Zero - Earth

Zero - Earth

Ask a writer "Do you enjoy writing?" Then stand back and wait for the answer. Ask a hundred authors, get a hundred different answers. If someone asked me that question, mostly I would smile and say categorically "Yes". Admittedly sometimes that smile might be hiding gritted teeth.

Writing takes effort, dedication, passion and persistence. I dreamt the seed of my idea, after a few years this idea became the fully fledged version of Zero - Earth. It's a book about a man ... From Earth ... Or so I would have you believe, but you can read the blurb below and I don't want to spoil your experience...

In the dream I am at a bus stop in Sheffield, where I grew up. I'm standing with my son waiting for a bus into town. This would mean nothing to anyone, even those who know me, but even in my dream I was alert enough to wonder what was going on ... You see, I've been able to drive a car since age 9, admittedly that first time I nearly wiped out a toilet block on a camp site with my dad's ford Sierra. Fast forward a few years and I passed first time after only twelve lessons. The point is I never take a bus anywhere.

It's a bright sunny day, the sky is cloudless, even so I am spending an inordinate amount of time just staring up into the blue whilst my son chats to me, and I give my tired responses. My son is clever even in the dream, he was talking properly by age 18 months, now he's 26 and far too big for his breaches. Much as in real life his enquiring mind always has more questions and I am quickly worn out, still staring upwards.

A glint catches my eye, then I realise it's a host of glints. It's easy for me to spot a hexagonally equi-spaced pattern. The glints turn to plumes of smoke high in the atmosphere and it's fairly clear that objects are descending around us ... But who or what are the objects. 

After descending fully, these objects begin to break apart and the distance between the original objects is closed into a new hexagonal pattern but much tighter. I already have my son gathered into my arms and I am crouched around him. He has seen what I am looking at, and is still asking questions. Repeated again and again, I cannot answer him, I am locked onto what is happening in the sky.

In the next seconds all motion is stopped and the objects have reached their final distribution pattern. A few more seconds and I begin to suffer a paralysing shock, as if I have just been messing around with a plug socket and bridged the live brown wire. More worrying than painful, I watch as everyone around me drops to the ground. Vibrations are moving through my body, and it's like my organs are cavitating inside me.

I pass out clutching my son ...

When I come round I am alone, all cars and vehicles are stopped, crashed everywhere. It is obvious that everyone was affected. I remember that I was stood with my son, but he is no longer with me, and I start walking then running for cover as I realise the objects are powered craft. Now much lower, the odd green flashes of light hint that I was not the only person to survive, but survivors are being picked off one by one.

This is where I woke up the third time I had the dream / nightmare. The first time I woke up at the point the shock was applied, sweating and breathing fast. I have a lot of weird dreams, the worst always involve me in a maze listening to my partner screaming, but me unable to get to her; disturbing I know. But after the third time of waking up in as many months, with the dream moving further and the details becoming more vivid, I spoke to my girlfriend and declared I was going to write it down. That's exactly what I did ... 

After I had filled a page and half with half-assed narrative and jumbled thoughts, I had to stop. My first bout of writer's block, so soon. This was a set back for sure. I had to stop, and think. While the dream was disturbing and annoying in equal measure, a story it was not. I began to think of all the shortfalls, the holes I would have to fill.

1) In my dream, I was just a man. Not a military man, just a father with a can do attitude. I can't fly jets, I can't load bombs onto jets.

2) I was alone, all the other survivors didn't last long ... How much can one man plausibly do to stave off global invasion from an advanced species?

3) My motive was clear, revenge for my dead son and though it was never confirmed, my girlfriend. (No even in my dream I wasn't married ... Shocker!). But was this motive enough?

What I did was begin to spin a tale about a man who wanders the world, but is drawn to reach a certain place in the heart of Europe. He's only a man but he has the smarts to pilot a boat across the channel and hot wire a car to get to where he is going. When he gets there he realises he is not the only one who survived and made it this far. He's been chosen, along with everyone else to receive special training. In fact this training has already been given to him, he doesn't know but he is an abductee. Every three years since birth. During each visit, his health was monitored and his system was bolstered ready for this time. Here I was stuck again. 

Can 1000 chosen ones, fight off an advanced alien species with overwhelming technology. "No" was the only answer I could think of, but I did write a little more involving an alien race which would become the circle of numbers. I had barely a chapter but I already knew I had to ditch the dream and start again. Zero Earth mk1 was born, and made it all the way to print. There was no launch party, no shouting.

As I read my author copy, I began to realise how far short I had fallen as an editor. I can't stress this enough people. If you have the willpower to write a book, but not the funds to engage a professional editor, YOU MUST LEARN TO SPEAK ENGLISH PROPERLY. I thoroughly believe that writing a book breaks down in the following way:-

-40% writing, getting blocked and unblocked, keeping the story tight and putting it on paper or screen.

-5% Cover design. It has to be attractive and relevant to the book, I always try to draw a scene.

-15% Uploading to Amazon and filling out 3 hours worth of forms for tax, where the money gets set to etc.

-60% EDITING, EDITING, EDITING.

Before you start, I can do maths, I know that adds up to 120%, but that is the effort it takes to get a book finished properly. I cannot stress enough that editing is more work than writing. And I haven't even devoted any time to PUBLICITY, that's because this aspect takes up 100% (or so it seems), or a good portion of the rest of your life after publishing. But you do it ... You're a committed writer who is passionate about their story, that people need to read.

At this point I withdrew the book immediately and began again, and I am so glad I did. I added more of the villain, and more of the person controlling the villain. In all the story was much more complete, and way more satisfying. I broke some of the chapters up which were just too long and arduous. I corrected some of my language, which at best was notation and did not form sentences. This second, third and fourth look at my work, made the book. Even reading it now I find bits which niggle, but it must just be me as no one else has raised these points which are mostly typos and the odd mistake in grammar. I know this for a fact ... I would not change the story again, it's perfect now. (In my eyes, if nobody else's.)

The next "difficult" task, was the cover design. I wanted to create a hyper accentuated perspective in order to show the three characters at the start of the book. Literally this image will reinforce what the reader is absorbing. This involved some sketches, some 3D models of a German phone booth from the 70's, all jumbled into a mock up, followed by a retrace by hand, then the whole thing was pulled into my iPad to finish digitally.

I can say that having done the whole process myself, writing, editing, proof reading and further editing, as well as the usually delegated task of cover design all on my own, was immensely satisfying. Launch number 2 went much better, I may have even fired off a party popper or three ... The rest of the world is oblivious even today ... I have a day job, I don't get to shout about my book every waking hour. Social media platforms are confusing to me, though I can be found on twitter, and now here, my very own blog...

Log-line :- 

Zero is an enhanced human tasked with uniting the forces of Earth to help his employers repel their mortal enemy.

Genre :- Science fiction fantasy adventure.

Blurb :-

Super soldier, super spy … Alien odd job man.

Gray Albern, alias agent Zero is a busy man as together with his boss and friend Geyldian, an alien clone human hybrid, they attempt to prevent the human race from making leaps which might destroy the planet or themselves. It’s a mission the circle of Numbers has been looking after for eons ever since their creators the Devine evacuated Earth, moving onward a new home world.
Now everyone’s job is about to get harder still as the humans inadvertently give away the position of planet Earth to an old foe of the Devine.
In a feud which has run for millions of years across the cosmos, the Khai-mah are on their way. Their aim? ... To extinguish the Devine, their neighbours of old and expand across the universe, possessing all that they find and killing any race that would dare to stand in their way.
At a time when the cloned caretakers of the planet were just beginning to allow the humans to progress technologically at a faster rate, with the goal of shepherding the planets indigenous race toward an enlightened state similar to their own, news that the Khai-mah have found the tiny blue planet couldn’t have come at a worse time.
The humans aren’t ready, the care takers know what’s coming but they aren’t ready either having stagnated technologically since their arrival to planet Earth.
Only Zero can stand in the way of the Khai-mah, but he has problems of his own…

Book 2 ... Zero - Earth Fire was released on March 28th of 2020, during The Great Author Extravaganza on facebook. Another blog page will tell all who made it this far all about it. :)