Knightfall - buy it now

Friday 26 July 2013

My process

I have finally got my new computer up and sorted.  It's a laptop (Lenovo Z580 if anyone is interested, cheap but lots of memory), but I'm using it hooked up to the TV in the office.  I've finally managed to get it to look exactly like my old computer (desktop, files etc) so it's like nothing's different!  Got to love that OCD....

Got a nice new keyboard too, really springy keys that let you know when you've hit them.

Anyway, today I thought I would talk a little about my process.  I am working on book 3 of The Chronicle of Benjamin Knight, started it at the beginning of the week and I've done the prologue and the first four scenes of chapter 1.  I know where book 3 is going (as I've said before, it finishes the story of Alexander and the war), and I know certain pivotal scenes that occur, but everything else is fluid.  I have been trying to organise the first couple of chapters today, so I sketched out a timeline of what will occur on each day, to try and help get the scenes in order.

As always, beware SPOILERS!!!! (That is if any of you are actually able to read my terrible writing!)


From the timeline, I can then see what scenes need to occur and try to organise them into the correct order, and I end up with something like this.

 

I've tried doing it on the computer, but it's just not the same.  I need to be able to scribble on it, cross bits out and draw arrows showing where things get moved too.  I'm sure there are programs that would let me do just that, but for now I'll stick to what I know.  Maybe when I write something else, I'll consider a different method. 

I feel a lot happier when I have it all set out, and I can then just sit at the computer and write 2-3 scenes a day (depending on length and free time), and then start the process all over again.  I tried planning a lot further ahead with book 2, but things changed in the process of writing the story so I ended up redoing a lot of it in the end.

Anyway, back to it, I have a very large battle scene to write....

Monday 22 July 2013

Murder Mystery Weekend

Just back from a fantastic weekend away for my birthday.  We went to Cardiff on Saturday, spent the day going around the city (but didn't have enough time to do the Dr Who Experience, so we are going again in a few weeks to do just that!), and the night at a murder mystery dinner.

I've never done anything like it before and I didn't know what to expect.  I must say though, it was fab!  There were 7 actors and a narrator, and in between dinner courses they acted out scenes to set up the characters.  Then after the main course, there was another scene before the body was discovered, and after desert we were able to question everybody and look at the props and piece the clues together.  I had a fantastic time, trying to solve the murder.

I tried to channel my inner Jessica Fletcher (from Murder She Wrote - all you youngsters out there will need to Google it I guess).  In the end, even though we solved a lot of the clues, we got the murderer wrong, but it didn't matter, everybody had a great time.  After an hour of questioning, the actors showed the final scene where the murderer was revealed and the clues explained to explain it all.  It really was so easy when they explained it....

On the topic of Jessica Fletcher, is she the most prolific serial killer ever to appear on TV or what?  Even Dexter Morgan has nothing on her body count.  Every week, she'd go to a wedding or visit some friends for a weekend, and one or more people would die.  The police never had her as a suspect, and only said thank you very much when she said 'They did it!'.  Her only qualifications were that she wrote murder mysteries, a job where all the time she is thinking about ways to kill people and fool the cops to make a good story!  Why did people keep inviting her to places???  Did they want her to kill their friends and family members?  Did she do it on commission?????

Anyway, rant over, but if you meet a kindly old woman called Jessica Fletcher on a trip somewhere, don't turn your back on her and sleep with one eye open....

Sunday we went to Bath and wen around the old Roman baths there (the only baths in England fed from a natural hot spring).  It was incredible, almost 2000 years old and still so much of the original architecture is visible.  Well worth a trip.  We didn't have time to do the Jane Austin Museum, so we'll be going back to Bath again too.



Back to writing today, back to book 3, and more of Alexander having fun with his torture devices....

Wednesday 17 July 2013

New Light - Book 3 of The Chronicle of Benjamin Knight

I have started book 3 this week, and I've just finished writing the prologue (there is a prologue at the start of book 2 as any reader will find out in just a few weeks hopefully - just waiting to get it back from the editor).  The prologue for book 3 tells the back story for two important characters and adds a bit more depth to their motivations and the choices they will make in book 3.

It's so exciting to be progressing like this.  I need to sit down and properly map out book 3, but it will conclude he story of Alexander and the war.  I hope people like the way it ends.  There are still some big scenes to come and the odd revelation, but I hope it all ties the three books together into a whole.

We'll see!

Off to the gym now, do some exercise to try and shed some blubber.  Then maybe a little bit of Borderlands when I get back, I am really struggling to kill the third incarnation of the Handsome Sorcerer!

Sunday 14 July 2013

Negative book review

I have received my first negative book review (in addition to the one that compared Knightfall to the TV series Revolution, they still gave me 3 stars which to my mind is 'average' and hey, if I can score an average mark with my first novel then it can't be all bad).  At first I was a little upset about it, but then I read it again and I realised that the reviewer had a lot of good points.  I emailed them, and they were kind enough to give more feedback in the form of unanswered questions, which I will try to answer below.  First, the review....

'I received this book free for review.

Ben is a teen prodigy who has discovered a way to acquire limitless energy. During the testing phase, unexpected events unfold and Ben awakens to a new version of his own world.

I’m not sure I understand where the author is going with Knightfall, and how Ben’s own world plays into the events of his current world. After the first chapter or two it has nothing to do with Ben at all. The reader does not get any insight as to what is going on in Ben’s head, other than a few vague journal entries. Does he think about his family, or his own home? He doesn’t even seem to be trying to find answers or get home; leaving me to wonder ‘what is his purpose?’ Is he in the future or a parallel dimension? Since this is the first book in the series there is still room to answer the many questions I have, and I have many more.

I wish I could say that I enjoyed this book, but to be honest I didn’t. The first couple chapters were very intriguing, but I think at some point along the way it became too overwhelmed with different POV’s and unimportant details. New characters and ideas just seemed to be haphazardly thrown into the mix of rapidly unfolding events.'


As I said, a lot of relevant and important points raised.  The questions are below, and I will answer them in turn -

1. Why isn’t Ben trying to get home?
When Ben first gets to his new world, he has no idea where he is or what has happened.  His first thought is nuclear war (an irrational knee-jerk reaction really), then on the Road Trains he thinks it may be the future, but he doesn't know.  One of the reasons he decides to go through all of the technology on the trains is that they are a piece of his home, and he hopes they my tell him where he is.  Until he knows where he is, he can't think about how to get home.  He thinks like a scientist, practical and based on facts and theories with an experiment to prove or disprove them.  Once he knows where he is, he can then start on a way to get home, if he thinks it is possible.

I have since updated my website with details of where Ben is (I wasn't going to tell people where he is until Ben worked it out for himself, but people asked and so I told them.  Essentially, it can be read here http://www.jackson-lawrence.com/page8.html and there is no way for him to get home).  Initially, I was going to leave the dream sequence in the first chapter as the only answer.

2.  Why is he so set on helping the crew from the Road train? Does he feel he owes them for saving him or does he feel caught up in events?
The first people he meets in his new world try to kill him, then he collapses in the snow and nearly dies.  The people on the Road Train save him, and he is grateful as well as wary of them.  There is some sense of obligation too, but mainly he hopes that hey may help to keep him alive while he searches for answers as to what's going on.  Then he gets caught up in the events that unfold rapidly around him, nearly dies again, they save him again, and then he offers to help them solve their problems in return for their aid.

3.  What are his feelings as he’s traveling with this crew? What does he think of this new world he’s in and does he miss his old world?  
In his own world, the people he worked with in the lab every day are his friends and family.  He takes a liking to the Road Train crew because they remind him of other people (referring back to where Ben is and how this world came to be).  What he likes the most though is the world and how everything is new and different whilst at the same time almost the same.  As stated above, Ben is a scientist and finds the trains, the world, the bridge, the crazy cities and villages, and everything absolutely fascinating, a bit like a magpie when it sees something shiny.  He stops wondering where he is and is more interested in how a road train works, why the cities are arranged the way they are, why bits seem new and some seem very old, randomly thrown together.  He is surrounded by questions that his brain is desperately trying to answer. 

4.  Does he think about his family? (They’re mentioned in the first chapter and he seems to miss them at that point).
He has seen less and less of his family over the preceding 5 years, and is less attached to them than he would have been if he had lived with them.  He also knows that they should be okay because they were in London when the lab exploded in mainland Western Europe.  He misses his friends at the lab more, and reflects a little on that when he finds their rooms in the lab, but then he is running and trying to stay alive, whilst filled with wonder and amazement wherever he turns.

5.  Ben is a genius, so what can he offer this group from his own abilities that will benefit them, and how will it help to get him home, if in fact he is thinking about getting home?
He offers them the use of the vehicles in the laboratory in the hope that they will allow the Road Train crew to get to their home more quickly and warn them about the attack.  He also gives them weapons and equipment that will aid them in their fight (eg the night vision goggles).  With regards to what his genius can offer, he understands mathematics and physics, so not a lot in this medieval world.  Apart from the reverse engineered mechanical items (guns, Road Trains, I was going to have an Archimedes screw on a farm at one point but deleted it), they are at a medieval level of social and political development.

6.  The electricity in his lab is still functional, why, if this world doesn’t have electricity?
Electricity in this world is more of a myth, a legend, a 'something' that will make the old technology work.  People have no idea what it exactly is, and when Ben tries to explain that lightning is just natural electricity, they first can't believe that he can harness lightning, and then doesn't really believe him anyway.  The dynamo with the bulb he makes is dimmer than a candle, so how can it be the electricity that will make all of the old technology work?  How do you explain what an electron is and how it orbits the nucleus of an atom in various layers and the forces that it exhibits to someone who only really understands what they can see and feel?  Its a bit like explaining how a modern internal combustion engine works to the person who first discovered the wheel.  I have a character in book 2 who collects pieces of old tech and imagines electricity to be a sort of key.

When they arrive at the lab and see working technology, they have no idea what is does but are more impressed.  Then more fighting and they have to forget about it for a while.

7.  Is this the future or a parallel dimension?
This is a pocket dimension, see the link above for more detail.

8.  Will we eventually find out what happened to his team in the lab and why their bodies were missing?
This is not the same lab, this is a construct from his subconscious as described on the link above.  As to what happens on the earth Ben left, there is a 3 mile wide crater left behind that has an impact on that world.  I hope to write those stories one day in a trilogy called The Succession War.

(Not in the list of questions sent by the reviewer but pulled from the review)

9.  After the first chapter or two it has nothing to do with Ben at all.
The book is called 'The Chronicle of Benjamin Knight', and that's what it is; His journal as he explores his new world and the events that unfold there, which were happening anyway, he just impacts on them slightly and they change because of his presence.  The world is both created in the instant he falls into it, but also has thousand of years of history (broaching the concept of non-linear time that may be explored in a later book).  I never promised Ben would be the main character, and I don't promise that he will survive through all of the future stories in this world.  He may be it's creator (even unknowingly), but he is as vulnerable there as anyone else.  He is our eyes, as it were, to another person's story, at the same time as becoming part of it.

10.  I think at some point along the way it became too overwhelmed with different POV’s and unimportant details. New characters and ideas just seemed to be haphazardly thrown into the mix of rapidly unfolding events.
I take the point about too overwhelmed by point of views.  I tried to keep them to three, and hopefully did a better job with book 2, and may well go back and re-write pieces in the future.  The book is not really meant to stand alone as a complete story, though, just tell how Ben got to the world and the first part of Alexander's war.  It is supposed to make the reader ask questions whilst enjoying the events that occur, leaving many more questions than answers.

I really enjoyed LOST and that method of story telling.  An off hand comment from a character in season 2 may have be pivotal plot point in season 5, you just have to pay attention and wait for the pay off.  The new characters and ideas may seem to be haphazardly thrown into the mix, but that's because you haven't gotten the whole story yet, just the first part.  I really want the pieces I set up to pay off, and if they don't then I have failed in telling my story.

For example (MAJOR SPOILER ALERT HERE).....









Still with me?  Here goes.
Three of the characters have supernatural type abilities in this story.  They all use them in Knightfall, one of them unknowingly while the other two use them consciously.  I hope when readers find out who they are, they will go back and say 'ah, now I know why that scene seemed odd/weird!'.

So, that's the questions answered, and I hope that they will help others who have similar questions make sense of it.  I realise that not everyone will like my story, and that's fine, I saw someone gave Stephen Kings's IT two stars of Goodreads the other day (I know, I didn't believe it either!).  I really appreciate the feedback though, how else will I get better?  I want to keep writing, I have a lot more stories to tell, and anyone who tells me when I get it wrong should be thanked.

As usual, comments below please, let me know what you think!

Thursday 11 July 2013

Book 2 is done!

Had a fantastic, eventful day with regards to my writing.  Check these out!

1.  Had the edited version of Knightfall back from the editor.  She took less than 2 weeks and has done an incredible job, I am really pleased.  I have updated the files at KDP and CreateSpace, so they should be ready to download and ordain the next 24 hours!  The editing company I used is called Hercules Editing and Consulting (www.bzher​cules.com) and I have already approached the about book 2, I am so impressed.  Even better, they have 10% off until the 15th July!

2.  I finished the first draft of book 2 of the Chronicle of Benjamin Knight - Darkest Before Dawn.  I am so pleased.  I have a fun few weeks now going through it, changing, tweaking, getting feedback from beta readers, before it goes to the editors.  Then I will be able to publish it and crack on with book 3.  It's a bit of a shift from what most people were expecting would happen, but I hope the reasons why all make sense.

3.  I have approved the cover for Darkest Before Dawn and you can check it out below!  I love it, it shows a really pivotal scene in the book that readers will recognise when they read it (if they ever do!).  Please, please, please let me know what you think!

Monday 8 July 2013

Revolution?

Had a review for Knightfall today that compared it to the TV show Revolution, and it has bothered me constantly since reading it.  I think partly because someone could be thinking that I copied the TV show (even though I wrote most of Knightfall over 15 years before the show ever aired), but mainly because I don't quite get it.

Yes, electricity is a theme in both stories, but they are very different.  In Revolution, electricity is something that everyone had, then it was taken away by the US government with broken nanobots or something that may or may not have been an accident.  It jumped around a bit, with the central rules changing a bit to suit the story, (the nanobots absorb all electricity so petrol internal combustion engines don't work, but neither do diesel engines, but you can still make a spark to fire a gun/musket???).

If Knightfall is a fantasy story (which I feel it is), the electricity is a small part of a side story that is akin to the magic of the world.  It is spoken about in rumours and stories and no one really knows exactly what it is.  Long ago, pieces of tech that still worked were found, but that hasn't happened for a long time.  Then a strange boy turns up and says 'electricity, where I come from it's everywhere and I can make it'.  He is generally ignored, thought to be a bit weird and mad, and it really doesn't matter because everyone is too busy trying to kill each other.

Okay, maybe there are some similarities, but it is more a matter of timing than anything else.  If I had gotten around to finishing the book years ago, maybe someone would have said 'hey, isn't Revolution a bit like that book Knightfall from the 1990's?'. 

Maybe not.

I'm worried, though, because electricity will become a much more important factor in book 3.  Should I finish it if more people are going to say 'hey, he's just ripping off that TV show'?  Should I try to change the story to remove electricity altogether (but then, it won't be the story I wanted to tell anymore)?

Answers on a postcard, or the comments box below....

Thursday 4 July 2013

More book related news

Two big bits of book related news today.  First of all, I have finished chapter 10 and hit the 300 page mark (with a word count of 89K), so only two more chapters to go.  I am still on track to have the first draft finished by the end of July, so fingers crossed.

The second bit of news is that I have finally told the world where Ben is and the general rules that govern his new world.  This is in response to a request from a reviewer (who gave me 4 out of 5 stars - check out the review here http://authorthomasraymann.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/book-review-of-knightfall-chronicle-of.html?spref=tw).  When I say I have told the world, what this means is that I posted a new page on my website detailing Ben's world, the experiment, and how the mechanics of his new world work.  Now, according to Google analytics, no one has visited my site.

Ever. 

Not even me?

So the world will neither realise or care, but if for some reason you wanted to check it out, click here

http://www.jackson-lawrence.com/page9.html

Also, for your amusement, here is the latest of the maps I have drawn.  This is the last map I will draw for book 2, the last city that Ben visits on his travels before the dramatic climax (dun duun DUUUUUN!).

Here it is

 
 
As always, comment are appreciated, so please feel free to add your thoughts below.  And if you have any more questions about Knightfall, its characters or the world, please do ask.  I like to pretend that people are interested....