ARLYA

Jack Lowe-Carbell

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GENRE:  Thriller

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BLURB:

Arlya, a small town in Southern Ontario, is rocked by a gruesome crime. Four friends must work together with Detective Dylan Grey to find a pattern, a bike, a clue, and a sister before it is repeated.

James and his three best friends, Owen, Tommy, and Mike, have just finished school for the summer. The plan is the same as every other year: they are going to build the biggest fort yet, deep in the Dhoon Woods. After stumbling across a tiny, seemingly unimportant wooden hut, a series of crimes take place and their plans change.

Arlya falls into itself. Doors are locked, curtains drawn, bikes are put away, strangers invade, and kids are off the street. In the first week of summer vacation, a dark and disturbing family history is uncovered; friends turn on each other; a storm rolls through town; and a monster is hiding just out of sight, smiling its toothy grin and crawling through the corn.

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EXCERPT

One Friday night last summer, the four of them had left James’s house after his parents had gone to bed. They had biked around in the dark, briefly illuminated by the sparse streetlights looming over the side streets. Fog had drifted across the side roads; houses were barely visible through their covered lawns. Somehow, they wound their way to the bottom of Cemetery Hill.

“My grandpa is in there,” Tommy had said quietly.

They had looked out at the long blackness which rose menacingly above them. The trees at the top of the hill had been reaching toward the starry sky.

James had wanted to bike back. If he had left, the others would have surely followed suit. Mike had glanced at James waiting for his decision.

“My dad was supposed to be buried here,” Owen had said, his voice cracking, devoid of moisture.

The fog had continued to thicken around the four of them standing stagnant in the road, straddling their bikes.

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Writing My First Novel

By Jack Lowe-Carbell

I was given the option to write about anything I would like for this post so I thought I would take a moment to describe the journey I took to writing my first book. I will keep it short and sweet and won’t ramble too much I swear.

I tried twice to write a novel before this attempt and both fizzled out at the 60,000 word mark, about two-thirds. I just stopped caring, I stopped loving the characters, I started doubting the story and one day, I never came back to it again. So my biggest piece of advice is: plan out your story from front to back. Not every little detail, not every line, but every chapter or part. Know how it ends. This may be advice people don’t take and that’s fine. Stephen King says he never plans the ending, he treats it like an archeological dig. Not everyone is Stephen King. I am not Stephen King. I tried to do that and hated it. On the third try I spent about a month planning my book. I wrote a mystery novel so it may have been a bit longer because I had to keep track of my clues and suspects, etc. But about a month to plan, and then one glorious day, when you woke up feeling good, had your coffee, don’t really have any plans and the laptop is waiting with that blank page, you can start.

I set a goal for every day, about 1,500 words, and if I was feeling good keep going but it helped. I also never ever ever read anything I wrote. Never. Don’t. It’s poison and you will begin to doubt and rethink and lose the flow. Wait until editing because I will tell you now there were some days I was so unbelievably not on my game. In the editing process there were times I scrapped like 3,000 word sections. Select and delete. Hated it, everything about it, but it’s fine, because the bones were there, and strong, you can’t be on your game every day.

I also think it is so important that you just keep coming back to it. Every day. Every day you have to come back and keep writing because if this is what you want to do. You have to write.

I have been asked by other aspiring novelists what it took to finish my first novel because that is always the hardest part, finishing it. I read somewhere that when you feel that anxiety, the one in your gut and you are questioning everything about the book, doubting every line, then it means you are ready to be done. So sit down and finish it. Editing is a whole other beast I won’t even get into, but who cares, finish it, then you can sit back wherever you are and smile because you have a secret, you just finished a book. You did, and then, it’s time to start thinking about the next one.

It’s a strange career choice, because nothing is concrete, nothing is set out, there are no rules, even grammar and syntax can be bent, and isn’t that so exciting. Nothing is there. It’s just you and an idea and your heart is racing because this could be the one. And halfway through you can change it, inspiration hits; he actually misses the game; the woman in the closet was never there and the house could burn; she lost the piece of paper with his number on it and how will they ever get to call each other; the island could sink and fall into nothingness; the sky could turn yellow; and all you have to do is sit down, the water is so nice it’s time to let the current take you.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Jack Lowe-Carbell is a 26-year-old writer living in Vancouver, BC. Arlya is his first novel, and it is based in his hometown, Ayr, ON. Thanks to his dad, who read him horror stories when he was far too young, Jack has always loved the genre. His next novel is a tale of horror based in Garibaldi Provincial Park.

CONNECT WITH JACK LOWE-CARBELL

WEBSITE – https://jacklowecarbell.com/

FACEBOOK – https://www.facebook.com/arlyanovel

INSTAGRAM – https://www.instagram.com/jacklowecarbell/

TIKTOK – https://www.tiktok.com/@jacklowecarbell

PURCHASE LINKS – ARLYA

AMAZON.COM – https://amazon.com/dp/1779410964

AMAZON.CA – https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1779410964

RAKUTEN KOBO – https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/arlya

BARNES & NOBLE – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/book/1144578780

ABEBOOKS – https://www.abebooks.com/products/isbn/9781779410962

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GIVEAWAY

Jack Lowe-Carbell will award a $15 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway