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The Lurker
All your kidnapper wants is fifty-thousand words by the end of the month. It should be easy; you've been planning this book in your mind for years and have always wanted to sit down and write it...but just haven't. Unfortunately, your captor, the Lurker, has several ideas about how to "motivate" taking a red pen to your first draft in front of you, bribing you with a cat, and the most horrid torture imaginable...reading your old fanfic out loud while you beg him to stop.
"The Lurker" is a meta-humor novella about the struggles of writing a first draft. One would not call it a thinly-veiled metaphor because there is no veil. Though often comedy "The Lurker" is a meditation on the nature of the artistic process and the hostile voice urging us to create.
"The Lurker" is a meta-humor novella about the struggles of writing a first draft. One would not call it a thinly-veiled metaphor because there is no veil. Though often comedy "The Lurker" is a meditation on the nature of the artistic process and the hostile voice urging us to create.
- GenresHorror
63 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 21, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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September 6, 2026
“In three years, you have made no less than a hundred and two posts about the high fantasy novel you’ve planned and yet—” He swallows with malice. “According to your last post, you’ve not written a single word.”
Not me being called out on every other page of this novella.
Honestly, this was so relatable. I think every writer really struggles with the ‘getting started’ part of writing. I’m not a world-builder in advance - I develop my world-building as I write and then go back - but I thoroughly empathise with the struggle to just get one word down after the other. Filling in all the details that are tedious the first time. It’s the toughest part of being I writer, I think. Editing is easy. Editing is a lot of fun. But that first draft, getting it all complete, is so hard sometimes. In The Lurker, the main character is simply known as ‘the Writer’ and they love to talk about writing, think about writing, dream about writing, but struggle with the actual writing-it-all-down bit. Absolute mood, to be quite honest.
“Funny thing is you, have to write something to get readers.”
This is a sharp, witty, funny approach to confronting Writer’s Block. I read through it very quickly and I’m impressed by how observational and insightful it is for such a small story. To any writer dealing with the horror of the blank page, this is a wholly relatable little novella. I definitely recommend it! And I’m for sure going to give the author’s other books a try. This was such a fun surprise!
Thank you to the author for the review copy.
☆ Bluesky | Twitter | Threads | Tumblr ☆
☆ Book Reviews | Indie Book Spotlight Discord ☆
Not me being called out on every other page of this novella.
Honestly, this was so relatable. I think every writer really struggles with the ‘getting started’ part of writing. I’m not a world-builder in advance - I develop my world-building as I write and then go back - but I thoroughly empathise with the struggle to just get one word down after the other. Filling in all the details that are tedious the first time. It’s the toughest part of being I writer, I think. Editing is easy. Editing is a lot of fun. But that first draft, getting it all complete, is so hard sometimes. In The Lurker, the main character is simply known as ‘the Writer’ and they love to talk about writing, think about writing, dream about writing, but struggle with the actual writing-it-all-down bit. Absolute mood, to be quite honest.
“Funny thing is you, have to write something to get readers.”
This is a sharp, witty, funny approach to confronting Writer’s Block. I read through it very quickly and I’m impressed by how observational and insightful it is for such a small story. To any writer dealing with the horror of the blank page, this is a wholly relatable little novella. I definitely recommend it! And I’m for sure going to give the author’s other books a try. This was such a fun surprise!
Thank you to the author for the review copy.
☆ Bluesky | Twitter | Threads | Tumblr ☆
☆ Book Reviews | Indie Book Spotlight Discord ☆
November 24, 2025
I got an ARC from the author, but also bought the book after I read it!
My honest review:
I really enjoyed it! I've done the novel-in-a-month challenge six times between 2002 and 2024. I've failed twice and won four times. Each time I've gotten to know myself a little better and have figured out more ways to loosen myself from the constraints of shame, guilt, procrastination, and the fear of mediocrity. This book crystallized a lot of those feelings in a funny and highly relatable way. I mean, who hasn't fantasized about being forced to do something you really want to do but can't quite make yourself do without external coercion? I read somewhere that a famous author -- I want to say it was Jonathan Swift, but couldn't swear to it -- used to pay his servant to chain him to his desk and not let him out until he'd completed a chapter. I also recently listened to a podcast episode about Japan's famous Manuscript Writing Cafe, which works on a similar principle. All of these techniques arise from humanity's neverending battle with akrasia, and I loved the way the author externalized the push and pull of those feelings throughout a month of writing a very rough first draft of a book that might otherwise never be written. Sometimes you just need a friendly but menacing Lurker to help you get the job done, y'know?
Heartily recommended for anyone who's attempted a novel-in-a-month challenge, whether they succeeded or not! Definitely some very specific wish fulfillment here, but it hit the spot for me.
My honest review:
I really enjoyed it! I've done the novel-in-a-month challenge six times between 2002 and 2024. I've failed twice and won four times. Each time I've gotten to know myself a little better and have figured out more ways to loosen myself from the constraints of shame, guilt, procrastination, and the fear of mediocrity. This book crystallized a lot of those feelings in a funny and highly relatable way. I mean, who hasn't fantasized about being forced to do something you really want to do but can't quite make yourself do without external coercion? I read somewhere that a famous author -- I want to say it was Jonathan Swift, but couldn't swear to it -- used to pay his servant to chain him to his desk and not let him out until he'd completed a chapter. I also recently listened to a podcast episode about Japan's famous Manuscript Writing Cafe, which works on a similar principle. All of these techniques arise from humanity's neverending battle with akrasia, and I loved the way the author externalized the push and pull of those feelings throughout a month of writing a very rough first draft of a book that might otherwise never be written. Sometimes you just need a friendly but menacing Lurker to help you get the job done, y'know?
Heartily recommended for anyone who's attempted a novel-in-a-month challenge, whether they succeeded or not! Definitely some very specific wish fulfillment here, but it hit the spot for me.
November 23, 2025
Great book and a fast read that centres around a "writer" who has put off writing their novel and is incarcerated by the Lurker. It strategically (and successfully) uses second person POV to pull the reader into the story and connect with anyone who might be procrastinating with their own writing. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
January 5, 2026
Already gave a review on Amazon but I'll add one here; this is absolutely a book for writers who have actually written things, allowed their drafts to be bad, come out of the other end of the comical hesitation and self-flagellation we all put ourselves through as starting writers.
But I think the Brain Griffins of the world, the ones who endlessly go on about the book they never seem to write more than a sentence of, they will find this a hard read. In a way that's good, as they're the ones who need to read it the most. It'll be an uncomfortable mirror but a good one.
As for non-writers... eh, maybe they'll like it, maybe they won't, but I don't consider them the target audience tbh.
But I think the Brain Griffins of the world, the ones who endlessly go on about the book they never seem to write more than a sentence of, they will find this a hard read. In a way that's good, as they're the ones who need to read it the most. It'll be an uncomfortable mirror but a good one.
As for non-writers... eh, maybe they'll like it, maybe they won't, but I don't consider them the target audience tbh.
November 12, 2025
Thank you, Rosemary Victus, for the ARC of this book!
In The Lurker, every bad writer's excuse you've made for yourself comes back to mock you.
I TORE through this book! It's a delicious blend of witty and creepy. I can't pick out ALL my favorite lines because that'd be like half the book, but maybe these quotes will give you an idea of what I'm talking about:
Maybe that's a spoiler. I'll spoiler that bit.
This book is a blast, and if you're a writer who's been making excuses for yourself, it'll call you out! Which reminds me, I'd better go write...
In The Lurker, every bad writer's excuse you've made for yourself comes back to mock you.
I TORE through this book! It's a delicious blend of witty and creepy. I can't pick out ALL my favorite lines because that'd be like half the book, but maybe these quotes will give you an idea of what I'm talking about:
You see the Lurker clearly for the first time, yet his face defis description. If you were a real writer, maybe you’d be able to find the words.
At mealtimes, the Lurker punishes you with energy bars and kale salads. So, you are to die on a diet of raw kale; better than sacrificing your artistic integrity.
Maybe that's a spoiler. I'll spoiler that bit.
This book is a blast, and if you're a writer who's been making excuses for yourself, it'll call you out! Which reminds me, I'd better go write...
November 22, 2025
A must-have companion for novelists!
Trying to finish your first novel? Aiming for 50,000 words in a month? This book goes through the journey of a writer kidnapped and forced to write their first novel, or never see the light of day again. This fast-paced story is filled with advice every beginning novelist needs to hear to finish that first draft.
Trying to finish your first novel? Aiming for 50,000 words in a month? This book goes through the journey of a writer kidnapped and forced to write their first novel, or never see the light of day again. This fast-paced story is filled with advice every beginning novelist needs to hear to finish that first draft.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews