Donald D. Allan

Too Much Material!

On November 15, 2016

In Stoc Volume Three, The New Druids Series

Stoc: A New Druids Novel, Volume Three

By the Word! I have Too Much Material! My wordsmithing skills are getting wordier. The more I write the third novel in the New Druids series the more I have to say. I outlined Stoc months ago and now that I am finally putting pen-to-paper [a colloquialism] I am rapidly discovering that the story can’t be told in 400 pages. I could – but I would be removing so much. You might remember that this happened during my first novel. I had an epiphany and realised I was well into my second novel.

Quite possibly I simply suck at creating outlines…

In any event, decisions will need to be made at some point. I’ll know more once I complete Part 1: Parry. This is not a bad thing. It just means that the final closure on the main story arc will be delayed somewhat.

The good news is that I have written over 25,000 words. I’m in the groove and loving it. I love this story and the characters. I hear their voices in my head when I write their dialogue. They surprise me often. Words come out of their mouths that I did not expect.

Yup. Crazy. I’ll update more in time.

Since I am here, I want to welcome all the fine folks over at the Science Fiction, Fantasy and Other Genres Facebook public page. Great group people!

Ciao!

Article on me in the RCN Crowsnest Magazine.

By donald

On October 28, 2016

In The Art of Writing

The Public Affairs office of the Royal Canadian Navy just put up an article on yours truly in the RCN Crowsnest Magazine. Here is the link. A nice article that touches on the things that matter most to me: family, writing and the RCN. If you didn’t know (which means you didn’t read my author page in my books) I am a Royal Canadian Navy senior officer. I am foremost a Maritime Surface officer but more importantly to me: a Communications specialist; which means I like networks and stuff. And I do. I truly am a geek and I am only comfortable around other geeks. I like people who throw out movie quotes from obscure and recent sci-fi and fantasy movies. I GET those people. Heh. I laugh at almost all the XKCD comics. Spider-Man is my personal hero.

What’s not to like about geeks, really? I see people in cosplay and think – wow, they are awesome. One of my proudest moments was at Awesomecon in Washington DC a couple of years back and my son cos-played Richard from Hot Line Miami. People were asking for his photo and calling out to him. It was a great day. I’m always proud of my kids – always – but some moments stand out. Like when he showed up in front of me with his electric guitar and started to play “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd – because I had mentioned it in passing one day. Or when my daughter was interviewed for a Canadian documentary on Doctor Who fans, dressed as the female version of the Tenth Doctor (he’s dreamy apparently). Or when she was accepted into a University of Ottawa program to promote women in engineering – twice.

Love life. Love Family. Love each other. Each to its absolute fullest. Peace out.

Oh, one last thing: Stoc is now at 20,000 words…this story is good…buy my books…leave reviews!

Stoc Underway At Long Last

By donald

On October 24, 2016

In Stoc Volume Three, The New Druids Series

Stoc: A New Druids Novel, Volume Three

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything. I’ve been so very caught up in other activities and to be honest I’ve been resting on my self-created laurels since I released Craobh.

Well, I have good news. Stoc is now being written and I’ve thrown together about 15,000 words. The prologue and first two chapters are complete in the first draft. It is consuming me and the story needs to get out! I can tell it will be a long novel (~135,000 words) and I am starting to think that perhaps I need to push some into the fourth novel, Freamhaigh. This happened to me with Duilleog. With Craobh not so much. Anyway, this is a series after all. I’m pretty excited about Stoc. It gets much more worldly. Up until now, I’ve left the storyline with Will and few others. I’ve hinted at a larger underlying theme but Stoc exposes it. I am so excited to finally be able to write about it and nervous as heck to reveal it. Gaea will guide me, I hope!

Changing tack: A curious thing happened over at Amazon.com to me. All my five-star reviews for Duilleog disappeared. I have a new one (thanks, R. Sailor!), but find it strange the others disappeared. I’ll have to ask Amazon what happened.

Speaking of reviews. If you’ve read my novels please be kind and leave a review on Amazon. Reviews are what pushes my novels into more mainstream. Good or bad, please take the time. Being a self-published author (or Indie Author if you prefer that) is hard work. Writing the novels is so much easier (and fun) than the marketing piece. I spend hours and hours every week on social media trying to get the word out. So help a dude out and spread the word and leave a review!

Duilleog: Gold Award Judge’s Comment

By donald

On September 22, 2016

In The New Druids Series

So, the Dan Poynter’s Global eBook Awards 2016 sent me one of the comments from the judges who awarded me Gold in the category Fantasy/Other World Fiction. Here is what one of the judges said:

“A well crafted story, complex and deep. The characters are well presented and developed. I found almost no errors, and reading was a pleasure. Looking forward to the next in the series.”

A very nice comment, I think.

I am working on Stoc, the Third Volume in the New Druids Series. The outline is completed and the writing framework done. I’m pretty excited about the storyline. I knew where the current story arc of Will Arbor would lead – I always have – but discovering the actual journey is so exciting. I didn’t know the details I would finally imagine and now that I have I can’t wait to put it in words. Stoc will complete the Will Arbor storyline and open up the world beyond Belkin for future storylines. And believe me, I have other storylines!

Note: Craobh has been nominated for the Global Ebook Awards 2017. I hope I have the same judge! Wish me good fortune in August 2017.