Off the Books

I’ve written a few horror novels, and I’ve read quite a few too. Plus, I like to think of myself as a bit of a horror movie aficionado. There’s a huge difference between reading horror and writing horror, though. I think that all great horror comes from personal fears. I think about things that scare Read More…

I have a confession to make. I don’t read science fiction. That’s not entirely true. I have read some science fiction in the past, but I realize that I haven’t read any science fiction proper in a long time. I go to the second-hand bookstore and always check out the sci-fi section, but it all Read More…

Lately I’ve been writing short stories as a bit of an interlude between novels, and I was struck with an important aspect of writing: Titles! One of the short stories was set during February this year, which was incredibly cold, so the entire story is set in minus thirty degree weather. I called it Cold Read More…

It’s been a really, really long time since I’ve done a writer’s update! Wow! I’ve been writing like a madman (in more ways than one) and have a number of projects on the go. Schism is going through the workshopping process and we’re at the end of the third section. That means there are two Read More…

Let’s start with a story. When I was young my best friend was Jim. He lived next door. During our rebellious teen years he struggled with his mother, as many of us did. He would come over and be all angry, and he very often said, “my mom is a fat bitch.” It was nearly Read More…

Last night at the Inkhorn Society Meeting we critiqued our first piece of ‘flash fiction.’ It was about two pages long, and while I thought that it would take a very short amount of time to critique due to its length, it took as long as a fifteen page piece. We had great discussions about Read More…

As we’ve been reading submissions for our podcast, I am noticing themes between beginning writers and ones who are more experienced. Naming characters becomes increasingly important. When I think of characters that I remember most clearly, I think of Kilgore Trout, from Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. I think of Holden Caulfield. Atticus Read More…

There’s a conversation that I have with a lot of writers, and today I went to visit the old comic book store I used to frequent, as it is changing hands as of tomorrow, and the owner, Jay, brought up a point. Let’s take a jump to my wife’s business. You may or may not Read More…

There’s nothing I dislike more than when a rule is set up in a book and then it’s broken. This is in regards to style and in content. Let me explain. Thoughts are often done one of three ways. One way is to use italics, one is to use single or double quotations, and one Read More…

Welcome back! I’ve been working hard on a few novel ideas, and now I’m back to blogging! I’ll post an update on my writing soon, but until then… Don’t be a writer! Not really. Ok, be a writer. Here’s my point. When I was younger I wanted to be a writer, and I wanted to Read More…