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Christoffer Petersen

Authentic Arctic Crime books and Thrillers

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kickstarter

The Ice Breaker Quandary – free story!

February 24, 2022 by Christoffer Petersen Leave a Comment

Here’s the Author’s Note for The Ice Breaker Quandary. I think it accurately describes what you’re letting yourself in for if you read this story.

The Ice Breaker Quandary is a short story featuring Constable Petra Jensen. It fits into the Greenland Missing Persons series, but can be read independently of that series.

You might recognise some additional characters, but this short story also introduces David ‘Dave’ Bennett, and was written as part of a reward for a Kickstarter campaign.

One word of warning… given the nature of this high stakes story, Petra is a little more intense than usual. And if this is your first introduction to Petra, well… Yeah, okay, I’ve got nothing. Good luck!

The Ice Breaker Quandary takes the Greenland Missing Persons series to a whole new level of quirkiness. Normal quirkiness (and a darker tone) will resume in the next book in the series.

Filed Under: free Tagged With: greenland, greenland missing persons, kickstarter, petra

The Baffin Bay Stomp

January 12, 2022 by Christoffer Petersen Leave a Comment

I’ve been very fortunate to have the support of a number of readers who wanted more stories, so much so when the opportunity came to get “into” the stories, they made it happen. The Baffin Bay Stomp is one of those stories.

This short story features Luui, and a brave new character by the name of Graham Williams. In a nutshell, there is a death aboard a cruise ship visiting Qaanaaq, and Luui being Luui is aboard (naturally) and lends a hand (typically) to the local police investigation. Graham is collateral damage. 🙂

The Baffin Bay Stomp defies credulity, of course, but was a lot of fun to write.

Chris

 

Filed Under: Luui, short story Tagged With: greenland, kickstarter, luui, qaanaaq, short story

Throwing a logline

November 5, 2021 by Christoffer Petersen 6 Comments

When I lived in England, one of my friends called Beef (he was the butcher’s son) showed me how you make sausage. It’s true, it’s one of those things probably best unseen, but I’ll never forget him cutting the fat away from the meat he was preparing at the counter and throwing it, together with bits of gristle and other “stuff”, across the shop and into a sausage making machine. There’s probably a name for such a machine, but I was more impressed with Beef’s aim, because he didn’t miss. However, with a smile he confirmed that it’s true, I probably didn’t want to know how you make sausage, or more to the point, I didn’t want to know what was in them.

This little flash from the past is your trigger warning. If you don’t want to know how I begin my stories, then look away now. 🙂

One of the modules of my degree was Screenwriting, and of all the modules I took it is the one that has had the greatest impression. I use one aspect of it regularly, and always at the start of a new project, just to see if it has legs. That module was my first introduction to loglines, but as you might know, we see them all the time. If you are a movie-goer then loglines are used to help you decide which movie to see. If you watch Netflix or any other streaming service, that same logline is used to help you decide what to stream. In fact, if you’re like me, you might spend more time reading the damn loglines than watching anything, begging the question – just how helpful are they?

My answer is really helpful.

Basically, a logline is 25 words to describe the gist of a story, usually the plot of a movie. I use them to figure out if my idea for a story is viable, and – sausage making alert – this is how I do it.

The 1st Pass

I try and write my idea in 25 words. So, for example, right now I am putting together short stories for my Kickstarter campaign. I’ve already teased the idea to the backer of this story and revealed the title, so here’s the logline for The Ice Breaker Quandary (yes, icebreaker in two words):

When a nuclear-powered icebreaker’s captain threatens to blow the reactor if Greenland won’t help him defect, Constable Petra Jensen enlists a passenger to stop him.

That’s 25 words, with an assist by the hyphen.

I’ve written a lot of loglines over the years, but often they start around 30 words or more. The trick is to be economical with your words. In this example, I’ve chosen to “spend” three words on Constable Petra Jensen, but I could have used two words: a policewoman, choosing policewoman instead of police officer to save a word. The loglines are for me, so I don’t worry about inclusive language. Also, I could have written a middle-aged American passenger, but even with an assist, that’s still four words when all I really need is one: passenger. I could also have written When the captain of a nuclear-powered icebreaker…, but When a nuclear-powered icebreaker’s captain is more economical, using five instead of seven words.

It takes some time, but I enjoy the process of dialing in to my basic plot, and I’m not worried about details. They come later during the writing process.

I’m not using my loglines like they do on Netflix. They are just for me. However, many of my loglines often end up in my story description, sometimes with no added words. I try not to embellish the logline because all I want is the roughest of outlines.

I like to know where I’m going in the story, who with, and why.

Some writers might say that’s amateurish, and one should write into the dark, starting with little more than a blank page. There’s nothing wrong with that, and neither is there anything wrong with having a detailed outline of every step of the story including comprehensive character notes and world-building “stuff”. But it’s a bit like the sausage machine, for God’s sake don’t show anyone. 🙂

My approach – closer to the dark but with a tiny candle in front of me – works for me.

A quick aside – the original photo (inverted for the cover) is taken from my kitchen window in Qaanaaq, Greenland. And yes, that’s a nuclear-powered Russian icebreaker (icebergs and glaciers in the background), now used as an adventure cruise ship for folks with far more money than me. And yet, they came to visit me (kind of), so it all works out in the end.

Stress Test 1 (or several)

I used to have a lot of passes and a lot of stress tests. I don’t anymore. I’m happy with the bare bones of the logline, but I do want to satisfy the demands of the logline I picked up from the screenwriting module.

According to somebody’s rules, a logline must include the who, what, why, when, where, and how of the story. Six things that, if present, ultimately suggest that the story “has legs” as I put it. At this point I could dive into what each of the things actually means, but let’s keep it simple:

  1. Who is your main character
  2. What is your problem or conflict (or subject)
  3. Why is the reason why your character must act
  4. When is the time in which your story is set (often the most difficult to write economically, so I cheat)
  5. Where is your setting
  6. How is the way your character solves the problem, or not (I also cheat with this one)

If you’re wondering about what comes first, yeah, keep wondering. I used to think that was important, but honestly, each element gets points just for showing up.

So, continuing with my own example:

When WHEN a nuclear-powered icebreaker’s captain WHAT threatens to blow the reactor WHY if Greenland WHERE won’t help him defect, Constable Petra Jensen WHO enlists HOW a passenger to stop him.

  1. When is a pain, so I cheated. It takes far too many words to write On a blustery summer’s day in 2018 so I don’t. Nor do I need to know exactly when. I’ll figure it out along the way.
  2. What is my problem to be solved, and that’s the captain going crazy in the reactor room. Or is he/she on the bridge? It doesn’t matter. That’s something else I’ll figure out along the way.
  3. Why is the reason to solve the what. Petra needs to get a wiggle on if she’s going to resolve this problem.
  4. Where is my setting. Perhaps the easiest part of the logline, although for the story description I might add something like in Qaanaaq, in the far north of Greenland but I don’t have room for that either.
  5. Who is dead easy. It’s hero time, and Petra is a star. But I like that she is a constable, so I spend a few words on her title, but drop her Greenlandic name: Piitalaat. I use it plenty in the stories! 😉
  6. How is where I cheat to the max, often because I don’t know how Petra is going to fix this one, and I’d rather not know because it’s more fun to find out. Often the candle I’m holding snuffs out long before this point, and I’m trying to keep up as Petra puzzles it out and saves the day. So the enlists is enough to let me know she’s going to get a passenger to do something, probably putting their lives at risk, but … nuclear-powered icebreaker??? … I’m guessing it’s worth it.

And that’s it, sausage made, ready for consumption, or in this case writing.

I used to have very detailed notes for every project, but the more I write the more I like to be surprised. However, I still like to know if a story works before diving in, and the logline helps.

Chris

Filed Under: writing process Tagged With: kickstarter, loglines, screenwriting

Kickstarting Christmas 2021!

October 19, 2021 by Christoffer Petersen Leave a Comment

The Starlighter!

Taking a slight detour from crime and thriller books, I’ve got a children’s (middle-grade) climate change/community action/mystery Christmas book coming out this December.

If you’d like to pick up an early copy, please check out the Kickstarter page for The Starlighter.

The Starlighter was represented by a prominent agency in Finland, specializing in children’s books. However, due to COVID 19, the project stalled. I have the rights back, and hope to give The Starlighter a boost with this Kickstarter campaign.

Please check it out if you’re curious and share if you are able.

Thank you!

Chris

Filed Under: Kickstarter Tagged With: children's books, christmas, christmas 2021, kickstarter, middle-grade adventure, the starlighter

Lots of cheap eBooks … potentially!

September 25, 2021 by Christoffer Petersen Leave a Comment

The End of the Line Kickstarter campaign is now 108% funded! In other words, if more people jump in there will be more rewards for all backers.

Currently anyone backing the campaign for the rebooted End of the Line novel will also receive 5 short stories or “scenes” from the book, exclusive to the campaign.

There are just 3 days left and I love the thought of giving away books if we hit the stretch rewards. 🙂 But I can’t do this alone.

The first stretch goal is in sight, and if more people get on board then we have a chance of reaching it.

There are also some fun rewards left for those readers who want to get into a story – literally and literaturely – (that’s definitely not a word) and I’m looking forward to working closely with those backers of the campaign who are excited about joining Maratse and Petra in a story. (Luui is already taken, folks!) The reader will be a character in a personalised short story (eBook) and will also get their name on the cover with the tagline: “and introducing …”

Right, I’ve gotta go. Lots to write, lots to do.

Please check out the Kickstarter campaign if you’re interested and share it if you can.

Thank you.

Chris

Filed Under: end of the line, Kickstarter Tagged With: Constable David Maratse, end of the line, kickstarter, petra

99% funded!

September 19, 2021 by Christoffer Petersen Leave a Comment

The End of the Line Kickstarter project is extremely close to funding now, and then the real fun begins with stretch rewards! 

Stretch rewards basically means free books for all backers of the campaign at the End of the Line rebooted novel reward level, which is roughly $2 USD. 🙂

But even just on funding, there are currently 5 spin-off short stories for free for backers (at the level mentioned above).

Yes, this is a shameless plug for the campaign, but at 99% … I think I can justify it.

Please take a look if you’re curious, and spread the word if you are able.

Thank you.

Chris

Filed Under: end of the line, Kickstarter Tagged With: end of the line, kickstarter

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Arctic Images I

Ice fishing, Uummannaq
Sledge dog team, Uummannaq
Chris & Jane, Tanana, Alaska
Uummannaq mountain, Greenland

Arctic Images II

Main Road, Uummannaq
Nansen, Uummannaq
Longline fishing, Greenland
Chris & Ninja, Uummannaq

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