• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Villi Asgeirsson

Drafting ideas...

  • Novels
  • Blog
  • Translations
  • Newsletter

david bowie

Becoming an Author

20 February 2017 by villia Leave a Comment

An overnight success is years in the making. I’m not saying I’m a successful author. Not in the commercial sense. I may have sold a few hundred copies of Under the Black Sand, but that is not commercial success. Blood and Rain is coming in just under two weeks and it may sell 10 copies. I have no idea.

I firmly believe though that I am a successful author. I have finished two novels. It is an achievement in itself, even if nobody was ever to read them. Thousands, possibly millions, of people dream of writing a novel but never pull it off. Never finish the task. I have done it twice. But I wasn’t really planning to become an author. Never thought I had the patience and the stamina to pull it off. So where did it start?

As a child, I wrote simple stories. I wrote half a novel in my twenties. Life is a Bitch. It was simplistic, naive, ultimately abandoned. As I entered my thirties, I wrote a novel called Plastic. It’s not horrible, but it’s not very good. Abandoned again.

I attended film school shortly thereafter. Wrote and directed a short film, The Small Hours. It was simple, the story tight, a horrible and surprising ending. Maybe I should adapt it into a short story some day. 2006 saw me writing and directing another short. Black Sand. I made the mistake of trying to create an epic short. I misunderstood the format, tried to cramp too much into the small space. A 20 minute movie gives you too little time to tell an epic story and a 20 minute short is too long.

Under the Black Sand - movie screenplay
Under the Black Sand – movie screenplay

There was more to Black Sand than could be told in a short film or story. After resigning to the fact that the film had failed the simplicity test, I did what I should have done from the start. I fleshed it out and adapted it into a feature film screenplay. My first notes date from January 2007 and the first draft of the screenplay was finished in July that same year. By April 2008, I had replaced the opening scene with the “film noir” murder scene that opens the novel. As 2008 came to a close, I had a solid version of the movie on paper. In late summer and autumn 2008, a couple of production companies in Iceland had expressed interest and were waiting for me to deliver a final draft.

October 2008 changed everything. The economy crashed and funds dried up. Slowly, they all pulled out. There would be no money available to risk making this movie. They were struggling and bigger names obviously would take preference.

I kept working on the screenplay and the last version is dated 18 May 2009. As the production companies had done earlier, I abandoned the story.

Somewhere around the beginning of 2010, I met a film director. He read the screenplay, liked it, told me the dialogue was more natural than most Icelandic works before it and the story was deep, well developed and intriguing. However, he confirmed that there was no money. He’d just finished his debut feature, financed by himself and other non-industry people and companies. He told me to adapt my story into a novel. It was a story that needed to be read and would fit the novel format perfectly. And having a novel made the making of a movie more likely.

I wasn’t sure. I had never finished a novel and didn’t believe I could pull it off. But I didn’t have a choice if I wanted the story to be told.

Under the Black Sand
Under the Black Sand

First treatment for the novel was drafted in April 2010. I started writing it in Icelandic but gave up. Didn’t find myself in it, the language was getting in my way. I quickly switched to English and slaved on. I copied and pasted the screenplay into Apple Pages and wrote up the scenes, one by one. It was a turbulent time in my life and it took a while before the work was finished. Writing long form in a word processor is tough, but I was saved by a new app. I imported the draft into Scrivener in 2011 and the writing process took off. The first draft is dated 29 March 2012. April saw a new draft and on my birthday, 10 May 2012 I had a final draft.

I had a few paperbacks printed and a few people read it. A lot of useful feedback helped me shape the story in the weeks and months following that draft. One suggestion caused me a huge headache. Somewhere along the way, I had made the decision to move the setting of the story from Iceland to Scotland. I felt stupid writing an Icelandic story in English and I was fascinated by being able to include burning witches and castles. One of the readers asked why I’d done this. It’s an Icelandic story and should be set in Iceland.

I resisted. I’d spent years on this thing and really didn’t feel like going back to it. But he was right and I knew it. Deep down inside I knew I’d made a mistake when changing the setting. So I went back to work.

A year later, in May 2013, Under the Black Sand was completed and my first novel was published. It was a long time in the making, mainly due to the many detours, but I was happy with it. Some say it’s a fairly hard read, although a satisfying one. Others have completely lost themselves in it and absolutely loved it.

It’s a bit odd, but after the publishing, I mostly abandoned the writing “career”. Under the Black Sand sat on Amazon and trickled onto a few Kindles. A couple of reviews were posted and I didn’t notice them until they were pointed out to me. They inspired me to get back to writing.

Blood and Rain - paperback cover
Blood and Rain – paperback cover

A year after Under the Black Sand, I had a rough draft of a new novel. Blood and Rain was inspired by a short film from 2011 (I may want to adapt The Girl from Nowhere into a short story). I spent a good year writing, polishing and by late 2015, I was done. Again a few readers read it, gave good feedback and again one reader asked a critical question. A question that made me rethink the last 3-4 chapters. The final draft was ready in early January 2016.

Something happened on the day he died. I have been a huge Bowie fan for decades. When he died, in January 2016, I put Blood and Rain down and had no desire to continue. It took 10-11 months to get back to it. By January 2017, the final draft was done and ready to be published.

Now that we are on the eve of Blood and Rain’s publishing, I’m wondering what to do next. I have no aspirations to make a movie, but won’t object if someone wants to adapt one of my novels. But writing books has grabbed me by the horns and that’s where I’m going from here.

So, what’s next? I have no idea. I have an idea for a sequel to Blood and Rain. I have already outlined potential series based on Under the Blacks Sand. I have already written about 70% of a novella called Hunger City, a dystopian story set in the world David Bowie created on his Diamond Dogs album. And maybe I’ll do something entirely different.

One thing is certain. I will write a third novel. I am a successful writer, whether anyone notices or not.

Blood and Rain is available on 3 March 2017

Filed Under: Film, Novel, Personal, Thoughts, Writing Tagged With: black sand, blood and rain, bowie, david bowie, film, Hunger City, novel, personal, publishing, scrivener, thoughts, writing

A Year in the Life

12 September 2016 by villia Leave a Comment

It’s been a year since I completed the first draft. As of 12 September 2015, Blood and Rain existed. The novel was scheduled to be published in spring 2016, but things happened.

Blood and Rain - concept cover
Blood and Rain – concept cover

First, the website went down and my hosting company killed the backup. This is why links to old blog posts on my social media sites are broken. It took a few weeks to fight them, but I lost. My blog was gone. I made some effort to salvage the site, but it’s still in ruins. Never set up a site with FatCow. Never. Absolutely don’t.

Then Bowie died on the day my review copies were returned. He was my idol, someone I looked to for inspiration. I spent the next few weeks clearing out the attic, going through my Bowie collection and disappearing into a dark world that was mine and mine only. Except when I needed to work, do groceries and things. Creativity wasn’t there, my story seemed irrelevant.

Then I created a book of Bowie lyrics for a closed group on Facebook. I also wrote a novella based on his album, Diamond Dogs. Got half way through it. I need to finish that project as well. It was well on its way to become an interesting novella.

And I was busy working with the Pirate Party in Iceland in the weeks before the pre-elections. My work there is done. Elections are at the end of October and it looks like it may turn out extremely well for the party.

A year flies by in an instant. It is interesting though, that I finished the final draft of Blood and Rain two days ago. Pretty much a year after finishing the first draft.

And so here we are. Now it’s time for a cover design and finding the best way to publish the novel. I leave you with a cover idea I coughed up at the time.

It’s good to be back.

Filed Under: Novel, Personal, Politics, Writing Tagged With: blood and rain, bowie, david bowie, novel, politics, website, writing

HUNGER CITY 4 – Diamond Dogs

25 March 2016 by villia Leave a Comment

Part four of the Hunger City saga is up and things are getting out of control. Hunger City is loosely based on Diamond Dogs, an album released by David Bowie in 1974.

Hunger City 4Luna crawled in the ashes and tried to get a view of the hall outside the shop. There was panic. Mutants running, screaming. Inside the shopping centre. Wasn’t that something new? They usually came in groups of three, four, maybe a few more. Killed a couple of freaks they’d run into in the streets and be gone. This was different. Luna counted nine of them and they shot anything that moved.

“Diamond Dogs are poachers and they hide behind trees. Hunt you to the ground they will, mannequins with kill appeal.”

The prophesy. David Bowie had seen this before it happened. The killers wore white masks and they hunted the mutants to the ground. It was massacre.

This was genocide.

Download the four chapters by clicking the links below. Feel free to leave reviews or suggestions.
1. Poachers Hill
2. We Are The Dead
3. Temperance Building
4. Diamond Dogs

Filed Under: Novel, Writing Tagged With: bowie, david bowie, Halloween Jack, Hunger City, novel, writing

HUNGER CITY 3 – Temperance Building

17 March 2016 by villia Leave a Comment

It’s Friday and time for another instalment of Hunger City.

Hunger City 3Luna finds herself hunted by the poachers and her life is about to change forever.
As has been said earlier, Hunger City is based on the world of Diamond Dogs, created by David Bowie in 1974, which in turn was based on 1984 by George Orwell.

Part four will be published in a week. Until then, feel free to share this, spread the word and comment on it. Say what you think.

Get the chapters here:
1. Poachers Hill
2. We Are The Dead
3. Temperance Building

Filed Under: Novel, Writing Tagged With: bowie, david bowie, Halloween Jack, Hunger City, novel, writing

HUNGER CITY – 2. We Are The Dead

10 March 2016 by villia Leave a Comment

Two days ago, I published the first part of a new series. Hunger City takes place in the dystopian world David Bowie created after being denied the rights to create a musical based on George Orwell’s 1984.

Hunger City part 2Part two is named We Are The Dead. It is muttered by one of the characters. It is a song from the Diamond Dogs album and Bowie lifted it from a conversation in Orwell’s novel. I hope I’ll be able to do the two creative geniuses justice in the series. You tell me.

As readers of the first part may have noticed, part two was supposed to come out on 18 March. That has changed. It’s available now. I realised that I uploaded part one exactly two months after Bowie’s last birthday. Today is exactly two months since he left us. That must be honoured and remembered.

The schedule will continue as planned after this. One chapter each week. Part three will appear on 18 March, part four on 25 March, etc.

Get Part 1. Poachers Hill
Get Part 2. We Are The Dead

Filed Under: Music, Novel, Writing Tagged With: bowie, david bowie, Halloween Jack, Hunger City, music, novel, writing

HUNGER CITY – New Series

8 March 2016 by villia Leave a Comment

As many may know, I was about to finish my second novel at the beginning of this year. I sent the manuscript to six readers and gave them a deadline on 9 January to turn in their findings. I would then go about ironing out typos and inconsistencies, creating the final draft. Blood and Rain would be published somewhere in spring 2016. Nothing could change that.

Hunger City part 1Or so I thought. David Bowie has been a huge part of my life for more than 30 years. I studied his music as a teenager, immersed myself in his world. I was fascinated by his sounds, words and looks. He was different, somehow above the rest.

David Bowie died on 10 January this year. One day after the deadline and two days after his 69th birthday and the release of his latest (and last, we now know) album, Blackstar. I was devastated. It affected me more than I thought it could. A huge part of my life was gone. It was, literally, like losing a close relative.

January passed and I had no desire to revisit Blood and Rain. February passed and things were still not getting any better. I would look at the written pages and try to get into the world of Barcelona in 1937, but it felt distant. One day I will finish it, but first this…

We went to Venice on a mini holiday at the end of February. The masks were fascinating, the city beautiful. Something happened in my head. I remembered a line from a Bowie song.

The Diamond Dogs are poachers and they hide behind trees
Hunt you to the ground they will, mannequins with kill appeal

And this.

But there’s a shop on the corner that’s selling papier mache
Making bullet-proof faces, Charlie Manson, Cassius Clay

The Diamond Dogs wore white masks and went hunting for mutants. A story begun to form in my head. The story of a girl that is forced to leave her home on Poachers Hill and go back into Hunger City to find Halloween Jack. The story is writing itself. I sit here and I type, but almost feel like it’s being channeled through me. I don’t want to sit here alone and work on this in solidarity. I want to share it with the world now. One chapter at a time. Get your feedback as we get through the story. Discover the mysteries of Hunger City together.

This is not the story as written by Bowie himself. It is not a copy of his storyboard. This is a story about a girl that lives in the world of Hunger City. And yes, Halloween Jack will make an appearance later in the series.

Enjoy. Here is the link to CHAPTER ONE. A new chapter will be published every week until the story has been told.

Filed Under: Blog, Music, Novel, Writing Tagged With: blackstar, blog, bowie, david bowie, Halloween Jack, Hunger City, music, personal, writing

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Paperback Writer – how to get them?
  • Happy New 2023!
  • End of Year Sale!
  • Research and Writing
  • A Book and a Cover

Recent Comments

  • Iain CM Gray on Happy New 2023!
  • Verrader – een kort verhaal on A Traitor Lay Dying – a short story
  • villia on Is it possible?
  • Chris on Is it possible?
  • Reviews and indy authors | Villi Asgeirsson on Blood and Rain – novel published

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • January 2020
  • October 2019
  • January 2019
  • November 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • September 2016
  • March 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • November 2014
  • September 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012

Categories

  • Blog
  • Film
  • Icelandic
  • Music
  • Novel
  • Personal
  • Politics
  • Promotions
  • Reviews
  • Short Stories
  • Social Media
  • Thoughts
  • Uncategorized
  • Website
  • Writing

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Novels

  • Newsletter
  • Novels
    • Blood and Rain
    • Under the Black Sand
  • Translations

Copyright © 2023 · Author Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

 

Loading Comments...