Fiona Dodwell's Blog, page 7

The cover for my new novel, Obsessed

Thanks to the work of my favourite cover artist, Dawne Dominique, I can reveal the cover of my upcoming novel, OBSESSED.

It's going to be released 1st September, as e-book and paperback. More updates as and when I get them!

Obsessed:

 James Barker is a happily married man. He thinks he has it all – until one morning when he witnesses a gruesome suicide. Haunted by the death, James seeks therapy for post-traumatic stress. Finding that the answers he seeks don't lie in the therapists' office, James embarks on a journey. Who was this man, and why did he kill himself?

Now haunted by visions of the dead man in his home and in his nightmares, James begins to wonder if he is losing his mind. Surely the dead can't return?

As his obsession spirals out of control, James uncovers the terrifying truth of the stranger who died at his own hands. Soon he realises that his life is in danger – as well as the lives of those he loves.

On another note – I am on another blog tour for The Banishing in June. More details to follow!

My interview is now on "Romance Radio"

ROMANCE RADIO NETWORK INTERVIEW

I was given the wonderful opportunity to be interviewed by Desmond Haas of the Romance Radio Network.

I really enjoyed this chance to talk about my novel, my writing and my experiences of being published for the first time.

You can hear this interview in full here, by following the link:

http://romanceradio.net/2011/04/28/rrn-fiona-dodwell-author-interview-show-033/

Thanks to Desmond for this opportunity.

The Nature of Fear, by Laurel Fuller

Today I am handing over my blog to horror writer/fan Laurel Fuller! I really enjoyed her piece on fear. If you want to find out about Laura and her work, you can check out her blog at: http://glitter-n-gore.livejournal.com/

It has come to my attention recently that I'm afraid of cockroaches. Well, cockroaches or water bugs. To be honest I can't tell the difference. All I know is they're both huge, they bite, they fly, and they're very hard to kill. You can't just stomp them because they reinflate like balloon animals. If you do the humane thing and put them outside, chances are they'll multiply and invade the house. And once you see one, even if you chase it at point-blank range with a can of Raid, then cut it in half, burn the pieces, and flush it, you'll likely see another one in about two or three weeks–just when you've about forgotten the first one. And when that happens, you will start to see them everywhere, even when they aren't around.

 

These are my personal reasons for not being fond of roaches. I'm highlighting them this way because I don't think the above paragraph is particularly scary, nor is it meant to be. It's expository and a little tongue-in-cheek, and maybe a handful of you reading this will be able to relate to what I'm talking about, but that's not how horror fiction works.

 

Fear is a very personal and subjective emotion. When you ask someone what scares them most, not everyone will say "cockroaches." For someone else, it might be clowns. For another, flying in airplanes. Heights. The dark. Crowded places. It's also a completely irrational emotion, so explaining to someone that there's nothing really dangerous about clowns, or airplanes, or what have you is typically not going to make it better. It's not the logical part of your brain that reacts when you're frightened of something. It goes deeper than that. In its purest form, fear turns us all into children, trapped in a huge, complicated and alien world where nothing makes sense and everything is monstrous.

 

With that in mind, let me tell you about the exact moment I realized I was afraid of cockroaches (or possibly water bugs). I had just gotten home from work for the day, and my brain was buzzing with a list of tasks for the rest of the evening. I needed to change out of my work clothes, let the dogs out, check the mail, figure out what to do for dinner, etc. But the most pressing need was the bathroom, so that's where I went. The second my pants were around my ankles, a cockroach crawled out from behind the shower curtain and onto the wall not three feet away from me. I screamed. Subconsciously I must have flipped through a lightning-quick list of all the things not good about my current predicament. To start with, I was just beginning to "relax," if you will, and was caught literally with my pants down. I couldn't back away because there was nothing but a wall behind me. If I decided to move away from the toilet, I would more than likely regret it. The room was tiny, the Raid was in the kitchen and there was no one else in the house who could grab it for me. So I screamed. The thing was about an inch and a half long in reality, but it may as well have taken up the entire wall–every facet of my attention was focused on IT, the fact that IT was so close to me, and that I had no defenses in easy reach to destroy IT. I could already see the wings buzzing and feel those tiny insect legs clicking over my flesh. So I screamed.

 

Can you feel my panic yet?

 

The trick here isn't to make everyone who reads this afraid of cockroaches, but to make them feel what I felt in the bathroom that day. That is the challenge of the horror writer, to pour raw emotion into words in such a way that those reading it will be pulled into the experience of the characters, no matter what they're individually afraid of. What we try to do is take a specific incident and make it universal. It's not going to work on everyone, but that is the goal, and that is the challenge.

 

One of the biggest misconceptions that people have about horror is that it's all blood and guts. It's not–fear and revulsion are very different animals. But I can see why some draw that comparison, because they have similar effects. When horror is done right, it commands every facet of your attention. I was completely focused on that damn bug on the wall that day. If you witness an act of extreme violence or bloodshed, the same thing happens–it commands your attention, and you can't look away. But it's hard to keep that up throughout an entire story, an entire novel. For the horror writer, it's all part of the challenge. How do I cook up a sense of dread that grabs hold and keeps squeezing?

 

I don't know if I have an answer to that yet. As a newcomer to the horror genre on the whole, and a still struggling and unpublished writer, I can only hope that I'm learning and passing one or two things on. One thing I've experimented with is spotlighting the feared thing early on, starting with a shock, then pulling back and leaving the reader to wonder when it will come back. I told you at the beginning that I don't like cockroaches, and that they always come back. Then I gave you more detail about the one that made me scream. I don't know if he had any buddies or not. All I know is that I keep looking at a stain on the carpet and imagining I see it moving out of the corner of my eye. I can smell the dampness in the air tonight, which I know is just the kind of air IT likes. I see that the sliding door to the back porch is slightly open to let some fresh air in, and I'd like to get up and close it but I don't want to let my feet touch the floor, in case that smudge on the carpet turns out not to be a smudge.

 

That is fear, that is dread–uncertainty injected into a perfectly ordinary setting. I've been in that bathroom, and in this bedroom, a thousand times. They are comfortable familiar places, only now they're tainted and no longer quite safe, all because I know IT might come back.

 

Can you feel my panic yet?

http://glitter-n-gore.livejournal.com/

Exploring horror with Luke Walker

Today I am handing over my blog to Luke Walker, horror writer and horror fan. He discusses the nature of writing horror, who his beggest influences are, and where you can read his work.

 Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your writing?

 I'm 33 and have been writing for as long as I can remember. During my early teens, I wrote terrible poetry and the odd short story. As I grew older, I left the angst-ridden poems and focused more on fiction. At 21, I started writing my first book which ended up being complete crap because I made a lot of the typical newbie mistakes (mainly a lack of plot while writing about myself which is always dull to everyone but the writer). Including that one, I've written ten books and am now working on the eleventh. I write predominately horror although I do go into fantasy occasionally. For both, I like to ground them in the real world. I love the contrast and conflict between the supernaturally horrific or fantastic with the things of real life. Give me a tale with demons invading a pub on a Friday night and I'm a happy man.

 You are a big horror fan. What about this genre and style interests you?

There's no one answer to this even though it's a question I've asked myself several times. I think it's just a case of some people are designed this way. I'm built to see the darkness inside a story. If there's a deeper reason, I think it's down to the potential for humanity's laudable qualities to be shown in a horror story. When we're up against a supernatural or paranormal threat – in other words, a threat from outside the known world – we have to do whatever it takes to survive. That might mean betrayal or killing. Or it might mean self-sacrifice and bravery.

 Who do you consider your biggest influences in literature, and why?

Firstly, Stephen King simply because of his clear love of a good story. King is a writer who knows how powerful a story can be. He knows there's magic in stories and I aim for the same way of thinking when I write. Long term influences range from Neil Gaiman to Clive Barker to Orwell. Over the last year or so, Sarah Pinborough, Kaaron Warren, Tim Lebbon, Joe Hill and Susan Hill have all made a big impression on me.

 Can you tell us about some of the work you've written and/or had published?

I've had several short stories published online by Dark Fire Fiction which go from a very short piece about a young boy haunted by things inside mirrors to longer stories I'm particularly fond of. One concerns a small group of men in a backstreet pub in the mid-seventies on a November night who meet a young man who tells them as a fact that Margaret Thatcher will be the next PM. Of course, that's not all he tells them. Another one is a slightly futuristic tale in which legalised murder is the norm but only if the killer has a socially acceptable reason for it. Both were a lot of fun to write.

Like a lot of writers, I have certain areas I return to in fiction. For me, these end up being friendships, pubs, the end of the world in various ways, long-term regrets, ghosts and what happens to 'normal' people when they're faced with all these. And for what it's worth, I don't think there is such a thing as a normal person.

 In your own words, can you tell us: what do you think horror is?

Tough one. I think horror is the sensation/feeling/emotion/reaction that comes when we realise the things in life that we take for granted as making sense, the things we think we know, abruptly don't make sense or become unknown. That can be anything from realising you've just entered a part of town that isn't safe or not being able to get hold of a loved on late at night when they should have been home an hour ago…or when a little part of your brain you never have reason to use tells you the sound in the middle of the night isn't someone testing your back door; it's some thing testing your back door.

Horror should get under your skin. It should touch you in a personal way and stay with you because of it. That's what being haunted is, after all. Horror is when the good things stop making sense and there's little to no chance of fixing them.

 What are you working on at the minute?

A book about three men who are strangers and who all have different reasons to come to an area of their town reputed to be haunted. It's not long before they discover it is haunted but for reasons they weren't expecting. The ghosts have a reason for being there. Some of them are guardians of an evil that wants to come through to our world. And some of the ghosts want the evil to succeed.

Do you have any tips/advice you want to share with fellow writers?

As basic as it sounds, a writer isn't someone who spends most of their time talking about writing or telling people they have a great idea. A writer will write that great idea; they'll rewrite it and they'll edit it until it's as good as it deserves to be. Anyone can have an idea. A writer will turn that idea into a story. Do that and you're already a step beyond a lot of people. The trick after that is to keep doing it.

The other issue is to read widely. Old classics, contemporary bestsellers and whatever else in between. Always have a book or two on the go.

 Where can people read your work and find out more about you?

My blog is at http://getthegirlkillthebaddies.blogspot.com

The cover artwork for OBSESSED

Thanks to the work of my favourite cover artist, Dawne Dominique, I can reveal the cover of my upcoming novel, OBSESSED.

It's going to be released 1st September, as e-book and paperback. More updates as and when I get them!

Obsessed:

 James Barker is a happily married man. He thinks he has it all – until one morning when he witnesses a gruesome suicide. Haunted by the death, James seeks therapy for post-traumatic stress. Finding that the answers he seeks don't lie in the therapists' office, James embarks on a journey. Who was this man, and why did he kill himself?

Now haunted by visions of the dead man in his home and in his nightmares, James begins to wonder if he is losing his mind. Surely the dead can't return?

As his obsession spirals out of control, James uncovers the terrifying truth of the stranger who died at his own hands. Soon he realises that his life is in danger – as well as the lives of those he loves.

On another note – I am on another blog tour for The Banishing in June. More details to follow!

Question and Answer session with Lee Mather, author of The Green Man

Lee Mather, author of horror novella The Green Man, is here for a question and answer session!

Lee is 32 and lives near Manchester in the UK. He likes anything that doesn't involve work. Books, Sport, Music, TV, Films, Sleep. He is good in a pub quiz. Lee has been writing for a couple of years now, and  enjoys writing horror and dark fantasy.

 Can you tell readers about your story, The Green Man?

 The Green Man is a story about the discovery of faith. It centres on a man trying to come to terms with a tragic event in his past. Family is a central theme, particularly the relationship between parents and children. It has supernatural elements but is aimed at being more thought provoking than out-and-out scary. There are still one or two chills in there though.

 What inspired this story?

 I think there's something about my relationship with my mother in this story. I adapted elements to suit the plot but I remember how she used to tease me by telling me how she met a little green man when I was just a boy. This used to wind me up a lot! But I think, in essence, I was inspired by the concept of how the people we care about are most capable of provoking emotion, of bringing out the very best and the very worst in us.

 Are you writing anything at the moment?

 Yes I'm midway through First Kiss, Last Breath which is a coming of age story about a teenage artist suffering from depression. A few nasty things are happening to him and he is starting to doubt his sanity. Then he meets a girl and things begin to improve, but to be with her, he (literally) needs to overcome his demon(s). Hopefully it will be well received!

I've also drafted a short titled Masks, which is a 'Twillight-Zone' esque horror, that features, erm, some masks. I won't finalise this though until I'm happy with First Kiss, Last Breath.

 Who are your favourite authors and why?

 There are lots of authors I like, mainly the usual horror and fantasy suspects. In terms of new (ish) writers I tout Joe Hill and John Ajvide Lindqvist, the former because of his wit and intelligence, and the latter because of the depth of feeling he creates with his characters. In terms of some one off books that people might enjoy reading, then the zombie romance Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion is original, gentle and funny, and Bareback by Kit Whitfield is an interesting take on the werewolf genre, particularly for anyone who works in the UK Civil Service.

 What do you find particularly challenging about the writing process?

 Marketing. Grr. I would just rather write. Submissions and rejections. Double Grr. What the bloody hell do these people know about good writing anyway! Just kidding! I guess it's hard to put so much care into something and then send it out in the world for a potential kicking. I haven't got a clue what I'll do when I have kids. I'll be a nervous wreck.

 What do you consider good writing?

 I want to care. I want to think. I want to be challenged. I think good writing is when you don't want the experience to stop, when you can't read the pages in front of you quickly enough.

 What are your plans for the future?

 To keep plugging away. I'm writing short stories and novelette sized pieces currently and I want to do this for the next year or so before I attempt a novel. My work is starting to get noticed and I feel at the moment like I'm learning all the time. I have some interesting concepts ready to develop, enough to keep me busy for a while.

There are a lot of good writers out there in a similar position to me who don't write professionally but would love to. It's obvious to me that a lot of hard work, a lot of courage, and a fair portion of luck are required for someone to make a living out of writing fiction, but having said that, there are people out there doing it every day. So why not me?

 Do you have any tips or advice for people out there who want to write?

 Don't bother. That way there is less competition for me. Mua-ha-ha-ha!

Seriously, if you want to do it, then do it. But make sure it's for the right reasons. There'll only ever be one Stephen King. The thing that brings me back to the keyboard, above anything, is that I love the writing itself. It's a real buzz to craft something that reads well and that others enjoy.

 Where can people find out more about you and your work?

 My official website is www.leemather.org.uk

I often share my delusions through my blog at: http:\\leemather.livejournal.com

 I am also on Facebook and I currently have a particularly disturbing profile picture that should encourage you to look me up and add me to your collection of cyber-friends…

Current blog appearances…

I'm over at two author websites at the moment, if you want to catch up on these, you can find them here:

Lee Mathers, author of horror novella, The Green Man, has a featured interview with me on his blog

http://leemather.livejournal.com/4525.html

And I am also over at Greg Chapman's page, discussing the novels that have inspired me over the years. You can find that here:

http://darkscrybe.blogspot.com/2011/04/dark-inspirations.html

There isn't much else to report at the moment… I am busy working away on my third novel, The Shift, which is coming along nicely.

I have also been shown the cover to my upcoming novel, Obsessed, which is due for release in September – I love it! It's very gory. I'll be sharing that with you soon

Catch you later!

Author Greg Chapman talks about inspiration….

Author of Torment, Greg Chapman, has come over to my blog to discuss what has inspired him….

EARLY INSPIRATIONS    

Many writers and artists are asked what first inspired them to take up crafting fiction or drawing.

For me it's a "monster mash" of comic books, dog-eared horror paperbacks, scary movies, serial killer psychology and a very vivid imagination.

I'd like to share some of my muses though and offer a few reasons why they got the desire to be an artist /author going in me:

Literature (Fiction):

Ironically it was high fantasy fiction that I was first drawn too in the very early days…Katharine Kerr's Deverry series of novels. I could really picture the world she'd created and the characters were full of life.

Edgar Allan Poe is a major influence on my writing. His tale The Fall of the House of Usher will always be the definitive "haunted house" tale for me. But all of his stories seem to just open the human soul so intricately for all to see.

Of course there are the other classics, Dracula, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Frankenstein, bread and butter for horror authors, but it's always good to revisit them to see what horror fiction was like when it was really fresh.

Clive Barker's works, The Hellbound Heart, the Books of Blood, Weaveworld and The Damnation Game to name a few, are dreamlike, almost like walking through a painting. They are visceral to the point of being sickening, yet you can't not keep on reading. His art too gives his visions life and being an artist myself, his catalogue of works is a very poignant inspiration to me.

Stephen King … I hate to say this, but his films came before his books, but you'll be glad to hear that I am in the process of re-appreciating his work. The films Pet Sematary, IT and The Shawshank Redemption were powerfully moving. His novel Salem's Lot is a fantastic modern vampire novel and how all vampires should be portrayed.

Literature (non-fiction)

Ok, I'll admit I once had a morbid fascination with serial killers, psychology, mythology and the supernatural.

Books that inspired me are:

The Jack the Ripper A to Z. With a victim and suspect sharing my surname it was inevitable that I would be drawn to the JTR legend. I haven't written a tale centred around the world's first serial murderer yet, but maybe one day.

Sexual Homicide: Patterns and Motives – this text by former FBI profilers is a fascinating insight into the make-up of serial murderers.

 

The Almanac of the Uncanny – a great read filled with mysteries throughout the world. I constantly trawled through this book and was often inspired by the tales within.

When We Die….not only the physicality of death, but also its cultural significance. Utterly fascinating.

There were also a number of forensic science books as well… initially I wanted to be a crime writer, but I thought it too restrictive, that a formula had to be followed, and over time, my writing took on a darker bent anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comics

Superman and Batman were the comics I grew up with. The concept of a man who could fly, an alien, drew me in, but Batman's inner darkness fascinated me just as much. I recall in the 80's taking a family trip over the border into New South Wales to see my father's childhood home. There was a newsagent in the town and I went in and saw the latest Batman comic, which featured a character called the Reaper. It was a blood-soaked story and I think Todd McFarlane's first foray into comics.

I am a self-taught artist, self-taught in the sense that I must have literally memorised each panel of each comic. I think I started tracing them first, then I threw the tracing paper away and started drawing and writing my own comics.

I'm into more mature comics now, but I'll always remember how the old super-heroes got me into drawing.

 

 

 

 

 

Television

Doctor Who – the one and only. As a child Dr Who scared the crap out of me (as it was supposed to), but it was wonderful (and still is 47 years on). The Tom Baker years, particularly in the early seasons, were filled with some of the most horrifying stories. I learnt the power fear can have and it obviously stayed with me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The X-Files – yeah I'm an X-Files tragic. The darkness of it and again the monsters trapped me for nine years and two films. Mulder and Scully; two fully-developed heroes against it all. I could go on forever about how much this show influenced me, but I won't here. The spin-off show Millennium was also another fave of mine.

Films

A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, American Werewolf in London, The Exorcist, Poltergeist – all these films (during the peak of 80's horror) mesmerised me and stayed in my dreams. All horror writers have found their calling here and I'm no different. Maybe I never should have watched them?

Horror fiction and art appeals to me because it's part of that primal fear which resides in all of us. I didn't want to look, yet I couldn't turn away. Fiction books and films are an escape from the real, but those who are more creative still want more after the last page has been turned or  the last frame has faded to black. It's a bit like an addiction.

If you want to see the result of these inspirations check out my tales, art and my websites:

Torment – www.wix.com/darkscribe/tormentbook

Midnight Theatre: Tales of Terror – https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/41734

Art – www.wix.com/darkscribe/gregchapman_dark-artisan

Blog – www.darkscrybe.blogspot.com

My radio interview on the Romance Radio Network…

ROMANCE RADIO NETWORK INTERVIEW

I was given the wonderful opportunity to be interviewed by Desmond Haas of the Romance Radio Network.

I really enjoyed this chance to talk about my novel, my writing and my experiences of being published for the first time.

You can hear this interview in full here, by following the link:

http://romanceradio.net/2011/04/28/rrn-fiona-dodwell-author-interview-show-033/

Thanks to Desmond for this opportunity.

Competition time! Win a copy of The Banishing…

Would you like to win a free copy of The Banishing?

I am giving away an e-book (PDF) version of this horror novel. So if you're in the mood for something dark and twisted, all you have to do is to send me your name/email address.

I will be taking entries until the 1st May. I will contact the winner and have the copy in your Inbox on that date!

Send your entry to the following address:

fionadodwell1982@hotmail.co.uk

Here is what some reviewers are saying about The Banishing….

"If you love mainstream horror then by all means, read the mainstream stuff – nothing wrong with that. But when you're ready for something good, off the beaten path, read this!" - Book Goggles Review

"A truly original read…you will be thinking about this novel a long time afterwards…" - Edward Gordon

GOOD LUCK!