Bedtime: A Novel | Update

Hello intrepid readers.

As some of you know I've been working on a novel version of my short story series, 'Bedtime'. Working on it for over three years! Yes, the amount of time I've poured into it has been a bit ridiculous, and one of the main reasons I would strongly recommend to my fellow writers NOT to go down the crowdfunding route unless you have your plot locked in. In any case, for those following the development of the book, let's have a little recap, and outline where we are now.

What Is It?

Bedtime was originally a stand alone short story based on a terrifying experience I had as a child. Of course, I'm more than open to explanations such as sleep paralysis to explain those frightening nights, but the memory has always stayed with me, and so I wrote it down, with a couple of little tweaks for dramatic effect.

The original story was very successful and so I wrote four other stories, the last three of which were entirely fictional. People seemed to respond well to them and so I decided to adapt them into a novel. 

Crowdfunding and Pre-Orders

Thinking that the book would be a simple expanded version of the original stories, with a few extra chapters to flesh out the plot, along with some other short stories I was working on, I decided to call the book 'Bedtime & Other Tales of Terror'. Due to a couple of upsetting incidents where people online claimed that they had written my stories (one person was even shopping the story around to get work), I panicked, and decided I had to move as quickly as possible to get my book out and build a reputation as a writer, and to protect my work. My problem was that I had barely any free time, spending most of my hours each day scraping by as a freelance writer. And so I thought that if I put out a pre-order and a crowdfunding campaign that I could raise enough money to take a month off work and get the entire book ready to roll.

I was overwhelmed by the level of support. Unfortunately the story also took many twists and turns. What was supposed to be a short novella packaged with other short stories, soon became an outright novel. For those who had supported the book, I was able to release two short stories collections - The Face of Fear, and The Horror of Christmas - to them which took care of the "Tales" part of the project, but the novel itself was proving difficult. 

I felt, and still feel, an immense amount of pressure to get it right. The original Bedtime stories have now been read over 2 million times online, adapted into a one-time play in London, and narrated by some of Youtube's biggest narrators. I have to get this right, there's a lot riding on it. But, I'm still embarrassed by the amount of time it's taken. So much so that I still stand by my offer to refund anyone who has backed the project or made a pre-order. The plot continually changed, there are now 3 or 4 completely different versions of the story, and none of them have been good enough in my eyes. Until now...

Where We Stand

There was a major decision to be made about what type of book Bedtime would be, about the plot which could go in many different directions. Finally, I've settled on a path. I have my proofreaders in place, amazing artwork by the exceptionally talented Alan Graham, and I'm very happy with how this draft is turning out. So much so, that I am almost certain the book will be out in the next few months.

I think 'Bedtime: A Novel' is damned scary, I think it has heart, and I think it compliments the original stories well, although takes things in a different, shocking direction. It's been a very long road, and again all I can do is apologise for the wait. If it had been any other book I would have had it out within a few months, but Bedtime is where it all started with me, I owe it to the story, I owe it to myself, but most of all I owe it to the fans who have embraced the original telling, to make sure that the book is as good as it can be. 

I think we're nearly there. Just hold on tight, close your eyes, and don't worry about the breath blowing into your ear, it's only a story, right?