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Post by ian on Jun 21, 2009 21:16:13 GMT
Hi Jim, hi Willie. Off you go!
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Post by Jim on Jun 22, 2009 5:56:04 GMT
Hi Willie
How's life out in the colonials
as someone who has written in stories based around the works of HP lovecraft, how do you feel about accusations that his work is only suitable for angsty teenage boys?
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Post by Jim on Jun 22, 2009 6:34:51 GMT
How much of an input have you had in the development of your screenplay to the screen?
Has moving over the water gvemn you a new lease of life?
Is there any part of your work, that yo have been so proud of, you enjoy going back to read it over and over again?
As an author who is flying the flag for the return of creature horror, what you think is the appeal of this genre?
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Post by williemeikle on Jun 22, 2009 12:04:56 GMT
Hi Willie How's life out in the colonials Very good thank you very much. Newfoundland is a lot like rural Scotland in many ways. Sea, cliffs, white houses scattered up the coast and lots of wildlife. And it's empty. I love it. Plus theres minimal council tax, and we got a 4 bedroom house on the shore for 20 grand. but shhh, everybody will want to come. We're just waiting for the papers to come through to make it all official, so keep things crossed for us. As someone who has written in stories based around the works of HP lovecraft, how do you feel about accusations that his work is only suitable for angsty teenage boys? His work -is- suitable for angsty teenage boys.. it's the -only- part that bothers me. I'll admit I was a teenage boy when I read him first, but I wasn't very angsty, being too busy chasing lassies, learning to smoke and drink and listening to Zeppelin for any of that nonsense. A lot of people are drawn to HPL by the strange overwrought language and the weird names of his creatures. But for me the stories I like most of his are the ones where the universe is vast and indifferent and humans just get in the way. The Color out of Space in particular still gives me the creeps, and At the Mountains of Madness is IMHO a masterpiece. The 'cosmic' tales have been subsumed in the public consciousness by the Cthulhu mythos stuff that has spawned a myriad of tales, some good, many dire. But the main inspiration I got from him was the deep old ones. Like you are with nuns, I am with pale things that lurk beneath. It stems from childhood nightmares and a mixture of Morlocks, Tolkein's goblins and HPL. That's what led to "Island Life" and I threw in some references in the book to those inspirations. I do still go back and read HPL from time to time and I'm -far- from a teenager now
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Post by williemeikle on Jun 22, 2009 12:58:54 GMT
How much of an input have you had in the development of your screenplay to the screen? Which one? I have several in various stages at the moment. - I collaborated with director James Sharpe on a supernatural rom/com feature script, Halfway to Heaven, the proceeds to go towards saving Broomhill Pond in Ipswich. It's all done and going to the Sundance festival this year - Dark Window Films, an Anglo Irish prod co, are going to bring Derek Adams to life this year and produce my screenplay for The Amulet. Derek may have to become a Londoner to get this done though! - Fir3storm Industries in South Africa are in production with a feature of The Five, a script I wrote in collaboration with director Emile Meyer... a Tarantinoesque number featuring chicks with big guns and philosophical issues. Emile plans to take this one to Cannes next year My script, Ask the Cosmos is with London Studios and is still stuck in pre-production hell. It might never get out. But there -is- a reading this week of a revised screenplay. I think this one has morphed away from my original concept a bit and I'm down for a "based on a story by" credit if it gets done. But the degree of my involvement in all of them has been the same... I write the screenplay then it gets taken away and made into a movie that might or might not resemble what I wrote down. Has moving over the water given you a new lease of life? Well it certainly got me out of the rat race. I spent 25 years in IT building computer systems for men in suits, so it's nice to fall into semi-retirement. I get some money from online tech writing gigs but I have -much- more time for my own writing now, and I get to sit and watch the sea at the same time. Life is good. Is there any part of your work, that yo have been so proud of, you enjoy going back to read it over and over again? Nope. Every time I go back and read something later I think it's shit and want to get it back and re-write it. I haven't got to the stage of being able to read my own writing for pleasure. I doubt I ever will. As an author who is flying the flag for the return of creature horror, what you think is the appeal of this genre? A lot of people are bored with their lives and can't see a way out. What if a big monster came along and demolished the city? I think that's part of it, the desire to see what -might- happen if civilisation went away, without it actually having to happen. There are also monsters embedded in our psyche at a basic level, and "creature features" speak to our hindbrains where we're still little more than smart monkeys hiding in the trees. Then there's the case where you actually identify with the monster itself, and become the one responsible for doing the tearing and demolishing. That's where I get a thrill out of doing the writing part, when I get to be the one on the rampage. Mix all that together, and add a dash of '50s monster movies nostalgia, and you get, for me at least, the best entertainment possible.
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Post by rakie on Jun 22, 2009 13:22:08 GMT
Mr Meikle, what about the donkey?
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Post by williemeikle on Jun 22, 2009 14:02:18 GMT
Mr Meikle, what about the donkey? I think I've got all the negatives, so I'm safe.
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Post by ian on Jun 22, 2009 14:14:51 GMT
Hi willie, here's a question - Why did you decide to be a writer?
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Post by williemeikle on Jun 22, 2009 14:40:07 GMT
Hi willie, here's a question - Why did you decide to be a writer? It started back with that teenager again. I was a big fantasy and horror fan from a very early age, and read everything I could get my hands on. On the creative side I used to write song lyrics (mostly in unsuccessful attempts to get into girl's pants by singing and playing guitar.) I also wrote a few supernatural short stories around then, but didn't show them to anybody apart from a few friends that didn't understand them. That was that for a long time. Uni ,beer, more women, a job in IT and a marriage that almost immediately turned into a divorce later and I was suddenly 30. The only creative outlet I'd had was as a Dungeon Master playing D&D (I'll get my coat.) When that fizzled out I found I still had stories in my head that wanted to be told. Beer was still getting in the way of any discipline though. It took another wife to sort me out. Sue bought me a word processor and got me sober. Around 1991 I started to write the stories down and submit them to UK small press mags. It's been a slow progression from there
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Post by Mark Paterson on Jun 22, 2009 20:06:56 GMT
Hi Willie You have,unknowingly given me some help with my book. Who gave you the most inspiration for your genre?
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Post by ian on Jun 22, 2009 20:11:53 GMT
Hi Mark and welcome to the board. Any chance of you joining up sire?
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Post by cavallo on Jun 22, 2009 20:20:29 GMT
Tis done Master Meikle.
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Post by cavallo on Jun 22, 2009 20:23:56 GMT
How much of your homeland goes into your work? We have a great history of haunting,witch's etc
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Post by Mark Paterson on Jun 22, 2009 20:27:49 GMT
Must go. Before I turn into a toad. Look forward to more banter
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Post by williemeikle on Jun 22, 2009 20:48:37 GMT
Hi Willie You have,unknowingly given me some help with my book. Who gave you the most inspiration for your genre? It's a mish-mash of things. I grew up on Dennis Wheatley, the Pan Books of Horror, Hammer horror movies, Harryhausen's Sinbad movies, Dr Who, the rise of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and a big sprinkling of fantasy novels from the likes of Michael Moorcock, Fritz Lieber and Robert E Howard. Mix that in with the stories I got from my Grannie about kelpies and brownies and ghosts of family past and it's all one big bowl of ideas. If you have to tie me down to one thing, it's probably not in the genre at all... at the age of six I saw ZULU in a cinema. That blend of wide-screen action, plucky heroics and mass battles is probably the one biggest influence.
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