Fragments of a Writer's Life

So these past few months I haven't gotten much writing done. Mainly because I have novels finished that need revision, and I have a novel to revise and resubmit. One of my novels is supposed to have a September release date, but nothing's finalized.

That said, I also have a cozy mystery, a thriller, and a screenplay to plot. I've got notes on plots and characters; it's just a matter of piecing them together into a cohesive narrative. I'd taken a mini course on writing the cozy mystery and another on writing thrillers recently, which led to some plot ideas.

I've been focusing on marketing, too, more than I had in the past. I took courses on Facebook Ads and Amazon ads, plus a webinar on marketing. Hope to put what I've learned into action in the next couple of months. Then there's getting ready for the upcoming Indie Gathering International Film Festival and Imaginarium. Hoping to add more cons in 2019 or 2020.

Speaking of IG, I'm excited to announce two of my screenplays won third place in their respective categories: horror short script and crime drama feature length script. The short horror script also made it to the first round at the Action on Film Festival. Next year, I'm hoping to submit a short documentary. That said, awards aren't won without continually striving to improve one's writing skills and knowledge. But that's another post.

Action on Film Screenplay Laurel

Indie Gathering Screenplay Laurel

8th Annual Kentuckiana Authors Fair

This past Saturday I attended the 8th Annual Kentucky Authors Fair in LaGrange. The Authors Fair originated in Madison, Indiana, and was an outdoor festival before the change of venue. Approximately 80 authors sold books ranging from YA to mystery to romance. It was good to see old friends and meet new ones. I'm looking forward to next year, and will hopefully have one or two new books to sell.

The Judas Dilemma Receives a Contract!

Excited to announce my paranormal suspense novel, The Judas Dilemma, will be published by MuseItUp Publishing. No release date yet. This will be my second publication with Muse, the other being a short dark fiction story, "Family Tradition," that was a finalist in the EPIC EBook Awards 2014.

Judas Dilemma is one of my angel paranormal suspense (not romance) novels that also includes Cathedral Girl (currently a revise/resubmit with another publisher), the Raguel series, and the Malake Habbalah (the angels of punishment) series, along with a couple of others in the works. While Judas Dilemma is currently the only contracted book, my hope is to release the aforementioned in the next few years.

Writing a New Genre

Photo by TrisMarie at MorgueFile.com

For the past few months, I'd been trying to come up with a plot. I had two homicide detective characters, but no crime. A scroll down my Facebook page advertised a mini video course in writing a cozy mysteries. Why not? I'd been wanting to write a cozy for a while, having written a police procedural crime drama screenplay. I enjoyed reading cozies, as well as other subgenres of the mystery/thriller/suspense genres. Only problem? While I had a title in mind, I still had no plot. But I downloaded the three short videos and gave them a view.

First, although the videos were an introduction to a more detailed course, they were informative and well-done. And, not only that, they inspired a story idea. Soon after finishing the third video, I was jotting down my plot, the main characters, and notes I needed for research. The story is inspired by silent films and by an actress who grew up in the same area as my mother. (They didn't know each other, this actress being eighteen years older and already having moved to Hollywood.)

Of course, I won't be using the actress's name or description, as the story is not about her, but only inspired. Most of this month will be spent doing research. Hoping to write it in April during the bi-annual writing challenge I participate in, the other being in October.

Waiting and Potential Rewards

I'm eagerly awaiting September. That's when I'm supposed to get a yes or no on a novel submission, and I'll also be able to share some good news I've been sitting on for the last few months. Hopefully, I'll also learn how my screenplay did at a current film festival. Meantime, I'll share this from the Indie Gathering International Film Festival for my short screenplay "Cemetery."

Award Plaque

This year at Indie Gathering, I participated in table readings. Last year, actors read my script Final Curtain and gave feedback on the few pages we submitted. If you've never had that experience, it's quite interesting. This year, it was nice to just read a character part and help out.

Next year, I'm hoping to submit a couple of short films to festivals, as well as new screenplays. No guarantees they'll show or final, but that's a risk we take when we submit our work. Because we know it sometimes pays off.

Listening to Your First Instinct

Death Sword Cover

Last time I mentioned returning to work on Serpent Fire, the sequel to Death Sword. Initially, Death Sword was meant to be a stand alone, until Samael demanded I tell his story. Don't ask. Anyway, Samael's story continued, not only in Serpent Fire, but in a third book, Devil Inside. Unfortunately, Serpent Fire kept giving me fits, and Devil Inside came together faster, although that meant nothing if I didn't get Serpent Fire in shape.

What to do? Considering I wasn't contracted for a series, I had to submit each book on its own and hope the publisher would pick it up. Except Serpent Fire wasn't working the way I hoped, and any hopes of submission were quickly becoming unlikely. I even tried combining Serpent Fire and Devil Inside, given Serpent Fire was a novella and Devil Inside novel-length. But that's only because I cut out a significant subplot from SF.

Know how they say to listen to your first instinct? Yeah. Good idea, in this case.

I was smart. When I decided I wanted to write each book separately again, I wrote down the chapters and scenes from both Serpent Fire and Devil Inside, and used a different process, particularly "Chapter 1, Scene 1" for SF, and "Ch. 2, Sc. 2" for DI. Then a bit of info about what the scene was about and any corresponding plot point. All this done on index cards, which I then transcribed on Scrivener's index cards.

An extra bonus? Pulling out all the folders I had on the latter two manuscripts, I found detailed notes and character descriptions. Granted, some of the plot had changed, but it was enough to work with. Even better? I had the manuscripts available, too. Now all that remained was to reverse engineer the stories, making any necessary revisions, adding in the subplot, and hopefully getting them ready by Spring.

Why wait this long? Why not work on Serpent Fire and Devil Inside years before? Not that I hadn't tried, but I couldn't make the stories work then. Since that time, I've written five angel paranormal suspense novels and one novella. Not to mention, parts of another angel novel and an outline. Perhaps I wasn't ready to work on Serpent Fire until now.

Imaginarium's First Screenplay Award

Those who've read this blog probably know that I'm a screenplay writer. Unproduced, mind you, and unoptioned, but hopefully that will change under my new agent.

Like many aspiring screenplay writers, I enter contests to get my name out there. Some I do well in. Others? Not so much.

This year was the first year Imaginarium offered a screenplay contest. Three of my four submissions finaled, including my short screenplay "Cemetery." It would later go on to win Best Short Screenplay at Imaginarium.

Currently, I don't have "Cemetery" entered in any other contests. There are a couple I'll probably enter it in before the end of 2016.

It's rather strange to be the first screenwriter, along with the feature-length winner, to win the first Imadjinn for a screenplay. But I'd be lying if I said it wasn't an awesome feeling, too. To know that judges looked at our works and considered them worthy enough to not only final but to go on and win is something special. Now, that doesn't mean the screenplay will win all the time. Final Curtain finaled in another screenplay contest, but didn't win or even come in second. Sucks, but that's the way it is.

If you ask me why I write screenplays (or just write in general), I'll probably tell you it's because it's all I really know how to do, or that I need to do it. How do I decide what's going to be a novel and what's going to be a screenplay? Usually, I know right away. And it's not like I haven't adapted my books into screenplays and vice versa. Why not make them do double duty?

The Ripper's Daughter Returns

Excited to announce the re-release of The Ripper's Daughter, previously published in 2014 by BlackWyrm Publishing. A paranormal historical whydunit mystery, The Ripper's Daughter is now available for Kindle, Nook, and Kobo. The paperback version should be released soon.

Blurb:
Louisville, Kentucky 1898. 
Ten years earlier, Jack the Ripper terrorized London's Whitechapel district. Assigned to the case, Detective Inspector Nathan James discovered the Ripper's true nature, and made a decision that changed his life. But the murders stopped and the Ripper disappeared. Now living in Louisville, Kentucky, Nathan runs a saloon, while trying to keep his relationship with his manservant, Stephen, secret. He's never forgotten his failure to stop the Ripper, and when murdered prostitutes start showing up, suspects the elusive killer stalks the city's streets. But is the Ripper responsible for these deaths, and will he reveal Nathan's and Stephen's darkest secret?


Buy Links:
Amazon (Kindle); http://amzn.to/2cdUcj9
Barnes and Noble (Nook); http://bit.ly/2cFV8NS
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2cHYAe9

Final Curtain

Award Laurel

Next month is the Indie Gathering International Film Festival. Back in May, I entered my crime drama feature screenplay Final Curtain in their screenplay contest. (I'd won honorable mentions last year with my adaptations of Death Sword and Exterminating Angel.)

To be honest, I hoped Final Curtain would at least get an honorable mention. I'd entered it pretty late, a few days shy of the final deadline. So I was surprised and delighted to get an email at the beginning of July telling me the screenplay had won first place in the Feature: Crime-Drama category. I reread that email several times, a part of me convinced I'd read it wrong. But no. I had won. And the screenplay is listed on Indie Gathering's website. It may also be a contender for another award, but I won't know til August or September. Meanwhile, I've entered Final Curtain in another contest.

Winning a screenplay contest is a great ego booster, but I'm not naive to think my screenplay writing career is about to take off, and I need to start planning my Oscar speech. I have another screenplay in a contest that I'm not expecting to win, and that's okay. Screenplay contests are subjective. A first place winner in one might only garner an honorable mention in another.

Remember that homicide detective? The one who, when I told him probably nothing would happen with this screenplay, said, "You never know."

I think I'll make that my motto. And if I ever meet him again, I'll tell him he was right.

Reel Dark (v. 2) Releases

Cover for Reel Dark

In 2014, fellow author L. Andrew Cooper asked me if I wanted to help him co-edit an anthology to be published by BlackWyrm Publishing. The book was released in paperback in May 2015. Shortly after, BlackWyrm closed its doors. Authors' rights were returned, and Andrew told me he had plans for Reel Dark. Later, I learned he had talked with Seventh Star Press, a Kentucky-based publisher, and the anthology would be published as a second edition with a new cover and two new stories.

This past Friday, May 13, the anthology, which made its debut at StokerCon, was officially released. I love the cover, and I'm excited the book has a second chance.

Reel Dark Synopsis:

Welcome to a macabre cinema for the imagination, to twisted tales projected not on a movie screen but on the page. In Reel Dark you'll find suspense, horror, science fiction, and fantasy in fiction and poetry by authors ranging from new voices to bestsellers. From the battle for recognition between a child actress and a vengeful, long-forgotten film star in "Whatever Happened to Peggy...Who?" to a hapless artist whose talent propels him into a nightmare of jealousy and revenge in "The Dreamist," the authors have created worlds filled with madness and twisted desires. Where the lines between reality and fantasy blur, where films flicker at 24 frames per second, we catch a glimpse of strangers' dreams and nightmares. As David Lynch puts it, "This whole world is wild at heart and weird on top." As Karen Head writes in her poem "Amnesia," responding to Lynch, "In the movies / everything is illusion." But with cameras everywhere, how do you know whether you're in a movie?

Available from:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/27xjOxy
Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/1Nxueq9
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1XkWE8D

April Writing Challenge

Many authors are familiar with National Novel Writing Month, that 30 days in November when writers set a goal of writing a 50,000-word book. I've participated in it for several years, and two novellas, Death Sword and The Ripper's Daughter, went on to become published.

The objective of such a writing challenge isn't necessarily publication, but for a writer to keep writing, to lock away the inner editor, and get words on paper. Because, as the saying goes, you can't edit a blank page.

April and October are also two months where I participate in a writing challenge based on the Write a Book in a Month series. Unlike NaNoWriMo, there is no word length minimum and one doesn't have to write a new book. I've used those months to revise a book, but usually I try to write a new one. This year, a writer friend and I have challenged ourselves to write 2-4 new books. Since I take writing challenges seriously, I'm adamant about reaching my goal, even on days I don't want to write.

It's not always easy to get started each day. I look at my daily word count, which resets to "0" after midnight, and sometimes think, "I don't know what to write." But I start typing. Soon I have 100 words, then 200, then 500. "Keep going," I tell myself. Soon I've reached a 1,000 words. I take a break, eat, check email, then go back to the writing. The graph shows 50% of the daily goal completed, along with the overall goal. Then 60%, 75%, 100%. If events continue to unfold, I keep writing, not wanting to lose the momentum.

If I don't make my daily goal, I don't worry about it. Nor do I worry if a scene doesn't quite work, because this is a first draft. As my friend and I joke, I'll fix it in post.

Before NaNoWriMo, I was the author who never finished writing a book. Then one day, I decided I was going to write a 40,000-50,000 word novella. My goal: write without going back and editing what I'd written. I could read the previous page to refresh my memory, but no critiquing.

And I did it. True, the story needs a lot of work, and I doubt I'll ever dust it off, but I did it. When I told another author friend, she referred me to NaNoWriMo, thinking I would enjoy the challenge.

Writing a book isn't easy, but there's nothing as satisfying as watching the word count go up, until you reach the magical moment when you can type "The End." Even better? When you crawl out of your writing cave, and your SO still remembers you.

Mission: "Accomplished"

The other day, I accomplished something which I thought I would never do. I completed the sequel to Death Sword. Granted, my original plan went through several changes, and I finally had to concede to the fact that what I wanted to accomplish (a 3-book series) wasn't going to happen. So, Serpent Fire and Devil Inside were merged into one book. At this point, I think I'll continue using the Serpent Fire title.

Not that I ever meant to write a sequel or a series. Originally, Death Sword was a stand-alone. I'd finished the book and had started writing another one, when Samael, the antagonist from Death Sword began grumbling he wanted to tell his story. Our conversation went something like this:

Samael: "I want to tell my side of the story."

Me: "I'm done with Death Sword. I've moved on to another book."

Samael: "But you made me look like the bad guy."

Me: "Um, because you were? Now move along. I have too  many characters running around in my head, and you need to leave."

Samael: "No."

Samael was stubborn, and he continued to nag at me, so I decided fine, I would do a little more research about him, and maybe that would make him happy. Not that I hadn't researched him before, but I had some new material I'd acquired recently, and not only did I find something about him I hadn't seen before, it was something that convinced me that yes, I had to continue the story.

Now, I won't go into details about how Serpent Fire became my bete noire. I rewrote it twice, and finally ended up merging it with Devil Inside, a book that, in my humble opinion, was a bit more "together." Either way, not all is lost. I'm using material from SF in another book.

This new version of SF/DI will go through another round of revisions, but I hope to submit it this year, along with the novella, Hell on Earth, a spin-off of Exterminating Angel.

Cold Feet

Well, it's started again. Cold feet syndrome. Every time I enter a screenplay contest, or submit a manuscript to my agent, editor, or beta reader, I can't help but be bombarded by worries that range from "What if they hate it?" to "Maybe I'm not as good a writer as people say." Most writers will understand this anxiety, although there are those who believe their first draft is perfect and how dare anyone ask them to improve it. I'm not one of them.

I think part of it is I'm struggling with my current manuscript, Serpent Fire, the sequel to Death Sword. Yeah, I blame Samael. Death Sword was meant to be a standalone, and he kept complaining he wanted to tell his story, which became quite detailed, enough for two more books, the third one being Devil Inside. However, even though I know the story arcs for both books, and the overall story arc, have even created a story bible, truth is, I'll probably have to combine both books. Maybe. Anyway, I'm resorting to the index card technique to help me get an overall view of the story.

My goal this year is to write two to four novels, a challenge I'm doing with a fellow author and friend. I plan to write the next two angelic assassin books, although I'd like to write three, and that would complete the series, the first one which I wrote for NaNoWriMo 2015.

On an unrelated note, I got a new laptop, and was able to hook up my old laptop's HD to it, and recover my files. Yay!

Oh, yeah, and about those cold feet? My agent's supposed to call me tomorrow. I'm bracing myself for the publishers' rejections.

Revisiting Old Friends

And by old friends, I mean characters from stories I've either finished and left behind, or stories that I've almost finished, but for some reason put aside.

One of these manuscripts is Cathedral Girl. I actually started CG before I even wrote Death Sword. This was back in 2004. (Interestingly, I found a Zaphkiel Project manuscript from 2011, which would become Exterminating Angel. Makes me wonder how many drafts I have floating around on my PCs, and explains why I usually save them by the title_month_year to keep track.)

Anyway, the research for CG lead to an interest in the Memitim, which was the original idea behind Death Sword, but ended up becoming my NaNo project. The Memitim can be described as destroying angels (mal'ake habbalah) (from the Jewish Encyclopedia). Basically, angels of death.

Which brings me to where I am now regarding two different series about the angels of death, although one isn't an official series, and the other one is in the early stages.

Death Sword was supposed to be the first in a three book series (originally four) with each book focusing on a particular angel of death. For reasons I don't recall, I dispensed with the fourth book. Anyway, I wrote the second and third books, Serpent Fire and Devil Inside, only to realize my second book was a mess. (Ironically, the third book seemed to work better. Go figure.)

So I'm back to revising Serpent Fire. And the story has developed from a paranormal suspense with possible political thriller overtones.

But once I finish Serpent Fire and revise Devil Inside, I can return to the Memitim series.

Let's just say that's a goal for 2016. Year end goal is to write a TV pilot. :-)

50,000 Words and Beyond

Every November, for the past several years, I join thousands of writers around the world for that 30-day frenzy known as NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write 50,000 words during that time. Not a novel, per se, but a pretty darn good start.

A couple of my short novels were even published: Death Sword and The Ripper's Daughter. (I have the rights back to the latter, which I will be putting up on Amazon, B&N, and Kobo, hopefully before the end of the year. But that's another story.)

Anyway, last year, I wrote a 65,000-word political  thriller in 21 days. This year, I wrote 68,000 words in the same length of time. And I'm still writing. Today, I should reach 72,000 with my paranormal suspense, the overall goal being 75,000-80,000 words. And I plan to finish this new novel by November 30.

Why push myself? I don't know. Guess I take it as a challenge. I wanted to get the 50,000 words written as early as possible, and 5,000 words a day seemed reasonable. After that, I dropped the writing down to 2,000 words daily. All that, while revising another book and working on another project (not writing related).

Although NaNoWriMo is almost over, you can check out the site year round. So if you've always wanted to write a novel, and needed a boost, NaNoWriMo might very well be worth checking into.

Happy Writing!

Conquering NaNoWriMo a Word at a Time

I just hit the 50k mark on my NaNoWriMo novel, The Memitim. No, I'm not kidding: 5,000 words in 10 days. My hands hurt, I'm exhausted, and I will probably take tomorrow, maybe even Thursday, off.

But I'm not done. The projected length is estimated between 75,000 and 80,000 words. And I plan to write all that this month. Last year, I wrote 65,000 words in 21 days, so I know it can be done.

Writing novels that long is in itself a milestone for me. Only a couple of years ago, I would've balked at writing something that length. Let's just say I had to retrain my brain.

How did I do it? Plotting. Not only did I use Dramatic Pro to help develop the story, I used a program called WriteWay Pro. It's like Scrivener, in that you can break your story down into scenes and write in a non-linear fashion, then import the document into Word. I used WWP with my novel, The Judas Dilemma, currently sitting on a publisher's desk. (Fingers are crossed.)

What I like about WriteWay Pro is I can make notes about character, setting, dialogue, conflict, even notes on revisions for that particular scene. I think using it has helped me write faster. Not saying my first draft doesn't suck. I mean, we have to be realistic here. *grin*

But really, writing a book, whether during NaNoWriMo, or any other time of the year, is simply putting one word after the other.

Happy Writing!

Malice and Mayhem Receives Recognition

This was a nice surprise. My dark fiction short story collection, Malice and Mayhem: Tales of the Macabre, was one of twelve winners for AuthorDen.com's Spooktacular Halloween Theme Contest.

I pitch the stories as reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Night Gallery, Thriller, and shows of that ilk. Yes, I'm old school, but it's nice that people still remember those shows. A friend's dad read it, and he said it was just as I described, which is a nice validation.

This collection was also a return to my writing roots. While in school, I devoured anthologies by Alfred Hitchcock, mysteries by various authors, and tales of the macabre. Many of the anthologies I read in elementary school were edited by Roger Elwood. But probably the biggest influence during my formative horror writing years was a collection called Tales of Terror, by Ida Chittum. It inspired me to write my own collection of spooky tales in the sixth grade. They were hand-written on notebook paper, three stories stapled together. My classmates liked them. Ironically, most were also bullying me. Go figure.

Fast forward to the present. Although I'm writing novels, I still haven't forgotten the short story, and have published seven stories in anthologies, including one I co-edited.
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I hope that one day, I will influence an aspiring horror/dark fiction suspense author, too.

Stay scary!

Fright Night Film Fest 2015

This past weekend, I attended Fright Night Film Fest. While not on the guest author list, I participated on two panels, one about the history of horror, and the other on how to write horror, suspense, and thrillers. The audience was engaging, making the panels enjoyable, and I hope they were inspired to maybe check out a movie they'd never thought about before, or to start writing that novel.

Overall, it was a quiet but fun weekend. Great to see fellow horror authors I only see a few times a year at other cons. Looking forward to next year.

Fright Night Film Fest banner

James Chakan and horror author L. Andrew Cooper

Stephen Zimmer, author and publisher of Seventh Star Press, with Frank Hall

Urban fantasy and suspense-thriller author Amy McCorkle

Horror author Michael West

What Was I Thinking?!

Courtesy: Morguefile.com

Most authors recognize these feelings when beginning a new work in progress: excitement, determination, even a bit of trepidation...

Which can lead to that moment when, fingers frozen to the keyboard (figuratively, depending on where you live), the mind literally shifts gears from "Yes!" to "Huh?" to "What the hell was I thinking?" That so-called perfect idea has finally reared its ugly head. Why couldn't we see it coming?

Now what? I mean, by this time, we've invested ourselves in our story, and the thought of quitting seems so defeatist. We believe we can fix it, once we know what the problem is.

This happened to me recently. I'd started out to write a short story about an angel homicide detective. Put an excerpt up on my Facebook page, and people actually liked it. Someone asked if this were a novel, and I said not at first, but the way things were going, it seemed to be that way.

So what's the problem? I've never written a police procedural before. I've read them, even taken classes on homicide detectives and crime scene investigations. And while I've always thought I'd write one, part of me flinched at the idea. What if I got something wrong?

The irony? I'd written a screenplay with a homicide detective. In fact, I'm thinking of dusting it off, revising it, and submitting it to contests.

So why does a novel seem so daunting? Screenplays are easier to write: action, scene description, and dialogue. No inner thoughts or long, languid descriptions.

But with both novel and screenplay, I need to make sure I get each one right. And that means research. In this case, not only about homicide detectives but also angels.

It also meant I needed to know where my plot was going. See, I started this book on October 1. Every April and October, I join a group of fellow authors for BIAM-Writathon, a Book in a Month type of event. Sort of like an unofficial NaNoWriMo. Which reminds me, I need to start plotting November's book.

Anyway, I basically started this book by the seat of my pants, and I'm a plotter. So this means that I'm going to have to start plotting this book in order to map the scenes out. Then, go back and revise areas that need it, such as the crime scene investigation at the beginning. To help me, I'm trying Scrivener.

My goal is for my angel homicide detective to become a series character. Need to finish this book first. Wish me luck!

Fiends: Ten Tales of Demons is Live

Cover for Fiends: Ten Tales of Demons

I'm a bit late posting this, since Fiends: Ten Tales of Demons has been out since August. But considering I had two conventions since then (Indie Gathering and Imaginarium), plus books to read and score for a contest, I suppose I can be forgiven the delay.

Fiends is the eleventh Ten Tales anthology edited and published by Rayne Hall, and the sixth one I have a story in, this one being "Inner Demon," about a hemophobic serial killer desperate to break his homicidal curse.

I've written short stories and short novels ever since I first started writing. My first attempts at writing horror were penning three stories on notebook paper and stapling them together, then passing them around for my sixth grade classmates to read. On the back of each "issue" I asked for their feedback. Despite being the unpopular kid, the one bullied, and picked last in gym, my fellow students liked my writing. Go figure.

Other authors have told me they can't write short stories, that they can't condense their plots like the format requires. Maybe growing up reading collections of short stories in Alfred Hitchcock anthologies, or perusing pulp fiction "trained" me to write concisely, and that's why it tends to be easier for me. Then again, I don't overthink it.

However, because I now have an agent, I have to write longer books, and that has not been as difficult as I'd feared, although I do find it a challenge. So one might say I'm like the authors I mentioned above, only on the other side of the spectrum. But I've done it, and now I'm awaiting to hear from a publisher on one of those books.

You can find Fiends: Ten Tales of Demons on Amazon Kindle. A print book is scheduled for release later this year.