Dream world

Over the course of four days I jotted down my dreams as soon as I woke up.  Welcome to my dream world.

Night 1

I was selling my house, which was a detached mansion and nothing like my real life flat. In the basement there were zombies, unfortunately, but this didn’t present a problem to the prospective buyers. In fact, they were looking forward to the challenge.  What was problematic for them, though, was next door’s reptile problem: thousands of silver snakes, no bigger than a foot long and as thin as worms. These snakes were invading my neighbour’s driveway and slithering around their gardens.  They began to creep into my garden and scared away the would-be buyers, as well as me.  As I ran away from the snakes, I watched a Boeing-747 plane coming into land at the airport but it botched the landing, went around and soon developed a mechanical problem, subsequently heading for a crash landing on my street.  I ran and hid amongst the many back alleys as the plane crashed with a mighty boom.  

The dream then switched to me watching a UFC match on television, but this one had no rules and the fighters were brawling outside the cage.  The referee never stopped the fight, even when one fighter was clearly beating to death the other.  It was brutal to watch.  Then I was in a micro-machine car with a high-school friend called George, we were racing along the streets of my hometown of Morecambe and every time I crashed I was flung from the car and I felt the pain, although I was seemingly invincible to the death-inducing crashes.  After one crash I ended up alone outside Charing Cross tube station in London, asking passers-by to phone for an ambulance.  They did and as I sat waiting, one of my childhood friends called Michael was sat with me, but he was crying as the sirens approached.  I got in the ambulance and was transported to a big warehouse.  In the warehouse there were two suitcases and another man, who I didn’t recognise.  He told me we were spies and that we had to open the suitcases.  We did.  Other than clothing, there was nothing unusual inside the suitcases but at the bottom of each was an envelope. As I opened it - at the same time as the other man - we both read what it said and ducked for cover. The letter wanted us to kill the other man.  The rest of the dream was a battle between us two, involving detectives investigating us, barrels of acid and my mother begging me to stop the warfare.

Night 2

I was with my girlfriend’s family preparing the table for dinner, everything was normal.  Until my girlfriend started crying and I said we’d go for a walk instead.  We were walking through the streets when a giant red demon’s face appeared on one of the buildings, instructing everybody that the city was now in a game-world and people could do what they liked.  Immediately we were mugged by a little kid and after handing over our possessions I found my courage and chased him, tackled him and stole his weapon.  However, after recovering our belongings the mugger’s friends arrived and my girlfriend and I got into the back of a vehicle, ordering the driver to drive as fast as possible.  It was an epic car chase finishing with us in a jungle with the muggers still on our tail.  Our car was driving up a very steep slope but it stalled and we got out, thinking we were doomed until King Kong appeared and transformed me into a gorilla.  King Kong then challenged me to a tree-top race swinging from branch to branch and collecting bananas.  I won the challenge, surprisingly, whereupon I was rewarded with scratch-cards but told that I couldn’t claim the prize unless I saved the game.

Night 3    

I was in a large house, that had a converted loft, with my friends from high-school.  For some reason there was a polar bear outside the door and we had to fight to keep it at bay during the night.  We succeeded and then watched my friend George do some impressive acrobatics off the old, wooden beams which traversed the roof.  I was then in Asda, trying to find some jogging pants but whenever I picked them up they turned into cheese pizzas.  My old high-school teacher, Mr Walker, was also in Asda bellowing orders at the checkout girl.

The dream quickly switched to me walking around a university campus, which I didn’t recognise, and all of the buildings were located in the countryside.  I looked at the map of the campus, which turned out to be the Hyrule map from Zelda: Ocarina of Time and as I pointed at an old church I was transported to the exact place.  The church turned out to be a chemistry lab, which I broke into and hid within the cupboards while the scientists walked around.  They left and I got out, stumbling upon a man’s body and, finding he was unconscious, I carried his body to the nearby clinic and with the help of the doctor, frantically tried to resuscitate him.  Next thing I knew I was in a lift with Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis from The Hangover.  We were all in amazing, tailored black tuxedos and we were armed to the max with shotguns, machine guns and pistols.  The lift doors opened and we were in a gunfight with dozens of Chinese men, who got slaughtered by us.  Bradley Cooper and Zach left, base-jumping off the building’s roof but leaving me behind.  

One of the Chinese gunmen survived and stood back up, asking for forgiveness. I spoke with him, in English, and he told me his life story and how the woman he loved was alone back home.  I told him to go back home to the woman he loved but if he didn’t get there before I did I’d shoot her.  

Night 4

I was due to participate in the cross bay walk at Morecambe Bay with my girlfriend, but the wind was too strong and the event was called off.  I was disappointed and looked across the bay, surprised to see that not only was the tide still in, but there were a dozen massive cruise liners anchored stern-to against the coastal sea wall.  I turned around and walked back to bump into Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip, who I promptly ignored and instead stopped to shake hands with an old school friend called Tom.   I was surprised to find out that Tom was the Royal Trombone player even though he never played any instruments in school.  Next thing I knew I was walking passed a shop when I noticed Arnold Schwarzenegger within a glass display cabinet that was packed with ice, and him shouting ‘ice-cold sales’ every ten seconds while flexing his pecks.  So I went into the shop but was deceived, as Arnold immediately broke out of the glass and then rushed me into a secret room at the back of the shop.  He told me the Columbians were coming any minute as we hid under rugs. The Columbians turned up and began shooting at the shop with machine guns.  Arnold handed me a remote device which detonated the floor we were on and we fell into a tunnel, which we escaped through and came out into a futuristic station of thousands of metal tubes.  Arnold and I crawled into a tube and fastened into our bobsleigh-like shuttle and were whisked far away to the other side of the world.  

Unfortunately the bobsleigh was then stopped half-way through the journey by the police.  Arnold handed me a laser gun and told me to fire.  The police turned out to be vampires who didn’t like the heat of the laser pen and backed away.

My experiences of self-publishing and a guide

My experiences of being a self-published writer

The best thing you can do as a writer is to simply keep on writing.  It doesn’t matter if this is in the form of more books, short stories or reviews – everything helps and it stops you going insane from marketing.  I’ve been doing this for nearly two years now.  After releasing my first book I didn’t write for eight months and it was really getting me down, the non-stop marketing and trying everything possible just to get one sale a month!  

For the last few months I’ve changed tactics.  I still market, but I do it on a small-scale, person-to-person basis and more importantly, I make time for doing what I enjoy: writing.  I write because it’s my hobby, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to make money from it.  I dream of being paid to write three or four books a year by a publisher, even though it would pay less than my current job it would make me infinitely happier.  

Goodreads

Goodreads is a huge website, and very confusing for a beginner.  If you’ve just released your book don’t spam every forum, it’s a sure fire way to make enemies and get booted out.  Instead, join groups that you want to join because you are interested in discussions.  For example, I joined many fantasy groups where we talk about our favourite fantasy series and discuss Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings.  I don’t mention my books, ever, unless someone asks me about my writing.  Think long-term, like years, and build up an audience by interacting with readers and reviewing books.  Spend your day writing, and when your brain is numb and tired; then spend thirty minutes on Goodreads.  

Advertising

Do not waste your money on advertising, you will never get your money back because even if one hundred people saw your book, maybe five would click on the banner, and then only one, or none, would go on to buy it.  

What is effective, however, are a few, small number of websites which have subscribers and a tailored, target audience for your  genre.  Because I’m nice here they are: Bookbub and Enewsreadertoday.

Bookbub is expensive but I’ve read and heard nothing but good things.  A promotion with these guys will boost your book sky high. The tricky part is being accepted so you will have to read the guidelines very carefully.  I’ve yet to be accepted, sad face, but you’re allowed to re-apply every two weeks.  Which I will keep doing until they are sick of me, like Andy does in The Shawshank Redemption sending out letters every week demanding a library fund!

But ENT is great because you pay them a share of whatever sales you make, so it’s a win-win.  

Of course, the hardest part is getting reviews in the first place.  Unless I have a new book out, I don’t discuss my books anymore with my friends or family because I know they are sick about me going on about it.  You will have to do the hard part, research bloggers for your genre and contact them, but make sure you read their review policy.  I’ll be honest, it looks like it’s getting incredibly tough to do this now because the market is saturated and reviewers are inundated with hundreds of requests a week.  

Amazon is also getting tougher with its reviews, they clamp down on friends and family posting reviews, especially if that person has never reviewed products before on the website, then comes along with a five star for your book.  The reader isn’t stupid either, they will see this.  

Don’t be disheartened either by one star reviews if you get them, I’ve seen a huge rise in one-star reviews dished out for such silly reasons.  I’ll judge a book by its cover, the quality of the blurb, and the ‘look inside feature’ – if I’m still hooked by the end I’ll buy it regardless of the reviews.  

Also: think long-term.  I plan to release two books every year until I’ve got perhaps twenty books out.  At the end of every new book, you can put a link to your other books and a little note saying: “Thanks for reading, if you enjoyed this book please check out my others.”  It might not lead to sales, but it might do, especially if the reader enjoyed your writing style.  That’s the good thing with self-publishing, you are free to edit your manuscript and re-publish whenever you want.  

Get a professional editor; that goes without saying.  They can be expensive, but quality prevails and if you’re serious about being a writer, why would you take shortcuts on the most fundamental part?  As many times as you re-read your own novel, you always miss mistakes because your brain is reading it differently and letting you see what it wants you to see.  

I don’t know what constitutes success for being a self-published author.  I made 76 sales in January, my best month ever.  But it’s highly likely I’ll make less than ten for February just like the other months.  I honestly believe word-of-mouth is the best marketing strategy.  Think about it, how many times have you bought something because your friend has mentioned it? Or you have stayed clear of a product or a shop or a firm because others have bad-mouthed it? It’s the same with books: the best thing you can do is a put a well-edited, quality manuscript out there and keep on writing.   

Have faith that if someone enjoys your work, they’ll let others know too!

Movie Reviews

I thought I’d do a quick review round-up of all the films I’ve seen lately.

This is the End

James Franco, Seth Rogan, Jonas Hill and Danny McBride all play themselves in this self-depreciating, outrageously funny comedy about the end of days.  The funniest scene is where the earthquake first hits and a load of celebrities fall into a hole with magma at the bottom - I honestly was laughing so much it hurt my stomach and I couldn’t breathe.  It is quite crude the humour and probably a ‘lads’ movie in certain respects but it’s a comedy first and foremost, and has probably overtaken Airplane as my all-time favourite.    8/10

Captain Phillips

This is a gripping thriller telling the real-life story of the Maersk Alabama that was hijacked by Somali pirates.  As ever, Tom Hanks gives a flawless performance but the most incredible part for me was just watching how the Somalis, with a tiny boat and a rusty ladder, managed to get on board the huge cargo ship.  It’s a really good film.  8/10

American Hustle

I’d read a lot about this film before watching it and particularly the amount of awards it was nominated for.   Therefore, I found myself actually disappointed in the film because it is quite dull, long-winded and flat.  I appreciated the rock-steady acting of Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, as well as a few comical moments, but on the whole it falls short of a truly outstanding film.           6/10

The Purge

I like Ethan Hawke, mainly his cool name I guess, but he’s the best thing about the film.  I like the concept, that one day of the year everyone is legally allowed to commit crime, but the film was just a bit boring.  The plot twist at the end was all too easy to see because it was overly hinted at in the early scenes.  With a great concept like this, the film should have been set in an open-world following the nightly mayhem around the city.  There are too many horror films where the victims are stuck inside a house while the killers try to get in.   4/10

Riddick

I had never watched Pitch Black back in the day but this reboot I really enjoyed.  The visuals were stunning and the landscape of the alien planet, and the terrifying creatures on it were impressive.  Vin Diesel nails the role, and there was a healthy amount of gore, cheesy lines and violence to satisfy my action needs.  7/10

World War Z

Note: don’t watch this on a plane with headphones in and the screen only a foot in front of you.  The last time I jumped from shock like I did with this movie was watching 28 Days Later.  I really enjoyed this film, I liked the fact it focused on Brad Pitt trying to track down why the outbreak started rather than fighting the zombies, because nearly all of the time he is fleeing against overwhelming odds of masses of zombie hordes.  I thought it was a good ending and I’m looking forward to the sequel.  8/10

Fast and Furious 6

I’m a little behind with this one, but thought I’d mention it.  I love the Fast and Furious franchise, ever since number one (with the exception of Tokyo Drift).  I think it’s what cinema is made for and what I’m quite happy to depart my ten pound with for a ticket.  It’s pure action, adventure, cheese, and over-the-top sequences which requires no mental effort to watch – perfect for escapism.  Now, this 6^th installment was the most insane of all of them featuring a runway the length of Africa and nonsensical jumps from cars leaving everyone unscathed.  But, it’s a good movie and I’m looking forward to number seven.  7/10

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On a musical note, I’ve been listening to Absolution by Muse a lot recently.  Honestly one of the best albums ever made and not one track you skip, which is so rare these days because there are always at least a few rubbish songs on every album. 

Review: Half Bad by Sally Green

I was lucky to win this ARC on Goodreads and it was the first competition I’ve ever entered and I won!   I only entered after reading about Sally Green in an article in a British newspaper online, but I’m very glad I did because this will surely be one of the biggest books of 2014.  Before even beginning to read the book it already scored highly to me because of the original, fresh and intriguing premise, something which is severely lacking in today’s literary world.  Most of all, I’m pleased to say that it delivers and more.  

 

                I was gripped from the first page and from then on it was an intoxicating ride on every level.  Dark, intense and heart-pounding, and I’m sure there are many other superlatives which I could use to describe it if only my vocabulary wasn’t so limited.  Most importantly for me, though, it sits amongst the list of a very few books that I will re-read (The Hobbit is one of them) because despite knowing what happens, the story and characters are just that good that you want to get lost in them all over again, every year. 

                This will be a huge success and I, like millions of others I don’t doubt, will be eagerly awaiting the next book in the series. 

5/5  *****

Half Bad will be released on 3rd March 2014.

Review: The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug

I just got back from watching the film and I have to admit I have mixed feelings about it.  I’m fairly certain I even enjoyed the first one more.   It’s still one of the best films of the year, however, and certainly worth your money for its entertainment value.  As a huge fan of Tolkien and anything Middle-earth related, it was a joy to watch from a visual perspective and once again to see and become immersed in the stunning scenery and landscapes.  I just left the cinema with a few gripes and ultimately unsatisfied for the following reasons:

I didn’t like the start, as I felt it was a step back and slowed the film down.  We don’t need to see Gandalf and Thorin talking in Bree and then for it to say '12 months later'.  The Hobbit is a fast-paced, adventure tale where one chapter builds onto the next climaxing in the thrilling ending.  The first film ended with the dwarves and Bilbo being chased by the orcs, so the second film could have started with that straight away and worked, building on the breathless energy of the chase rather than making us sit through the pointless Bree scene.  The audience knows how the last film ended and why the party is heading to the Lonely Mountain – we don’t need reminding.

I thought Mirkwood lacked the atmosphere of Fangorn, while we didn’t get to see too much of the elven woodland kingdom either.  The spiders unimpressed and went on a bit long while there was also far too much Legolas time throughout the whole film.  Now I love Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn – they were the best three characters for me in the Lord of the Rings but this is the Hobbit – it should focus on Bilbo.   It is his story and how he transforms and constantly saves the day.    I got bored of watching Legolas – and Tauriel – easily slicing up orcs and firing arrows, while Legolas looked a bit fat in the face and frankly a bit weird.  

I was engrossed by the Bilbo and Smaug scenes, they are my favourite parts from the book and I thought the film did it well – just not enough! The final 20 minutes were a bit chaotic, with a lot of action but it was muddled, confusing and in the end pointless.  The dwarves go to a lot of bother and faffing around to create a gold statue, which drowns Smaug briefly before he flies away to seek revenge upon Laketown. I guess when you make three films instead of one this is the sort of thing you have to do to fill the time.  I’d have liked more Bilbo time rather than the focus on Tauriel and Kili’s little relationship as I just didn’t care about them.

I did like the film, despite my negativity.  As I said I thought Smaug was well done, and truly terrifying.  The barrel scene down the river was great and Laketown was superb.  Bard was excellent and also Beorn.

I hope the final film will be better, how can it not be?  The Battle of the Five Armies should be amazing to watch, as well as Bard taking on Smaug and the White Council kicking the Necromancer out of Dol Gildur. 

The ultimate difference for me is that I won’t be buying these films on DVD – I just don’t have any great desire to watch them again like I do with the Lord of the Rings.