Keith Deininger's Blog, page 20

Resolutions are Bullshit - BIG SECRET: Shut Up and Do the Work!

It's true. As it turns out, if you're dedicated and stick to your goals and really work on them one step at a time, you just might achieve in this life what you set out to. Crazy, but I'm actually starting to believe it...

That being said, I feel good, on the borderline, standing on the precipice between dreams achieved and nightmares realized (in a good way?). 2012 feels like the beginning. Last year, when I thought about the year before, I was still pretending to be an author. This year, I've had my novel (THE NEW FLESH) accepted for publication and coming out next summer and a novella (FEVERED HILLS) coming out in a couple of weeks. 

At the same time, I'm a little freaked out--I've graduated to the next class of writers and I'm currently sitting on the bottom of the pack. My short fiction still needs work. I have very little of my work published and available to establish myself in the world. The novel I'm working on now, that I was hoping to finish by New Years, has taken an unexpected twist and I think needs at least another 10,000 words before the first draft is complete. Then it still needs a lot of work in the next draft. So, that's on the agenda for 2013.

Also for 2013, I have another novel rattling around in my head, a few shorter pieces, including at least two that are probably novellas, a graphic novel project, and a whole lot of learning how to conduct myself as a writer at readings and how to self-promote and market my work. I'm nervous.

But I'm also excited. Because I'm moving forward. It feels great to know I'm not just fucking around. The best thing about 2012 is the confidence I've gained in my abilities to write something substantial and meaningful that is worthy of publication and the eyes of readers.

I wish you all the best for 2013.

Seeing THE NEW FLESH Cover Makes Me All Giddy Inside

Seeing the cover kinda' makes it real. It also makes me kinda' want to burn things, you know, just watch the flames dance a little, nothing major. It won't get out of control. I promise. I mean, that's just a tendency one of my characters has, not me; the firebug thing's not based on experiences I may have had from my real life. Absolutely not. No way. Just forget I said anything...

But it's pretty cool to have visually tangible evidence that pieces of my creative self have been judged worthy enough to receive such an outstanding cover. This really feels like the beginning of something great. For many years I was one of those writers who did a lot more talking about writing than actually putting the damn words to paper. It wasn't until about two years ago that I actually began to take my writing seriously. Hell, I thought "The New Flesh" would never see print, that it wasn't quite good enough, but I knew I was close. I can see my writing getting stronger. The novel I'm working on now I feel is much better. I don't know. I'm excited to see what happens.

Either way, I can feel my head blowing up, my confidence soaring. I'm like, super awesome and better than everybody. So, you can all... Wait. What was that? I haven't even sold a single book yet? I have to be nice? But the cover... And fire is so cool... And... Fine. I'll get back to working on the new novel I was just bragging about and shut up. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Please don't hit me. Where do we keep the matches?

FEVERED HILLS - Contract is Signed!

Maybe it's not a fluke. Maybe I actually can write. Maybe, just maybe, I might even make it in the writing business!

Ever ambitious, I decided I was going to take a break from writing my 'Big Novel' and pump out a novella. I thought maybe if I submitted it now, it might be a good follow-up for "The New Flesh." Well, my novella, "Fevered Hills" has been accepted, the contract has been signed, and, just like when Greg Gifune called me up one day and told me he'd like to publish my novel, I am once again stunned. I am used to sending stories out to various publications and then waiting for months for them to be rejected. This one was accepted in record time! It really is amazing.

Then, as I did with Greg, I gave my new novella editor, Dave Thomas, a bit of a personal rant during our email correspondence and he let slip that my three-year plan to become a full-time writer might even be possible! Well fine then. I don't believe in setting realistic goals for myself. How about two years? One?

J. K. Rowling's MacBook Air vs. Cormac McCarthy's Typewriter

Which would you rather use?

You'd think the MacBook air, right? But isn't there an allure to the musty clacking of typewriter keys? Wouldn't writing on such a device inspire you to great heights of literary achievement? I mean, to be able to write like Cormac McCarthy... Blood Meridian... The Road... No Country for Old Men... Bleak beyond belief, all of them, but demented genius is still genius.

But then again, J. K. Rowling loves her MacBook Air. She says it "changed my life.” She says she's written "everywhere, including some very strange places." That sounds cool. Oooo, strange places. Like Hogwarts? Maybe. I know I would be a very happy camper sitting in Dumbledore's quarters writing my ass off on my new MacBook Air.

Of course, if you're a starving writer whose day job requires you to subsist on a frozen pizza and ramen noodle diet, maybe the old typewriter, which Mr. McCarthy recently replaced for $11 dollars, might be more your speed, plus the genius thing, don't forget the genius thing.

NaNoWriMo is a Sham!

Don't disturb me: I'm Writing! Well, for any real writer that should be all year round...

NaNoWriMo is a joke. The year I tried to write 50,000 words in month, I ended up with a gluttonous stack of words, like vomit over paper, like a free-writing exercise in some sort of creative writing class in hell, the whip-wielding demon behind me roaring, "More! More!"

If you want to write a novel--a rational, fleshed-out, character-driven and reader-worthy piece of fiction--I'd say set a reasonable daily goal and stick with it. There's no way around it. Write a little every day and eventually you might actually have a novel. Then, of course, you'll probably have to write another one, but if you enjoyed writing the first one, that shouldn't be so bad. Just write, but don't worry about speed; worry about quality, about character, about story, about atmosphere, however you come by it, in your own way, in your own time. Have fun with it. Start your novel this month, and write until it's finished, but be careful, and don't rush it; there's no need for that nonsense.

Of course, if you're lucky enough to be a full-time writer and don't have some stupid day job looming over you, consuming your time like the aforementioned demon's mentally challenged cousin Angus eats brimstone, there's a good chance you write a solid 50k each month anyway!

Best Stephen King Novel: "The Tommyknockers"

I've felt strangely compelled--it came suddenly to me whilst wading through the surreal murk that is my current writing project--to discuss a Stephen King novel, one that I feel is, unfortunately, neglected in the King canon: "The Tommyknockers."

I will admit, I'm a fantasist, and my threshold for suspended disbelief may be a little higher than most, but I've heard and read a lot of negative things about "The Tommyknockers," complaints concerning its slow beginning and its lackluster ending and it being too detailed. Too detailed? To me, it is the rich details and all those different stories of all those interesting King characters (tons of them in a small town, just like "'Salem's Lot"), that make "The Tommyknockers" such a wonderful read. The beginning is slow, I think, to those that are too used to the fast-paced King novels (like "Firestarter"), or the cheap, in-your-face thrills of other horror writers (like Dean Koontz).

I've read a lot of King. I grew up with King. In many ways, he helped to shape the sort of writer I have become. In middle and high school, I devoured King like hot, bubbling pizza after a long day of digging trenches. I've grown out of him a little, feeling he lost his edge a bit after his accident, but I've read pretty much everything he's written from "Carrie" through the "Dark Tower" books. That's a lot of King.

Which is why, when I hear someone complain about "The Tommyknockers" not being one of King's best, I scoff (usually to myself, talking aloud in the shower later the clever things I wish I'd thought of at the time), and would argue that the darkness and depth of imagination in this piece makes it an exemplified work of fantasy. The scene early on where Gardner drunkenly rants at a stuffy cocktail party about the dangers of nuclear power, is masterfully done. The story involving Hilly and his magic show and Altair-4, is heart-wrenching and beautiful. The allusions to other King works are great fun for the King fanatic (Pennywise the clown makes a brief appearance; Jack, from "The Talisman," talks with a hungover Gardner on the beach by the Alhambra Inn; a minor character from "The Dead Zone" appears, as do brief references to "Firestarter" and "'Salem's Lot"). A very solid novel to come out of the "golden" age of King.

"The Tommyknockers" is an excellent allegorical tale of substance abuse, but also a wonderful work of dark fantasy.

Read 'Midnight' Right Now! -- on 'In Between Altered States'

In Between Altered States
Flash Fiction that crosses dimensions

I have a short piece featured on the site In Between Altered States, a zine "dedicated to showcasing excellent flash fiction that tries to bend the mind and think about life in a slightly twisted manner."

My piece is a part of Episode 30, a string of flash fiction in the theme of "mistaken identity."

'Midnight,' this one is called...

At midnight I heard bacon sizzling in the abandoned restaurant along the boardwalk. Each evening the heavy smells woke me in my apartment above the beach. Following my nose, I stepped carefully down the stairs...

All Hallow's Read

An excellent tradition (started by Neil Gaiman) that has been taking place in October over the past couple of years: give the ones you care about something horrific to read for Halloween!

#allhallowsread

Here are my recommendations:




Pet Sematary -- To begin with the standard fair, this is one of Stephen King's best. Also try The Dead Zone, It, and The Shining. I would also add 'The Tommyknockers,' a highly underrated King novel. I Am Legend -- Besides Bram Stoker's Dracula, this is the only other story with vampires I would recommend. Please don't bother with the movies; I'm sure Richard Matheson was none to pleased with any of them. The twist at the end of this one elevates I am Legend to literary heights. Shadowland -- I considered Ghost Story, or even Floating Dragon, but Shadowland is a superior effort on Straub's part, in my opinion. A very interesting read. Very creepy. American Psycho -- A gruesome comment on the wealthy American consumerist culture. Some of the most vivid descriptions of violence and sexual depravity ever in print! Highly recommended. ;) V. -- There is horror in this challenging book, and an air of the macabre. Easier than Gravity's Rainbow, but more challenging than The Crying of Lot 49. Thomas Pynchon's V. has certain implied supernatural elements that make it acceptable for any list of horror literature. The Collector -- John Fowles's first novel, and it is disturbing. If you cut through all the literary commenting on the English class system, you get a story about a deeply disturbed man holding a young liberal woman captive in his basement, with unpleasant results. House of Leaves -- A postmodernist masterpiece of twisting and turning...literally! Prepare to read this one sideways and upsidedown. There are some very frightening parts to this spiral into the void... The Turn of the Screw -- A classic in the "ghost story" genre by Henry James. Or is it? Ambiguity of character and story done with such precise mastery, it leaves one in a state of awe, and totally creeped out. The Road -- Cormac McCarthy is depressing. That's a fact. And The Road is a trudge through hopelessness, but done with such vivid clarity and strength of spirit. Wonderful! The October Country -- Ray Bradbury wrote some truly horrific stories in his early years and many of his best are collected in The October Country. "The Next in Line" is particularly good, as are such classics as "The Jar," "The Small Assassin," and I would add "The Emissary." Books of Blood -- Clive Barker's short stories are fantastic and gruesome and well worth your time. Very good stuff. From Hell -- To add a graphic novel to this list--Alan Moore. This one is excellent, stick with it to the end and you won't be disappointed.