Jevron Mc Crory's Blog

Farewell 2011! It's been fun!

2011-12-30T17:14:00.001-08:00

And it has been!

I am one of those people who, when the New Year turns, does tend to get a little melancholy about the previous year passing, even if I have had a great year! Sue me, but 2011 has been a great year for me for many reasons. I won't list them but ultimately, when I look back, I have nothing but fond memories.

So what does 2012 hold?

I have to get more serious about my writing. That much is clear. I plan to finish two novels this coming year. (I actually have five ideas vying to be my second published title with Vamplit Publishing).

I recently sent my Final Edit (why do I have to put that in capital letters every time?!) of the Swan Song Paperback 12 Story Collection to my publisher so, at this juncture in the year and my life, it really feels like a chapter closed. I need to explore more epic storytelling. More characters, more scope, more emotion.

More than ever, I feel I will gain my much needed sustenance from the written word than cinema. Hollywood has become so fucking lazy recently I can hardly believe it! Everything is a remake, a prequel, a 're-imagining,' a 'whatever-you-want-to-call-it.' Like music, I now live in the past when it comes to films. Modern movies just dissapoint me. So much so, it actually hurts.

So in 2012, I need to delve deep and pull out the kind of material that would turn me on as a reader.

Of course, if David Fincher is reading this and wants to commission Swan Song, I'm all ears!

Roll on 2012!

To all my blog followers, to my readers, to my family of Vamplit fellow authors, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

'And on it goes.....'

2011-10-01T15:13:00.000-07:00

'.....like a gent, 'cause all we need is candlelight!'

Ahem, sorry, been listening to Eagle Eye Cherry!

And on it goes!

Final proofreading is underway for the Swan Song Paperback with twelve exclusive brand new short stories! Yay!

And work is fully underway on the second book! I promise!

No, really!

So as I argued with a friend the other day about a band's difficult second album, my thoughts naturally turned to my writing.

Should your second book, if it's not a sequel, be all that different from your debut?

I'm talking in terms of tone.

I've had to make some tough decisions as I pen my second.

As you know, loyal followers of my blog, I don't do sequels. My second book is NOT a sequel to Swan Song. However, I have found myself re-reading Swan Song in order to regain my voice, per se, so the second does still feel like a continuation of my career (I use the word loosely).

I penned an original first paragraph that was so heavy, I drowned in its metaphors before I reached the break.

So I edited.

I tried a light, comedic approach that became bitter and twisted, then felt readers may not appreciate being toyed with so early.

So I edited.

Then, finally, I threw out all the bullshit, realised where the REAL starting point of the story should occur and wrote, and was TRUE to the spirit and intention of said story. I've finished the opening, done and dusted, and, well, I think it may surprise a few people. Most importantly, I'm happy. Already. Yep. I'm easily pleased!

The longest journey starts with a single step. I've been dancing on the start line now for two fucking years. So this BETTER be good!

It retains Swan Song's flowing prose (naturally, I'm still trying to emulate Clive Barker's writing style) and serious tone but I think it's more true to itself. Less concerned with impressing and more about telling a story. It feels already like a natural successor to my debut. Bigger in scope and drama, richer in character and depth.

So I throw this out. How concerned SHOULD you be that your voice MAY change from book to book?

See? I'm a deep thinker!

(Why the hell has that girl outside only got one shoe on? What the hell happened to the other one?!)

Freedom!

2011-08-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

A week off work!

Bliss!

Sheer bliss!

Though before I left my colleagues to a work place without me for a week, (they hid their sadness behind backflipping, high fives and triumphant cheers! Bless their brave fronts!), I was publicly recognised!

My operations manager educated the team about Mr McCrory during a Q and A session and posed the question :

'Jev is not only an excellent guitar player but an accomplished and published writer (his words, not mine!). Three points to anyone who can name the book he wrote?'

I've been working there a while, The Force bless them, but blank faces responded to the question. A friend of mine answered correctly.

Swan Song.

Thanks, Chris Belshaw!

What followed?

'He wrote a book?'

'He's published?'

'He can spell?'

And so on and so forth.

Which leads me beautifully, confidently, to the week I have taken off to edit my SS manuscript (which I think has been more talked up here than The Bible on Jesus' blog!) and make a real confident start on my second book!

Let me tell you people, NOTHING is more liberating than a free week, an empty Word doc and a fridge full of beer!

I fear that my imagination may run rampant so much to the point that my publisher may question my sanity.

I fear that my characters may get themselves involved in such dire straits that my eighty thousand word planned novel may blossom, just so I have the time and space to get them out of said dire straits.

I fear that if my characters decide to labour under the illusion that with every word, they are illuminating the world (like me when I am drunk), this story may read like 'The Alcoholic's Guide To Life And, you know, Stuff.'

I recently re-read my first two chapters for my second book.

It reads like a teenager's fantasy of birds, London, beer, violence and sex.

As I read it back, I'm struggling to see where the downside is!

Kidding! (Sort of)

In all seriousness, I always thought Swan Song was a bitter, brutal, gritty glimpse of life for a London vampire.

I'm thinking now maybe it showed too much heart and that I could have gone further.

Believe me, THIS book.

Will.

Go.

Further.

Commitment

2011-07-21T13:06:00.000-07:00

I dreamed the start to my second novel!

Woke up and wrote it down and by Jove, it's good! Even if I do say so myself!

Don't you just love it when good ideas are simply given to you?

I had already started my second book.

Well, technically, I had already started my next three books. I have eight pages written of three separate entities, of which either one could be my follow up to Swan Song. This dream bestowed beginning has sealed the deal for me. I now know which one to work on.

I immediately wrote my publisher and told her I would have a full length, fully completed manuscript ready by the end of the year. If that doesn't sound to you like a short deadline, believe me, it is. I am sure anyone who has ever wrote a novel would agree with me.

So now, I must commit to it.

Like a man finally choosing the right woman, there is a clarity in my thoughts now in regards to the journey ahead. The commitment and passion I must bestow to this new love child fills me with dread, anxiety, excitement and faith.

So my notes fill up day by day as I tentatively progress past the eight page mark, my protagonist growing more interesting with every day and, most importantly, the antagonist, more so.

We aim for bigger, better, brighter, bolder. If not, why not?

I have already outlined my wishes for my second book in this blog numerous times, so I shan't go over them again. I have a feeling this blog may become VERY useful in the months to come.

Hold my hand as I go, won't you, dear followers?

Too many ideas?

2011-05-12T12:46:00.000-07:00

The second book.

Always a tricky one and in a lot of ways, more important than the first.

Five months ago, I had no idea what to write, although I knew I didn't want a sequel to Swan Song. I was, and am, definite about that.

Now, I have three ideas jostling for position.

The curious thing is all three started as short stories and flourished. Bizarrely enough, I am eleven pages into all three ideas and at least eight pages of notes into developing each.

So could an author, simultaneously write his next THREE books at the same time?

Has this ever been attempted before?

I'll rephrase.

Has anyone ever been stupid enough to attempt this?

The thing is while I have tried working on one, ideas for the other two keep popping in my head, and vice versa when I am not currently on said project. I can't read two novels at once. I get totally confused with what is going on where, but writing seems to almost demand my head think of other things. This may have something to do with my attention span (Ooh, a penny!) but that's why The Shining is the best horror movie of all time!

Wait, that's not what I was talking about, was it?

Hmmm, okay, chapter three.....

The girl sat.....

Only kidding!

So I tink away simultaneously on all three ideas whilst continually annoying my publisher to finish editing my paperback collection for Swan Song. The more I read over my submitted manuscript, the more work I think it needs!

Three books at once?

Not even I'm that silly.

I'll develop the shit outta all three of them and the one with the most girth, wins.

Okay, that sounded bad....

Where was I? Oh yeah...

...THE END!

Way To Turn Off Readers, man!

2011-04-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I just tried to read Anne Rice's Angel Time and wow, I got as far as 118 pages before I simply had to stop.

Never before have I ever felt so much that a book was preaching to me. It was a heavy, ham fisted, 'correct-your-life-before-it's-too-late' morality tale that genuinely almost borderline offended me.

Apologies to Wendy Howard and Nicole Hadaway whom I know liked the book but, man, if I had known that Anne Rice had changed her style so dramatically, I'd have steered clear.

(Yep, this is one unique post in this blog, I know).

The thing is I was a Catholic but chose to become an athiest.

Too much didn't add up and you don't need to be a Christian to follow the ONLY rule worth following from The Bible :

'Treat Others As You Would Like To Be Treated.'

That's it! It's that simple! The rest is circumstantial.

So Anne Rice wrote The Vampire Chronicles, a series that (deservedly so) brought her world wide acclaim, fame and fortune, a group of dark yet beautiful vampiric tales that took you somewhere and allowed you to experience a real yearning, deep, soulful, immortal fictional landscape.

Then there was Memnoch The Devil. A novel basically about a conversation. Lestat and the Devil have a chat....

.....and that's about it.

That's the whole novel.

I gave up on that one too.

It, unfortunately now, seems like a strange and befuddled 'prequel' to the sanctimonous, holier-than-thou Angel Time.

The book starts well.

Asks big questions, sets up an intriguing protagonist. We get to learn about a sweet, healthy, determined past shrouded in brutal tragedy and are drawn in. We are on the same page and we like it.....

.....then there's time travel, monks, 13th century Norwich, battling Jews and devout Catholics, prayer upon prayer upon prayer and.....

....I didn't get much further.

So, my question (no, the whole post is not to slag off the book) is; writers should write for themselves, but should you hold anything back? Show some reserve?

Things that turn YOU on as a writer will hopefully turn on others......

......however, how far do you go to present a fictional story WITHOUT seemingly thrusting your religious, metaphorical, anaylitical, whatever, thoughts and beliefs upon the reader, almost without warning? And forcefully?! Not offering them for debate.....

I got no warning with Rice.

Though her prose is infamously heavy and often without capable editing (how often should you explain how a candle's flame flickers in the wind??), I have always loved her work. This book not only bored me but I honestly wanted a refund.

So I asked myself; have I ever pushed my own beliefs upon my audience in one of my stories? Was I too obvious in displaying my lack of belief in a God? Were any of my subjects palatable but my treatment of them distasteful?

I throw the question out; should you, as a writer, preach wholeheartedly as a storyteller?

(PS : No disrespect meant to any faiths and beliefs. I may not believe but I always respect.)

Editing is fun!

2011-03-30T14:50:00.001-07:00

My publisher's ethos is true!

Editing is fun!

Not only have I recently re-edited my manuscript for Swan's Song's short story collection (don't worry Gaynor, this was before I sent you the copy!) but I am also currently re-formatting my fourth screenplay, tightening dialogue and re-shaping scenes.

It's far more fun than actually writing!

With writing, there's all sorts of worries. Am I going too far? Am I not going too far enough? How am I going to give this a satisfactory resolution? Have I wandered too far from the beaten path? Do the character's motivations ring true? Have I lost sight of the original premise?

And so on and so forth......

With editing, with the story already in place, you have the blessed gift of hindsight. The writing is behind you, you know the story, all you have to do is take a craft knife and shape that puppy into a lean, mean emotion machine! That's not to say big changes aren't options (I once changed an entire third act and added a character purely on impulse) but there's no pressure to be creative. All you have to do is shape, tighten, sweeten, make better, make good, monkey see, monkey do...

Love it!

Scriptwriting is boring.

That's never been disputed. You have to rein yourself in, control your inner 'writer' from expounding on all sorts of shite! It's basic and simple, technical and methodical, but also very liberating. It's all very straightforward. A prose in a novel can get very convoluted, very easily, anyone who's ever wrote a book could agree with the sense of that. Am I flogging the dead pony? How many times do you have to question yourself; have I made this point succinctly enough?

And on that rather relevant note, have I made my point?

Editing is fun because there's no pressure.

Is there pressure when you're actually writing?

You better believe it sister!

Screenwriting

2011-03-04T16:39:00.001-08:00

This year, I find myself an agent.

It's a promise I made to myself.

At present, I've penned five screenplays to date, four complete originals and one 'on spec' tribute.

A thriller/family bonded drama, a vampire east end tale (naturally!), a David Lynchian mind trip of a slasher, a black magic Buffy style college flick and one Star Wars fan fiction script. (The last one was actually commissioned by the producer of late night boxing on ITV but funding fell through before filming could begin).

There's two more in the works. A heartwarming, nostalgic story of small town regrets (where no one will die this time!) and (finally!) a gangster picture that delves deep into the heart of the Mafia. (Yes, another gangster film! I love them!)

I haven't looked at my scripts in a very long time. I've been so inspired to focus on my story/novel writing that I had almost forgotten them entirely.

There's a purity to writing screenplays. They dispense with the bullshit. Ultimately, they are blueprints, nothing more, for the finished product that will end up on the screen, alive in colour and motion. You don't really need to be a brilliant writer in order to write a cohesive screenplay. In fact, I've read a few commissioned scripts that were downright dreadful, both in terms of spelling and language. (John Hughes' masterpiece The Breakfast Club being a direct case in point!)

Even Quentin Tarantino was quoted as saying :

'No offense to screenwriters, but if I was a REAL writer, I'd write books!'

Harsh words. True?

It depends.

Do you want to be a WRITER or a STORYTELLER?

Is there a difference?

The answer is a resounding YES! At least from where I am sitting.

Should we not listen or read a man's colourful, emotion invoking work if it is poorly presented or inaccurately laid out?

(The director that was to take the reins of the SW fan work said I was a brilliant writer but a bad storyteller! I wasn't sure how to take that or if I wanted it the other way round. 'Hey, you tell great stories but you're pretty fucking stupid!' Yeah, cheers for that....)

Does it really matter all that much? I bet Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo spellchecked EVERY SINGLE WORD of their first draft of The Godfather script. I doubt Puzo even spelt Clark Kent correctly on his fifth draft of Superman 2. By that point, he could write his own frigging ticket and spell it anyway he wanted.

I think my scripts need seeing.

It's strange. My third and least liked script was the one my wife preferred. That's ultimately my favourite too.

So I think an agent may be able to steer my course a little better than me at the helm.

It's worth finding out if I have a cinematic future as well as a literary one, right?

Am I Making Sense?

2011-02-10T02:11:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged in a while so I figured it was time once again to put thoughts to paper, or words to screen, whatever.

I recently managed to catch the breathtaking Black Swan and a whole slew of emotions and new ideas swam through my addled mind as I tried to make sense of the piece. It genuinely will reward in greater measure if you forsake your devotion to 'what REALLY happened' and just allow yourself to be taken along for the ride, allow yourself to be seduced by it. Think David Cronenberg, where things happen that are so bizarre, you're never really quite sure if events unfolded as seen, or anything by David Lynch (Lost Highway being a particular doozy).

Are films genuinely more entertaining if you can make sense of the flick or doesn't it matter?

Directors stress all the time that although audiences are very smart, you can lose them very easily and then it's a real struggle to get them back. A few of my friends found Black Swan's ambiguity too much to take, leading them from anxiety to eventual frustration. I can totally understand this. Some stories are so convoluted and warped in style and structure you almost get the sense the creator literally made it up as they went along with no clear objective in mind.

And here, to the point of this post; how much sense is required for a story to be enjoyable?

My third screenplay plays fast and loose with structure and design, involving complicated dream like sequences and operatic mood pieces, basically you are never really sure if things are happening as they seem. Most that read it detested it for it's non linear approach. I kept stressing that a script is merely a blueprint for a movie and not the finished article, but I had lost them. It was too late.

My stories/novella thus far have been fairly restrained but I do often wonder, how much must a story make sense in order to entertain?

After watching Black Swan, I am ever so slightly tempted to lessen reality's reins on my upcoming tales, although I realise that if I follow through on this, I'm on my own, I won't have the adorable Natalie Portman in my corner to save me from the detractors.

It's a pickle.

The Light At The End Of The Tunnel

2010-12-13T07:31:00.000-08:00

At last!

Finally, I have finished the twelve short stories that will pad out the paperback edition of Swan Song.

It's been a long time coming and I must admit, those last three stories damn near killed me!

There's truly no such thing as an easy slam dunk! Especially if your quality meter is as high as mine!

What appeared simple became difficult and what appeared difficult became EPIC!!

They are finished, that's the point, and I am very proud of them!

It will be so cool to have people finish reading Swan Song and then just over the page, have twelve new 'experiences' waiting for them! I think that's pretty cool.

In addition, six of those stories will be available as an exclusive FREE ebook collection entitled Against The Grain.

The other six will remain EXCLUSIVE to the Swan Song paperback and, again, I think that's pretty cool.

The stories range in themes, as I have previously discussed here in other posts, yet I hope I have shown my heart in all of them.

There's violence but redemption, love but loss, humour but deadly serious threat and it's all been tied together with one simple premise; the mythic obsession we have with the creature of the vampire.

I promised my publisher a long time ago I would stay true to what I hope is my unique calling card, the London setting for my tales. I am glad to say that except for one story, London played a welcome and fitting host for my stories. At no time did I feel I really had to change locale. It links me to the town I live in all the more succintly and my debut novella.

(Even my front cover for this collection, taken in Camden Town, is the bridge Lewis Morrison finds himself under during the storm when he finally accepts Katrina for what she is in Swan Song. I like this oh so subtle reference).

So now it's all gone off to my darling publisher, and we play the waiting game.....

What does the immediate future hold?

Well, interestingly enough, as mentioned before, I have THREE potentials vying for my affections to be my next REAL book.

It's going to be fun letting them fight to the death!

To the victor, the spoils!

And the 3rd contestant is...

2010-11-15T15:58:00.000-08:00

I now have three up and running contenders for my next book!

This won't be a sequel to Swan Song, I've made that pretty clear, but in the course of my short story collection, so much has inspired me that man, I can't nail it all down!

Three ideas are vying for my affections for my second book, technically; my first feature length novel sized story, even a conversation with my wife about the nature of horror films has helped!

So as it currently stands, I need to finish one story for the collection and then I have three already begun ideas for my next book.

And I CAN'T WAIT!

The truth is these ideas are so big in scope, they may take up all my spare time! It's exciting as hell! Ever feel swallowed by your concepts? Daunted by them? Thrilling isn't it?

I'm bad at research. I always have been.

My stories are kept close to my heart, my core, grounded in a reality only I understand. These ideas will test me, push me. I think I need to do that at this point in my writing life. I still adhere to the tried old and tested belief that a story can be small in scope yet epic in moral and message. Usually, those are the most effective (think The Shawshank Redemption, or the incredibly underrated Unbreakable, which I love!) but I do think it's time to push the boat out, as it were.

I just hope I don't come apart at the seams!

Hell, I'll just throw in some hokey jokes and a shocking scene or two to patch up the gaps.

(Joke! That was a joke people!)

Waffling On

2010-11-05T19:13:00.000-07:00

Short stories rock.

Short, sharp shocks that require no real commitment to read.

So how come recently every time I start a short story, the bastard grows legs and develops into a fully fledged monster that 6 A4 pages won't do justice?

The problem in the beginning was finding ideas that went somewhere.

Now the problem is every story WANTS to go somewhere and take me along for the ride!

Four times in the last two months, I have started work on what I intended to be the last short story that would complete the 12 story collection that will pad out the paperback edition of Swan Song (yes, that old chestnut again, bite me), and every time, the story mutates into something that 6 to 8 pages of material couldn't possibly contain.

So what do I do?

Chop the legs off a running beauty of a story and prematurely bring about it's demise so I can include in a paperback collection? Or start from scratch with an idea that hopefully won't grow a further head?

I'm actually asking!

In truth, and I wasn't going to admit this, I went back and looked into my older work, stuff that NO ONE has ever seen, and pulled a bit of material from it in order to further my collection.

Problem is each idea that frustrated me then blossoms into an uncontrollable flower the minute I put pen to page, or fingertip to key. I can't keep these bastard stories short anymore.

Is it time to write a follow up to 'War And Peace?'

With vampires?

Does anyone else have this problem or is it just me?

Music To Soothe The Savage Beast

2010-10-01T13:03:00.000-07:00

Simple enough intro to this post :

Do you write to music?

I recently bought The Deftones new album, Diamond Eyes, and it's the perfect blend of brutality and beauty, just what I always hope to invoke in my writing.

The music, metal at it's most sensitive, is blistering in it's power yet the layering of leads beneath, coupled with reflective and uncharacteristically positive lyrics, has helplessly enthralled me. The band have always been good but this album is undoubtedly their crowning achievement, so far.

I often write in total silence.

(Hey, if I have music playing, how can I hear the voices in my head, of which there are many?!)

I simply prefer to hear the words flow in my head without the added distraction of music. If a song is playing, my mind naturally latches onto the lyrics.

However, I have to add this, movie scores are truly wonderful in this sense. An orchestral piece, sombre and thought provoking, is often just what the doctor ordered.

Vampire films, typically, have wonderfully suitable scores to write dark material too, Interview With The Vampire, Fright Night and the actual score from, of course, The Lost Boys. Inparticular, I URGE my fellow vampire writers to check out Tangerine Dream's haunting score to the classic vampire 1987 western tinged flick, Near Dark. It's flawless!

I find the right piece of instrumental music really helps to set the tone for my writing.

So how about you?

Is music a suitable writing companion for you?

Juggling Styles

2010-09-27T15:21:00.000-07:00

As I near the completion of the twelve short stories that will accompany Swan Song into print, a single goal has been in my head throughout the writing process.

Each story should be different.

I've attempted to change tone, pacing, structure, theme and mood with each new idea that I've penned down, desiring that each new tale starts completely fresh, both in style and intent, from the one previous.

So far, it's worked out, I think, but can you have too much of a good thing, no matter how varied?

What if, whilst attempting to showcase the multitude of styles I have at my disposal, I overwhelm my reader? Might it finally appear in conclusion that in order to appeal to everyone, I've thrown in everything, including the kitchen sink?

This dilemma takes me back to my music days.

I once had a phone conversation with an A and R man at Fire Records who attempted to explain to me that a band that sounded like all their favourite bands was a bad thing.

'You have to find your own unique sound...'

He explained.

'...you can't sound like Madness one song, Nirvana the next and close the demo sounding like Sting. It won't work. It will sound like you are trying too much to be everyone and you will end up sounding like no one.'

'Isn't that a good thing...?'

I cheekily replied.

'...what band in their right mind would try that? That could be the unique sound!'

To this day, I am not sure if I was being serious or not.

His point was well made.

He meant be true to your own style and try not to juggle too many styles or you will appear directionless.

For the established artists that can re-invent themselves with every new work, well I guess that comes later when you have gained the freedom and power to do so. In the beginning, mark your territory.

(Look at me! I'm only one novella down and I'm already talking about being true to my own style! You see how blogs make you pretentious!)

In literature, I think there is a lot more lee way.

In an author's collection of stories, I expect him or her to mix it up. I expect variety of all sorts, be that moving from a first person narrative to a third, and so on. More than anything, I expect a difference in mood and resolution to the stories. Not everything has to end like The Shining right?

I want to surprise my readers with how different each of these stories will be from one to the other, yet throughout, my writing voice will remain the one constant, promising that although the playing field and focus may shift, my control on the narrative will not.

I'm curious to see how it all turns out.

Mood Writing

2010-09-03T17:27:00.001-07:00

My wife recently went on holiday (sort of) back to her home country of Minsk, Belarus, leaving me twiddling my thumbs. I thought, great, space and time to do some serious writing.

Nothing got done.

Nothing at all.

And the reason?

I was too lonely to write.

Which inspired me to write this blog tonight; how important is your mood to what you end up producing, if at all?

Cliche; do you need to be happy to write a happy story? Do you need to be sad to write a sad story? Do you need to be angry to write an angry story? Etc....

I found that with my wife gone, even though I suddenly had all this time at my disposal, I lacked the simple drive to get anything done. I generally write my best work when she's sitting on the sofa not two feet from me, surfing the net. We don't talk, not when I am writing, but I know the minute I am finished, she's dying to read it fresh from my fingertips. I guess I never realised how much of a support I find that, it really helps!

I re worked a few ideas, tinkered with titles and juggled the order of my stories that will soon appear in the paperback edition of Swan Song, but nothing new really got created. I was surprised.

Relax Gaynor, my long suffering publisher, she came back a while ago and work is now full steam ahead once more. It just left me thinking about my fellow writers; have they ever experienced anything like this?

George Lucas publicly apologised for the sheer overwhelming darkness of 'The Temple Of Doom', citing his divorce as a reason. In fact, now I think about it, many writers, both novelists and screenwriters, have admitted traumatic experiences have lent both style and creedence to their ideas at the time. I find this endlessly intriguing.

I will say this, before I hand the floor over to the writers whom I know and want to hear from; falling in love definitely didn't stop me from writing and exploring dark material.

So why the hell couldn't I write brutal evil material when she was gone for only a week and a half?

Working Holiday

2010-07-20T15:43:00.000-07:00

Recently, I've been taking my much needed holiday time from work to write.

Write and nothing else.

(Just briefly, I work in accounts, 'nuff said?)

My boss called me over about three weeks ago and said 'You still have about nineteen days holiday left to take, Jev. I know you love it here but you better start taking them.'

So what did I do?

I arranged the most suitable time off between my crazy work load shifts and planned some valuable drinking and writing time (the two go hand in hand for me). It's the only time I can really get some work done. SERIOUS work.

When I get home, it's usually half six or seven o 'clock. If I start writing and fall into 'the zone,' I could still easily be there at half one, quarter to two, with maybe only three good pages to show for it, that and a viciously tired hangover the following morning.

So, with my two days off (starting now), I'll plan a writing schedule, go buy much needed alcohol, turn about two fans in my direction (It's bloody hot in London right now though I don't want to complain about it!) and settle in for the long haul.

Swan Song was completed on a week night.

It was finished at quarter to three in the morning on a Thursday purely because it was 'flowing' and I was scared that if I stopped, I'd never get it back again. (That could explain the breathless nature of the head long rush toward the climax, though I feel the story benefits from it, as if the pendulum finally shifted one way and couldn't be altered as events spiralled towards their inevitable conclusion).

And now, with two free days looming, two potential full length Swan Song follow ups in progress (NOT sequels, I don't DO sequels!) and five stories short of completing my Vamplit Vampire Collection Of Short Stories, I guess I feel pretty good.

I'm focused on my writing.

My X Box 360 does not help.

Neither does my guitar.

I'm ignoring them at the moment.

After the recent posts regarding positive feedback regarding Swan Song and online interviews, I am determined to return this blog to what it was originally intended to be, a thoughtful study on the aspects of story telling that we writers agonise over on a daily basis. I never wanted this to become 'my diary' or a series of random ramblings.....

I found my original Swan Song notes last night. It was fascinating comparing how I felt then to how the story eventually turned out.

I may post the notes here at some point...

Am I rambling?!

What was I talking about again?

Oh yeah, focus......

Hmmmmm.......

Errr.......

Horror News.Net praises Swan Song!

2010-06-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

At the danger of turning my blog from an insightful writing sketchpad into an egotistical back slapping paradise, my ebook Swan Song just scored an AMAZING review over at Horror News. Net and I am stoked!

Go to www.horrornews.net, click on Book Reviews, then Swan Song!

Or, you could just read it here.

You know, whichever....

SWAN SONG

Written by: Jevron McCrory
Release Date: February 2010

Publisher: Vamplit Publishing
Publication Date: 2010
Format: B & W
Price: 2.99

I have a confession to make.

When I started reading Jevron McCrory’s aptly titled novella Swan Song, I wanted to hate his protagonist. That’s not the confession. Nor is it a slam against McCrory’s writing. McCrory brings the character of Lewis Morrison, Swan Song’s male lead, across in vivid detail with a few well-chosen words. It just so happens that Lewis is a jaded, often drug-addled man with a tendency to act the ass. In fact, he’s exactly the sort of fellow readers love to hate. And I would have loved to hate him too.

Here’s my confession: I couldn’t do it. No matter how much I wanted to loathe Lewis, McCrory wouldn’t let me, damn it! Despite his myriad flaws, Lewis is just too human to hate. With subtle brushstrokes that at first are nearly undetectable, McCrory paints layer upon layer of complexity around Lewis until he emerges as a multifaceted figure just this side of tragic. Indeed, by the end, McCrory has given us enough glimpses into Lewis’s humanity for the reader to recognize him as Everyman on a bad day. A very very bad day.

Sent to write a review of mysterious beauty Katrina Collins, whose bewitching melodies are stealing the music scene club by club, Lewis expects to be bored by another warbling wannabe. He does not expect to pass out, swept into unconsciousness on the young woman’s song. Nor does he expect to find himself gripped by an inexplicable obsession with Katrina.

As Lewis, despite his professed anger, is drawn ever more powerfully to Katrina, everything he knows about sex, love, and life is turned upside-down. And for those of us along for the ride, the notion of the warm and fuzzy—er, make that cold and fuzzy—romantic vampire is turned on its head as well. McCrory’s vamp is the undead parallel to a jungle cat: alluring, majestic, and compelling, to be sure, but not a creature with which you’d be advised to cuddle up. Assuming, of course, you like your blood vessels unmolested and your internal organs, well, internal.

This is not to say that the human elements within the beast are left unexplored. McCrory has an excellent grasp of the range of human feelings. In the short space permitted by the novella format, he wrings anger, pain, lust, happiness, sorrow, and more from his characters, taking the reader on an emotional thrill ride. Although there is not time to spell out each character’s motivations for every action and decision, we feel close enough to the characters that such revelation is unnecessary. We sense that this is the way in which the character should behave, and that is enough. The hints and intimations that we receive throughout tell enough to flesh out the back story, but to think our way through the narrative is to miss the point. McCrory’s tale is best simply experienced, on a visceral level, the way Katrina’s spellbound audiences experience her music.

My one complaint, if it can be called such, is that Swan Song is over so quickly. Though its brevity lends it the breathtaking capacity of a swift punch to the gut—or should I say the throat?—I found myself greedy for just one more bite. Those who enjoy a juicy vampire tale will probably feel the same way. There’s something here for fans of the ubiquitous bloodsuckers no matter what incarnation you prefer. I like my vamps to have personality without being above getting gore-streaked and nasty.

Swan Song delivers on all of the above.

Available at: ebookundead.com
Available at: Vamplit Publishing

REVIEWED BY STEPHANIE KINCAID

First Online Interview

2010-06-21T10:16:00.000-07:00

My first online interview was conducted a short while ago by Paula Phillips at Paula Zone. I figured I would post it here, just for the hell of it!

TAKEN FROM THE PAULA ZONE BLOG

Interview with Swan Song author, Jevron McCrory

Who remembers the book I reviewed just the other day? Swan Song? You know, that awesome vampire novella with the singer Katrina Collins and the music reporter Lewis Morrison? Well, if you haven't checked it out, then scroll down the page or head over to the right hand side of the screen where you will see a little calendar and click on June 13th!

Today for you all, I have an interview with the author Jevron McCrory of Swan Song for you to read!

Tell us about your book, Swan Song.

Swan Song is essentially about two very damaged individuals.

A cynical somewhat reprehensible male music journalist falls for the latest 'big thing' on the music circuit, a beautiful waif like female songstress who proves to be as elusive as her music. She also happens to be a vampire.

The story explores why people end up the way they do and how far they are willing to go in order to make the necessary changes, whilst raising morality questions on who could be considered the more evil, the creature who, by necessity, commits horrendous acts or the mortal who simply chooses to do so.

I wanted to do a real character piece and limit the amount of 'action' in order to draw the reader in, make what was happening more believable and hopefully more effective. It's a slow burn piece. It was intentionally written as the 'antidote' to Twilight and I wanted it to be everything I thought Twilight wasn't. Fierce, unforgiving and uncompromising. I actually created a template, listed everything about Twilight I disliked, then put the polar opposites into Swan Song.

The result is a gritty modern violent London based vampire story that I hope gives the creatures of the night back some of their bite.

As your novel is based around vampires, what was the first vampire movie you saw and the first vampire book you read?

The first REAL vampire movie I ever saw was The Lost Boys and it absolutely fried my brain. I had never seen anything like it! It was funny, stylish, romantic, violent and so utterly downright cool that I became more than a little obsessed with it. It's easily my favourite movie and there's probably not a week goes by I don't watch it. It's the yardstick by which all vampire movies should be measured.

The first book was Bram Stoker's Dracula as I had heard so much about it. The ending disappointed me as I felt the Count was disposed of far too quickly but the richness of the prose and characters just drew me in. It's truly a classic.

What gives you the inspiration to write in a particular genre?

I think I have tried my hand at every genre, be it a short story or my numerous screenplays. My heart however belongs in the horror genre. It just has the ability to straddle multiple subgenres effortlessly. I've always loved dark material and I find violence in fiction exciting.

Has your characters or writing been inspired by friends/ family?

To some degree.

I think it would be impossible not to be influenced by those around you. In some instances, I've been very intentional about a character resembling someone I know, or once knew, at other times, I think it must be a subconscious thing. So much of what an artist creates is laced with meaning only decipherable in hindsight.

Did you experience writers block? If so, what did you do to get rid of it?

I'm very lucky as I don't seem to suffer from writers block. I always have something to say. Anyone who knows me will agree with that! I can just take two characters onto a page and things often just seem to start clicking all by themselves.

What are you working on now?

I'm working on a collection of twelve short stories for Vamplit Publishing that will ultimately become my follow up to Swan Song (EDIT -They may now appear in the paperback edition of Swan Song!)

They are all stand alone tales that will each have their own unique themes and characters and will range from drama to horror to romance to black comedy. I've gone pretty far in some cases yet I want them all to share a unique sensibility and style. I want to build on what I began with Swan Song as there's definitely an audience for the savage, bittersweet, gritty, London based vampire.

What is your favourite scene in your book?

Without giving too much away, my favourite scene in Swan Song would have to be when Lewis sees first hand, in shocking fashion, what Katrina is.

I spent a long time agonising over when and how to make the 'reveal' as I knew it would be a pivotal moment in the story. Actually, from that point on, the story rushes headlong to it's conclusion and there's a sort of breathlessness to it that I like. I also remember how shocked and scared I was when Kiefer Sutherland was finally 'revealed' as a vampire in The Lost Boys and I wanted to aim for that kind of impact.

Finally, I blended a bit of sexual heat with a spot of random violence, all brought about by a mere simple accident.

Had you previously written anything?

Many things!

I've been writing since I was about fourteen years old, maybe earlier, so before I wrote Swan Song, I had one novella, about seven short stories and about six screenplays under my belt. My first novella, a black comedy called Little Napoleon, may be making it's published debut with Vamplit later in the year.

How long does it take you to write a book?

Little Napoleon took about seven or eight months as I continually juggled plot strands and characters. I just couldn't stop playing with it! Swan Song, because it was wrote on spec and I knew a publisher was waiting for it, took as little as a couple of months! I just thrashed it out in a frenzy. I wanted a pure and simple intimate character study rather than a head spinning Usual Suspects structure so it just came together really quickly.

Which comes first for you – characters or plot?

Both. Often, my characters ARE my plot!

They start to speak to each other and ideas just start forming in my head. Things just start to happen, things I could never have planned without that initial interaction. Character development comes later during the process.

I remember George Lucas saying in an interview :

'You are always aiming to be furthering the plot AND learning something new about the character at the same time.'

That stuck with me.

How did you get into writing? Did you always want to become a writer?

Always, though I figured I was far too lazy to make an actual go of it. I had tons of unfinished stories when I was younger. Finally, I hit upon an idea that just wouldn't let go and I finished it, proving to myself I could do it, IF I wanted to!

If you were stranded on a desert island, what are three material things you couldn't be without?

Material things? So I can't bring my wife? Seems unfair.

Okay, an acoustic guitar, my samurai sword (for chopping trees to build a shack and stuff like that) and probably my 100% screen accurate full size replica Chucky Good Guy Doll from the Child's Play movies.

Well, I can't bring a computer can I?

What are you reading now?

Michael Jackson's biography Moonwalk. I've read it a dozen times. The man was a legend.

Which author has inspired you the most and why?

Clive Barker.

Barker has taught me more about the art of writing than any other writer I could even begin to think of. You'd think I would have a whole slew of favourite writers vying for this coveted position but no, Clive Barker wins it hands down. He's ferocious, passionate, highly inventive, fearless and his prose is simply to die for. I try to imitate him actually when I write! Maybe I shouldn't say that!

What advice would you give aspiring authors?

I don't think I am in any position just yet to give advice. All I will say is above all, above anything else, be passionate, as passionate as you can be. Without passion, you have nothing. I truly believe that.

To finish off, do you have a quote or poem that has stuck with you over the years and what is the story behind it?

Brandon Lee, in his last on camera interview before he tragically died whilst filming The Crow, quoted from Paul Bowles' 1949 novel The Sheltering Sky. This broke my heart when I heard him say it, as he was to die only a handful of weeks later. It also speaks to the enduring appeal of the vampire in it's sentiments of treasured time. It's a beautiful quote.

Because we do not know when we will die, we tend to think of life as an inexhaustible well, yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that's so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more, perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless.

To Shock Or Not To Shock

2010-06-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

We write for ourselves. First and foremost.

If you started to write for someone else, I'd worry, as you should.

We write to please ourselves, because, and it's true, you can't please everyone.

Bottom line; you try to write the kind of stories that YOU want to read, that you have been looking for, that make you go 'Finally, that's what I want to hear, or read, or whatever...'

When I write, a multitude of people cycle through my head.

My publisher, my friends, my wife, my mother and father. Recently I've realised that although an idea may spring fully formed from MY head, I may end up the last person I consult when I write.

Let me explain.

I get a good idea, on some nights, a GREAT idea.

Now this idea may flourish all by itself or it may need a little gestating. Some stories write themselves, others you have to drag kicking and screaming to the page.

So I start with a great idea, but no less than four paragraphs in, I hit a crossroads. I can go dark, down the safe road I know I am capable of travelling alone. I can flip side and go comedy, a turn post no one saw coming and may be all the more sweet for it. I can go romantic and anxiously try to avoid the pot holes that romantic vampire literature has to side step these dangerous days. I can go 'David Lynch' and twist it into something that has so many levels it would make a lesser readers' head spin.

And on and on and on.....

And I am only four paragraphs in!

So am I writing for me, or my potential audience?

Sometimes, most often, I tend to throw caution to the wind and say fuck it, it was my idea, I'll dance with the devil by the pale moonlight (thank you Jack Nicholson; copyright Batman 1989)

But recently I do question who will be reading this piece? Will I alienate my readers by going too far? And most importantly, will I alienate my readers by not going far enough?

I want to write dark stuff, I always have, but, as I have learned from films like Hostel, which concepts have scared me beyond the realms of my own imagination (not the film itself, that sucks), you CAN go too far.

When I drink and write, I always want to go further. It takes my sober mind to advise caution; is this RIGHT for the story?

I ask myself this question right now as I pen the seventh story in what will become part of a collection of twelve stories that will eventually become my follow up to my debut 'Swan Song' and it's a big question.

Am I going too far?

Or am I not going far enough?

To Shock Or Not To Shock?

It's a tricky one...

Why So Serious?

2010-05-14T16:58:00.000-07:00

Dark stories.

The darker the better.

They have always had a special place in my heart. Stories that shroud themselves in misery, stories that are unapologetically harsh, stories that are brutal, uncompromising and sometimes downright shocking.

Recently, I have been asking myself, why? Why am I drawn to such dark material?

Answer? The Lost Boys.

No. Scratch that. Let's journey further back.

Answer? Freddy Krueger.

I'd never seen any character quite like Freddy Krueger.

For a young impressionable male discovering cinema, ol' Freddy was like a shot of adrenaline to the system. Here was a guy who couldn't give a fuck about nothing. He'd giggle himself stupid, straighten his fedora (with that deliciously twisted sense of style) then slash you to pieces and dance in your blood. He was, quite simply, a cinematic slap in the face.

I had, indeed, never seen a character quite like Freddy Krueger.

And I have yet to come across a character quite like him since. (He's still gets my vote for the most devilishly original fictional character in history. Just please don't mention that fucking remake!)

And yet, despite Krueger's brutality, despite his evil nature, there, lurking not too far beneath the surface, was humour. Granted, in the early days, it was a humour only Fred himself found amusing, but the message was clear; to really shock, you had to laugh while you did something shocking (check the rape scene from A Clockwork Orange or the ear slicing scene from Reservoir Dogs for further evidence). The Lost Boys, Fright Night, An American Werewolf In London and a dozen others followed to cement the theory.

So why does often the humour get lost along the way?

I've been thinking (a lot) about my second novel as it worms it's way from my brain to the page (or the computer screen if you prefer). Why couldn't my second book have a slightly comedic tone? Or even out and out comedic?

I'm not talking Monty Python territory here. Just something black, really black, like laughing at someone throwing up till you realise they are suddenly choking to death. Like watching a dog chew it's own leg and laughing, till it's fangs cut through the bone. Like watching a father throw a child up in to the air and catch repeatedly, till inevitably missing.....

Uncomfortable isn't it?

I want to write a comedy vampire story.

A story that retains violence yet makes you laugh, whether you want to or not. My publisher will tell you I've already dabbled a bit with this and I hope the results were fairly successful. Hell, my first novella was a comedy. Should I give it another whirl?

(Note: At this time of writing, Blackstone Publishers are considering my first novella for publication)

It's hard to do horror and comedy. Many have failed. Jesus, HUNDREDS have failed!

Do we gravitate towards seriousness and 'end of the world' tone because it's easier? Have we become lazier as writers, to try and blend tones?

Why don't we want our readers to laugh, just before they scream?

Curious thoughts.

For clarification, I travelled to a galaxy far far away and sought the advice of a 900 year old green midget. (For the sheer hell of it).

LUKE : Is the dark side stronger?
YODA : No, no. Quicker, easier, more seductive.

So there you have it. We're bloody lazy.

Make 'em laugh people.

Then cut their throats.

(Sorry, Freddy insisted on that last part)

Short and Sweet

2010-04-01T19:08:00.000-07:00

I love short stories.

The good ones can intrigue, shock and move, all before running the risk of boring you.

They don't pretend to have award winning premises, sometimes they barely boast at all. Mostly they creep up on you, charm their way into your head, then deliver a sucker punch more sucinct than any novel. Therin lies the beauty of the short story, the underdog that thrives on misjudgement, that hopes you set your expectations low so that it can catch you offguard.

I love short stories.

I write a lot of them.

More often than not, a simple idea may occur to me that I feel may be best suited bashed out in an afternoon. A short sharp savage shock that can be ingested in a lunch break. It may be because to have a book of length, the idea is saying 'Look at me, I'm worth a great deal of your time.' A short story, however, asks nothing of you and will either impress or depress in the time it takes for you to think 'Can I bothered to finish this?'

Short stories are providing me a stop gap at this juncture in my writing career, if I may use the word 'career.'

A way of saying 'So what if the second novella hasn't yet gained a momentum? You are writing! That's all Mr Hank Moody of Californication ever asked for. Be happy you have any ideas at all!'

This is not to say my idea for my second book has 'no legs.' It's just, well, how do I put this -

- I don't want to screw it up.

I have a high bull shit detector, at least I like to think I have. When I start to write, seriously, it's all or nothing.

As with a band, the second piece of art is more important than the first. If the first is a success and the second isn't, were you a fluke? If the first idea is sublime and the second merely average, are you a one hit wonder? Should you explore the themes introduced in your first book further? Or divert from them completely? Are you flakey with no drive? Or a one trick pony?

All good questions.

So what are the answers?

Here's what I know so far of my second novella (compared to my first book) :

It will be darker AND funnier
It will be far more complex
The characterisations will be far more involving and less subtle
The violence will be more intense and shocking
There will again be two MAIN characters
It will utilise (in my opinion) a very original premise
It will take far bloody longer to write!!!!

I will not stop writing short stories. I can promise that.

Like a composer that hears more than one thread of a song in his head, I have ideas at this time that no one story can serve.

I have to get them out.

It would be stupid not to, no?

What's In A Name?

2010-03-25T09:37:00.000-07:00

What's In A Name?

Continuing in my efforts to keep this blog as focused on every aspect of writing as possible, I found myself wondering the other day this most seemingly irrelevant of ponderables? : What’s in a name?

How important to a book’s success is the title to which it is finally ascribed? Is the name of the story really so important? Or is it of any importance at all?

Stephanie Myer’s original title for her saccharine saga was ‘Forks’ before some media darling at her publishers recommended (insisted?) ‘Twilight.’ Would ‘Forks’ have been as great a success?
(Stepping away from literature for a minute, the intriguingly titled ‘The Long Good Friday,’ the brutal British gangster film about troubles with the IRA, was originally to be called ‘The Paddy Factor!’)

I wrestled with the christening of my debut novella ‘Swan Song’ for quite some time, a process that began at the start of writing and was only resolved at the very end. I compiled a list of some eleven titles (some of which I adored but did not suit the story) and simply chose one, taking into account my wife’s enthusiastically given opinion. I like the title I ended up with but I can’t help feeling a little disappointed when I see a book online with the same title. I strive for originality, even in a title.

So now to my new novella, yet to be written, and already I agonise over what to call this yet to born opus.

I really like the title ‘A 187 In May’ (187 is the code cops use to denote a homicide in America I believe) as it recalls the lurid exploitative stylings of ‘A Nightmare On Elm Street’ or ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.’ However, as a 187 technically only occurs in America, this would mean moving my story away from beloved English soil and across the ocean, a move I am loathe to make. Well, that and I promised my publisher all my stories would remain stoutly distinctly British! Besides, it seems a trifle dramatic to change a setting based on the love of a title, doesn't it?

I can’t honestly imagine a wonderful book suffering quite so greatly from a lacklustre title. It certainly didn’t seem to hurt Philip K Dick’s ‘Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?’ (the cinematic counterpart later to be brilliantly re-titled as ‘Blade Runner.’) or Stephen King’s ‘The Tommy Knockers’ (seriously, what the hell is that meant to mean anyway?), but I ask you ladies and gentlemen of the jury, can you imagine the following books being titled anything else?

A Clockwork Orange
To Kill A Mockingbird
A Tale Of Two Cities
Interview With The Vampire
The Damnation Game
The Ka Of Clifford Hilary
The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy
The Bible (just kidding!)

...and so on and so forth, the list is endless.

The mystery continues...

(Oh and my new baby novella’s name will be announced here shortly...

...I hope.)

Living With Characters

2010-01-28T12:02:00.000-08:00

(Note - I am not schziophrenic - Yes you are! Blah blah blah!)

Ever feel you live with your characters?

I remember back in my early days of writing screenplays, I had a tough scene to crack. A love scene, no, scratch that, a sex scene - and for some bizarre reason, I couldn't write it.

I don't know why but for some reason, whatever I wrote just sounded forced and fake. I found a quick and enjoyable way through it.

I took my characters to the pub and got them drunk.

Now understand that I didn't write a drinking scene into the script. More alarmingly, I gathered up my notebooks, went to the pub by myself during the day, arranged three empty chairs around me and then I got drunk, thus inebriating my characters, and you know what? It seemed to work. My characters got hot and heavy and the next day, I found myself blushing at what they had got up to.

I was proud. Until I realised that having the male lead actually fail to close the deal was more in line with the story and thus I had to delete the entire scene, but an important thought had occurred with this exercise.

Is living with your characters a good idea?

For actors, it's called method, when you simply never break character. For us writers, it's slightly more complicated. We are everyone in the story. Effectively, we are God, without the reluctance to get involved.

So how involved SHOULD we get?

The day had loosened my writing insecurities (if you don't drink, ignore this entire post) and made me feel that not only could my characters surprise me but I could sit with them at the same time, be with them and enjoy their company. Believe me, it felt like a guilty pleasure.

Quentin Tarantino said 'I didn't know Mr Blonde had a razor in his boot until he pulled it.'

This sounds crazy, but to me it made some sort of logistical sense.

I love that, when characters are capable of making you go 'whoa, where did that come from?' It excites and hopefully, it has the capacity to excite your readers. I've finished scripts and missed the characters! Actually missed them!

So, is 'living with your characters' a good idea?

I'd like to think so, then again, if you write disturbingly freaky shit, either get involved or call the police...

Learning to forget the ideas that won't die

2010-01-08T19:16:00.000-08:00

Us writers, we talk a lot about how we deal with developing our ideas.

How the idea comes to us, where we went with it, how we tend to feel after the story is completed.

But you know what we never talk about?

The ideas that plague us, the ideas that torment us, the ideas that ultimately may turn out to ruin us.

Why don't we, who deal in self expression, talk openly about the things we DON'T want to write about??!

Since I got serious about my vampires, there have been two ideas that WILL NOT LEAVE ME.

I don't want to write them.

More importantly, I don't think anyone would like to read them.

However, in the interests of 'nailing demons to the page', I think it might be interesting for the first time to pen down the thoughts that I would rather not explore on the page. They may be better off roaming the confines of my brain.

1. A vampire has been captured, tortured, cut within an inch of his immortal life, to reveal a secret that he will not reveal. Every possible disgusting method is utilised and the vamp laughs through most of it, if only to unsettle his captors.

The truth, for us readers who get an intimate glimpse into his mind, is that every torture cuts him to pieces and he, immortal or not, is at the end of his immortal tether, close to breaking, close to revealing a secret that not only threatens the life of a mortal but of all that she holds dear. (yes, I said 'she'.)

Q. Why don't you write it?
A. I hate torture films, stories, etc. It really upsets me. I think the idea that captors are torturing an immortal and unaware of it is unique but I don't think I could pull it off without disgusting my readers.

Q. Where did it come from?
A. No fucking idea, but it upsets me, so lets move on.

2. A vampire who originally wanted to kill an entire family becomes their unwitting saviour as a bunch of other kindred make their aggressive move all too soon.

Q. Why not write this?
A. I can't seem to find a suitable motive for why a vampire would protect humans.

Q. That sounds like a twinkie defence. Why won't you really write it?
A. It would read more like a therapy session for my readers to gain an insight into me than an actual story. It would be fake, false, no matter how genuine I intended it to be. I'm a coward. I don't want to go there.

Q. You may have a whole novella there. Isn't the risk worth it?
A. No.

These two ideas will not leave me. Every time I think about the creature, the useful metaphor of the vampire, these two ideas re-float to the surface. I have avoided them deliberately since the age of fifteen, and with good reason, at least from my standpoint.

I guess the title of this most recent blog is misleading. I don't know how to forget the ideas that won't die....

.....but if someone else knows, please message me.

Is this WRITE for me?

2010-01-04T13:32:00.000-08:00

Just got over Christmas and New Year with a sigh. No matter how good a time you have, it always feels somewhat anticlimatic eh?

Oh, and I got married. You know, 'cause I had a spare few minutes. My wife is wonderful, just simply wonderful (I'll find a flaw if it's the last thing I do!) and very supportive of my writing, which really helps, obviously.

A brand new year brings with it many thoughts and feelings. For me, it brings the finished prologue, the beginning, to my second novel for Vamplit Publishing, a second novel with a far more challenging premise than Swan Song.

If I am honest, the concept alone terrifies the living hell out of me.

My idea is one that can fail on so many levels it boggles the mind. If I pull it off, meh, if nothing else, I will have pleased myself. But will anyone really care as much as I do?

And here's the point of this much belated blog post; how do you ever really know writing is for you? And I don't mind writing for enjoyment, that should always be encouraged. I mean how do you ever really know that people really like/love your work? Would they care at all if you just simply stopped? Guess you could ask...

I recently had my confidence knocked regarding Swan Song and it did rattle me. I've always been the sensitive kind (I've haven't met a creative soul who isn't) and I always take a positive from a negative but it did get me thinking, this most recent of reviews. Am I wasting my time?

How do you ever really know that your writing is worthwhile? I try to keep myself grounded, no idea is ever as good as I think it is, no sentence perfect, no premise irresistible, yet when I do allow myself flights of fancy, writing becomes truly enjoyable. This story will rock them! I think. Wait till they see how this turns out!

But what if I'm nowhere near as good or as competent as I think I am? What if the only person who will read my work in the years to come is me? What if I should pay more attention to my 9 to 5 job?

I don't have the answer, not yet, and it's the first blog of mine to end without advice of some kind, or at least a positive closer.

Maybe because I am not sure if I am the right person to give advice at this early stage.

All I will offer as I promise to work harder than ever on my stories is much more frequent blogs, far more positivity than I have even shown in my earlier posts and a genuine desire to get so selfish that even if it's only me that enjoys my writing, that's more than enough for me to carry on.

And with that...

(heads back to the important word doc with a beer in hand)

The Idea Factory

2009-10-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

It’s the age old question anyone creative gets asks, where do you get your ideas from?

Stephen King is famous for saying that ideas don’t pop into his head late at night while drinking blood and sitting at a cobwebbed typewriter. Most often, a concept will spring, sometimes fully formed, into his subconscious either driving down a sunny highway or mid conversation at a dinner party.

I’m not so intuitive. My ideas always have a very basic birth; I know what I DON’T want.

When embarking upon a new writing venture, I tend to think ‘Where haven’t I been? What’s interesting to me? What will shock, titillate, amuse?’ Ultimately, it’s material gone before that I find either despising or believing an award winning concept has not been fully realised that prompts me to begin work.

A case of ‘Bah, I can do better than that?’ Perhaps...

As mentioned previously, countless times (maybe I should have it tattooed onto my forehead), ‘Swan Song’ was designed as the ‘antidote’ to ‘Twilight.’ So for me, it’s most definitely a case of knowing what pitfalls to avoid that helps me structure and create something new and, hopefully, unique (I guess looking at it's success, you could hardly call 'Twilight' a pitfall. It certainly was for self respecting vampires!)

The first thing Frances Ford Coppola did before making ‘The Godfather’ (after breaking the novel down scene by scene) was write down the pitfalls, the places where he could screw up. Francis’ father had a good slogan, steal from the best, and what’s good for Coppola’s good enough for me! I have followed the adage of knowing what not to do beforehand as a good mantra for creation since the very beginning.

If I see a film that promises (or should that be threatens? Depends on your taste I guess) violence but doesn’t deliver, I know my next work won’t tease without following through. If I read a book that has all the potential to re-design the wheel but falls somewhat short, I’ll attempt to be far more courageous than I have been previously. If I hear of ONE MORE BLOODY HOLLYWOOD REMAKE....

Ahem, I’ll stop there I think on that one.

I talk to people, find out likes and dislikes, what they want and what they are sick of. It all helps to coming up with something that will hopefully allow people to ‘get their groove on.’

Most importantly, and here I defer to the great Clive Barker, write for yourself first and foremost. If I’m not into what I’m creating, how can I expect anyone else to be? Readers are VERY smart and can spot a fake miles away.

So turn yourself on first...

...just make sure you get some writing done afterwards!

What comes next for the Mc Crory vampires?

2009-10-08T15:23:00.000-07:00

The second novel, or novella if you may.

Technically, my follow up to 'Swan Song' will be my third novella but my second in the 'vein' of the vampires.

I've wrote numerous short stories over the years involving our kindred friends, from patients bleeding from their eyes and gaining sustenance from it to targets laughing as hitman pump round after round into them, yet this is kind of serious, at least for me. I want the follow up to 'Swan Song' to be able to stand proudly side by side with it. In what direction to write is another monster altogether.

The vampire is so popular right now it's kinda scary and there's quite simply one person responsible for the sudden trend, Stephanie Meyer.

Whether you like 'Twilight' or not (I think it's fine as long as you don't view it as a 'vampire' story, it's a high school supernatural teen crush fable, nothing more, NOT a real vampire story, not as far as I am concerned), it's impact on the media has been staggering and as a vampire devotee from the age of fifteen (I'm now thirty), I'm torn as to how comfortable I am with the resurgence in interest in vampires. Ultimately, depending on how you look at it, my debut novella has either surfaced at precisely either the best or the very worst time.

There is serious interest in bloodsuckers, a good thing, kids of all ages are curious in them, possibly a very good thing, every single tv show now seems to feature them, a very bad thing, the vampire is so familiar now he/she has lost all threat, the very worst thing. (Ms Meyer, I am looking at you).

I am proud of my love of the vampire, almost foolishly so, yet now, I'm almost (almost) embarrassed to admit my debut novella revolves around them, so sure I am to receive the response 'Oh, you as well eh? I loved 'Twilight!' How about you?'

Allow me to simplify; 'Swan Song' was wrote deliberately as an antidote to 'Twilight.' It was to be everything I wished 'Twilight' to be and more. Well, now that I have nailed my demons to the page, where now? What happens next for the nosferatu dwelling within the walls of my brain? What will my second vampire novella be like?

Theme? Darker than 'Swan Song' (is that possible?) Story? Self contained in a two part character study like it's predecessor? Violence? More or less? Humour? To be included at all? Shock factor? To up play or down play? And on and on.....

I have a few ideas gestating, one that really amuses me, one I know that will sicken the reader (if I want to go there at all), one that will take all of my presumed talent to retain control of.

What I will say, as I drunkenly type this rant tonight, my second novella will be, if nothing else, passionate. Without passion, you have nothing. At least nothing worth caring about.

I care.

My vampires will care.

Whether they want to or not.

The Beginning

2009-10-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

Blogs.

Extremely pretentious.

I've always thought of them as a waste of time, especially for writers. If you have the time to blog, you should have the time to be actually writing something of substance. Sometimes needs must. This is what I have always been bad at, self promotion.

So why a Jevron Mc Crory Blog?

My first novella just got published.

Not my first story you understand. Just something hopefully worth publishing, maybe the first worthy addition to my 'official' canon. So I felt a blog was mandatory.

The novella is called 'Swan Song' and I'm rather proud of it.

It depenses with a lot of bull shit in that it's simple, brutal and hopefully effective. More than that, I feel it's desperately needed in an age where the vampire has been reduced to a high school crush that's only slightly more dangerous than the average misunderstood jock.

I like 'Swan Song' because it's unflinching, and it's MY idea of a REAL vampire story.

Over the course of this blog, I will try my best to give something unique of other blogs, not my thoughts on who's winning 'Strictly Come Dancing' or my latest movie review (you can check Amazon for that), but more the planning and my thoughts on how my stories come into being. Hopefully, there may be amusement in comparison of my original notes to the final product. This blog may actually essentially turn out to be a drawing pad for my intentions for future work.

I'd like that.

Take onboard 'Swan Song', I'd like that also.

I know Katrina would.