J Collyer’s Weblog

Before I started my studiesI fancied myself becoming a fantasy writer. I still enjoy ‘intelligent’ fantasy, writers like Robin Hobb, Rebecca Bradley, Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett who all did crafted novels that was unmistakably fantasy, but of a different, more imaginative breed, one that did not sacrifice the basic fundamentals of good writing and story-telling, as fantasy novels so often do. They sparked my own imagination and weighted me deliciously and almost physically in their various and original Other worlds using extrememly effective techniques in their characterisation, plot structure and exposition.
However, within a few weeks of starting my degree I found that working the trick these writers did is extremely hard to achieve. I also found the course opened my mind to other interesting literary and real-life paths which I had previously not been keen on. I have never lost my love of fantasy and I still like to try to maintain the air of the fantastic and the surreal about my writing, even if it has veered down a more traditional, literary road.

My work as often had a dark edge and I’ve enjoyed Anne Rice for as long as I can remember but more recently I’ve found myself drifting to some gothic writers such as Poe and Lovecraft. Writers like these struck this wonderful balance between literary fiction, incomparably skill and uncompromising surreality. Arguably these writers also fall under the heavy label of ‘fantasy’ and I find it hard to deny that I am drawn to the other-worldly, the spectacular, the dark and the different. But then again, with the power of the entire English language at one’s service, why not go somewhere else?

And so, even though there may be a visible vein of darkness through my writing, my actual subject matter varies immensely, from prose rewritings of ‘The Ancient Mariner’ to more comedic, modern stories, like a fictional enactment of the stealing of Edvard Munch’s Scream. I also like unconventional and skillfully-used plot structures that leave the reader surprised and excited.

I try to write for the benefit of the reader, to take them on their own journey and to let their imagination be the main tool involved. Each story and poem I write seems to try and do this in a different way so I find it hard to catagorise my style. I shall let readers do that, if they wish to.

Mostly, above all, I wish to entertain. My stories are for others more than myself. So, really, above everything else, I hope you enjoy them.