Recording the Audiobook – Australian Gothic

For the first time in my writing career, I will be releasing an audio version of my upcoming novel Australian Gothic. This in itself has presented an entirely new set of challenges that I have enjoyed overcoming. I am unsure yet if the audiobook will be available at the same time as the print, but we shall see. If it isn’t ready, I would assume it won’t be too far behind paperbacks and ebooks.

Anybody who follows my site knows I am also a musician, and as such already possessed the equipment needed to record my audiobook – namely an 8-track recorder and a microphone, so this should be pretty easy, right? Well the first thing you forget to consider is ambience. Chuck a little reverb on your voice and it adds that nice surreal echo to it, but beware of background noises – cockatoos outside, the bell around our cat’s neck, cars driving past – all of which get picked up on recording. Being so time-poor, I figured I’d record chapters in my car when I got a moment, but the acoustics inside a vehicle are absolutely shocking, so that was swiftly scrapped.

Next came consistency across chapters; recording at the same volume, holding the microphone the same distance from your face, etc. Having a shocking Aussie accent too, can have its disadvantages (despite being suitable for a book titled Australian Gothic!) as our penchant for slurring words together as we speak is quite prominent when recording. Enunciate! Simple sentences took an extra second to consider and speak clearly and plainly. Mixing and mastering came next, cutting each chapter into pieces and removing the clicks and clacks of button presses, the clearing of throats, and finally – the last few spelling errors that slipped through the cracks! Reading your work out loud is the perfect way to catch errors, as your brain stumbles over a clearly misused word.

It’s been an experience, and hopefully the quality is up to scratch in my own lo-fi way. I suppose it is an authentic way to experience a story – having it read by the author, so to those who consume their books in this manner, please enjoy.

The Writing Process – Australian Gothic

Australian Gothic is my fourth novel, and also happens to be my most unique in a number of different ways. Primarily the biggest difference between this work and my other novels is the writing process itself.

Unlike my other novels, Australian Gothic was mostly handwritten with black pen in a notebook – not typed until the draft was complete. This was certainly an interesting way to do things. Normally I would type up chapters on a laptop, or more often punch out some writing in the notes app on my phone. Handwriting meant the process slowed down considerably, but also meant I could dive deeper into the sentence by sentence structure, and produce prose more akin to the vision I had for the work.

It also meant that I’d essentially write everything twice – once by hand then a second time typed – which caught a lot of errors and made the editing process much simpler. It should be said too, that there is something visceral and deeply personal about using your hands to create; ink smeared on my palm (I’m left-handed so that happens a lot), and sentence scraps thrown onto A5 pages that would later expound into greater ideas.

At around 50k words, Australian Gothic isn’t the longest novel in the world, and in all it took me three months to complete the first hand-written draft, a far shorter timeframe than my previous novels (some which took years to finish). Yet it is a novel that can be read multiple times; without delving into spoilers, there are things a reader might miss on a first pass, and a second read-through could garner more meaning. That is my hope, at least. As you read it, perhaps you might conjure the image of an unstable thirty-six year old man scribbling away in a notebook like his life depended on it. I’ve had a very difficult year mentally. This book is a little piece of my soul, out there in the world, and in more ways than one, helped me through a period of emotional growth that is only now showing green shoots. I do hope when Australian Gothic is released that people enjoy it, and more importantly, that it packs the philosophical punch I set out to share.

Chapter 1 Sample – Australian Gothic

Today I’d like to share the first chapter of Australian Gothic for your reading pleasure. Things are coming along and I hope to have a release date finalised very soon.

Continue reading “Chapter 1 Sample – Australian Gothic”

Synopsis – Australian Gothic

Last week I announced my forthcoming novel, Australian Gothic. This is a work I am very proud of, and hope to get many eyes on. It is a story of grief, trauma and overcoming mental demons. Today I’d like to share a little about the story through the synopsis below:

When Locrian Smythe’s father dies, he must leave Sydney for the family property in rural New South Wales to resolve the matter of the will. It is only once he arrives at his isolated childhood home that he finds himself plagued with the ghosts of his past, and is forced to confront a terrible tragedy that befell the family long ago. Nothing is what it seems as the line between memory and reality becomes inexplicably blurred. Meanwhile, Locrian finds himself enamoured by the mysterious Lydia, whose flighty charisma seems to conceal more than she would reveal.

A family saga spanning a generation, Australian Gothic explores the lengths people will go to protect themselves and the ones they love from the suffering beset by the indifferent horrors of life itself.

Click here to add Australian Gothic to your Goodreads reading list

Australian Gothic – New Novel Announcement

It is with great excitement that I announce a new novel.

Australian Gothic – the latest work by P.S. Clinen, will release later this year. I look forward to sharing more information about it in the coming weeks leading up to release day.

Until then, Goodreads users can add Australian Gothic to their ‘to-read’ lists by clicking here. Keep an eye out for pre-orders opening soon.