Stepping into the light:  Lark Neville

I grew up being exposed to the power of words. My father and mother faithfully read to me as a child. I loved the idea that mere letters on a page could transport me to another world. Within a book, existed adventures and friends that I would never have known in everyday life. Once I learned to read and write on my own, I was hooked. Hours were spent lying on the lawn of my grandparents house reading mystery and horror novels. The library was my favorite haunt. I would feel immediately at home the second I hit the doors and smelled the familiar scent of the old collection.

I was probably about 11 years old when I started writing poetry and short stories of my own. Poetry has always been a great gift in dealing with any emotion, and I was captivated by the fact that my words could move people. I always wrote when I needed to release emotions or figure out how I felt about something. Though I try to be open and honest in my everyday life, I am shy. So my writing, especially my poetry, is where people can come to know my heart the best.

I make my living as a technical writer currently and have dabbled in newspaper reporting, radio, and advertising. Now I am trying to submit poetry and short stories for publication. I am very new at it, but I try to submit things again as soon as I receive a rejection. Rejections can sting, but it is all worth it when I hear even one person liked my work. To me that is the ultimate goal: to move someone, give them an experience.

My fiction writing tends to have a paranormal and horror flavor. I am an avid reader of many different genres, but for my own work I tend to stay pretty centered there. In my heart will always linger the influence of Stephen King, Clive Barker, Ann Rice, and Dean Koontz. They are the masters. Though I have experienced the thrill of seeing my byline on articles, I long for the day when I might crack open a copy of a book with my name on it.

Artists, be they writers, painters, or sculptors, simply feel compelled to do what they do. It is how they communicate their inner world to the outer one. It is how they stay sane. I am no different. I will always do this.

To aspiring writers, I would say: Your differences are your gifts. Writers need to be true to themselves in their work; write passionately and nakedly. If you want to capture someone’s imagination you have to have an emotional truth behind your words. I think the advice to read a lot is valuable for any author. It is not only useful to see what works, and what doesn’t, it reminds us of the joy that inspired our creativity in the first place.

I hope you enjoy the work here. You can write me at lark.neville@yahoo.com.

Darkest Dreams,

Lark Neville