Now here's a question and one that affects some us here... If you knew you were never going to be published, at least by a major publisher, would you still write? Would you still be passionate about it?
And if you have been published by a major but never would be again, would your enthusiasm take a knock?
This is but one question that's come out of the World Horror Convention here in Brighton and before I post my reply, what are your feelings in this?
Friday, March 26, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Shards, Safety and Cascos
Rather than spit out snippets of news via Twitter (and thus flounder in the effluent of sound bites that Twitter can be guilty of – myself included) I’ve decided to post a couple of summaries on “what’s going on”, and perhaps explain as to why I've been so quiet and why "slacking off" is necessary.
(And if you want to jump to a news item just click on the link:
News on the Traitor of Light
World Horror Convention 2010
Warriors of God...
The Black Hours - just cast your peepers below and you'll find it!)
The Black Hours
On Monday I completed the 4th draft of The Black Hours. Essentially a re-write of the 3rd draft (there were some problems around pacing and the last quarter of the book), I'm very happy with how the 4th draft has turned out. It has a suitably bleak coda yet is reasonably optimistic at a character level. As a genre piece, again this is going to be difficult to categorise. It is alternative history with a hint of steam-punk thrown in, a little bit of horror, plenty of action and adventure with a dash of "crime". What there aren't, are any supernatural creations and in that the Black Hours is a big departure from the Secret War books. Nor is it episodic like the Secret War books, as the narrative flits from several points of view like an episode of 24.
In fact, this is perhaps how I would best describe the Black Hours: a Victorian 24, with plenty of characters whose lives are invariably changed by those events in late November 1892 with more twists and turns than a van full of… (well you get the picture…)
Still to come is a quick draft - what I call a “reader's draft” - that will remove any embarrassing inconsistencies that can arise when writing a multi-plotted, 150,000 word novel. This should take a couple of weeks during which I’ll be commencing the next project (see below) whilst making The Black Hours changes via my trusty iphone (and Stanza) when I get the opportunity.
After the readers' comments come in, there will be one more draft - the red-pen draft - and then it will be completed, finito, end of… some time at the end of the year.
So there you go. I'm on track and pleased with what I've got so far. All I need now is someone who will publish it in English!
(And if you want to jump to a news item just click on the link:
News on the Traitor of Light
World Horror Convention 2010
Warriors of God...
The Black Hours - just cast your peepers below and you'll find it!)
The Black Hours
On Monday I completed the 4th draft of The Black Hours. Essentially a re-write of the 3rd draft (there were some problems around pacing and the last quarter of the book), I'm very happy with how the 4th draft has turned out. It has a suitably bleak coda yet is reasonably optimistic at a character level. As a genre piece, again this is going to be difficult to categorise. It is alternative history with a hint of steam-punk thrown in, a little bit of horror, plenty of action and adventure with a dash of "crime". What there aren't, are any supernatural creations and in that the Black Hours is a big departure from the Secret War books. Nor is it episodic like the Secret War books, as the narrative flits from several points of view like an episode of 24.
In fact, this is perhaps how I would best describe the Black Hours: a Victorian 24, with plenty of characters whose lives are invariably changed by those events in late November 1892 with more twists and turns than a van full of… (well you get the picture…)
Still to come is a quick draft - what I call a “reader's draft” - that will remove any embarrassing inconsistencies that can arise when writing a multi-plotted, 150,000 word novel. This should take a couple of weeks during which I’ll be commencing the next project (see below) whilst making The Black Hours changes via my trusty iphone (and Stanza) when I get the opportunity.
After the readers' comments come in, there will be one more draft - the red-pen draft - and then it will be completed, finito, end of… some time at the end of the year.
So there you go. I'm on track and pleased with what I've got so far. All I need now is someone who will publish it in English!
So What's next?
In the first week of April I start writing The Traitor of Light, my first original fiction in over six months. I'm a little nervous about this one; more than I've been with any other book, including The Hoard of Mhorrer. It’s obvious to me that this is the book that will make or break the Secret War series. It's a book that Macmillan turned down for reasons that I understood but did not agree with, and a book that is quite ambitious despite being about 50,000 words shorter than each of the first two Secret War books.
So why pursue a project like this?
Well, every writer asks themselves whether they have enough in the cupboard to do a new project justice, and this one is no different. It will draw on all my strengths as a writer, but will also demand that I strengthen other areas in my writing that are perhaps weaker. So in a lot of respects, this is my thesis - the book that will graduate me or will leave me frustrated. It's a risk, as I always believed it would be, but it's one that I'm willing to take because in the end, I don't want to write Secret War knock-offs. I want to write books I believe in, books that push me out of my comfort-zone, that develop my writing skills. Being a “safe” writer won’t do that.
Time will tell whether or not I can pull this off, but I'll tell you… I'm bloody excited about it.
But that's not all I'm excited about...
So why pursue a project like this?
Well, every writer asks themselves whether they have enough in the cupboard to do a new project justice, and this one is no different. It will draw on all my strengths as a writer, but will also demand that I strengthen other areas in my writing that are perhaps weaker. So in a lot of respects, this is my thesis - the book that will graduate me or will leave me frustrated. It's a risk, as I always believed it would be, but it's one that I'm willing to take because in the end, I don't want to write Secret War knock-offs. I want to write books I believe in, books that push me out of my comfort-zone, that develop my writing skills. Being a “safe” writer won’t do that.
Time will tell whether or not I can pull this off, but I'll tell you… I'm bloody excited about it.
But that's not all I'm excited about...
World Horror Convention 2010 Brighton
This is a big thing for me. More so than I expected all those months ago when I signed up for the convention at BFS Con in Nottingham 2008. Not only is WHC2010 four days - and four days where I won't be mindful of my ten month old son (who I'm sure to miss, but will relish the relaxation of not talking all things baby or changing nappies) - it's four days of speaking to some of the luminaries of the business. I'm not just talking Horror here, but everything that overlaps with the genre, like fantasy, Science Fiction, crime… the works.And then there’s my first panel on Saturday: a discussion moderated by Christopher Fowler, with Michael Marshall Smith, Nicholas Royle, Simon R Green and Jasper Kent, on "When is Horror not Horror?" I won't go into this too much in case I pre-empt any of the arguments here, but as a writer who was led more and more down the historical route and away from the fantasy and horror realms, this is quite pertinent to me.
I have my own opinions on “when is horror not horror?” - and my answer is not the same as one friend who said:
“When is horror not horror? Well… When it’s a quarter-pounder with chips.”
I replied with: “but what if that quarter-pounder was someone’s liver and the chips were someone’s fingers?”
They didn’t say anything but dashed to the bathroom. We were in Burger King at the time.
(The friend obviously wasn’t a “Hitcher” fan.)
I'll admit to being nervous about attending the panel, not only because this is my first panel but because of the writers alongside me. Christopher Fowler's Roofworld was one of the defining books of the late 80's in our household - my parents loved it (my mum particular made a high-pitched noise when I mentioned Christopher would be moderating the panel) and I was reading Nicholas Royle's stories when I was but 15 years old (the first of which was in FEAR magazine). I haven't read any of Simon's, Michael's or Jasper's books (though I will be starting Jasper's soon and I'm part way through reading Michael's short story in the BFS anniversary collection) but I know enough about their writing to feel just a little humble. Being a new writer, and a relatively "young" new writer (age is relative, they tell me – a 35 year old footballer is seen as being over the hill, a 35 year old novelist is just a baby – they are semantics that make little sense!), any new experience is always a little unnerving yet exciting - such as my first radio interview, my first book signing, my first reading etc - which is the essence of Horror anyway: to be lifted out of comfort into weird, scary circumstances that thrill as well as terrify.
I know I'll be nervous when I get up there. But by the end I'll feel quite exhilarated I'm sure - just like a good horror novel should do.
Other than the panel - and the candy-shop of books on sale during the four days (I hope my bank-manager isn't reading this) - another reason to feel excited is Pitch Black, an event on Thursday described by the organisers as the "Frankfurt Bookfair for Horror writers". There are some influential people attending, and under the current financial climate I do doubt how many will be expecting to fill their copy books with new writers, but for me it's a chance to punt the Secret War books, and the Black Hours to an English publisher - and maybe an agent.
After all, it would feel quite wrong to be published only in Spanish and German and not in my native tongue, don't you think?...
La Factoria de Ideas
...Which brings me to another bit of news: Pan Macmillan's right's department have told me the Spanish translation of The Secret War should be out in September this year. The deal is primarily about royalties and I can't wait to see what Spanish readers make of it. With the third Secret War novel - The Traitor of Light – having a heavy Spanish emphasis, this might build a few bridges I can use in the future with regard to research (and possibly blag a holiday or two!).
And this might be particularly useful for the last bit of news…
And this might be particularly useful for the last bit of news…
Warriors of God
Announced recently on Twitter, The Warriors of God is a new project. Less than a week old in fact, and one that is dependent on a few things.
The basic plan is to write 12 connected short stories (or episodes) between 8000-10,000 words long based on the Secret War universe. These "episodes" will concentrate on the lives of several monks of the Order of Saint Sallian - as described in the first two Secret War books -and will follow the monks through six months of campaigning and training, basically to Hell and back - sometimes literally.
The stories will feature some of the main characters from the novels, such as William Saxon and Engrin Meerwall, but as supporting characters only. The intention of the series is really to build an arc for the monks of the Order that I can bring to the table when I write the next two books of the Secret War series (Traitor of Light, and The Fortress of Black Glass). Essentially, it's an opportunity to develop characters that I couldn't under the constraints of the first two novels which were largely relentless adventure romps.
To that effect, the episodes won't be page to page adventuring and action; in the best traditions of the mini-series, there will be episodes of contemplation and character building, just as there will be those big action set-pieces. The characters, I hope, will be intriguing and colourful. By concentrating on the relationships between the monks rather than being plot-centric I want the readers to care about these characters so when they arrive in the last two books, their emotions will already be invested. Which is important to me.
As I said in early posts for The Fortress of Black Glass, this final book will be bleak and not everyone will make it through to the end.
I plan to write the stories over the 12 months between September this year and Summer 2011. In October 2011 these stories will be published on the MFW Curran website at a rate of one per week for 12 weeks until Christmas, with the first episode/story hopefully appearing elsewhere on other blog-sites, writing-sites and maybe even in a short-fiction magazine (tba).
Then, depending on the success of these 12 stories, I plan to publish them as a collection either through a small press publisher or via self-publishing, along with the e-book.
But this project is all dependent on time. To succeed I'll need the time and space to write a short story a month as well as write the drafts required for the Traitor of Light. It won't be easy, and I've learned enough in the last year not to over-stretch myself, so I'll be playing it by ear - as ever.
And I'll be philosophical if it doesn't work out (a writer can be nothing but) - though if it does work out, then this could mean you'll be seeing a lot more of the Secret War in the future, folks...
The basic plan is to write 12 connected short stories (or episodes) between 8000-10,000 words long based on the Secret War universe. These "episodes" will concentrate on the lives of several monks of the Order of Saint Sallian - as described in the first two Secret War books -and will follow the monks through six months of campaigning and training, basically to Hell and back - sometimes literally.
The stories will feature some of the main characters from the novels, such as William Saxon and Engrin Meerwall, but as supporting characters only. The intention of the series is really to build an arc for the monks of the Order that I can bring to the table when I write the next two books of the Secret War series (Traitor of Light, and The Fortress of Black Glass). Essentially, it's an opportunity to develop characters that I couldn't under the constraints of the first two novels which were largely relentless adventure romps.
To that effect, the episodes won't be page to page adventuring and action; in the best traditions of the mini-series, there will be episodes of contemplation and character building, just as there will be those big action set-pieces. The characters, I hope, will be intriguing and colourful. By concentrating on the relationships between the monks rather than being plot-centric I want the readers to care about these characters so when they arrive in the last two books, their emotions will already be invested. Which is important to me.
As I said in early posts for The Fortress of Black Glass, this final book will be bleak and not everyone will make it through to the end.
I plan to write the stories over the 12 months between September this year and Summer 2011. In October 2011 these stories will be published on the MFW Curran website at a rate of one per week for 12 weeks until Christmas, with the first episode/story hopefully appearing elsewhere on other blog-sites, writing-sites and maybe even in a short-fiction magazine (tba).
Then, depending on the success of these 12 stories, I plan to publish them as a collection either through a small press publisher or via self-publishing, along with the e-book.
But this project is all dependent on time. To succeed I'll need the time and space to write a short story a month as well as write the drafts required for the Traitor of Light. It won't be easy, and I've learned enough in the last year not to over-stretch myself, so I'll be playing it by ear - as ever.
And I'll be philosophical if it doesn't work out (a writer can be nothing but) - though if it does work out, then this could mean you'll be seeing a lot more of the Secret War in the future, folks...
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