Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Author Interview: Luke Walker



Today on Black Haven Reviews I interview Luke Walker, author of the upcoming novel Hometown. 

Natasha: Tell me about yourself. How long have you been writing? When you are not writing, how do you like to spend your spare time? 

Luke: I live in England with my wife and have been writing for more or less my entire life. Even as a kid, I liked to make up stories that were fantastical or creepy. The older I got, the creepier the stories became. Writing seriously as in wanting to have stuff published…that’s been about twenty years. I’m 38 now and haven’t stopped writing in that time. And as for spare time, there isn’t a lot of it with a 9-5 job and all the books to write. When I am free, I watch bad films and read good books.

Natasha: Tell us a little about your upcoming book titled Hometown. What was your favorite scene to write? What was your least favorite scene? 



Luke: It’s a horror story about a group of friends who become trapped in another version of their hometown after the suicide of a mutual friend. The reasons why she killed herself create a nightmare made physical and trap her friends inside it. Their only way out is to discover why she took her life. At the same time, there is a threat in the normal world that’s coming after the wife of the main character. Favourite scene was probably the build up to the climax. Of course, I can’t say what happens other than I had a precise image and order of events and everything came together as I planned which can be quite rare with writing. Least favourite – I had to go into some dark places and research ugly issues. None of that was much fun but it was needed for me to tell the story honestly. I didn’t want to belittle any of the reasons someone might take their own life or cheapen the backstory and motivations for that character. It was a relief to come out from that.

Natasha: Do you have any other exciting projects coming out? 



Luke: I’ve got a couple of short stories I’m proud of that will be published soon. HUNGRY and ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD will be available in the next few months. HUNGRY is a short, sharp shock while ALL THE TIME… is a Twilight Zone sort of thing. I’m happy with both so I hope others like them, too. Other than that, I’m probably going back to an older book that was published a couple of years by a now defunct publisher and see about doing it myself. It’s more of a fantasy than horror which is a little different for me.

Natasha: Do you have any advice for other authors trying to get published?

Luke: 1. Finish what you start even if it feels like you’re writing crap. Finish it, polish it to the best of your abilities and get feedback on it from people who will be honest with you. There’s no point letting your mum read it if all she’s going to do is tell you how good you are.

2. Listen to the feedback and act on it if it’s best for your story.

3. You don’t count; your story counts.

4. Be patient. Just about nobody is an overnight success and writing something decent takes a lot of time.

5. Research your markets and be professional when dealing with people. Every submission is like a job interview so present yourself and your work well. Then, if doesn’t work out, move on to the next publisher or agent.

6. Ultimately, the world doesn’t owe you or your book anything so you have to give it and yourself the best chance of success.




Natasha: What is the best way for readers to reach you? (twitter, facebook, etc)


Luke: I’m on Twitter @lukewalkerbooks and my site iswww.lukewalkerwriter.com. Happy to hear from anyone at either place so feel free to say hello. I won’t bite. Or eat your brains.

Luke Walker has been writing horror and fantasy fiction for most of his life. His novel HOMETOWN will be published by Caffeine Nights 21st July 2016 while his novella Mirror Of The Nameless is published by DarkFuse. His collection of horror fiction, Die Laughing, is also available. Several of his short stories have been published online and in print. Luke welcomes comments at his blog www.lukewalkwriter and his Twitter page is @lukewalkerbooks. He is thirty-eight and lives in England with his wife and two cats.

1 comment:

Luke Walker said...

Thanks for having me on your site.