Official Review: The Ballad of Sidney Hill by Khali Raymond

[TammyO]

Thanks. Steve. Yes. It really was. The plot is really good. I expect to see many more novels by this young author.

[khaliofficial]

I just dropped my second book, "The Undocumented Struggle". As soon as it gets approved for distribution, it will be requested for review soon. Also, I writ a sequel to "The Ballad of Sidney Hill", which will be here in October. Then again, I'm working on a fourth book which will probably come out next year maybe.

[PashaRu]

Thanks for the review, Tammy! Sounds like a fair assessment of the book. Too bad the ending felt rushed.

[TammyO]

I just dropped my second book, "The Undocumented Struggle". As soon as it gets approved for distribution, it will be requested for review soon. Also, I writ a sequel to "The Ballad of Sidney Hill", which will be here in October. Then again, I'm working on a fourth book which will probably come out next year maybe.

Khali, that is very impressive! Good luck with your new books. I would love to read them all. Also, I am very happy that you decided to do a sequel to "The Ballad of Sidney Hill." It sounds like you have been extremely busy; you must be so excited. Congratulations! And thanks for the update.

-- 02 Mar 2015, 12:15 --

Thanks for the review, Tammy! Sounds like a fair assessment of the book. Too bad the ending felt rushed.

Thanks, Pasha. There is now a new, revised 4th edition out. I am really excited to see what the author has done with it.

[khaliofficial]

I just dropped my second book, "The Undocumented Struggle". As soon as it gets approved for distribution, it will be requested for review soon. Also, I writ a sequel to "The Ballad of Sidney Hill", which will be here in October. Then again, I'm working on a fourth book which will probably come out next year maybe.

Khali, that is very impressive! Good luck with your new books. I would love to read them all. Also, I am very happy that you decided to do a sequel to "The Ballad of Sidney Hill." It sounds like you have been extremely busy; you must be so excited. Congratulations! And thanks for the update.

-- 02 Mar 2015, 12:15 --

Thanks for the review, Tammy! Sounds like a fair assessment of the book. Too bad the ending felt rushed.

Thanks, Pasha. There is now a new, revised 4th edition out. I am really excited to see what the author has done with it.

Yes. I also released the paperback of my first book and there is still some minor errors in the 4th edition eBook and I will revise it up to par with the paperback. You will love the sequel, my second book and the fourth one that is currently under development. I'm making lots of moves to help strengthen my author portfolio and to become critically acclaimed soon. Look forward to sharing my work with everyone.

[TammyO]

Khali, where did the characters come from in your book "The Ballad of Sidney Hill" they were quite colorful and very interesting.. How did you come up with them? Are these people you know personally? Or are they completely made up characters? I am really fascinated by them. If you wish to share, I'd really love to know.

[khaliofficial]

Khali, where did the characters come from in your book "The Ballad of Sidney Hill" they were quite colorful and very interesting.. How did you come up with them? Are these people you know personally? Or are they completely made up characters? I am really fascinated by them. If you wish to share, I'd really love to know.

To say, it depends. In some way, I did base them off people I know/knew over the years. Mainly a like tribute to what happens in my community. Crime and poverty is common from where I live and the people around me were based upon that setting directly but indirectly. I don't know really, character development is the least hardest task for me when writing. My weakness is keeping the flow of the plot structured. I don't preplan, I kl just write it and expand upon it. I believe I do rush my stories too much, especially in the end. I believe that I have a writing style like any other instead of following other authors, my book is more dialogue and character driven, so it may come off as me rushing my work. But, I believe I have so many thoughts that I just break the bars and throw them out there and it may sound unrealistic at times, but it's fiction, right? I like to go ahead and move fast in my opinion, I'm a speed oriented writer.

[TammyO]

Yes, absolutely. You have your own unique style; and that is a wonderful quality. Fiction is indeed wonderful in that way, we can create whatever world we wish to imagine. I happen to love your style, so please don't change anything. There are many individuals who appreciate a faster paced novel. So there is absolutely nothing wrong with that style of writing. Thank you, Khali, for sharing that with me. And again, I love your characters and I can't wait to see what happens to them in the sequel.

[khaliofficial]

Yes, absolutely. You have your own unique style; and that is a wonderful quality. Fiction is indeed wonderful in that way, we can create whatever world wish to imagine. I happen to love your style, so please don't change anything. There are many individuals who appreciate a faster paced novel. So there is absolutely nothing wrong with that style of writing. Thank you, Khali, for sharing that with me. And again, I love your characters and I can't wait to see what happens to them in the sequel.

No problem. I believe when I soon get people to read my work that they will realize that I write at a fast pace and things happen all at once. I will stick to my style and I believe my depth of the dialogue and my characters will make the plot richer. Not too many authors do that with their books, they just put in characters and tell the story. For me its different. I make sure my character comes first and the plot will center based upon the actions of the character.

[TammyO]

That is a very interesting approach. It also makes sense, because once you have your character and determine what type of voice they will have, you can then focus on the plot. You might consider what this character would do in a particular situation or how they would say certain things etc. You could even decide what type of situations to place them in.

An author once told me that he has written his ending first in some of his books. That must be even harder, I would think. Have you ever done this? What do you think about this idea?

[khaliofficial]

That is a very interesting approach. It also makes sense, because once you have your character and determine what type of voice they will have, you can then focus on the plot. You might consider what this character would do in a particular situation or how they would say certain things etc. You could even decide what type of situations to place them in.

An author once told me that he has written his ending first in some of his books. That must be even harder, I would think. Have you ever done this? What do you think about this idea?

I have never written the ending first, then the book. I mean I do share your same opinion; Writing the ending first is harder. I just write the story then the ending comes to mind. I mean its not a bad idea but I never done it.

[debo9967]

Well detailed review. Seems like an interesting storyline.

[khaliofficial]

Going to heavily revising "The Ballad of Sidney Hill." I still have errors and its like when I fix one thing, something else pops up. The paperback is on good footing, but the eBook is in peril. I will read the book page by page to check for errors and will extensively fix them. Its such a large book, Its hard to keep up with what mistakes made... But I will fix them.

[TammyO]

Well detailed review. Seems like an interesting storyline.

Thank you, Debo. The storyline is very interesting. The characters are also colorful and very unique. I was very drawn to them and their situation. The author is currently working on a sequel. I cannot wait to see what happens to these characters and how they resolve their issues.

-- 10 Mar 2015, 00:06 --

Going to heavily revising "The Ballad of Sidney Hill." I still have errors and its like when I fix one thing, something else pops up. The paperback is on good footing, but the eBook is in peril. I will read the book page by page to check for errors and will extensively fix them. Its such a large book, Its hard to keep up with what mistakes made... But I will fix them.

I wouldn't worry about it very much. I have read many ebooks with a few errors in them. As long as its not too distracting for the reader, it should be fine. Also, I had no idea that this novel was in paperback. That is really great. It should do very well. When was it published?

[khaliofficial]

Well detailed review. Seems like an interesting storyline.

Thank you, Debo. The storyline is very interesting. The characters are also colorful and very unique. I was very drawn to them and their situation. The author is currently working on a sequel. I cannot wait to see what happens to these characters and how they resolve their issues.

-- 10 Mar 2015, 00:06 --

Going to heavily revising "The Ballad of Sidney Hill." I still have errors and its like when I fix one thing, something else pops up. The paperback is on good footing, but the eBook is in peril. I will read the book page by page to check for errors and will extensively fix them. Its such a large book, Its hard to keep up with what mistakes made... But I will fix them.

I wouldn't worry about it very much. I have read many ebooks with a few errors in them. As long as its not too distracting for the reader, it should be fine. Also, I had no idea that this novel was in paperback. That is really great. It should do very well. When was it published?

I say I published it less than a month ago. I might revise that too in the future. The sequel will be great, I'm sure the whole forum will love it come October. I have a third book releasing soon. Its like 50 pages in length but its the quality not quantity.