Are you done yet?
The powerful draw of just one more thing...
NEWS:
Sci-fi psychological thriller Parallels is just six weeks away from publication. Pre-orders are always welcome. Let my publisher know there’s interest out there.
Meanwhile, we’re just five weeks away from the Norwich Independent Book & Zine Fair at the Forum. I’ll be there in my Ray Adams guise, with plenty of copies of Eschatonus and From Within, A Darkness as well as some older titles. Maybe even a few Greyskins. Come along and say hi!
Yesterday was quite the day. A job offer, an email from my publisher to tell me to look out for an incoming interview request, and then one from my publicist to tell me she’s got me a radio interview lined up. Everything’s comin’ up Millhouse!
ON WRITING:
Or rather, on stopping writing. There comes a point with every project when it’s time to put it to bed, but it’s not always easy to spot it. Just ask George Lucas…
I emailed my publisher a couple of weeks ago to confirm that I was happy with It’s Hard to Tell You This if she was. And this week I had to stop myself from emailing her again after waking up with an urge to tinker with one of the closing paragraphs.
Would the change have been an improvement? Possibly. Was it essential? No. It might feel painful to look at something you’ve written and see things you’d have done better - and I’m not thinking about typos or errors, but just a better way of saying something, or an extra detail in a scene that would have you feel would really have added something, or tied it back to a previous scene neatly - but, here’s the thing, it always will be. There’s no state of perfection to be reached. You can always do better.
I remain immensely proud of my debut Playtime’s Over, but I’ve learned a lot since I wrote it and I’ve not read it for a few years now. Part of me really doesn’t want to go back and spot a whole load of things I’d do differently. And the truth is this doesn’t mean the book is in any way flawed, it’s just that I’m a different person now. Of course I wouldn’t do it the same way. But I need to remember that my publisher was happy with it and it’s the product of that moment, who I was then.
I could go back and rewrite any of my past efforts, as could any author, and I’d wager they’d all find ways to ‘improve’ the text. It’s the same with life, though. We can all spend time thinking about past mistakes, even when we were acting to the best of our abilities at the time. But while it is important to acknowledge and understand those past errors, the correct place to focus that energy is on our future actions. To be better next time, not to remorselessly beat ourselves up over the past. This is essentially the lesson Michael, the protagonist of It’s Hard to Tell You This needs to learn. If you want to find out whether or not he does, you can pre-order it here.
And sometimes, we can tinker too much and ruin what made something so special in the first place. That one detail, or extra scene, may seem like a good idea, but books have an equilibrium that can be lost even by the addition of something good. You might find yourself liking one of your side characters so much you want to push them more to the fore, but if that’s not what the story wants, you might tip things over.
The bigger picture is always more important than the individual brushstrokes, no matter how good you think that extra brushstroke may be on its own terms.
So for my writing, it’s time to say that’s finished. Parallels is finished, It’s Hard to Tell You This is finished. I’ve The Conservancy, my next Ray Adams, to get over the finish line and then I’ve got a whole new exciting James Kinsley project ready to burst out of my head. That’s where my energy needs to be focused. Onwards and upwards, friends.
I have enjoyed:
Down Terrace - I’m a big Ben Wheatley fan1 but until this week I’d never seen his debut feature. Featuring real-life father-and-son Robert and Robin Hill as father-and-son drug dealers operating out of a small terraced house, the film opens with them being released from prison and determined to track down the rat in their organisation, which consists of Jay’s dad from The Inbetweeners and Tyres from Spaced, Marsha from Spaced and the paper-boy Daisy tries to snog in Spaced. Violent, tense beyond belief, it’s also hilarious. Essentially classic Wheatley.
“I’d give trap number two a couple of minutes, I had eggs for lunch.” Bullet Train - Missed David Letch’s adaptation of Kotaro Isaka’s novel on the big screen, so delighted to finally rectify that omission. Certainly lived up to expectation in delivering a snappy, funny, action-packed blowout; and if it’s not exactly high cinema, it’s still an absolute blast. Total Saturday-night-er.
Speaking of Paper Bois… Blue Jean - A very different vibe to be found in Georgia Oakley’s impressive directorial debut about a lesbian P.E. teacher in 1980s Newcastle, centred around a powerful performance from Rosy McEwen. McEwen plays the titular Jean, hiding her sexuality to protect her job to the chagrin of her girlfriend Viv, who’s then forced to face up to some difficult questions when a new student joins her class. The film’s anchored by its incredible cast, who between them create a very moving and nuanced narrative.
The wonderful Rosy McEwen. Bridget Christie - The second series of Christie’s menopause-themed sitcom The Change has appeared and proven to be just as engaging, unique and funny as the first. Christie really has created something quite special and individual.
Feminist Icon in a grotty caravan.
Purchase Greyskin (Deixis Press) and Playtime’s Over (Propolis) direct from their respective publishers, as well as from all the usual places, online and off.
Pre-order either of my upcoming titles from Deixis Press.
Ray Adams’ self-published books are available online.
This newsletter is currently free but obviously takes time to produce. If you’d like to support an indie author still finding his way, I have a Buy Me a Coffee account. Your call.
I also review books on my website, most of which are available through my affiliate book shop on uk.bookshop.org - it’s a great alternative to certain online leviathans owned by Trump-supporting billionaires, and supports independent bookshops. Affiliates also get a % of books sold through them, so go have a look.
How big? I’ve almost forgiven him for A Field In England, that’s how big.