Anthony Morgan-Clark is an indie author I have followed online for some time. Anthony has spent over a decade working in and managing children’s homes. Since 2014 Anthony has published a sci-fi short story collection, ‘Reformed’, and the Tor horror series.  He has also been published on the QuarterReads website, and has had short stories published in several magazines. Anthony grew up in Brighton and Wales before moving to the Wye valley, and currently lives in the Forest of Dean. Having read and enjoyed part one of his horror trilogy The Tor, Part One; Whiteshill and the prequel to the series, The Cauldron I recently went on to read The Complete Tor, which is available in paperback and ebook. This epic edition contains the prequel, the three parts of the series, and another short story related to The Tor, Symeon’s Tor. I’ve always been a fan of horror, so it’s been a pleasure to discover Anthony’s work. I’ve been well and truly pulled into the creepy world of The Tor and I am looking forward to reading more from this author. Enjoy the interview!

Q1- Can you tell us a bit about where the idea for The Tor came from?

My original idea was to have the Tor at the centre of five villages, with the Batsford being one of the five villages. Whiteshill was to be another. Weird stuff would happen in each of the villages, the kids at the local comprehensive school would map out the disappearances, they’d notice the Tor being at the geographical centre and they’d investigate. Then, after some more horror, everything would be okay. Stephen King meets the Famous Five. Anyway, after I realised this was far more in terms of settings and characters than I needed to tell a story, I cut it all back to one village and a handful of characters, and started again.

With regard to the Tor itself, I was walking to work -I used to work and live in the village upon which Batsford is based- and on the hill in front of me I saw, through the mist, a cottage and smaller buildings. The shape and layout of those buildings looked very much like a circle of standing stones. That image became The Tor; the trees came from Mayhill, a local landmark.

Q2 Was it originally written as one book, which was then divided up for the ebook series? Or did you write it with serialisation in mind?

Originally I’d planned one book. I thought at first about telling the story of Whiteshill from Martin’s perspective, then from Eddie’s, then from Constable Donnell’s. But as I worked through it I realised that there was a narrative bigger than that which eventually became Part One, especially after introducing Symeon into the story.

Coupled with that was the story of Rebecca. In 2004 I was living on my own and had the idea for the story that became Rest. I wrote it in one draft and, naively, sent it to a publishing house for appraisal. They wrote back, praised my writing, but struggled with the question of why the protagonist would suddenly fall for Rachael (as she was known then) after a single meeting. It was a plot issue that had concerned me also. So I shut the story away and moved on to other things, and didn’t think of the story again until after I’d written Whiteshill and begun work on The Cauldron. As I wrote, the character of Rebecca felt familiar, and it was whilst walking home from work one evening (a good walk does wonders. It gives the mind time to wander and explore and make all these little links of its own accord) that I realised both the character from The Cauldron and the character from The Tor were one and the same.

Q3 Is the story of The Tor over? Or are there other stories connected to it that might arise?

After abandoning Rest in 2004 I started a fantasy piece based around a young, excluded boy who moves to a new town. There he befriends and old, bearded man who is of mysterious origin, and lives to collect stories. The story did not turn out as I had planned, but it was the genesis of the characters Martin and Mr Symeon. Symeon is Symmonds in that story (named after Symonds Yat if

you’re interested). I’d love to rewrite and finish that one. I’ve also just completed writing two short stories based around the red man from Rest’s white tower. I’ve thought about writing more of Rebecca’s history too. In Rest she goes through an apparent drug addiction, but this is the longest we see her away from the Tor. Is she suffering withdrawal from the Tor? Is she taking substances to escape it? Does she go back willingly? There’s a lot to explore there, but to reveal too much would, I think, spoil the story.

Q4 I could really imagine it as a creepy TV series, X-Files or Twin Peaks style, stretching over the decades. Have you ever thought about developing it into a screenplay?

Not seriously enough to dedicate such a big amount of novel-writing time into doing so. Like novels, the writing is only half of the work at most. To generate interest, pitch it, sell it, etc – I have no idea how much work that would involve. I’d be really interested in a graphic novel adaptation though.

Q5 When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?

As a kid I figured I had the perfect career planned out. I was obsessed with Jeff Capes (who I was convinced came from Llanelli, like I did), Spiderman, Nigel Mansell and Roald Dahl. I figured being a strongman would help my superhero career; the travelling involved would be the perfect cover for it; and since F1 drivers only work every other weekend and superheroes work at night, I’d have plenty of time during the week to write.

Aside from a few speeding points, writing was the only thing I stuck with. I remember writing Star Wars and Transformers stories with stationery sets I received as a kid, and amassing a collection of notebooks filled with fantasy and scifi tales as a teen. I used to relish English lessons in school. It’s something I’ve always done. Some people play sport, some people paint, some people keep animals. I write.

Q6. Can you tell us about your writing journey so far? Ups and downs?

This is a tricky one. I’m not one of those eternally optimistic people who see every problem as a challenge in disguise, but I do believe there is something to learn (and therefore something to be gained) from every situation. Publishing my first book to Kindle, seeing my first short story in print, and having a short story selected for a collection have all been ups, as have the strong reviews my work consistently receives. The only real down is the fact that my writing does not yet bring me enough of an income to write full time. But I’m sure that’s a matter of time (the TV rights for the Tor are up for grabs if anyone wants to throw me some money…) and effort.

Q7 What made you decide to take the indie route?

Impatience. I can finish a book on Monday, and readers can buy it on Tuesday. I love that. Also the flexibility being an indie author affords me. If I want to drop the price, I can. If I want to try another genre, I can. I’m in control of my writing. Publishing houses are like record labels. It’s not about quality, it’s about what sells. That’s why we have a million boy bands for every Nirvana. Publishers chase the market, but being an indie author allows you to carve out your own niche. Kindle and Createspace have broken the market up in the same way, if not to the same degree, that the plummeting price of home recording equipment has done for the recording industry. Who needs a record deal when you can promote on YouTube and sell your MP3s via your website? Who needs a publishing deal when you can promote and sell your own books?

Q8 What would you say are the hardest things about being an indie? And what would you say are the best?

The best things about being an indie author are those I mentioned above. As a writer I’m not beholden to any publishing company’s notion of what I should be. The worst things I think are the fact that, when it comes to self-published indie authors, there is an incredible amount of dross out there tarnishing what we do. Some readers equate “indie author” with “couldn’t get a publishing deal”, and for a lot of writers that’s true – not that I’m suggesting publishing houses don’t put out poor books, because they do. I read The Da Vinci Code at work a few years back, and was amazed that such a thing could get published. But being an indie author means battling against people’s expectations and stereotypical views of an author who is not traditionally published.

Being an indie also means you have responsibility for every aspect of the book, from the first draft to the marketing plan. It’s an opportunity to learn many new skills, but it can also be incredibly tiring. Then there are the issues of drumming up sales, chasing reviews… being an indie author is hard, time-consuming work if you want it to be anything more than a hobby.

Q9 What advice would you give to a writer about to embark on their own indie journey?

It’s a hell of a lot more work than you’ll expect. Work hard, but don’t burn out. And leave ample time between drafting, editing, proofing and releasing your work to ensure it’s the best it can be. Once you hit ‘publish’, all your mistakes are public.

Read lots of books, good ones and mediocre ones. Work out what methods the author uses to make them so good (or not). Deconstruct the work of different authors, you’ll learn a hell of a lot this way.

Spend time reading around the subjects of writing and editing. I’d always advise hiring a good quality editor to go through your novel, but for many people this just isn’t realistic. Read and re-read Strunk & White’s Elements of Style, and Browne & King’s Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. Even if you can afford an editor you’ll save a ton of cash by giving them the best manuscript you can. The Tor was the hardest thing I’ve edited, particularly the second section Rest. I learned a hell of a lot from doing so and now I’m tempted to re-edit Reformed. Editing is a skill like any other, and the more you do it and the more you read about the techniques involved, the better you’ll be.

Q10 What are you working on right now?

A short horror story collection that will include stories relating to The Tor; a collection of new and previously released short stories covering a variety of non-horror genres; and a stand-alone horror tentatively titled The Swarm. I also have a notebook full of short stories that will one day make up a sequel to Reformed.

Q11 Who are your favourite authors?

As a kid Roald Dahl and CS Lewis were my favourites. I also devoured comics, particularly Batman. The late eighties Batman comics had some complex characters. That version of Batman was a really complex character, and Jason Todd (Robin) had a real dark side. All the characters in Roald Dahl and CS Lewis’ books were black-and-white good guys or bad guys, but when you read of Batman beating information out of goons, or Robin allowing a bad guy to fall to his death instead of rescuing him (or possibly even pushing the guy off – it all happened off-panel)… as a kid it was a real eye-opener for how complex fictional characters could be. And to have read it in a comic, as well! Before that I’d been obsessed with Stan Lee’s Marvel creations, all day-glo spandex and good-guys-beating-bad-guys.

Lately I’ve been reading a lot of Philip K Dick’s novels and short stories, and I love the hallucinatory, paranoid nature of his work. Neil Gaiman and Clive Barker both have a depth and breadth of imagination that always leaves me exhilarated. Steven King is underrated as a literary author; I find his writing to be better than a lot of people give him credit for, and the horror elements to be overrated. For example, the characters and depiction of the town and residents in Needful Things were far more powerful than the horror and weak resolution; in the same way the final section of It was nowhere near as vivid or moving as what preceded.

Terry Pratchett is another writer who took a long time to be recognised for the strength of his characterisations and his writing as a whole, rather than as ‘just’ a good fantasy author. I think it’s a problem common to all genre authors. People see you as a horror/scifi/fantasy/whatever writer, rather than as simply an author.

Alan Moore’s comics (Watchmen in particular, but also From Hell, V for Vendetta and The Killing Joke) always reward being read again.

With regard to ‘literary’ authors, I’ve read 1984 countless times. I love Of Mice and Men too. Oryx and Crake is another favourite, as is American Psycho.

Q12 Tell us three interesting facts about yourself

Three interesting facts? Hmm… As a teen I had insomnia and, when I did sleep, a recurring dream. I decided one day to write the dream down. Once I’d done so still had a recurring dream, but

a different one. This happened four or five times. And yes, those dreams have made it into my writing.

I have a phobia of spiders falling down into my collar when I’m in sheds or garages. This is a really specific phobia and I don’t think it has a name. I can’t enter a shed or garage without pulling my top tight around the back of my neck.

I can’t tell the difference between certain shades of purple and certain shades of grey. I know that’s not especially interesting, but I’m running out of ideas here – you’re asking a man who has 450 CD’s alphabetised by band name and then album title…

You can connect with Anthony on social media and via his website;

https://anthonymorganclark.wordpress.com/ (blog/website)

https://www.facebook.com/MorganClarkAuthor/ (Facebook)

@AMorganClark  (Twitter)