I’ve decided to do this for two reasons.

One – people who register to this forum get new, raw poetry, often in all its 1st draft glory! At some point the poems here may see the light of day elsewhere, but not for a good, long while. It’s a reward for people taking the time to show interest in my work, and for taking the time to register to my forum, log into it, and comment. So thank you, one and all!

Two – I’m hoping my existing fanbase will decide to register on this forum and build the community on here. The forum has been underused lately, and I’m embarking on trying to build an online community here for people to just post what they want and have friendly, interactive comments from other members, including me. The aim is to create a ‘creative retreat online’.

So, pull up a chair, grab a cup of coffee, and relax and read the world of my secret poems! I’ll aim to put one a week on the forum.  Tall order? Of course, but then I like a good challenge.

Visit the discussion forum here.

Just a note to say I’m attending the Falkland Craft Market again on June 1st showcasing my books. Be lovely to meet you all!  It should be another fun event; the one in March was superb.

Again, for further details, please visit: www.falklandcraftmarket.co.uk

From its humble beginnings on pen and paper (when I was 16 years old), the finished product, released in 2005 (1^st edition), holds a plethora of issues:  the characters aren’t fully rounded, the ending is rushed, there’s an overpowering sex scene that doesn’t fit well in the book, plot holes…I could go on!

As such, it’s received very mixed reviews by audiences. Certainly, some of the reviews on Amazon US are particularly scathing (have a read for yourself).

I used to let these get to me. As a budding author, releasing a debut fantasy novel was always going to be a tall order, but back then, when I was younger and inexperienced, I thought my books could do no wrong. Criticism hurt back then, but not any more.

Many reviews, if they’re negative, can at least point to the reasons why the reviewer feels your work is lacking. These sorts of reviews are invaluable in the learning process of how to construct a better book.  I actively seek out such reviews, because it is revealed what the elements of the book are that make it…well, not so great. If more than one person says the same thing (such as your characters being thin and without substance) then you know what you have to work on.

Other bad reviews – the ones that basically are just filled with bile and vehement hatred – I can laugh at and discard. Unless the reviewer gives a good, structured narrative on why the book “sucked”, simply saying so is a matter of opinion, their prerogative of course, rather than fact, with no hard evidence to back up the claim.

I want to write this blog so that if any new authors are out there reading it, and they get disheartened by bad reviews, don’t let them get to you. At best, they can tell you things about your book you may have overlooked (or not even thought of). At worst, they can be ignored as someone simply having a rant. And, if you get mixed reviews, like I have with ‘A Wizard’s Tears’, you’ll also know that you have people who really enjoyed it, and this puts things in perspective. Even the most amazing literary greats get bad reviews. Not everyone likes Lord of the Rings, after all, but it’s not doing too badly despite this.

Keep at it, hone the skill; make the next book better! That’s my mantra, and I can only build on what’s gone before. I’ll never give up trying to write that ‘perfect’ book, and I’m my own worst critic, so I could be writing for an inordinate amount of time. However, remembering you’ve written a book (or several), is a pretty fine achievement, no matter how ‘good’ those books are perceived to be.  Give yourself a pat on the back, smile, and crack on with the next!

For further information, visit www.falklandcraftmarket.co.uk

For my first blog post of the year, I’d like to talk about the different structures I’ve used for writing my books. I’m sure most authors have their own way of doing things (quite right, too) and none of this blog is a ‘how to’ guide, it’s just a statement of what I normally do.

I say normally, because at the moment I’m writing a book in a very hap-hazard fashion (The Black Tree). I’m writing this one almost ‘on the hoof’ as I’m racing towards a deadline of March 2013 to finish this for the Safe Space Write-a-thon charity project.  It’s been a real joy to write this way, and the story has gone from tangent to tangent with whatever thought processes I had on a given day. I wouldn’t particularly recommend this way to write a book, but at the end of the day, it’s been huge fun and what’s fun tends to come across in the finished product. I’m proud of the achievement of writing 52,600 words in 6 months (almost there with The Black Tree, think I’m going to make it) and I wanted to do this project, not just to raise funds for Safe Space, but to challenge myself, just to see if I could do it.

However, my normal structure is a bit more strict than this. After the initial idea of a book (which is normally based around a theme – for example, my forthcoming title The Dark Shores is all about conscience), I then build up a main character. This involves some time in working out the background of the character, where they’ve come from, what they look like, what they are hoping to achieve, and where they currently are at the beginning of the book.  I then progress my book with my character, changing the way they think/act over the period of the novel so that at the end of the book, as well as the reader having undergone a journey, the character has too – and ends up completely different to when they started off!

Once I’ve worked out my characters, I then flesh out a summary of what the book wants to achieve (basically, what am I trying to say about the theme I’ve picked), and then work on chapter summaries, which showcase all the main events that happen, chapter by chapter.

Of course, along the way in this initial work, and, indeed, writing the first draft of a book, I get new ideas, or decide some of my earlier ideas aren’t good enough, or don’t fit with the overall story, so tweaks and changes do happen, but overall, the structure and bones of the story are adhered to.

What I do now (and this is why The Dark Shores is taking a long time to finish) is to go over my first draft, reading and re-reading it, and editing the book so that it flows better, bits that are integral to the plot are added, or embellished, and other things that are detrimental to the plot or just plain silly are removed. Currently, with The Dark Shores, I’m in this part of the process. I’ve added a lot more to it, and made it a lot more interesting as a result. It reads well (in my view) and when it will be completed I’ll know I’ve written the best thing I could have done at the time.

It’ll be interesting for me to compare The Black Tree with The Dark Shores, compare the different structures that made up the books, and see which one readers prefer! Who knows? If I find The Black Tree wins then perhaps my whole method of creating books might have to change…

After March 2013, I will release the book initially as an e-book in Kindle format, and it will be available to purchase on Amazon. There will subsequently be printed versions thereafter, although no timescale is yet defined for these.

I hope people will enjoy the book, which has been immense fun for me to write and to flex my creative muscles in a different genre.

You are my wind.

Floating merrily along, caressing my cheek -

Dancing in wisps of air along my body!

You are tangible, but often I cannot see you,

As you are beyond my reach,

 But always in my thoughts…

I am your rain.

Forever lashing at you in torrential downpour -

Droplets of gloom and watery depression hitting you!

I am tangible, and you can always see me,

I am forever in your reach,

But never in your thoughts…

…please, I want the weather to change.

(c) Craig Gilbert

Taken from the poetry book Spirit

Positively, I feel I’ve had a really good year – I’ve sold double what I sold in 2011, I’ve met some really exciting and interesting new people through events as part of the Fife Book Fair Association (Create at Cloud in Dunfermline is the most notable venue, where I read some poetry for the first time to an audience), and also through the book fairs/craft fairs I’ve done this year; I intend to build on this in 2013.

Furthermore, I’m currently writing two books: The Black Tree (a supernatural horror) and The Dark Shores (my second fantasy novel). I fully expect both to be ready in 2013 and produced in some form or another. The Black Tree is a very exciting project in that I’m speed-writing it to finish it by around March next year for charity, so that’ll be the first one out.

Despite some of the events not having a great turn out of people, and not really selling all that many books face to face (the majority of my sales this year have been e-books on Amazon), I’m not disheartened. The pleasure of meeting like minded people, of having interesting conversations and visiting new places has more than made up for lack of sales. I take each fair as a learning opportunity, to address what failings there were and to discover new places, new ways to promote, advertise, and generally market my work and that of others.

I’m intending to consolidate my presence inFifenext year, but also to look further afield. Places likeEdinburgh,Dundee, Perthshire, right on my doorstep, are beckoning. There is such a wealth of artistic and creative talent in Scotland, not just authors, but painters, artists, musicians – it is the perfect place to springboard my own efforts. I thank all of those who I’ve met this year for the fantastic support, and, with all the ideas I’ve got brewing, 2013 is going to be even more exciting than this one!

For more details visit Fife Book Fair Association’s website.