Lynette McClenaghan

Nosferatu

November 2014 I presented a workshop at The Victorian Association for the Teachers of English (VATE). The focus of the presentation was as teacher to teacher about creating an Ebook and self-publishing. Within the cohort an academic booked into another workshop jumped ship to attend my presentation. This group were delightful to work with, because most of them wanted to learn more about self-publishing primarily for the benefit of their students. This workshop was pitched to assist teachers to collaboratively publish digital and print anthologies of students’ work. At the close of the session I was given a warm round of applause.

On a sourer note, since self-publishing and beginning this endeavor over four years ago, I have received numerous requests from people who want to pick my brains. They don’t read my work and I suspect don’t read my BLOGS or SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS which give advice based my experience. I return polite emails of either encouragement or useful tips. More irritatingly, I normally receive no thanks. No writer should feel at the mercy of these VAMPIRES. The best was a request from a horror writer who asked me to buy his book and review it. He attempted to flatter me by noting a good review I posted for another writer. I was willing to do this in exchange for him doing the same for me – it wasn’t reciprocated. I bought the book anyway; it wasn’t very good therefore I posted a negative review.

Brilliant read and grossly underrated film

Writer of horror and dark tales

Myth two of five about Publishing

New corporations that have emerged as rivals to the traditional publisher claim that they are committed to their writers. This may be true of some. However, in my experience compared to my husband’s experience with traditional publishers it’s the opposite. The traditional publisher is more supportive of writers and is much more involved in the creation and promotion of their writer’s works. The biggest problem I’ve faced from this new breed of publishers is lack of communication and stated timelines spinning out to the ridiculous. For my last Ebook novel, In Jeopardy, the turn-around for paid publishing services was meant to be one month, but extended to five months; no explanation – only delays.

Of late I share the sentiments of Musician, Scott Grove who lives by the premise, ‘Don’t trust anyone until they prove trustworthy and likeable,’  following a number of experiences dealing with difficult people. The most recent incidents were after placing trust and good faith in a jeweler then a tradesman, both produced sub-standard work. Rather than taking responsibility both engaged in the blame game.

Like one of my favorite writers, Guy de Maupassant, I am a misanthrope and sometimes have a sour take on humanity. This is a feature that permeates throughout my work and partly explains why I write dark fiction rather than romance and fantasy.

Annabelle – Movie review

Horror fans will enjoy this flick. Its cinematic effects and shock factor are dramatic and there are a number of frightening moments in the story. Annabelle will particularly appeal to a teenage audience. We were sitting next to a group of teenage girls who were scared witless and enjoyed themselves. Although the ending was derivative, the storyline didn’t give any clues away and the finale was a genuine surprise. However, Annabelle relied too much on horror film clichés, such as, the kindly priest who comes to the rescue and suffers for his goodness. Some of twists and turns in the plot seem to rely on easy options. The two main protagonist’s reactions are often naïve or foolish and seem to only serve to keep the plot going. After being terrorised by the hideous doll, Mia decides to keep it. The horror potential of some scenes could have been better explored or developed. For example, when the doll rises into the air Mia sees the face of a cartoonish devil which reduces the scare factor. Examples such as this one verge of cheesy. Alongside The Conjuring, the prequel, Annabelle, isn’t in the same class. The Conjuring maintains unrelenting tension where there is no easy escape for the characters.

Writing horror and dark fiction

In my stories characters don’t simply have challenges or problems to overcome, but they are faced with crisis. The initial crisis usually reveals underlying problems which surface and become crisis in their own way. The importance of this approach to writing, particularly relating to dark tales, was confirmed in a critical study of Clint Eastwood’s films which argued that he operates in the same way.

Once again, I cannot overstress the necessity for fiction writers to read widely, both fiction and non-fiction. Writers benefit from engaging in research and their reading material must be serious and not simply a diet of junk. I don’t suffer from writer’s block because as with your health prevention is better than cure and reading widely is an investment in the quality of your work. Likewise, I’ve find that once the manuscript is approaching the final stages the writing isn’t finished. The writer is faced with creating a pitch, blurb, synopsis and a book description. These are unavoidable whether you are self-publishing or sending your manuscript to a publisher. For example, a self-publisher needs to articulate a clear brief that reflects the work so the graphic artist designs not only a striking cover, but one that resonates with your creative aims.

Jimmy Page: Magus Musician Man (an unauthorised biography) by George Case

Apart from my interest in Led Zeppelin as musical geniuses, reading is an essential part of the writer research component of my writing. I am currently working on a final draft of a story titled The Lester that combines music and the supernatural. Without committing to reading widely I don’t believe that I could write fiction.

I am reassured by this being an “unauthorized” biography as it has not been impinged upon by the subject or his minders. Case has been scrupulous in his research and his presentation of Page as a musician and band leader. The “magus” in the subtitle is a bit misleading as there is not much about Page’s involvement with magick – the Crowley and Anger connections are not dwelt on. Instead, Case presents Page’s “magus” qualities as inherent in his music and in the band’s profound influence – at the time and over the years.

Page’s musicianship, as a guitarist naturally, but also as a producer and arranger, is a key element in the story. Case is also a musician and so we are given plenty of details about the musical aspects of Page’s guitar work and in the studio. This material will interest musicians and those looking for a story that goes into aspects of Page’s and Led Zeppelin’s legacy that moves beyond stories of sharks and similar debauchery. Not that Case elides this kind of material. The band’s artistic decline is placed within the circumstances and events of the time.

While factually there may not be much that is new here, Case’s book is important because he analyses his subject. Their grinding schedule of recording and touring caused Page “psychic dislocation…from which he would never recover”, according to Case. He offers considerable insight into Page’s and the band’s triumphs and tragedies.

When Publishing Services Fail to Deliver

I am currently reloading my book titles up to kindle after terminating an unsatisfactory distribution agreement with a large Australian distributor.

The publishing services provider I originally engaged to convert my novel from a word document to epub and mobi files has sent me corrupt files. As I am unable to view the text for In Jeopardy and upload it to Kindle the novel is only available as a pre-order on kindle until late October. I am in the process of arranging another provider to convert my original manuscript to a mobi file.  In Jeopardy will appear as a revised version which will also include a new cover. I believe this will more closely evoke the protagonist’s plight and more aptly reflects the grim tone of the story.

A Writer’s Day

Being a serious fiction writer means that you to have engage in research. I regularly read, watch and study the works and craft of other artists.

Today I watched Begin Again. The tale of promising musician, Greta, playing muse to boyfriend and rising star, David who betrays her, and not the kind of film I usually watch. Being a Keira Knightly fan I expected this film would deliver and it did.

From the film’s opening it sustains interest and even though this is a feel-good film it isn’t predictable and doesn’t disappoint with clichés. One of its features is that it’s critical of corporate music publishing, but takes a fresh approach to how a promising singer becomes a star.

The film is critical of the corporate music world showing it to be out-of-touch with artists and only interested in the bottom line. One of its key ideas is how a group of musicians working collaboratively and not simply for money or fame is able to subvert the corporate model.

After the film I bought the following movies to watch as part of my writer research work: Cujo, Midnight Lace and Twist.

I recently read The Diary of a Drug Fiend, written in 1922 by the infamous Aleister Crowley. Although it is not strictly a horror story, it is a horrifying story, and Crowley’s reputation as an occultist means that it may be of interest to other readers here. Not to mention the fact that Crowley is an excellent writer and the story is drawn from his own experiences. Crowley became a heroin and cocaine addict in the early twenties and remained so for the rest of his life. However, the book is not a moralistic tale about drugs and how bad they are. Rather, Crowley examines addiction as a form of thwarted spiritual search. The suffering endured by the main protagonists becomes a kind of extended ‘dark night of the soul’, where they are forced to confront the best and worst of themselves before emerging redeemed at the end of the story. Drugs per se are neither good nor evil, Crowley suggests, but rather, it is our attitude to them and how we use them in our lives, which matters. It is a contentious viewpoint, not one that I would endorse.

The story centres on Sir Peter Pendragon, a wealthy Great War flying hero and his wife, Louise (Lou) Laleham. The story depicts in dreadful detail the couple’s introduction to cocaine, then heroin and the awful effects this has on their lives as they degenerate into addiction. The novel, in this, is truly a horror story: “…before I reached the street I realised with desolate disgust and despair the degree of my degradation, of my damnation; and I hugged desperately my hideous perverse pride in my own frightful fate, and rejoiced as the horrible hunger for heroin made itself known once more, gnawing at my entrails.”  A good literary analogy would be with Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, a book which also portrays harrowing psychological and existential experiences.

Along the way the author provides insights into the mind and behaviour of an addict: “We lie about and look at each other; but we can’t touch, the skin is too painful”. Pendragon is in part based on Crowley himself. The book also presents some of Crowley’s unique views, so that as we follow Laleham and Pendragon we are also offered Crowley’s thoughts on a diverse range of topics. “Sympathy with universal suffering brings one into a certain sombre serenity.” The book contains many reflections of this kind, not merely to create sympathy for the characters but to see their struggles as emblematic of humanity’s spiritual struggles.

The other main character is the magician, King Lamus, who keeps appearing throughout the story, attempting to guide the wayward couple to spiritual fulfilment. He, too, is based on Crowley.

The supernatural element in the story is subtly used. Crowley sees this as a natural part of our lives and our thinking about existence, so is not there to frighten the reader but to encourage the reader’s philosophical thinking: “The Devil, of course, needs a human interpreter if he is to communicate with this world, and so he took possession of Peter”.

It also has to be said that Crowley can be wickedly funny – there are some very humorous comments in the book, and that he is a terrific writer of memorable phrases: “The first of these women was a fat, bold, red-headed slut”. Many scenes in the novel are powerful and dramatic and Crowley’s imagery is often startling. Here he describes Pendragon’s impression of Lou’s hair: “It reminded me of the armature of a dynamo”.

The Diary of a Drug Fiend is highly recommended. It is an intense and gripping read. It also shows, as I try to do in my own writing, that horror is not always frights or gore, but also lurks within the mind, our fellow humans and in the chaotic universe around us.

The first myth is that self-publishing is a new paradigm that is taking power away from publishers and giving it to authors. Many of us have to work our way through paid publishing and distribution services who continue to call the shots. Writers pay these groups for their services, but have little or no control over how these organisations operate. It’s the same corporate model where the last person to see any money or to have any say in what happens to their own writing is the author. Is it little wonder that KDP is so popular when the alternatives are expensive and intransigent? Every Indi author will have to make the decision whether to truly go it alone or to be in the clutches of the corporate model.

Before I posted my review on Stephen King’s latest novel Mr Mercedes there were over 800 reviews. However, Amazon informed me that my review assisted someone to purchase the novel.

Crime King
With Joyland Stephen King showed that he can write a dramatic and moving crime story. With Mr Mercedes he has done it again, even better. This is a darker novel. Brady Hartfield is confrontingly dreadful and there are scenes here which will shock many readers. But because this is Stephen King we are given much more than (non-supernatural) horror. What stood out for me was King’s characterisation. The main protagonist, retired detective Bill Hodges, is complex, sympathetic and flawed. There is a supporting cast, apart from Brady, who are interesting people, from his teenage neighbour Jerome whose courage and loyalty is crucial in the acceleration of tension as the novel progresses; to Holly, damaged and frail, but quite extraordinary. In her case King sketches in some back story to deepen and enrichen the character and to enhance our shifting responses to her.
King’s concern with social justice is also significant. We meet the victims of Brady’s mass murder before it happens. These are ordinary people struggling to make ends meet in a society that is indifferent to their needs, except when they can be exploited. Social disintegration and isolation are seen throughout the novel. The juxtaposition with those who care about others is stark. Like Dickens, King uses his society as not just a setting for the story but a crucial aspect of his writing’s moral force.
Impeccably plotted, filled with memorable characters and events, Mr Mercedes is an emotional, dramatic read: