My new short story bundle is now available on www.kindlebooks.co.za. It will also be avaible on Amazon later as well as the new e-reads website as soon as it is ready. This book was born when I did research for a novel set against the background of the Anglo Boer War. I stumbled upon so many interesting characters, stories and events that it was and is impossible to include all of it in one novel. For me, half the fun of writing a historical novel is the research. While doing research for the novel, which gave birth to the above mentioned short story bundle, I realised how many aspects of daily life we take for granted. Clothes, for instance. The novel will span a period from the 1870's to approximately 1902. During research I decided to order two victorian corsets to feel what my female characters would when wearing these garments for the larger part of the day. Yolindie Bothaat Lollipop Lingerie proved to be of great help in obtaining the said corsets.
The research results: Although it is exquisite garments and tends to look rather sensual on some woman (that is those with breasts) it is extremely uncomfortable. Hard to breathe, almost impossible to dress oneself and wonderful for a rod straight posture because you will be poked somewhere if you slouch.
That being said - it is still and will always remain beautiful, sensual (if impractical and uncomfortable) garments.
It must have been stiffling warm in these beautiful undergarments. They usually wore the corset, and then a corset cover. Underneath the corset was worn a shift. Then came the petticoats! And only then the clothes!
Left: example of corset cover and petticoats. www.metmuseum.org
Two examples of . corset covers and petticoats. blog.theknot.com
exactgowns.blogspot.com Example of turn of the century corset cover
Ecxuisite example of lace petticoat. teacupcakes.tumblr.com
When you read the short story bundle or eventually the novel (or any other novel set during the Victorian era) I trust you will envision these lovely underwear, even though no mention is made of it and that this knowledge will enhance your reading experience and enjoyment!
I share with you an article which appeared on the ereads blog in March 2014. FEATURED AUTHOR: G.S. Du Plessis
G.S. du Plessis is the author of two heart-wrenching Afrikaans historical romances - Senorita Carmena, and Genevieve. Although these two titles are set in two very different worlds, du Plessis' passion for her work and her characters shines through.
Here she muses on being a novelist.
Lawrence Durrel once wrote: “It doesn’t matter whether you’re first rate, second rate, or third rate, but it’s of vital importance that the water find its own level and that you do the very best you can with the powers that are given you… It’s utterly immoral to be slothful about the qualities you have.”
This is good advice. Not only for writing a novel, but in everyday life.
That being said, I want to motivate myself and every other writer (and yes even authors!) out there to write. Somebody once told me that if writing is the first thing you think of when you get up in the morning and the last thing on your mind when you fall asleep at night, then you are a writer. In the words of James Scott Bell – the itch to write will not go away.
James Scott Bell (best-selling author of Breach of Promise, Deadlock, A Greater Glory, and several other thrillers) speaks of the BIG LIE that robbed him of his best writing years – the myth that writers are born. He comes to the conclusion that writing can be taught (quite correctly in my opinion). He was sure that he could not write and went to law school – and still – the itch to write would not go away.
And he did what I did, and I am sure many other novelists out there do. He bought books on writing skill. Because being a good writer can be taught. Red Smith wrote that writing is very much like bricklaying. You learn to put one brick on top of another and spread the mortar thick.
Not every writer will be a best selling author. But as Laurence Durrel said – be the best you can be with the qualities you have. Never insult your reader by providing them with less than best quality writing. Never frustrate your publisher by submitting manuscripts that are crawling with typing-, spelling- or grammar mistakes. That is unacceptable and just plain immoral!
The world of books and publishing is changing. We live in an era where self-publishing is possible. At the press of a button you have information galore at your fingertips. But being a writer is about loving books. Writing is about reading good books and bad books – if you must. That is how you become a skillful writer. And be observant of life around you. Charlotte Brontë wrote, “Novelists should never allow themselves to weary of the study of real life.” Wilbur Smith’s Publisher, Charles Pick once told him to “…read widely and look at the world around you, travel and live your life to the full, so that you will always have something fresh to write about.”
By publishing a book you are promising the reader something and you should never disappoint them. Mickey Spillane said: “Your first chapter sells your book. Your last chapter sells your next book.”
Do not try to copy other writers, or their style. Develop your own. There is only one type of story in the world – your own (Ray Bradbury). No one can tell your story the way you would. And write what you know – feel what you write. More advice from Charles Pick to Wilbur Smith was to “Write only those things you know well.” That way you are able (with your specific qualities) to transport your reader to a world away from his or hers. And that is why we (or at least I) read.
While you should keep your readers in mind when writing, you should really be writing only for yourself (Charles Pick). If a singer gets on stage, and is in no mood to sing, there will be no feeling in the performance. It will be flat and without joy. It will leave the audience wanting, robbed of enjoyment. If you write without feeling, or enjoyment, the reader will pick up on it and never read another one of your books. If you are lazy – usually this manifests itself in long paragraphs of describing instead of showing – you will frustrate your reader. No writer can afford to do that.
What is important in the end is to be read. (Joseph) Hilaire (Pierre) Belloc wrote: “When I am dead, I hope it may be said, ‘His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.’”
So go out and write. Aspire to become authors, and if that is not meant to be, remember if you
write you are still a writer. But be the best you can be. “For those who have tasted the profound
activity of writing, reading is no more than a secondary pleasure.” (Henri Beyle – French novelist, 1822).
My new short story bundle is now available on www.kindlebooks.co.za. It will also be avaible on Amazon later as well as the new e-reads website as soon as it is ready.
This book was born when I did research for a novel set against the background of the Anglo Boer War. I stumbled upon so many interesting characters, stories and events that it was and is impossible to include all of it in one novel.
Die bundel bestaan uit vier verhale, wat in
essensie veel langer as ‘n standaard kortverhaal is, maar baie korter as ‘n
roman is.Dit is lekkerlees verhale uit
die Anglo-Boereoorlog, wat gebore is uit navorsing vir ‘n roman wat teen die
agtergrond van dié oorlog afspeel.
Die
eerste verhaal, wat ook dieselfde titel as die bundel het, is gebaseer op ‘n
ware verhaal van waagmoed en heldedade deur ‘n jong seun tydens die
oorlog.Getrou aan die titel, speel
verraad ‘n wesenlike en verrassende rol in die verhaal wat die leser aan die
hart sal ruk en maande na die lees daarvan nog sal laat wonder oor die storie
agter die storie.
Die
derde verhaal, getiteld “DIE WIT ROOS” was aanvanklik vir ‘n skryfskool geskryf
deur die outeur as ‘n spookverhaal.Die
verhaal se samestelling is in essensie heeltemal verskillend van die ander drie
verhale met besonderse verwysing na oogpunt waaruit die storie vertel word
asook die lengte.Baie word gesê met min
woorde.
Die
tweede en vierde verhale, onderskeidelik getiteld “DIT IS NIE NET SOLDATE WAT
OORLOG TOE GAAN NIE” en“ILLUSIE VAN
VERRAAD”is losweg gebaseer op verskeie
brokkies inligting bekom tydens navorsing wat saamgeflans is in twee verhale en
gedramatiseer is vir die leser se genot.Dit het ‘n sterk romantiese inslag en gee ‘n unieke blik op hoe die
lewens van die gewone mens op verskeie vlakke deur die oorlog beïnvloed
is.
“DIT IS NIE NET SOLDATE
WAT OORLOG TOE GAAN NIE” speel gedeeltelik af in ‘n konsentrasiekamp en vertel
die verhaal van die beeldskone boeremeisie, Cornelia se liefde vir ‘n Engelsman
en ‘n Boer.Getrou aan die titel van die
bundel, is verraad ook ‘n sentrale tema in die verhaal.Wie sal aan die einde van die oorlog Cornelia
se hart wen – en wie sal nie die einde van die oorlog sien nie?
“ILLUSIE
VAN VERRAAD”speel in die Noord Kaap
(Rebelle wêreld) af en sentreer rondom die verhaal van Isabella, die
Afrikanermeisie wie se vader en broer rebelle is en die inslag wat dit in haar
lewe het.Sy verloor haar hart op ‘n man
– maar is hy spioen, verraaier of rebel?En wie sal die oorlog oorleef? Die spioen, verraaier of rebel?
The Publishers asked me to write an article for them on conversion, since I was not happy with the outcome when it was done for me. I started looking into doing the conversions myself, so that I could have total control over the quality of the endproduct. Here is the article I wrote on request.
How to convert your Word manuscript into an ebook
Gerda Du Plessis, one of our popular authors, decided to take the big step of converting her own Kindle ebooks and has kindly written an article to assist other authors with the process.
Anthony Powel, the well-known English novelist, wrote a book with the title “Books do furnish a room” (1971). I agree.
About two months ago, however, my viewpoint on this changed drastically. My husband gave me a rather peculiar gift – at least, that is what I thought at the time. A Kindle. I carefully tucked it away on my desk and ignored it. For a month. Late one night I realized I would need something to read, and remembered my gift. I opened it – and my whole world changed.
Here, in the palm of my hand, I held millions of books. No need to navigate my way, with my adorable two year old on my hip, through a busy bookstore and just pick anything before she destroys the shop. Here, in the comfort of my warm bed I could leisurely browse, buy and read a book – within a few minutes!
By this time my sister, however, was already a huge Kindle fan, with many books in her Kindle library. She told me about www.kindlebooks.co.za. After I browsed this website I realized that maybe, just maybe the editor would be interested in publishing some of the work I have done over many years. Great was my excitement when Ms. Volek informed me that they would indeed be interested in publishing some of my work – and then dread overcame me. The website clearly states seven items that should accompany a manuscript – all of which I already had ready, with the exception of one.
The dreaded conversion of a Word document to a .mobi file
To pay R 3000.00 (more or less) to a company to do the conversion simply was not an option for me. Luckily, however, my sister is an IT specialist, as is the wonderful Ms. Volek.
So I listened carefully to their advice, and here is what I did in the end (Taking into consideration that I work on an Apple MacBook Pro, not that I am sure that it makes a difference on what type of computer you work).
Build your book for Kindle conversion
Most importantly, build your book for Kindle. This is also the title of a free book on offer at Amazon in the Kindle store. It is worth a read. Building your book for Kindle simply means, in my humble opinion, that conversion actually start at the beginning – when you write the novel.
The most important step to take, I have found, on advice from Ms. Volek, is to select the option in Word under Format/Document/Page Setup/Paper Size – A5. And write your novel in this format. Whenever you need a section to start on a fresh page, use the page break option (not a whole lot of returns).
Since Kindle (or any .mobi file) does not have set pages, everything will run together, unless you tell it to start on a fresh page. Also only use the keys on your keypad as far as possible. Do not use the option “insert symbol”; rather use the so-called ASCII characters.
Other formatting
Use centering, not spaces. Do not indent the first line of your paragraphs - Calibre will handle all that. Set your paragraphs to Widow and Orphan control, and "Keep paragraphs together" - this will prevent messy half paragraphs. It will also make it very clear when you have very long paragraphs!
Use a standard font - Times, Georgia, Calibri, Helvetica or Arial are good choices. Unusual Typefaces will not carry through the conversion process.
Use Word's headings (H1, H2 etc) - these will not only carry through to Calibre, but will allow you to create an automatic table of contents should you want one.
Add an extra "return" at the end of paragraphs - Calibre can either remove double paragraphs if you choose to indent text, or add them if you use the "line spacing" options in Word to create extra paragraph spacing.
Remove all headers, footers and page numbers. These just create strange numbers and words scattered all over your file!
Since my manuscripts were already typed in the format required by all publishers, I merely changed the page size to A5 and inserted page breaks were needed and formatted the rest of the document to look perfect in A5 size. A Kindle page is more or less an A5 – therefore you will get a good idea what your novel will look like on a Kindle.
Beginning conversion
Many of the articles on the Internet refer to the fact that before you convert your document you must save it as a webpage (HTML). That did not work for me. When I started working on my Apple MacBook Pro, Calibre ( Calibre is the program you need to convert the HTML / RTF document to an AZW or .mobi file.) refused to convert anything saved in the HTM format. That is when I tried the rich text format. I thus saved my Word document as a rich text format (RTF).
(Editor's Note: if you save your Word document with images to Filtered HTM, it usually keeps the images. However make sure your images are small - not more than 9cm wide or it won't fit on the screen of the Kindle)
Using Calibre
The next step is to convert this RTF document with Calibre to a .mobi file.
Calibre can be downloaded from the Internet, free of charge. The new version provides you with more than one conversion option namely AZW, .mobi etc. We have however found that it is best to always convert to .mobi, since that format is compatible to all Kindles, whereas the new AZW3 is not compatible to the older Kindles.
In Calibre, under “look and feel” it is of paramount importance that you select the option “remove spacing between paragraphs”. This ensures that your text looks like it should, without ugly spaces between all your paragraphs. Do not change any of the other settings.
It is also important to save the book under the correct title with the correct author name, under author, because this is how it will appear on a Kindle.
To my relief it worked. I must say this only worked after I received many helpful hints from Ms. Volek and after I tried many different selections. Now it barely takes 5 minutes to convert a document, I can smugly declare. Though I suspect it has nothing to do with my computer skills, but as I said in the beginning, it has everything to do about how you build your book from the start.
Always Test!
It is also really important to drag the converted .mobi file to your Kindle and open it. Many times I find errors that I have overlooked on the computer when reading the manuscript on my Kindle. It is also advisable to open the manuscript on your Kindle in order to ensure that a little electronic devil did not get in the works and confused your formatting.
I can assure you that there is no greater feeling of relief and pride when the document appears as perfect on your Kindle as it does on your computer.
Since electronics are slowly but surely changing the scope of the publishing industry, keep in mind, whenever you buy or write a novel, the words of the English lawyer, courtier, philosopher and essayist, Francis Bacon. He wrote (in 1625) that: “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.”
Geneviéve is not a full length novel, but rather a novelette and was written as marketing tool and offered for free as an e-book to boost Señorita Carmena's sales.
It is also written in Afrikaans and tells the heartrendering story of Geneviéve during the Second World War. She is a member of the French
Resistance Movement during the war in the French town of Arromanches
and later St. Mere Eglise. As radio-operator for the maquis,
and later SOE agent, she is one of the
key persons in the Resistance’s activities leading up to D-day. The hate and revenge of a traitor
propels Genevieve’s life on an unexpected road. But will the love of two men, a
German SS officer and a SOE agent in the Allied forces, be enough to bring her
life back on course? Or will the revenge and betrayalof a traitor rob her of love and happiness
for the rest of her life? GENEVIEVE
is a story set against the background of the Second World War . Those dear to
her and her own life is shaped by love,
hate, revenge, betrayal and the human capacity to forgive. This story was also written many years ago, and was adapted for this purpose solely. If I must choose a favorite between this piece of work and Carmena, I select, without any hesitation whatsoever, Geneviéve. Even after I have written her story, she stays dear to me. The cover also is one of my favorites. Even though Carmena, which is available at www.kindlebooks.co.za, is still still a good seller, this novelette's downloads far exceeds those of Carmena. It may have something to do with the fact that it is offered as a free e-book, but in my opinion it is a far better piece of work. I love the cover of this book. I include hereunder a note from my coverdesigner which she wrote and used as part of marketing for her services:
Genevieve by GS du Plessis
This cover is designed with a 1940’s look for a novel set during WWII in a French costal town. The lady has a chic, no-nonsense French look, austere to suit the time of war and her position in the French Resistance . I added the 40’s “movie style” hand colouring to draw attention to her face.
I added the bright pink so that even when it is a tiny picture, it doesn’t look depressing.
The allied landing and the SS insignia to represent the two opposing male characters.
Although it is completely different, the author's two novels Genevieve and Senorita Carmina complement each other when they appear together.
Señorita Carmena was published as an e-book during Winter 2013. It is a novel that was written many years ago, while I was still a student and it tells the story of the young Spanish aristocrat Carmena De Marquida and her fight to live a life that she chooses, rather than be forced into an arranged marriage with a man of her father's choosing. It is a feel good romance, where-in she realises that one can never escape all forms of bondage completely, even though she manages to carve a life for herself as captain of her own ship. Once she meets two very diferent men, her life changes like she never expected.
Looking back on the theme, characters and setting I must admit that it is not something that I would ever write again. Sometimes, at certain stages of ones life there is a story or a character which you must write out of your system, so to speak. I guess Carmena was just such a character.
That said, I receive good feedback from readers who read this novel. I am thankful for that but mostly delighted that something I wrote ages ago still provides an escape of delight to readers to distant shores and times.
For the publication of this book as an e-book I owe my dear sister, Debbie Schulenburg many thanks. If not for her constant encouragement, advise and belief in me, this book and none of those that follow, would ever have been published.
Señorita Carmena is written in Afrikaans and at present only available at Amazon.com and at www.ereads.co.za.
