My Thoughts Regarding My Particular Writing Style
Hello, Western Horror Fans, Splatterpunks, Gorehounds, Fellow Authors, Readers, and all others that might be reading this blog post. In this initial post, I thought I'd write thoughts concerning the overly analytical processes that go on inside of my head in regards to the form and fashion implemented in how I pen my extremely violent brand of Western Horror...
THE WAY I WRITE (Form):
Recently a book reviewer kindly told me in a private conversation how much fluidity my writing has to it. When I was a little boy, I withdrew myself to the shadows writing poetry and drawing while the other children played. In my late teenage years through my early thirties, I became notable in music as a songwriter, as well as an array of other things. When I write I feel that the fluidity of speech (i.e. how it sounds matters). I'd rather write something incorrectly to give the writing a desired tone than to sound like a dry textbook. It is my personal feeling that it's not always what you're saying, but how you say it that matters.
Personally speaking, I feel that the word "lept" (British English) sounds better than the word "leaped" (American English), thus I default to that because of the way it sounds & will generally refuse to write "leaped" unless I'm writing the dialogue of somebody from New Jersey or something like that. Another way of saying it is that I'm big on The King James Bible reading of Psalm 23:4, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." There is an artful sort of poetry to its wording, and there should be, as it's quite literally music.
THE WAY I WRITE (Fashion):
I'm a pretty loquacious guy and feel rather good about it. I'd rather go into intricate details describing the trajectory of a bullet than write something that appears like a script (i.e. excess dialogue) within a book. It's not that I have an aversion to writing scripts. I've done it. I've written commercials, over 100 songs, a church play, and so forth. It's just that within a book, it's not typically my style. Naturally, my style is in the 3rd person with sometimes wide-sweeping overviews. People have told me that I paint with words. That description of "Painting with Words" is the embodiment of the style of writing that I enjoy reading and is thereby also the style that I like to write. For example, I'd say that Stephen King paints with words. Knocking other authors really isn't my thing. We all enjoy what we feel is suited to us. I've read little bits of different authors' literary work that I just cannot get into. The most popular of them is very clearly Tom Clancy. He obviously has a following and is doing something right. What I'd read of him while standing in a grocery store one day, just came off to me personally as unto something like the foods shrimp or BBQ eel. Certainly, plenty of people have a taste for those things, it's just not my flavor (nor texture). Again, I'm big into the way things are being said.
THE MATERIAL THAT I WRITE (Genre boundaries):
It's my feeling that branding is fundamentally important. Undoubtedly, the restaurant "Chick-Fil-A", like many successful businesses is successful because of consistency and quality. While I love to subvert expectations within my writing, I also have a complete awareness that to some extent that people don't like surprises; which goes back to branding. When you see "B. L. Blankenship" on a book you need to know what you're going to get. For example, if I was writing a book about Christian Theology instead of 19th Century Horror (which I have), it'd be penned under a different name (which it is).
People don't pick up a Steven King book or watch one of the countless Television Shows/Movies because they're looking for a great Romantic Comedy. In the same way, I aspire to give the readers who enjoy what I'm giving them more of the same. Thus far the cover artist Wendy Saber Cover has been instrumental in capturing the extreme brutality within my books and plastering that all over the outside of them. Frankly, I've outsold a lot of local self-published authors because of my cover art, what is written on the back of the books, and the formatting within them. It is my humble opinion that all three of those things, just like the consistency in the branding matters tremendously, and thus my actions are led onward by my beliefs. Additionally, with regards to the boundaries or lack thereof within the genre of Horror I have a great many thoughts as well.
What Is Horror?:
Horror by all means is gritty and offensive. It's generally about someone or something encroaching on someone or something to violate it/him/her/them. Horror is about someone hurting, robbing, murdering, and manipulating. It's about injustice and evil. Ergo, Horror by nature is disturbing and offensive. It's disparaging. Recently, I read a trashy book review where a notable reviewer smeared a very gifted author's book for perfectly adhering to the genre it fits into. Personally, speaking it makes me:
#1 Want to shun that reviewer (who I will not name).
#2 Support that author who is having someone wrongfully dump on their book.
What Can You Expect From My Horror?
What I write is very much extreme horror. It may contain lengthy detailed rape scenes, dismemberment, murders, torture, the excessive use of slurs, bywords, foul language, and other disparagingly profane talk and actions. At one meet and greet/book signing a parent asked me if my books were okay to get for her teenager. My response was, "Does your teenager watch Rob Zombie movies & play Grand Theft Auto, because if so - then they'd be fine with this." It's my thought that many of the novels, novellas, and short stories that I write probably couldn't be made into movies, television series, or video games due to the extremely violent &/or sexual content within them.
...Thank you ever so kindly to all of you who took the time to read this. Hopefully, you both found it insightful and amusing. If you'd like to, please free to follow me on Goodreads, Amazon, & Facebook to keep informed. Also, if you've read anything of mine (or for that matter any other author) that you can say anything favorable about, please leave a nice review. Additionally, if you know of anyone who you feel would be interested in my books, pitch them my way.
B. L. Blankenship
www.facebook.com/GodWalksTheDarkHills
https://www.amazon.com/B-L-Blankenshi...
THE WAY I WRITE (Form):
Recently a book reviewer kindly told me in a private conversation how much fluidity my writing has to it. When I was a little boy, I withdrew myself to the shadows writing poetry and drawing while the other children played. In my late teenage years through my early thirties, I became notable in music as a songwriter, as well as an array of other things. When I write I feel that the fluidity of speech (i.e. how it sounds matters). I'd rather write something incorrectly to give the writing a desired tone than to sound like a dry textbook. It is my personal feeling that it's not always what you're saying, but how you say it that matters.
Personally speaking, I feel that the word "lept" (British English) sounds better than the word "leaped" (American English), thus I default to that because of the way it sounds & will generally refuse to write "leaped" unless I'm writing the dialogue of somebody from New Jersey or something like that. Another way of saying it is that I'm big on The King James Bible reading of Psalm 23:4, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." There is an artful sort of poetry to its wording, and there should be, as it's quite literally music.
THE WAY I WRITE (Fashion):
I'm a pretty loquacious guy and feel rather good about it. I'd rather go into intricate details describing the trajectory of a bullet than write something that appears like a script (i.e. excess dialogue) within a book. It's not that I have an aversion to writing scripts. I've done it. I've written commercials, over 100 songs, a church play, and so forth. It's just that within a book, it's not typically my style. Naturally, my style is in the 3rd person with sometimes wide-sweeping overviews. People have told me that I paint with words. That description of "Painting with Words" is the embodiment of the style of writing that I enjoy reading and is thereby also the style that I like to write. For example, I'd say that Stephen King paints with words. Knocking other authors really isn't my thing. We all enjoy what we feel is suited to us. I've read little bits of different authors' literary work that I just cannot get into. The most popular of them is very clearly Tom Clancy. He obviously has a following and is doing something right. What I'd read of him while standing in a grocery store one day, just came off to me personally as unto something like the foods shrimp or BBQ eel. Certainly, plenty of people have a taste for those things, it's just not my flavor (nor texture). Again, I'm big into the way things are being said.
THE MATERIAL THAT I WRITE (Genre boundaries):
It's my feeling that branding is fundamentally important. Undoubtedly, the restaurant "Chick-Fil-A", like many successful businesses is successful because of consistency and quality. While I love to subvert expectations within my writing, I also have a complete awareness that to some extent that people don't like surprises; which goes back to branding. When you see "B. L. Blankenship" on a book you need to know what you're going to get. For example, if I was writing a book about Christian Theology instead of 19th Century Horror (which I have), it'd be penned under a different name (which it is).
People don't pick up a Steven King book or watch one of the countless Television Shows/Movies because they're looking for a great Romantic Comedy. In the same way, I aspire to give the readers who enjoy what I'm giving them more of the same. Thus far the cover artist Wendy Saber Cover has been instrumental in capturing the extreme brutality within my books and plastering that all over the outside of them. Frankly, I've outsold a lot of local self-published authors because of my cover art, what is written on the back of the books, and the formatting within them. It is my humble opinion that all three of those things, just like the consistency in the branding matters tremendously, and thus my actions are led onward by my beliefs. Additionally, with regards to the boundaries or lack thereof within the genre of Horror I have a great many thoughts as well.
What Is Horror?:
Horror by all means is gritty and offensive. It's generally about someone or something encroaching on someone or something to violate it/him/her/them. Horror is about someone hurting, robbing, murdering, and manipulating. It's about injustice and evil. Ergo, Horror by nature is disturbing and offensive. It's disparaging. Recently, I read a trashy book review where a notable reviewer smeared a very gifted author's book for perfectly adhering to the genre it fits into. Personally, speaking it makes me:
#1 Want to shun that reviewer (who I will not name).
#2 Support that author who is having someone wrongfully dump on their book.
What Can You Expect From My Horror?
What I write is very much extreme horror. It may contain lengthy detailed rape scenes, dismemberment, murders, torture, the excessive use of slurs, bywords, foul language, and other disparagingly profane talk and actions. At one meet and greet/book signing a parent asked me if my books were okay to get for her teenager. My response was, "Does your teenager watch Rob Zombie movies & play Grand Theft Auto, because if so - then they'd be fine with this." It's my thought that many of the novels, novellas, and short stories that I write probably couldn't be made into movies, television series, or video games due to the extremely violent &/or sexual content within them.
...Thank you ever so kindly to all of you who took the time to read this. Hopefully, you both found it insightful and amusing. If you'd like to, please free to follow me on Goodreads, Amazon, & Facebook to keep informed. Also, if you've read anything of mine (or for that matter any other author) that you can say anything favorable about, please leave a nice review. Additionally, if you know of anyone who you feel would be interested in my books, pitch them my way.
B. L. Blankenship
www.facebook.com/GodWalksTheDarkHills
https://www.amazon.com/B-L-Blankenshi...
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Dead in Dixie: Western Horror Blog
B. L. Blankenship is a Western Horror author who showcases other writers within the genre, a noted historian who highlights the South around the time of what was then called:
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