Teaser

Waiting for the launch of a new book is like watching a fuse burn. The Templar Tower is released at the end of the week and pre-orders are well over 200% of the last book. This is a great thing, but also pretty nerve-racking as hundreds of people have already committed to buying the book based on their experiences of the first four.

Just a little bit scary.

For those of you who have bought it, or who might, here is a little teaser

• Peter Sparke and Tilly continue to work together on the subject that keeps Sparke motivated. What happened during the last days of the Templar Order and what were their plans to survive?
• The knight we met in the Templar Thief, Salvatore is back and we find a lot more about his troubled past.
• One of the greatest enemies of the Order, Father Massimo is back and ever more determined to enforce the obedience and control that he feels is required over the Templars
• Of course, the Templar strategy is being managed by The Mason

I really hope you enjoy it and I will be watching the Amazon portal for reviews. So far, my earleir books have been very well received and my main aim in writing is to keep the readers happy!

Scott

Put to bed

Eventually, you have to stop working on a book and "put it to bed" and today around lunchtime I wrapped up the final draft of The Templar Tower. Now it's out of my hands and will be in the hands of readers at launch day which is April 4.
So far it is selling at three times the rate of the my last book on pre-order. That is a lot of trust to get from readers so I need to have it well reviewed to make sure it is up to scratch. To do this, I work with a fearsome editor called Joe. Joe and I are from the same home town, although he now lives in Spain and I live here in Switzerland. Having the same background means that Joe does not mess around when it comes to feedback which is excellent. He reviews all my stuff and gives me comments like, "stop using lazy cliches," or "try not to over-write so much," or "you use the word 'really' 163 times in this book, most of which are of no value."
He also gets into the structure and convinced me to chop a whole character - he was right and I was wrong,so out he went.  Like I say, great feedback.
This is of great value to a writer as you spend your time either staring into space or gazing at a screen; the first read by an experienced editor is like standing on a stage with the spotlight on you.
If Joe likes it and I like it, then I have a book fit to publish.
That is Book Five of the Peter Sparke books on the launch-pad. Book Six is in early outline form and Book Seven is almost completely strucutred (this is a Christmas ghost story and the whole thing fell into place during one long walk with my dog last month).
Sparke and Tilly have a long way to go together, certainly more than twelve books in total, probably more. Hope you stick around.
By the way, the ending of the Sparke plot-line has been the most requested event since I started writing, hope you like it.

You, the reader

Writing started for me about 18 months ago as a hobby, but has now grown into a major part of my life. Some people have mailed me here, or through Goodreads asking for writing advice, so here are a few things that I have learned:

• to write, you have to write. Writing groups may be something you have tried, but all the people who get books out there focus on finishing a manuscript rather than perfecting their style, so if you want to write, crack on.
• read the writers who inspire you. For me I keep reading Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson, also Raymond Chandler.
• learn the "three act structure". All stories need a beginning, and middle and an end. Wikipedia gives a great overview fo how to do this.
• write the stuff you want to read. I want to write books that you read on the train, in a plane, in Starbucks, so I keep chapters short. Writing is a competitive activity; there is always something out there to drag the reader's attention away.

This blog has now had views from nations as far apart as Poland, Ukraine, South Africa, Australia (very high number from Oz) USA, Iraq, Switzerland and even the UK.
Amazon reports sales in the various countries, so I see that there are Scott Chapman readers in India, Pakistan, Japan and Mexico.
Thanks for logging in and I hope you find a bit of value here. Next book is selling at twice the rate of the last one in terms of pre-orders, thanks partly to the excellent promotional support of Amazon.
If you ever leave a review on Amazon, be aware that I read and value every one- My current favourite was by a lady from the USA who says that she "has a massive crush on Peter Sparke." The nicest thing anyone has ever said about my stuff.