Luke Walker's Blog: https://lukewalkerwriter.wordpress.com, page 31
May 28, 2013
Another short story sold
I'm happy to announce I've sold my short story Bear to James Ward Kirk. Details to follow as soon as possible. For now, you can thank Diane Dooley who, I think it's fair to say, loved it as much as she hated it.
Heh, heh.
Heh, heh.
May 27, 2013
Incy Wincy
Here's the link to my latest short story, Incy Wincy. And yes, I meant it. This is not for those who don't like creepy crawlies.
Enjoy.
Enjoy.
May 23, 2013
New short story sale
My short story Incy Wincy will feature in an upcoming issue of Death Throes webzine. I'll post links to it and more info as soon as I get it. For now, though, a heads up - this isn't a story for people who don't like spiders.
Trust me.
It's not.
Trust me.
It's not.
May 18, 2013
Latest book finished
Just finished the first draft of my latest book (currently titled Pandemonium). To be completely honest, it's a bit of a mess and has taken me a good few weeks longer than usual to finish. I don't know how much work - other than a lot - it'll need before it's readable by anyone and I don't know if it will ever see the light of day, but it's done. As a friend of mine has often said: "First get it written. Then get it right."
Now that it's done, I'm going to celebrate by hoovering and getting the washing in.
I tell you. I know how to live it large.
Now that it's done, I'm going to celebrate by hoovering and getting the washing in.
I tell you. I know how to live it large.
May 15, 2013
How 'Set went from first draft to publication
Since it’s coming up for a couple of months since 'Set was released, I thought it’d be interesting to blog about its journey from first draft to publication. So come with me back to a dark and mysterious time full of wonder and magic and hope for the future. Well, 2007, actually. Remember it? All those slightly bigger mobile phones. Wow. Far out.
Anyway, I’d written five novels and one novella by that point. Three of the novels were 100k + word fantasies and, to be honest, were a bit amateurish. I still think they have glimpses of potential, but overall, they were fairly poor. After writing a novella that wasn’t fantasy at all, I had the urge to go for something bigger…something exploring death and all its terrible power. I jotted down a few ideas; they grew into an outline and a few of the characters came along at the same time. When it came to the main character, Emma, I had a mental picture of who she looked like (if you’ve seen Dog Soldiers, you’ll know who) so that, strangely enough, helped with her character. With the basics sorted, I got stuck in. Now, I was a slower writer then than I am these days so that first draft took me a good six months compared to my current average of about two. After it’d been through various edits, re-writes and polishes, the time came for that favourite of established and beginner writers alike.
Submission.
And just as it had been with anything else I subbed before 'Set, it went precisely nowhere. There might been two or three requests for the whole book based on the opening chapters, but no more than that. The vast majority of my queries were met with either silence or ‘thanks, but not for me.’ So I gave it a polish and tried again. Still nothing. Another polish and out again. That round, it got an offer of publication from a tiny American publisher with a promise of a contract ‘soon’. The contract never came and the last I heard, that publisher went down the pan, so no great loss there. Still, my book had a bit of decent feedback, so I gave it yet another polish and subbed to a London based agency. And here’s the fun part: after people left the company and their replacements either lost my sub or didn’t get back to me or asked me to re-send or were abducted by aliens, a lot of time passed with me working on another book and wondering if 'Set would ever get anywhere. Eventually, an apologetic email came my way: it’d been lost again, but if I resubbed, they’d ensure it went to the top of the pile. Plenty of people would have not bothered by this stage, but being a writer means knowing when to quit and then carrying on, anyway, so off the book went. The rejection, complete with detailed feedback, arrived a couple of weeks later.
That agency experience took two and a half years.
Two and a half years of emailing, waiting, emailing again, more waiting, writing more books, leaving the first decade of the twenty-first century, writing more and so on. Of course, there was only one thing I could do: read through it, polish it again and send it out once more.
It sold to Musa about a month later.
So what can you take from that? Either I’m too stupid to know when to give up on a book or that it sometimes takes a long time for a story to find a home. Or both.
That’s how 'Set went from first draft to being published in a six year journey of emails, rejections, silence, lost files and rewrites. And lots and lots of coffee.
Anyway, I’d written five novels and one novella by that point. Three of the novels were 100k + word fantasies and, to be honest, were a bit amateurish. I still think they have glimpses of potential, but overall, they were fairly poor. After writing a novella that wasn’t fantasy at all, I had the urge to go for something bigger…something exploring death and all its terrible power. I jotted down a few ideas; they grew into an outline and a few of the characters came along at the same time. When it came to the main character, Emma, I had a mental picture of who she looked like (if you’ve seen Dog Soldiers, you’ll know who) so that, strangely enough, helped with her character. With the basics sorted, I got stuck in. Now, I was a slower writer then than I am these days so that first draft took me a good six months compared to my current average of about two. After it’d been through various edits, re-writes and polishes, the time came for that favourite of established and beginner writers alike.
Submission.
And just as it had been with anything else I subbed before 'Set, it went precisely nowhere. There might been two or three requests for the whole book based on the opening chapters, but no more than that. The vast majority of my queries were met with either silence or ‘thanks, but not for me.’ So I gave it a polish and tried again. Still nothing. Another polish and out again. That round, it got an offer of publication from a tiny American publisher with a promise of a contract ‘soon’. The contract never came and the last I heard, that publisher went down the pan, so no great loss there. Still, my book had a bit of decent feedback, so I gave it yet another polish and subbed to a London based agency. And here’s the fun part: after people left the company and their replacements either lost my sub or didn’t get back to me or asked me to re-send or were abducted by aliens, a lot of time passed with me working on another book and wondering if 'Set would ever get anywhere. Eventually, an apologetic email came my way: it’d been lost again, but if I resubbed, they’d ensure it went to the top of the pile. Plenty of people would have not bothered by this stage, but being a writer means knowing when to quit and then carrying on, anyway, so off the book went. The rejection, complete with detailed feedback, arrived a couple of weeks later.
That agency experience took two and a half years.
Two and a half years of emailing, waiting, emailing again, more waiting, writing more books, leaving the first decade of the twenty-first century, writing more and so on. Of course, there was only one thing I could do: read through it, polish it again and send it out once more.
It sold to Musa about a month later.
So what can you take from that? Either I’m too stupid to know when to give up on a book or that it sometimes takes a long time for a story to find a home. Or both.
That’s how 'Set went from first draft to being published in a six year journey of emails, rejections, silence, lost files and rewrites. And lots and lots of coffee.
May 8, 2013
Books, glorious books
As I've probably said here before, I've always got a book or two on the go. My to-be-read pile is huge and I often have to force myself to keep it from growing any bigger. So many good books to read and not enough hours in the day to read them.
Anyway, as I've really enjoyed a few books lately, I thought it would be a good idea to mention them here. A couple of days ago, I finished the latest in Alex Scarrow's TimeRiders series. This one, The Pirate Kings, takes in all the fun of pirates (strangely enough) complete with sailing on the high seas, shooting and stabbing people and generally being scoundrels. Of course, there's plenty of history to go with the time travel. If you're new to the series, book seven isn't the best place to start. Get you to the first one and get reading.
Then there's The Doomsday Book which I'm about halfway through now. SF isn't usually my thing. I sometimes find it too clinical, too much from the head while fantasy is from the imagination and horror comes from that bit of reptile brain we like to pretend is long dead. Simply beacause it's such a great tale, I'm really enjoying this one. Highly recommended.
For an old favourite, there's Small Gods from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. I read this one a few years back and while it doesn't quite edge out Mort as my personal highlight, it's a close call. The Discworld series is in the twenties by now, and while some people would say to start at the beginning, I think you could read this one after reading just a couple of the others.
And this weekend, I'll be starting Peter Straub's Ghost Story and Tim Lebbon's Bar None which I'm really looking forward to.
Whatever you pick up next to read, enjoy it.
Anyway, as I've really enjoyed a few books lately, I thought it would be a good idea to mention them here. A couple of days ago, I finished the latest in Alex Scarrow's TimeRiders series. This one, The Pirate Kings, takes in all the fun of pirates (strangely enough) complete with sailing on the high seas, shooting and stabbing people and generally being scoundrels. Of course, there's plenty of history to go with the time travel. If you're new to the series, book seven isn't the best place to start. Get you to the first one and get reading.
Then there's The Doomsday Book which I'm about halfway through now. SF isn't usually my thing. I sometimes find it too clinical, too much from the head while fantasy is from the imagination and horror comes from that bit of reptile brain we like to pretend is long dead. Simply beacause it's such a great tale, I'm really enjoying this one. Highly recommended.
For an old favourite, there's Small Gods from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. I read this one a few years back and while it doesn't quite edge out Mort as my personal highlight, it's a close call. The Discworld series is in the twenties by now, and while some people would say to start at the beginning, I think you could read this one after reading just a couple of the others.
And this weekend, I'll be starting Peter Straub's Ghost Story and Tim Lebbon's Bar None which I'm really looking forward to.
Whatever you pick up next to read, enjoy it.
April 30, 2013
Martyrs - film review
We live in a dark world. People are capable of the most vile acts imaginable...and then some. Right now as I type this, people are being tortured, raped, beaten and murdered. Some of those people will be rescued. Some won't. If you can't accept that, if you can't accept that our world can be an evil place in which human life has no value to some, then you're better off not watching this film.With that out of the way, on with the review: Martyrs is the story of two friends, Lucie and Anna. As a child, Lucie was abducted and held captive by nameless people. Upon escaping, she claims to have no memory of her experiences and the police have little to go on for their investigation. Lucie is taken to an orphanage where she meets Anna who cares for her as an older sister would. Lucie is haunted by a terrifying monster in the middle of the night and it's pretty obvious this is something to do with her horrible experiences. Fast forward fifteen years and Lucie tracks down some of the people she believes were responsible for her abduction.
To outline the plot any further would be to spoil it. Suffice to say, things don't go quite as expected other than one moment of fairly standard horror film law to which I found myself shouting at the TV: "Don't go in there." The change in angle and subsequent extreme violence will alienate a lot of people which is understandable as it's not comfortable viewing. As I said, we live in a dark world. Martyrs is a reflection of this. We also live in a world in which friendship can go a little way to illuminating that darkness. Martyrs reflects this, as well.
Ultimately, Martyrs is not simply a great horror film. It's a great piece of film making and one which will doubtless be remembered long after the inevitable American remake.
April 21, 2013
A great philosopher once wrote...
naughty, naughty, very naughty
And while this is undoubtedly true, it's also important to remember the words of another great philospher. Well, writer, actually.
"The first draft of anything is shit."
I started a new book at the beginning of March and haven't said much about here for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the writing process isn't really that interesting for non-writers. Sitting down everyday and bashing out a few thousand words is sometimes fun for the writer and sometimes, it's a great big pain in the bum. If the story isn't going as the writer imagined, that can slow them down which then feeds self-doubt, and that slows them down even more. But if they want to get their book finished for an agent, editor, publisher or for themselves, they haven't got much choice other than to keep going and get those words down. Even if they're writing shit in that first draft.
That's the second reason I've so far kept quiet about this book. I came up with my usual outline before I wrote a single word and I had a rough idea about my protag and antag (rough since I like them to be able to grow their own way as the story goes on). But then a problem: I didn't know the story. I was telling myself it as much as I'd be telling another person if they asked me what it was about. So several thousand words in and it's not that I'm making it up as I go. It's more that I'm in the middle of a horror story with no bite, a story that's edging towards a thriller but with too few thrills. I had a read through, made some notes and plans for the next few scenes and I kept going. And most importantly, I remembered the quote above. No, not the one from The Shamen. The other one.
And I kept writing.
I passed the 50,000 words mark earlier today. To give you some idea of perspective, I passed 40,000 about a week ago after hitting 30,000 probably two and a half weeks before that. Taking some time to see what I already had and making some fresh notes helped, but not as much as that quote. The book is now in the final twenty to twenty-five thousand words for this draft. I've got a feeling the second draft will add in another twenty or so on top of that, but we'll have to see how that goes. In the meantime, I'll get it done and remember that quote.
By the way, Ernest Hemingway said it. Before he killed himself.
And while this is undoubtedly true, it's also important to remember the words of another great philospher. Well, writer, actually.
"The first draft of anything is shit."
I started a new book at the beginning of March and haven't said much about here for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the writing process isn't really that interesting for non-writers. Sitting down everyday and bashing out a few thousand words is sometimes fun for the writer and sometimes, it's a great big pain in the bum. If the story isn't going as the writer imagined, that can slow them down which then feeds self-doubt, and that slows them down even more. But if they want to get their book finished for an agent, editor, publisher or for themselves, they haven't got much choice other than to keep going and get those words down. Even if they're writing shit in that first draft.
That's the second reason I've so far kept quiet about this book. I came up with my usual outline before I wrote a single word and I had a rough idea about my protag and antag (rough since I like them to be able to grow their own way as the story goes on). But then a problem: I didn't know the story. I was telling myself it as much as I'd be telling another person if they asked me what it was about. So several thousand words in and it's not that I'm making it up as I go. It's more that I'm in the middle of a horror story with no bite, a story that's edging towards a thriller but with too few thrills. I had a read through, made some notes and plans for the next few scenes and I kept going. And most importantly, I remembered the quote above. No, not the one from The Shamen. The other one.
And I kept writing.
I passed the 50,000 words mark earlier today. To give you some idea of perspective, I passed 40,000 about a week ago after hitting 30,000 probably two and a half weeks before that. Taking some time to see what I already had and making some fresh notes helped, but not as much as that quote. The book is now in the final twenty to twenty-five thousand words for this draft. I've got a feeling the second draft will add in another twenty or so on top of that, but we'll have to see how that goes. In the meantime, I'll get it done and remember that quote.
By the way, Ernest Hemingway said it. Before he killed himself.
April 16, 2013
Boston, Iraq, the world.
“The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places. But still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands, love is now mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps, the greater.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
April 12, 2013
Book cover - Mirror Of The Nameless
Very happy to reveal the cover for Mirror Of The Nameless which is published in September from Dark Fuse. This cover is sweet.
