Aaron Polson's Blog, page 18

WIP Wednesday: Always Seeking Feedback

Writers should always be on the search for feedback.By feedback, I'm not speaking of reviews, per se, but actual critiques of one's work. This is one way in which a writer improves his/her craft.

Sometimes reviews offer helpful critique; sometimes they're drivel. Not all reviews are created equal, regardless of what I've written in the past. Sometimes they come from unexpected corners. Take this snippet from a review at an Elftown wiki:

It's hard to tell if the main character, Aaron (yeah, same name as the author) is hallucinating the paranormal events (seeing dead bodies in the dumpster at work, thinking he sees the old man they killed lurking in all corners), or if there is something truly amiss, which is one of the things I rather like about the story. It's a horror story, but you don't really realize how horrific it is until the end.

Thanks, Ixel, whoever you are. I appreciate every reader.

Every time I tell my wife I've received a new review, she asks "Who is (insert reviewer or review publication here)?" Good question. I usually can't answer--even when a review is published at a "professional" site.

So why is it authors hang on reviewer's words? Why is it we seek feedback, and keep seeking even when we are disappointed by the quality/quantity/content?

What does this have to do with my WIP? I'm juggling how to go about landing critiques for In the Memory House before loosing it on the world. I'm wondering if I should or let readers be my guides...

"Loaners" published at Lovecraft eZine

It's been a while since I've been able to direct my dear readers to a free read online. Just in time for the haunted season, you can read my short story, "Loaners" at Lovecraft eZine.

I should mention our dear main character uses the f-word (and even thinks it). Just in case you thought a story posted at an ezine dedicated to H.P. Lovecraft was going to be all clean and wholesome.Just in case.

Anyway, thanks to editor Mike Davis for publishing the piece.

Have a wonderfully macabre day.

My Son, the Writer of Weird Fiction

The Great Minds Think Aloud Book Club has a little interview with yours truly about Halloween, the favorite holiday of this horror writer. Hop on over and check it out.

Owen entered his first writing contest today. His story was... interesting. Think classic Weird Tales thrown into a blender. A troop of baboons then rearranged the scraps of paper.  My favorite bit:

I tried to open my eyes again. I couldn't. So I decided to get them open with razors. I cut slits in my eyes so I could see. Though it hurt, it didn't really matter. I needed eyes. That was what my grandma said. 

The moral? Always listen to Grandma. (I have no clue where he came up with this razor idea.  No clue.)

Have a wonderful Monday.

 

WIP Wednesday: The Insidiousness of Memory

I'm making some revisions to In the Memory House, and as my intrepid protagonist finds her room, I realize my own memories have spilled onto the page.  Have you ever read "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman? You should. (It's rather creepy.)

I covered poor Kelsey's (the protag) room in yellow wallpaper.

The walls were hung with wallpaper—not a plain yellow, either. Upon closer inspection, she noted a subtle pattern of darker vertical lines, but the lines were made of a tiny, repeated shape. The shape reminded Kelsey of corn cobs. She was in the corn-cob room. Absurd. Her fingers touched the wall and found a slight texture, small bumps where the shapes rose from floor to ceiling. 

And as another character says:

"Yellow. Yech. It's a rather mustardy shade, don't you think?"

So there it is--my subconscious giving me details for a spooky room in a spookier house. Thanks Fred.

Have ever accidentally dropped details into a story from fragments of memory?

What Kolchak The Night Stalker Taught Me About Story Telling

I had the opportunity to dust off my Kolchak: The Night Stalker DVDs this weekend. What a marvelous bit of macabre TV history.

A storyteller (e.g., writer) can learn much from Kolchak. For example:

Suspense is your friend. Make the audience wait. Kolchak slowly uncovers the truth, piecing the story together with the audience. Brilliant.Don't show your hand too soon, or hide the monster's face for the first half of the story. Build a story around a character and setting which works. Kolchak (the series) is set in Chicago--a big enough place for plenty of people to be murdered, and Kolchak (the character) is a freelance news reporter (which gives him latitude to investigate those murders). Tension between characters drives the plot.Was there any police captain in Chicago Kolchak didn't lead to a heart attack with his intrepid (if not annoying) questioning?Take a trip to the underworld: The final 5-10 minutes of each episode usually involved Kolchak going to the monster's lair and looking for him/it/her. Some of the spookiest sh*t on TV.Give your protagonist some quirks. Kolchak was never known as a snappy dresser... (What's with the hat?)  Most importantly, don't be a one trick pony. Kolchak is a great show, but only survived one season. I'm guessing it was cancelled because, quite frankly, every episode was the same. Watch them in a row and you'll get the pattern.What have you learned about storytelling (or writing) from your favorite television programs?

Items Found Above the Bathroom Ceiling in Room 215, Best Western North, Wichita Kansas

1.      Areceipt from Wal-Mart, smudged and illegible except for the date, 5/6/11, andthe word "bakery"2.      Twocondoms, without wrappers, dry3.      Arazor blade, two-sided, rusted with a dark brown crust on one side4.      Aplastic bag, quart size Ziploc, containing $5,000 in small bills (20s, 10s,5s), bound with a rubber band5.      Threeempty syringes, 100 cc, plastic tube with stainless steel needles, empty6.      Onehuman finger (presumably female), severed from the 1st metacarpo-phalangeal joint,wrapped in plastic, fingernail painted (chipped) with candy apple red7.      Oneworn copy of Stephen King's Night Shift,paperback, 1979, with several pages missing (123-167)
(a work of fiction, FYI)

Friday Featured Read: Don't Fear the Reaper by Michelle Muto

Grief-stricken by the murder of her twin, Keely Morrison is convinced suicide is her ticket to eternal peace and a chance to reunite with her sister. When Keely succeeds in taking her own life, she discovers death isn't at all what she expected. Instead, she's trapped in a netherworld on Earth and her only hope for reconnecting with her sister and navigating the afterlife is a bounty-hunting reaper and a sardonic, possibly unscrupulous, demon. But when the demon offers Keely her greatest temptation—revenge on her sister's murderer—she must uncover his motives and determine who she can trust. Because, as Keely soon learns, both reaper and demon are keeping secrets and she fears the worst is true—that her every decision will change how, and with whom, she spends eternity.
Links:
Amazon USAmazon UKB&NSmashwords

Name That Tombstone

I posted this picture on Monday--blank tombstones made of 1/4 plywood sub-flooring.

We need some suggestions for names; so far, we have:

Owen Moore than he could pay

Max D. Out

(both named after my kids--macabre much?)

...and something about a zombie.

Three ideas, but five tombstones. Any suggestions?

WIP Wednesday: It's a Business

This year, I'm going to pay income tax on my writing earnings for the first time in my life. Taxes are scary.

This means several things:
I've made enough income from a single source that the IRS will come find me if I don't.I can legitimately "write off" the home office as a business expense. I need to start running my affairs as a business.So what, exactly, does #3 entail?

When I started writing, I wasn't sure what, exactly, I was doing. My prose lacked and my business skills were none-existent. I've improved (a little) on the writing front. The only sure way to write better is to write more.

But this business thing?

Discussing money is a rather taboo subject, but money is at the core of a business. Last month, between formatting jobs, e-book sales, short story payments, and royalties from my publishers, I added over $500 to the family coffer. I'd be thrilled if I could do this on a consistent basis, but most of these "revenue sources" are variable.

And variable is scary.

I want my wife to be able to work part-time (she wants it, too). She can bring home about half of her current salary working part-time as a therapist (counselor). If I can crank my earnings from the writing/formatting "business" to about a grand a month, we can make it work. I'm heading that direction. But her counseling business is variable, and so is the writing.

And variable is scary.

I've been writing longer than I have treated it as a business. Businesses have plans. I need a plan.

My heart wants to write another book right now. My business manager tells me to get to work revising and editing In the Memory House so I can make a release date in December. Heart and business manager need to compromise.

Or maybe I need a new business manager, because I'm keeping my heart.

In the Memory House: Canned

And by "canned" I mean the first draft of In the Memory House is DONE.

Whew.

It's a slim book at only 60K, but those words came with a price: months of writing and rewriting and several characters who will never be the same.

Some may have even been harmed in the drafting of this book. *sad face*

On to a short story I've been itching to write, and then edits and the next book and the next and the next...

Happy writing.[image error]