In between days
It's one of those strange in-between times at the moment, where I've finished and delivered one book and am gearing myself up for the next.
The book I finished was my Doctor Who book, Forever Autumn, which I delivered about 2 weeks ago. Since then I've been planning my Hellboy book (have to do this reasonably thoroughly as the deadline is tight and the word limit is fairly strict, so I can't afford to go off on wild creative tangents), jotting fairly extensive notes for a novella, which is deadlined for November, fiddling about with a short story, and looking at an unsold novel I finished about 2 years ago, with a view to doing some fairly extensive re-writes for a publisher who may be interested in it.
Put like that, it seems as if I've been busy, but plotting books and making notes and doing research never feels like 'proper' work to me. I feel as if I'm tinkering, mucking around, and although I know this is all part of the process (part of my process anyway), I'm still constantly aware of that little voice in the back of my head telling me that I ought to be sitting down and doing some proper writing.
However, after a week or so of trying to untangle the knots and smooth out the creases, I have now (thank god) finally managed to thrash out the plot of Hellboy: The All-Seeing Eye. And this weekend I actually managed to sit down and write the first 2,000 words of it! You'd think I'd be happy with that, wouldn't you, but bloody hell, it was hard work! That's the trouble with taking a break from 'proper' writing. You come back to find that your creative muscles have gone a bit rusty, a bit flabby. It usually takes me about a week to get back into the flow again, during which time I stomp about in my study a lot, wondering why I can't do the simplest of things without a struggle - like get a character up a flight of stairs, for instance, or construct the most straight-forward of conversations.
Anyway, enough of the creative angst. After all, as my non-writing friends are always telling me when I try to explain how this feels: Stop being a pretentious twat. After all, it's not as though you work for a living.
Here, then, is the good news:
My Doctor Who book has been extremely well-received by range editor, Justin Richards, who had only a few minor editorial suggestions to make about it - in fact, I dealt with his concerns and sent the manuscript back to him within 3 days.
On April 28th I attended, and took part in, the 2nd Alt.Fiction Festival in Derby, which was a tremendous success. Fantastic organisation (kudos to Alex Davis & the gang), a brilliant turn-out and a lively, enthusiastic and moreover positive atmosphere, which really made me feel that after too many years in the doldrums the horror genre is (cautiously and slowly) on the up again. Certainly the message from editors and publishers seemed to be that horror was no longer persona non grata in their eyes. In fact, several of them admitted that they were actively looking for supernatural fiction, which is great news. It'll be interesting to see what happens over the next year or so.
(Whilst at Alt.Fiction, incidentally, someone asked me what it was like to be a character in a Graham Joyce novel. As I had no idea what he was talking about, he had to explain that the two "hottest guys in school" in Graham's teen novel, Do the Creepy Thing, were called Mark Morris and Conrad Williams. Naturally I bought a copy of the book and read it immediately, and I have to say that (regardless of the whole name-thing) it's a terrific book. Afterwards I happened to mention to another writing pal of mine, Sarah Pinborough, that Graham had named the best-looking guy in school in Do the Creepy Thing after me. Her response? "Graham always did have a good imagination." Hmph.)
I've got a new agent. Hurrah! A few weeks ago I joined the John Jarrold Literary Agency, and am delighted with how things are going so far. John is an enthusiastic & knowledgeable champion of the genre, and has welcomed me to the agency with open arms. I'm already very excited with his plans for my work, and am really looking forward to what I hope will be a long and fruitful partnership. Plus he does a fantastic Dave Allen impression! What more could you ask for from an agent?
Just before I go, let me mention that I'll be appearing at the Lincoln Book Festival this coming Tuesday (15th), where I'll be appearing on a panel with the aforementioned Graham Joyce and Simon Clark. If you fancy coming along, it's at the Lincoln Drill Hall, and the festival box office number is 01522 873894.
Cheers for now.
The book I finished was my Doctor Who book, Forever Autumn, which I delivered about 2 weeks ago. Since then I've been planning my Hellboy book (have to do this reasonably thoroughly as the deadline is tight and the word limit is fairly strict, so I can't afford to go off on wild creative tangents), jotting fairly extensive notes for a novella, which is deadlined for November, fiddling about with a short story, and looking at an unsold novel I finished about 2 years ago, with a view to doing some fairly extensive re-writes for a publisher who may be interested in it.
Put like that, it seems as if I've been busy, but plotting books and making notes and doing research never feels like 'proper' work to me. I feel as if I'm tinkering, mucking around, and although I know this is all part of the process (part of my process anyway), I'm still constantly aware of that little voice in the back of my head telling me that I ought to be sitting down and doing some proper writing.
However, after a week or so of trying to untangle the knots and smooth out the creases, I have now (thank god) finally managed to thrash out the plot of Hellboy: The All-Seeing Eye. And this weekend I actually managed to sit down and write the first 2,000 words of it! You'd think I'd be happy with that, wouldn't you, but bloody hell, it was hard work! That's the trouble with taking a break from 'proper' writing. You come back to find that your creative muscles have gone a bit rusty, a bit flabby. It usually takes me about a week to get back into the flow again, during which time I stomp about in my study a lot, wondering why I can't do the simplest of things without a struggle - like get a character up a flight of stairs, for instance, or construct the most straight-forward of conversations.
Anyway, enough of the creative angst. After all, as my non-writing friends are always telling me when I try to explain how this feels: Stop being a pretentious twat. After all, it's not as though you work for a living.
Here, then, is the good news:
My Doctor Who book has been extremely well-received by range editor, Justin Richards, who had only a few minor editorial suggestions to make about it - in fact, I dealt with his concerns and sent the manuscript back to him within 3 days.
On April 28th I attended, and took part in, the 2nd Alt.Fiction Festival in Derby, which was a tremendous success. Fantastic organisation (kudos to Alex Davis & the gang), a brilliant turn-out and a lively, enthusiastic and moreover positive atmosphere, which really made me feel that after too many years in the doldrums the horror genre is (cautiously and slowly) on the up again. Certainly the message from editors and publishers seemed to be that horror was no longer persona non grata in their eyes. In fact, several of them admitted that they were actively looking for supernatural fiction, which is great news. It'll be interesting to see what happens over the next year or so.
(Whilst at Alt.Fiction, incidentally, someone asked me what it was like to be a character in a Graham Joyce novel. As I had no idea what he was talking about, he had to explain that the two "hottest guys in school" in Graham's teen novel, Do the Creepy Thing, were called Mark Morris and Conrad Williams. Naturally I bought a copy of the book and read it immediately, and I have to say that (regardless of the whole name-thing) it's a terrific book. Afterwards I happened to mention to another writing pal of mine, Sarah Pinborough, that Graham had named the best-looking guy in school in Do the Creepy Thing after me. Her response? "Graham always did have a good imagination." Hmph.)
I've got a new agent. Hurrah! A few weeks ago I joined the John Jarrold Literary Agency, and am delighted with how things are going so far. John is an enthusiastic & knowledgeable champion of the genre, and has welcomed me to the agency with open arms. I'm already very excited with his plans for my work, and am really looking forward to what I hope will be a long and fruitful partnership. Plus he does a fantastic Dave Allen impression! What more could you ask for from an agent?
Just before I go, let me mention that I'll be appearing at the Lincoln Book Festival this coming Tuesday (15th), where I'll be appearing on a panel with the aforementioned Graham Joyce and Simon Clark. If you fancy coming along, it's at the Lincoln Drill Hall, and the festival box office number is 01522 873894.
Cheers for now.
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