Thursday 24 August 2017

I'm an illustrator!

I'm illustrating Buttercup Sunshine and the Deadly Undead Zombies of Dooooom!

I'm very happy about this, but also a bit nervous. I had to pitch a load of doodles then rework Buttercup herself until I got something the editor thinks is heading in the right direction. The contract is still being finalised, so I can't say anything official just yet, but I have bought a new graphics tablet to illustrate directly onto my laptop.

So just for fun, here's one of my early fine-liner sketches redrawn and coloured.


Monday 7 August 2017

Buttercup sequels

Originally, Buttercup Sunshine was just going to be a stand alone story in a series set in the same little town. I had an idea that something had happened to cause a degree of calamity to the town and thought it would be great to show that through different events. What I didn't expect was for Buttercup herself to become the star of the series.

The publishing deal isn't signed as yet - contract negotiations take time, so while things got underway, I began thinking of what to write next. I had bounced a few ideas about, but they just didn't have the same edge. So, just for fun, I started a story with Buttercup walking back to town, having escaped from events that ended the first story. And the words began to flow.

Around this time, Agent F asked if I had any ideas, or if possible, a detailed synopsis for a second book. Perfect timing - things were going well with Buttercup #2. A week later, I sent the full script.

And then I sat waiting. Like I said, negotiating contracts is a slow process. I'm going to meet Agent F this week, so obviously my mind is very much focused on Buttercup and what could happen next, which inevitably led to a few scene ideas, a couple of jokes, and before I knew it, a totally unplanned story in the form of Buttercup #3.

Even better than that, it was playing with scenes and ideas in book #3 that I see how the series ends. At least, I think I can. Right now I've got some cleaning and fixing to do on #3, an edit and a polish and next week can get to work on the final story: Buttercup #4 - all before I've signed the contract for book #1.

And that, in the business, is what's known as blind optimism. 😜

Thursday 29 June 2017

Buttercup update

Things are moving with Buttercup. Don't want to tempt fate, so I'll steer clear of details. But I did get to work on a few illustrations to see if I could settle on a style for the internals. An editor may well want to use their own illustrator or have a particular style in mind, and that's fine. This was purely for my own entertainment.

I had to go round the houses to find a style that suited the story. It took about a week. At one point, she was very refined with crisp, clean line work, bunches in her hair and a neck like ET - something between Disney and Manga. Far too refined, and very difficult to redraw in different scenes and situations. What I really want is something I can draw fast, the way I draw when I'm teaching or reading a story in class, but as far as my own finished artwork goes, I've always had this habit of developing things too far (if you have a look at the line work in the ARTWORK section of this site, you'll see what I mean - especially the Easter drawings and Dr. Lobotomy).

I got fed up, decided I couldn't draw a thing and was ready to give up. In sheer frustration, I drew something as fast as I could - exactly the way I'd draw on a whiteboard at school, and sat back. It looked okay - very scribbly, but okay. So I kept going and things got better and better. Here's a couple of examples...




The same day I settled on these drawings, I was contacted by an agent. I was utterly bowled over by her enthusiasm, not just for Buttercup but me as a writer and where I'm going next. In short, I've never felt so excited! Announcement soon...


Sunday 4 June 2017

A nibble!!!

I only sent my submission of Buttercup Sunshine... out on Tuesday. On Friday I got a nibble from one publisher showing interest and wanting to know more about me!

Really, really happy about this because I only targeted four, but also because it's good to know that authors can submit directly and get a positive response. What's good about this is it means a writer can get the contract first, then the agent second. This sounds an upside down way of doing things, but getting the top agents is tough, so approaching them with a deal, rather than just a manuscript, stands you in a very attractive light.

Colin Mulhern





Tuesday 30 May 2017

Yikes... submission time!

I've just made my first unagented submission. It's only to a couple of publishers to test the water, but I'm fizzing. It's been so long since I sent something out on my own.

The story is a 10,000 word chapter book aimed at younger readers, subtly titled:

Buttercup Sunshine
and the
DEADLY UNDEAD
ZOMBIES OF DOOOOM!

It's probably the silliest thing I've written, but it was great fun. A huge change from the edgy YA stuff. Couldn't resist a scribble of the MC and one of the zombies as I see them.


But I'd also like to leave it up to the editor, and see how they'd like this story presented. 

So... fingers crossed.

Thursday 4 May 2017

KDP Paperbacks

I think I've reached a whole new level of nerdism. I've done a video blog on the quality of a paperback. But, somewhere out there is another equally nerdy writer desperate to know the quality of KDP paperbacks - are they actually any good? How long does the process take? Do they look like real papery paperbacks you find in bookshops.

Hold onto your seats... it's a white knuckle ride on the crazy wild roller-coaster that is Kindle Direct Publishing.


Sunday 23 April 2017

Life without a Literary Agent

Can a writer survive without a literary agent?

A few weeks ago I decided to take a step back from the traditional route to publishing and cancel the contract with my agent. A bit of a leap of faith in one respect, and a bit scary in another, especially when you consider that many writers are desperate to get taken on by an agent. After all, if you want to get a manuscript in front of an editor with a major publisher, the only way to do it is via an agent, right? So why give up that chance?

Short version: An agency is a business built on reputations. Agents build up a reputation with sales - rejections are set backs, so pitching a second or third book from a writer that an editor has already rejected is a bit of risk to that reputation. The agent works for the agency first, the writer second.

In my time with my last agency, my first novel scored a contract (18 months later, the publisher had problems and the book didn't come out). However, after that I wrote two other books - one YA, one MG. These got very positive responses, but no contract. Because of that, the next books, (two MG and one YA) simply didn't get pitched - not because they were bad, but because they weren't so fantastic that the agent was sure of a sale.

And that's the crux - the agent has to be sure. And that's fair enough - an agency is a business. But here's the problem - you can't go off to another agent who might love that book, and would be very happy to send it out. You can't, because when you sign to an agent, you agree that all work goes to that agent.

This doesn't make sense - all of your books don't have to go through one editor. Those contracts are on a book by book basis, so why can't we have the same arrangements with agents? If you don't want to represent this book, how about I ask someone else? Nope. That's just not how we work.

The last book I sent to the agent was a short middle grade novel about a zombie attack on a fairytale cottage. I wrote it as a break from the frustration of trying to write for the market. I wanted to write something fun and silly and zany - something our Matthew would have loved. And you know what, I had the best time. I was so proud of the result. I sent it off - my agent liked it, but again, wasn't confident in sending it out. Same thing over again.

Bit of holiday reading
Around the same time, I ordered something through Amazon - a book written by a friend and published directly through Amazon's KDP. No agent. No publisher. The book has some minor formatting issues and a few copy edit issues but you know what? I absolutely loved it. It's an adult horror bloodbath with a story that entertained me for three whole days. It was brutal, stomach churning and completely OTT - Manga meets 90s Splatterpunk.

For some reason, it reminded me of the early copies of VIZ, back in the eighties when the illustrations were messy as hell. VIZ wasn't about quality or pleasing some third party; it was about laughs and an audience that wanted something utterly insane. VIZ had the feel of a punk fanzine. In fact, VIZ was punk through and through.
VIZ, issue 5. One of the first I read.

Which got me thinking about punk music and the bands I liked as a kid. I grew up on a diet of Sex Pistols and Stiff Little Fingers. When I hit my teens I developed a thing for thrash metal, then speed/death metal, indie punk, grunge and industrial goth.

That stuff was never about the sales, never about the big deal. While my older brother followed the likes of KISS and Bon Jovi who could fill arenas, I was into Napalm Death and Gaye Bykers on Acid. I loved the underground stuff: the smelly bars and sticky floors, the weird looking fans, photocopied fanzines, moshpits, murk and meyhem. I used to go to gigs where the place was nearly an empty room - I once saw Extreme Noise Terror with only about fifty people in the audience, but they were amazing.

And so I took another look at the books I'd written - in particular that last MG book. The one I'd written just for the sheer utter, silly fun of it. A book that would never see a publisher so long as I stayed with this agent. So I left, because I realised right there that I'm never going to be Bon Jovi or KISS. My books might never appeal to a huge audience, but I'm okay with that. In fact, I'm better than okay with it - I think I've finally found out the key of being a writer, and that last book was the most fun I've had for years and I want more of that.

Can I survive without an agent?

Don't know. What I do know is that if the only books pitched to editors were the safe books, the ones guaranteed a sale, then we'd have no Bunker Diary, no Watership Down, Lord of the Rings or even Harry Potter. Because in their own way, these books are all punk too.

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Added - The book that got a deal but never came out is available in paperback and ebook from amazon.

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Added - The MG book came out through Maverick as Buttercup Sunshine and the Zombies of DOOOOOM. On the back of that, I got another agent, but the same problems outlined above came back causing frustrations on both sides, and so, exactly two years later, here I am again.

Only this time, I have a plan.

Colin Mulhern

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