CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

  As Carlie Simonsen, I originally wrote this piece for the Dark Side Down Under website, six months ago, and we’ve asked her to repeat it here. Carlie writes mostly speculative and paranormal fiction for Younger readers, and very rarely hint at romance. She also writes science fiction ( Dear Tiger , Rocky to the Rescue ), fantasy ( Assassin, Not ), contemporary ‘reality’ with a twist ( Long Hair , Tag Man One , The Dog’s Way ), science-fiction-fantasy blends ( Spit ), and contemporary reality with no twist ( Legacy of Dreams , All Alone ) . So, p eople ask me why I write for a younger audience, and what they need to do in order to write successfully for that age group. Over the years, I’ve come up with the following tips, or rules: The first rule is DON’T WRITE DOWN: No one likes being talked down to, or having it all explained as if they are too stupid to work it out for themselves. Just write the story. Write to entertain. Youngers are *young*; they’re not morons, ...

The Theory When I wrote my goals for the year, I tried to make it so I could cover each genre I wrote in, at least in passing. Because I write in so many genres and under so many pen names, I realized I had to plan my time carefully. In doing that, I also realized it was not physically possible for me to have four releases a year in each genre for each pen name… at least, not while holding down a full-time job. So, I came up with a set of tiered goals and wishlists. Tier 1 is the minimum of what I think I can do. At the end of the first week, it seemed to be holding. At the end of two months, not so much; I’m way ahead of schedule, but I’m not producing new words <sigh>. Tier 2 was what I hope to achieve in good conditions. Tiers 3-4 were my dream tiers, the projects that I really wanted to do, but couldn’t work on, due to time constraints. So, every week, I planned to advance Tier 1 by a revised chapter or 1,000 words a day, Tier 2 was the same progression, if I could...

All Alone is a short tale about the trials of two children after their parents go missing while Christmas shopping in a shopping centre that suffers a bombing attack. Jason must look after his little sister Emmie when they find themselves alone in a city, in another country, far from home. Did their parents survive the bomb blast, and can they find them, or will they be stuck growing up in the care of strangers and never see home again? All Alone is the debut chapter book for tweens by Carlie Simonsen . It is currently available from Smashwords , and will shortly become available from Kobo, Kindle, and CreateSpace. First Chapter: A ll Alone The gun spat bullets at the night. Bark! Bark! Bark! Jason could hear it yelling in the dark. He could see the yellow flash every time it barked up another bullet. He slid off his bed and lay down on the floor. Bark! Bark! Bark! The gun yelled again. Jason heard footsteps outside his room. Someone knocked and ...

So, this week started out a little bit slower than I’d hoped, but that’s usually the way when you’re tidying up the loose ends of several tasks. Progress comes in many forms, and I’m starting to find that the writing is the easy part… but if you want to make a living off your writing, it has to be available for people to buy. Decisions, decisions… Tier 2 Goals Transcribed ChapBook15A—Dear Tiger from paper to computer. It gave me goosebumps… again. At just over 4,000 words, it’s now, or soon to be, available on Kobo, Kindle, Smashwords, iTunes, Nook and DriveThruFiction. Transcribed ChapBook14—Legacy of Dreams from paper to computer. At just over 6,000 words, it’s now, or soon to be, available on Kobo, Kindle, Smashwords, iTunes, Nook and DriveThruFiction. Backburner Goals ShortStory31—A Battle of Minds: revised, edited, formatted, covered and released. ShortStory30: revised, edited and formatted. ShortStory32: revised, edited and formatted. ShortStory33: revi...