Where the hell did that come from?

Last night was funny.

Like the way George Thorougood talks in “One Bourbon, one scotch, one beer.” Where he asks his friend if he can stay, friend asks the wife, and comes back to say, ‘she acting funny’ and the reply is, ‘I know, everybody funny, now you funny too.’

There are trends in everything. Days of rage. I was hilarious last night.

For the past week, I’ve had the plague. A really badass cold. But I’ve been able to write a little during that stretch. Got the second-third draft of a new crime novel done, then went onto to a horror story I had been working with for a while. I mentioned it a few months back, because it was the last time I really looked it at. Couldn’t figure out what to do about it halfway through a second draft.

Then, I got funny.

Pounded out eight thousand words in two and a half hours. Went to a bad flick, came back and did another thousand words before bed.

And all I could do at my regular job today was think about all of the things I can add to that story tonight.

That’s why it’s funny.

The writing spark hits me weird sometimes. I’ll be getting a little slow, some of the creativity drained, then it starts hitting again. I get ideas popping into my head (not all gems, but hey, at least they are coming). Then, I just started to rage write.

That’s the type of writing where you don’t realize you’ve plugged away about two thousand words in an hour. Or whether you have developed new characters out of the blue, just by letting the characters and situation feel itself out.

That happened about two or three times last night with the horror story.

A scene that I kind of drifted into with no intentions of doing anything but setting atmosphere expanded into something really interesting. As if the vortex of creativity overtook me and I produced something far greater than I had ever intended. That’s when you enjoy what you are writing. Thus far, it’s been a hell of a kick.

I’ll be done with it at some point, then onto the next idea. I’m saving up a few of the things, trying to let my friends get their input in, and also trying a new copyediting/proofreading service I read about. Very inexpensive and could save on a lot of complaints people have on minor editing mistakes.

Hell, it don’t matter none. Because I’m funny. Yeah, cuz everyone’s funny, right?

A writing sabbatical

A writing sabbatical was what I will call it...

Okay, so I've been away for a while. I was almost Munson'd, but I'm back now. It started with a few thoughts about where to take my writing, took longer than I imagined, and ended up being a colossal amount of time away from my blog. I apologize, but only because I did learn a few things about myself while away.

And I wasn't away, not really.

I started thinking about how to develop the follow-up to Crunk further. That makes a lot of sense, but it takes time and devotion. I didn't want to concern myself with what to write about in a blog format when I was so intense. Right now, the Crunk follow-up is in the hands of a few selected people to look it over. If all goes well, I look forward to releasing it in likely August or September. Not bad, when the average legacy printing book takes 18 months from THE END to PRINT.

So, I'm back and doing things. I've got a few short stories waiting to run. A longer one which looks like it may be a good full novel. And I'm really just writing. That's what you are supposed to do, right?

BTW - the NHL playoffs were a big part of my life. I would never have rioted in Vancouver, congratulated a friend who is a Bruins fan (and actually from Boston), and watched just about every game there was to see.

That being said, writing keeps going. I'm going to do a little more marketing of my works. I wanted to have a good little catalog of a novel and a few short stories before I went further. Now, everything appears set for the fun little beginning. Game on, as they say... Game on...

Dystophia in writing and life

I finished about 8,700 words into my writing tonight. That does not include this post, which will put it over 9,000 words. But I asked myself tonight what that really meant. To me, it means ability to push myself to keep writing, even when I would rather do other things. Trust me, I am a big NHL fan. Not just hockey (Go Seattle T-Birds), but the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs are special to me.

Especially tonight when the Canucks attempt to stave off history. They were up 3-0 in the seven game series, lost the next three, and are fighting off the lowly defending champion Blackhawks. BTW - if you are Blackhawks fan, you must hate your team. Big Buff was a great player your GM traded away for a few rental players and some unknown rookies. Not good.

That is nonsense and vaudeville but I have to tell you, it pulls me away to want to watch that rather than write. But I sat at the bar with my IPad2 and chose writing as my outlet. If that's what I want to do, it needs to be what I do the most. It doesn't matter whether I want to screw off with friends, I need to think first and foremost about writing. It doesn't mean I can't do specific things with my time, but writing needs to be the central focus.

Tonight I drafted a short story that was pretty good. Lately, I've been in a science fiction mood, especially for dystrophia. Have no explanation for it but that I've just found my focus there. When I write something, a million more separate ideas on the same subject get compounded together as different stories. I put them as lines in my IPad2 Notepad feature and then utilize them whenever I need a new story to write. Not all of these stories are going to be winners, as I am sure that an NBA player doesn't hit every practice shot they hit. But if you don't work on it, you don't improve.

I used to avoid Dystophia stories about futuristic land because I thought that it made my writing negative. But I started to embrace it as a way to separate myself by making some type of enjoyment coming out of this type of story. There is no reason to believe that the human species would exist in a dystophia if there were no entertainment involved. Why people live in Detroit? I have no clue, but I hear its getting close to seeing an entire decay of a city. They lose 500,000 people per year and have only about three or four years to go before the entire city should be entirely empty. There won't be drug dealers or criminals, because they have to have someone to sell to or someone to rob.

Always interesting to believe in a ghost city.

Well, I've done enough tonight. Thanks to my new bluetooth keyboard, I don't have the arm aches that I had previous when typing. Yes, as my friends tell me, I should be hired to sell Apple's new IPad2. I'm just that much of an advocate of it.

My Penny Dreadfuls (that are free stories)

I always have some short little ideas.

Nothing big enough that I want to have readers spend even $0.99 on. That is not to say that they are not good stories, however, I don't believe they merit the idea of a reader spending money in order to access them.

Back in the 1800s, there used to be stories called "penny dreadfuls."

These were for the British working class and hopped the Pond by the end of the 19th century into the old American West (our version of Shakespeare in terms of the drama that came out of it, in my opinion).

The free stories which I will continue to offer from time to time. These stories are ones that I hope really allow my readership to grow. It was a fun exercise and I believe that some of the ideas I have will grab a lot of new fans.

All four have been re-written once, thought through for a few days, and put out as what they are. Little freebees that probably aren't worth a lot of work, in my opinion.

Tonight I've put up four little short stories:

Astra The Witch - 2,000 words - Horror/Paranormal

I did enjoy how I created the first-person view in Astra. For me, it was something different to have a basic transcript of two people talking, but only one telling the story. By the end of the story, I don't really know if I feel bad for the town. I mean, geez, they knew what they were dealing with in Astra, and kept it going, didn't they?






What Lies At The Bottom of Plot 105 - 1,500 words - Horror/Vampire



In terms of "Plot 105," I thought it would be fun to put out a little vampire story that was merely that. None of that nonsense where the person escapes for about twenty pages and then gets caught at the end. Those types of stories seem to propel nonsense rather than just get to the point.




What Remains of the World - 1,500 words - Horror/Dystophia
Every end of the world short story or novel tends to deal with those fighting off the infected. I wanted a story which dealt with the infected attempting to survive the "normals" who are killing them. Maybe it worked, maybe it didn't. I would love feedback on this one.





The Ballad of Deuce Larry Long, Jr. - 1,500 words - Crime/Thriller
This was originally a submission for the PNW Inlander contest on the subject of "redemption" but did not get selected for the weekly publication. So I decided rather than let it sit on a shelf, I would put it up for people to read. It's one of those short stories I really don't know how I feel about. Neither great nor sad it exists, but it does, so I provide it for free to see what others think about it.




You've probably noted that these title covers look cheap, something out of a dime store from the 1960s-1970s. That was the point with these little babies. They aren't worth a whole lot but a single, 15 minute read, but I thought why not let them see the light of day.


At some point, I may end up putting them all into a gigantic book. I believe I might get about 50 of them together and do that... you never know...

Ideas and exercising the brain

Ideas are, for lack of a better word, weird.

I get ideas in different forms.

A single conversation with another person may create interest in a subject for me which compiles an entire story.

Everyone works different. I have never sat at a computer and been unsure what to type. Other people may have this process but I can't work that way.

I have a lot of notes, conversations which create the foundation of ideas into a story. Some bits of conversation or what I'm thinking about at the time may build what becomes a novel or short story.

It's all up to the writer what they want to do.

I read a lot of books and follow up on interesting subjects. My friend Andrew mentioned the parasite Toxoplasma and I put it in a story because of the weirdness of how it works. People work different.

As screenwriter William Goldman said, 'no one knows anything' about how to write.

Everything is classified under the theory of "what works for me."

With that, I want to put a challenge to the readers of this blog. How about an exercise of using generic points coupled with the unique ideas of the writer?

An exercise for those who want to write a short story:

- 5 or less characters

- A shared experience which changed their growth into adulthood. Tragic or bonding.

- A gathering where it is shared again and a result.

- Less than 1,500 words total.

Self-editing

Some of the more interesting things I chose to do is self-edit my work. This does not mean that I do not have an additional person(s) read it, I do. But I also feel that a lot of the errors made are because description and characterization are hampered down by unnecessary words. And once you give it to someone to edit, you never get that opportunity back.

One of the short stories I am writing is taking some time to get down. It started off at about 8,700 words. Which is good length, but can be improved upon. I removed a lot of the unnecessary words, but also improved the description.

Now it is down to 8,100 words.

Imagine if every document you had to could lose about 6 percent of its words. Would this improve the topic, or diminish it?

I believe that the short story needs a little work. I am hammering down some of the subject text, getting the technical side of it done. A lot of writers just flow it, which is fine in the William Goldman theory of "what works for me."

Horror short story - The Deity

"The Deity" ($0.99) Kindle Edition CLICK HERE

"The Deity" was originally planned as a book. It didn't work out that way. Sometimes, the story tells the writer how much it has in the tank. I refrain from actually attempting to "over write" things or bog them down. Perhaps it costs me more money, but I feel that it is better for the reader.

It is 25,000 words.

SYNOPSIS: A scientist retells how his creations have turned against him.

I wasn't too sure that I would post it on Amazon or through Smashwords. However, after some encouragement, I just did it. So what the hell do I know?