An Interview with Daniel James: Author of Hourglass

Daniel James is an author of dark fantasy, thrillers, and horror, from Liverpool, England.

He first began writing as a hobby and creative outlet to distract himself from the mundanity of completing his Bachelors of Science at Liverpool Hope University. His character-driven, action-packed urban fantasy novel, Hourglass, received a Kirkus Star from Kirkus Reviews, and was voted one of their Best 100 Indie novels of 2021.

Growing up, he spent perhaps a little too much time daydreaming about superheroes and horror movies. In his mid-teens, he got his first bass guitar and joined his first band. No points for guessing the quality of their output. But growing up he maintained his interest in music, playing in several better bands and gigging locally. Having experienced a mugging at 18, he later decided to take up kickboxing and jiu-jitsu. Despite loving the thrill of getting soundly beaten-up several days a week, this bruising hobby eventually fell by the wayside. And that left only the writing, the one hobby he couldn’t shake.

His noir thriller novel Pigs landed him a New York literary agent in Ethan Ellenberg, who subsequently released it through his in-house imprint. Although Dan is currently an independent author, his previous involvement with a professional agency drove him to continue his writing pursuits unabashed. He has since released Hourglass, Fable, Heathens, and the upcoming sequel to Hourglass, The Ferryman’s Toll.

When not writing, he loves reading genre fiction and comic books, watching movies, listening to music, and playing guitar.

Why did you want to write a book?

I think I was just curious. I’ve always had a very busy imagination, a frequent wool gatherer. And while being bored rigid in my final year at university, I was working evenings at a mental health hospital, and on one such evening, I found an inordinate amount of shed hair in an empty counseling room. Instantly, I started to concoct a little fantasy about a lycanthrope staff member of a secret facility underneath the hospital, specializing in paranormal peacekeeping. It was a silly little thought, but I couldn’t shift it and set about writing it. My first ever book. I have long since unpublished it, thankfully.

Why did you choose to self-publish?

Truthfully, it was out of necessity. I ran an earlier draft past my agent at the time to test the water, but they were not interested. It felt as though the story, and largely me as a writer, were too difficult to nail down into any one specific genre, and I’ll admit I was getting quite impatient with the runaround, so I decided to respectfully sever ties and go indie.

Would you self-publish again?

Already in the homestretch of releasing the sequel, The Ferryman’s Toll, so absolutely.

What do you think are the main pitfalls for indie writers?

I think a lot of new and inexperienced indie writers are so excited to get a book out, that they sprint to the finish line instead of being the tortoise: slow but thorough. I was exactly the same for my first books.

It can be surprising how many I see asking the writing communities on social media about whether they need to have their work edited. Of course, you do. As indie authors, we’re not exactly packing the funding of the Big 5 publishers, but if you want to get anywhere, you need to have a real long think about being disciplined with your budget. Scrimp and save if you have to. Don’t go out drinking every weekend if you can’t afford to. You should complete at least two or three drafts of your manuscript, then get it professionally edited. Sorted that? Excellent. Now get it professionally proofread. Yeah? Sweet. Now you want to pay for a good cover designer, because despite the wisdom, EVERYBODY judges a book by its cover.

What tips can you give other authors looking to self-publish?

Be patient, and learn to manage your writing time, your budget and your promo time. Seeing as how the collective indie vessel gets tossed about the rough waters of obscurity and self-doubt, we all need to batten down the hatches and bear with it. Set money aside for professional edits, and a great eye-catching cover. But that’s only the beginning. Once your book is out there, it’s all about branding. Authors need some social media outlets (I know, I’m not a fan of them either, but that’s modern life in this simmering apocalyptic age!), even if it’s only one.

I also strongly recommend a website/blog; again, just to keep your name out there via posts and/or updates, because the more presence you have, the greater the chances a reader will grab one of your books out of curiosity. Try giving away free chapters on your site/blog to entice readers. Do giveaways on Goodreads. Join writers’ groups, or any group of like-minded individuals (If they ask you to bring your own goat and robe, these are the wrong individuals).

Do all of this and a wee bit more, and hopefully you’ll be a shoe-in! Yep, I better you never thought the writing would be the easy bit! But if you love what you do, you learn to love this too.

As a writer, what is your schedule? How do you get the job done?

Working full-time as a domestic at a children’s hospital, I have to knuckle down after shifts or on my days off. Ideally, I prefer to write early in the morning, freeing me up for the remainder of the day, but if life gets in the way, I’ll make sure I set some time aside for later on. It’s better to knock out a few hundred words than nothing at all, because it’s all forward momentum.

Tell us about the genre you wrote in, and why you chose to write this sort of book.

I think I quite readily incorporate dark fantasy, thriller, and horror without giving it a second thought. it’s quite strange, because it’s not intentional, but various reviewers have commented on it so there must be some substance to it. I suppose the story ideas which hook me naturally swerve lanes, ultimately creating a glorious six car pile-up of cinematic action-spectacle, piloted by damaged characters, and dealing with various monsters, freaks, and dark matters.

Why did you write about this particular subject?

I always wanted to start a sweeping fantasy epic, which traded castles and swords for covert intelligence organisations and guns, all the while keeping the hoards of monsters, unlikely heroes, tests of loyalty, shifting allegiances, and demonic kings. Add a dash of paranormal super-heroics, and Hourglass (and the subsequent novels) is the subject in which I feel most at home. It satisfies all of my creative indulgences, and I simply love writing this world.

Who are your biggest writing inspirations and why?

My first answer has always been Robert McCammon, and I don’t see it changing now. Out of all the authors I read growing up, no one’s work got inside my head the way his did. Stinger, Swan Song, Gone South, They Thirst. These were books that had this magical ability to play out like the best damn genre movies ever made inside my head. The guy is a creative lodestar for me.

But I also love the works of Dan Simmons, Clive Barker, and F. Paul Wilson. All of these outstanding writers and storytellers have a gift to lend their hand to multiple genres, keeping their oeuvre fresh and exciting.

What are your plans now your book is published?

I get very restless without a writing project to work on. Since I started writing, I struggle to take more than a few weeks off. With the second book in the series due out very soon, I’m already making headway on the first draft of the third Hourglass installment, Strange Fates. I’ve come to accept that I’m a tightly-wound workaholic.