Shaun Horton's Blog, page 13

31 Posts of Monsters: Lusca

Of all the places in the world, the Caribbean is actually one that doesn't have many suggested monsters, despite a history of legends. It may have something to do with how clear and relatively shallow the water is in many places. Wherever there are dark places, though, some people will come up with claims that monsters live there. Such is the case with the Lusca.

Name: Lusca, Giant Octopus

Length: 75 - 200 feet long, from tentacle to tentacle.

Appearance: The same as any other octopus, except fo...

Short Story: Reflected

Hi everyone. No talk about writing, editing, or any special subject this week. Instead, just a nice little horror story for you all to check out. Enjoy. 
Reflected


            Barry sat upright in bed, gasping for breath and dripping with sweat. The nightmare again. He looked over at his clock; the bright red numbers telling him silently that it was one thirty-seven am. In the darkness of his one bedroom apartment, he swung his feet out of bed and used th...

Going in the Wrong Direction

We've all made mistakes. When being creative, those mistakes can find us winding down paths we never expected or planned for into a gravel pit from which our creations may never be able to claw their way out. More often than not, if you pay attention, you can see you're going in the wrong direction far ahead of actually getting there and you can turn around, or at the very least cut your lost time. Sometimes though, we have no idea we've wandered astray until it's far too late.

You see this ha...

Building a Book: The Rejection

Rejection. No matter what you do, as a writer, you're going to experience it. Whether it's a short story or a full novel submission, whether it's to press or an agent.

It's not the end of the world.

Even though it will definitely feel like it.


For those curious, yes, my recent work "Hannah" was rejected from my first choice publisher after a 14 week wait. Which means, a few different things.

It was a pretty generic rejection, which means I may want to go through it again. This could be as simple...

Who is your daddy, and what does he do?

Ten points if you can name the movie the title of this post is from. Fifteen if you can name another line. Points don't actually mean anything, but they're free for me to give out and you'll feel like you won something, so everyone wins, right?


So, other than bringing up a 1990's action comedy, what's the point?

Your characters' need jobs.

Yes, it seems like that would be kind of a no-brainer, but it's surprising how many new and aspiring writers (and occasionally even professionals) miss this s...

Recycle Bin, or 'Bits Box' ?

As a writer, the only thing that comes as close to devastating as writer's block is the sense that your story isn't working like you want it to. Somewhere you veered off the right path and got lost in the woods, which is never someplace that you want to be.



There are a couple different ways this might happen.
1. Your story doesn't stretch far enough.
Basically, this is when your idea that you thought was a novel or novella falls short. Usually by a lot, meaning several thousand words or more. Ju...

Top 10 Horror Survivors #5 - #1 (SPOILERS)

Welcome back. Once again, this blog post does contain spoilers for some of the most well-known Horror movies, so prepare yourself if you're a somewhat sheltered fan of Horror. (And in what world does THAT make sense?)

If you need a re-hash of numbers 10 - 6, check here.

Now, I think we all know what the deal is, so lets get on with it. My Top 5 Horror Survivors.

5. Ash - Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness

You ever have just one of those days? Ash has had several. From a possessed forest, to...

Top 10 Horror Survivors #10 - #6 (SPOILERS)

Seriously. Spoilers ahead, if you're a horror fan who hasn't seen a lot of the classics, don't even scroll down. Unless you don't care about spoilers. Personally, I've always been of the opinion that knowing something isn't the same as seeing or experiencing it. Eh, to each their own though, don't say I didn't warn you.

The greatest fear people have, is fear of the unknown. In lots of genre's and media, this translates to the fear of death. Death being that great unanswered... Ah, forget all t...

New Stories are up on Amazon!

So, it's been a little while since I've had anything new for people to read go up. Anyone that's kept up on this blog for the past month or two is aware I have a new book currently in the querying process, but even if it was accepted today, that's still a ways from being released. 
I am happy to announce though that today I have a new offer up on Amazon! A trio of short stories to make you think and to send shivers up your spine. Without further ado, I introduce you to: 

Only $0.99 on...

Building a Book: The Wait

In addition to today's blog post, I want to point you to the Follow by Email link on the right, where you can sign up to get email notifications of new blog posts. Also, make sure you check out the Giveaways link above, I've got a free weekend for Class 5 coming up on Kindle this weekend.

So you've finished your book, revised it, shown it to beta readers, revised it some more, done your homework on publishers and small presses, picked a few out, and submitted your manuscript and your query let...