My initial blogs have been focused on the Process of Writing so, this week I thought I’d go into What I’m writing and give you readers an insight/introduction into the world of Camelot 2050.

For those familiar (and not so familiar) with the romantic Arthurian Legend the story begins somewhere around the year 535CE at the Battle of Camlann. This is the infamous battleground where Arthur was defeated by Mordred le Fay (his son by his half-sister Morgana) and it is here where the history of the 2050 universe diverts from the classic legend. In this story Lancelot (returned from a campaign in Europe where he fled after his affair with Guinevere was discovered) takes Arthur’s place on the point of Mordred’s sword not only saving the Now and Future King of England but, to some extent, redeeming himself for his misdeeds in the Royal bedchamber and reaffirming his ties to Camelot and to Arthur.

From this point the history of Briton continues somewhat parallel with our history (albeit with an unbroken line of Pendragon’s on the throne). A few names and events have disappeared or been much reduced (Oliver Cromwell and the English Civil War and the subsequent Restoration Period for example) and other events might have taken place but in a more civilised, humane way (the Mapping and Exploration of the Globe becoming less European Expansionist and The Industrial Revolution less inhumane).

The so-called World Wars did take place, further back the Napoleonic war is a feature of history and many of the European wars that took place before it (though for different reasons under the influence of the moral compass of Camelot). War is not unknown and the world as it sits is far from perfect. The lack of flight technology is also an important contributing factor in this world. In an imaginary world where travel takes time but communication can be almost instantaneous the global situation has to reflect that.

So, what are the real changes we see to a world where the drive to build Empires was either not indulged or curtailed (sometimes by martial intervention), what of the nations not explored in the books? Well, I shall tell you (but bear in mind I am neither a historian nor a sociologist).

Largely the nations of the world exist in in a state of greater privacy, less prone to outward expansion and more focused on internal progress although relations are made for the purpose of trade and mutual support in times of conflict.

• The collective nations of Europe exist in a state of age old (though more good-natured)  competition, the wars have been put behind them and now its more a competition of Capitalist and Technological gain.
• The Nordic States are split, those to the North hold on to the darker elements of their seagoing raider past. They have deeply held traditions and little time for the ‘civilised’ states to the South and hold deeper ties with the shadowy Russian states than those of their Southern cousins. The southern Jarls (Largely an honorific in these times) spend more time communicating with the wider European community and have long-held and honoured trade agreements and ties to the nation of Europe. They have more instances of animosity with their Northern cousins and Russia than any other nation on the European side of the continent.
• Russia is a brooding, isolated shadow on the map. They talk to no-one, they trade with no-one and that makes the neighbouring states uneasy, unsettled places reminiscent of the ‘Iron Curtain’ era spanning 1945 to 1992.
• Further afield the Middle East is a mix of stable and unstable areas. Old conflicts drag on even as the richer principalities strive for their own advancements and place on the global stage (much like in our real-world but without the large-scale Western Military intervention).
• Africa, to be clear, in the World of Camelot 2050 slavery has had it’s place in history but never on the industrialised scale of the 17th and 18th century. The ancient concept of ‘Bondsmen’ whereby a defeated warrior is spared and taken into servitude is the model but it’s a practice fallen out of favour. The states and nations of Africa are known and are largely left to their own devices unless a humanitarian situation arises. Again, the situation mirrors the real-world politics of the continent, largely stable but with hot spots that sometimes draw the attention of the larger, global community.
• In India the British Raj never happened. The East India Company was a much smaller affair trading for tea, silks and spices under the careful eye and regulation of Camelot but the nation itself remained self-governed.
• The Far East nations of China, Indonesia and Japan, free of external Western influences, retain a great deal of their ancestral cultural practices while embracing the rise of technology with a singular focus. Emperors reign and Honour is a guiding principle in everyday life (although the definition and practice is greatly different to how westerners understand the concept). Japanese Samurai and Chinese Royal Guard reflect the technological and medical advancements born by the Knights of the Round Table and, while communications with these nations are largely cordial they remain and esoteric collection of cultures to many.
• The much reduced nature of European Expansionism in the world of Camelot 2050 means that the US of A as we know it simple doesn’t exist. Canada, North America, Mexico and South America retain their historic native populations. The Nation of the People covers the northern continent and includes the many Native American tribes that were sadly lost in our own history. The Eastern seaboard is the site for embassies and trade posts with the Nation but travel between those nations is a rare thing. In the South the peoples of the Aztec, Myan and Incan Empires are outwardly hostile. They do not welcome visitors and journeys to the southern continents are rare and dangerous. While the Nations have adopted and adapted technologies from their southern neighbours and the visitors from the East the Empires of the South have shown evidence of their own, extremely advanced technology which is far from understood by those outside their borders.
• Australia, again with little in the way of European Expansion Australia remains in the hands of the Aboriginal peoples. Save for a few communes and outposts of Europeans who fled religious or cultural persecution through the 17th and early 18th Century.

So, that is a broader view of the world of Camelot 2050. It’s built on ideas that have occurred to me as I’ve written the main story and it’s one I might explore in satellite novels later (or if someone volunteers to write an RPG in the setting). It’s certainly a world with it’s own share of problems unique to ours but strongly influenced by our world too. Perhaps in visualising this alternate history I’ve tried to soften the injustices that have been done throughout the world over the course of time but I cannot deny them and I can only hope that, one day, the Knightly virtues of Courage, Justice, Mercy, Generosity, Faith, Nobility and Hope become more focal to how our world is run and how each of us live our lives day-to-day.

Anybody who creates, be it literature, art, music or film, and releases it out into the world is going to suffer some criticism of their work. It’s a difficult subject to cover because, by talking about criticism you open yourself up to… you guessed it, more criticism. In the last few years there have been stories about authors who took to Amazon to challenge bad reviews personally and it never ends well. That’s why my first piece of advice for new writers is “Thou Shalt not Read the Reviews.”

Easier said than done, I know I’ve transgressed in that respect and it’s my rule. The thing is you can’t please everyone, everyone has different tastes or ideas and that is why we have a wealth of creative material out there to satisfy those needs. We all have favourite books, movies and songs and we have ones we hate. It shouldn’t be a great surprise to hear that there are others out there who love the books you hate and hate the books you love. This shouldn’t be a cause for contention, they simply have different tastes/requirements of their media to enjoy them. The famous saying ‘You can please All of the People, Some of the time and Some of the People, All of the Time but you can’t please All of the People, All of the Time” is especially true in regards to creative works. Most importantly not everyone who see’s, views, reads your work is going to give you a review positive or otherwise so you’ll never know what the bulk of your audience think.

Back in my college days our lecturer would repeatedly tell us that the purpose of any media product, literature or artwork is to provoke a reaction. It may be good, it may be bad, as long as it isn’t a shrug and a ‘Meh’ you’ve achieved something. There are even odd cases when a well written ‘Bad’ review might even encourage sales as people wonder what all the fuss is about but that’s little comfort to the creator. Hard as it may be (and in total contrast to the first rule) there are opportunities to learn from critical reviews but, if you end up taking on all the criticism and changing your style into something you don’t enjoy it’s not worth it. If you choose to try and learn from those critical reviews you, in turn, have to be critical of those reviews to be sure that the changes you make to your style fit into your creative vision. It’s more important that you produce something you enjoy than something that’s going to please a couple of reviewers you don’t even know.

Really the message here is don’t let bad reviews get to you, don’t let it stop you. You may learn a little from them but don’t get so focused on pleasing your detractors that you forget why you’re creating in the first place or worse, stop you creating altogether.

I’ve met a few budding authors in the last year or so and I’m always happy to share what I’ve learned since I started doing this full time. Self-Publishing is a steep curve and there are hundreds of sites that are more than happy to take your money to ‘help’ you but there are many things that you really don’t need to pay to achieve, that said, there are some very beneficial things that do cost but don’t necessarily have to break your bank.

Of course the first thing you need is a manuscript, getting those ideas down in a page is the key first step. You might want to let it sit and then reread to ensure that you are happy with what you’ve got but the most common way for a writer to procrastinate is by ‘tweaking’. Thinking you can improve this section here or that section there can stall you from ever getting the book to print. I must’ve edited and re-edited my prologue a dozen times back in the early days of the draft and it kept me from dedicating my time to any new material. There has to come a point where, if not ‘finished’ the work is ‘good enough’. I overcame this by releasing Black Knight early and I paid a little for that. The first edition had numerous grammar errors and a couple of sentences that didn’t, in fact, make sense (I’ve since had a full edit done to bring it up to code, so to speak). Which brings us to the next point.

Editing. There are no words for how important it is to have your book properly edited. Editing is not easy, the human brain is an extraordinary organ and can correct errors even as you read them so it is important to A) Do multiply edit passes and B) Have test readers on hand to give a second set of eyes. Again, there’s probably going to be a mistake or two. I’ve read many books (more recently since starting this process) where I’ve spotted errors, hell just this last week I caught an error in the on-screen subtitles of a major Hollywood Motion picture so a couple of slight errors can always be forgiven.

Agents. Having spoken to other authors (both represented and not) there are indicators that the publishing word is in a state of flux. As it becomes easier to self-publish more people are releasing their own work and the role of the ‘agent’ has come into some question however, agents provide a great deal of support for an author, handling printing and promotion, translations and contracts, so many things that may stay beyond the reach of the indie writer. There’s still some question as to whether it’s of benefit to have some work already out there, whether it’ll help you get an agent or publisher (some agents specify that self-published works should not be listed in your submission credits) but proven sales can, in many cases, help.

I’ll freely admit I was impatient to get started but still, I made it a point to contact a number of agents to try and get Camelot 2050 picked up, I set myself a number to achieve every week and kept a quick reference record of who I’d ‘mailed my sample chapters to (always check the agents guidelines for submissions). Luckily I’d had a little experience with theatrical agents so I knew from the beginning that any agent who asks for money upfront is either going to do the minimum work on your behalf or is likely a fraud. Bear in mind that most agents will take upwards of six weeks to review your submission as they receive hundreds upon hundreds of documents when they open their books each year.

Publishing your book is getting easier. Sites like IngramSpark and CreateSpace (not to mention Amazon) will do the printing and binding for you and there are services out there that can assemble a cover for you but wait! I found a number of E-sites offering cover creation services to the tune of £400 and the products they used to advertise their craft looked like modern Mills and Boon stuff (Sexy half-naked Fire Fighter on black background with some fire etc) so, after asking around I discovered it would be cheaper (if not easier) to do it myself. Some of my contemporaries use Photoshop to do their covers, I use Gimp 2.0 (to my mind it’s more versatile, it is a fairly complex programme but there are many tutorial videos and texts online to help you) but, where do you get the artwork? Copyright is very restrictive, you ‘could’ crop an image from the internet but there’s no telling whose intellectual property you’re appropriating and you don’t want to get prosecuted for infringement down the line. Websites like ArtFinder can put you in direct contact with artists and photographers who will do you a bespoke original piece for your cover and, if you’re lucky, it’ll cost you around half what you’d be paying the site that offers to ‘do it all for you’ and you’ll learn some Graphic Design skills along the way.

Once you’ve submitted your properly formatted files to your chosen site (CreateSpace is, apparently a cheaper option to get physical copies to sell yourself but I use IngramSpark because of their fabulous distribution network, your books would be available via Amazon, by order through Waterstones and a long list of RW bookshops as well as on all the major E-Pub platforms if you so choose, Ingram also has a wonderful Live Support engine allowing you to talk to a real operator to help you out) and you’re holding  a real proof copy, where do you go from there?

Social Media is a start, but it’s easy to let that take up as bulk of your writing time. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram a Blog like this, it’s easy to overdo the social aspect and forget the media. You’re here to promote yourself. Keep it relevant and keep it concise, give it a purpose. In preparation for the release of Dragon Fire I ran a ThunderClap. Two-Hundred and Fifty friends signed on and it gave the release an online visibility of over Thirty-Three Thousand people. How many of those people bought the book I couldn’t say (though it wasn’t 33k) but it didn’t hurt my sales and it didn’t take up too much of my time to run.

The other thing is to get out there and sell. Book into local (or not so local) conventions devoted to your genre, run a stand and sell your own works. Meet people, enthuse about your fiction and pass that enthusiasm on. It’s hard work but rewarding. I spent some money on business cards and free-standing banners with my cover art on them, it didn’t cost much and it helps me look professional (given that I’ve been on the circuit less than a year) and it draws people in. A little outlay on On The Spot advertising can push your sales at events from break-even to profit. But it is time, and effort and for those of you looking to get in from a ground floor start while you still have to work a full week and find time to write as well it can be very daunting.

Still, stick with it, write what you love and it will find an audience. Making a living as a writer might be the dream but, as long as your work finds one reader who loves it as much as you do you can call yourself a success.

These Blog posts are going to come as I think of them, they may fall into a steady rhythm but for now they’ll come as and when.

Why write a book, or a series or a number of series of books? I’m sure most of you are aware but writing isn’t a fast track to fame and fortune (or even a steady income). Stories need to develop a following, they have to build an audience and reach the right ears before you can expect a T.V. series or a movie deal so, why do it?

Well, back toward the end of my time in Primary School (Elementary for any American followers I’ve accrued) we sat a simple check box test that was supposed to give us a direction, a suggestion of careers we might follow. My results were varied, widely. Throughout Secondary school I got it into my head to try to be an actor but I had no idea how to go about that. I just wanted to leave something behind, some work or film with my identity stamped on it that would say ‘Hey! I was here!’

I left school with fairly good results and went to college to study Media. It didn’t really provide the in-road I hoped for and I fell into a slew of entry level manual jobs just bringing in a wage. My hobbies fed the part of me that had developed throughout my education, the part of me that loved writing stories and so here, now that is what I’m doing.  I met people who had similar ideas and they helped me find the tools I needed to bring my stories out into the world.

It has been a steep learning curve but I’ve since found that some of the stuff I learnt in college is relevant and those two years wasn’t wasted after all. As I go on with these Blogs I’ll be sharing what I’ve learnt in the hopes that it helps others who have stories to get out and, I hope, I’ll have entries reviewing those works and the works of others.

So, to answer the question, Why do I write? I write because I found a story I wanted to tell, one I hoped would bring some joy to others looking for the same story and so there would be something of mine to survive beyond whatever span I have on this emerald orb in the great blackness of space.

Alright, so. If you’re here you’ve maybe stumbled over my social media or maybe you’ve read my first book. Either way, welcome.

This blog is more than an attempt to increase my online presence it’s also a way for me to share my journey as a writer and some of the things I’ve discovered along the way. It’s also a way for me to give you a little insight into why I write what I write and what it means to me.

So, as my bio states I grew up in a golden age of Saturday morning cartoons. Titles like He-Man, She-Ra, Brave Starr, the Centurions and so-on. This was the era of the Transformers, things like the Street Sharks and Biker Mice from Mars where a couple of years away. The days of a whole four channels on the T.V. (here in the UK at least) and I remember waking up early on weekdays to watch the cartoons the morning shows would broadcast before I left for school and getting up even earlier on weekends to watch the whole slew of Saturday morning programmes aimed at my age group.

This was my start, a world of white hat good guys, black hat, moustache twirling villains. High morals and improbable plans for world domination, doomed to fail. Try as they might the bad guys couldn’t kill the good guys and though the bad guys kept coming back with more and more intricate plans the heroes never even considered putting an end to the villains.

With this as a starting line I made my way deeper into the myriad worlds of fiction surrounding me. Books, films and T.V. shows where my past times of choice. After a time I was introduced to Table-top Roleplay, Dungeons and Dragons, the World of Darkness and others of that ilk. I dabbled in miniatures and the worlds surrounding them, deep settings with rich histories and even threw myself into Live Roleplay, costumes and characters.

It was in 2003 when there was a trend going around for free-form online Roleplay. The GM (or Games Master) would email a setting and a situation out to the players and they would email back how their characters would react or respond. I’d long been a fan of the legends of Camelot and Arthur, Excalibur and Guinevere (I’d seen Arthur and the Knights of Justice, Excalibur, Prince Valiant and other sources) but I was also deeply interested in Science Fiction, futurism and the like. I’d never seen a property that asked ‘What would’ve happened if Camelot never fell?’ so, at the heady age of 22 I put together a group and we started exploring that question.

It didn’t last too long. As with many things it waned quite quickly but, I still had a good chunk of material and, from time to time, over the years I’d go back to it and add a bit here and there. It was during this time that I met my good friend MJ Bridger and, since we shared similar interests, I showed him the assembled pages and he couldn’t have been keener to see where the story went. Years went by, work an family took prominence and the pages stayed in a file, occasionally added to, largely ignored but, I never forgot them. I kept revisiting them and, as my dissatisfaction with my day jobs and the corporate climate increased I started putting more effort into them until, low and behold, I had a full novel and a few close friends clamouring for the next one.

David Cartwright is an Author/Novelist and Freelance writer from the United Kingdom. Born in 1981 David was raised on a steady diet of Fiction, Fantasy and Saturday Morning Cartoons.

After spending most of his adult life in one job or another David rebelled against Corporate Culture in November 2017 and set out to write the stories that had been buzzing around in his head for the last twenty years.

With a list of inspirational sources from ‘He-Man’ to the films of Guy Ritchie, authors like Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman and James Herbert David has an ambitious to-do list of projects in mind that may very well outlive him but, he’s doing his best.

“The Journey of a Thousand Miles begins with a Single Step” – Lao Tzu