Sidney Williams's Blog - Posts Tagged "creativity"
A brief interview with me
A brief interview with me is up on Kip Poe's blog. It's a discussion on writing habits.
You can check it out here.
Kip has a book of short horror fiction called Closing My Eyes Helps Me See Clearly that's available as an e-book.
You can check it out here.
Kip has a book of short horror fiction called Closing My Eyes Helps Me See Clearly that's available as an e-book.
A lesson in self promotion
I hate self promotion.
I'm a shy, retiring and modest type, so I don't like having to proclaim my own virtues, but for the new e-book editions of my novels, such as Blood Hunter and the upcoming Gnelfs, I'm mustering my courage and tenacity and doing interviews and what I can to get the word out.
It's pretty much a necessity. I've noticed about a million books out there. Most are written by James Patterson, but not all, so you've kinda gotta wave your arms and shout.
All of this is making me recall a lesson in self promotion I got at the opening session of a science fiction convention a few years ago.
Read more
I'm a shy, retiring and modest type, so I don't like having to proclaim my own virtues, but for the new e-book editions of my novels, such as Blood Hunter and the upcoming Gnelfs, I'm mustering my courage and tenacity and doing interviews and what I can to get the word out.
It's pretty much a necessity. I've noticed about a million books out there. Most are written by James Patterson, but not all, so you've kinda gotta wave your arms and shout.
All of this is making me recall a lesson in self promotion I got at the opening session of a science fiction convention a few years ago.
Read more
The Red Tree - A Study In Quiet Horror
Now and then a novel comes along that's so subtly eerie it generates fear that seems to affect your central nervous system. The Haunting of Hill House is that way, as are some of the novels of Charles L. Grant.
To me, The Red Tree achieves similar results, with its sense of unease and its gradual, ambiguous journey into the supernatural. It's a true don't-read-this-too-late-at-night experience.
As I followed Sarah Crowe, the protagonist and chief narrator, through her strange experiences, the little creaks and groans of my house, and the sounds of insects or pine needles thumping the window made me look twice or turn on an extra light.
It's the kind of terror that's hard to achieve, but The Red Tree author Caitlin R. Kiernan does it so well Crowe's journal seems like the real chronicle of experiences--both mundane and incredible--hammered out on a battered manual typewriter.
Read the full post.
To me, The Red Tree achieves similar results, with its sense of unease and its gradual, ambiguous journey into the supernatural. It's a true don't-read-this-too-late-at-night experience.
As I followed Sarah Crowe, the protagonist and chief narrator, through her strange experiences, the little creaks and groans of my house, and the sounds of insects or pine needles thumping the window made me look twice or turn on an extra light.
It's the kind of terror that's hard to achieve, but The Red Tree author Caitlin R. Kiernan does it so well Crowe's journal seems like the real chronicle of experiences--both mundane and incredible--hammered out on a battered manual typewriter.
Read the full post.
What's On the iPod/iPhone?: Big Finish's (Sherlock) Holmes and the Ripper
I was pleasantly surprised recently to discover:
a.) The Big Finish Podcast
b.) That Big Finish is doing Sherlock Holmes stories
c.) You can now download from the Big Finish website
d.) Downloads are less expensive than CDs
I've been under a rock two years, so I'm still catching up on a lot of things.
Of course when I gained all this knowledge, starting with the podcast, a natural choice for a birthday gift request was "Holmes and the Ripper," an installment based on a stage play by Brian Clemens of The Avengers fame and scores of other TV shows and movies.
The story's core stems from the conspiracy theorized in...
Read the full post here
a.) The Big Finish Podcast
b.) That Big Finish is doing Sherlock Holmes stories
c.) You can now download from the Big Finish website
d.) Downloads are less expensive than CDs
I've been under a rock two years, so I'm still catching up on a lot of things.
Of course when I gained all this knowledge, starting with the podcast, a natural choice for a birthday gift request was "Holmes and the Ripper," an installment based on a stage play by Brian Clemens of The Avengers fame and scores of other TV shows and movies.
The story's core stems from the conspiracy theorized in...
Read the full post here
Tweaking the Synopsis - Midnight Eyes
I'm in what I find to be an awkward phase. It's time to write the jacket copy for Midnight Eyes, a thriller I just turned in to Crossroad Press for copy editing. Summing up 100,000 words in a few paragraphs that capture the relevant points isn't as challenging as, I don't know, math, but it's not just dashing off a few lines either.
I thought I'd toss out the first pass here.
I thought I'd toss out the first pass here.
The Dreams I Had - When Writing Midnight Eyes
Doug Dorow's recent blog post on the research he did for his novel The Ninth District jogged my memory about the original writing of Midnight Eyes.
Although I did an extensive re-write recently, I set down the first draft a few years ago while I was working as a librarian. Handy inter-library loan tools were at my fingertips.
While I'd worked for years before that as a newspaper reporter, often shouldering police beat duties that included late-night visits to crime scenes, I spent a lot of time reading books and references about serial killers and pouring over police training textbooks and FBI journals. Read more
Although I did an extensive re-write recently, I set down the first draft a few years ago while I was working as a librarian. Handy inter-library loan tools were at my fingertips.
While I'd worked for years before that as a newspaper reporter, often shouldering police beat duties that included late-night visits to crime scenes, I spent a lot of time reading books and references about serial killers and pouring over police training textbooks and FBI journals. Read more
Signing Az
As mentioned in my previous post, Azarius, my first novel, is rolling out in a new e-book edition from Crossroad Press. As one buddy once put it, it's the tale of an arch-demon menacing a small Southern town. I like the way that sums it up.
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& Points for Keeping Backside in the Chair
With the burgeoning number of self-published success stories, and the discovery of new writers going full force in traditional and indy publishing, it's clear the world is filled with people with the discipline to put in the time at the keyboard required for producing finished work.
Yet "Backside in Chair" is always the challenge for writers. The allure of not writing is fierce.
I do pretty good in getting myself to the keyboard at a fixed time every day, but making things meaningful is still a challenge. I thought some techniques and thoughts I've picked up from a variety of sources might be useful as everyone is setting goals for 2012.
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Yet "Backside in Chair" is always the challenge for writers. The allure of not writing is fierce.
I do pretty good in getting myself to the keyboard at a fixed time every day, but making things meaningful is still a challenge. I thought some techniques and thoughts I've picked up from a variety of sources might be useful as everyone is setting goals for 2012.
Read More
