Lisamarie Lamb comes visiting

'she said, he said...' welcomes Lisamarie Lamb today. I'm delighted to find out more about my fellow Crooked{Cat} author, and about her writing.  

Lisamarie tells me she has:  

...short stories included within many anthologies, including all three of Angelic Knight Press's Satan's Toybox series, the unique100 Horrors from Cruentus Libri Press, Skeletal Remains from Rymfire, and The Memory Eater from Matthew Hance LLP. I have more stories awaiting publication in other anthologies. 

Recently published is a story in Crooked Cat's Fear: A Modern Anthology of Horror and Terror- Volume Two. (All royalties to international charities)

As well as writing for other people's publications, I have self-published a horror novel (Mother's Helper), and a collection of short stories (Some Body's At The Door). I have another 60 stories (mostly flash fiction) which I will be publishing in one collection by the end of the year. 

Lisamarie showcases her flash fiction on her blog  www.themoonlitdoor.blogspot.com

I have recently completed the editing on an anthology of stories set in and around the Isle of Sheppey in Kent (A Roof Over Their Heads).

1.      Do you write in only one genre, or for one particular age group?

My first love is horror; it’s what I enjoy reading, and has been ever since I first discovered Stephen King’s The Shining when I was thirteen. So when it came to wanting to write, horror was where I started. I have strayed from the path a few times – I’ve tried my hand at romance, at children’s writing, at historical fiction, but I always come back to horror, in one of its many guises.

2.      Can you tell me about you latest release, please?

My latest release is Some Body’s At The Door. It’s a collection of fourteen short horror stories. Each of the stories deals with the main character’s greatest fear – although how they deal with their fears changes from story to story. Some embrace it, some try to run, and some fight it, but I have to say there are no happy endings in the book.

3.      Were there any triggers which led to the plotline for Some Body’s At The Door?

Each story has its own distinct genesis. For example, in ‘Escape Route’ I saw a picture of a bright red tree against a dark grey sky. The image stayed with me, and it looked so alien that I decided to create a story from the one idea. In ‘Pull The Plug’ the main character is afraid of the monster that lives in the drains underneath his bath – his grandmother told him they were there. Well, my grandmother told me a similar story when I was little, although I thought it was a fun fairytale, whereas poor Paul Colenrook takes it seriously. ‘Diverted’ is about someone who simply can’t get where she needs to be. I went to visit my mother, and ended up driving around in circles trying to get to her house as both ends of her road were closed! It took an hour to drive what would normally take two minutes from the bottom of her road to the top, and to keep my sanity I created the story as I tried to work out the confusing diversion!

4.      Character names - do they just pop into your head as soon as you start a book?

I have terrible trouble deciding on names. I used to spend a lot of time trying to come up with the perfect combination of first and last names, or a name that would actually mean something, and add a hidden depth to the story. I don’t do that anymore. Instead I used a baby names book. I open it randomly and pick the first name that I see, assuming I haven’t used it before. As for surnames, I use the old phone book, again opening it at a random page. Much quicker and easier, and the names tend to suit the characters anyway.

5.      What's your biggest writing related challenge in the coming year?

Getting it all done! I have so many ideas (there are currently seven unwritten novels on my laptop, and numerous story ideas) that sometimes I feel rather overwhelmed by it all. I sometimes find that I feel guilty for not working on a novel, and writing a short story or piece of flash fiction, or even a blog post, instead. My new goal is to write 700 words on the current novel each day. Once that’s done, if I have time left over, I can move onto something else. If I don’t restrict myself, and flit from piece to piece, I’ll never get anything finished!

6.      What’s the hardest part of a novel for you to write?

Definitely the middle. It’s because I’m impatient. The beginning of a book usually comes to me before I write the entire plot – I mean I write the first few chapters without knowing where I’m going. Once that’s done, I tend to plan the rest of the book. Often, the middle changes as I go along and new ideas occur to me, but the ending, once I’ve come up with it, very rarely changes. So the middle is fluid for one thing, and that’s hard to keep track of at times. And also, because I know the ending, I just want to get it written. 

7.      What are you working on right now?

My current novel is called At Peace With All Things. I have just finished the final edits, and have submitted it to one agent. Fingers crossed! This one feels special to me. It took longer than usual to write (two years) and I put everything into it. It’s about a boy – Jude – who tries to escape his violent past by running away to London. It doesn’t work out as well as he had hoped, and is in fact what might be described as a tragedy. It’s not a horror in the traditional blood and guts sense of the word, but it’s certainly a story intended to make the reader uncomfortable and, as usual with my writing, there is no happy ending. I’m now considering writing a sequel. 

Somebody's At The Door can be purchased from:

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Some-Bodys-The-Door-ebook/dp/B005PNPUPC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338644228&sr=8-1 and here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/91871

Also in paperback: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Some-Bodys-At-The-Door/dp/1447875710/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1338644228&sr=8-1

Blurb:

Some Body's At The Door is a collection of 14 tales to chill the soul and to haunt the mind. Duncan Kennedy thinks he is alone in his hotel room. But who is knocking at the door? A woman wants to win. . . at any cost. A little girl refuses to grow up, and a little boy isn't allowed to. Paul Colenrook believes a monster lurks in the plughole. Maybe he's right. He probably is.

Excerpt from:  Some Body's At The Door:

The man was still there. He was closer. Now about halfway up the corridor, still staring at Duncan’s room, still standing, slightly slouched. Except ‘standing’ wasn’t quite the right word. His feet, encased in shiny but clearly cheap shoes, hovered a couple of inches above the ground, his toes pointing towards the dismal carpet. And ‘staring’ wasn’t exactly accurate either. Because although his head was inclined in Duncan’s direction, it was facing downwards, and he was looking more at those shiny shoes than anywhere else.

            Duncan recoiled from the door as though he’d been shot. That wasn’t right. That man wasn’t right. He couldn’t be floating. Not unless… But no, Duncan wouldn’t allow himself to get caught up in ghost stories. It was a trick of the light. He stepped towards the door once more, listening to his hard beating heart, trying to slow it through deep breathing. He looked again. The man was closer. Almost at the door now. And there was no doubt for Duncan that he was heading to his room.

And something else struck him then, something else rose to the top of the terrified thoughts and imaginings that were rapidly filling his mind – it (not ‘him’, not ‘he’, not anymore) was wearing his suit. And the shirt too. Grey suit, black shirt, cheaply made, cheaply bought. The tie was different, but other than that… Duncan surprised himself by giggling at that. How embarrassing, the ghost and I, we’re dressed the same! And then he was laughing uncontrollably, high pitched and breathless. His stomach rumbled aggressively which set off a new roll of giggles for no reason Duncan could ascertain. When he could no longer breathe at all he stopped laughing, fought for breath, succeeded.


Author contact information:
Blog:  http://www.themoonlitdoor.blogspot.com. 
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/lisamarielambwriter 
Twitter  @lisamarie20010.

Thank you very much for visiting today, Lisamarie. I wish you the very best for your writing career.

Slainthe!