Archive for the ‘Progress Report’ Category

Snake: Three Months Away

Posted: March 10, 2014 in Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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Yes, this is the novel's cover layout. What do you think of it?

Yes, this is the novel’s cover layout. What do you think of it?

Hard to believe with the new year already in March (how did that happen?) and so much else going on in my crazy life, but it’s already three months away from when my next novel Snake is released on June 10th. And as I’ve said in previous posts, that’ll be two years to the day I started working on Snake, which is both symbolic and more proof that time just seems to fly by.

For those of you who haven’t become familiar with Snake yet, it is a thriller novel I wrote back in 2012 and which, with the help of author Angela Misri, I edited throughout 2013 and January of 2014. It is the story of a young man who becomes a serial killer in order to save his girlfriend from a powerful organized crime family. It’s definitely one of my darker stories, at times even scaring me. I also think it’s one of my best stories, and I hope people like it and the characters as much as I do. Oh, and there are no actual snakes in the book. I’ve had people tell me they won’t read it just based on that title. I’ve heard you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover (especially when it has a naked lady on it) but that’s ridiculous.

If you’d like to read an excerpt of Snake, you can click here to read the first chapter. And if you look below this paragraph, you’ll find the book trailer for Snake, which I created through iMovie after school one day. It’s very dark and gritty, which I think reflects the novel very well.


I’ll bring up Snake again when we get a little closer to the release date. I’m looking forward to it. Are you?

The Day The Tigers Came To School: Finished

Posted: March 9, 2014 in ideas, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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This particular short story could also be called “My tribute to Stephen King’s Carrie without any psychic or telekinetic elements”. I basically took the idea of a girl getting revenge on the bullies in her life through supernatural means and wrote a dark and powerful story around it. And it involved tigers, too (my favorite animal), so I definitely had fun writing it.

The Day The Tigers Came To School is a story with a very interesting evolution. It merely started out as a story about a school being invaded by tigers and wolves with some sort of strange twist about how they got there. Then I dropped the wolves because that’s just too much for one short story and I like tigers more. Then I added the bullying/revenge theme. Then I played around with different ways the plot could go, even while I was writing the story. 4,159 words later I have a new short story that pushed boundaries even for me.

By boundaries, there were a couple of moments where things got incredibly graphic in detail. It was enough to make me wonder if I shouldn’t hold back a little in writing something so terrifying. But then I reasoned, if it makes me a little hesitant, it will probably scare the pants off of anyone who reads it. And that’s basically my goal in writing. So I relaxed the restraints and just went with it. I’m glad I did, because the story’s much better that way.

Well, I’m going to let a friend give me some feedback on it, and then I’ll…save it for my next short story collection. Yes, I’m doing another short story collection, which I’ve tentatively entitled Dead and Dying (it was going to be Dead and Dying Teens but I thought that since some of the stories might not involve teens, I dropped that part). I can’t confirm content or release date, but I can tell you that this time around I want at least eight short stories, this one and a couple of others among them. When it gets closer to me actually releasing the book, I’ll make sure everyone knows.

In the meantime, tomorrow evening (work and homework permitting, of course), I plan to start up again work on Laura Horn. It’s been put on hold long enough and I want to get it at least halfway done before I leave for my study abroad trip. Then this summer I can edit it along with Video Rage. Wish me luck on the project. I still have more than half the novel left to write! It’s not going to be easy.

Well, I’ve got work tomorrow, so I’m heading to bed. You all have a lovely evening and have pleasant nightmares. Goodnight, my Followers of Fear.

Once Again, A Rewrite

Posted: February 27, 2014 in ideas, Living and Life, Progress Report, short story, Writing
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I started a short story this past Sunday, a science-fiction story with LGBT characters and themes about how complicated relationships can get. It had a great concept, and it was an exciting story. I’ve been looking forward to writing it ever since I had the idea for it, and I made sure it was on the list of short stories I was going to work on when I decided it was time to limit how many more I was going to write. And I was making great progress on it too. I mean really good progress. Except for Tuesday night (I was busy that night with other stuff) I was getting 500-1000 words written each night.

But as I got further in this evening, I realized that I was slowing down, that something wasn’t working. I realized that the way I was going I was going to hit a wall with this story, so I had to stop and figure out what exactly was bugging me about this story. And I realized: like Resurrection, the way this story was going it’d be better off as a novel or a novella.

Normally I’d be okay with that, but for many reasons I don’t want to convert this particular short story into a novel. Not only do I already have so many ideas for novels to write that I’m not sure I want to add this story to that list, but I feel that if I can find some way to keep the short story as a short story, it’ll be a thousand times better than any novel I could ever write based on it. It’s a very strong feeling, too. So I’m not going to turn this particular story into a novel.

Instead, I’ll go back to the beginning. Most likely I’ll end up rewriting this story, and instead of writing a whole bunch of expository lead-up to the main scene, I’ll write that main scene, which is what inspired and excited me about this story in the first place. I feel overall it’ll be a better story that way, one that a sci-fi magazine would be proud to host within its pages.

So tonight I’ll end my writing spree by saving the short story and taking a break to think about how I can improve it. I have some ideas now, but nothing I want to act on just yet. I just need a little time to let the ideas cook and see what works and what doesn’t work. After all, this is one amazing short story idea I have. And it deserves to be written in a way I can be proud of.

That’s all for now. I’m going to watch something I’ve taped, and see what my brain can come up with in the morning. You all have a lovely night, and a fantastic weekend, my Followers of Fear. And I hope wherever you are, you’re warmer than I am. It’s Arctic temps here in Ohio. Trust me, I’m looking forward to spring and summer a lot more than most. Good thing I’ve got my Snuggie to keep me warm.

500 Followers!!!

Posted: February 24, 2014 in Living and Life, Progress Report
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It’s happened! One of those milestones that every blogger waits and hopes for. I have just gotten my five-hundredth follower, making me feel like I’m on top of the world.

I’d like to thank everybody who’s been signing on to follow in the past couple of weeks, including dyslexiasuccesscoach, biggirlbigpanties, nandaputrari2014, and other bloggers. I’d also like to thank longtime followers and friends for all the support and love you’ve been giving me for over two-and-a-half years, including Angela Misri of a Portia Adams adventure, Matt Williams of Stories by Williams, and so many others. It means a lot to me that you’d listen to the thoughts and struggles of a college student trying to become a great horror writer. And when somebody from the blog buys one of my books, boy does it make my day.

That reminds me, I want to get to know my followers a bit more. I can’t follow everyone who follows me, so I’d like to know a bit more about you, the reader. Who are you? What do you blog about? Why do you follow my blog? Please let me know. I’m always happy to hear from people who are reading my work.

Well, that’s all for now. I’ve got work and classes in the morning, so I’m going to get ready for bed. You have a good night, my Followers of Fear. And I hope you’re having warmer temperatures than I am at this moment. Central Ohio is supposed to have temperatures that are below freezing during the next week or two. It’s too scary for even me to write in detail at the moment!

A Haunted Man: Finished

Posted: February 9, 2014 in ideas, Progress Report, short story, Writing
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I just finished a short story. This one, called “A Haunted Man”, is about a family that moves into a haunted house. Sound familiar? Well, I tried to put a twist on it by focusing on the father of the family, who’s one of those characters who thinks because he’s a man’s man that he knows it all and that the ghostly going-ons around the house are the result of his wife being a silly woman and his kids having overactive imaginations. Those characters appear in a lot of scary stories, and they always get themselves into trouble. Especially when they finally realize that there’s a ghost in the house and they try to handle it themselves because that’s what men do, instead of doing the smart thing and getting someone with experience with ghosts to come by and get rid of the ghosts.

I basically took that character, that I’m-a-man-who-does-what-men-do character and decided to make him the subject of a short story about a haunted house. It was a difficult story to write, though. I had to go back at one point and rewrite the whole story because the way I was writing it didn’t make sense to me (for more on that, read my post I Shouldn’t Use Present Tense). And even after I started the rewrite, it was difficult going. I think that means I’m going to have to do a lot of editing on this short story. Or that I should instead adapt it into a low-budget horror film because it would work very well in that format. Hmm…if I did that, I wonder how I would get it done? And who would help me?

Well, that’s beside the point for the moment. I’m glad to have gotten the short story done and I think I did an okay job portraying the main character as I wanted him to be portrayed. I’ll see what I can do with it and maybe decide from there if I should try to publish it, or maybe adapt it into a horror film or some other third option.

For now though, I’m going to start thinking about what’s next on my agenda. I told a friend I’d write an article for a magazine that he runs, so I’m going to get that done. After that I think I’ll write down which short stories I’m going to work on next. I want to work on so many more, but I really have to get back to my WIP Laura Horn, so I’m going to limit the number to somewhere around five or six short stories and cap it off there. Maybe when LH is done, I’ll write the rest of the short stories I wanted to get done. We’ll see.

Well, that’s all for now. I’m going to take a break and relax after an afternoon full of writing. See you in the morning, Followers of Fear.

Snake: The Official Book Trailer

Posted: February 6, 2014 in Novel, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Snake

I swear, this is the last Snake-themed article for a while. Honestly, even the Snake is getting tired of all the articles about him (and if you can figure that one out, then you win a prize). And I’m going to try to keep this short, so don’t click away yet.

Today I had some time on my hands, so I took some photos I’d scoured off the internet, a song I’d always associated with the Snake for some reason, and compiled them all using iMovie into a very scary video for a book trailer. A book trailer for Snake, to be exact. It’s probably my longest and most complex book trailer yet, using a variety of techniques I learned from a class I took a couple of semesters ago. Honestly, I had not used iMovie in a while, so it took a while to figure out how to do some things I’d forgotten. But I guess it was like riding a bike, because before I knew it I was making the video and had it done in almost an hour.

The video uses images I associate with the character of the Snake, who has an extreme love for scary movies and knows quite a bit about famous fictional serial killers and a few real ones (gee, I wonder who that sounds like?). And the song I use is “Before I’m Dead” by metal band Kidney Thieves. For some reason it’s a song I’ve always thought should be put at the beginning of a movie adaptation of Snake. Since I don’t think that’ll be happening any time soon, I’m using it in this trailer.

Oh, and the people in this video whom I identify as characters in Snake are actors from some shows I’ve seen. They came the closest to how I imagined the characters in Snake, so I used their images. I hope nobody minds that!

So without further ado, here’s the official Snake book trailer. Tell me what you think when you’ve watched it. I love feedback (I think I’ve mentioned that before).

Oh, and good news: I’ve sent Snake to the copyright office. Hopefully they won’t take their sweet time processing it. I hate it when that happens!

Snake: The Second Cover

Posted: February 4, 2014 in Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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Looks like I get to do a post again with a snake at the top again. You may remember my previous post about the cover for Snake that I created (if not, you can read it here). I got some feedback on it, and most of the people who commented on Facebook said that they wanted more of the painted Lilith’s face and less of her legs. Well, I kind of went with the choice to hide her face because it meant that I could hide her bare breasts. The last thing I wanted was someone to flag Snake as abusive or offensive because of a little T&A.

But I decided that my friends had some very valid points. So I changed the design of the book cover to Aspen, and made the color for the background burnt sienna. The result got better reviews than the first cover. Okay, one guy thought it was “too racy”, but to be fair he’s Orthodox Jewish, so I guess to him a sleeveless shirt on a young lady might be crossing lines. Still, I see his point: Lilith by John Collier, while definitely a work of art in the style of the old Renaissance masters, is pretty sexual. Given the references to the Genesis story though, I think it’s important to keep the theme there, and that’s part of why I chose the painting (along with the obvious snake wrapped around her Britney Spears-style and the red hair which is also upon the head of an important character in this book).

So to recap here’s the previous cover I created:

Snake

And here’s the second version:

Snake

Is it much racier? Yes, it really is. Might it get me in trouble? Possibly. Am I going to change it? At this point, I’d have to say no. I kind of like it, the painting entered the public domain ten years ago, so there’s no copyright issues, and it looks like something I might pick up and at least consider at Barnes & Noble. And I hope people who come across this book on the Internet won’t be embarrassed by the naked woman on it to buy it. Then again, that is what made Kindle and Fifty Shades of Grey such great bedfellows: nobody felt embarrassed reading the book on a tablet on a train or bus. We’ll see.

And yes, that “bedfellows’ thing was intentional. I wasn’t going to do it, but I put it in anyway.

Anyway, unless anybody gives me some objection or some feedback that makes me change my mind, I think I’ll go with this cover. Tomorrow I’ll send it off to the copyright office and possibly start on a book trailer if I have the time. I already have a song I’m going to use, and several images I plan to put into a rather interesting slideshow. I’ll post it here when I’m done.

Anyway, that’s all for now. I’m heading to bed soon. Goodnight, Followers of Fear.

Snake: The Cover

Posted: February 3, 2014 in Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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The photo up above is NOT the cover. I just wanted one more photo of a snake before I unveiled it. Actually, the cover is right below this paragraph, and I must say it’s some of my best work yet in covers. Take a look:

Snake

Yes, that woman is naked on the cover. The actual painting is called Lilith by the English painter John Collier. I chose it for three main reasons. One was that it represents a Genesis theme, and references to Genesis do appear in Snake (three guesses what they are, the first two don’t count). The second reason is that a lot of authors I admire have famous paintings on their book covers and I wanted to do something similar with Snake and with any sequels I might write. Or maybe I wanted to draw audiences in by featuring a naked woman on the cover because nothing sells like sex. I confuse the two often. No, it’s the one about authors I admire. Never mind.

The third reason is that the only other option I had for a cover was a photo of a mask similar to what the Snake wears in the novel, but that was too disturbing to put on the cover. I decided to go with the less-disturbing Lilith instead.

Well, that’s the cover. I plan to back my files up in the morning and then send them off to the copyright office. Hopefully for once the US Copyright Office will make good on that promise of a processing time of two-and-a-half months (I doubt it).

And while I have your attention, I would like to announce a tentative release date for Snake. Assuming that nothing gets in the way of this book coming out by that time, I would like to announce that Snake will be coming out June 10, 2014, my twenty-first birthday and exactly two years to the day I started work on this novel. If it needs to be pushed back, I’ll do that, but I’d like to release it on that day. Not only will it feel right to release it that day, but it’ll be a great birthday present if a lot of people buy the book the day it comes out.

Well, that’s all for now, Followers of Fear. Please let me know what you think of the cover and of the release date. I’d love to hear from you. For now though, I’m heading to bed. Goodnight!

Snake: The Final Draft Is Done

Posted: February 3, 2014 in Novel, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Oh, I am on the ceiling tonight! Okay, I’m not literally on the ceiling, but you can guess how I’m feeling right now. As the title suggests, I’ve finished the final draft for Snake, which means it’s time to get it ready for publication! So excited right now, and I can’t wait to get started. In fact, I’ll start after this blog post is done.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Snake, it’s a thriller novel I wrote through the latter half of 2012. It follows a young man who becomes a serial killer in order to take down the mafia family who took from him what he considers most precious in life. Referred to by the media as the New York Mafia Killer (most of the novel takes place in New York City), he calls himself the Snake, for reasons that become apparent in the novel. So it’s basically a story of an antihero vigilante with mental problems and methods that would make Batman cringe. Still, it’s a story I enjoyed writing and I think that anyone who’s into these sort of dark thrillers will enjoy the story.

I know Angela Misri did. Angela, for those of you who haven’t been lucky enough to meet her yet, is an author and friend from Toronto whose first book, Jewel of the Thames, is due out next month. She did me a great favor by taking a look at Snake and giving me suggestions on how best to spruce it up before I published it. During the last twenty chapters or so, she was getting back to me every couple of days with revisions and suggestions on the manuscript. I have to say, I’m impressed that she was able to find the time to look over the whole novel with a full schedule of her own. Most of all though, I’m thankful for her help. She gave me amazing feedback on Snake, and I’m so happy to have collaborated with her. I hope that if I ever get around to writing a sequel to Snake, she’ll be willing to look at that as well.

Oh, before I forget. I did another check on the page and word count for Snake. All told, the novel is 370 8.5″ x 11″ pages and a little under 120,000 words. So it’s like a mid-length Harry Potter novel in length. Hope that doesn’t scare off any readers. That would suck! Anyway, I already have a cover picked out and I know who I’ll be acknowledging and who I’ll be dedicating the book to. I’m going to get on compiling the final manuscript together and creating the cover, so I’ll post on Snake again when I have those made up, along with a release date for the book.

One last thing though: I have to thank everyone reading this blog. Your support keeps me going and every time someone reads one of my books, it brings a boost to my mood and makes me want to write more and to improve the quality of my storytelling. Thank you so very much. I hope you’ll continue to support me in the future as I work on my dream of becoming an author.

And before I go to put dinner in the oven, I just want to let you know that if you’re interested in Snake or interested in reading an excerpt from Snake, please click here.

Have a lovely evening, Followers of Fear.

Ohm: Finished

Posted: January 20, 2014 in ideas, Living and Life, Progress Report, short story, Writing
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In Judaism, that hand is called a Hamsa. It’s designed to keep the evil eye away. I have no idea what it’s doing on this poster though.

Last week or so I posted about an interesting discussion I had in my meditation class about hypnosis vs. meditation (see post here). At one point during that conversation, I said that although hypnosis could be abused, meditation could just as easily be abused by someone of unscrupulous character. I then gave an example to my group, which was immediately followed by this realization: “Hey, that could make a great short story.” I told that to my meditation group, which caused them to laugh while also looking at each other in fear. It was a “What have we done?” moment right there.

Well, I started the short story Saturday evening before SNL started, and I’ve worked on it every evening since. And this evening I finished it. Then I went back and added a few more details to earlier parts of the story in order to make it flow more smoothly. Then I clicked Save and decided to write this blog post.

As you can see from the title of this post, the short story is called “Ohm.” I wanted a title that would go very well with a story of someone using meditation for bad purposes, and I went with “Ohm”, because it was simple, the word itself was relevant to the story, and it gave people an immediate sense of what this story might be about. It’s on the short end of short stories, a little under 2100 words, and it’s more literary than horror, if you look at it closely. Still, I think it’s an interesting story, even if there are no demons or serial killers, and I even managed to use a new technique in order to tell it:

Last semester, I read a short story for my science-fiction literature class called “Gene hackers”. The story was about a man who was quite famous in the near-distant future for his role in the industry of genetic engineering and manipulation, and chronicled various events throughout his life in short little vignettes, starting from when he was young and all the way up until he was a very old man. I was really impressed by the style used to tell the story, and I wanted to try that for myself with “Ohm”. I think it turned out pretty well, personally.

I’m going to ask my meditation group if any of them want to read the rough draft. After they get back to me, I’m going to try to submit this story to a creative writing contest here on campus, see if I can impress any judges. Hopefully my meditation group and the people running the contest will like “Ohm”. At any rate, I think they might find it at least a bit interesting.

Well, that’s all for now, Followers of Fear. I’ve got classes tomorrow, so I’ll sign off and see you in the morning. Goodnight and pleasant nightmares. I’ll let you know if anything comes of “Ohm”.

Oh, and before I forget, I bought my plane tickets for my study abroad trip today. They cost me an arm and a leg, but it was well worth it. I’m so looking forward to this trip. It’s going to be so much fun!

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