My first chapter is 6500 words.
The rest of the novel is 12,000.
There may be fleshing out….
19,000 Words On NaNoWriMo
24 11 2014Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: horror novel, NaNoWriMo, speculative fiction
Categories : Writing, Writing Advice
Horror Writing Prompts and Ideas
24 11 2014Monsters Used Rarely. Blaze your own trail with these creatures.
http://electricliterature.com/31-fairly-obscure-literary-monsters/
Botany Turned Magic. A neat world-building detail.
http://mentalfloss.com/article/60243/tree-flowers-40-different-fruits
1970s Spooky Anthology TV Series. Anything useful here?
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Tags: horror, horror fiction, novel writing, speculative, speculative fiction
Categories : Writing, Writing Advice
I’ll See Someone (You?) At PhilCon!
15 11 2014On Friday (my only day allowed from my Big Box job), I will be at three panels and a friend’s booklaunch at PhilCon: Philadelphia’s Science Fiction Convention. It’s the oldest running con in the US.
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Tags: horror novel, novel writing, philcon, speculative fiction, writing advice
Categories : Conventions, PhilCon
Keeping Morale Up During NaNoWriMo
13 11 2014I hadn’t tried to work on NaNaWriMo, because my self-esteem isn’t great enough to handle anything resembling a competition. I know the purpose of NaNoWriMo is to kickstart your own work and keep a steady pace, and it is barely even a competition with yourself. Yet the reluctance was there.
This year, I started work on a novel in October, so by coincidence here I am in NaNoWriMo like it or not.
I decided to write the first draft long hand. Working that way for the first six chapters of “Flesh Sutra” felt comfortable. It got me back in touch with writing when I was in high school, when I wrote for pure enthusiasm and without my brain demanding I win acclaim for my effort.
So. I became discouraged with my output. I’m a 50+ year old man working on my feet all day. A few hundred words here and there for the last two weeks.
Gathered the pages together and arranged them in a binder. Lo and behold! 18,000 words?! Not counting the first chapter written in October! I estimate I’m 2/5ths through, maybe 3/5ths! A flush of pride and accomplishment!
My characters went off the track and discovered: an underground railroad for paranormal insurgents; a society desperate to ignore said paranormal in the rush to rebuild from its onslaught; the ingenious location of a paranormal spy; a theme reflecting our current cultural struggles.
Writing is a way to explore the uncomfortable. This story is helping me hash out our current mess in speculative fiction and society.
One side has dolts whose hearts are in the right, but has very few actual thinkers.
The other has good thinkers with practical opinions and observations. It also contains (to me) a stunning lack of self-insight.
Both sides have reflexive, simplistic dogmatists.
The best symbolism is accidental. Whatever comes out of the writing, it’s best that I’m surprised.
Meanwhile, have you visited http://theunjaydedbook.wordpress.com/ ? A nice guy and a good writer.
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Tags: horror novel, novel writing, speculative fiction, writing advice
Categories : Uncategorized
I’ve Submitted To The Stoker Awards!
4 11 2014“The Flesh Sutra” has been submitted into the Novel and First Novel categories! I’m excited because I believe in a world filled with zombies, vampires, and subtle surrealities, “The Flesh Sutra” offers something deeper, more insightful, and vivid.
Keep your eyes open, as I plan to submit to the Compton Crook and the Shirley Jackson Awards.
Meanwhile, take a glimpse of something that weirded out the editors of Pseudopod. Click the image.
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Tags: body horror, fantasy novels, horror, horror fiction, horror movie, horror novel, horror novels, pseudopod.org, spec fic, speculative fiction, stoker awards, writing, writing advice
Categories : Uncategorized