A few years ago, I wrote a screenplay— a dark, wilderness survival thriller influenced in equal measures by David Fincher’s The Game and “Lord of the Flies“. It was a weird idea meant to evoke the coming-of-age brutality of Stephen King’s “The Long Walk” and when I was done I asked Mutant Chronicles director Simon Hunter if he’d give it a read.
I had been impressed with Hunter’s unique visual style since his debut, Lighthouse, and thought the script would give him something new to chew on. As it turned out, I was right, he loved it, and we spent the better part of a year developing the script, along with his producer at the time.
I’m sure you can guess what happened. Development hell ensued and he drifted off into the ether, tempted by other, shinier things. Anyone who has ever attempted to write or produce a film knows this can happen multiple times on any project, the end result being five years of pissing around only to end up with no film for all your troubles.
Faced with the decision to either head in that well-worn direction, or shelve the script, I decided to take a different road, expand on the world and characters and novelize the material.
I knew if I didn’t do this I would never be free of it, and the wild children in my story would haunt my imagination forever, trapped inside my head screaming to be released.
Two years later, the novel in question is finally done and dusted. It’s called “New Horizons” and, I’m happy to say it’s finally being published this week, silencing those voices in my head.
It’s been quite a journey getting the planets to align on this one. First of all, writing a novel is quite a different undertaking than writing a screenplay. There are pros and cons to both, each is a distinct art form, but novels are something of a lonelier endeavour, especially if you enjoy collaborating. And while screenplays thrive on a razor-sharp precision; 100-pages-or-perish, novels allow for wandering, exploring.
Because I believe in testing any product, I beta tested an early version of the book on the social storytelling site, Wattpad. It was read nearly 1 million times in less than a year and the feedback from teens who give zero fu–s was priceless. It’s a step I’d recommend to any new writers take before publishing.
I’ll leave with a bit about the book, a thank-you for reading, and hopefully the inspiration to take that old screenplay I’m sure you’ve got somewhere in your files and find a way to give it new life in another medium. It’d say it’s worth it!
About New Horizons:
“Kids call it The Compound- an endless wilderness enclave where teens rule and every day is a fight for survival. A world out-of-time where an elaborate culture has arisen out of violence and scarcity, and all live under the thumb of unseen masters who have ultimate control.
15-year-old Marcus Riley is The Compound’s latest enrollment. A delinquent, kidnapped from his inner-city apartment, he wakes up alone in the wilderness. Left with nothing but the clothes on his back and a cryptic note in his pocket, it seems only his wits will keep him alive… but for how long?”
“New Horizons” is out now from StoryFix Media and available to order on paperback or Kindle eBook.
