Cameron Johnston

Hi folks, After sitting on this news for a good while, it's all official now and announced by the Bookseller - Angry Robot have bought two more standalone books from me! Angry Robot has bagged a two-book deal from Cameron Johnston including The Last Shield, a "high-octane adventure" novel. Publisher Eleanor Teasdale acquired world English language rights from Ed Wilson at Johnson & Alcock in a five- figure deal. The Last Shield will be published August 2024. "Cameron Johnston is the go-to for fantasy books that cut your throat and break your heart, and The Last Shield is no exception," said Wilson. "It’s a high-octane adventure story told with all his trademark bloodshed, energy and humour." The Last Shield follows Briar, the commander of the shields, who must defend the palace, and its artefacts, from the "vicious brigands" known as the Wildwood Reivers. The novel is being pitched as "gender-bent ’Die Hard’ set in a mysterio...

May 2019 be most excellent to you. I'll be kicking the year off with a short story soon to appear in Kzine and an interview in Grimdark magazine, followed up by a short story in a subsequent edition of Grimdark magazine. Following that it's the launch of God of Broken Things coming out from Angry Robot in June, and trying to find an agent and publisher for the new Work in Progress novel once it's finished and polished up. *fingers crossed*

The editing and rewrites have all come to an end annnnnnddddd my agent has sent the manuscript out on submission. Phew! So, what now I hear you ask? Waiting...mostly waiting...and hoping...and trying not to check my email every now and again...knowing that realistically very, very few books ever get picked up and published, but also that hoping bit is back again... I'm finding this wait a little different to my short story submissions. Partly because there is a much larger chunk of time, effort and imagination invested, and partly because if this novel does get picked up then I'll have books in shops and libraries - something younger me had dreamed about ever since I first set foot in my local library. I frequently left that hallowed hall with shaking arms holding ten books at a time, and I would be delighted to find my own writing fuelling other people's imaginations in the same way. I suppose we will just have to wait and see, and hope.

I've been busy the last few weeks. Really busy. Neck deep in edits on my novel actually. My fine agent Amanda Rutter at Red Sofa Literary sent me back my edits and as I readied myself to open the files I knew damn well what was coming. Still, it hit me like a well-aimed half brick to the face to behold a sea of comments, corrections, suggestions and advice. Where do you even start? For me, it was a little paralysing at first, but then I got to work on the quick and easy changes: typos and word choices, clunky bits of prose, clarifications and eliminating confusions. Gradually that mass of edits was whittled down to manageable chunks I could wrap my head around. Who ever said that writing a novel was the hard part? Re-writing and editing are far trickier, and yet also as - if not more - satisfying. It feels good to trim away the fat and build up the muscle, making my novel a leaner, fiercer, and more emotional beast. The end is in sight! And when it gets picked up by a publ...

As my novel is currently undergoing edits with my agent *waits with both trepidation and eagerness* it’s got me thinking about the process of critique and editing of my work by other people. It’s always a slightly daunting prospect to submit a new piece of writing for the first time, especially if you are asking people to pull it to bits and hold each morsel up to the light to be thoroughly examined. Still, that’s one of the best ways to improve your writing, and when all the dust has settled you will be left with a much-improved piece of writing. But you do need to develop a thicker skin. It may be your darling mind-baby but it’s not personal critique, it’s professional.  The harshest critic is likely be your finest friend when it comes to writing. There’s an important word – Professional. More on that later. When I joined the Glasgow Science Fiction Writers’ Circle back in 2010 (Has it really been so long??) I poked my poor little prose head right into the word-lion’s den ...

In other writing news, I received an email last week from a literary agent. Expecting the old ‘I liked it, but…’ rejection that every writer who has ever submitted anything gets, I found myself stopping and reading again. Why? This was no rejection email - this was an agent saying she loved my novel and was offering a Skype call to discuss representation!!! We arranged a day and time and a few days passed in a daze. I logged into Skype 45 minutes early…or I tried to, on two machines… panicked searching revealed logins to Skype were down worldwide. Argh!! Nightmare! Except, it was only for apps, and Skype for Web worked fine, phew, last minute save. The discussion went incredibly well and I’m ecstatic to say that I’m signing with Amanda Rutter of Red Sofa Literary . This novel of mine will be heading out into the world after a few nips and tucks.

I've been doing this writing lark properly for a few years now and I've learned a massive amount, enough to be helpful to others. On the fantasy fiction and writing forums I frequent I encounter the same basic questions being asked again and again from less experienced writers: -What do you think of my idea X (very cliched idea) -I've written something - now what? -Er...is this punctuation correct? -How do I make it better? How do you edit? -How do I find publishers/markets? With that in mind I've decided to create a writing resources page on this site that I will update with other sites and resources of interest to people developing their writing skills. I'm hoping that some of you will find it useful.