It started with a map. My first book, that is. Or rather it started with a board game which required a map. More than thirty years ago I designed a strategy board game set in an imaginary world and pitched it to Games Workshop. They didn’t buy the game but they liked the map I made for it and commissioned work from me on the strength of it. The original painted and illustrated map hung on my wall for three decades and during that time the continent and the four nations it contained gradually swam into shape within my mind. Each had a different history and culture, each had myths and legends, a whole world of stories that gradually evolved as the years passed. At last, one of these stories demanded to be written. This became ‘That Which The Deep Heart Knows’. Is this gradual growth what it’s like for you? I can’t imagine that anyone sits down with a blank document and sets out to write a story from scratch. There was an urgency about the situation. The story developed quite quickly in my mind, and because I am not a great one for writing extensive notes, I felt the need to write it out before the details of it faded. If you’re like me, your mind is at its most creative on the verges of sleep, either upon retiring at night or in that lovely period when we wander gently from the halls of morpheus.

The name I write under is a nom-de-plume. My present book falls within the ‘fantasy’ category, but I also write in another genre and prefer to keep my two writing identities separate. The only difficulty here is that authors are generally advised to share aspects of their lives with their readership, in order to encourage engagement, whether through social media or through a website. If you are writing under your own name, I certainly advise you to adopt this policy, as creating a relationship with your readers should be considered an important aim.

Unfortunately, as we know to our cost, writing the book is only the beginning of a long and tedious process by which the work is cast into a form suitable for presentation to the reading public. This is a process traditionally published authors are necessarily obliged to go through but which many self-published authors are prone to neglecting. Accordingly, the qualitative range of self-published work ranges from superb to deplorable, depending on the proof-reading talents and editing skills of the author. Nothing jars more with the reader than typos, spelling errors or basic grammatical errors. For this reason, some readers may be suspicious of self-published authors unless they have a proven track record. Conscious of my own frailties in this respect, I paid to have my book professionally proof read. Even if you engage others to share the burden with you, proof reading your own work, tedious though it is, is an essential part of maintaining professional standards. There are various approaches to this. I find that I have to read the book backwards, one page at a time in order to be able to concentrate on the text and not to lose focus by being carried away by the story.

Once you have a story that you are convinced is free from errors, your next stage is to persuade others of its merits. Cover, blurb and reviews are your means of doing this, unless you have the means to engage a publicist or pay for other forms of advertising. A blurb costs nothing but is of inestimable value. I cannot stress highly enough how important this brief document is in securing the interest of the potential reader. It must contain sufficient detail to engage the reader, whilst not giving away too much of the plot.

Your cover design is the vital shop window for your book, drawing in customers and communicating to them the nature of your wares. It should convey a good sense of the genre and style of your work as well as offering hints as to the content of the story itself. It may be that you need to pay for the services of a designer for this purpose. If you do, you will have spent your money well. A dull cover may easily doom the most brilliant of stories to remain undiscovered. An exciting and dynamic cover allows you to compete with most creative and brilliant writers out there in the vital business of attracting the interest of the potential reader.

I am fortunate in this respect, having spent a career in graphic design. I hope that my book cover serves its purpose well and helps to set out my stall as a writer. Now to get some readers and reviews, the next great challenge!

Find out more about books by RJ Wheldrake here:

https://amzn.to/3No8vjX UK

https://amzn.to/3nxnJch US