I’ll be the first to admit if I’m wrong, and I guess you can’t judge all agents from the mistakes made by a few, so I’m opening this up to debate because a few people have suggested I get an agent.
The reason I have not done so already is due to earlier experiences. Even 12 years ago I was almost shafted by an agency listed in the Writers Handbook who requested being paid around £100 to read my manuscript even though there was no detail of this in the handbook. I almost did so too (and would have learnt the hard-way) if it wasn’t for some timely intervention by a writer who said this sounded a little dodgy.
I’ve also found that some agents seem to miss completely what you are attempting to write. The Secret War is a case in point – agents out there didn’t want a historical fantasy-horror novel. It either had to be history or horror-fantasy. No compromises (not exactly original, is it?).
And when The Secret War did find an agent… £50 later for administration, and the agent disappeared off the planet with my cash and did nothing with my book (again, she was listed in the Writers and Artists Handbook). So I parted company, and thought why am I wasting my time sending four submissions a year to bloody agents who either don’t respond back or take several months to do so, charge stupid fees or don’t even get what I’m writing and would rather have formulaic stuff land on their desk? (Yeah, four submissions a year – another crazy rule imposed by agents who don’t like you to send your mss to more than one at a time!!!! I thought competition was a healthy thing.)
I felt vindicated when The Secret War was accepted by Macmillan, that perhaps I did have a decent book afterall, and historical, fantasy-horror was something that could find a home in a publishing group (indeed I flicked through all the rejection letters with a sense of jubilation!). Even better, I was getting published without the help of any agents, who to me, seemed out of touch.
But things change, and so do my writing needs. The Burning Sands of Time will be completed some time early next year, but I am entertaining having it “looked at” before I send it to Macmillan. Of all the books I’ve written, this is perhaps the most fragmented in that I‘m writing with many more distractions and it isn’t as easy to get the flow going (hence another reason for this blog entry - I’m going to cool it with the blog entries until I get some big news on The Secret War front as I seem to spend more time discussing writing than actually writing. I promised myself that once that happened I needed to put the brakes on this blog).
So as a parting request for the time being, fuelled partly by the last blog entry and comments on editing and agents, what are other writers’ experiences of agents and literary consultants? Are there any you can recommend, and is it something you consider necessary for all writers?
x
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Friday, May 26, 2006
Ask Matt, and Matt will answer!
Firstly, thanks to all of you who have asked those great questions in the last blog entry.
And so to the answers…
Sally Zigmond said…
Dear Matt
Any idea of sales so far of the books already published in the new scheme?
My local bookshops still have no copies.
Hi Sally. To be honest, I’m not sure about the exact figures of books sold, though I do know even before the first six books were launched in April they went for re-print due to advance sales in Amazon among other places. The books are actually selling above expectations so it will be interesting to see what the figures are after six months. I’m meeting my editor in October, and that will be one of the questions I’ll be asking.
As to your local bookshop not having copies… That is unfortunate. I know that WHSmith have not been very helpful in promoting the MNW books (indeed I haven’t seen one yet who is selling them). Waterstones, Blackwells, Otakers and Amazon (all of which sell MNW titles) are perhaps big enough to sell books from debut writers, but smaller bookshops like WHSmith and some of the local bookshops probably think they would do better to fill their shelves with bestsellers (which is a bit short-sighted). I’ll be trying to enlist the local bookshops here in Sheffield to sell my book as I’m a big believer in locally owned booksellers and prefer them over giants such as Tesco etc who would happily trample the book trade for a profit.
Sassyltmiss said…
Question: Do you think being an author cramps your style, ie, you can't really say what you think in case you upset somebody who then might decide not to buy your book.
Hi Sassyltmiss. I guess sometimes you need to hold your tongue. I’m not a political animal, though I do have views on such things, just as I have views on religion and culture. I don’t tend to air them too much because of the “Dinner-table syndrome” – that awful realisation that you have been a complete bore for thirty minutes or more while you’ve be droning on about the war in Iraq or whether Big Brother should be on TV. There are forums for such things, but I won’t shy away from debating stuff that is close to my heart and this blog, such as the whole agents/literary consultants thing which I have strong views on. I suppose this might upset some people (especially agents) but you can’t please everyone all of the time, and you should always be true to yourself.
Jenson Buckley jnr said…
Do you ever suffer from self doubt? Do you ever think just maybe you're a fraud? I know lots of authors who think this, even the successful ones go through periods where they completely lose confidence in themselves and their writing.
Have you suffered through the same, Matt?
And Sally Zigmond added…
Jensen: I don't know about Matt, as he sounds totally confident and sure of himself, but every time I get a short story into a magazine or win a competition I always panic that I'll never be able to do it again. I think mine is a pretty typical response. Matt is lucky. He seems to have been born without that self-doubt gene!
Ah, the self doubt gene, and yes I also have it. However, in my case it’s not really about self-doubt, more about determination. Compared to some, 13 years of trying to get published is not that long (I’ve written six books in that period). Over that time I’ve hit brick-wall after brick-wall, and after so many rejections, your confidence slips and self-doubt creeps in. The only things that kept me going was the support from people around me and the determination that I would keep writing until someone in the industry told me to stop.
From other writers, I discovered half of being published is purely down to luck: that the right person at the right time reads a book you’ve written at the right moment in history. The other half is down to talent. I always hoped that one day I would be lucky enough for someone to spot me, or at least tell me if I was wasting my time.
I think self-doubt is also down to how you perceive yourself. I think of myself as a storyteller, and I suppose that’s all. I’m not a philosopher, nor do I think my opinions will change the world, and if anyone takes an opinion or philosophy from my book and raves about it, then hey, I can go with that – but it wasn’t my intention.
In terms of my imagination and my ability to plot well, I have no self-doubt at all. I am lucky that I have a vivid and fertile imagination (though it does mean a few restless nights!) and I seem to come up with original plots on a whim (though this could be a bi-product of my “youth” and it might dry up at any time!). In terms of the actual writing, I’m still learning like all authors do, and sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t – call that self-doubt if you will. As long as I don’t sell the reader short and churn out something I think is second rate, then I can be confident I’m doing my best.
However, I think sometimes some self-doubt can be a good thing – it stops a writer from feeling arrogant and allows them to grow (as long as they don’t become obsessed by fears of textual self-loathing!).
Carol Mcnee said…
I just wondered how your other half coped with all the time you must spend writing.
Hi Carol. To answer your question, my wife understands my writing needs!
When we first met I had been writing for quite a few years, and during the first year together I spent three months out of work to write a book, so she is used to me locking myself away for an hour or so a day to write. I’m lucky that I have a switch-off/switch-on imagination a lot of writers dream of, and it only takes a few minutes to kick-start it – so I generally write on my lap-top at work during my lunch break. I can usually write about 1,000 words in 30-40 mins and it keeps my evenings and weekends free. If I’m on a roll or I have some urgent stuff to write, I sometimes to sit at my desk at home absorbed in a two hour writing session! If we’re travelling somewhere to see friends or family, she’ll drive and I’ll be writing on the laptop again (marvellous things laptops, by the way, and I’d have to say every writer should have one).
This might all change once we start a family as children take priority – but with a bit of luck by then I’ll be writing full-time or at least part-time to compensate.
If there are any more questions, just “Ask Matt” and I’ll get round to answering them!
Have a good weekend all.
And so to the answers…
Sally Zigmond said…
Dear Matt
Any idea of sales so far of the books already published in the new scheme?
My local bookshops still have no copies.
Hi Sally. To be honest, I’m not sure about the exact figures of books sold, though I do know even before the first six books were launched in April they went for re-print due to advance sales in Amazon among other places. The books are actually selling above expectations so it will be interesting to see what the figures are after six months. I’m meeting my editor in October, and that will be one of the questions I’ll be asking.
As to your local bookshop not having copies… That is unfortunate. I know that WHSmith have not been very helpful in promoting the MNW books (indeed I haven’t seen one yet who is selling them). Waterstones, Blackwells, Otakers and Amazon (all of which sell MNW titles) are perhaps big enough to sell books from debut writers, but smaller bookshops like WHSmith and some of the local bookshops probably think they would do better to fill their shelves with bestsellers (which is a bit short-sighted). I’ll be trying to enlist the local bookshops here in Sheffield to sell my book as I’m a big believer in locally owned booksellers and prefer them over giants such as Tesco etc who would happily trample the book trade for a profit.
Sassyltmiss said…
Question: Do you think being an author cramps your style, ie, you can't really say what you think in case you upset somebody who then might decide not to buy your book.
Hi Sassyltmiss. I guess sometimes you need to hold your tongue. I’m not a political animal, though I do have views on such things, just as I have views on religion and culture. I don’t tend to air them too much because of the “Dinner-table syndrome” – that awful realisation that you have been a complete bore for thirty minutes or more while you’ve be droning on about the war in Iraq or whether Big Brother should be on TV. There are forums for such things, but I won’t shy away from debating stuff that is close to my heart and this blog, such as the whole agents/literary consultants thing which I have strong views on. I suppose this might upset some people (especially agents) but you can’t please everyone all of the time, and you should always be true to yourself.
Jenson Buckley jnr said…
Do you ever suffer from self doubt? Do you ever think just maybe you're a fraud? I know lots of authors who think this, even the successful ones go through periods where they completely lose confidence in themselves and their writing.
Have you suffered through the same, Matt?
And Sally Zigmond added…
Jensen: I don't know about Matt, as he sounds totally confident and sure of himself, but every time I get a short story into a magazine or win a competition I always panic that I'll never be able to do it again. I think mine is a pretty typical response. Matt is lucky. He seems to have been born without that self-doubt gene!
Ah, the self doubt gene, and yes I also have it. However, in my case it’s not really about self-doubt, more about determination. Compared to some, 13 years of trying to get published is not that long (I’ve written six books in that period). Over that time I’ve hit brick-wall after brick-wall, and after so many rejections, your confidence slips and self-doubt creeps in. The only things that kept me going was the support from people around me and the determination that I would keep writing until someone in the industry told me to stop.
From other writers, I discovered half of being published is purely down to luck: that the right person at the right time reads a book you’ve written at the right moment in history. The other half is down to talent. I always hoped that one day I would be lucky enough for someone to spot me, or at least tell me if I was wasting my time.
I think self-doubt is also down to how you perceive yourself. I think of myself as a storyteller, and I suppose that’s all. I’m not a philosopher, nor do I think my opinions will change the world, and if anyone takes an opinion or philosophy from my book and raves about it, then hey, I can go with that – but it wasn’t my intention.
In terms of my imagination and my ability to plot well, I have no self-doubt at all. I am lucky that I have a vivid and fertile imagination (though it does mean a few restless nights!) and I seem to come up with original plots on a whim (though this could be a bi-product of my “youth” and it might dry up at any time!). In terms of the actual writing, I’m still learning like all authors do, and sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t – call that self-doubt if you will. As long as I don’t sell the reader short and churn out something I think is second rate, then I can be confident I’m doing my best.
However, I think sometimes some self-doubt can be a good thing – it stops a writer from feeling arrogant and allows them to grow (as long as they don’t become obsessed by fears of textual self-loathing!).
Carol Mcnee said…
I just wondered how your other half coped with all the time you must spend writing.
Hi Carol. To answer your question, my wife understands my writing needs!
When we first met I had been writing for quite a few years, and during the first year together I spent three months out of work to write a book, so she is used to me locking myself away for an hour or so a day to write. I’m lucky that I have a switch-off/switch-on imagination a lot of writers dream of, and it only takes a few minutes to kick-start it – so I generally write on my lap-top at work during my lunch break. I can usually write about 1,000 words in 30-40 mins and it keeps my evenings and weekends free. If I’m on a roll or I have some urgent stuff to write, I sometimes to sit at my desk at home absorbed in a two hour writing session! If we’re travelling somewhere to see friends or family, she’ll drive and I’ll be writing on the laptop again (marvellous things laptops, by the way, and I’d have to say every writer should have one).
This might all change once we start a family as children take priority – but with a bit of luck by then I’ll be writing full-time or at least part-time to compensate.
If there are any more questions, just “Ask Matt” and I’ll get round to answering them!
Have a good weekend all.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Ask Matt
Well, this week I’m going to cheat on the ol’ blog entry bit. Partly because there are no new updates from the Macmillan Publishing side of things, but partly because I want to concentrate on getting the old blog entries formatted and published in the archive on the left. I’m going to be quite selective on the blog entries, so not all will be replicated from the old blog (and the dates might be different as well as I’ve had to date them all from memory!), so there will be no cultural intermissions, and the personal stuff will be paired down. I’ve also lost the comments people have made on the past blog entries, so apologies to those have commented, and feel free to comment again if you wish!
And so to the cheating part…
Instead of writing a proper blog entry I thought I would open the floor to anyone who wishes to ask me a question about the writing side of things, or the Macmillan New Writing scheme and my experiences. I realise that those of you who have been with this blog from its inception will pretty much know everything I know about the whole experience, but it never hurts to ask.
So if you want to ask, just click on the comments button below and I'll try to answer your questions!
And so to the cheating part…
Instead of writing a proper blog entry I thought I would open the floor to anyone who wishes to ask me a question about the writing side of things, or the Macmillan New Writing scheme and my experiences. I realise that those of you who have been with this blog from its inception will pretty much know everything I know about the whole experience, but it never hurts to ask.
So if you want to ask, just click on the comments button below and I'll try to answer your questions!
Monday, May 22, 2006
Bye bye old Blog!
Well, I predicted it would happen hence why I jumped ship, but the old Macmillan New Writer Blog has now dissapeared into the internet abyss, never to be seen again. I guess I should have imported the old blog entries onto the new site, but I guess that's yesterday's news. It also means I'll have to import my picture again, which might take a while as I'm still getting to grips with the new blog software at this end.
Thanks to all those who continue to read this blog!
Hope you've all had a good weekend!
x
Update: 23rd May
It seems as though I was a little hasty in consigning my old blog to history. The nice guys at Writingblock have kept the old blog entries and have e-mailed them to me. Once they've been formatted I will add them to this blog's archive as and when I get the time!
Thanks to all those who continue to read this blog!
Hope you've all had a good weekend!
x
Update: 23rd May
It seems as though I was a little hasty in consigning my old blog to history. The nice guys at Writingblock have kept the old blog entries and have e-mailed them to me. Once they've been formatted I will add them to this blog's archive as and when I get the time!
Friday, May 19, 2006
Don’t judge me, it’s just how I look!
Well, without barking on again about the cover for my book, I thought I’d raise the subject of book covers as a whole. I have poured over three cover proposals for my book, The Secret War, and knocked back the first two as they didn't hook me in. At first I thought I was being too much of a perfectionist, but really it's about the sort of person I am...
I am, for all intents, superficial to some degree (I’m fallible, so shoot me!) about what attracts me to certain things. I am a typical imaginative "magpie", into all manner of fantastical “shiny things”. To me, if the poster of a film looks great, no matter how crap I know the film will be in my heart-of-hearts, I will want to see it. Likewise for books. I love covers, and I ignore that cliché of clichés “don’t judge a book by its cover”, because I do. If the cover looks great, I will read the blurb, and then perhaps the first paragraph or two. But if the cover is as bland as All-bran, I won’t bother reading the blurb. I guess if no care and attention is spent on the cover - that initial hook to sell a book - then I guess subconsciously I think the content will be second or third rate. Appalling attitude, I know, but how many of you will admit that a decent cover sways your attention in the bookshop? Unless the book has been recommended to you by a friend or you’ve read an outstanding review of it in The Times, I'm certain not many of you will be swayed on a potential spontaneous purchase by a cover that looks like it was designed as an after-thought.
So if that’s the case, what are the best book covers ever designed… Or rather which covers would you esteem above any others? And did their content match the expectations from the cover?
For the record, some of my favourite covers are:
Weaveworld, Clive Barker (original paperback edition)
Otherland, Tad Williams
IT, Stephen King
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clark (so simple, so striking!)
The Worm Ouroboros, E.R. Eddison (not sure which paperback edition my parents had, but it was an incredible pseudo 15th century painting detailing one of the many breathtaking battles in the book!).
Dune, Frank Herbert (any genius who decides to design a cover that has laser-gun wielding sheiks next to giant sandworms gets my vote – loved this cover when I was a kid, so much so that at ten years old I tried reading the book!)
All opinions gratefully received!
Have a good weekend all.
I am, for all intents, superficial to some degree (I’m fallible, so shoot me!) about what attracts me to certain things. I am a typical imaginative "magpie", into all manner of fantastical “shiny things”. To me, if the poster of a film looks great, no matter how crap I know the film will be in my heart-of-hearts, I will want to see it. Likewise for books. I love covers, and I ignore that cliché of clichés “don’t judge a book by its cover”, because I do. If the cover looks great, I will read the blurb, and then perhaps the first paragraph or two. But if the cover is as bland as All-bran, I won’t bother reading the blurb. I guess if no care and attention is spent on the cover - that initial hook to sell a book - then I guess subconsciously I think the content will be second or third rate. Appalling attitude, I know, but how many of you will admit that a decent cover sways your attention in the bookshop? Unless the book has been recommended to you by a friend or you’ve read an outstanding review of it in The Times, I'm certain not many of you will be swayed on a potential spontaneous purchase by a cover that looks like it was designed as an after-thought.
So if that’s the case, what are the best book covers ever designed… Or rather which covers would you esteem above any others? And did their content match the expectations from the cover?
For the record, some of my favourite covers are:
Weaveworld, Clive Barker (original paperback edition)
Otherland, Tad Williams
IT, Stephen King
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clark (so simple, so striking!)
The Worm Ouroboros, E.R. Eddison (not sure which paperback edition my parents had, but it was an incredible pseudo 15th century painting detailing one of the many breathtaking battles in the book!).
Dune, Frank Herbert (any genius who decides to design a cover that has laser-gun wielding sheiks next to giant sandworms gets my vote – loved this cover when I was a kid, so much so that at ten years old I tried reading the book!)
All opinions gratefully received!
Have a good weekend all.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Cost of Letters
When I was a naïve soul, way back in my teens, I always dreamt of being a published author. My friends all believed that one day I would be, and they talked of the lavish lifestyle I would then lead, the big house I would own, and the fancy car. I bought into that too – because hey, if you got published you would be rich, rich, RICH!
And then I discovered that was not the case. Indeed, when a little book came out a few years ago, a book called the Cost of Letters, I realised that most writers were not earning much at all. They were not rich, rich, RICH! They did in fact need other jobs to subsidise their writing. And those who didn’t were worried about where their next pay-cheque would come from. Cost of Letters was a book that was both fascinating, but was so dream-busting that at one point I thought “why bother?” Why bother spending years of writing just to get peanuts at the end? Do I look like a monkey?
Well, I do enjoy the odd banana or two, but that wasn’t the reason I shelved the Cost of Letters (indeed I lost my copy while I was away in Australia). Money isn’t the motivation here, indeed you would be foolish (or young and naïve) if it was. It’s the writing itself, and then seeing it in print that makes it all worthwhile, isn’t it? Maybe that and the feeling and the knowing that someone, somewhere, is reading your book, either on the bus, on a beach, or tucked up in bed and is perhaps really enjoying it.
But I’m not a monkey, no really. And while money is not a guiding light to me, it certainly would open a few doors. Indeed, if I earned enough money I could even write full-time, and then I could finish at least two books a year, rather than the lonely one I currently manage. At least that way I wouldn’t have a note-book full of unwritten and incomplete novel ideas (at the moment without coming up with any new ones, it would take me about another thirty years to finish every writing project I had in mind).
So, yeah, money is handy. Especially as writing isn’t a completely cost effective hobby. Indeed, once you get published you have to spend money. Spend money to make money, isn’t that the way? Buy a website, pay for a launch do, travelling, travelling and travelling… So stuff costs. And stuff costs a lot for me at the moment as I’m a first time house buyer and houses in Sheffield are going for silly money (all I want is a house in a quiet area with a room big enough for a study!!!). So going back to the title, what is the cost of letters for me? Well in the book, it said on average a writer needs about 20k to live on, and for me a little bit more to cover the outrageous house prices in this country. Now to get that from my current one-book deal with Macmillan, I would need to sell 19,000 hard-back copies of The Secret War in a year. It doesn’t sound much if you are a bestseller writer (and that position would be very nice, thank you), but for a first time novelist and a first time house buyer, these figures and expectations do not meet up.
Poverty is one of those things that moulds writers and their writing (I have been in poverty, and yes it did mould certain creative skills, but it also left me hating baked-beans on toast for the rest of my life). So I know the difference between uncomfortable and comfortable living, and I have my dreams. But I am a realist, and I’m not a monkey, and no longer do I cling to romantic assumptions that I will be dining on cake and fine wine after I get published next year.
So, again to the Cost of Letters. It’s in the hands of the gods, or rather the people who buy and read books to decide whether I can write full-time. What would it take for you writers out there to be comfortable? And can you see it happening?
And then I discovered that was not the case. Indeed, when a little book came out a few years ago, a book called the Cost of Letters, I realised that most writers were not earning much at all. They were not rich, rich, RICH! They did in fact need other jobs to subsidise their writing. And those who didn’t were worried about where their next pay-cheque would come from. Cost of Letters was a book that was both fascinating, but was so dream-busting that at one point I thought “why bother?” Why bother spending years of writing just to get peanuts at the end? Do I look like a monkey?
Well, I do enjoy the odd banana or two, but that wasn’t the reason I shelved the Cost of Letters (indeed I lost my copy while I was away in Australia). Money isn’t the motivation here, indeed you would be foolish (or young and naïve) if it was. It’s the writing itself, and then seeing it in print that makes it all worthwhile, isn’t it? Maybe that and the feeling and the knowing that someone, somewhere, is reading your book, either on the bus, on a beach, or tucked up in bed and is perhaps really enjoying it.
But I’m not a monkey, no really. And while money is not a guiding light to me, it certainly would open a few doors. Indeed, if I earned enough money I could even write full-time, and then I could finish at least two books a year, rather than the lonely one I currently manage. At least that way I wouldn’t have a note-book full of unwritten and incomplete novel ideas (at the moment without coming up with any new ones, it would take me about another thirty years to finish every writing project I had in mind).
So, yeah, money is handy. Especially as writing isn’t a completely cost effective hobby. Indeed, once you get published you have to spend money. Spend money to make money, isn’t that the way? Buy a website, pay for a launch do, travelling, travelling and travelling… So stuff costs. And stuff costs a lot for me at the moment as I’m a first time house buyer and houses in Sheffield are going for silly money (all I want is a house in a quiet area with a room big enough for a study!!!). So going back to the title, what is the cost of letters for me? Well in the book, it said on average a writer needs about 20k to live on, and for me a little bit more to cover the outrageous house prices in this country. Now to get that from my current one-book deal with Macmillan, I would need to sell 19,000 hard-back copies of The Secret War in a year. It doesn’t sound much if you are a bestseller writer (and that position would be very nice, thank you), but for a first time novelist and a first time house buyer, these figures and expectations do not meet up.
Poverty is one of those things that moulds writers and their writing (I have been in poverty, and yes it did mould certain creative skills, but it also left me hating baked-beans on toast for the rest of my life). So I know the difference between uncomfortable and comfortable living, and I have my dreams. But I am a realist, and I’m not a monkey, and no longer do I cling to romantic assumptions that I will be dining on cake and fine wine after I get published next year.
So, again to the Cost of Letters. It’s in the hands of the gods, or rather the people who buy and read books to decide whether I can write full-time. What would it take for you writers out there to be comfortable? And can you see it happening?
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
A lull in things (but another pet project)
It’s all quiet here on the writing front. Indeed, it is all quiet everywhere it seems, with only Lucy, Shameless and of course, Grumpy Old Bookman, writing new entries on their blogs - see left for links. On the Macmillan New Writing side they are still tweaking the cover to the book, so as yet I’m not allowed to release it to you all (though I can’t wait to – I’m quite taken with it!). My immediate writing goes on with The Burning Sands of Time – I’m almost through the first half of the first draft, with over 50,000 words under my belt.
I have also decided to embark on a web-project for the new website. It will basically be an anthology of writing on the end of the world (the title is under-wraps for the time being folks, though if you happen to be studying at Sheffield Hallam University you might discover it, as the title is the same as my final year writing project in 1997, and should be archived somewhere at the university!). Originally the project was a collection of eight short stories based around the same catastrophic and biblical event that grew from the first story “Clare”, to the final tale based in a remote farmhouse in the Peak District. Without giving too much away, it was a homage to those old Romero films, but this time with an added twist that subverts the whole “undead” convention (and we’re not talking 28 Days Later here, nor the remake of the Dawn of the Dead – no, this is definitely more apocalyptic than either of these…).
I will be adding new stories as I go, and all the original stories need updating (they were good enough to get me a very high grade at university, but my writing has improved since then – and besides, here the end of the world occurred in the year 2000, so I might advance the apocalypse on a few years!).
I have also decided to embark on a web-project for the new website. It will basically be an anthology of writing on the end of the world (the title is under-wraps for the time being folks, though if you happen to be studying at Sheffield Hallam University you might discover it, as the title is the same as my final year writing project in 1997, and should be archived somewhere at the university!). Originally the project was a collection of eight short stories based around the same catastrophic and biblical event that grew from the first story “Clare”, to the final tale based in a remote farmhouse in the Peak District. Without giving too much away, it was a homage to those old Romero films, but this time with an added twist that subverts the whole “undead” convention (and we’re not talking 28 Days Later here, nor the remake of the Dawn of the Dead – no, this is definitely more apocalyptic than either of these…).
I will be adding new stories as I go, and all the original stories need updating (they were good enough to get me a very high grade at university, but my writing has improved since then – and besides, here the end of the world occurred in the year 2000, so I might advance the apocalypse on a few years!).
Friday, May 05, 2006
Ever written about a storm?
…They watched as the sea began to build, higher and higher, grey wave upon grey wave, until the wall of water towered above the masts of the frigate. For the longest time Peruzo could remember, the wave hung above them, smothering the dark sky behind it.
Then, with a thunderous roar, the wave came down and engulfed the ship…
I’m currently writing a stormy passage in The Burning Sands of Time, and the above is the first paragraph I have published on this blog. It’s a draft that will undoubtedly change, and perhaps the above paragraph might not make it into the new book - but I love this scene.
For me, storms are beautiful terrors. I love lightening and thunder and the raw power of storms (I think if I’d been born an American I might have chosen a career as a stormchaser – a career you don’t tend to hear about in jolly ol’ England). The closest I’ve got to a lightening storm was in Echo Point, Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains. My wife and I were doing the tourist-thang and taking photos of the Three Sisters when a storm swamped the Point. A lightening bolt came down not that far from where we were and the shock went through the metal-hand rail and into both Sarah and I. I remember seeing the bolt – as thick as my arm - strike the ground just in front of the rail by a couple of trees. The sound was awesome, like the fabric of reality had been ripped open suddenly and violently, and as we fled the Point for shelter from the rain that followed, I found myself gazing into the belly of that cloud - the colour of slate - hoping for another bolt to fall. We weren’t hurt by it – miraculously no-one was, though a few were really shaken-up by the experience.
Sarah doesn’t share my enthusiasm for lightening. In fact there are many I know who don’t, and while I love storms, I do have a healthy respect for them.
As for writing about one… Well I have never been in a tempest, but my imagination will be my guide for the one in The Burning Sands of Time. My hope is that I can bring the sheer excitement and terror of one to the written page, and sweep the reader away on those colossal waves…
Then, with a thunderous roar, the wave came down and engulfed the ship…
I’m currently writing a stormy passage in The Burning Sands of Time, and the above is the first paragraph I have published on this blog. It’s a draft that will undoubtedly change, and perhaps the above paragraph might not make it into the new book - but I love this scene.
For me, storms are beautiful terrors. I love lightening and thunder and the raw power of storms (I think if I’d been born an American I might have chosen a career as a stormchaser – a career you don’t tend to hear about in jolly ol’ England). The closest I’ve got to a lightening storm was in Echo Point, Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains. My wife and I were doing the tourist-thang and taking photos of the Three Sisters when a storm swamped the Point. A lightening bolt came down not that far from where we were and the shock went through the metal-hand rail and into both Sarah and I. I remember seeing the bolt – as thick as my arm - strike the ground just in front of the rail by a couple of trees. The sound was awesome, like the fabric of reality had been ripped open suddenly and violently, and as we fled the Point for shelter from the rain that followed, I found myself gazing into the belly of that cloud - the colour of slate - hoping for another bolt to fall. We weren’t hurt by it – miraculously no-one was, though a few were really shaken-up by the experience.
Sarah doesn’t share my enthusiasm for lightening. In fact there are many I know who don’t, and while I love storms, I do have a healthy respect for them.
As for writing about one… Well I have never been in a tempest, but my imagination will be my guide for the one in The Burning Sands of Time. My hope is that I can bring the sheer excitement and terror of one to the written page, and sweep the reader away on those colossal waves…
Isn’t technology brilliant?!
A long time ago, in a town far, far away, there was a kid who spent his days imagining worlds where monsters and people walked the same streets. His imagination was so fertile and his appetite for writing was so great that he began to write short-stories – dozens of them – on a bog-standard 086 IBM PC that his dad had bought for the family (this was the 1980’s so a PC back then was a big thing). There were stories such as Dare, The Vent, Night Eyes, The Twisted… and so many others, either hand written or in glorious Courier font.
Then came stories from his late teens - like Splinters and Across the Board - and finally short stories from the university days, including an anthology written for the 3rd year BA English course at Sheffield Hallam.
Eventually all the stories were stored, lovingly, on a new PC and printed into a folder called Tales from the Abyss...
That was in 2001.
In 2002, before I left for a six month jaunt around Australia and New Zealand, that new PC crashed and burned. All the writing I had stored on it was gone. I was lucky (and prudent) that I’d backed-up copies of all the old novels I wrote since I was 17 - but not so prudent to back-up the short stories that had now gone to cyber-heaven with everything else.
I was gutted. All the short stories I wrote since I was eleven years old existed now only as a single hard-copy in a dusty-looking file.
Until this week.
Yes, technology is brilliant. So brilliant that I have found a way of resurrecting the stories from the very printed pages of Tales from the Abyss. In the past it would have taken me months to type up those short stories, which I was always against doing (afterall, I would be losing valuable time that should be spent on new writing projects). But this is the future and now all it takes is a scanner and a nifty program called ReadIris – a tool that reads scanned written documents and converts them into word files that become fully editable, kinda like Adobe Acrobat.
So I’ve started scanning my collection of short stories, and while doing so I’ve promised myself to update them a little to make them accessible to an audience other than myself and my parents (who loved my stories, especially my dad).
Who knows, I might even publish a few on the new website if there is demand...
Then came stories from his late teens - like Splinters and Across the Board - and finally short stories from the university days, including an anthology written for the 3rd year BA English course at Sheffield Hallam.
Eventually all the stories were stored, lovingly, on a new PC and printed into a folder called Tales from the Abyss...
That was in 2001.
In 2002, before I left for a six month jaunt around Australia and New Zealand, that new PC crashed and burned. All the writing I had stored on it was gone. I was lucky (and prudent) that I’d backed-up copies of all the old novels I wrote since I was 17 - but not so prudent to back-up the short stories that had now gone to cyber-heaven with everything else.
I was gutted. All the short stories I wrote since I was eleven years old existed now only as a single hard-copy in a dusty-looking file.
Until this week.
Yes, technology is brilliant. So brilliant that I have found a way of resurrecting the stories from the very printed pages of Tales from the Abyss. In the past it would have taken me months to type up those short stories, which I was always against doing (afterall, I would be losing valuable time that should be spent on new writing projects). But this is the future and now all it takes is a scanner and a nifty program called ReadIris – a tool that reads scanned written documents and converts them into word files that become fully editable, kinda like Adobe Acrobat.
So I’ve started scanning my collection of short stories, and while doing so I’ve promised myself to update them a little to make them accessible to an audience other than myself and my parents (who loved my stories, especially my dad).
Who knows, I might even publish a few on the new website if there is demand...
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Thought Soup
I woke up this morning with what can only be described as a head full of “thought-soup”. You know the feeling? When you haven’t slept too well? When your mind is so chock-full of ideas, feelings, and quandaries that it feels like it is dribbling out of your ears...?
So what flavour soup is my mind?
Minestrone?
…It’s strike day, today. Everyone is on strike, and I want to be too, but it’s come at the worst time of the year. I have a stag-do, a wedding, my wife’s birthday, my wedding anniversary and a website to pay for. I can’t actually afford to take two days off without pay, even though I was shafted by this organisation. Yeah, I’d like to strike. But I can’t…
Cream of tomato?
…Two old university friends came up this weekend. Usually I’m starved of long, absorbing chats about films, books and writing, but this weekend I’ve been doing just that, and it was wonderful. I miss that. I miss that kind of environment I had almost ten years ago when we would muse for an hour on perhaps a single line of a song, a page of a novel or a scene from a film. Yeah, it’s pretentious I know, but sometimes life can be a little more colourful with a little pretension. The only down-side was that one of those friends, a writer also, talked about how he has struggled since a teenager to finish a project and that he felt he had lost something important over the years that enabled him to write on instinct. That got me worried, because I very much write on instinct. I don’t always get it right, but I reckon it’s one of my strengths. What if I lost that...?
Vegetable?
…Ah the website. A vanity tool of self-promotion. But why not? If it sells books, then it is a good thing. Most websites are about promotion. They are trying to sell you something – a product or even just an idea. So I went into promotion overdrive and bashed out what the website should look like. Mel is a great designer, so I can’t wait to see how it looks at the end. It should be something special…
Carrot and coriander?
…All things writing never ceases to torment my thoughts for good or ill. At the moment there is a lull in The Secret War. I have my cover (it’s being tweaked) and now I’m just waiting for a further update from the folks at Macmillan New Writing. I spoke to the manager of The Place, the venue for my Sheffield book launch in January next year. It can hold about 200 people, and from the quick list I’ve made already, the attendees should be roughly about that number - but like anyone organising a big birthday party, I’m nervous about who will actually turn-up! Also, The Burning Sands of Time continues to be my full-time project, while I find myself scribbling down notes for Smith when I get the chance (on the bus home, in bed, in the kitchen, and even in the bathroom)…
Oxtail?
…I went to a 30th birthday party on Sunday – another old university friend. She has a new baby girl who is only a few weeks old. She also has a daughter who is almost ten years old (I think), yet it feels like only yesterday that my friend was a student in Sheffield, with no thoughts of having a family on the horizon. Also one of our close friends’ daughter (again, very young - only a couple of months old) was rushed to hospital in London with a severe chest infection and it was a close thing – too close. If that wasn’t enough, this weekend I learnt that one of my best friends has lost someone close to him in tragic circumstances – and is understandably gutted. All three things put my life (and indeed this blog) into perspective for the weekend.
Blogs…
Writing…
Everything…
So what flavour soup is my mind?
Minestrone?
…It’s strike day, today. Everyone is on strike, and I want to be too, but it’s come at the worst time of the year. I have a stag-do, a wedding, my wife’s birthday, my wedding anniversary and a website to pay for. I can’t actually afford to take two days off without pay, even though I was shafted by this organisation. Yeah, I’d like to strike. But I can’t…
Cream of tomato?
…Two old university friends came up this weekend. Usually I’m starved of long, absorbing chats about films, books and writing, but this weekend I’ve been doing just that, and it was wonderful. I miss that. I miss that kind of environment I had almost ten years ago when we would muse for an hour on perhaps a single line of a song, a page of a novel or a scene from a film. Yeah, it’s pretentious I know, but sometimes life can be a little more colourful with a little pretension. The only down-side was that one of those friends, a writer also, talked about how he has struggled since a teenager to finish a project and that he felt he had lost something important over the years that enabled him to write on instinct. That got me worried, because I very much write on instinct. I don’t always get it right, but I reckon it’s one of my strengths. What if I lost that...?
Vegetable?
…Ah the website. A vanity tool of self-promotion. But why not? If it sells books, then it is a good thing. Most websites are about promotion. They are trying to sell you something – a product or even just an idea. So I went into promotion overdrive and bashed out what the website should look like. Mel is a great designer, so I can’t wait to see how it looks at the end. It should be something special…
Carrot and coriander?
…All things writing never ceases to torment my thoughts for good or ill. At the moment there is a lull in The Secret War. I have my cover (it’s being tweaked) and now I’m just waiting for a further update from the folks at Macmillan New Writing. I spoke to the manager of The Place, the venue for my Sheffield book launch in January next year. It can hold about 200 people, and from the quick list I’ve made already, the attendees should be roughly about that number - but like anyone organising a big birthday party, I’m nervous about who will actually turn-up! Also, The Burning Sands of Time continues to be my full-time project, while I find myself scribbling down notes for Smith when I get the chance (on the bus home, in bed, in the kitchen, and even in the bathroom)…
Oxtail?
…I went to a 30th birthday party on Sunday – another old university friend. She has a new baby girl who is only a few weeks old. She also has a daughter who is almost ten years old (I think), yet it feels like only yesterday that my friend was a student in Sheffield, with no thoughts of having a family on the horizon. Also one of our close friends’ daughter (again, very young - only a couple of months old) was rushed to hospital in London with a severe chest infection and it was a close thing – too close. If that wasn’t enough, this weekend I learnt that one of my best friends has lost someone close to him in tragic circumstances – and is understandably gutted. All three things put my life (and indeed this blog) into perspective for the weekend.
Blogs…
Writing…
Everything…
Hello and welcome to readers old and new
This is part two of the Macmillan New Writer blog. The first part was hosted on the Writingblock website, but due to necessity, I’ve had to move onto Blogger.
For those who are new to my blog, I reckon a short intro would be in order, so I’ve copied down the intro I gave way back in December last year...
“Dear (constant or unconstant) reader
I thought I would do a blog for my next book which I'm starting in 2006. I usually write a book every other year, but this year was spent on putting the "The Secret War" through Macmillan's tight drafting procedures. The next one with a working title of “The Burning Sands of Time", will be my first new book in over two years, but I'm sure I'll slip into it like a pair of old trainers - though this is not going to be a sprint, more like a jog to the finishing line.
2006 is going to be an odd year. I'll be writing the follow-up to a book that won't even be published until Jan 2007, and at the same time I'll no doubt be correcting proofs on "The Secret War" as well as being involved to some extent in the marketing etc of the book. In this respect I will be a first-timer, so it's going to be steep learning curve on writing, publishing, and being damned...”
For those of you who are interested, the link to the old blog is on the left there.
Anyway, hope you like the new blog!
Matt
x
For those who are new to my blog, I reckon a short intro would be in order, so I’ve copied down the intro I gave way back in December last year...
“Dear (constant or unconstant) reader
I thought I would do a blog for my next book which I'm starting in 2006. I usually write a book every other year, but this year was spent on putting the "The Secret War" through Macmillan's tight drafting procedures. The next one with a working title of “The Burning Sands of Time", will be my first new book in over two years, but I'm sure I'll slip into it like a pair of old trainers - though this is not going to be a sprint, more like a jog to the finishing line.
2006 is going to be an odd year. I'll be writing the follow-up to a book that won't even be published until Jan 2007, and at the same time I'll no doubt be correcting proofs on "The Secret War" as well as being involved to some extent in the marketing etc of the book. In this respect I will be a first-timer, so it's going to be steep learning curve on writing, publishing, and being damned...”
For those of you who are interested, the link to the old blog is on the left there.
Anyway, hope you like the new blog!
Matt
x
Ah, a new home
Well, I said I needed a new home, and here it is. Bear with me while I build it (just like moving into a new home from the old one, there's always going to be moments of confusion and chaos).
The link to part one of the Macmillan New Writer blog is this:
http://writingblock.co.uk/forum/weblog.php?w=6
See you all soon!
Matt
x
The link to part one of the Macmillan New Writer blog is this:
http://writingblock.co.uk/forum/weblog.php?w=6
See you all soon!
Matt
x
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