Author Paul Jessup Interviewed Me

Just wanted to drop by and mention that author Paul Jessup, who is celebrating the release of an illustrated journal called WEREWOLVES!, interviewed me for his website. He’s been very supportive of my e-book THE QUEEN OF CROWS and has had nice things to say about it.

Here’s one of the questions he asked me:

Did your experience in RPG game design help influence how the end product looked/felt?

It did. I knew that DriveThruHorror.com could handle an enhanced e-book format because of its sister site, DriveThruRpg.com. The DriveThru sites have been offering digital e-books and enhanced PDFs for years before the rest of the publishing industry even thought about embracing e-books. All of us — me, Shari and Leanne — had experience in the gaming industry. That perspective heavily influenced the design and layout. It wasn’t until after we offered the e-book for sale that we realized the limitations of some of the other e-book sites are. Images are still pretty tough for them to render.

To read more, be sure to check out the rest of the interview at PaulJessup.com.

Semantics, Word Choice and Personality

Lately, I’ve been obsessing about semantics, how we choose our words, and what effect a personality type has on both. Take self-promotion just as an example. To tell an introvert to get out there and “Sell yourself!” might make someone feel uncomfortable. Turn that around for a second and say something like, “Help someone know more about you.” Same thing. Different words.

No, this idea isn’t new. It’s a different take on the old adage, “Doesn’t matter what you say, just how you say it.” There’s two sides to the application of this powerful idea. There’s the writing side, where we have to make decisions about the words we use. There’s also the semantic side, where we interpret meanings of words that may illicit a response or a reaction.

For one example, consider the dreaded “critique.” I don’t know one writer who doesn’t love to write. I do know, however, a lot of writers who have no idea how to critique or receive criticism — especially when it’s a rough draft. If you’ve experienced this, you know what I’m talking about. They nitpick the placement of a comma. They argue with you about how you feel when you read your story. They write one draft and think it’s finished. Here, too, semantics and word choice come into play. There’s a huge difference between saying, “I did not care for this story, but someone else might.” versus “This story sucked.” Sure, different people critique poorly for different reasons; they’re insecure about their own work, they’re envious, they’re inexperienced, etc. It may be hard, but I find you have to balance “what was said” with “what they meant.” In most cases, I find the reason why someone gives you a bad critique is because they don’t understand the difference between a critique and a review. Of course, you have to mull over comments in a way that doesn’t drive you insane. After all, you have to have confidence in your work or you wouldn’t write.

A lot of writers are introverts by nature; I’m guessing this affects how we react emotionally to words and what we write. I feel that it’s tough to be an introvert simply because there are so many words associated with this personality type that have negative connotations. We’re loners. Outcasts. Freaks. If you’re a writer trying to pursue a professional path, though, we’re often forced to be both. (I am an introvert by nature and an extrovert when I have to be.) Sure, my writing changes depending upon what mood I’m in. What’s fascinating to me, though, is experiencing this simple idea from the reader’s viewpoint.

By being able to understand what their personality type might be, our writing functions as an emotional catalyst for our readers. Yes, marketers do this all the time, but this idea doesn’t just apply to ad copy or non-fiction. Often, the most popular stories aren’t the ones that are written the greatest; they’re the ones that can reach a reader on an emotional level. Maybe, for the rest of us to do the same thing, we just have to find the right words to do it. Maybe, for us to do that, we have to ask ourselves what touches us.

To Kill a Story

Tombstone with SaintSome writers refer to their unpublishable work as “trunk novels” or “trunk stories.” For my broken stories, I kill them and then send them to my virtual morgue, which is a folder on my computer.

So what qualifies as a dying story in my book?

Honestly, I think that the decision to kill a story is a personal one that should be left up to each individual writer. Only you can decide whether or not your broken stories can be fixed. (Of course, I’m talking about the stories we write before we submit them to an editor or publication.)

Sometimes, the stories that I kill are heavy on characterization and have little to no plot. A couple of times, I’ve killed stories intentionally after I’ve written them, like my “warm up” stories that flex my fiction writing muscles, or my more experimental works. There was also one story that I killed because of the way it was structured; I felt it would have made a better screenplay than a narrative.

It sucks sending stories to my morgue, but I feel that it’s all part of being a writer. No writer sits down at a keyboard every day and tells excellent stories every time they type. Writing, like learning how to sing or play piano, requires regular practice to keep those skills sharp. Sometimes, your performances will be awesome. Sometimes, they won’t. When they’re not, I review them to see if they’re salvageable. If I feel they cannot be fixed, then I commit them to my morgue, grieve for a few minutes and then start writing the next one.

The good news is that I still use what I’ve created by reviewing interesting concepts or taking pieces of characters or prose that I like. (I literally looting the corpses. Hah!) After all, getting the words onto my screen is only half the battle, because sometimes a page of words doesn’t make a great story, no matter how many times I revise it.

And that, dear readers, is why I have a morgue.

My New Series of Horror Movie Articles on Crackle.com

Crackle.com | Free Movies and TelevisionWhile every day is Halloween for me, this time of year brings out the best in a lot of free television and movie websites like Crackle.com.

This week, I delivered a series of articles about horror movies for Crackle.com from a fan’s perspective. Today, you can read about the classic horror film 13 Ghosts, which was produced by William Castle. For those of you who have seen the modern remake starring Tony Shaloub, I highly recommend you check out the original in black-and-white.

If you’re interested in a sneak peek, be sure to check out this paragraph. Here, I’m talking about the very first time I saw the Zorba’s new house in 13 Ghosts:

The first time I saw their new house, I remembered what I love about black-and-white horror movies. To me, haunted houses give a filmmaker the opportunity to really emphasize its towering windows, hidden passageways and heavy draperies using shades of black-and-white. Of course, the somber housekeeper really added to the mood, too. The second I saw Elaine Zacharides, I thought, “That has to be the Wicked Witch of the West.” And, it was! Played by Margaret Hamilton, Buck even accused her character of being a witch when he first saw her. — SOURCE: A Fan’s Guide to Scary Movies: 13 Ghosts

If you’re a horror movie fan, I would like to invite you to check out A Fan’s Guide to Scary Movies: 13 Ghosts.

What’s new for next week? Stay tuned and find out!

Monthly Newsletter Subscription for mlvwrites.com

Hi everyone,

I am pleased to announce that I will be launching a monthly newsletter for mlvwrites.com.

This newsletter will be tailored to your interests, so feel free to check off which topics you want to read. Some of the content will be quick summaries of content that is published throughout the month here at mlvwrites.com. Other links and tips will be related to projects I’m working on or relationships that I’ve been developing.

The first monthly newsletter will be sent toward the end of October. To join my mailing list, simply subscribe to the mlvwrites.com monthly newsletter.

Hope you will find my newsletter valuable!

– Monica

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