Find Out About Haunters -- And Read an Extract from my Debut Novel

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Do I need a villain?

This is a genuine question I’ve been posing myself lately as I try to develop a new project. And unlikely as it seems, I’m finding it hard to answer.

I write for a young readership, a group of people who have been spoilt with bad guys over the years: The White Witch, Voldemort, Mrs Coulter, Mayor Prentiss, Capricorn from Inkheart, etc, etc. Some may be cheesier than others, but they are all fine examples of villainy, and I like to think my own Adam (from Haunters) would fit in nicely (or rather, not so nicely) beside them. Surely I need a real bad ‘un in my new book too.

But part of me, the part that – I’m embarrassed to say – has literary hang-ups, has been tugging his goatee of late. Do we really need one, he says, adjusting his authorial corduroy. Isn’t relying on a baddie to provide narrative tension a bit like relying on adverbs and exotic dialogue tags to tell the reader what’s happening? Can’t circumstances themselves create conflict and imbalance, without the need for some dastardly cape-swisher scheming in the shadows? Did Mark Haddon need a baddie to make The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time a compelling read? Did David Almond need the wicked cheese in Kit’s Wilderness? And so on…   

That part of me could do with a slap, I know, but he does have a point. We all love a good villain, but nothing connects with readers quite like a sympathetic character struggling with true-life adversity.

So do I need a villain? I haven’t quite decided. But one thing I am sure about – by God, they’re fun to write!

Any views on this? Any favourite literary bad guys you want to share?  

Haunters in print!

Whenever I go away, I always feel slightly nervous about what might be waiting on the doormat when I get back. Especially anything in a brown envelope with a window in it. But this time, after a wonderful Easter week in France, I got back to find – Indeed, beneath a brown envelope with a window in it -- this: a finished, printed copy of Haunters!

I’ll leave you to guess how excited I am about it:)

…but, but, it really is a beautiful object, isn’t it? Its colour combination and design is so fresh and bold, and its spine just cries out, ‘Oi – read ME!’, which is exactly what good spines need to do these days. Aren’t Chicken House just fab with their covers? And here’s a glimpse inside too, because the chapter headings are scratchy, edgy and mysterious, and every one different. Just perfect for the story.

When I think how long and difficult this book’s journey to print has been, I’m almost amazed to see it in my hands now. It could so easily have died on my hard-drive, or wasted away in the slush pile, or been edited to smithereens, or…

This seems a good moment to mention that I am having a launch party for Haunters, at the children’s department of Heffers Bookshop in Cambridge -- the bookshop I used to work in. It will be on the official publication date of the 24^th of May, and be from about 6:30pm onwards. I will probably read an extract and go a funny colour, but I’ll also be around to sign copies and generally look ill-at-ease but very happy. In any case, I’ll try not to dribble. There will be wine and interesting people. Please come along if it’s at all possible.

Blog Interview

I have been interviewed by writer and skating champion Anita Saxena on her wonderful blog (just look at that fabulous banner;-). Here you can find out more about my upcoming book, Haunters, as well as see me give advice to unpublished writers like I know what I’m talking about!

Thank you, Anita, for inviting me. 

My Social Media Roundup (or Breakdown)

As the days tick by and the publication of my debut novel creeps closer (24^th May!), I can’t help feeling increasingly embarrassed by the threadbare nature of my web presence (or ‘platform’, as I believe I’m supposed to call it). The received wisdom is that I should be on every online social medium going, bigging myself up with trumpets and yelling about my wonderful book. And plenty of people are telling me to do just that. It’s interesting though that my publisher’s advice was simply to ‘do one thing, and do it well’. And as more and more on-line voices (here, for example, and here) speculate that you can’t sell books on social sites anyway, or that blogging and even facebook have peaked, the advice to keep it simple and strong sounds appealing. And yet, the trumpets…

I’ve had a quick scout around my platform (ugh) and thought I’d share the sorry results with you.

1. I have a blog. Obviously. I like blogging, even though I don’t post as often as I once did. Whenever I think of something to write, my internal editor usually shouts me down with either ‘Bragging!’ or ‘Boring!’. But he hasn’t killed it off yet, and won’t -- I have met some very interesting people here.
2. I’m on facebook. And I (sort of) like it there. I started facebooking (French word) in order to keep in touch with my scattered family, but I’ve since expanded my ‘friend’ criteria to include anyone involved in writing, art and publishing who’ll have me. And yet, I still have personal stuff on it, and a brother who thinks nothing of tagging photos of me with underpants on my head, etc. I haven’t managed to divide my personal side from what might be called the public at all. I wonder if it’s too late. Or maybe a facebook page for me as a writer is the answer. Though that might be a very lonely place.
3. I am on Twitter. I don’t really get it, and rarely have any sense of a conversation, but I’m hanging on in there. @ThomasHTaylor. Any advice?
4. I have joined LinkedIn. But my eyes immediately glazed over.
5. Google+ as above.
6. I have signed up for Goodreads. But can it really help raise my profile to tell the world what I’m reading right now? Maybe I haven’t explored it enough. I only joined last week.
7. Other things. I’m dimly aware of sites like Bebo and Gothise, but don’t expect to see me there soon – I’m all social media-ed out. I have noted, though, that some kind soul has expanded my Wikipedia entry, with a bibliography and everything! Thank you, whoever you are. I had planned to do this when Haunters was published. Honest.
8. Website. More about this soon.

So there we have it. My on-line platform. All I need to work out now is do I expand it as far as I can, or trim it down to one node of ‘excellence’ (ha!)? Whatever I decide, I see little room for any trumpets.

Any thoughts? And what about your own ‘platfoms’?

Dan and the Drawings

I have finally -- after far more time than I like to admit -- finished the chapter heading illustrations for Dan and the Dead. Here’s a sneak preview.

I wonder why I found them so difficult. It’s slightly sobering. But then, little that is worthwhile was ever created easily. Or something. Perhaps I just need to buy myself a new pen…

Click for a better view.