Writing Groups! What To look For!

24 02 2022

Breadth of experience. My main group of 20 + years Noble Fusion Eastern Court has Dr. Lawrence Schoen, Nebula nominee and a PhD in Psychology; Barbara E. Hill, a novelist and pharma marketing professional; Buck Dorrance, a retired Navy submariner and nurse anesthetist; Sally Weiner Grotta, who is a global journalist, photographer, and freelance reviewer; and Cathy Petrini, former ghost writer for Sweet Valley High and professional magazine editor.

They cover a range of expertise useful for horror writers from health care procedures to religion to travel.

I have a second group, a less ambitious, more sociable group. My more sociable group has librarians, a degreed physicist, editors, and generally huge fans of fantasy and science fiction.

Very few of these good people are horror fans. So I belong to Online Writers Workshop, which require an annual fee. Check out their website. The rates are reasonable and I was able to read Nicole Cushing and others before they made it big. And it’s nice to be praised by Leah Bobet or Jeanne Cavalos of Odyssey Writers Retreat.

As mentioned in previous posts, always find people who know more than you. Find people more accomplished than you. They inspire and encourage.

This post is brought to you by Main Root Blueberry Soda! I discovered it at a restaurant and man it is filled with blueberry goodness. I found it at a local co-op, but its available online or in some big box stores.

Acclaim is like carving an ice sculpture on a hot summer day. Is it possible to cherish that effort?

Remember to exercise and take your vitamins.


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Check this out on Amazon

24 02 2022

Turn Your Fandom Into Cash: A Geeky Guide to Turn Your Passion Into a Business (or at least a Side Hustle) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09FSC7D8H/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_4VGJT68S12DVXEGA14RE

Carol has been a friend for decades. She writes reviews for Fandom and is an Grade A Number 1 Nerd. I’m buying this book because I know there will be fun, useful advice.


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Categories : Books, PhilCon, Reviews, Writing, Writing Advice, Writing Ideas

What I Learned About Writing While My Guts Were An “E” Ticket

15 02 2022

If you don’t understand the headline, an old head can explain it.

This week I’m recovering from food poisoning, probably from raw honey. I don’t know. This week has been a wash. That said, I’ve been doing more reading and listening to podcasts. The books I ordered while I had Covid had arrived and before this latest fresh hell, I got some reading in. I listened to some podcasts and learned two things to apply to my work in progress:

Writing Excuses. When you leave a red herring, have your most liked character notice it first and be distracted by it. I lucked into doing this right because my novel has few characters. And to have a charismatic villain, just give them a goal and turn them loose. Have them make mistakes and vulnerabilities. Did well with this, thanks to guidance from my writing group Noble Fusion.

Body Shocks: Extreme Tales of Body Horror. edited by Ellen Datlow

You don’t need to be queasy about Extreme Body Horror anymore. It seems that prose masters of gore like Ed Lee are no longer considered “Extreme Horror” and are now called “Splatterpunks”. Now “Body Horror” is less about grotesquerie and more about social commentary, as in Cronenburg or Del Toro movies. Look up Sam Miller’s story in Pseudopod for his sequel to Carpernter’s “The Thing” from a queer perspective.

Or look up Johnson’s “Spar”, which won the Nebula for Best Short Story. The collection span this now-seemingly quaint story of amorphous alien sex, to collectors of anatomy, to forced paralysis, to murder victims. There is a being made of candy and I found that a neat idea. The whole book is worth reading. I enjoyed it. My enthusiasm may be a little wrung out from my recent experience, if you catch my drift.

“The Wide Carnivorous Sky” collects John Langan’s stories. Think Stephen King with less monster, more dread. (This is terribly reductive, but I’m dehydrated okay?) I am on the fence about this collection. He writes dense and compelling descriptions, sets just enough mood, then it’s an info dump of a monster or a rather pedestrian kill. Langan is a college professor who teaches fantastic fiction, and he comes up with great ideas. But these stories seem more set-up than execution, so to speak. He does grittier, more lived-in people than King, though, and should be read if for that reason.

All in all, most of what I read from both books seemed less about sensation than about sensibility.

Yet I’m squeamish about Ed Lee, so your milage will vary.

The body is a skeleton wrapped in a meat gundam suit powered by a bowl of electrical jello that may be haunted, all made from stardust, standing on a rock spinning in space. Any of these elements can fail at any time. You’re welcome.


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At 32K On WIP and A Step Closer To Understanding My Purpose In Life

1 02 2022

Hi guys,

At this point, I’m working on the first fight between protagonists and the Big Bad (who is also a Big Reveal and even a Big Protagonist Insight, lotsa layers here). The protagonist will come out the worse for wear, as you do. I had no idea how to set up the Big Final Fight, which had to happen on the Protagonist’s turf for it to be meaningful and use these neato set pieces I am itching to use. It took a few minutes mulling while making dinner for the answer to appear: Big Protagonist Insight is that Protagonist and Big Bad want the same things, so yeah, Big Bad will want to seize Protagonist’s turf. With a little goading and insulting, Big Bad would charge in recklessly. A little trite, but it works.

Am I being too abstract?

The take-away here is by giving clear goals to your characters can fulfill plot needs more easily. “Motivation” is a basic detail, granted, but giving characters relatable motivations is more satisfying and provides more opportunity. The Big Bad could just be Evil and destroy just for the heck of it, but that would be lame. My Big Bad wants because it is a second-tier replacement for the Protagonist, and the BB knows that. Best to eradicate the Protagonist, be saved that painful reminder, and become a step closer to being the optimum replacement.

As in all things in life, what does this have to do with me?

When I started personal counseling (this phase of it), my counsellor stated the goal was to get me back to creating things the way I had as a child, scrawling stuff in the corner just to enjoy it. My past couple of years had brought me to realize my perception of the world was warped, my goals were warped by my perception of the world, and I daydreamed-imagined-created to avoid the world.

My perception was warped. I wanted relationships, experiences, growth, and I self-sabotaged because I thought the world barren of compassion. Knowing this, shouldn’t I push myself into new experiences? Aren’t my existing goals inherently flawed?

I grew up entertaining myself. It may have been a coping mechanism, but is entertaining yourself bad? Does I need a relationship? I’ve met only a few people in almost sixty years who “got me” and who “I got”. I’ve been sitting in Panera Bread and writing for almost ten years now. Have I been wasting my life?

I feel myself becoming more comfortable with my cloistered little self. I think that’s a good thing. Maybe it will help lead to other experiences.


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