Category Archives: indie novels

Piano Player or Pianist…

Posted on June 15, 2018 by Mark Hayes

Sam, he who was famously, but never actually, asked to ‘Play it again,‘ was the piano player in Rick’s bar in Casablanca. To my mind, that is whom he is, ‘The Piano Player’, he has never been ‘The Pianist’. That … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Esqwiths, goodnews, goodreads, Hannibal Smyth, indie, indie novels, novels, opinion, Passing Place, pointless things of wonderfulness, reads, writes, writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Rambling through a full edit…

Posted on June 14, 2018 by Mark Hayes

Stephen King explains in On Writing that his approach to second drafts and editing involves reducing the word count of a novel by a good ten per cent. Having read my fair share of Mr Kings novels, one hates to … Continue reading →

Posted in #amwriting, Hannibal Smyth, indie, indie novels, opinion, pointless things of wonderfulness, rant, writes, writing | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rage against the reviews…

Posted on June 4, 2018 by Mark Hayes

It’s been a while since I had a really good rant. Which is probably a symptom of relative happiness, so the lack of me having a good old-fashioned rant about something is probably a good sign. All the same, there … Continue reading →

Posted in books, goodreads, indie, indie novels, opinion, rant, self-publishing, writing | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

Writing The End…

Posted on May 25, 2018 by Mark Hayes

Back in March, I wrote a post called ‘Searching for an ending’  about the struggles I was having with my latest novel ‘A Spider in the Eye, a Hannibal Smyth Adventure. Since then I have spent a lot of time doing just … Continue reading →

Posted in books, fiction, goodreads, indie novels, novels, Passing Place, self-publishing, steampunk, writes, writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Well that was odd…

Posted on May 21, 2018 by Mark Hayes

Occasionally, something unexpected happens that strikes you as odd. Or at the very least utterly unexpected. One of those strange little moments of wonderfulness, that take you completely off guard. Particularly if your a tad neurotic, and struggle to see any real value in … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, blogging, book reviews, books, depression, goodreads, indie, indie novels, kindlesale, novels, opinion, pointless things of wonderfulness, reads, sci-fi | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Fear of the Darkest Kind…

Posted on May 16, 2018 by Mark Hayes

One of the hardest tricks for an author to pull off is the series, and before you pull me up on that I know what your thinking as you read that, almost everyone writes in series… But that doesn’t stop … Continue reading →

Posted in book reviews, books, fiction, goodreads, indie, indie novels, opinion, pointless things of wonderfulness, reads, sci-fi, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The Sunday Reviews #3

Posted on May 13, 2018 by Mark Hayes

Okay, your used to the drill by now no doubt and probably see no reason to read this first bit of waffle. Which is fair enough because I’m not sure why I’m writing this first bit of waffle. Other than as … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, book reviews, books, cider lane, fiction, goodreads, indie, indie novels, novels, publication, writes, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

NaNoWriMo: Or how to first draft…

Posted on October 6, 2017 by Mark Hayes

With November less than a month away, and in the mildly self-aggrandizing of attempting to offer some advice to budding writers… This is the story of how I managed to write my first novel. It is also the story of how … Continue reading →

Posted in amwriting, Hannibal Smyth, indie, indie novels, insomnia, nanowrimo, opinion, pointless things of wonderfulness, self-publishing, writes, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Scrap-ends…

Posted on September 13, 2017 by Mark Hayes

For no good reason, or perhaps the best reason of all, I’ve spent a listless hour pondering my way through a folder on my desktop that predates the hard drive. The folders called scrap-ends. It’s an apt description used as … Continue reading →

Posted in books, indie, indie novels, indie writers, nanowrimo, opinion, quotes, reads, the elf kings thingy, writes, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Harlem’s Hellfighters…

Posted on August 16, 2017 by Mark Hayes

‘The Ballard of Pvt Burbanks’ a pivotal chapter in ‘Passing Place’ tells what you could call the ‘origin’ story of  Sonny Burbanks, the doorman at the very strange bar of the title. ‘Very strange’ is perhaps an understatement when describing the Esqwiths … Continue reading →

Posted in amreading, amwriting, fiction, humanrights, indie, indie novels, indiewriter, opinion, Passing Place, politics, rights, writes, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments