Colin Mulhern

The End? That's the easy bit. Finished. My manuscript is complete and ready to go.  But it's not the Folk Horror I planned back in January. Quick recap: at the start of the year, I had a plan to write a Folk Horror in January, polish it in Feb and submit in March.  That didn't happen. So what went wrong? I think part of the problem is that I had an idea for a Romcom bouncing around at the same time. The idea was sparked by a short story I wrote about a year go. It was only 300 words, but there was something about the voice of the narrator that I liked. Sometimes, if you find the right voice, the words just flow.  I did try putting that same voice into the Folk Horror. The results were hilarious, but in a really terrible way. And so, despite having a full plan for the Folk Horror, I kept coming back to the silly stuff. And it really is silly. A guy comes up, all geared up to propose, only to find his girlfriend holding a pair of lace knickers found hidden behind the headbo...

 After having Sunday off, I gave both WIPs some thought and decided it's worth switching to the romcom for the rest of the month. This way, I still get a manuscript at the end that I can work on.  I have a plan, but it's a very loose one. I also have an end-point, which is important as the romcom is essentially a mystery. I worked out the "crime" a while ago and thought it was funny enough to develop, so I wrote the set-up, have the solution, but matching the two together is the tricky bit in the middle. I also couldn't find the right backgrounds for the main characters to make the story work.  But something clicked on Sunday night and the cogs started moving.  Yesterday, I wrote 1,460 words. Today, I've just done 1,799 words. I am writing this one completely out of order, so the chapter I wrote to day is quite near the end. Yesterday, it was working about five chapters in.  The other thing to note is that romcom novels and cozy mysteries are generally much sh...

No words today, and no more to be written... just yet.  Basically, I got up this morning and reviewed what I've written so far and thought it was literary equivalent of a really bad homemade curry. All the ingredients are there, but it tastes bloody awful. I'm not bothered about the writing itself because that can be polished, it's the story content and the path it's taking.  But worse than that, it started wandering into cliche territory, and think this is entirely down to not being able to brainstorm paths and reject the obvious ideas - which is how I usually work. So instead, I've written down the first thing that's come into my head. I've ended up with a poor mix of the Blair Witch and the Midwich Cuckoos glued together with a personal rant about something that's got nothing to do with the story.  And on top of that, I wrote myself into a corner. What was a surprise was that I was fine with writing the dark stuff, but I've been totally distracted...

Okay, the first 10k is in the bag on day four, which is much better than I hoped. It's weird because when I hit the daily goal there was part of me that wanted to say, "Fine, that's me done for the day," but as the 10k mark was right there for the taking, I couldn't resist the temptation to push on.  I'm quite glad I did because I hit a major plot turning point. It's that moment when the reader should be thinking, "Oh, shit. Something bad is going on here." which is fab as a writer. So, a quick look back. I haven't found it particularly difficult to Write Into the Dark so far, but I can really feel the pull of wanting to plot and plan. However, some of the things I've written wouldn't have been in a plan, so in a way it's working. I'd love to write more on this but my fingertips are numb and I need to make chicken fajitas.  10k in four days. I'm happy about that. Until tomorrow! Current word count: 10,075 Words to go: 59,9...

Sorry Scrivener, all is forgiven. I've actually been using LibreOffice for about a month because I was using for a different project over the holiday period, and generally, everything was fine. But then today, right in the middle of a sprint, it started acting a little weird. I tried to undo a few things only to see it replace chunks of text with error messages. Then it crashed completely. Thing is, this document is less than 5,000 words. That's not a lot for a word processor to handle. And while it autorecovered the file, it's still one too many crashes for me.  Going to back to Scrivener, I suddenly remembered the Session Target tool. This makes life so much easier, as I can see, as I type, my progress. In LibreOffice I'd have to paste the word count into the spreadsheet I'd made.  Project targets window It also displays as a line bar at the top of the project with the Manuscript Target at the top, above the chapter title, and the Session Target below, so there...

Well, I hit the word count. In fact, I crossed the line just now at 2376 words, so I'm writing this quick before Only Connect comes on (love that show, but I never get a single thing right!) Anyway, quick summary of the day. I'm off work for the Christmas break, so I managed to do most of the work during the day, but I'll hold my hands up and admit that I went into editing mode which ate up a good few hours. A little change in Chapter 2 had a bit of a knock-on effect which meant deleting quite a chunk of chapter 1. I also needed to write a new opening.  This is something I was thinking about last night. The story kicks off with the MC looking at an old house, but the village where the main action takes place acts as a crucible. Therefore, I wanted to have a metaphor for crossing into the forbidden world. I liked the idea of the village being cut off by a flooded road. I went down a few false paths, but ended up with fairly clean copy. Just a quick note on writing software. ...

source: laurieboris.com The challenge Rather than do Resolutions I can't keep, I thought I'd kick off the New Year with a little writing challenge.  This challenge comes in three parts. Write an entire novel in January. Edit and clean up in February (possibly – see below) Submit to Agents in March. Background One of the surprises that came out of doing a degree in Creative Writing was finding that I have strengths in areas I thought were closed off. There was one story in particular that resonated, a short piece about the son of a grave robber. Dark fiction was something I found quite difficult after Matthew passed away, but this felt good. Unlike my Victorian vampire novel, which I had peppered with humour as a kind of safety net, this was pure, dark gothic fiction with an honest, earthy folk horror feel. Gearing up The genre of folk horror got under my skin and I found myself revisiting old classic movies like The Wicker Man (1973) and Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) - a movi...

Three years ago, I started out on a part-time BA in Creative Writing. This was an accelerated course, meaning a minimum of 37 hours of work per week and no summer break. credit: Chris Spiegl, Unsplash While that's a lot to take on when you work full-time, the course seemed to be exactly what I was after. It was structured for personal development as a writer and to explore subjects, genres and formats I would otherwise not consider.  Some of the things I've written over the three years include: Fantasy Magical Realism Creative non-fiction Podcast scripts Evergreen blog posts Poetry for Performance (and performing it!) Comedy scripts Writing for theatre Interactive fiction RPG game Romantic Comedy Screenplay for an animated movie (partial) Screenplay for a sitcom (full). Screenplay for a drama (full). One thing I did enjoy was writing for film and TV. Initially, the strict formatting and strange headings (INT. CAFE - DAY) were completely alien but once I realised the creative el...

2023 was a busy year writing-wise because I rewrote my first romcom in 1st person and relaunched it under a new title, Trust Me, I'm a Liar , then got to straight to work on book 2.  While this was going on, I was also working full-time and doing a part-time degree in Creative Writing. This is a fast-track degree, so it's a lot of work and there's no time off during the summer. Year 1 was a breeze and a lot of fun. Year 2 stepped it up a notch and then in September, I started my third and final year, which made writing Trust Me, I'm an Artist a big challenge to fit in.  But, I did it. Yesterday, I uploaded the final manuscript to Amazon. This is the first book I've put up for pre-order, so it doesn't actually go live until the 5th of January 2024. I thought putting it up for pre-order might spur me along into finishing it, which worked a treat. Who doesn't love a bit of totally unnecessary pressure?  Looking ahead to 2024, I've got a bit of a choice. I ...

I've been playing with a budget Chromebook for the past few months and have to say, a Chromebook is a pretty good choice for writing. I'm using an Acer CB314-1H which cost me a whopping £79 (thanks to a £100 cashback deal). It has a bright, crystal clear FHD screen, a fantastic keyboard (much better than my HP laptop) and it is super lightweight. As far as the keyboard goes, on first impressions, it seems that the keyboard has no delete key or CAPS lock, but both are available with help from the ALT key. It also seems that there is no way to turn the Trackpad off. This takes about ten seconds on Google to enable debug shortcuts, but to be honest, even with the option available, I rarely use. I catch my laptop trackpad all of the time, but hardly ever on the Chromebook. The next thing to consider is software. There's Google docs. You can waste time searching the internet for alternatives, but this means enabling Linux and playing about and it's really not worth it. I man...

 It all began with a duck. Two ducks, actually. They appeared in the middle of a housing estate and were waddling about outside my front door. I went out to get a photo and they were really friendly. They were curious too. This messed with my mind a little. I mean, ducks with personalities. You can’t eat something that’s friendly. That's just not right. But the ducks flew away and I got over them. Well, kind of. But then last week, we were on holiday in Scotland with a farm right next to us. Our back garden looked out on a field full of cows. The cows had calves. They were friendly too, and curious. They kept coming over to see how we were getting on then skipping about the place exactly like cows don’t.  Suddenly, I felt a bit guilty about the huge block of minced beef I’d bought for bolognese.  The thing is, I've never had much success when I've tried going veggie before. I usually fail when it comes to ordering take-away or going into a pub for something to eat. But th...

I first decided to make writing a career when I realised that my son’s disability meant he would always need someone at home. It didn’t seem fair that my wife would never be able to return to nursing, so in 2003 we swapped roles. I became Matthew’s full time carer, wrote when he was at school and began submitting book after book. image c/o seatletimes.com It took five years and six novels to get “The Call” and when it came, I was ecstatic. This was it, the beginning of a new chapter! We’d be able to make a better life, buy a decent car, maybe even move out of our council house. A first look at our new council house. Image: Colin Mulhern Things didn’t work out quite like that. The world of traditional publishing wasn’t quite what I expected. Promotion The publisher offered a promotional package that included a London book launch, a professionally produced YouTube trailer, press releases, newspaper reviews and an ebook version – this was the early days of Kindle, the ideal time to break ...

Image c/o Dean Wesley Smith In 1947, Fantasy Press released Of Worlds Beyond: The Science of Science Fiction. This was a short collection of essays by various Science Fiction authors. Robert Heinlein was one of those authors, and he concluded his guide with a list of business habits, explaining that they were: “a group of practical, tested rules, which, if followed meticulously, will prove rewarding to any writer.” and became known throughout the writing community as Heinlein’s Rules. Heinlein’s Rules You must write. You must finish what you start. You must refrain from rewriting except to editorial order. You must put it on the market. You must keep it on the market until sold. Many writers overlook their simplicity, but consider the fact that Robert Heinlein wrote 32 novels and over 50 short stories - perhaps there is something in his method. Do the rules actually work? In 1981, Dean Wesley Smith was on the cusp of giving up on his dream to be a writer when he chanced upon Heinlein’s...

I'm a student! Bloody hell! The Young Ones. Image c/o BBC I've been toying with the idea of doing a degree in Creative Writing for years, but it would have to be distance learning and the ones that were available didn't really grab my interest. The Open University, for example, is a mish mash of modules from their humanities box with only a couple of modules dedicated to Creative Writing. What I was after was something more like a Fine Art degree, but in writing, something focused on personal development rather than simply studying others. In the summer, I found it. The degree is with Falmouth University and fits my wish list like a glove. It's more like a Fine Art degree in it seems to be all about personal development and practical tasks to help you become a better writer, and not just for novel writing. It covers everything from identity and society to creative imagery, blog posting and SEO. I barely paused to take breath and applied the same day.  It's week 5 an...

The the harsh reality of traditional publishing is this: if books don't sell, they get pulped. In the case of Buttercup, the publisher is moving distribution companies, which means the pulping decision is pushed on them a little earlier than they'd like. They sent me an email saying they were sorry that things hadn't gone better and that publishing is a bit of a gamble at the best of times, however, for the price of postage, I can have the remaining stock. Well, if nothing else, I'd have loved a full class set, or even just a group set for my low ability readers. Unfortunately, the publisher hadn't updated my email address, so the warning sat unnoticed in an old account. I only found it by chance the other day. By then, of course, it was too late. It's not necessarily the end of the road though, as they have reverted the rights which means I could take the title somewhere else. I doubt that another publisher would consider it, but I could do it myself - I'd ...

This has been a fun little project. Back in the summer, I thought this story would sit in my hard drive and go no further. I wrote the original script when I had an agent. She loved it but couldn't sell it, so I thought that was the end of the road for this little story. But during the summer, listening to a podcast called the Self Publishing Show, I heard Karen Inglis talk about her own self published children's books. Until then, I never thought self publishing was an option for children's authors. The simple reason that kids don't buy ebooks and as that it the primary income for most self published authors, it wasn't a viable business. But, there was something I didn't consider. The reason that self published authors make most of their money through ebooks is because the paperbacks are too expensive. The printing costs are high meaning the cover price has to be high in order to make any profit. Even just a 50p profit margin is enough to price yourself out of ...

It's t-shirt prison for you, young fella-me-lad Birthday blues? Nah, not really. So okay, I might have missed out on sea and sun and sangria as my surprise holiday in Spain was cancelled, but on the bright side, I got this cool t-shirt. I liked it so much, I've put it in a frame. My actual party was a very small affair - about six of us, all spaced out in my sister-in-law's back garden. A couple of cans, few shots and an afternoon of baking sun. Didn't really need Spain at all. It was fun. Different, but still fun. Sometimes it's important to focus on the good stuff and try not to get bogged down with the negatives. Now, more than ever, it's very easy to get wrapped up in the down side of things, and 24hr news coverage replaying the same stories, the same predictions and interviews doesn't help one bit. 

There was a time in the 80s when every bookshop and newsagent had a healthy horror section packed with black covers and shadowy illustrations.  Today, that is no longer the case. In most instances, the horror section has been absorbed into Fantasy and Sci-Fi, which means it's only the big names on show, while new, and event established talent is completely overlooked. The Ritual - I'm never going out in the woods again! Adam Nevill is a good example. Adam is one of my favourite writers of any genre. He has won the August Derleth award three times and The Ritual had a major movie release, yet his books are nowhere to be seen - certainly not in any of my local bookstores. This all gives the impression that the audience for horror fiction is too small to bother with.

I took a long break from writing at the start of the year. The second Buttercup book had been put back to September, there were no plans for books 3 & 4 and my other attempts at breaking into the children's market had fallen short of the mark. But one unexpected thing that came as a result of writing Buttercup was it rekindled my love of classic horror. Horror is the one genre that has always been with me. As a kid, I loved horror movies. I'll never forget the impact Salem's Lot had on me, or the first time I saw An American Werewolf in London. For books, it started when I spotted the Eleventh Pan Book of Horror Stories in a newsagent on my way to school. I managed to get the rest from jumble sales. In my teens, I moved onto James Herbert, Stephen King and HP Lovecraft. My very first attempt at a full length novel was a terrible attempt to do Cthulhu-inspired horror. And right now, my favourite author by far is Adam Nevill. He's just incredible.

Buttercup Sunshine and the House on Hangman's Hill has a finalised cover.  Due out September, so not too long to wait.