Joseph Devon's Blog, page 4

My Short Story Made Into a Movie

I’ve mentioned this a number of times on here, but my short story “Private Showing” was turned into a movie by a film student in Prague. The students name was Roma Raju, and she wanted to create a film version of my short story for her final project last year. Roma sent me a copy of the video months ago, but I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to share it with others. Word finally got back to me that I could pass it on all I wanted.

I thought it was a tour de force of pure awesome.

There is a small...

What Makes a Zombie Book?

What makes a book a zombie book?

What defines a zombie?

I find myself asking these questions the further I get into book three.

When I first started turning the Matthew and Epp stories into a book, I didn’t give much thought to how I might classify them. I never have any idea where a story is going to lead and trying to shove a book into a set category in the early stages has never resulted in a product I’m happy with. So I didn’t set out to write any particular genre.

It became obvious pretty qu...

A NaNoWriMo Rewrite of The Raven

November, for many somewhat crazy people out there, is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short.

During this event hundreds of thousands of people pledge to write a novel in a single month. This never fails to amaze me and I always try and put some motivational posts up on the site throughout this time for all those brave souls.

I have posted a few projects over the years, but I always come back to the poem below, which I wrote in the style of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven.”

“The Rave...

In Which I Am Yet Again Amazed at How the Internet has Changed How I Do Research

Writing urban fantasy books requires, as I have mentioned numerous times, bouts of extreme research. Earlier this year I was plowing through books about Romania. They were boring. They were at the same time fascinating. Research is like that. You think you’re looking for one thing, and the source you’re digging into keeps cramming other information in your face, and you’re so focused on what you think you’re looking for that you attempt to ignore all the other stuff.

And then some tidbit from...

Middle of the First Draft Blues

The process of writing a book contains, beyond a doubt, the single largest hump of anything I have ever done. And by “hump” I mean “middle section that seems like an absurdly impossible climb.” I would imagine that lifelong disciplines might have similar humps. Like mastering a martial art or becoming an expert arranger of tea ceremonies. But these longer goals are broken down into smaller goals. You move up each rung of the martial art ladder, and you…I don’t know…arrange tea ceremonies for...

Two Heads Are Better Than None

As the autumn continues on, the latest hit television shows are enrapturing millions of Americans as we speak. Without a doubt, The Walking Dead has the largest audience in the cable industry, and it is no small wonder: the public is always ready to watch and read anything zombie and apocalypse-related. Many of the best urban fiction books are geared towards these topics, and there truly is an undeniable appeal towards these quality stories; why is it that we are so obsessed with the undead a...

Some Short Stories to Read While Waiting for Book Three

The third book of the Matthew and Epp series is being written at this very moment. I think most readers are aware of this fact. It is slow going currently, but it is going. And I am dedicated to making sure each book pops on its own, so I’m trying not to just poop out a third book to finish off the series. I also debate quite frequently if I need more than three books.

So that’s what’s going on there.

Meanwhile, someone pointed out to me the other day that I have one of the larger collections o...

Giving Rewriting Your Best: Read What Bores You

E. B. White once said, “The best writing is rewriting.”

I could not agree more. My first drafts tend to be horribly unfinished affairs. There are characters appearing out of nowhere, plot lines introduced clumsily, scenes out of order. I don’t go back and revise anything until an entire draft is finished, so you’d be surprised how many mistakes I let slide.

I do this because, as a writer, I have one of the greatest tools at my disposal known to humankind. I have the ability to go back and fixmy...

The Finale of Breaking Bad and What Great Does to Our Brains

Breaking Bad, possibly the best show I have ever seen aired on television, is coming to a close this Sunday. It has had a five season run in which no episode has felt extraneous, old interesting details have come back around instead of being forgotten about, and it is promising to actually have a true finale instead of petering out.

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen this happen before.

The Wire, a show I have claimed justifies the invention of television, fizzled in its final season.

The Shield h...

Satisfy Your Hunger: Zombie Novels 101

Zombies…zombies…zombies…scared yet? Didn’t think so, but then again you obviously haven’t discovered some of the best zombie books to read in our generation. With Halloween a little over a month away, now is the time to start reading all sorts of spooky and horrifying literature. Sure, Stephen King novels are always popular in most respects, but there are countless other up-and-coming novelists and writers who offer incredible and gripping storylines.

What exactly makes a zombie novel so great...