David Moody's Blog, page 70

Phew. Relieved.

The AUTUMN: AFTERMATH hardcover I’ve recently been talking about took a huge amount of time and effort to organise. All that work just so one hundred or so folks could complete their UK AUTUMN hardcover collections. You could say the effort involved was disproportional to the gains (losses, actually… I’m still in the red with this project), but I’d disagree. Whether ten people had wanted the book or ten thousand, I thought it was important to make it happen and I’m glad that I did.

I’ve loved all the positive feedback I’ve received since the books have started to arrive… people commenting on Facebook and Tweeting photographs of their name in the back. I have to say, though, Ren Gaming’s YouTube clip was the coolest thanks of all.

The remaining copies of AFTERMATH are disappearing quickly and if you want one, you’ll really need to get in fast. You can pick one up from www.infectedbooks.co.uk or ebay.

Phew. Relieved. is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books

They’ve arrived… (and they’re on their way)

Welcome to my office, which became noticeably smaller yesterday following the delivery (at long last) of the limited hardcover edition of AUTUMN: AFTERMATH, published by Infected Books in collaboration with Gollancz.

Nine hours (yes, really) of signing and packing and the whole lot was delivered to a very understanding chap at the post office late last night. All orders have now been dispatched, and I wanted to take this opportunity to once again thank everyone who pre-ordered the book for their support and their patience.

As you can see, the full set of UK hardcovers looks great. It’s satisfying to see all the books together (albeit almost a year and a half later than planned). There are a handful of copies of this extremely limited edition available. If you want one, you can pick one up from www.infectedbooks.co.uk or ebay.

They’ve arrived… (and they’re on their way) is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books

Happy Birthday HATER!

It’s hard to believe, but it’s five years today since HATER was re-released by Thomas Dunne Books in the US and Gollancz here in the UK. It’s no exaggeration to say that little book changed my life. Before its release I’d been doing fairly well for myself publishing the first three AUTUMN books through Infected Books and I’d been planning to expand. I launched HATER with the intention of kick-starting a new series, but I had no idea what would happen next.

Within a couple of months, with less than a thousand copies having been sold, I was approached about the film rights. That deal went on to see Guillermo del Toro, J A Bayona (director of The Impossible and the forthcoming World War Z 2) and Mark Johnson (producer of Breaking Bad, amongst other things) involved with my book, and led to the HATER series being picked up for publication in many countries around the world.

So please join me in saying Happy Birthday HATER! If you haven’t read the book, visit www.thehatertrilogy.com to find out more. And here, for old time’s sake, is a viral video released by Thomas Dunne to support the original release.

And no – I don’t have any news about the movie (I’ll update here if I do). But yes – one way or another I’m determined there WILL be a HATER film eventually!

 

Happy Birthday HATER! is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: RESURRECTION

This week’s selection for my Post-Apocalyptic Movie Club is a film I did all I could to avoid watching for a long time. I mean, another Night of the Living Dead remake? Made on a shoestring budget… in Wales? A recipe for disaster, right? Wrong.

The director of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: RESURRECTION, James Plumb, and a number of his sidekicks from Mad Science Films were at last October’s SCARDIFF event, though I didn’t get chance to speak to them. I got talking to Wayne Simmons after the event (who, as you’ll probably remember, is one of the good folks behind Scardiff). Wayne recommended I watch NOTLD:R. He said he thought I’d be surprised by it, and I was.

Watch the trailer below then click the link for my thoughts and some words from James Plumb.

It’s a well-known fact that due to an administrative cock up by the original distributor of George Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, the film wasn’t copyrighted and it entered the public domain. For that reason there have been a plethora of DVD releases and an unprecedented number of ‘original’ movies bearing the NOTLD monicker. Most of them are truly awful, but whilst James Plumb’s NOTLD:R has more than its fair share of detractors, I enjoyed it far more than I thought it would.

The film opens with Ben (a character who, on first impressions, appears to have been lifted directly from Romero’s film) driving through the Welsh countryside whilst scanning through radio reports of attacks from the recently deceased who appear to have returned to life. He reaches an isolated farmhouse and seeks shelter there. So far so formulaic, right? Wrong again. I’ll not say too much, but how NOTLD:R’s Ben’s story pans out took me completely by surprise and set the tone for the rest of the film.

Plumb’s movie (remake/retelling/reimagining… ?) steers a familiar route through various zombie tropes: the infected family member, domestic in-fighting, the eventual desperate mission to find help/supplies etc. It does all this with impressive style for a film put together on a micro-budget. I wondered at times if the appeal for me was because the film often felt reminiscent of AUTUMN? AUTUMN was originally conceived and set in Wales, and NOTLD:R’s climactic scenes certainly evoked the same kind of atmosphere I was aiming for during the closing chapters of the book and the siege of Penn Farm.

As I said, I went into NOTLD:R expecting nothing, but I came away entertained and really very surprised. I immediately got in touch with James to tell him how much I liked the film and he was kind enough to answer a few questions. He’s a realist, that much is clear, happy to admit that his film is “critically at the dizzying highs of a 2.6 rating on IMDB, but we’re smack dab centre of the Venn Diagram of Remakes and Low Budget Horror, two sub-genres that don’t score highly.” That said, the film has been a big success, he explains. “the combination of our producer Andrew Jones’ business plan, the low budget (£5k) and the NOTLD name meant that we secured funding almost straight away. Financially it’s done incredible business, generating healthy sales for both Lionsgate and 4Digital.”

I asked James how the movie came about. “Andrew Jones approached me to do a zombie film on the strength of a short film I submitted to Virgin Media Shorts, Final Girl. At first he didn’t tell me it was a remake of NOTLD, just a zombie film. I was initially hesitant as, although I’m a fan of a number of zombie films, from Romero to Fulci to O’Bannon to Kitamura, there’s been so many bad or unremarkable zombie films I didn’t want to add to that mountain, unless there was a hook, something to hold my interest. Then he revealed it was a remake of THE classic zombie film, I freaked out and started crafting a polite e-mail why I didn’t want to make a zombie film, let alone a remake…

“Thank god I didn’t send that e-mail, because here was a guy offering to produce my first feature film! Anyway, I turned that polite e-mail into a manifesto of why I’d do the film under certain conditions. Andrew was very patient, and at our first meeting agreed to each and all of the points.

“Andrew’s initial idea was to do a British spin on the original, which is such a classic tale that you can set it anywhere. So we didn’t try pretend we were shooting in the States or even London, we decided to make it Welsh through and through, to give the film it’s own accent. By setting it in the UK, we turned what could be seen as disadvantages into strengths, e.g. in the UK not everyone is packing heat. So it would be harder for our characters to dispatch the zombies, no double taps to the head. Developing that led us to the conclusion that if a family member got bitten, the characters would not necessarily jump to the conclusion that the logical course if action would be to kill their loved ones. If there was even the slightest chance that their relatives could get better, wouldn’t they take that risk? This led to locking undead relatives inside the house, creating a pressure cooker environment, which meant that inside the house is just as dangerous as out there.”

So was the NOTLD title a help or hindrance? “It was definitely a help in raising the film’s profile, a LOT of horror sites ran the news. The flip-side to that is that it was VERY daunting that my first feature, a low budget horror remake, was so publicly known. For about 48 hours I was the most hated man on the Internet, until they announced the Evil Dead remake, then that took the pressure off.

“The other hindrance came later when we were criticised by many for taking NOTLD and doing our own spin. For me there are two types of remakes: those that dust off the characters and plot points and stick younger looking actors in the iconic roles; and then those that take the themes of the original film and tell their own story. We chose the latter. I modelled our film on those great remakes: Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Carpenter’s The Thing and Cronenberg’s The Fly, they take the concept of the original but then create variant texts. Creatively it was a lot of fun to work in an established universe.”

In closing, I asked James about his other work and what he has planned in the future. “While editing NOTLD:R, we were writing Silent Night, Bloody Night: The Homecoming, our seasonal slasher/giallo which we shot in April 2012 (Pro tip: don’t shoot your Xmas themed horror film in sunny April!) Much of the NOTLD:R cast and crew rejoined us and we had a blast shooting a UK set Giallo film. It was released on DVD October last year and 14 weeks on is still in the charts!

“June last year we wrapped on my third feature Kerb Crawlers, a nasty little exploitation film, that I co-wrote with the amazingly talented David Melkevik. We’re near picture lock on that film, and I’m so proud with what we’ve achieved, again on another very low budget. We’re unleashing the teaser trailer for that very soon. 2014 is looking very exciting for Mad Science Films, with several new projects lined up, which until the everything is signed and the ink had dried I’m not at liberty to divulge!”

So, while NOTLD:R isn’t perfect, and it’s been roundly savaged by many critics and viewers alike, I think it’s definitely worth your time. It establishes James Plumb and Mad Science Films as talents to keep an eye on, and it shows what you can do with that talent and even a microscopic budget. The film’s available on DVD in the US here, here in Germany, and here in the UK. It’s well worth a watch, and I’d be interested in your thoughts.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: RESURRECTION is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books

STRAIGHT TO YOU – out now

Exciting times! STRAIGHT TO YOU is officially launched today. As you’ll no doubt already know if you’ve been following my posts over the last few months, this is a completely rewritten version of my debut novel from 1996, and at last I feel like I’ve done the story justice. You can read the first chapter at Wattpad by following this link.

Signed copies of the book are available now from Infected Books, ebay and Amazon.co.uk. Want to see how the old and new versions compare? Check out this offer. Paperbacks are also available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones, The Book Depository (free shipping worldwide), Hive and Indiebound.

Looking for an ebook version? The relevant links are below, but please remember my objection to people paying for the same thing twice – if you buy the paperback edition of the book, you can download a complementary ebook. Also, buy the ebook first and you can claim a discount on print editions purchased from www.infectedbooks.co.uk.

Kindle US / UK / Canada / Germany / France / Spain / Australia / Italy
iBook US / UK / Canada / Germany / France / Spain / Australia / Italy
Nook
Smashwords (all countries, all formats)

For some reason the Kobo links haven’t yet appeared… I’ll update when they’re available.

I hope you enjoy STRAIGHT TO YOU. All reviews, feedback and thoughts are gratefully received. I’m particularly keen to hear from folks who read the original version back in the day – how does the new book stack up?

Enjoy a little gloom-laden apocalyptic romance this Valentine’s Day!

STRAIGHT TO YOU – out now is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books

What Works For Me – Inspiration and Ideas

My last What Works For Me article went down really well so, whether you want it or not, here are a few more words of dubious wisdom. This time: the generation, gestation and harvesting of IDEAS.

When you write, there are a number of things you inevitably get asked over and over. One of the favourites is where do you get your ideas? For me, that’s a really interesting question. The easiest answer is something glib like dreams, or they just appear out of the ether, but that’s no help when you’re sitting in front of a classroom full of kids or when you’re on a panel at an event in front of an audience that’s expecting you to say something enlightening/witty. There’s more to it than that.

My last piece talked about the process I follow to turn an idea into a book, so I thought it would be interesting to go back a stage and look at how those ideas appear in the first place and what I do to nurture and develop them. As always, this is what works for me. If it doesn’t work for you or you have alternative suggestions, let me know and I’ll put together a follow-up post.

Firstly, what do I mean by ‘idea’? It’s a pretty bland and unscientific word. I guess it would be more appropriate to talk about ‘inspiration’. I’m talking about something that stimulates you… something that makes you want to know more, that makes you ask what if…? What’s important is recognising when this inspiration strikes, and doing something about it.

Since I’ve been writing, here are a few things I’ve learned:

For me, staring at an empty screen or a blank piece of paper is not conducive to coming up with a killer idea.
Ideas never arrive fully formed: they always need work.
Whole stories can come from single ideas, but it might not be immediately obvious how. For example, the first part of STRAIGHT TO YOU I came up with was the final scene. The first inkling I had of TRUST was a dream of an endless queue of people walking in perfect formation. The six-book AUTUMN series all came from driving around North Wales at dusk whilst on holiday.
Your initial idea, therefore, might just be a trigger and may easily mutate into something else entirely.
Ideas don’t tend to arrive in order or on demand. In fact, they’re often late and are frequently inconvenient and disruptive. Quite often they strike at the worst possible time, usually sticking their nose in when you’re neck deep in writing something else entirely. My advice: stay focused on what you’re already working on but make sure you record the new idea (more about that in a second).
You’ll always remember good ideas. Trust me. I have a frustrating habit of coming up with a great hook or a perfect plot twist just as I’m falling asleep at night. If the idea’s worth keeping, I always remember it in the morning. (Those who are paying attention will see the obvious flaw in my logic here: how do I know how many killer ideas I’ve forgotten? You’re right, I don’t. But what I do know is how many times I’ve woken up and immediately thought back to what I was thinking about last night…)
Good ideas never die. Seriously. One of the novels I wrote last year came from an idea I first wrote down in 1995. You probably know (because it’s released tomorrow and I keep banging on about it) that my latest release, STRAIGHT TO YOU, is a rewrite of my first novel which is twenty years old. Over time I realised the original version wasn’t good enough, but the point is this: I always believed in the idea and it never died. Ideas generally don’t have expiry dates.

The most important thing I’ve found is to recognise when this inspiration strikes and to have a system in place to help you record and organise it. Because I’m a nerd, I harness the power of the Cloud. Pretentious, I know, but it works for me. Many folks carry a notebook. Instead I have a document (called, with startling originality, ‘Ideas’) which I can access, review, add to and edit via my phone, laptop, iPad, office computer, or any other computer I’m working on providing I remember my log-on details. For me, my ideas repository needs to be secure and easily accessible at all times.

Incidentally, there was a fantastic BBC documentary about the crime writer Ian Rankin a couple of years back. It’s well worth a watch if you can find it. The documentary followed the author throughout the writing of a novel, from planning and outlining through to publication. Rankin’s ideas, as I recall, were stored in a battered cardboard folder: scribbled notes, newspaper clippings and the like…

So what do I record in this document of mine? Pretty much anything, actually:

Random lines of dialogue
Character sketches
Descriptions of a specific scene/location
Entire conversations
Dreams I’ve had
An overall premise (e.g. aliens arrive, everyone thinks they’re great except one man – is he wrong or is everyone else?)
Links to interesting articles, websites, documents etc.
And so on…

And how do I use this stuff? Well, I might look through the list when I’m thinking about planning a new novel or short, or I might have a look when I’m midway through a project but I’ve hit a bit of a brick wall… anytime I need inspiration, really (incidentally, this underlines why I don’t believe Writer’s Block exists, but I guess that’s a discussion/argument for another time). As I’ve already hinted, a random note I’ve jotted down might trigger a completely different response when I look at it six months or a couple of years down the line. Good ideas are often adaptable: that plot twist you’d been saving for your next horror masterpiece… it might fit perfectly into the apocalyptic sci-fi novel you’re working on today.

I said earlier that, personally, I can’t sit in front of a blank piece of paper and come up with ideas on tap. It’s all about the mind-set, I believe and I think you can help (but not force) inspiration to strike. Some of these suggestions are common-sense, but bear with me:

Write about your passions – what interests you
Plan to write about what you know…
…and if you want to write about something else, get to know it (i.e. research!)
Gorge yourself on relevant books and films. Play computer games
Want to write about a specific place? Go there if you can. Want to write a book about a man trying to reach his wife before the world ends? (yes, I’m talking about STRAIGHT TO YOU again) Why not recreate his journey yourself (in the car, obviously, and without the stress of a looming apocalypse)
Isolate yourself from everything else for a while (easier said than done, I realise). Turn off the lights, put your headphones on and listen to music that’s reminiscent of the tone you’re looking for…
Distract yourself from writing – go for a run, walk the dog… whatever! Just do something far removed from the physical act of writing.

Ultimately, for me, the key to regularly finding inspiration is to constantly ask what if?

Those two cars I saw just missed, but what if they’d hit?
What if I’d gone out half an hour earlier and missed that phone call?
The flooding in the UK will probably (hopefully) peak soon, but what if the rain doesn’t stop?
What if the dead really did rise?
What if the Prime Minister really is a shape-shifting, lizard-tongued alien hiding behind a smug, public-schooled façade?

See what I’m getting at?

Anyway, I think that’s enough from me. I hope this is useful. As always, this is what works for me, but I’d love to hear what works for you. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please get in touch. Also, don’t hesitate to let me know if there are any aspects of writing or publishing in general that you want my take on. I’ll give you my perspective, and hopefully other folks will chip in and give you theirs.

What Works For Me – Inspiration and Ideas is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books

TRUST – back in stock

A few folk have asked the question recently, so it’s good to be able to confirm that signed copies of TRUST – my anti-science-fiction novel – are now back in stock. This is the book that relaunched Infected Books back in 2012 – the book that Starburst Magazine rated as 10/10 and said “Trust is a slow-burner and all the richer for it. The layers of characters and details of the story play out perfectly when matched with an ending you’re not likely to forget. It’s also an outstanding novel, delivers in more ways than one, and is worthy of a place on the discerning fan’s bookshelf.”

You can get signed copies direct from Infected Books, or from Amazon.co.uk or ebay. Find out more about TRUST by visiting www.trustdavidmoody.com.

TRUST – back in stock is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books

BLOOD GLACIER aka THE STATION aka BLUTGLETSCHER

Today’s Post-Apocalyptic Movie Club recommendation is an interesting little film which, as you can see from the title of this post, has been known by numerous titles. All the recent press has been for BLOOD GLACIER, so that’s what I’ll stick with.

BLOOD GLACIER (Germany, 2013) owes much to John Carpenter’s seminal remake of THE THING from 1982. A group of scientists working in the German Alps discover a glacier stained with an ominous-looking red liquid. The unknown pollutant has a deadly effect on local wildlife, and the scientists (and others) soon find themselves under siege from all manner of mutant creatures. The movie’s directed by Marvin Kren, who also directed the well respected 2010 zombie film, RAMMBLOCK: BERLIN UNDEAD.

Here’s the trailer. Hit the link below for my thoughts.

I enjoyed BLOOD GLACIER, but not as much as I’d hoped. It feels like a missed opportunity on a number of levels. The premise is beautifully simple: the liquid in the glacier has the effect of combining DNA from different hosts, therefore creating an infinite number of hybrid creatures. Trouble is, we barely see any of them. There’s a mutant fox, a bizarre buffalo-like beast, several gross insects and a pterodactyl-like bird of prey – some are excellently realised, others less so. In any event, the film-makers have to be applauded for their use of practical creature effects over CGI – this really helps develop the atmosphere of the movie and gives the uniformly strong cast something tangible to act against.

For me, the major problem is that glimpses of these creatures are fleeting and are few and far between, and some of the larger monsters are less than convincing. In some of the sales blurbs I’ve read, comparisons have been made between BLOOD GLACIER and another John Carpenter classic, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13. Such comparisons are, I think, a little optimistic. You never really get the sense that the scientists (and, eventually, politicians and various other hangers-on) are truly under siege: the lack of monster numbers and the infrequency of their attacks mean there’s little in the way of suspense in crucial scenes.

All things considered, BLOOD GLACIER is well worth your time. Apart from the issues I’ve mentioned, it’s a lot of fun to watch. Performances are excellent, the film rattles along at a decent pace, and it looks beautiful. A proper old-school monster movie.

In the UK the movie is available on DVD or you can stream it on Lovefilm. It’s also available in Germany. Apologies, but I can’t find any information about a US release as yet. I’ll update this post if I hear anything.

BLOOD GLACIER aka THE STATION aka BLUTGLETSCHER is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books

Late with one book, early with another

To those folks waiting patiently for the long-delayed AUTUMN: AFTERMATH limited edition… more apologies. We’re almost there. I should take delivery of the books any day now and they’ll be signed and posted straight out. If you want to order a copy (and there are very few left), then please click here.

In more positive news, I’m early for once! Signed copies of STRAIGHT TO YOU are now shipping in advance of next Friday’s official release. Click here to grab a copy. By the way, if you want to compare and contrast both versions, a bundle containing the 2014 paperback and 1996 hardcover is available (and if you’ve already purchased the new paperback but would now like a hardcover at the bundle price, get in touch and we’ll sort something out).

You can pre-order the book from all the usual online stores:

Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk
Barnes & Noble
Waterstones
Book Depository (free shipping worldwide)

Ebook versions will be available from the 14th (you can pre-order the Nook and iBook versions already). You can read the first chapter of the novel over at Wattpad. Also, there’s a Goodreads Giveaway running. Use the widget at the bottom of this post to enter.

Goodreads Book Giveaway


Straight to You
by David Moody

Giveaway ends February 21, 2014.

See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.

Enter to win

 

Late with one book, early with another is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books

What Works For Them

I had some great responses to my post about planning last week, several from fellow authors who were keen to tell me how they do things. As I keep taking great pains to work out, the What Works For Me posts are exactly that: what works for me. I thought it would be interesting, though, to share What Works For Them. It illustrates perfectly my point that there are no ‘one size fits all’ rules to writing.

Horror author James Thorn has a very different way of doing things: “I end my writing day with 3 bullets. I know how that sounds, so let me explain. I always finish the day at the end of a scene. It’s hard for me to come back 24 hours later and climb into the middle of it. So, in order to have some continuity and some idea where I want to go, I leave three bulleted points at the bottom of the scene. They can be ideas for characters, thoughts, a setting I want to explore—really anything to prime the creative pump the next day. I might use all of them or none of them but at least I come back the next day and I’m not staring a blank screen.”

Old friend Wayne Simmons says: “I think it’s right what Dave says: we all do a similar amount of planning, just at different times. For me, free-writing is key in order to get to know my characters. So I do a lot of that and then follow through with VERY heavy editing. I don’t work in drafts, as such: I edit as I go, amending and remoulding as I think the story needs. Like Dave, I get inspired while doing other things; walking the dogs, tidying the house, whatever; and I jot everything down in a little notepad I keep.”

And author of Domain, Remains and Demise of the Dead, Iain McKinnon shares his very different approach. Iain develops his books in stages: “I first come up with a concept for a novel. For example in Remains of the Dead I thought What would happen to a mixed group of soldiers and civilians in a zombie infested town while they wait for a rescue?

“My next step is the world. How is this world different to the one we live in? I start by taking a big long walk and trying to see the differences. This is where physical research comes in. For Remains of the Dead I did some urban exploring. I got into a derelict office building. A location that had been abandoned and was in a similar condition to the places the survivors would find in their world. Being in a place that’s like your story starts to throw up things you’d never considered. It also gives you great awareness of the things the characters will encounter and that you can now describe with authority.

“Next is what happens in this world. Think of your own life. There are events that will unfold without your knowledge that can impinge on your life. I work out the time scale of the events in my book and plot when external things will happen. When the world is there I create my characters.

“Now here’s the next bit I do differently: I throw the characters into their world and start writing. I know the people, I know the world, I know the rough series of events and that’s it. I just let the characters do the work. This means I have very little idea of how the novel will end. Plan the world, plan the events and then populate your time line with people. The characters will write your book for you (though you still have to write the bloody book and its bloody hard work).”

Thanks to everyone who responded to the piece about planning, particularly Wayne, James and Iain. Next time: Ideas!

What Works For Them is a post from: David Moody - author of TRUST and the HATER and AUTUMN books