Andrew Chapman An Authors Life

Beating the Writing Block

I have been stuck on Chapter 27 of Hell’s Ridge since the 16th November!

I’ve just looked back at my Instagram posts and saw that, on the 16th, I wrote, “Stupid chapter 27. I’ve been looking at your for nearly forty minutes now”. Well, that forty minutes turned into a month.

900 words in a month. It has never taken me that long. But, I finally broke through. I got it down and the floodgates have reopened. It was that 20,000 word hurdle.

I wrote a short story last week so I haven’t been unable to write, it was just that bloody chapter 27. When you come to read it, and you get to that chapter, you ‘ll wonder what all the fuss was about.

Now I’m back on track and ready to finally get this thing finished. Only 15k to go.

Andrew Chapman Uncategorized

Author Research and Weird Ostrich Feet

When you’re writing a novel sometimes you have to do a bit of research, and sometimes that research brings up incredibly interesting and surprising things.

In this video, my beard (which I’ve been growing for a year and a half) gets the scissors! And then I talk about a new “Mandela Effect” that I have discovered while researching ostriches. Can you describe an ostrich’s foot without Googling it? Answers below!

Andrew Chapman An Authors Life, Screenwriting

When Lovers Meteor – BBC InterConnected Screenplay – for anyone who wants it.

A few weeks ago the BBC put a call out for submissions with the following guidelines –

That’s why we’re asking for original short-form scripts, between 5-10 minutes in length whose 2-4 characters now find themselves in isolation, but connecting via video conferencing. They may be friends, lovers, neighbours, colleagues, family or strangers. But they’re all alone together and using modern technology to stay connected.

We want stories that take place throughout and via a conference call. Stories that show a moment of human interaction in an otherwise socially distanced world. Though of course, when it feels like the end of the world, the things we choose to say or the truths we reveal to one another may be the most surprising.

We want scripts that are compelling and hook us in. Ideas that have warmth and spirit, that astonish, amuse or enlighten us. They should be set now or in the near future.

I decided to submit and in a single week I came up with an idea, wrote it, polished it, and submitted it… as did 6803 others. A LOT of people got in on the action.

Unfortunately my script did not get chosen. So what to do with the script now? It’s just going to be sat in a file on my computer not doing a lot.

I like sharing. So here it is, my submission for you all to read. If anyone wants to make it as a student project or because you are bored during lockdown and have the means to do it, it is all yours. You have my full permission to use the screenplay, produce it, change it, do what you like with it. But if anyone out there does decide to record a version of it, let me know so I can watch it.

Here’s the PDF – When Lovers Meteor

Andrew Chapman An Authors Life, The Other Stuff, TikTok

Using TikTok to Build a Readership. #1

TikTok is a social media app that mostly involves lip syncing teenagers and dance routines. It is not a place for literature… Seems like the perfect place to chisel out a niche.

If you are unfamiliar with the format, here are the basics:

There are three ways to post content; a 15 second video, a 60 second video, or a photo montage.

You can easily add special effects and filters. You are limited to 100 characters in your description, which must include your hashtags.

You film your short video, post it, and with any luck you start to amass likes and followers.

I am new to TikTok but I thought it might be interesting to share any insights and tips that I glean along the way.

Here is the first TikTok I made with my manifesto –

https://m.tiktok.com/v/6781552820412763398.html?u_code=d75g03f9lil9kf&preview_pb=0&language=en&timestamp=1579162652

I’m writing a dark fairy tale horror based on the Brothers Grimm story, Gnome. I will be documenting my progress and process regularly.

I will also be posting writing tips (sometimes serious, and sometimes not so serious, as in the TikTok below).

https://vm.tiktok.com/XwphSb/

It is important as authors that we experiment with different ways of reaching and interacting with readers. This TikTok thing might crash and burn, but it might not. Either way I’ll be doing weekly updates with stats right here on my blog. So please follow me if you are curious about how this goes. Maybe you’ll decide to take to TikTok too, in which case you must let me know; we’ll do a duet.

I’ll get into TikTok duets in another post but, should I gain momentum, a duet is a way of giving new TikTokers an introduction to like minded followers. We’ll grow together.

The link below will take you straight to my TikTok profile. Feel free to cringe at my early attempts at content. Eesh. It’s a learning process, right? And don’t forget to press that follow button!

https://m.tiktok.com/v/6781552820412763398.html?u_code=d75g03f9lil9kf&preview_pb=0&language=en&timestamp=1579162652

So, I’ve been on TikTok for three days so far. At the bottom of each TikTok update on this site I’ll publish my stats so you can see my growth and decide if it would be a worthwhile venture for yourself.

I’ll share my failed posts, my successful ones, everything; the good and the bad. Things are going to get experimental and weird. Until next time.

Andy

Andrew Chapman An Authors Life

The Gremlin and a Public Declaration.

It’s Christmas Eve and I’m sitting in the passenger seat of a van on the way home from work. A black gremlin has just crawled out of the air vent and is now peering at me from behind the laptop screen. My plan was to write the next scene in a screenplay but this gremlin won’t stop staring. It’s off-putting. He licks his lips and blinks with one eye and then the other.

I look into its eyes and see words falling in a grey mist. I know what the gremlin is. It is nine different works in progress coalesced into a starving monster. It’s hungry. It needs feeding. It’s time to let it die.

The only way to actually kill it, contrary to logic, is to give it a full meal. Instead of writing a few hundred words here and there over a bunch of different stories I need to focus on one. So that’s it. That’s the plan. But which project do I chose?

I’ll start with the shortest one. Get that finished. Then I’ll only have eight to choose from. So here’s a public declaration; the story I’m going to focus on is a twisted little fairy tale for adults called Gnome. It’s a little known Brother’s Grimm story I’m having fun playing with. I’m giving myself a strict deadline. Midnight, Friday 31st January 2020.

Once that is done I will write The Projectionist and the Wall People. A pulp B-movie-esque horror novella. Another short timeline; three months. It will be done by midnight, Thursday 30th April 2020.

Already the gremlin is lightening up. He has gained a dopey smile and has just burped.

So, those are the two novellas I’m going to write. But there’s something else. I’m also writing a film script and I want to have the first draft finished by the end of May. I will be writing that alongside both of the novellas. It’s a different kind of storytelling and I think I have time in my week to do both without taking attention, or quality, away from one or the other.

That will free me up to start work on my next full length novel starting on Monday 1st June. By then I will hopefully have chosen which novel idea that will be. Too many ideas. I’m sure there will be plenty more new and shiny ideas that I’ll want to start working on by the time the 1st June comes around so I’ll put off thinking about that until then.

The gremlin has climbed down from my laptop and is now napping on my knee. I won’t have to kill him after all. He just needed to know there was a plan.

Okay, back to work. What shall I write? Oh yeah, Gnome. A couple of girls are about to be swallowed by the earth. Let’s hope it’s not too painful for them.

Andrew Chapman An Authors Life, Podcast, Review, Shelley Town RPG, The Other Stuff, Words and Writers

One Page Punch Up

I submitted the first page of my new book to The Bestseller Experiment podcast to be criticised in what they call a One Page Punch Up. There were many submissions but, to my joy (and sudden apprehension), I got selected!

And so best-selling author, Mark Stay (author of Back to Reality and the film Robot Overlords starring Gillian Anderson and Ben Kingsley) and Juliet Ewers (Publishing Associate at Orion Publishing who has previously worked with Ian Rankin and Michael Conolly) critiqued the opening page of Shelley Town RPG, my latest novel (it’s a Stephen King-esque horror).

The episode came out. Me and Rachel pressed play and listened. A grin started to spread across my face. By the time it was done we were speechless.

If you want yo hear what these two respected experts had to say about my writing you can listen on the link below! They reviewed five pages. Mine is first so you won’t have to scroll through the audio trying to find me.

EP231: One Page Punch-Ups with Juliet Ewers