Absolutely delighted to have just discovered that the magnificent Mr H. of brilliant blog The Book Zone has chosen the first paragraphs of The Black Tattoo as this week’s Attention Grabber: “my new weekly feature where I post what I think is a great opening paragraph to a book, the sort of opening that pulls young readers in and hooks them from the start.”

But I was particularly touched by the following: “Having just started my first ever attempt at NaNoWriMo I am all of a sudden feeling a small amount of hate for Sam, and many others – I wish I could write this well!”

The opening paragraphs of The Black Tattoo – and anything in any of my books – did not come out like that the first time I wrote them. What you read in my books is the result of a lot of redrafting and polishing. For my thoughts on that, and some glimpses of what the opening of Black Tat might have been, click through to the post on The Book Zone and check the comments.

Yesterday was a national holiday in Japan – Bunka no hi or Culture Day. I spent the afternoon walking around the forest of Meiji Jingu…

…where I was lucky enough to catch an astonishing and beautiful display of martial arts. There was sword fighting…

…spear fighting…

…and a particularly jaw-dropping display of how even a katana-wielding samurai in full armour can be vulnerable to a well placed blow with this hook-bladed hatchet:

But even more amazing was the demonstration of Yabusame – traditional Japanese archery from horseback.

The participants arrived in ceremonial procession…

…fully decked out in gorgeous period regalia…

…and proceeded to charge past the crowd at full tilt, loosing their arrows at the targets.

The horse and rider in my pic above are just speed blurs. Imagine how the target must look from the saddle!

As a total samurai movie geek I was in absolute heaven.

It was an awesome day…

…full of sights I’ll never forget.

I was grinning like an idiot for the entire afternoon. ;D

There are certain things that every visitor to Tokyo expects to see, without which any record of a stay here would feel incomplete.

In this category are plastic food, as displayed outside restaurants to show what’s available inside:

This selection of Western dishes is, I think, a particularly alarming example. Check out the greasy gleam on those chips.

And then, of course, there’s Japanglish:

The above comes from a cosmetics shop in Harajuku, not far from where I found these:

Footsore from wandering, one might be tempted to restore oneself with this:

I’ve now been in Tokyo for about ten days. I’ve bought food and done laundry and navigated the subway by myself like a big boy. I’ve even managed to get a couple of days’ writing done. Maybe – maybe – I’m beginning to get the hang of things…

Last night I went on a tour of Aoyama Cemetery, the biggest and oldest graveyard in Tokyo.

Local taxi drivers, I heard, won’t stop here during the hours of darkness.

They speak of a woman in a blue (or white) dress who hails a cab and asks to be taken to a nearby destination, calling it by a strangely old-fashioned name.

But whenever drivers who pick her up take her there, they find she has vanished, leaving nothing but a pool of water.

Whether it’s the ghost or the upholstery-cleaning fees these cabbies fear the most, no one knows. ;D

Sam

I’m here! I’m actually here! Bwaha! BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Um, sorry. On Trapped By Monsters, while I continue to try to adjust: hang on to your intestines (or at least know who’s stealing them) with The Right Guidebook.

This week on TBM, a new edition of a genuine comics classic: THE INCAL is INCREDIBLE!

As the start of my upcoming Japanese adventure draws closer there are various bits and pieces that need taking care of before I go. But I’m delighted to say that I’ve now sorted out what was one of the biggest worries for me, namely finding a new and suitable WRITING HAT.

This isn’t a superstitious thing; there’s nothing magic about a good writing hat. It’s simply that I like to write near a window that I can look out of once in a while – the drawback being that this means I also need some kind of hat with a brim, to shade my eyes so I can see my computer screen.

Behold my old writing hat, as kindly modelled by a friend of mine:

If you click here and scroll down you can see some pics of this hat in action while I was writing Tim, Defender of the Earth. It’s most often worn low over the eyes, like this:

I got this hat from a charity shop for a fancy dress party when I was thirteen. As you can see, it’s not wearing the years since lightly. Fond of it as I am, I have to admit it’s looking pretty manky these days – besides which, putting it in a suitcase would destroy it. What to do?

Problem: I needed not ‘just’ a new writing hat, but one that wouldn’t mind being squashed flat.

Answer: …EUREKA!

This is a brand new, genuine Yorkshire flat cap, which I bought at the recent (and excellent) Nidderdale Agricultural Show.

As you can see above, the brim is just right. It’s warm for the winter, and it will be fine in a suitcase – after all, what hat could be flatter than a flat cap?

But as if those attributes weren’t enough on their own, I’m thrilled to find this hat is also surprisingly versatile. As well as the traditional face-on position…

…there’s also the back-to-front look or, as I call it, ‘The Samuel L.‘:

You can even wear it sideways like a beret, ‘A La Francaise‘:

What a comfort it is to know that however my travels turn out, I’ll have a good writing hat with me.

😀

Sam

Where do you get your ideas from? It’s the question authors are asked most. Whenever I’m asked I do my best to answer, but while I do I’m often tempted to point out that getting ideas isn’t really the most important bit.

I’m currently writing a new short story, and passing (I hope) a particular point in the process – a point I have come to know a little too well. Here’s Michael Marshall Smith, author of some of my very favourite short stories, describing it in the afterword to his collection More Tomorrow & Other Stories:

“This is often how it happens too. You get that first chunk, the kick-off. And then your fingers stop moving, and the spell wavers… That initial burst of speed fades, and you don’t know how to proceed. You turn to your visitor, that intrusive idea, to check if it has any suggestions, but see it has settled down in a chair in the back of your study, flicking through an old magazine, and realise it’s going to be no help at all.

‘Hey,’ you say. ‘So what happens next?’

‘Beats me,’ [the idea] mutters. ‘You’re the writer.'”

Getting ideas is important. It’s hard to start without them, and sometimes they can take you a long way. But turning ideas into stories – the best stories you can possibly make? That’s where the work is.

For ten days an idea has been sitting in front of me with its arms crossed, not looking at me, sulking. One way or another, that situation is about to change…

OK, I can’t wait any longer, I’ve just got to show you the cover art of my forthcoming Barrington Stoke book, My Name is O.

Here’s O’s own description of the mirror, from the book:

The frame is made of black wood, carved into the shape of four giant scorpions. The scorpions face each other – two at the bottom of the mirror, two at the top. They are locked in combat, their claws crossed. Their long tails curl around the mirror’s corners until the stingers of the high and low scorpions meet, at the very middle of each of the mirror’s sides.

The mirror is a horrible thing. To a normal person, everything about it says “Don’t touch.”

…But my masters are not normal people.

Thanks and awed respect to artist Dan Chernett for the terrific job he did on the frame, to Rich for the fonts, and to Vicki for involving me so much throughout the design process. The book is about to go off to press right now. I can’t wait to see how it turns out! 😀

Meanwhile on TBM: Quick! Go see my new favourite monster film!

Some wonderfully penetrating questions about The Black Tattoo in the Black Tat Guestbook this week, from Angela, 12, in Korea.

***SPOILER WARNING!*** If you haven’t read the book, you might want to look away now. If you have, here’s what she asked and how I answered…

Angela wrote:

The Black Tattoo was so… GOOD! Half of me wanted to go slowly and savor it, and half of me was flipping the pages at superhuman speed. Loved the characters, especially the Scourge, the Chinj, and Number Three. A few questions, though…

How exactly did Nick get possessed by the Scourge?

What were those burns on his hands?

Why do the Sons never reveal their names?

And what are the Sons of the Scorpion Flail exactly? I mean, why is Number One never really known, and how did Number Two get to be ‘Number Two’ in command?

Bye, I’m going to get Tim (oh wait, the bookstore isn’t open today… pfft)

-Hello Angela,

Thanks so much for your kind words. I don’t think I’ve had a message from a reader in Korea before! 😀

I’m thrilled and honoured by your questions, because they’re even more of a sign of how much you enjoyed the book than your praise. However, I’m a little hesitant about answering them fully, not because I don’t have answers (I do – or I /think/ I do!) but because the reason I didn’t answer them in the book is that I like stories that leave space for the reader to imagine things for themselves. When everything is laid out for you then there’s no room for any other interpretation, and I think that’s always a shame. So while I can give you a couple of answers, I hope you’ll understand why I’m not going to tell you everything.

Also, I don’t take it for granted that what I imagined for these characters outside the story in the book is any more valid (or awesome!) than what /you’ve/ imagined, just because I’m the author. If you’ve got better answers, go with those. ;D But here goes…

-In the battle in which Belinda was killed, Nick managed to trap the Scourge in a staff – but only just: that’s how his hands got burned. The problem was, he didn’t complete the ritual by taking the Scourge back to the tree.

-If you join the Sons of the Scorpion Flail you have to give up your name — or rather, your number /becomes/ your name. You have no other identity beyond or outside The Sons of the Scorpion Flail.

-Number Two was good at being a Son. But as he progressed up the ranks, Number One noticed that his increasing power in the organisation was going to his head. When Number Two (with the agreement of the other three apparently active members of the Top Five at that time-!) was promoted to Number Two, /he/ thought he was now acting leader of the Sons. But Number One only put him there so he could keep an eye on him. ;D

-As to who or what the Sons are beyond what they say to Esme when they first arrive at the theatre, I leave that to you to imagine. HEE HEE HEE!

Thanks so much, again, for your wonderful message and questions, Angela. Very best wishes to you from here in London,

Sam

…Meanwhile, this week on Trapped By Monsters, an introduction to The Legendary Richard Matheson.