Sunday 20 November 2011

It's a Writer's Life Part 3

I set one of my children free today. Er, not one of my actual children, they're much too valuable where they are. (Lol jks kids! I still love you all...) No, I mean I published a new story and made it available for free download on the internets.

Having won or been shortlisted in so many competitions now, I've grown a little tired of waiting for someone to publish my fiction, and have decided to release my better works as eBooks. Much more satisfying than having them sitting neglected on a hard drive gathering cyber-dust.

I already had my story The Walking Wounded, which won the Byron Bay Writers' Festival/ Varuna unpublished manuscript award a few years back online, now it's the turn of Papertrail, which was shortlisted in the Varuna/ HarperCollins publisher's fellowship competition last year.

I really enjoyed writing Papertrail, mostly because it has the kind of characters in it that pretty much write themselves. They are warm and funny in just the way I wanted them to be. The premise rests on the life of Marilyn, whose husband deserts her just after she finishes the house renovations. Although I always intended a happy ending, I had great fun pulling the rug out from under her on every opportunity I could find. The strapline 'How the worst year of her life became the best year of her life...' pretty much sums up what happens.

I was also interested in seeing how much material I could 'plant' in the story which would have a good pay-off at a late point in the book. That was fun to do and I think it works. Above all though, like The Walking Wounded, I wanted recognisable, believable characters - people you could easily imagine knowing and liking and hanging out with - who were quietly undergoing remarkable personal changes. I think both books are among the best I've written.

As I said, they're online for free (although I've set up a PayPal link so that if you're feeling generous there is a way to reimburse me). What are you waiting for? Check out www.simonluckhurst.com now.

Here are the Top Ten reasons why you should download my free eBooks:

1. They're free.
2. They're eBooks: the pages won't crease, the spines won't snap, the covers won't get stained, you can never lose them (as long as you don't delete them accidentally or lose your eBook reader, I guess. But they're pretty robust, you'd have to say...)
3. Did I mention that they're free?
4. They're great Christmas presents for anyone buying gifts on a budget.
5. If you read them soon, you'll be among the trendsetters who read me before I 'brokethrough'.
6. If you read Papertrail, you'll be able to create a cute origami shape out of folded paper - although you'll spend the whole book guessing what it is.
7. If you read The Walking Wounded, you'll gain a unique insight into unorthodox counselling methodologies - which can be quite fun if you're into that kind of thing.
8. Both books should leave you feeling happier and wiser than before you read them - or your money back.
9. I think I mentioned that they're free, didn't I?
10. If you're the kind of person who believes in reward for effort and choose to make a donation, then you get the chance to decide how much you want to contribute... and this will be an interesting exploration into personal ethics which carries it's own reward in terms of your personal growth and development.

Gees, what are you waiting for? Have fun, and even if you don't donate, I'd love to hear what you think. Download my kids now!

Mainly because the following sentence is such a satisfying way to end this post, I will now quote Bela Lugosi playing Dracula, bearing in mind that the context is completely different and I usually write in the mornings. But it's such a great line.

'Listen to them, children of the night, what music they make.'

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