editing

The first chapter of my latest horror novel (titled: “Serve Me Now”) is not really the first chapter and that’s a good thing, because it was like pulling teeth to get it written in the first place. After it was finished (and I felt like I’d just climbed Everest with a 300 lbs. conjoined twin on my back), I let my wife read it. She said it wasn’t the best I’d written – which means it was a pile of hot garbage. I showed it to my writing group – they said I could do better. That definitely means it was a pile of hot garbage.

So, I went on ahead and wrote the second chapter. I figured that I could continue along with the book and just come back to the first chapter and rewrite it in the second draft. I let my wife read the second chapter, and she said it was a lot better – no shoehorning of things, no beating the reader about the head with certain concepts. I haven’t shown it to the writing group yet, but I’m sure they’re going to like it better than the first first chapter.

This is what it’s meant when the writing advice: kill your darlings is uttered. I kinda liked the first chapter. Sure, it was clunky, but I liked the opening of Leslie taking the cherry tomato from Brian’s salad. I liked that visual and how it set up the future of the book. However, the rest of the chapter was, as mentioned earlier, hot garbage. So…it got cut, but I am going to keep that scene with the cherry tomato to be used later. Maybe as a sign that the hunger is getting more intolerable for Leslie.

How was your writing experience?

I am continuing along with the novel, and the tooth-pulling has diminished, but not gone away. I’m concerned that the hunger is growing too rapidly so far. I really want it to be a source of dread – especially when it drives her to the point of legit insanity. Pacing is always a problem for me. Maybe I should bring that up to the writers group. Been writing since I was about seven, and I am still learning things. Never quit learning, kids.

The weather is getting better here, but I am not going to do any photography for a few more months. I want to make sure we’re not going to have a cold snap anytime soon. I’m still struggling to find a good subject, so right now I’m just working on technique. I need to get good soon, so I can make my own covers, I have so many ideas, but I need people to work on them with. Any local volunteers? I can guarantee a steak on one photoshoot.

Well, that’s all for now – sorry this is a little late, but my schedule’s been crazy. Check out the books on the right – I am going to be adding a couple more soon from favorite authors. Stay safe, stay dry and ta-ta for now.

I noticed that I had made a couple of spelling mistakes on the previous entry.

Spellcheck don’t care.

I feel embarrassed about this because I did glance over it before publishing it. Normally, this sort of mistake would be something that would gnaw away at me. Distracting me from other things until I fixed it, and even then I would be recriminating myself for sloppiness. It would pick at me like a vulture looking for a tasty sliver of liver to gnaw on.

I Before E, except after C…and my name…and French loan words…

Now, either through fatigue or maturity, I’m going to let it go. It’s there and there is nothing more to it. I will use it to spur me on to be more wary about things. Maybe triple check something. Do the old “read it backwards” trick when looking over something. Be vigilant!

On other news, I have found a couple of series that I am somewhat invested in. “Yellowjackets” from Showtime is a show that can be described as Lord of the Flies meets Sweet Valley High. Given my fascination (healthy) with cannibalism, this looks to be an interesting series. I’ve seen the pilot, and this is definitely going into my Thursday viewing habit.

The other series is put out by AMC+ — “Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire”. Again, watched the pilot and this is going to be my Saturday evening show. Wow – did they up the homoeroticism! Not a bad thing, but I am looking forward to seeing how this is going to work out. I like how they set up the titular interview. It’s not a hard reboot, but more of a softer version of it. The initial interview has been done, and the reporter is trying to get a second chance at it. Beautifully shot, wonderfully written. This has a couple of things added to it, but then again, it’s been over thirty years since I read the book (I might have to revisit it). Worth the watch.

I also got to see the movie “M3GAN”. It’s more like “M3h-GAN”. A couple of cheap jump scares, and light on the gore, it’s good for a Red Box rental, or something like that. If you’re going to go see it in the cinema, go for a matinee. It’s good, but it never really breaks new ground as far as “AI Is Evil” goes. I mean, if you can bring your five-year-old to it, is it really horror?

That’s all that’s been going on for now. I’m still cranking away at the fantasy project, and I hope to get it done before the year is halfway over. That’s the first draft of course, I’ll be lucky if I can get it to Royal Road before the end of the year, since one of my goals is to have a regular update schedule with it.

Well, be sure to look to the right to see books put out by me or some good friends. Check them out and send them (and me) some love. Ta-ta for now.