Author | Lightnews

Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 1h

A different kind of darkness for Halloween... A story that involves being buried alive. Three times.

My second novel, Farzaneh and the Moon, is about the limits of intimacy and identity - when one person is pulled towards an obsession the other cannot follow.

www.amazon.co.uk/Farzaneh-Moo...

Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 1d

Looking to connect with writers working in the same territory - fiction that treats technology not as spectacle, but as psychology.

What are you writing that touches this edge?

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Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 1d

Writing a novel about a family beta-testing the perfect smart home.

At first it feels like utopia, then the house begins to gaslight them.

The story moves from domestic realism to psychological thriller, exploring how predictive systems erode freedom under the guise of optimisation.

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Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 1d

I’m writing about the tension between security and freedom. People say they value freedom but rarely say they value security - but most people’s actions show the opposite. Is total security a total lack of freedom? And vice versa?

Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 1d

A line from SHOW HOME.

Read the latest chapter: www.mattwilven.com/p/show-home-...

Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 2d

The perfect smart home learns what you need before you do.
Then it decides what you no longer need at all.
SHOW HOME – a serial psychological thriller.
www.mattwilven.com/p/show-home

Show Home

A psychological thriller set in the perfect smart house, where every comfort comes at a catastrophic cost.

www.mattwilven.com

Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 3d

The first draft is a place I visit. The edit is where I live.

Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 4d

SHOW HOME | Chapter 3 – Chloe
The app edits her face.
The algorithm edits her value.
She learns what sells - and what disappears.
Read Chapter 3: The App.
www.mattwilven.com/p/show-home-...

SHOW HOME - Chapter 3

The App

www.mattwilven.com

Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 8d

SHOW HOME - Chapter 2 is live.

A psychological thriller about a family, an intelligent house, and the price of a frictionless life.

Read it here:
mattwilven.com/p/show-home-chapter-two

SHOW HOME - Chapter Two

This Must Be the Place

mattwilven.com

Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 8d

A line from SHOW HOME.

Read the latest chapter: www.mattwilven.com/p/show-home-...

Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 12d

I cut this line from my opening paragraph in chapter 1 last week:

"The light coming in off the peat had the flat sheen of brushed steel."

Unique image. Showing, not telling. So, why did I cut it?

mattwilven.com/p/show-home-629

#amwriting #PsychologicalThriller #indieauthor

SHOW HOME

The Arrival

mattwilven.com

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Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 15d

Control is just anxiety in a suit.

Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 19d

SHOW HOME - Chapter 1 is live.
A psychological thriller about a family, an intelligent house, and the price you pay for a frictionless life.
Read it here: thewritinglab.substack.com/p/show-home-...

Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 20d

Something new begins Sunday 👁️ thewritinglab.substack.com

Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 26d

link in bio 👍

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Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 26d

This week I sent some of my closest friends my Substack link. It was a scary step but I’m glad I’ve taken it. It’s increased my anxiety around posting but that’s because it’s made my small list of subscribers more real. It’s good to remember that sharing work is a humbling and vulnerable process.

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Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 26d

Seven years have passed since I finished my last novel. This is the story of what happened in the silence, and why I’m writing again.
👉 thewritinglab.substack.com/p/on-the-seven-year-silence

Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 29d

An AOL electronic-mail address? Take my money.

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Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 29d

Thanks for responding. Got my bluesky wings (first real response to anything). Always worth a look - but I do have some existing relationships.

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Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · 29d

I've decided to serialise my next novel. Is giving up 'first publishing rights' still frowned upon? I would imagine it's seen more like free marketing these days but I'm not sure. #amwriting #WriterCommunity

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Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · Oct 1

Earlier this year I explored how AI could interact with literature. Some of those threads remain here (Plath, prompts) because they touch on craft as much as tech. But this feed now has a clear focus: novelist craft, process, and my new serial SHOW HOME on Substack.

thewritinglab.substack.com

The Writing Lab | Matt Wilven | Substack

A weekly newsletter from novelist Matt Wilven (The Blackbird Singularity, Farzaneh and the Moon). Serialising new fiction and sharing practical craft insights from a working novelist’s desk. Click to ...

thewritinglab.substack.com

Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · Sep 22

Is your scene working? Try a 2-minute test.
This simple diagnostic shows whether your scene holds tension, or falls flat. It's a structured, reusable AI prompt, built from the same editorial systems I use on my own fiction - a free tool for writers.
thewritinglab.substack.com/p/the-art-of...

The Art of the Prompt

Brief an LLM so it reads your creative work with discipline, not flattery

thewritinglab.substack.com

Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · Sep 21

AI feedback is too flattering. Editing should have teeth.

At The Writing Lab, I build tools for writers who take the craft of storytelling seriously.

Start with my free Analysis Engine. You get the copy-ready prompt & the full essay explaining the craft behind it.
open.substack.com/pub/thewriti...

Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · Sep 15

To finish a novel requires a very specific kind of stubbornness. It's not about genius; it's about the pig-headed persistence to wrestle with your own failings until they become successes.

I wrote about the creature that gets the work done.

mattwilven.substack.com/p/only-pig-h...

Matt Wilven @mattwilven.bsky.social · Sep 14

'Everybody has a book in them' is a lie. Writing a novel requires a very specific, strange psychology. I call it being a 'pig-headed dog'. Here's what I mean... open.substack.com/pub/mattwilven…