Mark Stay's Blog, page 9

The Corn Bride is Out Now!

The fifth Witches of Woodville novel is out today! And it’s already getting a great reaction from readers…

“A fantastic read, bringing back friends and foes of the last five books, mixing the usual comedic asides of the residents of Woodville with smatterings of folk horror and nail-biting thrills as Mark Stay takes his characters on their toughest journey yet… I loved every page of it!” Fantasy Book Nerd

“I am absolutely loving this series… puts me in mind of Tiffany Aching joining Dad’s Army, it’s wonderfully old fashioned and is full of warmth and humour. Although it does get dark in places.” Chrys, Goodreads

“I love the mix of humour with horror-tinged folklore elements that gives the story a strangely cosy feel despite, you know, the evil magic-wielding Nazi.” Sam, Goodreads

It’s available in paperback, ebook and audio today and you’ll find links to all the retailers here…

Order the corn bride

And for Kindle readers in the USA and Canada, you can find it here…

CORN BRIDE USA CORN BRIDE CANADA

And if you wanted a signed and dedicated paperback copy, you can get that from me here…

ORDER A SIGNED PAPERBACK

A huge thank you to everyone who has pre-ordered the book and for everyone who has spread the word on social media. It makes all the difference and I hope The Corn Bride lives up to your expectations. I had a wonderful time writing it… Happy Reading!

Editing Tips with Gareth L Powell

This month’s special guest Gareth L Powell reveals how he revises his manuscript as he writes, leading to a stronger first draft…

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Or watch it on Youtube…

TRANSCRIPT

MARK: Question from Gavin here. Does rereading yesterday’s chapter and editing as you go slow down the drafting too? Or are the time savings on future drafts worth the effort on earlier drafts? That’s a great question there Gavin. So you’re spending that time, sort of, re-read… build up momentum up. Does that mean when you sort of break through the wall of yesterday’s work and you’re writing fresh words today, you’re moving faster and with more clarity than you would otherwise? 

GARETH: I think so, yeah, definitely. And I also try never to end a day’s work at the end of a chapter, because if you end up at the end of a chapter, then the next day you wake up to a blank white page again and I’ll have to get started. And it’s, you know, there’s enough white space to make Ranulph Fiennes nervous and… So it’s going back and sort of editing the the previous chapter gives you like a run up. And it definitely, definitely does save time doing future drafts. Because you’ve already picked up a lot of, you know, a lot of problems, a lot of typos and stuff, you will still have to go back and change, but you’ve done some of it.

Gareth L Powell on the Biggest Mistake of his Career

This month’s special guest Gareth L Powell reveals the biggest mistake of his writing career, but how this particular disaster was a blessing in disguise…

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Or watch it on Youtube…

TRANSCRIPT

MARK: What’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever made in your writing career?

GARETH: Oh, Lord. The worst thing — I don’t know if it’s a mistake, It could have been an Act of God — But was when the first half of the first draft of Descendant Machine vanished.

MARK: Oh, God, I remember this.Yeah, yeah, yeah.

GARETH: I’d been working on it for three months, I think. And then one day, it just wasn’t on my computer. It wasn’t in the recycle bin. It wasn’t, you know, anywhere. I used various kind of, programs to claw through the hard drive to try and find it. And… nothing. It just completely vanished. So if unless I just did something ridiculously stupid in my sleep or, you know… I don’t know what, I’ve no idea what happened to it. But this entire three months work just absolutely vanished. That was a big setback because, you know, that was when I, you know, you go in that feeling where you just go cold.

MARK: Yeah.

GARETH: You know in the, sort of Agatha Christie films from the 70s when there’s, like, a pistol blast or a scream, and then you’d get a shot of a load of crows flapping up from a tree. It’s kind of like that. I just uttered a curse. Venomous. It turned the air to glass and… And I lay on the sofa and thought, I’m never gonna write again. It’s all over. 

MARK: And I remember talking to this, about this at the time, and it was just one of those complete mysteries. It wasn’t like you weren’t backing stuff up. It just absolutely vanished. Is it… because this happened to a friend of mine the other day, and I said, Oh, this happens to all sorts of writers, but every one of them tells me that when they go back and rewrite it, it’s so much better. Would you say that’s true, or am I just trying to make my friend feel good?

GARETH: No, that’s true, but the book I wrote was, substantially different from the first draft I had done, and much better for. So it was a blessing in a very, very heavy disguise.

What’s Bringing You Joy This Week? With Gareth L Powell…

What’s bringing you joy this week? In this clip from the latest episode of the Creative Differences podcast, Gareth L Powell and I reveal what’s bringing us joy, including works by: Elif Shafak, Sutej Singh, Mythic Quest, Barry Sonnenfeld, the Film Stories Podcast and Eva St John…

LINKS

THERE ARE RIVERS IN THE SKY BY ELIF SHAFAK
SUTEJ SINGH, NANDINI SRIKAR: KAADAMBARI
MYTHIC QUEST
BEST POSSIBLE PLACE, WORST POSSIBLE TIME BY BARRY SONNENFELD
FILM STORIES PODCAST
FLINT IN THE BONES KICKSTARTER

TRANSCRIPT

MARK: What’s giving you joy this month?

GARETH: Well, at the moment I’m reading… there’s books on this desk at all times… I’m reading this book, which is The Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak. I’m not sure where it’s going, really, or what it’s doing, but it’s just so beautifully written. It’s just relaxing to read. And it’s about four characters at different periods in history, and they’re linked by this drop of water. So it’s like a raindrop that falls on the head of a Sumerian ruler. And then it’s, you know, it’s a tear that comes out to another character in Victorian times and so on. So it’s got that kind of link, but also it’s… they’re all somehow connected to the, Epic of Gilgamesh. So you have this Sumerian ruler who’s trying to get all the different versions together to create the definitive text, but it’s just beautifully written and it’s got some interesting kind of, little throwaway lines that make you think, oh, that’s really good. That’s a really good observation. That’s a really good motto for life.

MARK: Yeah. And is that one of the books that you said earlier that, you know, you might not have come across it had you not worked in a bookshop? Is that an example of one of those?

GARETH: Yeah, that’s one I kept looking at on the shelf. And after reading bits… Yeah, dammit, I’m going to have to read it.

MARK: So what else is giving you joy this month, Gareth?

GARETH: My granddaughter. So who’s she was born in December, so she’s still very small, but very wriggly and very smiley and very giggly. And it was always lovely to see her.

MARK: I’m going to run through the things that are bringing me joy at the moment. I’m going to start with Sutej Singh, who has a new single out, which is called Kaadambari and features Nandini Srikar on vocals… It’s an epic, guitar track. Singh is this incredible virtuoso guitarist, but he’s not someone who just plays a million notes per second. He knows when to leave space and his solos… like those of my favourite guitarists like David Gilmour, Mark Knopfler, they have their own narrative. They’ve got a beginning, a middle and an end. And here’s a lesson for you writers out there; Sutej always wears a long coat and a turban and A guitar. And when he’s in silhouette, you always know it’s him. So I have a think about how your characters might look in silhouette, how they can be more iconic. If you think of characters like Batman, Darth Vader, Sherlock Holmes; once you see the silhouette, you always know who they are. Other things that are bringing me joy: Mythic Quest on Apple TV. We talked about workplace shows earlier with Star Trek. This is a workplace comedy. It’s about the makers of an online roleplaying game called Mythic Quest. You don’t need to know anything about gaming. It’s warm hearted, very, very funny. You got Rob McElhenney in the cast. He’s co-creator But I think the show’s secret weapon is Megan Ganz. She’s a co-creator, but she’s also written for Community, Modern Family, Last Man on Earth, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. She’s a brilliant, brilliant writer, and there’s a recent episode where they did a murder mystery retreat. It was just perfect. And in terms of books, I’m loving Barry Sonnenfeld’s book Best Possible place, Worst Possible Time: True Stories from a Career in Hollywood. Barry’s directed many of my favourite films: the first two Addams Family movies, Men in Black, Get Shorty. He did the TV version of A Series of Unfortunate Events. He was also a cinematographer, working with the Coen brothers on films like Blood Simple, Miller’s Crossing. He also did When Harry Met Sally, he talks about how they did that multiple phone shot in When Harry Met Sally: it took 67 takes. He’s now at the stage in the career where he talks very, very frankly about some of the people he’s worked with. And I first heard him about this book when he was interviewed on the Film Stories podcast. And that’s what this is, a brilliant, brilliant collection of film stories. And finally, I had the great privilege of reading an advance copy of Flint in the Bones, which is a new novel by Eva Saint John. Flint in the Bones is a brilliant blend of crime and history, the past, the present. Brilliant thrills, there’s a loyal dog. Now, if you’ve read Eva Saint John’s Quantum Curator series you’re going to be familiar… She has these page-turning stories that blend history. If you haven’t, you’re in for such a treat. Now she’s just launched, she’s launching a Kickstarter soon. And you can sort of pre… you can sign up for it. So you can find out when it’s going to launch. It’s launching very, very soon. I’m going to put a link in the comments here so you can have a look at it. I’m definitely going to do it. One of the things she’s offering as well is to, have a character named after you. And I did that with The End of Magic. And it was really, really popular. So do check that out.

Keeping Notes of Late Night Ideas… with Gareth L Powell

This month’s special guest Gareth L Powell reveals how he keeps track of story ideas when they come late at night… and then we’re interrupted by a digital overlord.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

Or watch it on Youtube…

TRANSCRIPT

MARK: How do you remember that idea that you have it, say three in the morning?

GARETH: I always have my phone next to the bed. And I can say, “Hey, Siri,” take a note, and just dictate it to the phone.

SIRI: (Interrupting) And then what do you want it to say?

(LAUGHTER)

MARK: I was waiting for that!

SIRI: I created you a note. It’s called BRA.

MARK: Oh. That’s priceless. Thanks for that, Gareth.

GARETH: I thought, my phone is off. I’ll be safe saying this, and I forgot it’s on the damn computer as well… I will go through that process — that I just demonstrated — and then in the morning, because it’s synched up with my desktop, the I just open my notes file and the notes are there waiting for me.

MARK: A comment from Usman here: “22:32. Siri gained sentence.” It’s the end times, people. Oh, fantastic.

Gareth L Powell “Like Easing into a Hot Bath”

This month’s special guest Gareth L Powell reveals how starting a novel is a bit like bath time (without the rubber ducks)…

LISTEN TO THE WHOLE PODCAST

Or watch it on Youtube…

TRANSCRIPT

MARK: What’s the thing that makes you think you’re ready to start writing on a project?

GARETH: As I was saying earlier, it is… sort of things gradually accrete, and sort of clump together and, it’s kind of… there isn’t a single kind of, oh, let’s go! But I kind of write my way into it. So I’ll start, you know, I’ll write the first line, I’ll write a paragraph and think hmm, okay. And then I’ll go back and I’ll rewrite the outline. The outline is usually about a page, just a very brief kind of high level overview of the plot. And I’ll rewrite that about ten times to fix it. And then I’ll start writing a first chapter, maybe that won’t be going anywhere, so I’ll start again. Or realise I picked the wrong character, and I just kind of write my way into the book so that by the time I’m about 5000 words in, starting to pick up steam, and I think: right. I know where we’re going now. So I might chop out the all the original stuff, but yeah, it’s kind of like easing yourself into a hot bath.

MARK: (Noting a listener comment): Elinor says this is the most British conversation ever. Tea and a hot bath. Yes. Brilliant.

Gareth L Powell “My Coping Mechanism.”

This month’s special guest Gareth L Powell reveals the importance of tea in his creative process (this may be the most British conversation ever)…

What’s your favourite tipple while writing?

listen to the podcast

Or watch the whole episode on Youtube:

TRANSCRIPT

MARK :What small thing has made a big difference to your creative process?

GARETH: (thinks) Tea…

MARK: Do you have a particular brand? Because I’ve seen your pictures on social media. You’ve got that wonderful little cast iron kettle, haven’t you?

GARETH: It was my lockdown coping mechanism. I got really into tea. Loose leaf teas and different types of teas and, so now it’s like… no tea bags. It’s proper bags of loose leaf teas. I’ve got a… I made an app for my phone, which is a picture of a teapot it, and I press it and it ultimately times five minutes, which is just right for the tea to stew.

MARK: Properly brewed. Fantastic. And do you have a favourite brand of tea What should we be looking out for?

GARETH: I’m kind of in between favourite brands at the moment. I was very fond of Whittard’s English Breakfast Loose Leaf. I’m kind of looking around for a slightly less expensive version, but I’ve tried lots of different ones. So at the moment I’m on the, Sainsbury’s Red Label, which is quite good.

MARK: You’ve got me some Yorkshire gold for Christmas, didn’t you, Emily? That is first class stuff. That is really good.

Gareth L Powell on Creative Differences

Episode 7 with Gareth L Powell: “Future’s Edge”

I’ll be at the Beyond the Book Festival in May

I’m excited to be part of the Beyond the Book Festival on 10th May in Brighton.

It runs from 9:30 am to 6pm at the Friends’ Meeting House in Ship Street, Brighton, BN1 1AF and there’s a roster of amazing authors all day! My panel is…

RISE OF THE WORLD BUILDERS

Main Room. 2.45 –  3.45pm 

Fantasy and sci-fi have seen a huge surge in popularity in the last few years, but why do we love these genres so much? In our turbulent times do we read these books to escape this world, or to see it in a different way?

Prepare to enter a multiverse of other worlds with authors Natasha Pulley (The Hymn to Dionysus), Adam Simcox (The Dying Squad), Zulekhá Afzal (Dancers of the Dawn) and podcaster, screenwriter and author Mark Stay (Witches of Woodville) as they share their stories of fantastical realms and incredible adventures. Come and celebrate the power of speculative fiction.

GET TICKETS HERE

The Corn Bride in all Her Glory

I know it’s considered unlucky to to see the bride’s dress before her big day, but I couldn’t resist. I particularly love the budgie on the spine… Artwork by the amazing Harry Goldhawk.

You can pre-order The Corn Bride at any book retailer in paperback, ebook and audio. Or you can pre-order a signed and dedicated paperback from me…

ORDER A SIGNED CORN BRIDE PAPERBACK