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First of all, why don't you introduce yourself to those of us who
don't alredy know you?
Hello all, my name's Lee Taylor, author name L A Taylor. I'm a British
horror author of two action style gore novels. I live in a town where no
one seems to read, so I think the stork dropped me off in the wrong place,
and probably the wrong country. Anyway, I write what I see inside my mind,
so my stories tend to read like movies on paper. Not script like, but most
readers of my books have told me they'd seen the places I use in their
minds as they read them. They also could vision the people, the horror,
the monsters, so felt like they were inside my stories as well. That is
what I want to bring to the table of writing. I want people to vision what
I saw when I wrote my novels, and, if they enjoyed living in my warped
horror world when they read it then that's a bonus. Your writing tends to invariably
lean towards horror - a genre at all dear to you, and why (not)? And how
would you describe your approach to the genre? Yes, so far
my novels have all been aimed at the horror market. I suppose it goes back
to my childhood, the movies I saw, the books I'd read, or wasn't supposed
to read. I suppose I approach the genre with new ideas, fresh ones to
shake it up a bit. I have an idea to resurrect some of the older classic
books from the 70's/80's era and add my own dimension to them. My first
novel is a classic case of an idea based on an old zombie movie from when
I was a child, but I'm hoping my twisted mind brings more to the genre
than just your usual gore horror story. I want my novels to hit the big
screen one day so why write something with no story, just gore?? I hope my
books are liked because of the story as much as the horror. You have
recently adapted two of your novels, Bed Bugs - Can You See Them?
and Clifton Falls, into screenplays. Basic question: What convinced
you that the both of them would make great movies?
What convinced me? Well that's simple, my mind did. I've always been a
movie nut, no matter what genre, but horror was my favorite back
when I was growing up. I remember watching the zombie movie The Living
Dead at the Manchester Morgue as a child. It scared me so much that I
couldn't move for ages. I have no idea why I wrote a zombie novel as my
first novel, but I have a feeling that movie left an imprint inside my
mind for twenty years before I wrote my own version of what I wanted a
zombie novel to look like. I chose a great story, good characters, and a
zombie tale that could develop into more tales. Whether it be in a TV
series or multiple movies. I didn't go with the usual story where zombies
are everywhere pretty quickly. I went with an idea of how to get them into
my story, and how to keep them in my story, especially as I don't have
hundreds of zombies in this story.
Bedbugs was based on the old saying "Night, night, sleep tight, and
don't let the bedbugs bite". As a child that saying would scare me half to
death, and I would hide underneath my covers to stop the mystery bedbugs
from biting me. I didn't know the saying was aimed at actual bugs in the
bed. I thought it was about real bugs that came in the night to eat you.
Yes, my imagination was crazy as a child. My story is set in the year
2050, and has alien bedbugs in it. Same size as normal bedbugs but these
do eat you, alive. My reason to why this will make a great movie is
because I can't remember anyone actually directing a movie aimed at this
saying. Yes, I've seen movies about the Bogeyman, the Tooth Fairy, and
even about monsters in the closet or under the bed, but not about this.
Plus, my story has a good setting, great characters, and plenty of action,
horror.
Let's
start with Bed Bugs - Can You See Them? - what's that one about?
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Bedbugs
is about a small town that gets invaded by alien, man-eating bugs. The
main story is set in the year 2050, but 73 years earlier, 5 people were
slaughtered in their beds during the night. Nothing happened after that,
no killer was found, and no clues to why the deaths happened, but in the
year 2050 a young boy was slaughtered in his bed after his mother said the
words "Night, night, sleep tight, and don't let the Bedbugs bite." The
local police inspector has to work overtime to find out why this happened
and to why the town is suddenly missing a few people, so after
investigating the case, he finds out that the same type of murder happened
in the year 1977, and a witness to the event was his grandfather. He was 8
years old back then. During the investigation more people are either torn
apart by the mystery killer or have disappeared into thin air. A mad hunt
is on, and all members of the police force are required to help track down
who or what is behind the murders. After a visit to see his grandfather,
the police inspector starts to put pieces of the jigsaw together to
unravel the mystery of how a spaceship crashed beneath the surface of
Lemonsville undetected, and why tiny hunters are eating their way through
the population in a quest to take over the Earth. What
inspired you to write Bed Bugs - Can You See Them? - and any
personal experiences with bedbugs (both alien and terrestrial) of any kind? My
inspiration comes from the old saying. The story was partly written many
years before I actually finished the novel, and with outbreaks of real
life bedbugs in America, I wanted to finish it off to show my American
friends my version of a bedbug outbreak. And no, I've not had any personal
experiences with bedbugs, even the alien kind. What
do you think would make Bed Bugs - Can You See
Them? a particularly great movie - but also where do you see the challenges? I
think this would make a great movie because it has sci-fi in it, alien
beings, a great story idea based around a town of frightened humans who
are being hunted by something they don't see, or only see for a split
second before they are killed. I find this feeling very disturbing, not
knowing where to hide, when to sleep, or where the enemy is. The
challenges would come within the science fiction side. I'm hoping I've
written a good enough story that can adapt my future world to make it not
too futuristic in the settings, even though I do have some cool police weaponry in it. I think it would be tough to make this with a small
budget, well to make it as it should be.
Clifton Falls
- again, what is it about? Clifton Falls is set in the
small farming town of Clifton Falls. The farming company is struggling to
make a profit, so it becomes a guinea pig for a new chemical fertilizer.
What happens after the fertilizer is used becomes a mystery for this town.
A crazy rain storm washes down on the farm and the fertilizer seeps down
to the edge of the field, where a man ended his own life days before. No
one expected someone to kill themselves in this town, so no one checked
the field for him. He wasn't dead for long, and he starts off the virus
style outbreak that ends up turning people into crazy, flesh-eating
zombies. Those that die end up at the hospital, and those who still have
brain activity become that of the living dead. This virus becomes
unstoppable as more and more people are left victims. The local police
force try their best to maintain the problem within the town, as they
don't want any outsiders coming in and taking the virus back with them,
but keeping the virus maintained becomes a struggle for them. How would you describe the
zombies in Clifton Falls - as in slow-moving vs marathon runners,
voodoo-style vs Romero-school, flesh-eating vs non-eating-at-all, ...? I'm
a huge fan of Romero, so my zombies are based on his creation. However, as
there's not loads in my story I didn't want them being just slow and
boring, so I created them with thought. They think, they hunt you down. There
are zombie-movies a dime a dozen - so how do you think Clifton Falls
would stick out of the crowd? I think Clifton Falls will
stick out from the crowd because it's not just a zombie story. I have a
bank robbery scene at the beginning, so there's another story inside the
zombie one, where as the robbers try to get their cash while the zombie
outbreak is happening all around them. I also have emotion in this story.
A lot of zombie flicks is about you versus the zombie. A gang of humans
fight a bunch of zombies with blood & guts added in. For me it's okay,
but I wanted characters, feeling, emotion for my zombie tale. A story
about a small, struggling town that have to band together to fight off the
rabid style attackers. I think it works.
In choosing the right
producer/filmmaker - what are your criteria that must be fulfilled before
you hand your stuff over? And to turn the question on its head right away,
how can producers and filmmakers get in touch with you regarding your
scripts? I've spent many years mastering my stories to make
them not only readable, but enjoyable to read, so I don't want to hand the
scripts over to someone who wants to make a movie with their mates. I want
to be able to earn a living from writing, or selling my scripts, so I have
to think hard about who to talk to. I want to find someone who can think a
bit like me, that is passionate like me, that wants to tell the story like
the way I would, and who can convince me they are who I am looking for. If
any producers and filmmakers want to get in touch with me then you can
either email me on - lee.taylor347@ntlworld.com
or tweet me @mrwriterman or even view my website to send me a message
- www.morgueofthedead.webs.com Any
other books and screenplays of yours you want to talk about?
My third novel The S.T.A.R.S. Project should be released by the
end of 2013. It's my tribute to the late James Herbert, and is my version
of what a killer rats story should be. Again, based on a story I wrote 20
years ago, and inspired by The Rats novel, I resurrected this story last
year to rewrite for its 20th Anniversary. Below is the back cover blog...
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"S.T.A.R.S.
(Science testing aimed at rat’s survival) is a project set up by the
government to increase the survival of the slowly decreasing rat’s
population in the town of AARONSVILLE, North of England. In
today’s society rats have become a lifeline for people. Their blood is
used to heal the sick, but a worldwide virus killed off most of the
population a few years ago. This virus was known as the rodent killer.
The local government decided to set up a lab to help maintain the
rats, and to mate them for the future. The lab was safe from the virus.
Now, a few years later, a change has happened, a change within the
rats has arrived. They have grown wise to the people, and now they want
out. Scientists have been studying these rodents for a long
time, but now, these rodents have begun to study them. They sit and watch
the humans from behind their glass cages, they sit and they plan, they
plan an escape. Tonight they’ll flee from this lab, flee to take revenge
on the human race who thought it best to cage the things that didn’t
want to be caged. Tonight, the town of AARONSVILLE will be awakened once
again with the scurrying of rodents, but this time the outcome will be
different.
THE
RATS ARE COMING!!!"
I'm also working with my American scriptwriter on another zombie
script, but I'm not allowed to give too much away at this time. It's not
in novel form, so it's based on an idea that my imagination has brought
together. We're 20 pages in so far and it's looking pretty good. Again,
it's different to the usual zombie movie ideas, so I'm hoping it's a hit.
What
made you decide to pick up writing in the first place - and what caused
the leap from writer to screenwriter? I have no idea why I
started writing. Seriously I don't, but I remember writing long stories
while at school, and I remember writing stories aged 10 to be read to
younger children. After leaving school I carried on with my sketching, but
not writing. It wasn't until I was at college in 1993 that I started
writing my rats story. Only because someone challenged me to a story-writing competition. I had no idea the story would be well-liked. And yes,
I did win. The leap to scripts is because I write action movie-style
stories that read like movies, so it was the wisest choice for me to adapt
my stories to scripts. Any future
projects of yours you'd like to talk about? I have the
audio of Clifton Falls coming out for sale with Amazon on the 9th July,
but don't quote me. The date has been changed so many times already with the
audio company that it's hard to know for sure, but they sent me a message
with the date recently. I'm working with an audio narrator in the UK for
my Bedbugs story. He sounds a lot like Ewan McGregor, so that's cool. The
script for my rats novel should hopefully be written by next year, so all
in all I should be busy. How would
you describe yourself as a writer? I'm a passionate writer
who likes to picture everything within my mind before I write it. If I
can't see it then it won't be written. I like to write fun action thrill
ride stories that take the reader on an adventure into forbidden
territories within my mind. I don't do boring... Writers, filmmakers,
whatever else who inspire you? I'm inspired by everyone who
can make me sit up and take notice, from horror novelists to romance directors. I don't have favorites, I just like a lot of different styles.
I suppose Zack Snyder is one of my favorites at the moment. If only I
could get him to direct one of my stories then that would be awesome. Since this is a movie
site primarily: Your favourite movies? Favorite movies are
- The Thing (1982 version), The Changeling (George.C.Scott version),
Superstition (also known as The Witch), Jaws, The
Exorcist, obviously
the Romero zombie
flicks, the Rocky movies, Final Destination movies,
& the Bad Boys movies (with Will Smith)... and not forgetting the
Chucky movies. These are only a tiny few of my favorite movies. ... and of
course, films you really deplore?
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Feeling lucky ?
Want to search for books by
L A Taylor
yourself? |
The links below
will take you
just there!!!
(commissions earned) |
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Cheaply made horror
movies, most are terrible. Have you ever seen Snakes on a Train?? Not
the ones on a plane, even though that wasn't the greatest movie, but Snakes on a
Train was total trash. Anaconda 3 & 4, Jaws 4,
The
Exorcist sequels, Rocky & Bullwinkle...yes, I did watch it,
once... Your website,
Facebook, whatever else?
My website is -
www.morgueofthedead.webs.com
Twitter is - @mrwriterman
Facebook is -
https://www.facebook.com/lee.taylor.54584
Anything else you are dying to
mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? Nope, I think
I've kept you amused for the time being. Thanks for
the interview!
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find L A Taylor at amazon.com
find L A Taylor at amazon.co.uk
find L A Taylor at amazon.de
