Aaron Polson's Blog, page 65

Smoke

When Ernst woke, he smelled the smoke first, even before he felt the rough cord wrapped around his wrists. His eyes began to water, burning from the ash in the air.

"Hallo?" he called.

Shapes shifted in the darkness. Ernst tried to move his head, but stopped as nylon rope scraped his throat. At his back, a square post, the corners digging into his flesh despite his woolen jacket.

The shapes came forward. Books. The cover of each speckled with morphing yellow and orange firelight...each having sp...

I Hope They Burn My Books Someday

We're wrapping up Fahrenheit 451 in one of my classes, and I just want to share my love of Ray Bradbury. I hope they try to burn my books someday.*

(Bradbury's notes about the book title. Click for more from The Big Read.)

Read the Coda to Fahrenheit 451 to find out why.

NaNoWriMos...please write very flammable books. They're the only ones worth reading.

[image error]

WIP Wednesday: Reading with My Kids

Owen is in first grade, mired in learning to read. He brings home a few new books each night, and we spend a chunk of the evening sounding out words. Last night, we read:

Horror-writer dad jumps up and yells "hooray!"

The Boogly came out of the swamp. Chased a kid into his room. The last page:

...and then I woke up.

(dagger to the heart)

Great for a kids' book, but ouch. The one-ending-that-is-never-okay-in-horror-fiction. We read another book (Spooky and the Wizard's Bats) about a wizard wh...

"In the Primal Library" up at Three Crow Press

"In the Primal Library" is one of my favorite stories. It isn't all that "original" and doesn't "add anything new" to the genre. But it was fun to write. I grew up with a library just like the one described, and yes, the second floor was spooky as hell. They even had collections of National Geographic in boxes. At right around 1,500 words, it's perfect 'net length, so give it a whirl if you have a spare 5-10 minutes.

So I've been debating a "collection" of my work. I have a pile of published s...

Written by Me (and Send in the Clown)

KV Taylor wrote about recurring themes in her fiction last week (okay, one theme really, but it was blood, and blood is like ten themes in one), and my response:

At the core of most of my schtuff, I guess I'd have to say family dynamics, especially dysfunctional families. Maybe families that are trying really hard to be functional. Single parents. Dead siblings. Poverty.

...well, you read it yourself. Family dynamics are huge: the brothers' relationship in "Tesoro's Magic Bullet" or unresolved...

Musical Inspiration for a Grey Day

(photo by Dirk Delbaere)
It's dark and dreary here, so I've dusted off an old song from a forgotten project for a little musical inspiration today. The tune goes well with the photo; if you aren't writing your way down a dark path, download and give a listen some other time, huh?

"Whispers" (mp3)

Happy writing.[image error]

The Revolution

Janice woke to a loud crack and tinkle of broken glass. Her eyes opened and fell on the shelf above her desk--the shelf on which she kept her words.

One jar was missing.

Janice slipped her legs from under the warm blankets. Her feet pressed against the cold hardwood as she delicately shifted her weight and stood. Outside her window, trees brushed their leaves together. A car moved down the street in front of the house. But something else, a scratching sound, pulled her attention away from the o...

Going Down?

Hello, NaNos. One of the common themes in classical literature is the "hero's" journey into the underworld. Odysseus had to do it. So did Orpheus (and we all know how well that turned out). Most Harry Potter books (all of them?) involved our intrepid young wizard in the Forbidden Forest at one point or another. The underworld is usually a place of learning or trials, a place for your MC to meet a mentor or gain wisdom, an important stop on the journey to solving his/her/its "big proble...

WIP Wednesday: It Gets a Little Murky

Sometimes, writing feels a little like walking through these woods. A little mystery never hurt anyone, but along with mystery comes the possibility of danger. What, exactly, lurks out there in the fog and shadows?

Like: why am I trying to write a piece of science fiction? Well...it's more horror, really. A man signs on to be the custodian of a group of colonists as they take a thirty year journey into deep space. He only signs on because his family suffers in abject poverty. He won't s...

Contrast This!

This one could easily be titled "grow where you're planted", but I'm not going that cliché. No, this photo is really about contrasts. Does your novel have them? Does your protagonist have a foil, another character rife with opposing characteristics--greedy when the MC is generous, vindictive when the MC is forgiving, meticulous when the MC is slovenly...

Contrast helps bring out a character's traits and creates drama and suspense. Contrast makes for good fiction.

Hope your day is full of contra...