Stephen Writes

Posted By Stephen England on March 21, 2012

I’ve been hearing a lot of chatter on-line lately about how, in no uncertain terms, social media does NOT sell books. It seems to have become the new accepted mantra among the indie gurus that, while you may have fun on Twitter, Facebook, etc., you will not sell books there.

They’re wrong—you can sell books on social media, and there are a few very simple reasons why they haven’t been able to.

I invite you to go out on Twitter, pick an indie writer at random, and check the people they’re following. Generally, close to two-thirds of the people they are following will be writers—and the same goes for their followers. Writers, writers, everywhere.

Everyone seems to do this—and yet it makes zero sense. Writers have one primary focus for being on social media. To sell you their book, not buy your book. Simply put, marketing to your fellow writers is about as sensible as walking into a meeting of the Soap Salesmen Local 105 and expecting to sell them your soap.

But, as one writer told me, “I follow a lot of writers because some of those writers will retweet my links and that will go out to all of their followers.”

Which is great, or would be—if those writers weren’t also following primarily writers. In short, the odds are high for your link reaching no normal readers. And that’s who you want.

How do you find them? Identify your target audience. Bonus points for figuring out that, unless you’ve written one of those pretentious how-to guides, your target audience doesn’t consist of writers.

My advice: define three main groups of people to network with on social media. The first two groups need to be people who would be interested in your book. If you’ve written a novel set in Ireland, search for people talking about Ireland or Celtic culture and music. Find people that live in the British Isles. Strike up a conversation. Most important, find common ground.

However you define those two groups, define them and find them. What about the third group, you say? Yeah, those are the writers—the last and least important of your group. Network with a few writers, preferably writers in your genre. They can provide some moral support on the bad days and maybe even a few good blurbs for your product description. Overall, though, they’re unimportant—because, as I said before—they’re trying to sell you their book.

Now that you’ve got a plan of who to network with—you’re all set to start tweeting your book, right?

Wrong. A lot of writers do nothing but tweet links to their book, their reviews, and the occasional retweet for another author to whom they owe a favor. It gets old. It gets boring. Real fast.

Find something to talk about besides your book. And not writing, please not writing. Most readers could care less about your writers’ block—in fact, a public confession of writers’ block isn’t really that good of an idea on many levels.

You need to talk about what your readers care about. For me, it’s politics—a dangerous choice, to be sure, and not one I would recommend for everyone. In my case, it’s the natural choice. My books are political thrillers, and in between my writing and my day job, I moonlight as a political activist. If people get ticked off by my politics on Twitter, the odds are high that they’d find something offensive in my novel. Whatever you choose, make sure your audience cares, and make sure you care, because no matter what they tell you, you really can’t fake sincerity.

Forget the indie gurus: I connect with my audience through topics we both care passionately about, and they take an interest in my books. How do I know this? Because I use bit.ly and other link shorteners to track my clicks. I track the sales of Pandora’s Grave. I compare my sales on days I don’t use social media to the days I do. It is noticeable.

Perhaps even more important, over half of my 52 reviews have come from people who found my book via social media—and those reviews have sold hundreds of copies.

In short, while social media is not the silver bullet of marketing(there is no such magic) it is a supremely useful tool—and it does sell books. You just need to be inventive and persistent in order to use it well. If you’re not either of those, well it’s probably past time you asked yourself what you were doing as an independent writer.

Go thou and do likewise.

Regards, the Rogue Writer

Category: The Art of Writing | 4 Comments »
Tags: bit.ly, Facebook, indie, indie gurus, marketing, publishing, reviewers, social media, target audience, Twitter, Writing

Posted By Stephen England on March 10, 2012

Devils with Wings is a historical military thriller by Harvey Black, based around the adventures of two young Fallschirmjager paratroopers during the early part of World War II. Devils is a fictionalised story based on the famous assault on the impregnable Belgian Fortress, Eben Emael. Tall, gangly Paul Brand is supported by his junior sergeant, Unterfeldwebel Max Grun, as he experiences his first action as a platoon commander in Poland, September 1939. The mutual respect between the two comrades grows as they experience the sights and smells of battle at close quarters Following their success in Poland, Paul, Max and the platoon are sent to a clandestine camp in the foothills of the Harz Mountains to train for a secret mission. Confined to camp for six months they undergo intensive training for their next mission – the subjugation of the Eben Emael Fortress. Two German secret weapons will assist them to complete their task; the first is the glider, used for the first time to deposit troops directly onto a target, and the second secret weapon is a new Hollow Charge Weapon, capable of blasting through steel or concrete. On completion of their training, nine gliders containing seventy two Fallschirmjager land on top of the fortress, before the troops move in to the depths of the tunnels to finish the job. Over one thousand Belgian troops fail to stop them. This exciting fictionalised retelling of the assault on Eben Emael is written by an author with experience in army intelligence.

Historical backdrop:

On 10 May 1940, 80 paratroopers of the German 7th Flieger, later known as the 1^st Fallschirmjager Division, landed on top of the supposedly impregnable Fortress, Eben Emael. They used two German secret weapons to achieve their aim, the DFS 230 Glider and Hollow Charged weapons. Using the gliders to silently land in the early hours of the morning and using a new type of explosive to smash through the concrete bunkers and punch through the armoured turrets, they destroyed much of the fort’s defensive armament in a matter of minutes.

DFS 230 Glider

Although paratroopers were only able to penetrate a small part of the myriad of underground passageways linking the fort’s
armament, the garrison was unable to dislodge them from the surface. The fortress surrendered one day later, when the German 151st Infantry Regiment reinforced the German paratroopers. At the time of the assault, of the one thousand two
hundred Belgian troops available to man the fort’s defences, only between six and seven hundred were at the fort during the attack, with over two hundred soldiers some six kilometres away.

The devastating effect of a hollow charge explosive, Hohlladung, on an armoured turret.

In preparation for the attack, the German paratroopers had been secreted at an undisclosed camp in the foothills of the Harz Mountains, where they trained for up to six months for the task. They were not even told of the identity of their target until days before, training using mock ups lain out on the ground.

The capture of Eben-Emael involved the first utilisation of gliders for the initial attack and the first use of hollow charge weapons, opening the gateway for the later invasion of France and the defeat of the allies.

A qualified parachutist, author Harvey  Black served with British Army Intelligence for over ten years.

His experience ranges from covert surveillance in Northern Ireland to operating in Communist East Berlin during the cold war, where he feared for his life after being dragged from his car and attacked by Russian KGB soldiers.

Since then he has lived a more sedate life in the private sector as a Director for an International Company, but now enjoys the pleasures of writing. Harvey is married with four children.

Check out the book and enjoy! Copies can be found on Amazon for the Kindle: http://amzn.to/AcL7iE and paperback: http://amzn.to/wXVSWA

Category: Announcements | No Comments »
Tags: Devils with Wings, Eben Emael, Germany, gliders, Harvey Black, hollow charge, Nazi, paratroopers, WWII

Posted By Stephen England on March 2, 2012

I was in a mall when I first learned of the passing of Andrew Breitbart. I’d just booted up my laptop in preparation for #ThrillerThursday. Before heading to Twitter for the hashtag party, I stopped by Brad Thor’s community forum and logged in. And there it was.

It seemed hard to believe, that one so invaluable to our cause could have passed from this earth at such a young age. Perhaps it is fated that the brave, along with the good, die young.

I didn’t know Andrew personally, but he was an inspiration to me, as he was to so many conservatives. A self-described “Happy Warrior”, he was a gladiator for truth, a man who always “rode toward the sound of the guns”. His unique brand of citizen journalism turned network media on its ear, exposing their complicity in the graft and corruption of American politics. There were those who called him a “yellow journalist”, acknowledging in their very accusation that they had forgotten the proper role of the Fourth Estate.

His on-line presence was fiery and confrontational. It cost him friends and won him allies—by the hundreds and thousands. At no time was this more apparent than the massive outpouring of grief on the Internet yesterday.

Yet grief was not the only reaction to Breitbart’s passing. And in their response to his death, the Left was as completely unmasked as they’d ever been by his own investigations.

It was a uniquely chilling sight: the very people who had condemned the summary execution of Osama bin Laden—rejoicing in the death of a courageous journalist who had done nothing but offend them with the truth.

As I said yesterday, if you wanted to know what the American Left really thinks of free speech, you need only look at their macabre celebration of the death of one of its most valiant practitioners.

Yesterday we witnessed the death of a man, but not of a movement. And there is only  one way  to truly honor his death. Pick up the flag and carry it forward. Ever forward. Hold your representatives accountable to the truth. Stand unafraid. In the words of Andrew Breitbart, “walk toward the fire”.

Requiescat in pace.

Category: News of the Day | 4 Comments »
Tags: Andrew Breitbart, Big Government, Big Hollywood, Brad Thor, conservatism, Fourth Estate, free speech, memoriam, Osama bin Laden, the Left, Thorum, Twitter

Posted By Stephen England on March 1, 2012

Click here to read the first part of this exciting interview!

Stephen:  One thing that particularly impressed me with False Positives was how quickly I was drawn into the story, from the
very first paragraphs—and how you went about it—no blazing guns or exploding cars, just a quiet, building sense of tension and mystery. Quite honestly, one of the best openings I’ve read in a long while.

Kim:  Wow. That’s a very nice compliment. Thanks; I’m flattered.  The tension/mystery thing is something I worked very hard on.  A good many thrillers are all about suspense.  It’s like, “Oh, my!  How will our hero ever get out of this mess?”  They’re future driven with no window to the
past—no sense of mystery.  It’s all about what’s going to happen next.  With FP, wanted there to be an element of mystery as well.  The prologue—and some people hate prologues—is intentionally mysterious, taking place thirty plus years before the main story line.  Some might notice
that it’s actually written in a different style than the rest of the book—as if you’re reading an acid trip, which you pretty much are.  The entire Vietnam storyline and the revelations that occur throughout it are there to provide a mystery that ultimately ties in to the main story line.
It’s that “Ah ha!” factor combined with impending peril that I hope delivers satisfaction in the end.

Stephen:  Well, you certainly achieved that goal very well—and I won’t ask how you did your research on acid trips. . .What motivates
you to get up every day and head back to the computer to write? Do you have some kind of aim, goal, or even mission in your work?

Kim:  I’ll tell you a story.  I did kind of a dumb thing when I started False Positives.  A couple dumb things, actually.  I changed jobs and started a
Master’s degree at the same time. Needless to say, I was overwhelmed.  Oh, and by the way, my first son was born right along in there too.  It was like a perfect storm of time-vampires had decended upon me to suck every spare moment out of my life.  That’s part of the reason it took me so long to finish FP.  But the thing is, you make time for the things in life that are important.  Family is of course very important, but then so to is following one’s bliss, if you’re really going to be happy that is.  So it’s really loving writing that is my motivation, and I make time to write whenever and wherever possible.

Stephen:  If you love your work, you’ll never work a day in your life. Share with us a bit about your writing methods. Do you set up
a meticulous outline, or do you do just jump in and write by the “seat of your pants”? Or some combination? Do you write in a special place? On a particular schedule?

Kim:  All of the above!  If truth be told, I’d been tossing around the idea of a computer that reads the Bible and attempts to manifiest Armaggedon
for probably twenty years or so before I actually tried to write it.  Actually, I lie.  I tried writing it twice, hated what I’d written, and trashed both attempts.  Regardless, my process is a little long—something I probably need to improve upon if I’m going to finish my second novel before I finally roll a seven.

The first draft of FP was written in a series of “seat of the pants” writing spurts over maybe two years (remember I had my hands full).  It
was originally structured in a Part I, II, III format, where Salome (a fairly significant secondary character) didn’t enter onto the scene until halfway through the book.  In Part III, everything came to a head.  After that was done, I “let it steep,” as Stephen King would say.  I didn’t look at it for probably more than a year.  Then then I came back to it, only this time I was looking at it from a different perspective.  First, I just read it as any reader might, except I took notes along the way where things needed attention.  Then I analyzed the story structure comparing
them with my notes.  In the end, I wound up changing the structure entirely by interweaving three storylines together.  This involved a serious amount of outlining.  I used corkboards, notecards, mindmaps, and even broke out Microsoft Project to finally get a
clear vision of how it all interrelated.

So, really, my method for getting an idea from my mind onto the page is fairly organic.  It just flows.  That’s writing.  Then the editing begins, which is a different beast.  I think these are two very important yet distinct parts of the process.

Stephen:  A large part of the plot of your thriller centers in Thailand, where you currently live. What took you to Southeast Asia
and how do you think your experiences there affected the book?

Kim:  Having grown up in Califorinia and spending my twenties in Hawaii, I found myself one day with a goal:  To find a place as beautiful as Hawaii, but as cheap as Mexico.  While I detoured through Japan for a couple years, I think I finally found what I was looking
for in Thailand plus a whole lot more. Thailand is a fascinating place.  It’s exotic.  For one of my characters, Andy, it’s a place to escape to.  It’s where love can be found and lost and found again.  Andy  fell in love with and in Thailand, but had to leave it all behind.  He also escaped to Thailand, when life in the  U.S. threw him a dirty, curve ball.  One of the neat things about living abroad is how far removed one can become from the continuous media bombardment that you get in the States (or anywhere that broadcasts regularly in your language).  Being away from it all allows you to observe from a distance, without suffering too much from all the hyperbole.  I think Andy’s doing alright.  I’m still working on it.

Stephen:  Despite its setting in 2007, False Positives addresses a lot of issues that are sadly still relevant today, particularly the increasing reliance on computers/artificial intelligence in deciphering terrorist threats—and the danger of relying on them too heavily.
How did you go about researching the book and how real do you consider that threat to be?

Kim:  An underlying theme of FP is that over reliance upon technology is a bad thing, especially if it’s going eliminate
human reason from decision making.  There was an article written a while back by Bruce Schneier in which he discusses the
problem of false positives.  This is where I came up with the idea for the title by the way.  One of the biggest challenges of using
technology in counterterrorism efforts is the amount of people who are flagged who aren’t actual threats.  There is an
unfathomable amount of data that’s being crunched, and what’s coming out of these systems is not entirely accurate.  But it is getting better, and it will continue to get getter over time, which brings about another “threat,” which is the erosion of personal privacy and civil liberties as a result of the efforts of ensuring national security.  The question really is:  “How much security is too much?” And that’s a very tough question to answer.

Stephen:  It certainly is. Even for someone like myself who has visited(briefly) Ft. Meade, the amount of data being crunched is mind-numbing. Artificial intelligence is a must, and yet where might it lead us? Your book sheds some light on that. You decided to publish False Positives independently—what prompted you to go this route?

Kim: The reality is, as with I’m sure a very large percent of indie writers, is that it’s next to impossible to get published traditionally these days.  This is especially true for first time author’s with no platform; plus, the thriller market is an exceptionally tough genre to break into.  I mean I queried nearly a hundred well-targeted literary agents, twice.  There was interest from a handful of them, but most never replied.  They apparently get thousands of letters a week and are overwhelmed.  I still get rejection form-letters to this day that I’d sent out over a year ago.

I was fortunate though to get some very constructive feedback from a few kind souls.  These were agents that had actually requested a partial or full read of the manuscript.  Phone calls and emails were exchanged.  We were talking about my characters as if they were real people.  I
was so excited!  But in the end, no one seemed ready to carry the torch.  “Timing is everything,” they said, “the market is tired of this stuff,” “people are sick of hearing about Muslim terrorists.”  Some wanted some radical changes to the story and my characters that I
wasn’t ready to make.  All were ready to read anything else I had, which was nothing, so I thanked them, sulked for a bit, and I was about ready to throw in the towel.

But there was one thing that one of the agents (a real NYC muckety muck) said to me that stuck in my mind. He said, “There’s success in your
future. You’ve done too many things right here.  I will watch for your name in the lists.”  With those inspiring words ringing in my
ears, I began researching the world of self-publishing.  And then I jumped into the deep end and did it.

Stephen:  In the end, that’s sometimes the only(and the best) thing you can do. Jump in and start swimming. What advice would you have for those considering going “indie”?

Kim:  My first bit of advice would be, “Don’t rush it.”  While it will surely be one of the most exciting things you’ve done as a writer,
getting it out too early might mar the experience.  Be sure your story is ready.  Make sure it’s been edited and proof read several times.  If you can do this by yourself, all power to you, but I’m a firm believer that just about anyone will benefit from a professional editing job—the more the better.

Stephen: Listen to him, people. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: just because you can “publish” whatever trash you
wrote during your last hangover, doesn’t mean you should. Be polished. And now back to you, Kim. Pardon the interruption. . .

Kim: Another thing you have to be prepared for is the fact that you are now a publisher.  That means that you have to do everything!  Not only editing, but typesetting both your eBook and your paper editions, and marketing.  I think a lot of authors will be a surprised at the amount of time that will go into these things—things that take away from your writing time.  It’s a good thing to be prepared for this, so that you can manage your time as best possible.

After that, “have patience.”  Indie writers do not have the marketing machine of the big publishers behind them.  While there are some famous
indie success stories, these are the exception.  You can dream to become the next best selling author, but don’t let it dash your hopes when it doesn’t happen overnight.  Good things take time.  Rather than dwell, start your next book.  It’s my belief that if a book is good enough,
readers will eventually find it.  That’s when that magical thing called “word of mouth” comes into play. And that’s the
most powerful marketing of all.

Lastly, “don’t give up.”  If you love what you’re doing, keep doing it.  Follow your bliss.

Stephen:  Word of mouth—so important. If you like a book, recommend it. Please. . .With one novel out there, Kim, what are your plans? Will there be a sequel, or have we seen the last of Marnie, Phet, and the rest of the crew from False Positives? Tell us about your future writing plans.

Kim:  You know, I’ve seen a lot of writers set their book up from the beginning to be a part of a series.  I think they’re considering the
marketing aspects of writing before even writing their first book.  I never thought about that, but perhaps I should.

The thing is that I’ve had more than what eventually became False Positives rattling around upstairs for some time.  These are ideas that I’m
passionate about, which I believe is important to fuel a good story.  It’s not that I’m not passionate about Marnie & Co. They may be back in time, but I’d like them to have a little vacation after all they’ve been through.  The draft for my second novel is presently “steeping.”  I kind of see it as Inception meets Source Code, but cooler.  That’s what happens when you take too long to publish:  people have similar ideas and get them out before you do.  I thought both of those movies had very good stories.  Now, I’ve gone and set the bar so very high again.

Stephen:  Hey, shoot for the stars, my friend. Contentment is  the enemy of excellence. Is there anything else you’d like to share with us before you depart?

Kim: Well, gee!  I think you’ve let me go on quite enough, but again, thanks for having me.  I’m very appreciative of your interest, time,
and being the first person on the show.  I’d also like to give big thanks to those who’re supporting my work and
other indie writers out there.  Keep on reading.  Keep on writing.  And keep on truckin’.

Stephen: That we will. Thanks for sitting down with us and keep up the good work. You can read more about Kim on his website at www.kimaleksander.com and you can buy his book on Amazon at http://amzn.to/yXgWar

Regards, The Rogue Writer

Category: The Art of Writing, Written With a Thrill | 2 Comments »
Tags: #ThrillerThursday, art of writing, editing, indie, Kim Aleksander, politics, technothriller, thriller, Vietnam

Posted By Stephen England on February 23, 2012

It was in the early fall of last year that the name of Kim Aleksander crossed my radar on Twitter. He caught my attention for three reasons: in the first place, he was an American writer living abroad (Thailand), he was writing a technothriller, and he had just started reading Pandora’s Grave. That’s always a dead-certain way of getting my attention. 

Needless to say, it was with a great deal of anticipation that I awaited the release of Kim’s thriller, False Positives, in December, which is winning well-deserved accolades from Amazon reviewers. Today, I’ve invited Kim to sit down with us for the debut of  Written With a Thrill, a series of interviews I will be conducting with my fellow thriller writers, both independent and traditionally published.

 Stephen:  Congratulations on the long-awaited publication of False Positives. Why don’t you tell us a little about it?

 Kim: Well, first let me thank you, Stephen.  I’m honored to be the first interviewee for  Written With a Thrill.  I’m delighted that I got your attention.  Frankly, you got mine as well.  I’m glad we’ve found each other’s books.  The power of social media to connect people from far and wide is a remarkable phenomenon.  And, for the record, Pandora’s Grave is a heck of a thriller.  I enjoyed it immensely.

 Stephen:  Well, thanks, Kim, but let’s get this back on track before it turns into a mutal admiration society. False Positives. . .

 Kim:  Yes, False Positives.  It’s a story about Marnie, a woman who might be seen as a typical modern American.  She’s smart, driven, and independent.  She’s also a bit of a techno-geek.  Her job is that of a high-tech consultant.  It’s when her firm gets contracted to work for the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center that things start to get a bit dicey.  In short, she discovers that the system that she’s created for them has some issues.  While her system is supposed to be used to unearth and thwart terrorist plots against the U.S., it acts like it’s programmed to kill people—every Muslim on the planet for starters.

 Stephen:  I’ll admit, I had a bit of a chuckle when the computer dropped that bomb mid-book. A Machiavellian solution to be sure. . .

 Kim: Indeed.  So in a sense, her quest begins as she determines to root out the ghost in the machine.  Of course, she wants to know why her system is buggy, but she also wants to know what makes terrorists tick.  Marnie’s journey is one of discovery.  She meets some very interesting people along the way.  There’s a Georgetown professor who’s devoted his life to the study of Islam, a Berkeley hippie who’s also Vietnam veteran, and a cast of other characters that help her learn and grow.  What Marnie ultimately discovers is that her system’s bug, isn’t really a bug at all.  The system is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do, and the forces behind its murderous nature are some of the most powerful people in the world who will stop at nothing to see their ambitions realized.  And now, she’s in their way.

 Stephen:  Now that sounds like a dangerous place to be—better her than me. Moving on, Kim, readers are always interested in what prompted someone to become an author. To begin with, where were you born and raised? Describe your upbringing and early life for us a bit.

 Kim:  I was born and raised in Los Angeles.  I didn’t really dream of being a writer when I was younger.  In fact, I studied studio jazz guitar at U.S.C. until I realized that I was way out of my league.  Surrounded by some of the most incredibly gifted and talented natural born musicians I’d ever encountered; I made a choice, changed majors, and got into computer technology.  It was probably a good decision, as that’s what I’ve built my career on. When it comes to writing, I think I’ve always been a writer—or at least I’ve always had it in me to write.  But, as with the humbling experience of being surrounded by musical greats, I never thought I was actually good enough to write and publish novel.  That didn’t stop me writing for myself though.  For me, writing is somewhat theraputic.  It helps me wrap my mind around issues that would otherwise be vague or intangible.  It gives them form, and allows me to approach them from a multitude of angles.  I’ve written many short stories through this type of sublimation.

 Stephen: Not to mention that this form of therapy is much cheaper than your average shrink. . .or so I’ve found. So what made you decide to finally write and then publish False Positives?

 Kim: I had an ephiphany.  Oddly, it was while reading an old short story I’d written about a guy who was bored with this tech job and went off the rails a bit.  Tech is a soulless thing.  There is no passion a computer feels.  I was missing this passion in my life, and I realized that what filled that void was the process of writing.  Joseph Campbell, a personal hero of mine, is famous for saying, “follow your bliss.” Creating characters, hearing them have conversations in my head, dreaming and telling stories… that’s my bliss right there. 

 Stephen: Oh, yes, and it can cause people around you to have fits of passion when they realize you’re talking about imaginary friends. What early personal influences do you think drew you into becoming a writer, and more specifically a thriller writer? Were there any decisive people or events in your life that caused you to take the plunge?

 Kim:  Reading is a huge influencer.  I started reading early on, as I believe most do in school.  We’ve all taken American Lit, British Lit, etc.  And there’s short stories, a personal favorite.  I love all of those classics—probably more now than when I studied them.    But we’re not really talking modern thriller material here.  I didn’t really start reading commerical fiction until I was a bit older—in my twenties, I’d say.  I remember a friend of mine giving me a copy of Clive Cussler’s Vixen 03.  After that I was hooked! 

Stephen: Ah! Cussler—for me it was Deep Six. Similar influences. . .

 Kim: Reading and exchanging books and talking about them with my friends became one of my favorite things to do.  But again, with what I was reading, I was surrounded by greatness.  The bar for writing my first novel still seemed very, very high.  It didn’t keep me from dreaming about it though. I think a decisive moment came when reading some novel—I can’t remember what it was.  I mean, it could have been my umpteenth Cussler or someone else, but instead of relishing the story as I normally would, something wonderful happened.   At some point, I said to myself, “I can write better than that!”  And that’s pretty much how I conquered my fear of taking the plunge.

 Stephen:  I think that moment comes for all of us, the “how did this get published?” moment. What other writers have been critical influences upon you?

 Kim:  Hmm, that’s a tough question.  I like reading just about everything.  I just wish there was enough time to actually read more.  I have read a lot of thrillers in my day.  Early on for me there was Clancy, Forsyth, Ludlum, John le Carré, Eric van Lustbader, David Morrell, etc.  But I wasn’t “thriller exclusive” at the time—still not, really.  I very much enjoy historical fiction when it’s done well.  I still think The Eight by Katherine Neville is one of my all-time favorite books.  I read all of James Clavell’s books while in Japan and revelled in them.  Wilbur Smith and his “Warlock” books, starting with The River God are supurb.  And Gary Jenning’s Aztec and Journeyor are simply fantastic. And the list goes on…

 Stephen:  What do you think you’ve learned from them?

 Kim: What I’ve learned by reading these amazing authors and others is that a good story goes beyond just thrilling or entertaining the reader.  Some books educate you and allow you to learn about the world, for example.  Others allow you to escape to worlds you’ve never been.  I think when an author is able to combine all three of these elements, that it’s really something special.  Another thing that seems pretty obvious, but bears repeating, is that great writers create great characters.  And it’s the characters that convey the story—far more than the narrarator can, though he or she must have a voice.  What I mean is that I remember what Jack Ryan and Jason Bourne did—that is, their actions—more than what was said about them, and that’s pretty key when it comes to good storytelling.

 Stephen:  Would you care either to compare or to contrast your work with that of other writers that our readers might know about?

 Kim:  Oh, gosh.  I’m afraid, I’m a bit too humble to try that one.

 Stephen:  C’mon.  Embarrassing people is the way we roll, so give it a whirl.

 Kim:  Well, I read a while back that the term techno-thriller was actually created by Tom Clancy’s agent when he was flogging The Hunt for Red October.  In general, the term means that the work is replete with technical details that lend a certain amount of plausibility to the story.  Clancy’s research skills are remarkable, as is the level of detail that we experience when reading his books.  I’m mean there’s so much information there that he’s been able to write several non-fiction books as a result. My aim with False Positives was to write a very plausible techno-thriller.  A lot of researh went into it.  I can only hope that my readers feel I’ve done anything close to work of Clancy or any of the other well-established thriller writers out there.

Stephen: Thanks for sitting down with us, Kim and taking my questions.  Join us next #ThrillerThursday for Part #2 of this exciting interview!

Regards, The Rogue Writer

Category: Written With a Thrill | 4 Comments »
Tags: False Positives, indie, Kim Aleksander, novelist, technology, technothriller, Thailand, thriller, Tom Clancy, writer

Posted By Stephen England on February 2, 2012

“At the start of every poorly written indie novel, there’s a dedication to the critique group that ‘improved’ it.”

            I made that claim on Twitter a few weeks ago and was somewhat amused by the horror with which it was met. Apparently, the independent publishing movement, while still wet behind the ears, is still old enough to have some sacred cows. And critique groups seem to be one of them.

            I am sure that there are some writers out there who have truly found their craft improved by comparing and contrasting themselves with their peers, but, judging from those that I have known—critique groups are little more than a colossal waste of time.

            To adapt an old saying: writers write. Those who want to talk about what they plan to write. . .join a critique group.

            It’s sad, but true. Your average critique group is not populated with successful writers. They’re all much too busy out publicizing their books and writing the next one. They regrettably don’t have the time to engage in hand-holding with people who haven’t yet learned proper pacing or even sound grammar.

            So, what do you have in the average critique group? You have the people who love to talk about writing, the people who have been working on the next “Great American Novel” ever since the late ‘60s, those that fancy themselves the next Hemingway, etc. If we’re talking about a critique group in your local area, the odds of any of them actually being in your genre go through the floor—and you have an even greater chance of them being the sort of “literary” snobs that faint dead away at even the notion of low-brow “genre fiction”. Having a Regency Romance author critique your spy thriller is not going to end well. . .

            On-line critique groups offer a better chance of tailoring the advice to your specific needs, but, as always, consider the source. Is Vince Flynn in your critique group? No, I didn’t think so. You’re still taking “advice” from people who are in the same boat with you, people whose proficiency levels are likely similar to your own—or even lower.

            But, says an author, I like my critique group because it keeps me accountable when I don’t want to write! I know that if I don’t have X number of words written by the meeting, I’m going to feel embarrassed. That’s a good thing!

            No, it isn’t. Like all arbitrary goals(a page a day, etc.), this emphasizes quantity over quality and is ultimately self-defeating. Besides, if you’re not self-motivated enough to keep yourself on track, independent publishing is not for you. Trust me on this.

   But, I hear another say, I get a lot of differing opinions on my book and I can keep rewriting until I find a consensus. When a bunch of them agree that it’s right, I know I’ve arrived!

 Wrong again. Nothing creative, nothing truly original ever came out of a consensus.

 I read a blog post by the Indie Book Collective within the last week praising critique groups and calling them the “ideal learning environment”. Sad as it is to say, the books by Carolyn McCray and some of her followers are classic examples of what I stated in my first sentence. Stilted characters, leaden dialogue, and feeble plotting only convince me that if they learned anything from their critique group, I would hate to have seen the original manuscript! Ideal learning environment, I don’t think. . .

But how then, you ask, do I improve my work? The answer is as difficult to accomplish as it is devilishly simple. It’s what I said in my interview with Suspense Magazine: “if you’re going to self-publish, you have to be self-motivated and self-critical.” Turn on your inner editor. Become a perfectionist.

How do you do this without a critique group to keep you on the “straight and narrow”?

Read what you want to write. Read it incessantly, read it religiously until you know all the rules of your genre and how to break them effectively. Until you know what sells and what doesn’t. Until, as NYT bestselling author Brad Thor said, “You’ve spent so much time immersed in that genre that you’re entitled to consider yourself a sub-expert”.

Then go thou and do likewise. . .

Regards, the Rogue Writer

Category: The Art of Writing | 23 Comments »
Tags: Brad Thor, Carolyn McCray, critique groups, Indie Book Collective, Indie novels, perfectionism, publishing, self-publishing, successful writers, Vince Flynn, Writing

Posted By Stephen England on December 25, 2011

As we celebrate the birth of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ on this Christmas Day, I’d like to take a moment to thank those who have made this past year so successful: my readers.

You all have been great–and your feedback on Pandora’s Grave has been so much appreciated. God bless you all!

And it goes without saying–if you celebrated Christmas this year in peace with your family–thank a soldier who didn’t.

Category: Announcements | No Comments »
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Posted By Stephen England on November 25, 2011

This past Veterans’ Day weekend, I was happy to join the Indie Book Collective in honoring our veterans through Blog Tour de Troops. By the time the four days of the tour were over, over 100 people had stopped by to leave comments and 250 e-copies of Pandora’s Grave were donated to our nation’s active duty military. It was truly humbling to see the outpouring of support for those who have proudly served this country.

            I’d like to take this opportunity to thank those who made this possible. First of all, to Iraq War veteran Michael Piro for being willing to take my questions, for his service to our country, and for his hard work to help his fellow veterans in their continuing battle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. Please visit Mike’s blog at www.ptsdsurvivordaily.com and express your support. It’s a great site, and one that I would recommend for anyone with family in the military.

            Secondly, to the staff of the Indie Book Collective(www.indiebookcollective.com)  for all of their hard work in organizing and advertising the event. Great job!

            And last, but not least, a huge thank-you to my sponsors, for reposting their reviews of Pandora’s Grave and sending traffic our way for the tour. By way of thanking them, let me introduce you to their work and tell you a little about their sites.

            If you’re not familiar with www.manoflabook.com, you really should be. This great book review blog is run by Zohar Laor and covers books from nearly all genres. I’ve been picking up book recommendations from Zohar for the last few months, and he has yet to steer me wrong: his review of Pandora’s Grave only served to confirm my opinion of his good taste in literature. Be sure to stop by, check out the reviews and take part in one of his many sponsored giveaways: it might be your lucky day.

         My good friend and fellow author Collette Scott was my second sponsor for the Tour and I would strongly encourage you to visit her blog www.collettescott.blogspot.com and check out her new book, If We Dare to Dream, a powerful story of a soldier accused of murder.

Thank you all, and may God bless our soldiers!

Category: Announcements, Pandora's Grave | No Comments »
Tags: Blog Tour de Troops, Collette Scott, Manoflabook.com, Michael Piro, PTSD, Soldiers

Posted By Stephen England on November 12, 2011

Welcome to Blog Tour de Troops. You should have landed here from Ann Charles’ blog http://anncharles.com/deadwood/?p=1355 and please pick up the trail with Erin M. Klitze http://www.embklitzke.com/

November 11^th, 1918. At 11 A.M., the War to End All Wars came to an end with the signing of the armistice between the Allies and Germany. Over the course of the war, the United States had suffered over 320,000 casualties. In Europe, an entire generation was wiped out.

In the years to come, November 11^th would become a day of remembrance: Armistice Day. But it wasn’t the end. War never ends. And it never changes.

Over the years I spent writing my political/spy thriller Pandora’s Grave, US troops took part in conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. Soldiers are stationed across the world from Germany to Japan, and along the DMZ in Korea. In care packages for these men and women in uniform, books are one of the most requested items.

The emotional cost of these wars has been tremendous, and capturing a fraction of that psychological stress was part of the mission in writing Pandora’s Grave.

Pandora’s Grave is the story of CIA paramilitary operations officer Harry Nichols. It’s the story of the emotional cost of leadership under fire. Of the consequences of one man’s resolve to complete the mission at all costs.

You can read reviews of Pandora’s Grave at the following websites.

ManofLaBook.com

Collette Scott’s Blog

And the Suspense Magazine review, posted at Weldonburge.com

I would particularly like to thank ManofLaBook and Collette Scott for their support of Blog Tour de Troops. Stop by and check them out. 

Long-time readers of this blog will recognize the name Michael Piro, whom I mentioned toward the end of my 4^th of July blog on PTSD(Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). Mike is a veteran of the Iraq War and the creator of www.ptsdsurvivordaily.com, a site I highly recommend for veterans and their families.

This Veteran’s Day, I’m honored to welcome Michael Piro to my blog for this one-on-one interview.

Stephen England: This Veteran’s Day, I suspect one thing on the mind of many Americans will be the recent announcement of the planned withdrawal of all US troops from Iraq. As a veteran of the Iraq War yourself, would you care to comment on the withdrawal and what we accomplished in the country?

Michael Piro: I’m not sure I can comment on what we accomplished. I have been removed from Iraq for 5 years, so my experience “in country” is a little out of date. I can say that I am thankful we are finally moving to a withdrawal plan. I am not sure that Iraq will stay stable without our presence, but they are a sovereign nation and are asking us to leave. I think our legacy will not be solidified for quite some time and I will leave that to the historians.

SE: It’s been a number of years now since you were in Iraq for your final tour in ‘06. I know the old saw is that “time heals all wounds”, but do you feel that your own struggle with PTSD has gotten any easier with the passage of time?

MP: I think time heals wounds, but the level of the impact of the scarring is another matter. I worked very hard in therapy and at home to get to the level to a level of understanding and normalcy. Certain aspects are not necessarily easier, but more manageable. I still mourn my friends, and I still can get very angry very quickly, I am just able to manage it better now. I think, though, that without addressing the wounds, you can stay in the same place for a long time or even get worse. I attend group therapy with mostly Vietnam Veterans. They are still dealing with issues they repressed for a long time. I am trying to get out in front of this…

SE: From reading your blog I understand that your wife was also deployed to Iraq during the time that you were there. How did that reality affect the challenges of your tour over there and your life now that you’ve both left the military?

MP: Well, over there, I think I naively thought it would be easier than it was to manage worrying about my Soldiers and my wife. I had two units that I was familiar and close with instead of one. As a leader, you feel responsible for your Soldiers and their actions. It was essentially doubled on the deployment we were together. My wife and I went through things that few other couples come close to, especially at a young age. It has helped us communicate and understand each other more.

SE: Since meeting you on Twitter earlier this year, I’ve seen you reach out to your fellow veterans on-line, through the mediums of the blog and social media. How has this helped in your own healing process?

MP: One of the therapies I went through early on was Cognitive Processing Therapy. In that therapy writing was the main method of expression. I think that as I have become more secure in my own understanding and been able to work through some of my own demons, writing has established itself as my favorite form of expression about PTSD. The blog is my favorite because I can work through things at my own pace. The social media component to interact with others is helpful because of the encouragement and support from within the community of Veterans and Veteran supporters.

SE: With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we’ve had to come to terms with the tragic number of soldiers who have committed suicide after returning home. I know it’s something you’ve dealt with in a number of your blog posts. In your opinion, is there more that the military could and should do to prepare its members for the reality of what they will face in combat?

MP: I do not think you can ever be completely prepared. You can get close. You can train effectively and hard, but using blanks or shooting at inanimate targets is a completely different universe than being on the receiving end of angry bullets. That said, there are experienced Soldiers in every unit who return from deployments. They can definitely shepherd along the new Soldiers. War is something you will never know unless you experience it first hand. That being said, I don’t think the military should do more to prepare them for what they will face in combat. I think they can do a better job of preparing them to face the world after they return. I am lucky that my wife was in the military. She gets it. If a Soldier comes home and tries to return to normal life without a support network, the feeling of isolation can be tremendous. In this aspect I think we can do a much better job of helping our returning Vets.

SE: One of the consequences of our all-volunteer military is a steadily decreasing number of those who have actually served in the armed forces. I think this factors into the difficulty that families have in helping a loved one with PTSD. If there was one thing you could say to a family in this situation, what would it be?

MP: That is a tough question… I don’t think there is only one thing. I would say that the top of the list of things is don’t try to understand your Veteran more than you try to support them. You can read blogs, you can read books, you can talk to other Veterans, but what is going on will take its course. There is an inherent “us” and “them” with Veterans. As much as a family member may not want to be in that group, by matter of experience, they are with “them”. I think that what is more important than trying to understand their Veteran is coming to grips with the adjustments the family will have to make to be more supportive and understanding. It is hard. Most look the same on the outside, but there is a lot more going on between their ears. And, I’m not saying you give them a pass on unacceptable or unhealthy behavior. There will be a lot of adjustments, being mentally prepared for them is going to take a lot of effort.

SE: Since your own retirement from the Army, you’ve become a member of the advisory board at VeteransAid. Could you tell us a little about your role with them and the work that they do in helping veterans?

MP: An old family friend approached me about joining up with VeteransAid on the advisory board. The executive board is comprised of Veterans from other eras, but none from the current wars. He asked me if I could lend my insight with my struggles with PTSD and help the group.

It happened to be at a point where I felt more comfortable addressing my PTSD in a more public way, the start of my blog, so I accepted. I am glad I did. VeteransAid is there to be a way for Veteran’s Groups to get assistance with funding. We take grant requests from the 501c3 group and try to help them with their latest projects. The charity space competing for attention and funding is very tight. We are trying to be a big entity that represents and helps the smaller guys.

SE: And finally, a book-related question, for Blog Tour de Troops is, after all, a book event. For an author like myself—and I know I’m not the only one—one of the great struggles of writing fiction involving soldiers and war is that I’ve never stood in your shoes. I also know that if I had, I probably wouldn’t want to write about it. What advice would you give to writers who wish to ensure that they treat the subject with respect? Or what common mistakes do writers need to avoid?

MP: I think the word that nailed the expectation is “fiction”. If you are mastering your craft I think you would read non-fiction accounts, wherever they may come from, to get ahold of necessary details to make the story more engaging and realistic. But, at the end of the day, it is still a work of fiction. I think that the readers will let a writer know if they disagree with the amount of respect they pay towards a topic, either with their wallets or otherwise. I have not written much fiction, so I cannot say what a writer should avoid, but I would just say go with your gut.

Thanks for joining us today, Mike. God bless

To receive your free e-copy of Pandora’s Grave, please leave a comment sharing the title of your favorite “military” novel and your e-mail. And please thank Mike—it’s been a honor to have him on the blog today.

Category: Announcements, Pandora's Grave | 131 Comments »
Tags: Armistice Day, Blog Tour de Troops, CIA, indie, Iraq, Michael Piro, military, PTSD, SOT, veterans, Veterans Day

Posted By Stephen England on October 12, 2011

Exciting news! We are doing a giveaway this week, of three e-copies of Pandora’s Grave. Manoflabook.com was kind enough to host this giveaway, and you can enter if you visit the link here. http://manoflabook.com/wp/?p=3659

Enter to win and read ManoflaBook’s fantastic five-star review!

Also last month, I was featured in Suspense Magazine for an interview and review. Both have since been posted on the website of the interviewer, Weldon Burge, and you can read them here:

The Suspense Magazine interview http://www.weldonburge.com/blog.htm?post=812638

Suspense Magazine’s review: http://www.weldonburge.com/blog.htm?post=811126

And last, but far from least, last week I sat down with author and blogger Collette Scott for an in-depth interview on the writing of Pandora’s Grave. http://collettescott.blogspot.com/2011/10/meet-stephen-england-author-of-pandoras.html Enjoy!

Thanks for all your kind support. I couldn’t do it without you.

Category: Announcements, Pandora's Grave | No Comments »
Tags: Collette Scott, ManofLaBook, Suspense Magazine, Weldon Burge