the story ... five thousand words worth of new events.

Eeek. Time to do some thinking.

NaNo Thought: Having a grand idea which you only want to explore part of in NaNo is a limitation.

11:21pm: NaNo Update
Current Progress: 42,787 words (Expected Word Count: 40,008)

NaNo Thought: Killed the main antagonist today. Perhaps a rash act with 7,000+ words still to go. Still there are some mysteries to deepen and some secondary antagonists to deal with. Hope I can stretch that out to 50,000 words.

8:33pm: NaNo Update
Current count: 40,192 word (expected count: 38,341)

NaNo Thought: I fear I'm running out of story and I still have about twenty percent of the word count to go. Gulp.