Kevin A. Ranson's Blog, page 10

“Being Forced to Sit in the Backlist” – Hugh Howey #WritersLife

There’s no reason for this way of thinking anymore. A writer is a writer; it’s hard work and takes dedication to the craft. Why can’t we all support one another and stop clinging to the labels that no longer apply?

Imagine selling two million books, having half a dozen of your novels hit the New York Times bestseller list, being inundated with thousands of fan emails every month, and then having someone call you an “aspiring writer.”

That’s what happened in New Orleans this weekend, when the planners of the RT Booklovers Convention decided to place self-published authors in a dinky room off to the side while the traditionally published authors sat at tables in the grand ballroom.

Authors like Liliana Hart, who is at the top of the game not just in the romance genre but in all of publishing, was labeled an “Aspiring Author.”

RT is a major bookselling convention, a place that publishers expect to sell boatloads of titles. The bookselling, I believe, is handled by Barnes & Noble, a company with a history of segregating self-published authors on their online bestseller lists and who has no incentive to promote authors they don’t stock. So the fault here is not with the authors in the other room; it’s with the organizers and the undoubted pressure they feel from monied interests.

Read the full article on Hugh Howey’s website.

Filed under: Conspiracies, Creativity, Existentialism, Literarian Tagged: backlist, Barnes & Noble, bestseller, convention, Hugh Howey, writers

Is The Matriarch a Gothic Novel?

According to TheGuardian.com, there are 10 specific points regarding whether or not a novel ought to be deemed “gothic,” citing Horace Walpole’s 1764 publication The Castle of Otranto as the first such work. While I had no such specific intention to do so, it appears that The Matriarch is, indeed, mostly a gothic novel! I’ll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, so here we go!

1. The villain is a murderous tyrant with scary eyes. Check and check. +10%.

2. The heroine is a pious, virginal orphan, prone to fainting. Well, not so much. Janiss is neither an orphan nor prone to fainting, but she certainly fits the bill of “good girl” although she isn’t actually a virgin. To quoth ye olde The Cabin in the Woods, “We work with what we have.” +5%.

3. It’s set in a spooky castle or stately home. You caught me; I did this on purpose. It wasn’t done to make it gothic, but I was thinking about the equivalent of a modern-day Dracula’s castle when I created Cedarcrest Sanctum as a vampire stronghold. +10%.

4. There is (probably) a ghost or monster. Yep: vampires AND ghosts, but with the requisite twist and fresh take. +10%.

5. It’s set in the olden days. While the setup for The Matriarch does refer to century-old events, it isn’t set in the distant past; no points for this question. 5 more to go!

6. It takes place in foreign parts. This is actually refers to a foreign country but is also meant to imply a timeless or unfamiliar place. Central West Virginia? I’m conservatively scoring +5%.

7. The weather is always awful. Oh, yeah. +10%.

8. Anyone who isn’t a white, middle-class Protestant is frightening. Being from West Virginia, this seems true, but I’ve been to worse places. I’ll take a half score with +5%.

9. The laws of the land are brazenly flouted. Arson? Murder? Kidnapping? Vehicular homicide? Desecration of the dead? I could keep going, but instead I’ll score +10%.

10. People talk funny. Welcome to central West Virginia, where the letter ‘L’ is optional and you may not recognize “plain English.” +10%.

That’s 75% out of a possible 100% that The Matriarch is a gothic novel.

Sure, why not?

Filed under: Cemetery, Creativity, Literarian, Paranormal Tagged: gothic, Matriarch, vampires

Female Characters: Good for Television, Bad for Movies?

The casting for Star Wars VII is out, and besides everyone’s favorite former bikini-clad slave princess Carrie Fisher, there is only one new female character in anything resembling a major role… out of SEVEN. Throw in the original Boy’s Club cast of six and that’s two out THIRTEEN principles.

This shouldn’t be a big deal, right? There ARE women in Star Wars, just not many with relevant or speaking parts ON FILM. Oh, and the so-dubbed “expanded Star Wars universe” was declared null-and-void and not official movie canon, so apparently there ARE only two relevant women in the entire galaxy. Worse yet, those two are related and the younger one (SPOILER!) died after childbirth – because, you know, that’s what women do: have babies and die. Really?!

Say, isn’t this a J.J.Abrams production? What’s interesting is that his television programming (“Lost,” “Alias,” “Fringe”) have meaty roles for ladies and often many of them, but his film production credits (Star Trek, Cloverfield, Super 8, Mission Impossible) seems to only have room for a chosen few in an ensemble, often ONE. Playing devil’s advocate, maybe this is an informed choice: are relevant female characters too complex for most screenwriters to simply throw them up on-screen and present them believably in a film format?

Show a handsome guy stumbling out of a dark alley with a gunshot wound and we already assume he’s a hero saving the day, but swap that same character out for a woman and we immediately think of her as a victim; am I wrong? While Mr. Hero (if I may crib from Shoot ‘Em Up) is obviously trying to save a dame, Ms. Victim couldn’t possibly have gone into that alley willingly, and if she did, there is obviously something unsavory or less than fetching about her. Perhaps if we reflect upon her back story leading up to this point – something that likely won’t reveal one new thing about Mr. Hero – we’ll certainly be informed of Ms. Victim’s near-or-actual rape, her medicated depression symptoms, or her failed attempts to find a worthy man to call her own. Ugh.

Maybe these writers need to start watching BBC’s “Orphan Black” and see how it’s done (over and over again). All I can think is thank the goddess for Joss Whedon pulling strings in the Marvel Universe of filmmaking – because they’re still asking that question.

Filed under: Conspiracies, Creativity, Critiquery, Existentialism, Hollywood Tagged: Carrie Fisher, female characters, Fringe, JJ Abrams, Joss Whedon, Marvel Universe, Orphan Black, star wars

The Sequel Is Out Soon; Catch Up With The Matriarch

“I’m going to find as many of them as I can – the makers and their progeny.”

Haven’t read The Matriarch? Don’t miss these excerpts:
“Clean and Professional” † “Everything Old Made New Again” † “Middle of the Road” † “He Said He Was the Devil” † “An Awakening In the Cellar”

Filed under: Cemetery, Creativity, Horrificus, Literarian, Paranormal Tagged: Cedarcrest Sanctum, novel, the matriarch, vampire series

What Do We Say to Growing Up? “Not Today.”

I had a thought today…

If there is a single defining moment in one’s lifetime when they abruptly and irrevocably become an adult, when every trace of their daydreaming and childhood wonder is at last extinguished, I’m both happy and fortunate I haven’t experienced it yet.

That is all. Carry on.

Filed under: Conspiracies, Creativity, Existentialism Tagged: childhood wonder, daydreaming, growing up, not today

“Sobriety Check” – Excerpt from The Matriarch: Guardians

Janiss’s eyes snapped open, immediately wincing at the bright red and blue patrol lights flashing in her rearview mirror. Outside of her car door, a policeman shined a light into her face.

How long had she been daydreaming?

After turning the key on her ignition to roll the automatic window down, the clock on the center console told her it was 5:30 AM. It had only been about twenty minutes and sunrise was still over an hour away. Whew! For a moment, she wondered why Travis and Cole wouldn’t have noticed her if they had passed by; she assumed they came back through Weston since she knew Cole lived in that direction.

“Are you having car trouble?” the man asked. She recognized him: Officer Strickland.

Read the rest of this excerpt at Cedarcrest Sanctum.

Filed under: Creativity, Literarian, Paranormal Tagged: Cedarcrest Sanctum, Guardians, novel, the matriarch, vampire series

The Bloodlist (Fun With Photoshop)

I’ve done professional renderings for various companies, but now I usually only do this kind of work for myself.

This is a cosplay I’m putting together for conventions, based loosely on James Spader’s excellent show “The Blacklist” on NBC. I mentioned to my wife that it’d be fun to get suited up and do a fake poster called “The Bloodlist” with the tagline “Never trust a horror writer,” so she dared me.

Done and done.

You: “I don’t think you’re telling me everything.”

Me: “I’m never telling you everything.”

Filed under: Conspiracies, Cosplaying, Creativity, Hollywood, Satire Tagged: Blacklist, cosplay, horror writer, James Spader, Reddington

Bloodletting: Vampires Shouldn’t Go Thirsty

How much is enough? Is there ever enough?

A thirst for blood is arguably THE defining trait of a vampire. They drink it to exist and helpful humans are readily available; what varies from story to story is the actual need.

The first consideration is what the blood is for. In a modern twist, vampires may be portrayed as biological, needing blood due to an inability to manufacturer their own or requiring some essential element that only living blood contains. In such cases, the vampire may be susceptible to blood diseases or the effects of substances such as drugs or alcohol. For the more traditional “mystical” type, “the blood is the life,” allowing the vampire to literally take the life force of the living into themselves to empower an animated corpse.

In either case, how much is enough? How long does it last? How often must the vampire feed?

On average, a human adult may have up to ten pints of blood. A single pint can be safely donated, but lose three or more and the body’s ability to survive is compromised. If a particular vampire requires this and has only a single donor, someone’s going to die.

A vampire in control of themselves might consume more blood than necessary if they can, essentially storing it up to go longer between feedings, but what’s the no-frenzy minimum? A 200-pound living human arguably needs 100 ounces of water a day or around 6 pints. Assuming a vampire requires only as much blood per day as a human needs water, they might kill one or two people every day or feed sparsely enough to let three people live – and that’s at a minimum.

Using these guestimated numbers, a so-called conscientious vampire might not have to kill, but one would certainly need a stable of no less than nine adult donors to exist for three days without killing in addition to allowing time for donors to eat and rest before another bleeding. Those numbers increase significantly assuming a vampire takes damage or uses up blood to heal, so add a few more just in case. With such small numbers, it doesn’t make much sense for a local vampire lord setting down roots in a community to kill off the locals unless they fully intend to move along when there’s nothing left – just a thought.

Whether you’re reading vampire stories or writing them, consider the numbers. Do they all add up? If not, someone could have done more research or there may be room to improve your detail.

Don’t let your vampires go thirsty.

Filed under: Existentialism, Literarian, Paranormal Tagged: blood, bloodletting, pints, thirst, vampires

The Matriarch: Guardians

She is NOT the last…

The Matriarch novel officially has a sequel in final editing.

The Matriarch: Guardians

“I’m going to find as many of them as I can, the makers and their progeny.” After a woman in white is shot along a lonely highway in Jackson County, West Virginia, an unusual number of vampires are found.

On the hunt for their mysterious maker, Janiss Connelly will have to race against the dawn to stop the killing – if her previous life doesn’t destroy her first.

Get the details and sign up for updates at CedarcrestSanctum.com.

Filed under: Creativity, Horrificus, Literarian Tagged: book, Cedarcrest Sanctum, Guardians, Jackson County, Janiss Connelly, Kevin A. Ranson, Kevin Ranson, Matriarch, novel, vampires, West Virginia

Show Us Your Writing Space!

Where we write can influence what and how well we write. Do you have a special place set up or just go anywhere and begin?

I admit I can write wherever, but I’m most comfortable at my custom-created dual-monitor workstation with twin goose-neck lamps and dual cupholders (yes, cupholders). Decor includes scythes over the windows, reaper statuettes down the wall in the corner, and an evil-!#$%ing closet (obviously). My trusty actual-wood chair keeps me attentive and on task.

Show us your writing space or desk!

Filed under: Creativity, Existentialism, Literarian, Management Tagged: author, computer, desk, novel, show me, space, workstation, writing