Adam Berk's Blog: Musings of a New England Pulp Writer
May 6, 2018
Back From the Wilderness, and Ready to Sell Some Stories!
Okay, so "getting established" in my new hometown, Salem, MA, took a little longer than I thought. But now I've got a good "day job" with (kinda) flexible hours and a middle class income - at least for a couple of years until the Trump tax plan screws me. Now it's time to fill some pages and pursue the thrilling life of a pulp writer!
My first foray, The Centaur and the Sot is a novelette in what will be a series of 15 or so stories called The Dragonsbane Inn. At a glance, this is the movie "Waiting" set in a fantasy world of foodie elves, magical nightclubs, and domesticated trolls working in kitchens. I figure there are plenty of stories in the fantasy genre about kings and queens, warriors and heroes; I want to tell stories about the other guys.
All this will take place in the city-state of Angelwood in the Freelands, which are part of a much bigger world called Ardyn. I figured novelettes (and probably some novellas) are a great way for a fantasy writer to start as they allow for more world-building than short stories but are far easier than novels to get people to actually read. Particularly when they work in food service.
My first foray, The Centaur and the Sot is a novelette in what will be a series of 15 or so stories called The Dragonsbane Inn. At a glance, this is the movie "Waiting" set in a fantasy world of foodie elves, magical nightclubs, and domesticated trolls working in kitchens. I figure there are plenty of stories in the fantasy genre about kings and queens, warriors and heroes; I want to tell stories about the other guys.
All this will take place in the city-state of Angelwood in the Freelands, which are part of a much bigger world called Ardyn. I figured novelettes (and probably some novellas) are a great way for a fantasy writer to start as they allow for more world-building than short stories but are far easier than novels to get people to actually read. Particularly when they work in food service.
May 29, 2013
New Guy
I think the worst part of starting a new job is being the "new guy". It's like everyone around you is just watching and waiting for you to screw up. Don't let him do that, he's the new guy! Don't let him talk to a customer, he's the new guy! Well, of course he hit the one button on the POS computer that crashes the whole system and sets off the fire alarm. He's the new guy!
It's this fear of embarrassment that keeps us stagnant. Following the same routines, making the same choices, working at the same dead-end jobs. Soon we discover we've become experts in things we never found interesting in the first place, and that's when the mid-life crises start to hit. We take classes in art and ballroom dancing, write "bucket lists" and travel to foreign countries we don't know anything about. And we do all this in increasing desperation and without any real sense of purpose, because back when we were getting established we settled for being comfortable instead of going after whatever it was we really wanted.
So this is what I tell people who wonder why I'm still scraping to get by - bouncing from one part-time day-job to the next while I try to find my place in this era's vast array of literature and entertainment. Seems like I've been the "new guy" in the world of writing for at least a decade. But I stick it out because at the end of the day I find it more rewarding to be uncomfortable than uninteresting.
At least that's what I'd like to tell people. I usually just shrug and mutter some platitude under my breath. What? they ask. Don't bother me, I'm writing.
It's this fear of embarrassment that keeps us stagnant. Following the same routines, making the same choices, working at the same dead-end jobs. Soon we discover we've become experts in things we never found interesting in the first place, and that's when the mid-life crises start to hit. We take classes in art and ballroom dancing, write "bucket lists" and travel to foreign countries we don't know anything about. And we do all this in increasing desperation and without any real sense of purpose, because back when we were getting established we settled for being comfortable instead of going after whatever it was we really wanted.
So this is what I tell people who wonder why I'm still scraping to get by - bouncing from one part-time day-job to the next while I try to find my place in this era's vast array of literature and entertainment. Seems like I've been the "new guy" in the world of writing for at least a decade. But I stick it out because at the end of the day I find it more rewarding to be uncomfortable than uninteresting.
At least that's what I'd like to tell people. I usually just shrug and mutter some platitude under my breath. What? they ask. Don't bother me, I'm writing.
Musings of a New England Pulp Writer
People in New England seem to put a lot of importance on "being real" or "being realistic". I've heard the phrase "It is what it is." more times in the three months since I've moved to Massachusetts t
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