The Island Wakes

The Island Wakes is a spooky tale, set in 1989, in which two teenagers maroon themselves on an uninhabited, tropical island to make a film for university. They are unaware that the island is guarded by an ancient spirit who will protect her land and sea at all costs.

Soon to be heading out to a publisher / agent near me, is my folk horror/cli-fi fictional tale, inspired by an ancient Micronesian legend and my own experience of living for a month on a haunted, uninhabited desert island in 1989. 

I thought I had it ready, but every time I look through it, I feel the need to edit further. It's already had about six rewrites. When does this stop? I guess never. Writing can always be improved. However, after this round of edits, I'm going to stop procrastinating and send it to two publishers who have caught my attention lately. 

One is spellbound books who will be coming to Swanick Writers' Summer School this year. I hope to be able to get a few moments with them and pitch the book. The other is Arcadia https://www.arcadia-books.co.uk/ who publish writers of capricious Fae such as Kit Whitfield's In the Heart of Hidden Things. 

Although The Island Wakes is inspired by  real events, all characters are completely fictional. The island I describe, though, is the one  I remember. Some of the problems were also real: for example storms, sharks and crabs with claws big enough to bite your finger off, not to mention all the scary insects that live in that region.

I'll keep you posted with how things are going. I aim to have it submission ready by the end of July if not before. I need to get the synopsis and query letter to a high standard and do a proof read.