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Book 52 in the Short Sharp Shocks! is M.I.C.H.A.E.L. by Jess Doyle. It’s published as an ebook on the 18th September (available now for pre-sales!) with a cover by Adrian Baldwin. Prior to publication Dean and Jess sat down and talked about it…
DEMAIN PUBLISHING: Welcome to DEMAIN Jess, it’s great to have you as part of the ever growing family. JESS DOYLE: I’m happy to be here. DP: So, can you tell us all a little about yourself and how (or why) you became a writer. JD: I grew up in North Wales and moved back here after graduating in Newcastle and living in Chester for a couple of years. I’ve had a few admin jobs but always wanted to write. I started taking writing more seriously once the kids started school and I began submitting flash fiction and short stories a couple of years ago. The reason I became a writer is the same reason I became a reader: I’m in love with exploring new worlds and finding different people to be. DP: That’s great – and your Short Sharp Shocks! in particular? JD: With M.I.C.H.A.E.L. I set out to write a Gothic horror. I had a novella-in-flash format in mind, where each chapter is a self-contained story but read together they make a complete story. I didn’t religiously stick to that format but it was a fun challenge. The story begins with (fairly) modern day events and then goes back in time to reveal their cause. It gets pretty dark and hopefully it’ll scare a few people. DP: I liked your format a lot and really enjoyed the mini-stories which made up the main tale – so well done. Did you have to do much research… JD: Yes, I did quite a bit of research. M.I.C.H.A.E.L. has an historical element so I wanted to be sure of not making any obvious mistakes. I really love the research stage of a writing project, I find a lot of inspiration in reading about history and folklore. DP: Me too – yesterday in fact I came up with quite an interesting WW1 tale which is going to be set in a French asylum – it’s not going to be a ‘heavy’ tale by any stretch of the imagination but I definitely need to do some research…how was the process of writing M.I.C.H.A.E.L.? JD: I'm dyslexic so I tend to approach my writing with the understanding that I'm going to have to work hard. I’m not the fastest writer but I keep at it and I’m lucky to have support, my husband proof reads everything for me. DP: That’s great – my motto has always been, never give up! So I’m glad you didn’t with M.I.C.H.A.E.L. Jess would you say that the horror genre is affected by world events? JD: Yes, the world is full of horror so it’s not surprising that a lot of writers are inspired by that. But I think for a lot of people, myself included, horror is a distraction from world events. Escapism is my main motivation when I pick a book up and I think that’s fairly typical for those of us that love horror and dark fantasy. I particularly love folk horror which tends to be inspired by pretty primal fears. I have no intention of writing a pandemic novel! DP: Creatively Jess, is there anything you’d like to do that you haven’t done yet? If so – what is it? JD: There’s a lot I want to do, I’m just getting started really. I’ve been working on a graphic novel script recently so first thing is to get that finished and find a good artist to work with. I’m pretty interested in scriptwriting, a radio drama has been on my to-do list for a while. I want to write a full-length novel and a short story collection. DP: Then we wish you the best of luck and please keep us updated on your future endeavours – if there’s anything we can do to help, well you know now where we are. You mentioned pandemic, How did you handle the lockdown – what was your routine, was there anything different you did to get through it? JD: I have found it hard to write during lockdown. In the last few weeks I've made an effort to connect with other writers, which has really helped. I've formed a little writing group, connected to my local community cafe and we been meeting once a week via Zoom. DP: That’s really cool. Finally then Jess Doyle, what is something your readers might be surprised to find out about you? JD: I don't have an English degree. I did film studies instead. I loved studying horror! Good for you. Thanks a million for your time Jess – all the best with M.I.C.H.A.E.L. Please find Jess on twitter at: @jcdoyley
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CategoriesArchives
July 2024
AuthorDean M. Drinkel |