The Legendary Macmillan

Phew. Christmas  done; New Year - done. Just Chinese new Year to get out of the way and we can crash on. What have I done? Well, I did a serious re-edit of "Fractured" based on an additional beta-read (plus the previous two) and I have been blitzing our friendly neighborhood agents who will, I'm sure, soon be banging down me door for the exclusive.

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Also over Christmas my son and his girlfriend (film-makers, scriptwriters etc) shot one of Macmillan's short film scripts, called "Personal Banking". Currently being edited, colour doodahed and sound thingied; once finished it will make its way to various film festivals to be ridiculed with the best. If I have a link then I will share it with my fans - both of them.

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Well, a quick update for the myriad of fans queueing at the online gates; "Deus Ex" is now safely uploaded as an audio story. So, off you go to the bottom of the home page, have a listen, and marvel at the oblique view of 21st century youth as held by 21st century aging Macmillan. "The Sights you Sometimes See" is on a backburner as I've had some excellent beta-reading feedback for my novels "Tradition" and "Fractured". The former had one good, one bad and one undecided review; the latter had two mostly excellent reviews. Though all require editorial interventions in order to take them forward. For those who might be interested, I have employed paid reviews from Fiverr and unpaid reviews from Scribofile. And for those who aren't interested, please disregard that last sentence.

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We are on the brink of two new audio stories. Yay us. The first is "Deus Ex" something of a young man's journey into ai romance. My son is messing with the audio to improve my somewhat clumsy editing. Two days, max, and it'll be live. Oh joy! The second is a tad more complex; entitled "The Sights you Sometimes See", it is a confused marriage of Kafka thought and Milligan thought, and tells the tale of when a "thin, somewhat nerdish" young man is having a drink in the pub when he is visited by a World War II flying ace. We've all been there, right?

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I got onto a roll there with the audio-short-stories (see bottom of Home page). I went through my collection of short film scripts and turned four of them into audio stories. I had a lot of help from the amazing Eleven Labs - a brilliant text-to-speech ai - and a self-made Benedict Cumberbach voice. 

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In case you're wondering, the inspiration for the style of the audio-stories was drawn from a series of short films by Wes Anderson, of stories by Roald Dahl, which can be found on youtube. They are beautiful, with that magnificent countryside English that I have tried to capture with my narrator. I shall, over the coming months, be "audio-ing" more of my scripts, so...watch this space....

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Well, a couple of months on and I've had 6 rejections for "Fractured". Couple of friendly ones, a few standard ones. It's nice to hear from them, and disappointing that so many agents don't bother to reply - I would have thought a standard rejection would be an easy thing to set up and implement. But, I may be wrong.

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Anyway, to pass the time I was working on a short film - I write a lot of short films - and have the sound track finished using Eleven Labs. Check it out (please check it out) on the Home page, at the bottom. An interesting concept story, that had the honour of being rejected by Playboy magazine back when Hef was running it. Yeah, baby!

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It's three weeks on, I've sent out my 20 begging letters and....not one, not one single rejection.

           "We doan need no stinkin' rejection."

Fuck, yes we do! They are the life blood of legends; they are the signals of greatest. True, they can, on occasion, be markers of mediocrity but when you possess a legendary destiny they can only be signals of greatness. The Beatles were rejected, Jo Rowling was rejected...Vincent Van Gogh was so tragically rejected. Rejection letters only serve to confirm our legendary status, as our brilliance blinds the reviewer to the true genius of our work.

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But...three weeks in and nary a one. Outrageous. Chipping away at the very bedrock of my faith.

 

Maybe my email....my dog ate the emails...damn, brother, and I don't even have a dog.​

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Well in case you haven't noticed, I have completed, edited, and now present my new novel "Fractured". It is, at base, a thriller, yet as this story plays out amongst the fear and the trauma of the two young protagonists, another story - of love and family - develops between them and two empathetic club owners. There's a lot to fear and a lot to love, all in the one story. And that, my friends, is "Fractured". Check out the sample chapter...

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Oh yeah! I have been silent because I don't talk when I write - and I have just, this very day, completed the first draft of "Fractured". And it is good! Oh yeah. I am working on some elements to put on the website and, as soon as I have a final draft, I shall pop up an extract to blind you with my literary brilliance. Stay tuned.

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For your general edification, my latest novel has been renamed "Fractured" (from "Twins"). I think it has a more commercial ring to it. I am very excited by it - though it would be fuckin' weird if I wasn't, yeah? I'm one third the way through, and it feels good. So far I have cried twice during the writing which is always a good sign, providing I'm not drinking at the time, which I wasn't. Tell you more when I'm ready.

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Another rejection, this time a belated one for "From the Fire". This was my favourite, and most encouraging to rejection to date. She actually said "Don't give up" and so, because I admire one of her writers so much, I shall not give up. But she offered me a link that I had not seen before and I would like to share it with my...2?...followers (God, I so wish my mother was still alive, I'd increase my following by 50%). The link is:

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 http://www.writersservices.com/agent/uk09/index.htm.

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And thank you, kind agent, for your encouragement. It is very much appreciated.

 

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Last night I received a another pleasant rejection, but one that set me thinking. The agency said the usual "not for them" but then gave two paragraphs of suggestions for budding authors. In a nutshell it recommended paying for an editor/manuscript assessor type of gig. Now herein lies my dilemma. The ones I have seen online are charging somewhere in the region of 7-800 pounds sterling for the service - not unreasonable considering the effort required, but a lot of dosh nonetheless. And there is a Big But...

For me at this stage of the game I'm beginning to wonder whether I can actually tell an engaging story - some people can, others can't. I always believed I was a good storyteller. So, up front, I don't want someone to "edit" my novel, I want someone to say "you are a good storyteller" or "you're a crap storyteller". For the latter, well, a career change is in order. But it occurred to me, someone charging that kind of dosh is not likely to tell you you are shite; rather, they're more likely to try and salvage your novel, to the best of their ability. Because, if you're a good storyteller, and you have a good plot, the chances are you're gonna sell, no matter what; the agent will sigh then lend a hand. There is, to be sure, a middle ground; people who tell an ok story with an ok plot who are happy to sell a few thousand copies. But right now that's not my interest. I want to reignite the fires of fantasy - I want people to miss their train stop because they are holding their breath to see if Jack and Miki can survive their art show (True Black), or they are in tears over Saori (as I was - Tradition). I want to sell a million copies because I  want the movie made because I want my stories to move people. [Get to the fuckin' point, Millan) Right now I believe I am a great storyteller, but I feel the foundations of my faith a'shakin'. 7-800 quid is a lot of dosh if the basic question (are you a storyteller?) is avoided. The people I admire - JK Rowling, Thomas Hardy, Frederick Forsythe, Jane Casey - did they stump up 800 big ones? I doubt it.

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I need to think a bit more about this, but more importantly I need to write.

Scorecard to date on Tradition:

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           Tradition: 20 agents approached, 7 rejections. Still 13 SSWGI

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Well today I finally finished the synopsis for a new novel, tentatively titled "Twins". A true psychological thriller/suspense novel; less violence and more layers that the previous efforts. Let's see how this one (eventually) flies. I will keep y'all updated, assuming there is a "y'all" out there who gives a phlying phuck about Macmillan's progress.

 

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A quick update, nothing of scintillating interest. I received my fourth rejection today, so the tally is rising. My thanks again to the agents who will take the trouble to let you know they aren't interested. I prefer that to the silence. The tally to date:

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           Tradition: 17 agents approached, 4 rejections; 13 SSWGI

 

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First rejection received for Tradition. Ouch. But nice; he said "I just did not feel the necessary conviction...". I won't say who it was, but that sounds like he read it and gave a genuine, heart-felt response. So as always my thanks for taking the time to acknowledge my effort - it's the long silences that are the depressants. It's early days yet, so I'm categorising the silent ones as "still studying with grievous intent" (SSWGI). The score thus far:

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           Tradition: 13 agents approached, 1 rejection, 12 SSWGI.

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First begging letter to one agent - author of my favourite rejection email - sent out today, for "Tradition". I aim to send out 20 letters. Let's see if we get lucky this time. Failing that, let's see who sends the most encouraging rejection. The score thus:

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           Tradition: one agent approached, I'm having a beer.

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Watch this space. For here is where the reality of becoming famous can be found. 

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As of today, a Thursday in sunny England, I have just completed my third novel "Tradition". If you are thinking "wowee, what a lad" then you are getting ahead of yourself. Today I also received my ninth official rejection - a most pleasant and gentle one, from Oli Munson at A.M. Heath, for the novel "From the Fire". Fair enough, I can handle polite rejection.

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The inspiration for writing this comes from best-selling author Gillian McAllister; you can find, somewhere on the web, her account of becoming published. After many rejections she was finally accepted for publication - only one company from a bunch thought she was worthy, and yet the book opened on the Sunday Times Bestseller list. The moral of the story....is that no-one really knows for sure if your book is good or bad. It's a crap shoot. As Ms. McAllister says, you only need one "yes". Check out her story, it's motivating.

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So my purpose here is to keep you updated on what is soon to be my meteoric rise to fame and fortune. We are here on the launch-pad. The score-card todate is:

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           True Black; nine agents approached, one rejection, eight HBT2D

           From the Fire: twenty agents approached, ten rejections, ten HBT2D

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No disrespect to the agents intended here, simply letting the rest of you legendary-but-unrepresented authors follow my path of despair and depression that will utimately lead to glory, fame, fortune, and the right to claim legendary status.

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           Of this we are certain.

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           *HBT2D - had better things to do​​​​