The Novel That Took 16 Years and a Dozen Drafts to Get Right with Jasper Bark

The Novel That Took 16 Years and a Dozen Drafts to Get Right with Jasper Bark

Writer's block doesn't exist. That's not a provocation for the sake of it — Jasper Bark will tell you exactly who invented the term (a Freudian analyst who blamed it on potty training) and why the only cure for not writing is, stubbornly, to write. Anything. A laundry list. A page of you yelling at yourself. The words come. This week Daniel sits down with Jasper Bark — author, former freelance journalist, stand-up, performance poet, and the mind behind Crystal Lake Publishing's Bark Bites Horror imprint. Jasper has written for franchises owned by DreamWorks and New Line, ghosted other people's voices for years, and then had a long dark night of the soul (and too much whiskey) when his wife pointed out she'd never read a single thing that sounded like him. Finding his own voice is where the real story starts. The conversation runs from the brutal economics of the modern indie author (why he dresses as an Egyptian god at conventions) through the terror of self-censorship, the joy of throwing away a third of every sentence, and the sixteen-year journey of his new novel Harmed and Dangerous — a Southern Gothic thriller that began as a rejected comic pitch and finally arrived as a book he no longer cringes to hand over. 💀 What we get into: * Why "writer's block" is a made-up excuse — and the one technique that breaks it every time * How to actually find your voice when you've spent years writing in everyone else's * The real reason no one ever has "editor's block" or "plumber's block" * Why turning off every notification you own is the only writing advice that survives time and attention being your scarcest resources * The shift from author-as-freelancer to author-as-artisan-trader — and what it means for how you sell * Why cutting 30,000 words from a 120,000-word draft feels like scoring a winning goal * How a song about Gary Gilmore's eyeballs seeded a paranormal Southern Gothic thriller * Why horror is a healing, cathartic genre — and the two sectioned readers who proved it to him * Plot vs. pants: when to outline and when to let the story drag you * The "deathbed self" trick for beating procrastination Links & Resources: Jasper Bark: www.jasperbark.com [http://www.jasperbark.com] Crystal Lake Publishing https://www.crystallakepub.com [https://www.crystallakepub.com ] Daniel's writer resources: https://danielwillcocks.com/writers [https://danielwillcocks.com/writers] Subscribe to The Writer's Chair If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow writer. 📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willcocksauthor [https://www.youtube.com/@willcocksauthor] 🖥️ Find out more: https://danielwillcocks.com/thewriterschair [https://danielwillcocks.com/thewriterschair] 📚 About Jasper Bark Jasper Bark is infectious - and there’s no known cure. If you’re listening to this then you’re already at risk of contamination. The symptoms will begin to manifest any moment now. There’s nothing you can do about it. There’s no itching or unfortunate rashes, but you’ll become obsessed with his books, from the award winning collections 'Dead Air' and 'Stuck on You and Other Prime Cuts', to cult novels like 'The Final Cut' and acclaimed graphic novels such as 'Bloodfellas' and 'Beyond Lovecraft'. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Say It Quicker, Say It Better: The Screenwriting Trick That Fixed His Prose with DAN HOWARTH

Dan Howarth didn't set out to write a novel about far-right violence tearing communities apart. He set out to write what he knew — the north, the landscape, the idiotic magnificence of men — and the wound was already open. Lion Hearts is the book that nearly broke him during the writing, nearly got him an agent three times, and has now landed him on the 2026 British Fantasy Award shortlist for Best Novel. Sometimes the book that costs the most is the one that matters most. Dan Howarth is a British author of gritty northern weird fiction published under his own Northern Republic Press. His work sits at the intersection of place, folklore, and the social fault lines running through contemporary Britain. In this conversation, he and Daniel dig into writing location with precision rather than excess, the case for the novella as the perfect literary form, what indie publishing actually costs (financially and creatively), and why knowing who you are as a writer takes longer than most people think. 💀 What we get into: - Why Dan writes British, specifically northern British, horror — and how place becomes character in his fiction - The screenwriting lesson that changed how he edits: if you can't say it in two lines, say it better - Character passes vs plot passes — Dan's practical approach to keeping voice consistent across multiple POVs in Last Night of Freedom - How both Territory and Drone accidentally became novellas, and why he thinks it's the perfect form for both writer and reader discovery - The case for traditional publishers taking novellas seriously — and why Eric LaRocca's Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke is the proof of concept - Three to four years into running Northern Republic Press: what he'd tell his earlier self about brand identity, cover consistency, and knowing what you stand for before you publish - Lion Hearts — the BFA-shortlisted novel that's not quite horror, not quite crime, and is one of the most politically raw things he's written - Why being indie means the book you couldn't place anywhere is also the book that gets you on award shortlists - The practical realities of self-publishing: proofreading, cover design, budgeting, and why there's no excuse for an unprofessional book in 2026 - What's next: another novella, The Beacons, and a pipeline of four or five books already queued up Links & Resources: Dan Howarth website: https://danhowarthwriter.com (verify exact URL) Dan Howarth on social media: @DanHowarth20 Northern Republic Press: https://www.northernrepublic.co.uk Paul Stephenson / Hollowstone Press: https://paulstephensonbooks.com/ Vicky Brewster: https://vickybrewstereditor.com/ https://danielwillcocks.com/writers Subscribe to The Writer's Chair If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow writer. 📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willcocksauthor 🎧 Listen on your favourite app: https://pod.link/1829723468 🖥️ Find out more: https://danielwillcocks.com/thewriterschair 📚 About Dan Howarth Dan Howarth is a British author of gritty Northern Weird horror fiction with a strong focus on societal issues and tinged with folklore and the supernatural. He is the author of Last Night of Freedom, Lionhearts (which was recently shortlisted for Best Novel in the 2026 British Fantasy Awards), Territory, his new novel Drone and the short story collection, Dark Missives. His short fiction has been published in numerous places including Weird Horror Magazine, Chthonic Matter Quarterly, The Other Stories podcast and Motives Unknown: New Northern Crime from Dead Ink Books. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Championing Indie Horror and Why Anyone Can Find Their People with KAYLEIGH DOBBS (Happy Goat Horror)

Kayleigh Dobbs turned up to her first horror convention too nervous to speak to anyone, accidentally called Ramsey Campbell "Mr. Ramsey," and somehow came away with a fire lit under her that she hasn't stopped feeding since. Four years later, she has a short story in a Bram Stoker Award nominated collection, heads on semi-regular cake-and-coffee trips with Tim Lebbon, and is a well-revered reviewer of indie horror. Kayleigh is a writer, proofreader, and the founder of Happy Goat Horror — a review website and YouTube channel dedicated to horror fiction with a particular focus on indie publishing. In this conversation, she and Daniel dig into what horror actually is and why it matters, the community that makes the genre unlike any other, the complicated relationship between reviewing and writing, and why the most important thing any writer can do is write the book only they could write. Plus: an unexpected Britney Spears confession, a defence of the word "fuck," and a recommendation you almost certainly haven't heard of. 💀 What we get into: * Kayleigh's origin story — from metal-loving teenager secretly bopping to Britney, to discovering indie horror fiction barely four years ago through Chillicon and Sinister Horror Company * Why horror conventions feel nothing like fan conventions for film and TV * The Tim Lebbon tangent: how a chance ask at a convention became a semi-regular cake-and-coffee friendship, and why Kayleigh thinks he deserves to be far more widely known * Joe Hill's articulation of why horror makes sense of a senseless world * Horror as the genre that does the most for empathy: representation of women, queer voices, Latinx horror, and why the stats on female directors in horror vs romance will surprise you * The origin of Happy Goat Horror * Indie vs traditional: what Kayleigh actually sees as a reviewer who reads across both * Why authenticity on the page is something readers can feel * AI, trends, and the only real defence a writer has: writing the most authentically human book they can * Kayleigh's novel she's determined to finish, a nonfiction project she's keeping firmly under wraps, and learning to stop being horrible to herself about productivity Links & Resources: * HATCHING SEASON: https://www.devilsrockbooks.com/submissions * THE WRITERS ROOM: https://www.danielwillcocks.com/thewritersroom * Happy Goat Horror: https://happygoathorror.com / https://www.youtube.com/@happygoathorror * Tim Lebbon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u99-ttJBeus&pp=0gcJCSgLAYcqIYzv * Jonathan Janz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNzvZpwubQo&t=2908s * Jamie Flanagan Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6e-Jgykckc * Joe Hill Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU2iM1LIDw8&pp=0gcJCSgLAYcqIYzv * Writer Resources: https://www.danielwillcocks.com/writers Subscribe to The Writer's Chair If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow writer. 📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@willcocksauthor [https://www.youtube.com/@willcocksauthor]  🖥️ Find out more: https://danielwillcocks.com/thewriterschair [https://danielwillcocks.com/thewriterschair] 📚 About Kayleigh Dobbs Kayleigh Dobbs is a writer and reviewer based in South Wales, with a focus on horror and comedy/horror. Her micro-collection The End, an apocalypse themed book of shorts from Black Shuck Shadows, was a 2024 Imadjinn Award Finalist for Best Collection. Her short story "TBR" is included in This Way Lies Madness, an anthology from Flame Tree that is currently a Bram Stoker Award Finalist and British Fantasy Award Finalist. She has a Masters Degree in Scriptwriting, though her focus shifted some years ago to more bookish formats, and she freelances as a proofreader and editor.  Kayleigh runs Happy Goat Horror, a review website and YouTube channel for horror fiction, with a particular interest in indie horror fiction. On the YT channel, she posts reviews, themed lists, rankings, and creator interviews. Recent interviewees include screenwriter Jamie Flanagan and author Joe Hill. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

High-End Pulp and Why Dean Koontz Deserves More Credit with DAN SOULE

Dan Soule couldn't read properly until he was 11. He was profoundly dyslexic, functionally illiterate through most of his childhood. He went on to get a PhD in English and linguistics, spent seven years as a university academic, taught writing, quit — and then finally had enough free time to figure out how to write fiction. Horror wasn't the plan. It just kept buying his stories. Dan Soule is a horror author based in Northern Ireland, born in England and raised in Byron's hometown of Southwell. His work spans literary fiction, science fiction, and horror, with short fiction appearing in Storgy, Shoreline of Infinity, Sanitarium Magazine, and Devolution Z, among others. His novels include Witch Hopper, a 150,000-word small-town folk horror rooted in Nottinghamshire mythology, and Jam, a tightly wound ensemble horror that asks what happens when a motorway traffic jam becomes something far worse. This conversation covers the feedback loop that turned Dan into a horror writer, why he thinks of horror as the original master genre, the craft concept of "armature" and how it shapes every character in Jam, and why the indie/trad divide matters a lot less than whether the book is actually good. 💀 What we get into: * From profound dyslexia to a PhD in English — and why writing never came easily even then * How horror found Dan rather than the other way around: the magazines that kept buying his stories until he had to accept what he was writing * Why Dan thinks horror is the master genre — older than any category we try to put it in, and leaking into everything * Dean Koontz, Stephen Laws, M.R. Carey, Ronald Malfi, and Dan Simmons' The Terror — the authors who shaped Dan's taste for high-end pulp * The three-category reality of modern publishing: indie, small press, and the big four — and why good and bad books exist in all three * The "armature" concept: giving each character their own musical frequency, extended metaphor, and sentence cadence — and how Dan built this into Jam * Where Jam came from: a tipsy thought on an empty Scottish motorway, liminal spaces, and a family lineage of serial killers * Why ensemble horror — The Thing, The Mist — is the perfect structure for trapping a cast of strangers who'd never otherwise share a space * Witch Hopper: Nottinghamshire's Green Man myth, vengeful grey ladies, and a father-son story built on local folklore * Two book recommendations that aren't obvious: Scott Carson's The Chill and Easol Murphy's All of Me Links & Resources: * Dan Soule's website: dansoule.com * Dan Soule on Instagram/Twitter: @writerdansoule * Crystal Lake Publishing: crystallakepub.com * Daniel Willcocks writer resources: danielwillcocks.com/writers * Hatching Season charity anthology submissions: devilsrockbooks.com/submissions * The Writer's Room (Tuesday writing sprints): danielwillcocks.com/the-writers-room * Reedsy: reedsy.com Subscribe to The Writer's Chair If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow horror fan or writer. 📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@devilsrockbooks [https://www.youtube.com/@devilsrockbooks] 🎧 Listen on your favourite app: https://pod.link/1829723468 [https://pod.link/1829723468] 💬 Join the community: https://www.devilsrockbooks.com/podcast [https://www.devilsrockbooks.com/podcast] 📚 About Dan Soule Dan writes stories where ancient folklore crashes into the modern world—usually with devastating results. His work blends dark fantasy and horror, creating atmospheric tales that explore the messy intersection of myth and everyday life. Whether he's crafting vivid, unsettling worlds or diving into the complexity of human relationships, Dan's writing balances beautiful, lyrical prose with moments that will make you hold your breath.  Growing up in Nottinghamshire, England, Dan fell in love with landscapes steeped in old stories and older mysteries—influences that run through much of his work. These days, he lives on the Antrim Coast in Northern Ireland with his wife and two children, writing stories that continue to explore the dark corners where past and present meet. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

F**k Fear! Jack Ketchum's Two Words That Changed Everything with JONATHAN JANZ

Jonathan Janz didn't read a single book until he was 14. He'd convinced himself he wasn't smart enough. Then he picked up a Stephen King novel — one King himself doesn't particularly like — and was completely transported. He's now written over a dozen horror novels, been championed by Brian Keene, Jack Ketchum, and Joe Lansdale, and still pumps his fist alone in his office every time he writes something he's proud of. He encourages this in others. Jonathan Janz is the author of more than a dozen novels including The Siren and the Spectre, Children of the Dark, and Wolfland. His work has been championed by Joe R. Lansdale, Jack Ketchum, and Brian Keene, and recognised by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist. He's also a full-time teacher — and that dual life shapes everything about how he reads, how he writes, and how he thinks about other people. This is one of the most openly human conversations in the archive. Jonathan talks about self-doubt, mentorship, the mechanics of writing six hours a week during term time and going wild in the summer, and why the best advice he ever received was two words from a man who's no longer here to say them. 💀 What we get into: * How a cold letter to Brian Keene in 2010 or 2011 became one of the most important relationships of Jonathan's writing life * Jack Ketchum's two-word philosophy on fear — and why Jonathan returns to it every time he sits down to write * Joe Lansdale's 90-minute phone call: the gut-punch of honest mentorship and why you need someone who tells you the truth in a Texas twang * Why Jonathan still wakes up in the shower mentally cataloguing every mistake he's ever made — and what he does with that * The Tommy Knockers, Robert McCammon, and how Jonathan learned that beautiful prose and immersive storytelling aren't mutually exclusive * Writing six hours a week during the school year and still finishing a novel — the maths of constrained productivity * Why first drafts are train wrecks and editing takes three times as long as writing * Ryan Lewis, Josh Malerman, and the permission to celebrate the small wins without waiting for the big ones * Reading diversely as a craft decision — and why Jonathan is honest about how narrow his reading used to be * Using Marvel movies, Captain America, and Thor to have the conversations with his kids he doesn't know how to start otherwise Links & Resources: * Jonathan Janz's website: https://jonathanjanz.com * Jonathan Janz on Instagram: @jonathan.janz * Jonathan Janz on Twitter/X: @JonathanJanz * Brian Keene: briankeene.com * Joe R. Lansdale: https://joerlansdale.com * Robert McCammon: https://robertmccammon.com * Spin a Black Yarn (Malerman/Lewis): https://spinablackyarn.com * Scares That Care Convention: https://scaresthatcare.org Subscribe to The Writer's Chair If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a fellow horror fan or writer. 📺 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@devilsrockbooks 🎧 Listen on your favourite app: https://pod.link/1829723468 💬 Join the community: https://www.devilsrockbooks.com/podcast 📚 About Jonathan Janz Jonathan Janz is the author of more than a dozen novels and numerous short stories. His work has been championed by authors like Joe R. Lansdale, Jack Ketchum, and Brian Keene; he has also been lauded by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and School Library Journal. His ghost story The Siren and the Specter was selected as a Goodreads Choice nominee for Best Horror. Additionally, his novel Children of the Dark was chosen by Booklist as a Top Ten Horror Book of the Year. Jonathan’s main interests are his wonderful wife and his three amazing children. You can sign up for his newsletter, and you can follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Amazon, and Goodreads. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.