horror

The Four Hundred and Fifty-third Post: The One Where I Looks Like I Might Finish Something For A Change…

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I am so close to finishing the novel. I just need to pad the final chapter and write a couple that I skipped over (Candy Coated Freakout and Serve Me Now, respectively) while writing the first draft. After that – I am done with the first draft and I can begin the re-writes and the edits. Hopefully, I can keep this a still tight 60K words. Once all of that is done – I get to do the thing I like the least (even less than re-writes and editing) is trying to design the cover, but I am going to worry about that later.

It feels so good to be near the end of this. The next project is going to be The Show Must Go On. This one is going to be a total re-write from what I had initially started. This one is going to be a first-person, which is my weakest P.O.V. writing. I haven’t written that many, so I am looking forward to the challenge. While I am writing that, I am going to brainstorm for my third horror book called Breeder and it’s my first haunted house story. I have another idea that definitely needs to be fleshed out a little bit more called The Golden Ticket, and we’ll see what happens from there.

I’m hoping that some of my other books will get picked up from these four horror books. I just need to find the genre that I can profit from. I’m going to get back to The Marvelous and Malefic Doomsday Medicine Show since it has both a horror and fantasy vibe to it, but I want to spend 2023 getting a better platform put together.

And that’s all that this year is for me – trying on horror since that’s a genre I love nd have read plenty of. The other one is fantasy…even though I never read Lord of the Rings. Yes, yes – please feel free to clutch your pearls and swoon. I’m just not a fan of the writing. Worldbuilding? Holy crap – I wish I could get to that level of detail. Besides, I’ve seen the movie dozens of times and it’s a source of inspiration for me.

Mostly, I am ready for this book to be done. I’m ready to move on to the next project and start that over again. I have a better feel for the beats, and I’ve been watching enough ghost hunting shows that I think I can fake a good one. I just have to get this one finished. Three chapter, I should get that done by the end of the month. I hope I didn’t jinx myself.

Not helping…

The Four Hundred and Forty-fifth Post: The One Where I Drink a Pina Colada Out of A Viking Horn.

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Fantasy and I are going to take a bit of a break from each other. When I read the backs of a lot of books, I’m not thrilled anymore. I can wait for them to get into my hot little hands (still have a bit of a fever). So, I am going to dedicate this year to horror and see if I can get some things going. I’ve got a lot of ideas – enough for this year easily…including Camp Nano and Nanowrimo. I think I need to do this to recharge the batteries and regrow some interest.

I wonder if Stephen King went through something like this? His bibliography looks like if he did, he just took an afternoon off.

Anyway, busman’s holiday aside, I am looking forward to getting into horror. It was the one big genre I loved and I snapped up anything I could grab, with fantasy being a close second. I wonder if there are any good fantasy/horror mashups? If you know of any, let me know please. I want to widen my horizons and maybe dabble a little bit, who knows?

I know I missed yesterday and I am sorry, but after working for 12 hours a day and coming home, I felt like poo. I also got Mechwarrior 5 (I am a sucker for games with deep lore) and tried it out a little. Not a fan of the shallowness of ‘mech customation, but I am willing to give the game a shot. When I have the time. *sigh*

There is not a whole lot going on here – started writing the first horror novel of the year: Serve Me Now and it’s going to be published under my name, so it is my first official horror book. I hope that it has a better showing than Valentina’s Feast. The book has a four and a half star rating, so it can’t be too bad…which is actually the average for my books on Amazon. I just need better publicity.

Anyhow – if you’re curious, on the right hand side there are all the current books of mine you can buy, not to mention books that good friends (and better writers than me) have written, I actually need to update that list soon. Well – that’s all for today, I do have a chapter to finish up for Saturday’s writing group. Ta-ta!

Four Hundred and Forty-fourth Post: The One Where I Don’t Think I’m Contagious, Just Bored?

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I’m feeling a lot better now, but I’m not feeling better enough to write. I cant come up anything for The Deadly Barrows right now, so I am doing something else. I am giving contemporary Gothic Horror a shot. Maybe if I do something completely different from swords and sorcery fantasy, I can shake up my brain enough to get me to the next planned scene in the novel.

Times like this drive me crazy sometimes. While I am still writing, I’m not getting anything done. I know that this is the method that Isaac Asimov used and he’s the most prolific authors ever. The big difference is that he finished his stuff and I just let my stuff twist in the wind. How he did it, I have no idea.

Then again, I still have a touch of what’s going around at work now. It could be that my body is still fighting the infection. I know I’m coughing like I got a pack-a-day habit. I think my brain might want a little rest.

But I have a couple of scenes in the gothic horror novel (working title: The Golden Ticket – it’s a term I used for which people can come over uninvited) that I am going to write and let’s see what happens. It might be that I am starting to burn out on fantasy, and I should switch to something else. Maybe this is going to keep me from just giving up completely on fantasy, which is my favorite genre to write.

Ultimately, I am trying to find the genre that’s going to be the most successful. I could write comedy, horror or fantasy, but I feel like I need to drill down and find one thing to work on. I gave splatterpunk a shot with Valentina’s Feast, but I don’t think it’s going to go off like I thought it would. Maybe Gothic is the way to go. Foggy nights in the woods, the blanket of dread settling over people, and the knowledge that something is wrong – not just wrong, but an act against nature’s own laws.

My goal is to have a book good enough to send to Stephen King as a way of gratitude for what he’s taught me (maybe get an endorsement? C’mon Mr. King – I helped get your kids through college, all I want is a shout-out) as a writer.

Well – I apologize that this is so late, but I knew it was Wednesday, but not that it was deadline Wednesday. Also – I do have a show that I am hooked on called Yellowjackets. The best way to sum it up is Lord of the Flies meets Sweet Valley High. Worth a quick look.

Check out the books I’m selling to the right – written by authors far more talented than me and by myself as well. Hopefully, the sickness will work its way out of my system, and I can be far mor productive.