Lorna Reid's Blog

After finally enlisting the services of a talented artist, my latest book should be ready for an Easter release. It’s been a long time coming! The Diary of an Evil Overlord is a humourous fantasy novel, told from the point of view of new Overlord, Nate Evergrim, who, after bumping off his parents, realises that the job is not quite as sexy or enjoyable as he had first imagined.

His castle is falling down, the gold has been frittered away by his parents, and the minions and staff are stubborn, us...

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!

Rise of the Reaper was a big book. When I decided to put it into the YA fantasy category it suddenly seemed even bigger. If you look up the average word count for YA it’s sure as hell not 117,000-odd words. It can often be half that. But who cares, right? When it comes to fantasy it is often expected that the word count will be up on the rest. And look at J. K. Rowling… although it could be argued that she’s an outlier, it does seem like she moved the bar, so that now people are more comforta...

Oops! I found this tucked away and had completely forgotten to edit and post it! Bear in mind that the book is now finished, edited and off to the copy-editor. Since it had some info on Darkwalkers, however, I’m putting it up anyway!

Well, I probably should have started this sooner, given that I’m something like 42,000 words into Darkwalkers, but there we are. Much to talk about, anyway, and I should probably start with the basics. Darkwalkers is a sequel to Rise of the Reaper and, like Rise...

There is an old general rule in writing that it isn’t such a good idea to put yourself in your books (or anyone else you know, for that matter), which is fair enough. On the face of it, it seems unnecessary, even self-indulgent, and runs the risk of kicking the fourth wall in the face if it is, in any way, obvious. Some genres perhaps lean more towards this being a natural thing – romance, perhaps (but I suspect it is more an idealised version of the writer there).

It is something I have vowe...

You have to let your book go at some point

There is always a risk, as a creative person, that you’ll fall victim to one of the worst hindrances outside procrastination, and that’s tinkering. Like a fussy aunt trying to endlessly straighten a picture on the wall, there is an almost-overwhelming temptation to tweak, twiddle, and tease the words that we have spent so long putting on the page. But how much is too much? When do we stop?

Editing any book is a necessity, as is proofing, but to keep...

I need to put the blue mood and anxiety behind me and press on with Darkwalkers. I need to not be sad or down, or meh. Darkwalkers is a good book and will be a great book once I have re-written it. It’s going to kick arse, so I shouldn’t dread it. And I need to not feel anxious or down about Rise of the Reaper. I’m happy with it.

Also, this article from Chuck Wendig says it all.

I need to put the blue mood and anxiety behind me and press on with Darkwalkers. I need to not be sad or down, or meh. Darkwalkers is a good book and will be a great book once I have re-written it. It’s going to kick arse, so I shouldn’t dread it. And I need to not feel anxious or down about Rise of the Reaper. I’m happy with it.

Also, this article from Chuck Wendig says it all.

I wasn’t sure about publishing this. I tend to self-censor massively when I post things about being down or less than positive. Just like how I go back through old diaries and either pull pages out, or throw everything away. It’s terrible. A really bad habit. That side is a very big part of me and I shouldn’t keep pretending that it isn’t there, and that those feelings, however awkward they may be afterwards, don’t exist or matter. They came from somewhere so should be respected and acknowled...

I wasn’t sure about publishing this. I tend to self-censor massively when I post things about being down or less than positive. Just like how I go back through old diaries and either pull pages out, or throw everything away. It’s terrible. A really bad habit. That side is a very big part of me and I shouldn’t keep pretending that it isn’t there, and that those feelings, however awkward they may be afterwards, don’t exist or matter. They came from somewhere so should be respected and acknowled...