Publishing

Unfinished Business: What’s So Good about Sequels…?

~ Purpleanais ~ 6 Comments

Please visit Tom’s blog to read and like the original post, thank you 🙂

Idle blogs of an idle fellow

Most authors will be familiar with having finished writing a novel. Sometimes it’s completed for as long as 24 hours before another rewrite is underway. That’s fine. That’s how novels are written, but my 79,000 words of Unfinished Business have been sent to the publisher. There are no more late night edits to be undone in the morning. It will be bound up in proofs the next time I see it, safe from any more changes. It seems a long time ago that a friend suggested I write a short film and I came up with the idea of a retired 80s wrestler who morphed into a character even bigger than Ricky ‘Nasty’ Bashcraft, or Giant Haystacks.

Just as its proprietor Scott Wildblood needed a wingman The Life Assistance Agency now has a companion, as there’s nothing worse* than a novel sitting alone, full of friends and enemies bouncing off the…

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What’s it REALLY like to be a published writer..

~ Purpleanais ~ Leave a comment

Idle blogs of an idle fellow

One of the most common questions people ask writers is ‘What’s it really like to be a published writer?’ At least the ones who are published. You should categorically NOT ask someone not yet published this. The number of times I had to explain I was not yet published in the sort of whisper familiar to parents being nicked for shoplifting and not wanting to wake their child… Actually, it isn’t the most common question at all, that’s more likely to be, ‘D’you want a pastry with that coffee?’

These people who enquire about writing don’t really exist, writers just make them up; hordes of people aching with questions about their creative processes. I’m unsure anyone other than fellow writers really care, but that’s not going to stop us from telling you…

So, what’s it really like to be a published writer? You know, beyond the fame, the adulation and…

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Writers – Are you past your sell by date? 

~ Purpleanais ~ Leave a comment

Idle blogs of an idle fellow

One of the problems of being a writer, apart from the frown and that the last thing you wrote being a shopping list, is the fear you’re only as good as the last thing you wrote. Although parsley, butter and cheese might be significant at the time, they offer poor legacy were the Southbank Show to popup, intending to  document what you’re currently working on. Of course the Southbank Show was taken off air in the Middle Ages so the likelihood of their interest in my shopping list is unlikely, but it’s important to be prepared all the same. After all I’ve had a ten pence piece in my pocket since I got the Scout’s Nuclear Winter Survival badge. To be honest that’s as much as most writers are due to earn according to new research suggesting only 10% of writers now earn a living from their endeavours.

The thrill of being…

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Shamelessly plugging

~ Purpleanais ~ 36 Comments

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Yep, that’s me shamelessly plugging The Life Assistance Agency by Thomas Hocknell, because people should read more & they should support indie authors/publishers. There are far too many talented writers languishing in obscurity while the press & critics keep raving about J. K. Rowling as if she actually needs anymore publicity.

The Life Assistance Agency can be found Here

It’s a great read and this is not just me promoting a friend: gripping story, witty, writing that’s actually brilliant at times, and last but not least, it’s genre defying. Tom is the most original writer I’ve encountered in years – and originality is priceless because it’s so damn rare. If you’re looking for something different to read, give this book a try – I’d be surprised if you didn’t enjoy it. Plus, get in there before the sequel comes out next year 🙂

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Things people always say to Writers.

~ Purpleanais ~ 4 Comments

Great piece by my brilliant friend Tom

Idle blogs of an idle fellow

It was recently said I look like a writer, which I tried to pretend wasn’t shorthand for appearing socially inept, malnourished and skint. They then asked me what genre my novel is.

It’s a regular question, and in light of people invariably asking the same things upon hearing that you are a writer, it would be a good idea to have well-prepared answers, which makes my lack of them even more inexplicable.

The most common is, ‘Are you published?” like it’s something that inevitable happens to every writer. Of course you want to grab them by the lapels and scream ‘D’you have any fucking idea how hard it is to get published?’ It’s not something you choose as an option at A-level . If I was published I would be (even more) unbearable, and you’d not be able to enter my house due to piles of unsold copies of the novel…

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