Updates

Blog, News, Novels, Short Stories

New Short – New Updates

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A new short has been written and submitted for a competition! And while I’m not going into details at this point, it’s one I’m quite happy with.

To start with, I’ve had some problems with the website over the last week or so. When I’ve tried to reach it to post updates, it hasn’t loaded. I’m not sure if this is a me problem or an everybody problem, so it’s something I’ll keep an eye on.

Onto the short. It’s for a competition and I’ve decided not to talk too much about competition shorts from here on. They like anonymous judgment – no name or contact details on the manuscript. And while it’s unlikely the judge will jump onto Google to try and find details, it’s also not really in the spirit of things to post too much. So for now I’ll keep it secret.

All I’ll say is it deals with themes of masculinity, dementia and being trapped in a life that isn’t your own. It follows a father and son who had a bad relationship, but who now rely entirely on one another.

Over the next few days I’ll be posting some other updates. Some thoughts on submitting Nepo Baby, and an exploration of storytelling in film through three versions of The Secret Garden. I’d like to write more often about storytelling, but time is short and sometimes the website doesn’t work. We’ll see what happens.

News, Novels

Nepo Baby – Complete

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A short but very sweet update: my novel Nepo Baby is complete.

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve returned to it after a six-week break and stress tested every part of it. I’ve gone through chapter-by-chapter, and I’ve read the whole thing in a single sitting. It’s a really good book.

After reading all the way through in a single setting, I had some twenty things to fix – mostly in terms of style and wording choice. Now it’s the best shape it can possibly be in.

Nepo Baby is ready. I won’t change a single thing about it until it’s sitting with editors.

That does mean that it’s ready to start submitting to agents. This is always the part of the process that I like the least. The pitching process is very different to the writing process, and it’s something some people are naturally good at. That leads to things like, for instance, submitting novels to film festivals (something I’ve seen during my work with Lift-Off a number of times).

Those are concerns for a different day. Right now I’m basking in the glow of having a finished, polished, very enjoyable novel. Nepo Baby is ready.

News, Novels

Nepo Baby – Update

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If I’ve been quiet, there’s a good reason. The time has finally come for me to revisit Nepo Baby with fresh eyes and prepare it for final submission.

Nepo Baby is my new novel, following reformed murderer Mikey Cornwall as he joins the investigation following the murder of a young girl in a celebrity’s bedroom. It’s the dark, psychological story of a man trying to come to terms with his past while being unable to let it go. It explores our fascination with murder, our innate desire to severely punish instead of help, and the inheritance of trauma.

I’ve been happy with how well it’s stood up to the six week break. We’re well into editing for effect, not for content. I’ll read it one more time – all the way through, in one sitting – and if it stands up to that, I’ll begin the process of getting it published next week.

That does mean that I’ve slowed down on shorts and on my follow-up novel. They’ve been briefly paused – just for a few weeks – while I return my focus back to Nepo Baby.

It’s an exciting time. I’m very confident in Nepo Baby. That’s in a big part thanks to the characters.

I can’t wait to share them. But for now, back to editing. Wish me luck!

News, Short Stories

The Searcher and What We Want

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Two new flash shorts for this week: The Searcher and What We Want. They’re quite different stories and both have already been submitted for publication.

I first mentioned What We Want in a blog post a couple of weeks ago. Then it was under the title Lie For Me. That’s changed because, as so often happens, the character veered off in a direction I wasn’t expecting. It hasn’t changed substantially, but enough that the title no longer made sense.

It’s a mother talking to her daughter about something that happened at school. On the surface she’s trying to be supportive, but she let’s her own shortcomings get in the way. It deals with themes of love, family and cycles of abuse. It is 690 words long.

The other short is called The Searcher, and it’s about a man who vows never to spend a birthday alone after his fiftieth turns out to be a bust. This was an experimental piece for me, writing in a very literary, pared back version of my style.

One of my favourite books is The Life of a Stupid Man by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. It’s incredible how much he does with so little. The Searcher is in that vein, 800 words split across eight different sections. The shortest – and one of the most important – is just 55 words long.

I’ll do a proper breakdown of this one once it’s published, and it’s something I’ll continue experimenting with. That includes in shorts for Leak.

Both The Searcher and What We Want are in the pipeline, so hopefully I’ll be able to share them very soon.

News, Short Stories

Not the One

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A new short – Not the One – has been finished and submitted for publication elsewhere.

Not the One is about a terrible date. He’s talking endlessly about real ale, football and household appliances. Just when you think you’re over it, he reminds you why you’re there. But then something happens that changes everything.

Not the One is a 1780 word comic literary short about love, dating and difficult decisions. It’s what happens when the Rom Com goes wrong.

There’s not a lot else in the way of updates except to say I’ve not worked on the novel as much as I should have done this week. Still making progress, but these shorts are addictive. I’m aiming to write one a week – this week I’ve written three. Me and Mam at the End of the World, RE: Our Last Year and now this one. And in fact, Boudoir was last Saturday, so count that too if you want.

The hope is that by writing enough shorts, there will come a time when there’s a constant roll of rejections and acceptances. That way, in theory, there’s never a gap where stories aren’t moving. One of my problems in the past has been emphasizing individual stories, and burning out on the wait. This is a way to get over this and, if the last week is anything to go by, so far so good. I’ve looked at the Prose page more than once and been surprised by something there!

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