The Ghost of Novels Past

About this time last year I was planning to self-publish AFTERLIFE and DEMONIZED by the end of 2016. I bought shiny new cover art, wrote new blurbs, and excitedly announced that this was definitely going to happen.

It hasn't happened, obviously. Mostly because I have a loooooooooong to-write list, and re-publishing old stuff has to take a back seat to writing current series. And now it's a year-ish later and I'm no closer to getting these books back out in the world.

I have a really on-off relationship with the Shoregrave/Ethan Banning books. Kinda. I love them. I love writing Ethan, I love the world of Shoregrave. AFTERLIFE was my first published novel, and even though the experiences I had with Damnation Books/Caliban Press were...um...horrific, I guess, I still believe these are good stories that deserve to be read. But Ethan is on his own rocky road - long story short, nobody buys Ethan's books - and I can never decide from one week to the next if I want to put more time and energy into series that don't sell, no matter how much I may love them. Because, as noted, I have a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong to-write list.

But. Argh. Unf. Ugh. I do love them. And the mere fact that I'm still thinking about them after all this time and all the various heartbreaks I've had over them, tells me I need to finish what I started with them.

So back to AFTERLIFE. I opened it up yesterday and started reading through. I wrote the first draft of this book in 2008. I like to think I'm a different, better writer now, and it quickly became clear to me that I can produce a better version of this book with a little time and work. I also figured out as I read that I have a solid, focused plan for the series that I didn't have back in 2008, a plan for telling Yasmin's story in a satisfying way, and that means some changes are required. I'm planning to work part-time on getting AFTERLIFE up to scratch whilst dedicating the bulk of my writing time to my current Amber Morgan wip.

After that... I want to submit it to my publisher. Self-publishing requires a skill set and a budget that I don't have, and I don't see the point of putting this book back into the world if I don't give it the best chance of being found. For me, that means working with a publisher. I hope they'll like it...If not, I guess I do still have that cover art.

As for Ethan, that's a blog for another day, I think. Still a bit of thinking to do on that guy.

August Accountability

Well, it appears another month has gone by! July just seemed to go by impossibly fast, but looking back, a lot happened. I polished up and submitted Imperial Demons, edited LICH QUEEN and had it released, and just yesterday I completed the last round of edits for ON A DARK TIDE. Around that, I wrote and edited a 12k story and submitted it to an anthology, and got the first 4k of my new Amber Morgan project written.

So actually, yeah, that's probably why the month flew by.

So! What's the plan for August? Well, ON A DARK TIDE will be out on August 24th. I'm hoping to be able to share news about Imperial Demons with you soon. In the meantime, I'm going to be focusing on that Amber Morgan book and brainstorming Urban Wolf 6.

I've been thinking about this book a lot recently. You'll see from the Work In Progress thingy over there somewhere ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
that I have about 8k written of it, but I wrote that a few years ago now, and I'm not sure it's the story I want to tell next in this series anymore. I think some of the bare bones of the plot can remain, but the big juicy meaty bits need to change. So I need to figure that out before I start work on it again, but either way, Urban Wolf 6 is definitely next on the to-do list. WOLF STRAP was my first professionally published story, and even though it's been a while since I wrote a full-length Ayla and Shannon novel, their world and lives are still important to me. I always planned to give them five full-length novels at a bare minimum. At the moment we're on three short stories, two novels, and one spin-off in the shape of IN COLD BLOOD, so even though Urban Wolf 6 will technically be book six in the Urban Wolf World, it'll still only be Ayla and Shannon's third novel. There's a lot of their world left to explore.

Anyway! That's for the autumn. August is all about Amber. I will of course be checking in here with news about Imperial Demons and ON A DARK TIDE and probably other stuff as well, so stay tuned!

In From The Cold

I joke that I'm something of a cannibal when it comes to my writing. I like to keep hold of all my ideas, even the ones that end up going nowhere, because somewhere down the line, something will snap into place and I'll have the perfect pieces for a whole new story - I'll cannibalise the old writing and make something new.

In the past I've talked about how Aisling from IN COLD BLOOD started out as the heroine in an idea I had for a post-apocalyptic werewolf novel. I never wrote that story. But there's one I did write, a piece of flash fiction that became the backbone of Aisling's own story. A man who became a wolf, then became a man again.

I unearthed it recently almost by accident and figured you might like to read it. Enjoy!

Building a Book - The Music

As some of you may know, I keep a Spotify playlist for most of my series/projects, and Blood Canticles is no exception. (You can find it here if you're curious). It's something I've been adding to ever since I wrote BLOOD WITCH and there are songs for every character, every mood, every scene and some future scenes. Back in May I shared five AFI songs for Lola and Tristesse. Today I'm sharing five songs for Imperial Demons. Enjoy!





1. If I Burn - Emilie Autumn

This one's for Tristesse, and also the opening of the book.



2. Torch Song - AFI

More AFI, yes. Sorry/not sorry.



3. To Hell With You - Sleigh Bells

This was the first song I officially pegged for Imperial Demons, so I kind of think of it as the theme song.



4. Demons - Chelsea Wolfe

I just love her stuff. So dark and atmospheric.



5. Heavy Stone - Kyla La Grange

I adore Kyla La Grange, and this song is especially poignant to me. If Imperial Demons was a film, this song would play over the end credits.

Building a Book - The Books

So I'm not sharing a snippet today, because everything is now too spoilery for the end of the book and I want to keep you guys in suspense as much as I can! Instead, I thought I'd spend the next few blog posts sharing some of the stuff that's helped me write Imperial Demons, from books to music to tea! All essential factors for me, especially with this book. I always knew Imperial Demons was going to be a tough book to write. Not because of the story itself (although it has been pretty emotionally wringing at points!), but because in sending Lola and Tristesse to Gehenna, I had to create a whole new world. And I had a really specific idea of what I wanted the demon world to be like (you can check out my Pinterest board for some visual inspirations - trigger warning: blood).

But actually fleshing out that idea and building (what I hope is) a coherent world took time, and research. Which was a great excuse to dive into some historical biographies!

Robert K Massie's biography of Catherine the Great was a book I wanted to read anyway, because I'm pretty keen on Russian history, especially relating to the tzars. The aristocracy and politics of Gehenna is heavily influenced by Catherine's era, and although I've worked to put my own twist on everything, it was important for me to dig into the political machinations and figure out how to apply them to Tristesse and her situation.

I'll hold my hands up now and say I have no idea how historically accurate this book is, because nobody can really agree on the Truth when it comes to Erzsebet Bathory, but it did seem to be a balanced and level-headed approach to the Bloody Countess. However you look at her life, she's a fascinating woman, and her reputed crimes helped shape the villain of Imperial Demons. And I've mentioned earlier in the Blood Canticles series that Lola is interested in her life story, so it felt only right to educate myself a bit more on her!

Another figure from Russian history, another tyrant. Ivan's horrific rule was another inspiration for the villain of the book, whilst reading about another era of the Russian tzars helped add some building blocks to Gehenna.

It's intriguing to me that Vlad the Impaler was renowned as a folk hero by some during his lifetime whilst we generally know him today as a bloodthirsty monster. I wanted to examine both sides of that, and this was a great book for doing so. I'm not looking to redeem the bad guy in Imperial Demons, but I did want to touch on why and how tyrants rise to power. Between Vlad and Ivan, hopefully I've handled it deftly! I don't want the book to get bogged down in political meanderings, but a little political meandering was inevitable. You'll understand why once you know why Tristesse ran away from Gehenna in the first place.

So! Those were the books that helped me get my head round Gehenna. Stay tuned (haha) for some musical inspiration next time!

Wednesday Snippet

I SWEAR THIS BOOK IS NEVER GOING TO END. I'm writing slowly at the moment because I'm in a lot of pain, but even so, I have to keep mentally tacking another 10k onto Imperial Demons' projected word count every time I finish a chapter. I can't let myself rush through the ending and shortchange my characters and you guys, but at the same time, I am eager to finish. This is a big, exhausting story and I love it and I want you to love it, but I have lots more stories to write.

Anyway! I swear the end is getting closer, so this is probably the last snippet I'll share, because from here on, it's all going to be too spoilery. So enjoy some time with Tristesse!

June Accountability

You may remember that back at the start of May, I thought finishing Imperial Demons by the end of May was a pretty reasonable goal. Well, It's now the 5th of June and the book still isn't finished, so I'm starting to think I should just shut up. I had a really productive writing month last month, allowing for a few periods of down-time due to ye olde shoulder/arm/wrist issues, and Imperial Demons is sitting pretty at nearly 70k. I thought it would end up around 80k, but there is just no way I'll have everything wrapped up in just another 10k, so now I'm thinking 90k-100k seems more likely.

This is turning into a big book by my standards. I haven't written anything this long since my dad passed away in 2012. In 2013 I really lost my passion for writing while I was grieving, and it seemed for a while like the spark and the drive to write anything longer than a short story was never coming back to me. I don't know why I placed so much value on writing "big books," but it made me sad to think I'd lost some vital component in my writer's toolkit. Clearly I worried too much. Thanks, anxiety!

I guess it's a natural part of the series' progression - BLOOD WITCH was around 45k, DARK DAYS was around 63k. LICH QUEEN dropped to 58k, and Imperial Demons could easily end up being double the length of any of them at this rate. Expect to see Book 5 clock in at a million words...

Anyway, none of that is particularly interesting, really. I just like tracking that kind of thing. The point is, Imperial Demons is still not done, but it should be done in June (allowing for edits for ON A DARK TIDE and LICH QUEEN). Huzzahs! I am in the final act and it's time to start bringing all the foreshadowing and plot threads together for the big climax. Wish me luck!

So that's June's to-do list, really: Finish The Damn Book. I feel pretty inspired to do so, what with being so close to the end, and my tarot card draw for the month is encouraging too:

That's the Magician from the Quantum tarot deck. He indicates power, skill, and concentration, among other things. The Quantum deck tells us that whenever we create something out of nothing, we are inhabiting the Magician archetype. I can't think of a better card to represent where I am right now, focusing on finishing this goddamn book and turning all the ideas that have been tucked away in my head for over a year into actual words.

In the spirit of creating something from nothing, I spent most of yesterday afternoon making perfumes, something I never feel like I have time for anymore.

It felt so good to just chill out and make things smell pretty, and I really need to carve more time out of my schedule for experimenting. So we'll add that to the June to-do list as well. Let's see how it all turned out when I do this again in July...

Wednesday Snippet - Star-filled eyes watched her

The writing has been slow-going recently, mostly because I spent a lot of last week running around like a mad thing at the day job preparing for being off work this week. But! I am now off work. And hopefully the next few days will be productive and push me ever-closer to the end of Imperial Demons. Cross your fingers for me. I'm also anticipating first round edits for either LICH QUEEN or ON A DARK TIDE in the near future, since both are currently slated for release in June. Obviously edits will slow down writing, but maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan, I am so excited about both those stories!

Anyway! Let's check in with Lola in the meantime.

Forgive me, Stephen, for I have sinned...

It's been seven days since I last worked on Imperial Demons. According to the rules clearly laid out in your Daily Beast article, this means I must now abandon the project, because...I don't know, effort is pain and makes my skin hurt, or something.

Now, look, I don't normally write blog posts aimed at writers. I want to make this a place for my readers by and large, but sometimes I read something so dumb and potentially damaging to writers that I just think...ah, fuck it. This is one of those times.

Let's get the obvious thing out of the way first. Of course consistency matters if you want to finish a book. This is true whether you're seeking publication or not. However, putting it out there that if you don't write Every. Single. Day, you're doomed to failure and obviously not committed and should go train to be a lawyer instead, and will be trampled over by a hoard of more committed, deserving authors, is just dumb and moreover, false.

For one thing, everyone's schedule is different. My day job takes me out of the house between 7am and 6pm five days a week. I run an Etsy shop that, tallied up, probably takes another seven-fourteen hours out of my free time every week when it's open full-time. I have a persistent and pretty much unfixable problem with both arms/shoulders that often leaves me in tremendous pain and physically unable to write some days. So no, I don't write every day. You know what?

It doesn't fucking matter. I still finish books and I get them out there for readers. I know writers who have way more complicated schedules and lives than mine, and they do the same, because they get that what matters isn't Write Every Day Or Else, but Just Fucking Write. You do have to make time, definitely. But if you can't make time seven days a week, 365 days a year, don't worry, and don't let people give you bad advice about that. Write in a way that works for you. For some people, that's 300 words every morning before the day job. For others it's 5k a day in between taking care of their kids. For some (like me), it's 5k a week (hopefully) around, like, eating and sleeping and making perfume and making sure my boss goes to the right country for conferences.

Writing is hard, sure, but real life is too, and what you need most is a solid understanding of what will work for you and the flexibility to adapt as life changes around you.

The other issue I take with the article is the assumption that unless you're writing for publication, and by publication clearly Stephen Hunter means traditional publishing, it's not worth it. That is bullshit. There are a lot of reasons to write, and for your own goddamned pleasure is just as valid as for a paycheck. You want to write that 100k space opera fanfic? Fucking go for it, and enjoy the hell out of it. You want to write with the aim of landing an agent and a movie deal? Fucking go for that too. You want to self-publish? Fucking go for that, and if you want to write fanfic and trad stuff and self-publish ALL AT THE SAME TIME, then yes, go the fuck for that! There is no correct way to be a writer, and no One True Path, and don't let anybody tell you different.*

There are a lot of places you can go for advice as a writer, regardless of what level of your career you're at. There are a lot of valid voices out there too, with experience in all aspects of the industry. Read around. Ask questions. Learn. But never, ever, ever listen to anyone who gives you reasons to stop writing. They are not on your side.

And now that's out of my system, I am in fact getting back to work on Imperial Demons. I mean, if I'm allowed...




*I mean, don't plagiarise anyone. That would be shit.

Five (AFI) Songs for Tristesse and Lola

On Friday night I got to see my all-time favourite band play live for the first time since 2003. AFI have been an instrumental and vital part of my life and writing process since I discovered them back in the dim, glory days of MTV2. Every album they've made has had an least one song (and usually several) that has become a theme song for a book or character of mine. That's just as true for Imperial Demons as it was the first novel I ever wrote (which we will never speak of again), and since I'm still riding the emotional high of seeing them live again, I thought today would be a good day to share some of the AFI tracks that have woven themselves into Lola and Tristesse's world.

1. So Beneath You



If Tristesse has a theme song for Imperial Demons, this is it. The lyrics are the perfect words of rebellion and pride that will carry her through the story:

I won’t kneel. I won’t bow.
If you’re there now
Strike me down, strike me down, strike me down.
Oh, you’ve got nothing.
There is none higher than this blood,
And I won’t serve anyone.
No there is nothing above.
And I don’t serve anyone, anyone.

2. Love Like Winter

Warn your warmth to turn away. Here it's December every day.

This is a pretty good description of Gehenna, where Lola and Tristesse find themselves trapped during Imperial Demons. This song's chorus also strongly evokes both the women and some of the overall motifs of the series for me.

It's in the blood, it's in the blood.
I met my love before I was born.
She wanted love. I taste of blood.
She bit my lip and drank my warmth from years before.

3. Torch Song

I think if Lola could write a song about Tristesse, it would be this song.

I saw you. Angels came to light your path.
I heard you keep their wings pressed under glass.
Now am I so enthralled that I might die?
I saw you, sweetly smile, and say "do try".

I'd tear out my eyes for you, my dear
(Anything)
To see everything that you do.

4. She Speaks the Language

And I think if Tristesse could write a song about Lola, it would be this one.

Little drops upon my cuffs
Let me know this must be love.
Red, red drops upon my cuffs
Let me know this must be love.
Now I know this be...
This must be love.

5. Endlessly, She Said



And finally, because a bit part of Imperial Demons is two lovers separated and fighting to get back to each other, this song just seems perfectly appropriate.

I returned to you but found,
My empty home.
The radio told me to stay.
As it burned down
I sang alone...

"I will wait for you," she said,
Endlessly.

This is a really quick trip through some of the musical inspirations for the book and the ladies, but I hope you like it! You can also check out the Blood Canticles playlist if you're on Spotify (see it at the bottom of this page) for more of the bands, songs, and instrumentals that have helped build the series. Enjoy!

Wednesday Snippets - And now for something completely different

I know, I know. There was a plan. A schedule. A resolution. I was not going to start any new projects this year.

Well, I kinda started a new project this year. But just a short story! Sometimes an idea just grabs you by the scruff of the neck and shakes you, and the only answer is to start writing. This is a minor diversion from Imperial Demons, focusing on two things I love: creepy ocean stories and true crime/unsolved mysteries. So it's pure self-indulgence, but hopefully it'll make a good short story for you guys in the near future.

Here's a teaser for the tentatively titled On A Dark Tide. Enjoy!

Wednesday Snippets - The taste of blood was galvanising

So I think I mentioned in my last post that I'm at about the halfway point with Imperial Demons. So far the bulk of the book has focused on Lola, with one or two dips into Tristesse's point of view. As the book moves along, I'm finding I need to get into Tris's head more and more. She's...she's not having the best time.

April Accountability

So it's April! Following March, as it's wont to do. I got inspired by Leanne Fitzpatrick yesterday and decided to do myself a tarot reading for the month. I also figured it might be a good time to look back at my goals for 2017 and see how I'm getting on. So here we are!

My writerly resolution for this year was to not start any new projects, and just wrap up ones already underway. That gave me the following to-do list under the Naomi Clark projects:

Through Fire (Blood Canticles 3)
Lich Queen (Blood Canticles 3.5)
Mercy's Gate (Southern Gothic urban fantasy book of my heart)
Black Dog (Urban Wolf 6)
Crow Called (Standalone novella)
Flesh and Bone (The Deva Chronicles 2)

Well, LICH QUEEN is now done and dusted, and slated for release in June, and Through Fire is now called Imperial Demons and is sitting pretty at 43k, which feels like the halfway point at the moment. It's definitely going to be longer than the 60k I anticipated. I was hoping to finish it in March, but now sometime in April is looking more reasonable.

Writing as Amber Morgan, my list was:

Wild Blood MC #3 - technically I haven't actually started writing this yet, but I have enough of it planned that it counts.
The Last Sin - Russian mob romance
Keys to the Kingdom - London crime family romance/thriller
Impact - MMA/new adult romance
Blood of Angels - paranormal romance
Last Hope, Alaska - shapeshifter romance

I had planned to drop BLOOD OF ANGELS and Last Hope, Alaska from the list as being the least important to finish. What actually happened there was that I had a burst of passion for BLOOD OF ANGELS, finished it, submitted it, and that's slated for release in May.

So that's two projects off the list and one about halfway done, which is pretty good progress for 2017 so far. Once Imperial Demons is done (or at least the first draft), I intend to work on Wild Blood MC #3. I may finish a short story in between though, as that's always a nice palate cleanser after working on something big and heavy, which Imperial Demons most certainly is.

So! The tarot reading. I used the XIII deck by Nekro and did a one card draw, just to give me an overview ~feeling~ for the month.

I drew the Ten of Wands, which I consider a good sign as I associate Wands with creativity and work. It's also a suit related to passion, enthusiasm, and pushing the limits, all things I consider important in my writing and in generally getting shit done. To keep up with my to-do list, I need that kind of energy. The Ten of Wands speaks of problems getting resolved and striving to meet goals. Obviously I'm constantly striving to meet writing goals. April is a busy month for me, with a few family birthdays (including my own), a lot of social going-ons, and a week of dog-sitting while my mum's in Mexico. It's also busy at my day job for various reasons, and there are definitely some situations (let's not call them problems) that need wrapping up there pretty sharpish.

So this card affirms what I already knew - that the next few weeks are going to be manic and I need to stay focused and patient, while keeping my energy levels up. I can probably anticipate having edits for BLOOD OF ANGELS at some point, so I need to remember to pace myself with my personal projects. 

With all that in mind, I should probably go have a shower and get dressed now...

Five Songs for Dawn Hardy

So I don't have a snippet for you this week, because I'm currently between projects and all, but I want to keep Wednesday writerly. In that spirit, I'm getting musical! There's a link, honest. I have playlists on Spotify for most of my major series (you can find the Blood Canticles one here), and although I tend not to listen to music when I write, I do listen to it on my commute to work to keep my brain thinking about the work-in-progress.

Most of the songs on the Blood Canticles playlist are for Lola or Tristesse, or are general "mood pieces," but I added a few for Dawn as I worked on Lich Queen. Here's five!

1. I'm Not Dead - P!nk

 

I love P!nk's voice (although I mistrust her use of exclamation marks), and this song just resonates with me so much for Dawn - particularly the line "I'm not scared, just changing." Lich Queen sees Dawn change a lot. The whole series so far, in fact, has chronicled huge changes for Dawn, but this is the first book where we're inside her head and really understanding how deep those changes go.

2. Clint Eastwood - Gorillaz



There's no special lyrical connection between this song and Dawn. I just feel it's something she would listen to and like. That said, the lyrics do kind of read like a dueling conversation between Dawn and Isaiah. Also, it's still a really cool track.

3. Open The Lid - Amanda Jenssen



Another lady with an amazing voice. And given everything that happens to Dawn in Lich Queen, the lyrics are particularly spot-on - "honey come haunt me, let us in."

4. Devil's Resting Place - Laura Marling



I can't quote a particular lyric that makes this song perfect for Dawn, because the whole song is perfect for Dawn.

5. Strange Things - Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet



And finally, a song that nicely sums up Lich Queen as a whole. Strange things are definitely happening to Dawn. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you'll get to see for yourself soon...