I have adopted the name of my 26th (or was it 27th?) great-grandfather as my pen name. However many greats grandpa used to run around with a fellow I like to call Billy the Bastard, who, in a bit of a snit one fall, loaded all his buddies up for a boat ride, stopped off at a place called Hastings to ask directions, got into a fight with the locals and won. Thus Guillaume Le Batard, Duc de Normandie, became William the Conqueror, King of England. Great-grand Alured was given a castle and some land in Nottinghamshire for his efforts, setting the stage for my arrival some 897 years later.
The stories I write are as much for my own entertainment as for yours. I'm a selfish prick that way. They are told from a male point of view for the simple reason I am male and don't presume to understand a female's way of thinking. I want people to be happy and try to provide that for my characters as much as possible, though there will be instances of conflict with the occasional antagonist. The stories will almost exclusively be boy-girl because I'm a boy who likes girls. I have no issues with the LGBTQ set and refuse to demonize such characters in my stories. As with female characters, I'll stick to what I know.
One thing I do know how to do is write a story. As arrogant as that may sound, I put food on the table for more than 30 years as a newspaper reporter. Because of that background, I follow Associated Press style in my writing. That means using numerals for numbers more than 10 (and single-digit numbers in certain cases) or using more than for an amount and over for spatial relations. Then there's the big one: NO OXFORD COMMAS! This sets off grammar teachers to no end, but it's how I was trained.
Keep in mind this is all fantasy. It's not the world as I see it so much as the world as I wish it could be. Feel free to provide feedback. I'll try to engage readers as much as the real world will allow. I think I'm secure enough in my abilities to handle a little negative input, but if it's not the story you want, go write your own.
The stories I write are as much for my own entertainment as for yours. I'm a selfish prick that way. They are told from a male point of view for the simple reason I am male and don't presume to understand a female's way of thinking. I want people to be happy and try to provide that for my characters as much as possible, though there will be instances of conflict with the occasional antagonist. The stories will almost exclusively be boy-girl because I'm a boy who likes girls. I have no issues with the LGBTQ set and refuse to demonize such characters in my stories. As with female characters, I'll stick to what I know.
One thing I do know how to do is write a story. As arrogant as that may sound, I put food on the table for more than 30 years as a newspaper reporter. Because of that background, I follow Associated Press style in my writing. That means using numerals for numbers more than 10 (and single-digit numbers in certain cases) or using more than for an amount and over for spatial relations. Then there's the big one: NO OXFORD COMMAS! This sets off grammar teachers to no end, but it's how I was trained.
Keep in mind this is all fantasy. It's not the world as I see it so much as the world as I wish it could be. Feel free to provide feedback. I'll try to engage readers as much as the real world will allow. I think I'm secure enough in my abilities to handle a little negative input, but if it's not the story you want, go write your own.
