Luke Walker's Blog: https://lukewalkerwriter.wordpress.com, page 27
February 8, 2014
Faces Made Of Glue - where it came from
A lot of family on my mother's side come from near the city of Ely in East Anglia. Precisely, a village outside Ely called Littleport. I went back there five or six years ago for the first time in God knows how long; it's grown since I was a kid, but it's still a small place and, compared to where I live now, very green and very quiet. Back in the mid eighties, my brother and I went there a couple of times with our mum for a weekend to visit grandparents and various cousins. This would be on a weekend in July when Littleport Show was held. Think horse displays, beer tents, fairground rides, loads of homemade jams and all that sort of stuff. Later on the Saturday, there'd be a big party at the house of one of my distant cousins at which point, I - being around eight years old - would sneak a mouthful of someone's beer and fall asleep. All good fun.
Except, one year I got lost. I can't narrow it down to an exact year so I'm going to say either 1985 or 1986. That feels about right. We were in a large group of easily seven or eight people: grandparents, my mum, my brother (who would have been twelve or so to my eight or nine) and a few cousins. There are a few bitty memories of the day. Scorching heat; the smells of horses and the beer tents; noise of an entire village and the surrounding area all converged on a large chunk of open farmland, and me in my GhostBusters t-shirt. Me hearing my mother say something to my brother, drawing his attention for some reason, and me turning from whatever I was looking towards to the other direction. Then turning back to see everyone had gone.
They probably merged into a crowd without realising I was a few feet behind. Either way, they were gone and I stood alone in the middle of a huge field, surrounded by people and noise and heat. And let's not forget the panic I couldn't call fear. Not right then.
Of course, the sensible thing to have done was either grab the nearest adult or keep walking in the direction we'd been heading. I didn't do either which is why I spent what felt like hours wandering around the grounds, going to the places we'd already been - fair rides, beer tents, horse show - and then back to the spot we'd separated. All the while, that panic edged closer to fear (much as it does for the boy in my story) while I told myself I couldn't ask for help because that meant I was in trouble. Eventually, I hit on the idea of walking back to my grandparents' house which was about a mile away. So I headed to the exit to discover it opened to a new road. I had no idea where the hell the road went and as Googling it wasn't really an option, it was either start walking or go back to the Show. And here's the difference between real life and fiction: in fiction, it's harder to believe the kid gets saved at the end, but that's what happened in real life. A policeman called a name behind me. Not my name. He said Jason. Where he got Jason from compared to Luke, I had no idea, but I still turned around and finally told an adult I was lost.
The upshot was the policeman taking me back to my family and here I am, thirty years later, writing about it. Luckily for me, things didn't go quite as they do in Faces Made Of Glue. Also luckily for me, those minutes that felt like hours spent wandering around a field in the July sun turned into a seed for an idea sitting here for three decades.
Sometimes, it works out in the end.
Buy the anthology featuring Faces Made Of Glue here.
Except, one year I got lost. I can't narrow it down to an exact year so I'm going to say either 1985 or 1986. That feels about right. We were in a large group of easily seven or eight people: grandparents, my mum, my brother (who would have been twelve or so to my eight or nine) and a few cousins. There are a few bitty memories of the day. Scorching heat; the smells of horses and the beer tents; noise of an entire village and the surrounding area all converged on a large chunk of open farmland, and me in my GhostBusters t-shirt. Me hearing my mother say something to my brother, drawing his attention for some reason, and me turning from whatever I was looking towards to the other direction. Then turning back to see everyone had gone.
They probably merged into a crowd without realising I was a few feet behind. Either way, they were gone and I stood alone in the middle of a huge field, surrounded by people and noise and heat. And let's not forget the panic I couldn't call fear. Not right then.
Of course, the sensible thing to have done was either grab the nearest adult or keep walking in the direction we'd been heading. I didn't do either which is why I spent what felt like hours wandering around the grounds, going to the places we'd already been - fair rides, beer tents, horse show - and then back to the spot we'd separated. All the while, that panic edged closer to fear (much as it does for the boy in my story) while I told myself I couldn't ask for help because that meant I was in trouble. Eventually, I hit on the idea of walking back to my grandparents' house which was about a mile away. So I headed to the exit to discover it opened to a new road. I had no idea where the hell the road went and as Googling it wasn't really an option, it was either start walking or go back to the Show. And here's the difference between real life and fiction: in fiction, it's harder to believe the kid gets saved at the end, but that's what happened in real life. A policeman called a name behind me. Not my name. He said Jason. Where he got Jason from compared to Luke, I had no idea, but I still turned around and finally told an adult I was lost.
The upshot was the policeman taking me back to my family and here I am, thirty years later, writing about it. Luckily for me, things didn't go quite as they do in Faces Made Of Glue. Also luckily for me, those minutes that felt like hours spent wandering around a field in the July sun turned into a seed for an idea sitting here for three decades.
Sometimes, it works out in the end.
Buy the anthology featuring Faces Made Of Glue here.
February 1, 2014
Faces Made Of Glue now available
My short story Faces Made of Glue is now available here. (Amazon link to follow). I'm really proud of this one so I hope people enjoy it. And it's worth mentioning it's inspired by a true story. Not based on, I add, but definitely inspired by an event around, I'm guessing, 1984-86. I'll blog about that soon. In the meantime, enjoy the story and all the others in the anthology.
January 30, 2014
Where I'm at
It's a cold, wet January day; I'm in the middle of a week off work and I'm listening to a compliation of live stuff by Therapy? so while everything's grey and manky, what better time to take a second and see where I am?
I finished my current novella yesterday. 26.5K words. To be honest, it wasn't as smooth a first draft as Mirror which doesn't have to be a bad thing. They're different stories approached at different angles, and there's room for improvement in just about anything. This one (no title just yet. I'm considering a few) has moments of decent stuff and I like the overall story, but I think the finished book will be pretty different. The plot itself is fine; it's the background to the story that's the problem. There's a lot going on and not enough space or time to get into it without negatively impacting what's supposed to be a fast-paced page turner. So my choice for the rewrites will either be turn it into a full length novel or come at it with a new approach. I'll leave it alone for a couple of weeks and come back to it with fresh eyes before I decide anything.
While the WIP has a doze, I've got a couple of short stories to outline in more detail before writing them. I had the idea for one at least a year ago, but it didn't feel like the right time to write it. Maybe it is now. As I've said before, I've got no problem with sitting on a story until its time is right.
I'm also very excited about interviewing one of my favorite writers at some point hopefully soon. Not sure when yet - getting the questions to them next week, then obviously they need to take time out of their lives (writing and personal) to answer them. In any case, I've been a fan for a while and having this chance is pretty sweet.
Penultimately, I've got a few things out on submission which means time to play the waiting game once again. They may all come to nowt or I may strike it lucky. That's what the waiting game is all about.
And I'm listening to two voices telling me they want to be my next novel. Whichever one tears out the throat of the other before drinking their spraying blood and then wearing the twitching corpse as a hat wins.
I finished my current novella yesterday. 26.5K words. To be honest, it wasn't as smooth a first draft as Mirror which doesn't have to be a bad thing. They're different stories approached at different angles, and there's room for improvement in just about anything. This one (no title just yet. I'm considering a few) has moments of decent stuff and I like the overall story, but I think the finished book will be pretty different. The plot itself is fine; it's the background to the story that's the problem. There's a lot going on and not enough space or time to get into it without negatively impacting what's supposed to be a fast-paced page turner. So my choice for the rewrites will either be turn it into a full length novel or come at it with a new approach. I'll leave it alone for a couple of weeks and come back to it with fresh eyes before I decide anything.
While the WIP has a doze, I've got a couple of short stories to outline in more detail before writing them. I had the idea for one at least a year ago, but it didn't feel like the right time to write it. Maybe it is now. As I've said before, I've got no problem with sitting on a story until its time is right.
I'm also very excited about interviewing one of my favorite writers at some point hopefully soon. Not sure when yet - getting the questions to them next week, then obviously they need to take time out of their lives (writing and personal) to answer them. In any case, I've been a fan for a while and having this chance is pretty sweet.
Penultimately, I've got a few things out on submission which means time to play the waiting game once again. They may all come to nowt or I may strike it lucky. That's what the waiting game is all about.
And I'm listening to two voices telling me they want to be my next novel. Whichever one tears out the throat of the other before drinking their spraying blood and then wearing the twitching corpse as a hat wins.
January 24, 2014
Changes afoot
No, not in the writing or publishing sense. In the sense of home ownership. My wife and I have just put our house up for sale. The estate agent has taken the photos; we've had the energy certificate thing done; the For Sale sign is up and the house is beyond tidy. Even the cats have had a brush to sort out any loose hair. A shame they'll need doing again by tomorrow.
Never having sold a house before and given the state of the housing market, I have no idea what to expect. A lot of places where I live are rented out rather than bought which might work in our favour - less competition. All we can really do is wait and see. To be honest, our original plan was to wait until later in the year, but after talking to a couple of agents, we figured now was as good a time as ever. We bought the house almost six years ago - right before everything crashed - so it's taken a while to get close to a selling price. The thing is, if we hadn't bought then, we'd still be renting. Like millions of other people, there was just no way we could have got the money together to buy our own place. Now that we own a house, I spend half my time worrying about interest rate rises which is just far too dull. Better for us to sell up, get a smaller mortgage and make a move.
In the meantime, all we have to do is keep the cat hair off the furniture and make sure everything stays as shiny as it was for the pictures.
Never having sold a house before and given the state of the housing market, I have no idea what to expect. A lot of places where I live are rented out rather than bought which might work in our favour - less competition. All we can really do is wait and see. To be honest, our original plan was to wait until later in the year, but after talking to a couple of agents, we figured now was as good a time as ever. We bought the house almost six years ago - right before everything crashed - so it's taken a while to get close to a selling price. The thing is, if we hadn't bought then, we'd still be renting. Like millions of other people, there was just no way we could have got the money together to buy our own place. Now that we own a house, I spend half my time worrying about interest rate rises which is just far too dull. Better for us to sell up, get a smaller mortgage and make a move.
In the meantime, all we have to do is keep the cat hair off the furniture and make sure everything stays as shiny as it was for the pictures.
January 15, 2014
Publishing, marketing and complete and utter bollocks
"The publishing industry has changed drastically over the past decade and because of these changes, authors must now carry the responsibilities of marketing, promotions and publicity for their books. This is a daunting task, and many authors fail, losing their publishing contract or possibly any future contracts."
I recently came across the above on a particular publisher’s website.
This is such complete and utter bollocks that I had no choice but to mention it here in the hope of firstly stopping a new writer from believing it and subbing their work to this publisher, and secondly, dispelling a myth.
Yes, publishing is undergoing some big changes in terms of how people read and how authors interact with readers, but people are still reading which is the most important thing. Whether they read a paperback, hardback, an ebook on their Kindle or any other reader, they’re at least reading. However, if any publisher – small or one of the big boys – wants to stay afloat and have readers consistently coming back to their authors, they need to let those readers know they’re out there. While the author would do well to have an online presence and tell people about their books, it’s sure as hell not the author’s sole responsibility to market, promo and publicise their work. Their job is to write a book to the best of their abilities, target the right agent or publisher for it and then work with the agent/publisher to get the book as close to perfect as can be (there’s no such thing as a completely perfect book but that’s a post for another day).
A small, or even micro, press obviously isn’t going to have the same marketing department as one of the Big Six which doesn’t have to be a problem. As long as it engages with readers and gets the book out there to the right people (professional bloggers/reviewers who in turn speak to readers is a good start), it’s on to a winner. If it simply churns out book after book and leaves them to sink or swim on their own, it’s cocked up for itself and for its authors. Ultimately, the author’s time is better spent working on the next book in order to keep readers interested while letting people know as and when they can that the first book is available. The author is not a marketing, promo and publicity department all rolled into one.
Any publisher who tells writers otherwise should be avoided at all costs. Otherwise that writer will see their book vanishing without a trace.
I recently came across the above on a particular publisher’s website.
This is such complete and utter bollocks that I had no choice but to mention it here in the hope of firstly stopping a new writer from believing it and subbing their work to this publisher, and secondly, dispelling a myth.
Yes, publishing is undergoing some big changes in terms of how people read and how authors interact with readers, but people are still reading which is the most important thing. Whether they read a paperback, hardback, an ebook on their Kindle or any other reader, they’re at least reading. However, if any publisher – small or one of the big boys – wants to stay afloat and have readers consistently coming back to their authors, they need to let those readers know they’re out there. While the author would do well to have an online presence and tell people about their books, it’s sure as hell not the author’s sole responsibility to market, promo and publicise their work. Their job is to write a book to the best of their abilities, target the right agent or publisher for it and then work with the agent/publisher to get the book as close to perfect as can be (there’s no such thing as a completely perfect book but that’s a post for another day).
A small, or even micro, press obviously isn’t going to have the same marketing department as one of the Big Six which doesn’t have to be a problem. As long as it engages with readers and gets the book out there to the right people (professional bloggers/reviewers who in turn speak to readers is a good start), it’s on to a winner. If it simply churns out book after book and leaves them to sink or swim on their own, it’s cocked up for itself and for its authors. Ultimately, the author’s time is better spent working on the next book in order to keep readers interested while letting people know as and when they can that the first book is available. The author is not a marketing, promo and publicity department all rolled into one.
Any publisher who tells writers otherwise should be avoided at all costs. Otherwise that writer will see their book vanishing without a trace.
January 2, 2014
A short, sweet and very nice start to the year
Splendid news comes my way this morning regarding Mirror Of The Nameless. Have a look this way to read more.
December 31, 2013
Come on, 2014. I'm ready for you
As we’re now at the end of 2013, I thought about doing a retrospective of the last year but then realised I’d prefer to focus on what’s coming up in 2014. While I’ve only got one piece scheduled for next year at the moment, I’m really looking forward to it. Faces Made Of Glue is one of my favourite short stories of the last little while. I’m proud of it and keen to hear what others think of it. Obviously as soon as I have information on its published details, I’ll let you know. Other than that, I’ve got four or five other shorts out there I’m waiting to hear back about. They might all be rejected; one or two might get through first time out or, in some mad universe, they might all be accepted. We’ll have to see.
Novel wise, I’ve got three out on submission. Again, they might all end up in the editor’s bin before the email comes my way to say ‘we liked your book but…’ If they don’t make it this time, I’ll do the standard writer thing of reading through, looking for problems, fixing them and trying again. After all, they won’t be published if they just sit in my desktop gathering computer dust. As for newer stuff, I’m waiting for feedback and critiques of Pandemonium before I get stuck into the fresh edits for that, and planning another novella partly because I’ve got an idea that should fit nicely in about 40K and because I enjoyed writing Mirror so much (while writing Pandemonium was a hard slog), I’m up for having another go. If the novella goes well and doesn’t take as long as a full novel, it’s time for what might end up as a horror without any supernatural elements, an issue I mentioned here a couple of weeks back. All I’m saying about that one for now, as it’s still very early days, is I expect it to have a slight Children of Men vibe although knowing me, that’ll change by the 10K point.
That’s about everything for 2014 other than probably a few more short stories, a lot of coffee and a lot of clicking refresh on my email. As for 2013, I got my second book published, my first novella and a few shorts. I’m still here, still writing, still bald, still with the same money worries as everybody else, still supported by the nicest woman in the world and still in a staring contest with the dark side, waiting to see who blinks first.
And still writing. Always still writing.
Novel wise, I’ve got three out on submission. Again, they might all end up in the editor’s bin before the email comes my way to say ‘we liked your book but…’ If they don’t make it this time, I’ll do the standard writer thing of reading through, looking for problems, fixing them and trying again. After all, they won’t be published if they just sit in my desktop gathering computer dust. As for newer stuff, I’m waiting for feedback and critiques of Pandemonium before I get stuck into the fresh edits for that, and planning another novella partly because I’ve got an idea that should fit nicely in about 40K and because I enjoyed writing Mirror so much (while writing Pandemonium was a hard slog), I’m up for having another go. If the novella goes well and doesn’t take as long as a full novel, it’s time for what might end up as a horror without any supernatural elements, an issue I mentioned here a couple of weeks back. All I’m saying about that one for now, as it’s still very early days, is I expect it to have a slight Children of Men vibe although knowing me, that’ll change by the 10K point.
That’s about everything for 2014 other than probably a few more short stories, a lot of coffee and a lot of clicking refresh on my email. As for 2013, I got my second book published, my first novella and a few shorts. I’m still here, still writing, still bald, still with the same money worries as everybody else, still supported by the nicest woman in the world and still in a staring contest with the dark side, waiting to see who blinks first.
And still writing. Always still writing.
December 22, 2013
Just hit send
I've spent the last week readying the opening five chapters of a particular book to send to a particular publisher who aren't open much of the time to unagented writers. As they are for the rest of the month (and as I love their stuff and think this book would be a good fit), I've been editing and tidying up the chapters with one eye on the date. While I obviously have another week or so before the end of the year and the window closing, I still decided to send my submission yesterday.
Now don't get me wrong. I made sure the sample was as shit hot as it could be (anything less would be a waste of their time as well as mine), but I could have spent the rest of December working on it, analysing every word and full stop, every semi-colon and exclamation mark - of which there are precisely none - or I could have done what I did: get it ready and hit send. So I did.
I don't think there are many writers who are 100% happy with their stuff whether it's the first draft, the second, a polished one ready for critique or the published book sitting on the shelves at Amazon or in Waterstones. I know I could spend two minutes reading the stuff I've had published and spot five things I'd like to change, but that's obviously not going to happen. A writer has to draw a line somewhere and say 'this is a good as it's going to be. Time to send it out into the world'. For me, that line was yesterday. If it's accepted, obviously there'll be edits galore but that's a different matter to subbing the sample in the first place. The book is out there, working its way to a slushpile reader and then hopefully an editor. And it's out there now instead of in another week because, sometimes, a writer just has to hit send.
Now don't get me wrong. I made sure the sample was as shit hot as it could be (anything less would be a waste of their time as well as mine), but I could have spent the rest of December working on it, analysing every word and full stop, every semi-colon and exclamation mark - of which there are precisely none - or I could have done what I did: get it ready and hit send. So I did.
I don't think there are many writers who are 100% happy with their stuff whether it's the first draft, the second, a polished one ready for critique or the published book sitting on the shelves at Amazon or in Waterstones. I know I could spend two minutes reading the stuff I've had published and spot five things I'd like to change, but that's obviously not going to happen. A writer has to draw a line somewhere and say 'this is a good as it's going to be. Time to send it out into the world'. For me, that line was yesterday. If it's accepted, obviously there'll be edits galore but that's a different matter to subbing the sample in the first place. The book is out there, working its way to a slushpile reader and then hopefully an editor. And it's out there now instead of in another week because, sometimes, a writer just has to hit send.
December 15, 2013
Horror without the supernatural
I've just finished the read through for my latest book (down to 109K if you're interested) so while that's with a couple of people for a critique, I need to be thinking about the next book. I've got the odd short story planned (one in particular I'm really looking forward to writing), an older book to tidy up and send to a publisher I'm a big fan of, and probably a month or two of rewrites for Pandemonium once I've got the critiques. After that, though, it's time for another book.
I've got the ideas for a few. Whichever one shouts the loudest will be the one I go for first. And while they're shouting, I'm thinking about what a writer like me can do with horror and all its wonderful tropes. Basically, I'm considering a horror tale without any supernatural elements. Take Stephen King's Misery. Horror without question. Nothing supernatural in there. It's a human horror, and as as that's the strongest, darkest and most frightening part of the horror world, it makes sense to explore it on occasion, but the thing is, you say you write horror and a lot of people assume that means ghosts and demons and monsters. It's the same for fantasy. That means you write about dwarves and elves and goblins, right? No. Not at all. There's a lot more to both genres than the obvious stuff. I love my ghosts and demons and monsters, but I also love using all the tools of horror I can find. If that means writing a book where we're the bad guys and the things we've done create a hellish world without anything supernatural crawling and sliming all over it, then that's where I'm heading.
Of course, if another story shouts louder, then I have to tell its tale. Otherwise, it might creep up on me one night.
In the dark.
I've got the ideas for a few. Whichever one shouts the loudest will be the one I go for first. And while they're shouting, I'm thinking about what a writer like me can do with horror and all its wonderful tropes. Basically, I'm considering a horror tale without any supernatural elements. Take Stephen King's Misery. Horror without question. Nothing supernatural in there. It's a human horror, and as as that's the strongest, darkest and most frightening part of the horror world, it makes sense to explore it on occasion, but the thing is, you say you write horror and a lot of people assume that means ghosts and demons and monsters. It's the same for fantasy. That means you write about dwarves and elves and goblins, right? No. Not at all. There's a lot more to both genres than the obvious stuff. I love my ghosts and demons and monsters, but I also love using all the tools of horror I can find. If that means writing a book where we're the bad guys and the things we've done create a hellish world without anything supernatural crawling and sliming all over it, then that's where I'm heading.
Of course, if another story shouts louder, then I have to tell its tale. Otherwise, it might creep up on me one night.
In the dark.
December 7, 2013
Short story sale
I'm thrilled to reveal I've sold another short story. Faces Made Of Glue will feature in an anthology from Death Throes Publishing at some point in the future. Details as soon as I have them.
Hurrah.
Hurrah.
