Books by Conor

07/03/2024

It’s World Book Day, and eventually I’ll have something to show for it, but this year I’m going to use the day to celebrate some of the mini-illustrations for each chapter that have been done by Gitta, who lives in the Dordogne region of France.

How great are these doodles for ‘Mahdi & Mary’!

Thanks to your responses about trial reading Hallsander and Pelagos, I’ve now got plenty of you out there reading them, anyone else interested only needs to ask.

19/02/2024

TEST READERS!

The second draft of Pelagos is finally ready. It tells the life story of Barbara Hepworth in St Ives, parallel to Spintharus - an architect in Ancient Greece tasked with rebuilding the Temple of Apollo.

Barbara is experiencing the most incredible visions and dreams, featuring the myths and legends of Greece. Alongside her friend Wilhelmina, she travels across Europe to seek an explanation, and finds more than she could possibly have ever imagined.

Please send me a message if you’d like to give this 77000 word (almost 300 pages) novel a try.

I am also still seeking more test readers for another book - Hallsander - telling the story of a vanishing finishing village on the South Devon coast.

31/12/2023

At the end of 2022, I had written four first drafts and completed some of the work surrounding the text for three stories.

2023 has been a year of learning, and not rushing!

1️⃣ The decision to veer towards self-publishing

2️⃣ Second drafts of four books that have all been beta-read by numerous trial readers

3️⃣ The birth of a website and social media pages, that I do not update enough

4️⃣ A fifth book, with by far my most elaborate plot, halfway through a second draft

5️⃣ Content edits of three books after feedback from trial readers

6️⃣ I have a brilliant illustrator for one of my stories! Can’t wait to show off some of the images

7️⃣ A professional copy edit complete on that same story. It now only needs a cover, and then it’s ready to go out into the big bad world

8️⃣ Name changes to two books

9️⃣ More story maps designed, wordsearches created and parent/teacher guides improved

🔟 Trials conducted with children at Malborough and Loddiswell Primary Schools.

Bring on 2024! I hope I have more things to shout about in 12 months time…

18/09/2023

Go the independent authors out there fighting against the tide! 🎉

The majority of celeb offerings are clunkily told with generic themes — but they appeal to the adults who buy the books

08/09/2023

3000 more words edited of the Boscastle tale today! Step by step…

28/08/2023

I’m in France for a few days, laptop free! Though I found the perfect book that I can both relax with and use as a source of knowledge for a later draft of my fifth tale, Pelagos.

It’s frustrating to walk into any bookstore and see celebrity authors dominating fiction aisles, with many ghost writers behind those projects not getting the credit. Though for the likes of Richard Osman and Stephen Fry I’ll make an exception!

Fry’s retelling of the Greek myths from the very beginning is offering me new insight into the world of Titans and Gods that I tried to tap into for Pelagos, and will make my second draft of that book later in the year more accurate and interesting!

15/08/2023

This time last year I was well on my way with the first draft of my first book. Having just left teaching, it was as much of a healing exercise than a serious project.

At the time, I wondered if it might be possible to have published something within twelve months. Though thank goodness I didn’t…

I’m not ashamed to say that the first draft of my Boscastle story was 💩. No wonder so many of my trial readers never finished it!

Though now here I am, in a new house with an astonishing view, doing my best to content edit that same story to a similar standard as all of the others. Out goes a lot of the needless guff. In comes more witchcraft, more tension and a shorter build up towards the story’s more exciting moments!

25/07/2023

Things are taking their time! Not quite to the extent of George RR Martin, but I do now sympathise with the fact it’s taken him 12 years (and counting!) to complete his next novel. It’s got to have a better ending than the TV show, after all.

I’ve been doing a fair amount of tutoring lately. All while moving into a new house, amongst other significant things 🍼

So here’s an overview of where I’m up to:

*There will be 5 stories.
*The plan is for most of them to be an option for schools in the 2024/25 school year.
*Red Mist has finished it’s content edit and is now in the copy editing stage.
*Fossil of Power has a new name! It’s going to be called ‘Mahdi and Mary’ and is currently being content edited.
*Witches of Boscastle is to be content edited in August.
*Hallsander is being beta-read by about 8 people, feedback pending
*Pelagos will get a second draft before the end of the year.

I also plan on improving my website, working on book covers and adding illustrations!

It’s a big challenge, but eventually these stories will see the light of day and will be much improved from their first drafts. In the meantime, here’s a photo of where I now live. Not too bad, right?

CM

17/05/2023

I’m now taking expressions of interest for people to test read my first full sized novel, aimed at KS3 children but also suitable for older primary students and adults.

The village of Hallsands is under threat. Their beach is being stolen and they are powerless to stop it. As the sea edges closer to their homes, two young women take up the fight against the men of power, in a true story of injustice and determination against the odds.

It is 74,000 words long, and in an improvement from my previous texts, the PDF version is now much more reader friendly!

Please send me a message if you’d like to get reading!

21/04/2023

To my test readers,

Still struggling to download your link onto Kindle? These instructions may prove useful. Give them a go if you haven't already!

Thank you for taking the time to offer to be a test reader. In order to gain the best experience, you should try downloading the text onto Kindle. My email or Facebook message will have contained a…

13/04/2023

I’ve finished another first draft!

It’s called Pelagos, and is going to be part of my collection.

Let me take you on a journey through the life of Barbara Hepworth. The great sculptor of St Ives! Escaping war doomed London before the first bombs, she finds solace within a community of artists in Cornwall’s most colourful town.

However strange dreams and thrilling visions make her curious. Do they all mean something?

Running parallel to the tale of Barbara is the story of Apollo and the architect Spintharus, who meet under the doom of a different war. King Philip of Macedon seeks to unite and rule Greece’s armies, but really it’s the Gods of Olympus who pull the strings, as they try to drive their citizens towards the light or darkness.

It’s going to be a mammoth read at around 72,000 words, but it’s by far the most expansive story I’ve tried to tell so far.

Might be ready for test reading in the summer, with an aim of publishing this one at some point next year!

10/03/2023

NEW MAPS!

Had a creative morning yesterday and produced these maps for The Witches of Boscastle.

Thanks to all of my test readers! Up to 34 different adults or children have already offered to experience one of my three books that are ready to be critically reviewed. All feedback is collected, which will lead to one final edit before going off to a professional copy editor.

Each piece of feedback is a small step towards the ultimate goal of publication and getting my stories into schools!