Duncan Lay's Blog, page 5

Here's my Adelaide schedule for February ... hope it's not 46C when I get down there - although it's a perfect time to head into the shops when it's that hot ...!

THURSDAY 20thFEBRUARY
 
 
 
10.00am – 1.00pm  Dymocks Rundle Mall.
 
1.30pm – 4.00pm  A&R Myer Centre, Rundle Mall (Basement –Food Court).
 
5.00pm – 7.00pm  Mostly Books. Shop 12-17, Mitcham Square, 119 Belair Rd, Torrens Park.
 
FRIDAY 21st FEBRUARY
 
9.00am – 11.30am  Dillon’s Norwood. 162-166 The Parade, Norwood. )
 
12.00 – 2.00pm  Collins Edwardstown. Shop T54 Castle Plaza, South Rd, Edwardstown.  
2.30pm – 4.00pm  Dymocks Glenelg. 55 Jetty Rd, Glenelg.

Absolutely delighted to announce I'm going to get back into Hornsby!
I haven't been able to go back into the area since Borders sadly closed.
But Berkelouw Books has opened up in Westfield and I'm going to be there on Thursday March 27, for the lunchtime crowd and then again for the post-school and Thursday night shopping.
In other news, it looks like my Canberra leg is all wrapped up also:
Thursday March 20, Paperchain Manuka from 11am-1pm and then Dymocks Canberra from 1.30pm-4.30pm.
Friday March 21: Dymocks Belconnen from 10am-2pm; Dymocks Tuggeranong from 3.30pm to 6.30pm.
Saturday March 22: Browns Books Batemans Bay 10am-12pm, Dymocks Nowra 1pm-4pm.
Hope to see you at one of those!

So we have more dates confirmed and more stores delighted to see me back - as well as a few excited to see me for the first time!
Kinokuniya is locked in for the city on Thursday February 13, kicking off at 11am and staying through until about 2pm.
Berkelouw Books Cronulla Mall will be a new one and I'll be out there on Sunday March 16 from 11am.
Dymocks Macquarie Centre in North Ryde is also locked in for Saturday March 29, from 1pm-4pm.
And there's plenty more to come ...!

The start of the tour is just about locked in now:
Sunday Feb 2 - Dymocks Tuggerah
Thursday Feb 6 - Galaxy Books in the city
Sat Feb 8 - Dymocks Erina
Sunday Feb 9 - Dymocks Rouse Hill
Thurs Feb 13 - Kinokuniya in the city
And now we have a schedule for my three-day Perth trip, from Wednesday March 12 to Friday March 14:


Wednesday Day
10am-12pm: Dymocks Belmont –125, Belmont Forum Shopping Centre, 227 Belmont Ave, Cloverdale, 6105
 
12.30 – 2pm : Stefens Bookshop in the city
Shop 8 Shafto Lane, 397 Murray St, Perth WA 6000
 
2/2.30pm - 5.30pm: kaleidoscope books, centre hub above train station
Shop , City Concourse, Perth Train Station, 6000
 
Thursday
10am-12pm: Dymocks Joondalup Shop T16 Lakeside Shopping Centre, Joondalup  WA  6027
 
12.30-2.30: Dymocks Morley Shop133 Galleria Shopping Centre Collier Rd, Morley  WA  6062
 
3pm-5.30pm: Dymocks Garden City – Ann Poublonshop 33 garden city s/c Booragoon 6154

 
Friday
10am-1.30pm: Dymocks Hay St707 Hay St, Perth WA 6000
 
2pm-6pm:  Dymocks CarouselShop 1018 Carousel Shopping Centre, Cannington WA 6107

Gold Coast is a GO!
Thanks to the wonders of Daylight Savings, I'lla ctually get an extra hour on the coast as well.
I'll be there on Friday February 14 - yes, that is Valentine's Day. And what better way to say I Love You than with a book - and a personally dedicated book at that!
So I will be at Collins Booksellers Tweed Heads from about 11am until 1.30pm - NSW TIME. I'll leave Tweed at 1pm NSW time and cross the border and go back in time an hour, allowing me to arrive at Love That Book Helensvale by 1pm QUEENSLAND TIME.
There I shall stay until about 4pm QUEENSLAND TIME.
And if you're confused, how do you think I feel ...!
Hope to see you there!

After family illness and death blighted my 2013 and forced me to cancel much of the Valley Of Shields tour last year, I will be back on the road, bigger and better for the final book in the Empire Of Bones series.
It will be out in shops - and of course available in multiple eBook formats - from February 1.
If you want to get a real copy, then the good news is HarperCollins has come to the party and there will be discounts on any books sold by me at various bookstores across Australia.
So come and see me, get a real copy for at least 10% cheaper than the RRP and get it personally signed as well. Can't say fairer than that!
Now these dates are not locked in stone and some are uncomfirmed but this is what the tour is looking like so far:

Sunday Feb 2 – Tuggerah
Sat Feb 8 – Erina
Sun Feb 9 – Rouse Hill Thurs Feb 13 - Tweed/Gold Coast
Sat Feb 15 – Chatswood
Sun Feb 16 – Parramatta Thurs Feb 20/Fri Feb 21 - Adelaide
Sat Feb 22 – Warringah
Sun Feb 23 – Penrith Wed Feb 26, Thurs Feb 27, Fri Feb 28 - Melbourne
Sat Mar 1 – Carlingford AM, Castle Towers PM
Sun Mar 2 – Burwood
Thurs Mar 6, Fri Mar 7 - Brisbane Wed Mar 12, Thurs mar 13, Fri Mar 14 - Perth Sat Mar 15 – Charlestown
Sun mar 16 – Macquarie
Thurs mar 20 – Goulburn and Canberra
Fri mar 21 – Belconnen and Tuggeranong
Sat Mar 22 – Batemans Bay and Nowra
Sun mar 23 - Cronulla

Thurs Mar 27 - Wollongong
Fri Mar 28 - Hornsby

Sat Mar 29 - Umina

Hope to see you at one of these stores!
Remember to check back for interstate tour details as well!

As anyone who has read or watched Game Of Thrones knows, you can make a huge success out of slaughtering your main characters.
George RR Martin lops favourites away each and every book – and most of his fans love him for it.
Reportedly, he did receive a massive backlash over the so-called Red Wedding, where several members of the Stark family were brutally slaughtered.
Still, for every fan who didn’t like it, I’d say another three or four do.
But it was a different story when Veronica Roth, author of the wildly popular Divergent series, killed off her heroine Tris. The backlash from the fans was immediate and massive, forcing her to publish a  lengthy justification on her blog.
So, for anyone planning to kill off their main character, the message is clear – it can be more dangerous than you think.
And to do so at the end can ruin a series.
Devoted fans are throwing away their copies of the Divergent series and there has even been questions asked about the film adaptations. Will it hurt ticket sales? Will the studio force changes to the third movie’s ending?
In terms of an unpopular ending, the best comparison I can come up with would be for JK Rowling to instead have had Harry Potter die, then Voldemort set up house with Hermione, while keeping Ron as a gimp in the basement.
Now, there are good reasons to kill off a character.
Sometimes their death is necessary to unlock the next stage of a plot, or perhaps their death will have a dramatic effect on one or more of the other characters, triggering a change which is vital to their development.
Sometimes you get to a certain point and realise a character cannot logically survive a situation. Or perhaps they have simply outlived their usefulness. I’ve come across this before in my writing, where you imagined a character would stick around to the end, only to find they don’t have any more for you. (conversely, I often find minor characters suddenly jump up and demand more time).
Killing a character can also have a profound effect on the reading experience. If the reader knows that you are prepared to kill characters, then it follows that a life-or-death scene will have a much greater impact.
For instance, book five of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series let slip that a main character would die. Rowling then made sure almost every main character was facing death in the last few chapters – and it was nail-biting stuff.
These are all good reasons.
But to kill your character off for no good reason (that your readers can see) is a very dangerous thing.
Yes, you are writing for yourself. But, if you are serious, you are also writing for an audience. And I think you do have to keep them in mind, or you might find them dissecting you on social media.
As anyone who has read The Dragon Sword Histories or Empire Of Bones series knows, some of my characters die. And sometimes quite unpleasantly. But never, I hope, gratuitously.
So my advice is simple. Kill your characters off by all means. But make their deaths mean something.

Nothing infuriates people more than receiving a truly crap present. And I don’t mean a hand-knitted sweater from Aunt Mavis. I mean a useless, pointless gadget bought off one of those dodgy TV advertisements. Something you will never use and will instead collect dust for a year until you either throw it out or re-gift it.
If it’s all about the thought, not the actual present, what do these say?
``I was watching a stupid commercial featuring an annoying American voice-over that was plugging something pointless and stupid. And I immediately thought of you!’’
In every case, you should buy someone a book instead. Or at least a book voucher, if you are too lazy to go into a store and ask advice from the bookseller. And every bookseller worth their salt will be able to recommend something good for anyone.
In that spirit, I decided to compile a list of the most spectacularly crapulous gifts I have seen advertised this month.
If you get any of these on Christmas Day, you have my permission to go over, slap the person over the back of the head and say: ``You should have got me a book, instead!’’
1)      Buntastic fitness machine. Worth a double slap, because it says they think you’re also tubby as well as stupid. Trade it in and buy a book.
2)      Forever Comfy Cushion. Hit them with it instead. Buy a book!
3)      Slap Chop/Slice-o-matic. Use it on the giftee’s wobbly bits. They’ll give you a book next year then.
4)      Go-Go pillow for tablets. Beat them around the head and shoulders with it until you get a book.
5)      Flexible hose. Waterboard them until the book gets there.
6)      Aqua rug (nonslip fluffy rug for shower). Loofah them with it until you get a book.
7)      Ye Olde Lantern. They’re not a bright spark. Tell that dim person to give you a  book.
8)      Super steam cleaner. Boiling water and abrasive pads at hand? I’m sure you can think of some way to get a book out of them using that …
9)      Chillow cooling pillow/Cloud pillow. Smuffocate them until they agree to buy you a book. And they won’t even know that’s a word if they’ve got a fat pillow on their head.
10)   Schticky cleaner. Offer to de-hair their sensitive bits with it until they agree to get you a book.
 
And you get the idea…
I don’t call this a definitive list of crapulous gift ideas. But they’re certainly a giant, steaming pile. The sort you'd step over carefully and wonder what the owners were feeding that poor creature.
So you know what to do if you unwrap one of these … and if you’re actually thinking of buying one for someone, Buntastic yourself until you need a Forever Comfy pillow and then go out and buy a book, instead.

I am finishing off the proof-reader pages for Wall Of Spears, the final book in the Empire Of Bones trilogy, which will be at the printers before Christmas, ready for a February 2014 release.
That means it is time to start thinking about a big tour to celebrate the end of the series.
And this is going to be a big tour!
I'll be hitting 50 stores in 50 days, from Brisbane to Sydney to Canberra to Melbourne to Hobart to Adelaide to Perth - and maybe a few others as well!
But I need your help.
Are there stores near you that I have or haven't visited?
Is the Gold Coast a better option than say Port Macquarie or Coffs Harbour? Is Geelong worth a visit? How about south of Perth?
Have I met you at a store before or would you like to have a chat and get a signed copy (or some previous books signed as well?)
Let me know and I'll do my best to get there in February or March next year.
Hope to see you there!

I write on the train, so an iPod is an essential - even if the Quiet Carriages have helped reduce the number of inane conversations that threaten to drown the creative process in a sea of sludge.
In between edits on Wall Of Spears, I have started a new series ... which hopefully will see bookshelves in a year or two!
When I am writing, I do try to tap into certain songs to trigger emotions that, I feel, add a little more to writing.
So, here's a few songs I'm listening to and a few of the lyrics that are resonating with me right now.
As I have said before, that might not be the meaning the lyricist intended. That doesn't matter. What matters is how it makes YOU feel and what you get out of it.
Some of this will be coming out in the new series ...
Boy And Bear - Southern Sun:
``You see, I'm not gonna wait until the ending,
cause I got the burning fire in there, in my soul''.
Linkin Park - Castle Of Glass:
``take me down to the river bend
Take me down to the fighting end
Wash the poison from off my skin
Teach em how to be whole again''.
Imagine Dragons - It's Time:
``Now don;t you understand
I'm never changing who I am''.
Plus there's Wasting My Time by Default, Tell Me How It Ends by Bernard Fanning and Trembling Hands by The Temper Trap.
Even if they're not affecting your writing, check them out anyway!