writing

Th Six Hundred and Forty-Seventh Post: The One Where I Head For The Trenches!

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I am a glutton for punishment. Not only am I tossing aside Tribal for the time being, but I have an idea for a World War One horror novel that’s starting to get under my skin like a blood starved chigger. My first problem was which side the protagonist would fight on? The second problem was where? I did a little market research and found out to my surprise – there are few horror novels that take place during World War One. This really surprised me. I figured that World War One would be a popular idea.

Also — the perfect cover photo is public domain.

Think about it – the beginning what would be called total war. The filth. The disease. The tactics of the 18th century running pell-mell into the mechanization of the 20th century. The idea of attrition as a strategy. So many horrors in fact, and then we throw on top of that the supernatural elements. Zombies wandering the no-man’s lands, foam from a chemical attack drying on their chins. A centuries old vampire – caught up in the fervor of the war in the early days and looking for easy conquests – gets cut down by these new-fangled machine guns and is more wounded by the horrors around him. Why aren’t their more novels from this era?

This stirred my resolve to write this book, but I wanted to make my mark – so I did more market research. There are a lot of fictional books (relatively speaking) about the Western Front, but nothing about the Ottoman front. Now I had a place, and working backwards I had the nationality of my protagonist – he’s German. I wanted to take it to the Western Front, but the idea – a real, live flesh-eating ghoul in the trenches – didn’t really work because there were so painfully few Ottoman soldiers in the West. They were mostly pilots and “carry the flag” types. So, I picked the Ottoman front, which turned out to be a good choice for me.

The book started writing itself. So, I am going into research mode when I have some free time (HA! HA-HA!). As it turned out there is also not a lot of non-fiction about the war front. One book is $133 – and it happens to be the best-looking source. A Hundred and Thirty-Three Dollars! Are you kidding me? Am I going to pay it? If you don’t know the answer to that, then I’m afraid we can’t be friends.

So, that’s where I am at. Planning another novel, on top of outlining one and working on another one while promising to finish another one. Such is my crazy life. Well – that’s all for now, I should get to work on something. Ta-ta for now.

The Six Hundred and Forty-Third Post: The One Where I Want A Hype Machine For My Novel!

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I’ve finished two chapters in Unbroken and I am still trying to get through Tribal. I had a decent birthday – new Hawaiian shirt and comfy, comfy clippers. I didn’t write at all that day and that was the hardest part of the day. Good thing I had my wife to keep me occupied with dinner and dessert. I it just me or are the prices at Cheesecake Factory really high now? Our bill – for two people, mind you – was dangerously close to one hundred dollars when all was said and done. I think next year, I’m just going to walk to the pizzeria down the street. It’s a lot cheaper.

I still want to write a haunted house story, but I really feel like I am treading well-worn ground. I’m aware that this is a carry-over from last week. I know that the haunted house can be a metaphor for whatever, and it’s not like it’s something I can cobble together. I guess what I am looking for is the right metaphor to hang on all of this. Right now – I’ve got MAGA werewolves, vampire junkies and ghostly murders. What could a haunted house be a metaphor for? To make matters even more complicated, I’m trying to angle this into the Southern Gothic genre. Maybe I’ll get a good idea someday.

I did see Weapons during my vacation. It was good, gory and a little disturbing, but I’m not going to put it in the category of ‘best horror film of the year’. I think that title belongs solidly to Bring Her Back. I think there was too much hype between Sinners and Weapons for the amount of scares it brought to the table. I think horror in general is getting more and more hype-dependent. When Abigail came out – I was looking forward to it, but the hype didn’t really live up to my expectations. That and the ad campaign gave away what would have been a great reveal halfway through. I think horror might be petering out as a film genre unless we can get some better scares. My YouTube feed is littered with “what the ending of Weapons means” – mostly because I watched a breakdown of the movie after I watched it. Maybe it’s me being a crotchety old man (a title I have earned, thank you very much), but if you have to watch something to explain the ending, then the film didn’t really do it’s job, did it? But that’s just me.

Well – I did all my writing I needed to do today – time to get a shower and get some milk for tonight. Take care, have a slice of cake for me and support your local horror writers.

The Six Hundred and Forty-Second Post: The One Where I Boil Everything Down to a Five Second Sentence!

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Is it a new idea if my elevator pitch is a list of movies? I mean, the elevator pitch for my werewolf novel is: The Howling meets the MAGA crowd. I got an idea for a haunted house story, but it’s really nothing more than The Sixth Sense stays home. I was really excited about that idea, not because it was a haunted house story and that’s a horror trope I can check off my list, but because it wasn’t about the house, it was about confronting past traumas and working through them. The story is not about the living, it’s about the dead and what they’re stuck in.

Now, I don’t know. I’m haven’t completely talked myself out of this idea, but I think I should definitely turn it over more in my head. I just want to get that one topic done. Everyone else has written haunted house stories. One of the more terrifying stories I’ve read is a haunted house story (The Haunting of Hill House). I want to write one of those. I think I’m finding my creative groove as a horror writer, but I still love fantasy. I’ve even managed to incorporate elements of horror in the fantasy epic I’m guiltily working on right now. I can occupy more than one genre, right? That’s not a marketing problem?

I promise, I have not forgotten about Tribal. Just worked on a little bit of it today. Edgar’s got to make some hard choices, and I am not helping him. Hee-hee-hee.

I’m on vacation this week, so I am writing this a bit early. I am going to watch the movie Weapons at some point, and I will report back to you about it. I am also going to watch the one film that still scares me after all these years: Something Wicked This Way Comes. That movie is a foundational film for me. You could say it was my first horror film, and it’s the blueprint I try to follow when I write. I probably should read the book at some point. Since I have a few days off, I think I am going to just sit down and read for the whole day. I haven’t taken a day off like that in a while. If anyone has a recommendation for a book – horror or fantasy – feel free to leave me a note.

Well, the leaves are turning and the air is getting crisp. My favorite season is here and I am reveling in the moment. I got a new hoodie from my wife and it’s like a snuggly little hug.

The Snuggle Is Real…

I’m not putting away the Hawaiian shirts, but I am looking for similarly colored shirts in long sleeves. I’m now drinking coffee for power and warmth. Life is good.

That’s all for you – I have laundry to wrangle. Have a good day!

The Six Hundred and Forty-first Post: The One Where I Beg Forgiveness…

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I must confess: I started Unbroken. I know I swore up and down that I was going to finish Tribal before starting the next big project, but the next big scene in Tribal wasn’t coming together like I wanted it to, and I had to do something…so I wrote the whole first chapter in a single day. Over five thousand words on a Saturday. Impressive, I know.

So here’s what I am going to do. Monday to Friday, it’s going to be bullying through Tribal. I am feeling better about it now because I got the cover art today from my artist. Saturday, I will work on Unbroken somehow – either expand more on the outline or write a chapter. On January 1st of the New Year, I am switching over to only Unbroken, as I agreed.

Here’s the cover mock-up for Tribal. Let me know what you think.

I’ve also been indulging myself with watching Goulet Pens videos on YouTube. I love fountain pens and inks, so this is like a trip through the candy store for me. Seriously – I own several high-end fountain pens and I have my eyes on some others that I am going to have to save up for. Hopefully, I’ll get some cash together and get this beauty to use to scrawl notes in my manuscripts. As I tell my wife: ignore the price, look at the pretty pen.

Back to Tribal – I’ve come up with a new set of scenes to make things far more difficult for the main character than they have a right to be. On top of discovering what silver does to werewolves, and earning the disdain of the pack leader Jimmy, the main character now has the unenviable job of trying to infect someone into the pack. It’s a wrinkle I came up with while driving, because I wanted to try to continue the story along a little longer and wanted to continue the metaphor of werewolves and political cults.

Cults thrive on getting new people. In this story, werewolves infect other people through bites. So, our poor suffering main character has been told by the leader of the pack to bring in someone else. There’s a major conflict here – the main character sees this as a way of getting back into pack leader’s Jimmy’s good graces, but it also means spreading the curse. What’s he going to do? What’s more important to him? Getting out from under Jimmy’s thumb, or getting back on his good side and condemning an innocent person to being a slavering werewolf? Who knows? I certainly don’t because I haven’t gotten there yet. I can’t wait to find out. I’ve gotten off the outline I’ve kept in my head. This is why I’ve taken to writing down the outlines and trying to finish them before I start writing.

Is there anything else? Not really. Still trying to wean myself off of TV in favor for reading, so I joined Book of the Month. I just really need to find the time to read. Maybe I should stop watching fountain pen porn videos on YouTube.

The Six Hundred and Thirty-Ninth Post: The One Where I Don’t Know How To Quit!

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Another issue that I’m having with writing Tribal is that I’m a little shaky on the ending. I guess I’m like Stephen King in that respect. I don’t do endings well. I’m running out of scene I want to get to and I don’t really have a nice way to tie it all up in a bow. This is also a story I haven’t deeply outlined up to this point, so I am navigating dark waters. Well, I still have two more months to figure out what to do.

I am still also behind on outlinging Tyro’s first novel. I’m up to chapter five, and I am expecting to get into the high twenties with this story as far as chapters go. Planning is a pain in the butt, but I need to do it or I’m going to have this very same problem with this novel that I’m having now in Tribal.

Critical Role has started their fourth campaign and oh, man! It’s great! There is a definite change in the DM styles between Matthew Mercer and Brennan Lee Mulligan. If you get the chance, come here and watch the first episode. Warning: It’s four hours long, so pack a lunch and stay for the day. It’s worth every minute.

Anything else of note going on? No, not really. Trying to get one book done so I can get started with another, hoping to get the whole trilogy done next year. This is going to be going out for traditional publication, so I am going to focus on making this the best book I have ever written. I just don’t know if I should put it into a tight trilogy or leave it opene ended so I can keep it an ongoing series.

Choices, choices – so many choices.

Well, that’s all that’s bugging me for now. Ta-ta!

The Six Hundred and Twenty-fifth Post: The One Where I Discuss Another Obsession (Not Game Related)!

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I am picky about keyboards and pens. I only use fountain pens, and I like my keys to feel a certain way when I type. I like a lot of springiness in my keys. I love the clicking sound a good keyboard makes. It reminds me of a typewriter – which I own exactly zero. I love my computers far too much to go down a peg.

My current love is the Arteck HB192 Universal Bluetooth Keyboard. The springiness and clicking is utterly divine! I can switch between my game computer and my work computer with just a press of a button. Being Bluetooth means there are no wires to have to worry about. The keyboard itself is rechargeable, so there’s no need to worry about buying batteries. The battery life is very long, but I’m also the person who turns off things if they’re not in use.

I am totally in love with it. Low profile means I don’t trip over keys or mistype something (much). It can connect to three machines. I’m only using two, but it will allow for even Android connectivity. I know someone who writes on their phone, and I am suggesting this to them. It has all the bells and whistles are far as volume, player controls and brightness. Where has this amazing thing been all my life?

There’s more going on than just me rhapsodizing about keyboards. I’ve gone on ahead and started writing the manuscript to Tribal. In the outline, I am on chapter twenty-one, so I plan on writing it during the day, and working on the outline at night after work and gym. Twenty-one chapters should be more than enough of a buffer to keep everything going. I’m also putting myself on a deadline – stop laughing – and I want to have the second draft done by end of September. With an eye on publication the following year. This one won’t be vetted by the writer’s group because that’s going to take far too long. I want this book out before the current political climate comes to an end…which if you ask me, can’t come soon enough.

Other than that, I have also started outlining Serve Me Now out of a fit of boredom. When I get Tribal’s outline finished, I am going to throw myself into that. I would like to have two manuscripts done this year…even as I sit on two complete manuscripts that need attention. Why? Because I’m like a German Shepherd on a freeway. So many tires and so little time and teeth.

The Six Hundred and Twenty-third Post: The One Where I Address the Digital Monkey on My Back…

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I have to get rid of this thing.

Yes, you…

My phone sucks up more time than a black hole. I have an hour lunch, and I find myself spending more time on my phone rather than putting pen to paper. When I’m at home, I have hours of time I could be using to getting this outline done and moving on to the next project.

Nope – if it’s not YouTube, it’s the social media sites. I am horrible. If any of you thought that I was obsessively hacking away at the Great Works that are struggling in my mind to be loosed upon the world, let me let you in on a little secret: I have a horrible work ethic.

And I can’t just tell myself that I can’t use the phone. Music is an integral part of the writing process for me, and I use my phone to play music. What’s also on the phone? Reddit. Facebook. Instagram. Those old demons tempting me. Not really tempting me, but racing with me on the primrose path of destruction.

I’m also going to admit that I am getting a little impatient to finish this outline. Which doesn’t help with the guilt I feel over flipping through Facebook looking for more film clips from Monument Hobbies. I know what I have to do. I need to do this:

If I want to get anything done, I have to put my foot down. During the hour of lunch, phone is for music only. When I get home, I have another hour of work, and I can listen to music from the computer. I just need the phone in the bedroom getting charged up for the next day. I have to exercise some discipline here.

Does anyone here have that problem? The intrusion of that little hunk of dead dinosaurs and stardust into your life? Any hints or suggestions? I could honestly use some.

Hang on – let me send this cat video to my followers.

The Six Hundred and Twenty-first Post: The One Where I Mumble My Way Through a Plot

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It’s always the same when I have an idea. I grab it in my mouth and take off like a German Sheperd with a hot dog. I have no idea where I am going or what I am doing with it, but I have it and it’s mine now.

I have two interesting ideas:

  1. A slave that doesn’t want to be freed but would rather go back to a life of servitude.
  2. Treating vampires like junkies rather than the sexy but troubled icons that they are now.

I have no idea how to go any further with these ideas, but they are so good, I am not getting rid of them. I really want to develop them past this point, but with one, I need to fill out the middle – the only problem with that one is time. The second one is a lot trickier.

In the rules I have set up, there is little in the way of magic or supernatural aspects. Vampires aren’t super strong or mesmeric creatures. Crosses don’t affect them, nor does any amount of faith. They don’t grow fangs and nibble at your neck to leave two neat little holes. They have to use implements to get to the blood, which doesn’t nourish them as much as give them an incredible high. My problem with this one is simple, but brain-wracking: How do I end this darn book? The fact that it’s called Forever Junkie doesn’t mean it’s going to be solved in three acts and a commercial break.

There are some things I am keeping as far as lore goes – sunlight still burns, they are vulnerable to fire and stakes destroy their body. I wanted to go the Old World of Darkness route and say that stakes merely paralyze them, but I’m trying to stick to the true lore as much as I can while trying to make things new.

The one piece of lore I am struggling over is if the head vampire dies, the ones he or she created are freed from the curse. In the context of the story, it gives me a tidy ending. The main character tracks down the vampire that took his blood, kills him or her and everyone lives happily ever after.

That seems too simple of an ending for me. I like happy endings, but one that comes together a little too pat isn’t my cup of tea. Of course, I can’t make it easy for the main character either. They’re going to earn their happy ending, but the kill-the-master seems a little too mystical for this particular book.

Then again, I am talking about creatures that burst into flame upon being struck with sunlight, no matter the SPF of their suntan lotion. Maybe a twitch of the mystic is needed here.

OK – how about this?  Main Character’s sire (or dam, it’s the 21st century here) is killed, but it doesn’t remove the curse, so the character goes off and finds a Narcotics Anonymous group and the book ends with his introducing himself.  I like that. It’s an ending to his story – it’s upbeat enough for me, and it’s not entirely mystical. It makes sense.

Now I have to outline and write it. Hopefully during this year. Next year, I want to really focus on fantasy and sci-fi…with some elements of horror in it, of course.

Well, thank you for sitting with me while I worked this out. Please check the right hand side for books by me and dear friends – they’re all good, or I wouldn’t have them there. Ta-ta for now.

The Six Hundred and Twentieth Post: The One That Doesn’t Sparkle in the Sunlight!

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Sorry that I missed last Thursday. My dreaded day job had me working overtime and waking up early, which messed with everything. I have emerged from that week with all of my vices intact. I will try to fall back into a regular schedule.

Speaking of vices – do you hate sparkling, sexy vampires as much as I do? Want them to go back to being something dangerous? Then I have news for you. I am working on a new novel – outlining – about vampires called Forever Junkie. I wanted to write a vampire novel, but I wanted a new direction to it. I know that people far smarter than me say that vampires are an allegory for sexuality, particularly in Victorian England. I wanted to turn it into a new allegory, so I thought about something that is touched on very briefly in the lore, but is never examined.

Vampires can also be an allegory for addiction. Modern vampires have turned feeding into a sexual act – not just procreation, but the feeding of a desire. What if we ramped that up to eleven? What if that unkempt guy shuffling down the sidewalk a few steps ahead (or behind…) with the bad odor and dark stains on his shirt was one of the undead?

Clearly a junkie

I wanted to write this as a more grounded version of vampires, something akin to the movie Martin. No fangs, no mesmerism, not even turning into a bat. This is going to be a little more realistic. Which means I get to do research into drug addiction. This is not a complaint! Researching is one of my favorite parts of writing. Now, I don’t know how this story is going to play out. I got the idea a couple of days ago. I just hope I can get it out in a reasonable time frame – which is code for ‘before I die’.

That’s it for the week – living on little sleep and a lot of caffeine. I’ll try to get a little better about updates, with the overtime done, that should be a little more consistent. I’m off to pen the outline. Have fun!

The Six Hundred and Nineteenth Post: The One Where I Go Back to Scribbling…

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I’m feeling a lot better – who knew that rest and medicine would work? I’m still a little cough-y, but I am continuing to outline Tribal. I am going to finish the outline before I continue writing it. I am trying to plan better things better and wing it less. I think this is going to make me more productive in the long run.

I did go to the doctor today, and I’ve lost three pounds in three weeks! I am going back to the gym now (and then), and I am feeling a lot better now. I am hoping to keep this going, even though I took a day off today to catch Opening Day (if MLB.tv would LET ME). I am going to head out in the evening. Normally, I go early in the morning, but today I had a doctor’s appointment and the aforementioned Opening Day.

While I am writing the outline for the current novel, I am trying to work on the literary novel. I’m torn as far as endings go. Should I make it depressing or uplifting? I don’t really know because both of the endings appeal to me. This book is my criticisms of society and how they treat creatives, and the nature of celebrity in this day and age – so the depressing ending fits. However, I would like to have an upbeat ending for the main character just because I am going to put him through so much crap. It’s still in the embryonic stage. I don’t even have a good title for it. Right now – I’m referring to it as Crab Bucket Society. It’s not my best title, but it works for now. I am going to write this as if I could put this in the running for the Pulitzer. After that, I might work on something I’ve hung on the line for way too long.

I’ve really got to get on the stick and revise something. Is till have to get Agonizing Alibi Day edited down a little bit, not to mention Alien Voices. Actually, I need to get the cover art for these two books done first. I need to get a lot done. I just need more time. Then again, don’t we all? Anyway – I need to get back to work.

Thanks for sticking this out with me thus far. I am still trying to figure out how to get new books on my right bar. It’s not easy, but I can wrestle this to the ground. Hope you all have a good day.