Author Biography
P.R. Black an author whose fiction has been longlisted for the Bridport Prize and other awards. He has been named one of the winners of the Daily Telegraph’s Ghost Stories competition. His crime fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. His newest novel, The Hunted, is out now!
When did you start writing? Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?
As soon as I learned to write. When I was growing up I loved stories, and in particular I loved comics – Spike, the Eagle, Victor, Champ, Roy of the Rovers, Commando, Scream! the Beano, 2000AD and many more.
I started off wanting to write and draw comics, but I was frustrated by how long it took to create panels (I’m not the world’s greatest artist, either).
Around about this time, one of my wee pals at school wrote short stories and showed them to the teacher. I was impressed. And I also thought: I can beat that.
I realised you could compress your story into words, instead of taking forever to draw the action frame by frame. I was off and running.
It’s always come naturally to me. There was no big moment of insight. I mimicked the things I read, and I got a sense of achievement when I finished a story. This produced a flood of my own ideas which continue to flow today.
Why do you enjoy writing in the mystery/thriller genre?
To begin with, as a child, I enjoyed the guessing game element. I loved Scooby Doo, Sherlock Holmes, the Poirot movies starring Peter Ustinov. And it’s still a big part of the process. Who’s the killer? How did they do it? Can you guess?
It’s a great way to explore the darker parts of human nature, and how these can test good people, as well as the innocent.
The Hunted, for example, has a familiar scenario: a group of people spending time at an isolated spot, with a hidden, malevolent outsider. A little blood is spilled along the way.
But for me, the best part of the book was delving into the Owl Society’s personalities. How have they changed as adults, and how have they stayed the same since school? Have their friendships soured in some ways, and matured in others? Do they have a redemptive arc, or have they become hardened and embittered by life?
These qualities exist in us all, and it’s fascinating to investigate them whether it’s in a crime story (Giallo might be the better term for The Hunted), drama, SF, or whatever. The book is character-driven, and I’m keen to see how realistic people find these creations.
And crime affects us all, whether it’s something as awful as murder, or at the lower levels. A jealous sibling. A psychopathic boss. An ex who wants to destroy you.
Malevolence is always worth examining, or at least worth being aware of. They walk among us. They’re not all murderers. The most evil person you’ll ever meet could be the neighbour twitching their curtains whenever you leave the house…
Did you have a specific writing routine/process for The Hunted? Has that changed at all?
I have to steal the time. Get up early, or stay up late. That’s the only time I can squeeze in at the moment. I’ve got a full-time job involving different shifts and two young children to look after. So it’s all fairly chaotic, but I get the work done on time.
My only rule: bank 1,000 words or more in every session. It’s an achievable goal – you can hit the target in half an hour – and you’d be surprised how quickly a book takes shape if you can match or better those basic figures at least five days a week.
You’re represented by Kate Nash Literary Agency. What was it about that agency that made you want to work with them? Do you have any advice on what writers should look for in an agent?
I had a deal with Aria/Aries/Head of Zeus before I had an agent – I met Kate at a party and got in touch with the agency from there.
Publishers’ parties are good places to meet agents! In terms of advice on finding the right one, it’s the same as any other discipline. If they’re passionate about your work, then that’s the ideal representative, and I’m very lucky to be represented by Justin Nash.
The Hunted
It’s been twenty years since they were all at school together. So when a group of female friends gather at a beautiful but isolated Scottish island lodge for a weekend away, they’re looking forward to relaxing, sharing updates on their lives, and reminiscing.
The furthest thing from their minds is murder.
But even though they’ve known each other since high school, some of these women have secrets. Dark secrets that can ruin friendships, ruin marriages – ruin lives.
Things you thought you knew and loved can turn out to be your biggest nightmares. And when recriminations start to fly, it soon becomes clear: it’s not a question of when, but if, these old friends will ever make it home again…
You publish through Head of Zeus publisher. What is that process like working with them? Why did you decide to publish your books through their imprint?
Head of Zeus had an open submission which I answered with a book I had been working on for a good couple of years (it became The Family). They got in touch, liked what they read, and offered me a deal. It was as simple as that. There was a lot of struggling on my part to reach that stage, though. A whole lifetime’s worth!
The process is intensive; I’ve given them six books since 2019. I tell them that if I was doing it full-time, they’d get a manuscript every six weeks. I’m not sure they believe me, but I’ll put it out there anyway!
There are strict deadlines, fixed goals. The editorial process is very smooth given the time constraints. And hats off to everyone at the editorial level – absolute lifesavers, from the structural editors to the proof-readers. The goal-line clearances they’ve made with my manuscripts still make me blush! It’s a truism from journalism, but you always need a fresh pair of eyes to look at your stuff, no-one’s drafting is perfect. The editing and publishing process is very thorough. Thank goodness for that.
Another thing I tell people when they ask about the process, and in particular getting a book into shape: I knew my first chapter for The Family had to grab the attention, so I polished it maybe a dozen or more times.
I kept going back, at a micro level… change this word, cut that one, get it down in size, then cut it again, and again… I knew it had to be as tight and as snappy as I could get it, with not a word wasted.
Then I submitted it.
It succeeded in terms of drawing attention.
But I still had to cut that first chapter by another 50% before publication.
What do you suggest for aspiring authors? Any advice or suggestions that worked for you that you can pass along?
Never give up. God knows how many novels and short stories I wrote before I was picked up – maybe five or six novels, about a dozen false starts and unfinished manuscripts, and as many collections of short stories again. A word count perhaps in the millions. That’s ignoring about six volumes of reviews and criticism.
Some people manage to kick the doors open first time, and fair play to them. But I think my tally is closer to the average. You will have novels and ideas you love that end up on a forgotten pen drive in a drawer, unread and rejected by every agent in the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook. Move on from these rejections quickly. Always write new things. Keep firing the arrows, follow agents and publishers on every social media platform, be aware of every opportunity that turns up.
And even if you can’t get in via the traditional publishing route, it’s easy now to self-publish on Kindle and other e-reading platforms – some people have been extraordinarily successful in this medium. I had some of my short story collections up on Kindle prior to getting a deal.
It’s easy for me to say these things now. I must admit, I was starting to despair… then, literally in the space of one afternoon, I was in the door.
So – never give up, and it’s never too late. And you love the craft anyway, right? So, you’re going to keep doing it, whatever happens.
What book(s) are you reading at the moment?
I’m bad for this, I’ve got several on the go at any one time. I tend to finish them all at roughly the same time, then move onto another bunch of five or six or more. Any topic, any genre, fiction or non-fiction. “Catholic taste” doesn’t quite cover it. Reading is religion to me. Creativity is God.
I’ve almost finished Songs And Words, by a hero of mine, Ginger Wildheart. It’s a music autobiography, told as a series of anecdotes connected with every song he ever wrote with his band, The Wildhearts, as well as his solo work.
Given what I’ve read, it is miraculous that he is, at time of writing, still alive and working harder than ever. He lived the lifestyle I dreamed of having aged 17 which now seems like a nightmare, and he lived to (literally) tell the tale. It’s not an easy read, in places. Stories of addiction, debauchery, depression, and the darker side of life as one of the last great British rock stars. Ginger never flinches, though there are times you wish he would.
Next, Daniel Deronda. What can I say about George Eliot? Was she as good as Dickens? Maybe even better? Tough questions; I’ll sit these out. DD is a good thick meaty square meal of a novel. Who could not love Gwendolen Harleth? A pleasure to read a chapter at the end of my day, unless sleep ambushes me first.
Another total change of gear next – William Meikle’s S-Squad series, about a team of British special forces squaddies taking on various monsters. These feature some well-known cryptids like Nessie and Bigfoot as well as brand new beasties. Meikle is very good at what he does, and if you like a bit of creature feature fun, he’s well worth your time. The one I’m reading is the first in the series, Infestation, about some giant isopods attacking a research ship on the coast of Alaska. I love monster movies.
I enjoy dipping into the complete Kenneth Williams Diaries, edited by Russell Davies. Compelling reading. The Carry On star can be bitter, even flat-out nasty about people, whether friend, foe, peer or competitor. It’s a very tart snack just before bedtime – certainly an acquired taste. He was a complicated, but brilliant man who led a fantastic and exciting life. But he was also strange and lonely and ultimately tragic, seeking a love he would never find.
In my ears, I’ve got the audiobook of The Final Cut by Michael Dobbs, last in the House Of Cardstrilogy. Delicious British political scheming, plotting, and backstabbing. A refreshing fantasy world, as refuge from the depressing reality of current real-life politics at Westminster and elsewhere.
Francis Urquhart – or “F.U.”, to friend and foe alike – is one of these strange political characters like Malcolm Tucker or even Alan B’Stard who ends up being popular, even beloved, in direct contradiction with the original intentions of the authors. They say the opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference; and you can’t be indifferent to Urquhart. Small wonder we get such terrible leaders.
What book(s) most inspired you to write?
Too many to name in full. They change over time. And I forget about them! I had a mug at work, one of the Penguin Classics ones: Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep. And I did love that book, but I read it more than 20 years ago. A colleague once flummoxed me by clocking the mug and asking: “What’s it about?” I couldn’t answer! “Eh… there’s this retired general, and a hot house… blackmail thingy… eh…”
Same thing happened with One Hundred Years Of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I loved it at the time, and raved about it for years to anyone who would listen and plenty more who wouldn’t.
“What happens, then?” Uh… I guess I’ll re-read it. I’m curious all over again!
The Sherlock Holmes stories are an easy answer. I loved one of David A Adler’s Cam Jansen books when I was a kid. It was a mystery story about UFOs, a logic puzzle that Cam solves with her photographic memory. I never forgot it. Click!
Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot was a big influence – I read it when I was 12, which is a little too young, but it was terrifying. It takes incredible skill to manifest dread on that level.
A tip of the hat to the late Terrance Dicks, who wrote dozens of novelisations of the sci-fi show Doctor Who, which I loved as a boy. These little books had a massive influence on whole generations of writers, me included. Away from the ray guns and spaceships and monsters of the week, the Doctor is a great hero who always tries to do the right thing (is that the ultimate definition of a hero?).
These books are still in print – hardback collections of the best of Terrance Dicks came out last year. If there is a starting point where I became addicted to reading novels over comics, then it must be the day my dad bought me Doctor Who And The Monster Of Peladon.
I’ve always got time for Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy and anything by Hunter S Thompson. For non-fiction, George Orwell’s Essays are essential.
So now that The Hunted is set to be released, what are you working on? Do you have another story in the works?
I am, as we speak, about to get my 1,000 words in on a detective novel. I’m currently about 55,000 words into that. Simultaneously, I am in the planning stages of another standalone thriller, in the same vein as my previous six books for Head of Zeus.
What do you hope people take away from reading your books?
A pleasant distraction from the business of real life. And sometimes not so pleasant.
