Where Crime, Horror, and Science Fiction Meet – Discussing new discoveries, old mysteries, creepy tales, and dark storytelling
Right now I’m hanging out at my mother’s, waiting for a guy to measure the floor. I know, thrill a minute right? Briefly I thought that I should bring something to work on, like the round story chapter that I will, will, will (!) finish by this weekend. I’ve already got a pretty good handle…
First off, here is how the contest worked: There were 19 contestants who read either excerpts from book-length pieces or short stories. In as few words as possible they stated who they were, what they were writing and give a log line (what’s your story about?). They had two minutes to read from their work…
No, I don’t like them. Yes, they’re good for me. Like broccoli. So I’ll eat them anyway. 1. Finish 2 chapters of FJR.2. Finish 1 chapter of TR.3. Finish round story chapter…and, John, you have some explaining to do.4. Get as many of the submissions done for this month as I can. Yes, I realize…
The results:I still hate goals. I finished one chapter of FJR, not two.I did not complete my fantasy chapter.The critiques for the Sunday group will be done by Sunday. Chalk one up there.I did not read The Namesake, which I am greatly saddened about. But, Jenny, you ask, why did you not finish everything? I…
Okay, I’ll never beat J.K. Rowling’s sales. But, by golly, I shall defeat her Minesweeper score. Her fastest score for the expert level, if I remember correctly from her website, is a 99. So far, my fastest time is 125. Only 26 seconds to go and I can take her. If only my wrist wasn’t…
The only time I’ve ever used dreams in my writing (that I’m aware of) has been for poems, and those were assigned. The basic idea was to transcribe the dream, not interpret or manipulate, and see what happens. Results varied. Last night was weird though. So I’m exhausted, right? (I blame being pregnant.) I go…
…until the Sunday meeting. You would think I’d be more concerned about the upcoming reading in front of a bunch of strangers, in which three of those strangers will comment in public about the novel I am so diligently working on. Nope, not so much. I still have not finished the critiques for Sunday–but I’m…
Watching writers write would, indeed, be like watching paint dry. You see a whole bunch of moderately attractive faces (because writers, unlike actors/models are not super-gorgeous, but we are not dogs either…) staring at computer screens or sheets of paper and you have no idea of what is going on behind that moderately attractive face.…
As a student, I have been involved in what seems like an infinite number of workshops–both fiction and poetry. In these workshops, it seems like the question of genre always came up. “Here is how poetry is different than a short story, which is different than a novel” type of conversations. I’ve struggled with professors…
Read more The Novelist, The Short Storyist, The Dramatist, and The Poet
Normally, when I’m working on a ‘big’ project, like a novel, I do not work on two pieces at once. If I get stuck, I’ll do a short story or a poem or something ‘small’ to give my brain a break. Recently, however, I decided from somewhere that I should work on two big pieces…
Other Worlds, and This 