About the author

Conrad Williams is the author of the novels Head Injuries, London Revenant, The Unblemished, One, Decay Inevitable and Blonde on a Stick; the novellas Nearly People, Game, The Scalding Rooms and Rain and a collection of short fiction, Use Once then Destroy. He lives in Manchester, UK.

All content on this site is © Conrad Williams.

Tuesday 11 January 2011

Between books

I rewrote Loss of Separation, altering certain things that just didn't chime well with me at all once I'd turned in a first draft. One character became more important, another won herself a new chapter. Other stuff, minor stuff. I handed in that revised draft on January 5th. I'm expecting proofs back from Solaris today. A quick read through and the book will go into production. Copies hit the shops in March. There's quick for you. Now comes a recharging period. I have a couple of short stories to complete this month and then I'm going to have a break. But at some point soon I want to start work on a new novel.

I have ideas for lots of projects, but nailing which one is right to do next is the trick. I have a sequel to Blonde on a Stick that I'd like to get started on, and a new horror novel connected to previous stories The Owl and Rain. I also have a book in me about growing up in Warrington in the 1970s under the shadow of a serial killer. I'd like to write a short, weird YA novel. I'd like to write a biiiig, weird YA novel. There are other ideas, sketchy, unformed, but compelling, to me at least. I have titles for them all. Some of them will be pseudonymous (no... I'm not telling you). They'll have their day.

It's my intention to try to update this blog a little more regularly than usual. So please do drop if you have a moment. Thanks for your continuing support. And best wishes for 2011.

4 comments:

Simon said...

Best wishes for '11 yourself, Conrad. Really,really looking forward to these projects. 'Loss Of Separation' sounds great; loved 'Blonde On A Stick' so a sequel would be most excellent (dude) and both 'The Owl' and 'Rain' are favourites of mine, so a novel related to them... best stop, I'm getting excited. Congrats again.

The word verification for this, in case you're interested in such things, is 'bolships'. Which isn't a swear-word, but somehow sounds as if it ought to be.

Conrad said...

Thanks for kind words, Simon. Your challenge, should you wish to accept it, is to get 'bolships' into a story...

Tekawitha said...

I think that it's marvellous news that you may be thinking of writing a YA novel. As someone who works with teenagers, I know how much of an important area of literacy this is: the ability to engage young minds ( particularly young men, whom we seem to be losing as readers in increasingly alarming numbers).

Good luck and all the best for your new release and please, please, please, honour us with a YA release sometime in the near future.

Mark West said...

Best wishes for 2011 to you too, Conrad. Looking forward to "Loss Of Separation" and, as I think I may have mentioned, I really enjoyed "Blonde On A Stick" so a sequel to that would be excellent. As, indeed, would an elaboration on the world and characters from "Rain".

Good luck with all your projects.