Tag: publishing

Oops… counting words

~ byroncane ~ 5 Comments

One of the negatives of the Word version I’m using is that the word count on the docx. stops showing past 99K. Makes it difficult to figure out where you are. Where I am right now is at 75,000 words on the newest version of Grace, which is still 10,000 words more then the complete manuscript which topped out at 108K.

I’m nearing the first climax, which is 2/3rds through the story. There is a reason for that. It’s because I’m stubborn. I write the way I want to write. I’ve tried writing more mainstream, but if that makes me miserable, why bother? It’s very likely my novels and novellas will never be a success, never mind a commercial smash, but that’s not why I write in the first place.

A quick blurb: This is not a light and fluffy spanking story. Boy meets girl. Girl gets spanked. Wedding bells and a baby nine months later. This spanking story will make you cry, laugh and scream. It will make you angry, sad and aroused, but it will never make you comfortable.

I’ve mentioned the plot device before in various posts, but not in much detail. It is also why this manuscript has given me fits for ten years. Did I mention as well that I’m stubborn? A dirty little secret about writing is that the words are not static nor dead on the page/screen. Every writer hears the characters talking inside, they often drive the narrative to places the writer never thought of going. But the experiences, the traumas, the joys and sorrows of your life find their way to the page/screen as well. Authors are not the words we write but neither are the words we write not based upon our lives.

So: Plot device.

Character 1 is present day male Dom

Character 2 is present day female sub

Character 3 is past day female sub [title character]

Character 4 is past day female switch

The narrative is told from the viewpoint of #1 in the present, relaying his past with #3 and #4 to #2. In the past, #3 and #4 tell their stories to the reader which sometimes but not always involve #1. The past and present are 8 years apart through the climax -see above- then shortly afterwards, the past collides with the present.

What the reader sees is the complete picture, but the pasts of #3 and #4 are much worse than #1 ever knew. #2 wants to know about #1’s past because she also has a hidden past that #1 doesn’t know about. When #1 reveals what he did to #3 and #4 that precipitates a crisis by triggering #1, whereby the D/s that #1 and #2 are doing, screeches to a halt, but not for good.

The novel does with end with HEAFN [that’s Happily Ever After For Now] because I’m a sap at heart. Love me a good romance.

Halfway home – not house

~ byroncane ~ 2 Comments

It certainly feels as though many of us have been [and continue to be] under house arrest. I suppose we should all be grateful that tracking ankle bracelets are not mandated as are face masks. My title though is about my current editing of my spanking novel Grace. There are several dirty little secrets about the conflict between writing and editing.

The first is that editing never, ever reduces the word count. [Unless entire pages of plot are discarded for the sake of expediency. Which will happen soon in my novel.] Of the original word count of 108,000 I have edited the first 41,000 words. However, the current word count stands at 51,000. Thus, a net increase of 10,000 words in a manuscript that was too long and wordy already. *sigh*

The second secret about editing is that it is never done. Ever. This is at least the twentieth time I’ve gone through my manuscript and as mentioned in my head-hopping post, I’m still finding POV errors from ten years ago. And, since I’ve switched back and forth from 1st person to 3rd person past and present who knows how many times, the he/I and she/I pronouns are all over the map. As a part B of never-ending editing, every single book I have ever read; new or old, has editing errors in the text. Doesn’t matter how famous the author or how prestigious the publisher, there are always errors in grammar and punctuation.

The third secret is this: Editing sucks. Which is why authors turn it over to editors as soon as possible. Authors write. Editors edit. Even though every single word an author writes is perfect and editors never stop trying to ruin a brilliant story with ‘recommendations’, it’s a relationship, that in the end, creates a better story. Not matter how many times an author states they are halfway home.

Kobo vs. Kindle

~ byroncane ~ 2 Comments

Once more the physical retailer Walmart is taking a swing at the online king Amazon. Today Walmart announced a partnership with Kobo in launching Walmart eBooks by Rakuten Kobo, an all-new ebookstore. I poked around and came across several of my titles for sale.

One of them is, The Spanking Misadventures of Stephanie, which you can read about in this post here. If you already have a Kobo ereader, then click here to go directly to the new Walmart Kobo website and my book.

The other book is actually an erotic anthology called, Corrupted. My short story contribution is, Ghosting Past Emily. You can purchase by clicking this link.

No matter what type of ereader you have, these books [and more] are available at many online bookstores.

Writing for Readers

~ byroncane ~ 4 Comments

I’m both a reader and writer; more of the former than latter. I’ve always maintained that there is no such genre as fiction, primarily because actual fictional prose would be incomprehensible. Not so much in terms of language or syntax — even that makes sense when done correctly — but in the shared human existence. When we read, we filter the story through our own biases and empirical history. Even if we have no relevant parallel to the narrative, we can still imagine the scenario and empathize with the fictional characters.

As a writer, the question becomes: Do you write ‘what you know’, or create an entire landscape with no semblance to reality? The most successful books, screenplays and movies, are either lushly detailed fantasies set in exotic realms far away, or romantic struggles that echo the common frustration and exhilaration of finding that special life-partner. “Know your audience” is drummed into every hack that has ever put stylus to papyrus. There is no magic formula for writing; just hard work and placing word after word until the manuscript is completed.

Last year at this time, I was working on a short story for a Sexy Little Pages submission called “Corrupted”. The editor, Charlie Powell, broadcast the following information.

“Since the beginning of time, everything has been promised to liberate women has also been accused of corrupting them. Think suffrage, trousers, the pill, the internet, feminism, learning to drive, owning a house, having a bank account, working… Or, more recently, alcohol consumption and selfie culture. I’m looking for fresh and sexy takes on these issues, along with anything else that women have been criticised for doing.”

I started blocking out a plot, who, where, when and why. The lead character is in the title: Ghosting past Emily. As always, that came first. The ghosting refers not to specters haunting a dark mansion, but the practice of deliberately — and without warning — dropping all electronic contact with someone.

The place, San Francisco. Silicon Valley. Emily is in tech, not programming though. She’s Japanese-American, another strike, and lastly, a dominatrix on the side. All the ingredients needed to raise the hackles of white male dominated corporations. The irony is, this was written before that bastion of power and sex started to crumble under the relentless onslaught of pissed off women.

My short story of 3,900 words was accepted for inclusion in September, 2017 and Ghosting past Emily is now available for order from Amazon Kindle for $3.99. The publication date for the Corrupted anthology is March 8th, 2018.

byron-cane

I didn’t choose the sentence in the graphic, by the way. I’m unsure as to how much if any of my story I can share, so for now, that will have to do.

The truth about editing

~ byroncane ~ 6 Comments

It sucks.

I mean; it really sucks.

You work really hard on a story, send it to someone, and they go; “Meh”.

I write a variety of things; poetry, essays, flash fiction, short stories and long-format novellas and novels. But no matter how meticulous I craft my narrative and characters, there is always room for improvement. The key is finding the right editor.

For me, it’s Ina Morata of Clarian Press. She has a keen intellect and an extensive depth to both grammar and vocabulary [albeit of the English-English language variety, which leads to interesting discussions when Americanisms crop up] along with a historical literary provenance, that creates a template for how a story should read.

The most important lesson I’ve learned from having my work edited by numerous people, is that the only goal an author should have, is to seek the best possible result. If an edit makes for a better book, then make the change and don’t mourn your original efforts.

Nearly as important though as a writer, is to find your ‘voice’; the style in which you are most proficient. That voice needs to be a solid base so that no matter how much editing is done, it is still recognizable as your own. A good editor trims the excess, prunes back the prose so that new growth and grafts make the finished product even more fruitful. Writing is not about word count, it is about making each word important and integral to the story.

I always start my long-format fiction in flash style. I think of it as splashing paint on a canvas. It’s not meant to be perfect, or even coherent. It’s an experiment to see if the characters and plot have potential. The more you write, the more you cast off. There’s nothing wrong with that. Always seeking the perfect first draft is guaranteed to make it impossible to ever finish anything. Imperfection is not only inevitable, but essential to editing.

What I call a first draft is a misnomer. Before I submit a piece of fiction, long or short, the manuscript has normally been ‘edited’ by myself at least a dozen times. I swap chapters, change tenses, substitute narrative for dialog and vice-versa. My style, my voice, has developed into exploring the emotional bonds we create and the consequences of our actions. I don’t fill in the background normally; the physical aspects of the characters, the detailed clothing or places they inhabit. I enjoy reading books that do so, but for me, as a writer, I don’t think in those terms when creating.

A good editor partners with the author by taking that first draft, reading it, then breaking it down into various components. Keep. Change. Discard. While ultimately the decision remains with the author, by explaining the whys, an editor guides the prose into becoming stronger and better. The mantra, “If it makes a better book, any change is good”, is very helpful in taking personality and emotion out of the process. Which leads back to the title of this post.

The truth about editing, is that it is extremely difficult and fraught with feeling: if you allow yourself to believe your first draft is perfect. It’s not. It’s only a starting point. Having other eyes read your work can be intimidating, but the payoff can be a spectacular result.

Happy writing,

Byron Cane

State of Writing

~ byroncane ~ Leave a comment

It’s been awhile since I last posted here. Too long, in fact. I could blame the holidays and working full-time, but I won’t. The truth is I got lazy and then decided — in retrospect — that is was a much needed sabbatical.

For me, writing has never been a burning passion. Must. Write. Now. That’s not me. It’s not to say I don’t have ideas and plots whirling around my head, I do, but I prefer to wait until the concepts become clearer; rather than jotting down every scrap that bubbles through the daily chaos. I need serenity in order to create. Calm yields prose.

I have dialed back posting on my other blog, Spank Me Hard… Please?, and am only posting four drabbles a week of The Bumhampton Chronicles and the Wicked Wednesday prompts.

As 2018 gathers steam however, there are several other projects that are in process. The first is a novel, Kismet of Submission, which I have recently finished editing from flash fiction episodes on my blog, into a beta draft as a long-form novel. You can still read the original first two posts by clicking this link, but the other episodes were removed from public viewing. My plan is have a completed draft of 90-100k words by the fall, in order to submit the manuscript for possible publication. If you would like join my group of beta readers, you may comment on this post, or send me an email by using the Contact Form on this blog. I am seeking feedback, comments and critiques on Kismet of Submission and all viewpoints are welcome.

In the meanwhile, the next fiction of mine to be published in ereader format, will be the novella, The Case of the Disciplined Valentine. This has been published before; it was part of the Lust in Lace anthology in January, 2017. In the anthology, the title is Sir MacRath Thrashes his Valentine, but I have changed the title in order to bring the novella into line with other future works. The Case of the Disciplined Valentine will be published in several weeks by Clarian Press. Stay tuned for the cover reveal, excerpts and ordering information. There is a page on Clarian Press, click here, with extra content. The novella itself, is only slightly different from the anthology, but you can purchase either or both for your collection.

Thanks for reading. Until next time, this is Byron Cane.

Purchase the complete novella: The Spanking Misadventures of Stephanie

~ byroncane ~ 6 Comments

Just in time for the holiday season, celebrate with Stephanie as she finds the man of dreams. The Spanking Misadventures of Stephanie is now available from digital booksellers everywhere. Follow the links below to your favorite purveyor of fine fiction, and download your copy of Stephanie for yourself, and for your loved ones and friends.

When Stephanie crashes (quite literally) into the life of Ross, high flying exec in the fashion world and eligible bachelor, she is stupefied he wants her as his. Under Ross’ tutelage, as Brat to his Sir, she learns that she can be spanked for more than just being naughty! And Ross — he discovers there’s much more to Stephanie than just her submissive need to be disciplined, as he falls more and more in love. A brilliantly funny, light-hearted, spanking erotic romance novella by Byron Cane, with memorable characters and a beautiful love story interwoven into the sexiness, lending a contemporary twist to the princess fairy tale.

Find Stephanie at Books 2 Read with links to online booksellers and ereaders, including Kindle, Nook, Kobo and Apple.

Available now for purchase, The Spanking Misadventures of Stephanie, at your favorite bookseller.

If you already have an Amazon account, then click this link to go directly to Stephanie’s page in your country.

Click picture to purchase: The Spanking Misadventures of Stephanie

 

Take a FREE peek inside Stephanie

~ byroncane ~ Leave a comment

No, not that kinda peeking. Perverts. 😉

No, the peek inside my soon-to-be published novella, The Spanking Misadventures of Stephanie. You can click this link to download a FREE copy containing the first 5 Chapters of Stephanie. The entire novella will be available for download to your ereader from various vendors by Cyber Monday, November 27th, 2017. If you are a book reviewer or would like to receive an advance copy in order to publicize Stephanie on your social platforms, Amazon or Goodreads, please contact Ina Morata [Owner, Editor, Publisher of Clarian Press] at this contact link to send an email of query for an ARC. The excerpt below the picture is a teaser from Chapter 4.

FREE Chapter 1-5 of Stephanie

“Too many people were trying out various spoons and cutting boards. So we created the separate, adults-only Triple D Club — Discipline Department Dungeon — for all our valued spankos. You can fill out a membership card online.” He reached a locked door and pressed a code into the keypad. “Here we are. All the kitchen and bath utensils gathered in one place. We have large screen televisions, refreshments and plenty of chairs and tables. The only caveat is no completely bare bottomed spanking: we are a family store after all. Thongs or wedgies are fine, just no flashing of private parts please. Have fun and thank you for shopping at Everyday Goods.”