Happy Halloween! To celebrate the scariest night of the year, Joseph has shared his top ten tips for writing horror for our brand new Totally Random website, featuring all our latest YA & teen fiction.

Here’s a taster:

(1)    A writer is nothing without ideas. Keep a notebook and write into it every story idea that comes into your head.

(2)    Read widely. You learn to write by reading!

(3)    Practise writing! Get into the writing habit. Too many people say they will write when they finally get the time to do so. They imagine they can do it on an extended holiday or when they retire. You need to make time to write on a regular basis.

Visit Totally Random to read the rest -  and then get to work on your own spooky story! Look out for Joseph’s next blog post about SPOOK’S: SLITHER’S TALE, coming later on today.

GLAMOUR

Some people think that being a writer is glamorous. I know that I once did. I dreamed of finally getting published and all the amazing fun that would follow. I imagined travelling to distant countries, staying in city hotels and seeing the sights.

Most of that came true and I do enjoy it but sometimes it can be hard work: having to grab a coffee and manage without breakfast to be in time to travel to some school event; attending a bookshop when hardly anybody turns up; spending a night alone in a strange town on a wet Monday; visiting a big city but seeing only the inside of your hotel room. So when you actually do live the life of a writer it’s not as glamorous as some people might believe.

The same is true of film-making. On April 30th I visited Vancouver, Canada, to watch the film of ‘The Spook’s Apprentice’/ ’The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch’ being made. The film is called ‘The Seventh Son’ and it is a good choice. After all you have to be a seventh son of a seventh son just to be eligible to become a spook’s apprentice.

They have created some amazing sets designed by Dante Ferretti. I was shown the preliminary models and artworks then, finally, the sets themselves. They are big and very convincing. I saw a walled city set in a huge muddy field. It was like a building site complete with heavy machinery and workers in hard hats. There was no glamour there.

That comes afterwards.

I met Jeff Bridges who plays the Spook. He looked convincing. He believed that he was the Spook – I could see it in his eyes. Yes, he was the Spook! Then I watched him playing the same scene over and over again until he and everyone else, (especially the director Sergey Bodrov), was satisfied. There were a lot of people involved and each one of them knew exactly what to do. It was an action scene and the ‘Spook’ kept falling backwards against a pillar in danger of his life. He was covered in dust and he probably had bruises or at least aching bones the following day. It wasn’t glamorous. It was hard work.

The glamour comes later.

They started filming in March and will continue until the end of June. Then post-production will begin. They’ll spend hours, days, weeks and months, editing the film until each section is perfect. Then like a Pendle witch casting the spell called ‘glamour’ the film will come to life and the magic will be there.

It will differ from the first book somewhat. All films are adaptations and make changes. But I am convinced that it will be a great film.

I’m looking forward to it.

Best wishes,

Joseph Delaney.

Each series must eventually come to an end. All along my intention has been to finish off the story of Tom Ward, the Spook, Alice and Grimalkin properly, leaving no loose ends. So I have now decided to end the Wardstone Chronicles with Book Ten.

Additionally, I Am Grimalkin and the I Am Alice book will not be spin-offs. Each will be part of the main ongoing narrative.

In June 2011 The Spook’s Destiny will be published.

In October 2011 I Am Grimalkin will see the witch-assassin play a major part in moving the story towards its conclusion.

In June 2012 Spook’s Nine will be published (at the moment I am close to completing its first draft). There is still no title!

In I Am Alice, which will come next, you will see Alice do what is necessary, and at whatever cost, to give the Spook and Tom a chance of finally destroying the Fiend.

And finally, in 2013, Spook’s Ten will mark the end of the series.

It is true that I have not yet decided how it will conclude, who will live and who will die. I am still discovering the ending.

Best wishes,

Joseph Delaney

I have just completed my final events of the year. On Monday December 6th I visited Wirral Boys Grammar, Bebington. The roads were icy, the traffic very slow-moving and I am just glad that I wasn’t doing the driving!

Tony from Pritchard’s Formby was driving and, despite his best efforts, we arrived late for the first talk. It went well, however and in the afternoon we were off to St John Plessington Catholic College for another great visit, where lots of books were sold and even more signed. Even when with a bookseller I am happy to sign books that you have bought previously - even the whole series!

On December 9th I travelled east to Accrington to talk to pupils at the Hollins Technology College. The Librarian, Gill Ainsworth, had organized the school visit and there had been a great deal of preparatory work. There were many brilliant drawings relating to the Spook’s world and a few of them are here for you to see.

In the evening I was driven to Haslingdon Library, where Heather Pitman had gathered a largely adult audience who were knowledgeable about the series and asked many great questions.

My final December visit was to go back to the Blackpool Sixth Form College where I used to teach English, Media and Film Studies. It was great to talk to the students (quite a few of whom hoped to become writers themselves) and meet up with a few members of staff that I used to work with. My talk was addressed to a reading group who had just read The Spook’s Apprentice and the event was organized by the College Librarian, Helen Crowther, who presented me with very well-informed students. I hope to return there in June when The Spook’s Destiny is launched. Speaking of which, I have just seen the first stage in the development of the cover. It promises to be the very best since they were re-launched with different jackets.

Best wishes,

Joseph Delaney

“My name is John Gregory. What follows is my Bestiary – my personal account of the denizens of the dark I’ve encountered, together with the lessons I have learned and the mistakes I have made. I have held nothing back, and my hope is that the spook who follows me will continue to keep this record of the practical ways in which we deal with the dark.”

Order your copy of Spook’s Bestiary

This weekend my writing will halt for almost a month because I begin the tour to promote The Spook’s Bestiary.
I will send the second draft of The Spook’s Destiny to my editor on Monday morning before I catch the train to Barrow ready for events on the Tuesday. I am about two thirds of the way through the Grimalkin book. At the moment I am considering several titles:

Grimalkin
Grimalkin’s Revenge
I am Grimalkin

Below is an image of Grimalkin from The Spook’s Bestiary:

Here is the list of public events for the first section of the tour:

September
Wednesday 29th: Longridge Library, Berry Lane at 10 am
Thursday 30th: Chorley Library, Union St (Time tbc)
Thursday 30th: Crawshawbooth Library, Adelaide St at 7pm (tickets from library)

October
Friday 1st: Heysham Library, Heysham Rd at 10.30 am
Friday 1st: Fleetwood Library, North Albert St at 1.30 pm
Saturday 9th: Pritchard’s Bookshop, Formby at 10 am
Saturday 9th: Pritchard’s Bookshop, Crosby at 11.30 am

I hope to see some of you there and I will be happy to sign and chat.

Best wishes,

Joseph Delaney

Finally, the one you’ve all been waiting for… The Spook’s Nightmare Limited Collector’s Edition is now available to pre-order on Amazon.

Here’s a sneak peek of the full cover:

Thanks to all the loyal fans who’ve been waiting for this!

The ‘Spook’s Nightmare Tour’ has come to an end and I am finally back to my writing. I have met my editor, Sarah, and agreed changes. So I’m now working on Draft Two of Book Eight which is now provisionally titled ‘The Spook’s Destiny’.

For now the ‘Alice Book’ has been postponed and I will not write it until next year. The reason is a good one. Because of plot developments in Book Eight (a big crisis for the main characters at the end) it works better by having the ‘Grimalkin Book’ published immediately after it in October 2011. So now I am writing about Grimalkin. So far it is going really well but, as usual, I am discovering the plot as I write.

On September 30th this year, ‘The Spook’s Bestiary’ will be published. Here is the cover image below.

Yulek Heller is the artist and his work is really impressive; he has truly brought the Bestiary to life. Below is an image he has created for the book.

Above is a skelt, the creature that lives in crevices near water. It has a long translucent bone-tube rather than teeth and sucks blood from its victims neck. Most of you will probably remember the part played by one in ‘The Spook’s Mistake’.

The launch of ‘The Bestiary’ is to be done in conjunction with the ‘Silverdell Bookshop’ in Kirkham. I’ll let you know the date and time as soon as it has been fixed.

Best wishes,

Joseph Delaney

The Spook’s Nightmare will be available in shops from May 27th.

“The Spook, Alice and I were crossing the Long Ridge on our way back to Chipenden, the three wolfhounds, Claw, Blood and Bone, barking excitedly at our heels………”

Little do they know what awaits them in the future. This is the stuff of nightmares. Will the Spook live to see the morning? Is his apprentice ready to face the dark alone?

“The moon went behind a cloud, plunging us into darkness, and all I could see was a pair of glowing red eyes. Then it bellowed loudly - a fearful cry that made the ground - and the very trees - shake. So terrifying was that cry that I was rooted to the spot, unable to move.”

The details of the ‘Spook’s Nightmare Tour’ are now being finalised. Here are some of the public events where I will be signing.

Wednesday 26th May
Pritchards Bookshop, Formby
For signing 4.30-5.30

Thursday 27th May
Pritchard’s Bookshop, Crosby shop
For signing 4.30 to 5.30

Saturday 29th May
Waterstones, Preston
12.30 to 1.30

Tuesday 1st June: LIBRARY DAY
Maghull Library 11-12
Crosby Library 1.30-2.30
Birkdale Library 4-5

Saturday 5th June
Bury Waterstone’s for signing.
13.00 – 15.00
Address: 4 Union Arcade, Bury BL9 0OF

Sunday 6th June
Waterstone’s Trafford Centre:
1.00pm
Address: 42 Regent Crescent, Trafford Centre, Barton Dock Road, Manchester M17 8AP

Friday 11th June
Derbyshire Literature Festival
6.30 – 8.30 Long Eaton Library, Tamworth road, Long Eaton, Derbyshire NG10 1JG - Public event

Sunday 13th June
1.00pm Public event – talk and signing at Harris Library
Address: Harris Library, Market Square, Preston Lancs PR1 2PP

Monday 14th June
Lancaster Cornmarket Waterstones
3.30pm – public signing

Saturday 19th June
Wigan Waterstone’s
10.00 – talk and signing
Address: 6 Grand Arcade, Wigan WN1 1 BH

Waterstone’s Bolton
3.30pm – public signing
Address: 32-36 Deansgate Bolton BL1 1BL

Please visit the sites to see additions to the above.

Best wishes,

Joseph Delaney

I did a signing and gave a talk at Garstang Library on Thursday, April 22nd, where I did my first ever reading from the next Spook’s adventure. I had to use the manuscript because I don’t have a copy of the book yet. The event was arranged by Mary Wynburg from the Corner Bookshop.

I enjoy this type of occasion because you get a good audience mixture which usually includes new readers, existing fans of the books, children and adults. This was no exception and the visit went well. I will be doing events with Mary during ‘The Spook’s Nightmare Tour’ in June. I will also be visiting her shop late in May to sign the latest book for customers.

The following day I was at the Darwen Aldridge Community College as guest of the librarian, Janet Arnott. I was interviewed by two well-informed students who had devised some excellent questions; that interview and the subsequent talk were both filmed for other students to watch.

My writing is still going well. Within two weeks I hope to get Draft One of Spook’s Eight (it still hasn’t got a title yet!) to my editor and I can then devote the whole of my attention to the Alice Book (provisionally titled ‘The Alice Deane Diaries’).

The emails to Grimalkin, via the Spooksworld website are becoming more frequent. I must apologize if she has made threats against anyone. I would like to reassure you and say she doesn’t mean it but that wouldn’t be true. She is often in a witchy mood, pondering her next kill, and takes offence very easily. I have had to intervene on at least two occasions when she was searching for the location of those readers in a mirror and getting ready to sharpen her knives. So please don’t threaten her. I have little control over her now and it’s getting worse.

Once again in response to many enquiries I have to admit that I have no further news of the film. I know that some of you have expressed an interest in playing the parts of either Alice or Tom. If open auditions are held I will immediately advertise that on both websites.

Best wishes,

Joseph Delaney