It's been a busy year for me, this one. I finished the first draft of my latest novel and have a couple of other major projects on the go. More on those in a moment, but first:
I really should keep more of an eye on TV. My latest novel is a dark psychological thriller set on the East Coast of Scotland. Someone is kidnapping women and leaving a strange symbol behind, and it falls to a couple of private investigators and DI David Banks (from a couple of earlier books) to uncover the secrets at the heart of the story. So far, so good: I've had a lot of fun writing this one; it allowed me to play characters off one another and build a great deal of tension between them. I even had a perfect title picked out - The Missing.
Imagine my horror when several people pointed out that this happens to be the title of a rather successful TV show in the UK. I wouldn't know, never having seen it, but one or two naughty words crossed my mind when I found out. Back to the drawing board then for a title.
As it happens, I've come up with a new title - Transcendence - which I rather like. For me, it captures the essence of the story, and I now feel justified in thumbing my nose at the TV people and saying, "Ya boo, keep your title!" I'm not bitter, honest.
In other news, I was in Glasgow recently at a BBC Writers Room event (Steven Moffat gave the keynote speech and Ed McCardie was brilliant and refreshingly honest) and my interest was piqued in writing for radio. I've always enjoyed radio drama, but I've now started to think about how to adapt one of my stories into a play.
I'm also working on two book-length projects. One of them started life (as most of my stories do) with a What if?... In this case, what if Scotland did take a second Independence Referendum and vote to leave the UK? I threw in some turmoil from the current political climate, and tried to have some fun in seeing how far I could take things. The story started out in quite a humorous vein, but quickly became very dark. It also became clear that to explore this would take much more than a short story.
Another story that's grown arms and legs is currently occupying most of my free writing time. I'm calling this one Creepers (and TV companies, you heard it here first...) and it's my first take on the zombie story. Again, it started out as a short story - I had to get two characters from point A to point B, with some scary encounters on the way. After 12,000 words, I've realised that this also wants to be a book. Although I'm not much of a plotter, I've jotted down some of the key scenes and I've worked out that there's a long way to go yet. The characters have decided to complicate matters by behaving as they want (great when that happens, means the subconscious is working).
I've also got an idea for a follow up to Nanobite, my Vampire novel, and have started sketching ideas for that.
Oh, and I'm Stirling this coming weekend (8-10 September) helping out with the Bloody Scotland Literary Festival. Do pop in if you're in the area, it promises to be a great day with some fabulous authors.
Right, rant over. Back to work. Now, what were those pesky zombies doing...
Imagine my horror when several people pointed out that this happens to be the title of a rather successful TV show in the UK. I wouldn't know, never having seen it, but one or two naughty words crossed my mind when I found out. Back to the drawing board then for a title.
As it happens, I've come up with a new title - Transcendence - which I rather like. For me, it captures the essence of the story, and I now feel justified in thumbing my nose at the TV people and saying, "Ya boo, keep your title!" I'm not bitter, honest.
In other news, I was in Glasgow recently at a BBC Writers Room event (Steven Moffat gave the keynote speech and Ed McCardie was brilliant and refreshingly honest) and my interest was piqued in writing for radio. I've always enjoyed radio drama, but I've now started to think about how to adapt one of my stories into a play.
I'm also working on two book-length projects. One of them started life (as most of my stories do) with a What if?... In this case, what if Scotland did take a second Independence Referendum and vote to leave the UK? I threw in some turmoil from the current political climate, and tried to have some fun in seeing how far I could take things. The story started out in quite a humorous vein, but quickly became very dark. It also became clear that to explore this would take much more than a short story.
Another story that's grown arms and legs is currently occupying most of my free writing time. I'm calling this one Creepers (and TV companies, you heard it here first...) and it's my first take on the zombie story. Again, it started out as a short story - I had to get two characters from point A to point B, with some scary encounters on the way. After 12,000 words, I've realised that this also wants to be a book. Although I'm not much of a plotter, I've jotted down some of the key scenes and I've worked out that there's a long way to go yet. The characters have decided to complicate matters by behaving as they want (great when that happens, means the subconscious is working).
I've also got an idea for a follow up to Nanobite, my Vampire novel, and have started sketching ideas for that.
Oh, and I'm Stirling this coming weekend (8-10 September) helping out with the Bloody Scotland Literary Festival. Do pop in if you're in the area, it promises to be a great day with some fabulous authors.
Right, rant over. Back to work. Now, what were those pesky zombies doing...