Author: peterhackshaw

I decided that I may as well use the ‘blog’ feature on my own site, to do just that.

Because Insta is visual, Twitter (which I am useless at) has zero word-count and whatever I write on Facebook, my nan ends up seeing and starts to comment randomly, not understanding about the concept of what is a ‘private message’, or completely in the public domain.

“She’s done me like a kipper a few times.”

My nan is Joyce, which is where Queen Joyce comes from in The Shadow Sect. Also, Iris (in Ever Winter) is the name of my cat. So, it appears I’m kind of lazy with character names in a lot of cases…

FREE STUFF – I am posting on the Litrpg facebook group this Friday 26th November, with a chance to get free Audible promo codes. 5 in the US. 5 in the UK. You just need to come up with a wonderfully weird pub name that you’d like to go to with that rascal, Warmund Tripp.

If it’s original and bloody brilliant, I may ask your permission to use it in Netherdei #2. There are never enough boozers for Warmund Tripp.

A LITTLE UPDATE – The Shadow Sect launched so well (#1 Best seller in 10 categories on Amazon in various countries) and is nearly 500 global reviews on Amazon and counting, Portal Books are extremely pleased with it so far, which means I’m now writing book two like a fiend – with a target release date of summer 2022 tbc. I will use this blog to announce the name for Netherdei 2 later on.

INSTANT EVERYTHING – We all sat home in the pandemic, smashed the life out of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Sky, then purchased Disney+ because it was new. And every time we finished a series we were annoyed that the next is at least a year away. (My son asks me weekly when Stranger Things 4 is coming out).

We are used to everything being instant – and this is from a guy who would wait 30 minutes for a computer game to load on my Commodore 64, ‘back in the day’, only to discover when I’d finished my dinner, that the game had crashed and hadn’t loaded properly. I had patience once, but I’m now the instant everything guy too.

But not when I’m writing.

PACING – My first book, Ever Winter, paced slowly in the first half, then, after an event that effects our MC, the pace quickens. It was intentional, because that book has much to do with mental health as it does survival, even if it doesn’t say that on the tin. The second half is when Henry’s mind is frayed and he is all over the place. A handful of readers never got that change in pace, or the link, but if you go back to it, it’s quite obvious.

Similarly, The Shadow Sect is a slow burn – but for different reasons. The Shadow Sect is book one of hopefully, a long series and it sets out a world and shows that to progress, in terms of magic, takes time. Think about the title of the sect at The Orrery; ‘The Ardent Lunar Sect’. Ardent. The pacing of The Shadow Sect changes at the point a key event changes everything – at the point where our main character has toiled so much to get where he is – and put up with so much. When I write, I think I’m that kid with the Commodore 64. The worlds in those games had to load up, so you could enjoy them in 8-bit splendour. Some people will get it. Others won’t. Writers shouldn’t try to please everyone. It’s impossible.

On a serious note, where the hell did the American accent come from?

People from England, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Italy – from all over – moved to this new land, to start a new life. At some point, after some time, the American accent came out of that cocktail, of people all speaking in a common tongue of English – and I find that amazing. The dialect in Ever Winter is based on my wonderment at that idea.

I love language and words. Which is why my books have old words thrown in. Forgotten, brilliant words that we have kind of lost. The Shadow Sect has some absolute gems.

I’m not throwing these in to be pretentious. I mean, we celebrate new words going into the dictionary each year don’t we? They get noted. I throw the old words in because – well – wouldn’t it be great if you were in your local pub and a guy gets angry with another guy (as guys often do) and in all seriousness the first guy says to the other, ‘You sir, are a snollygoster!’

(Muckspout).

I would very much like to be there, as that kicks off.

If you have any questions you want me to answer in this blog, send me a mail.

Enjoy your week.

Go and see Ghostbusters.