SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A HORROR NOVEL

        “I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. 

If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.”
― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

 It has become an increasingly scary world.  What worked for scares in the past century does not always hold true today.

Yet there are certain constants:

1.) SUSPENSE

Readers bring to the horror story one paramount expectation: 

to be entertained with the element of anticipation, dread, and uncertainty; in a word, suspense.

  2.) RELATE-ABILITY 

We as writers must put flesh on our characters before we begin to slice it off.  The reader must care for the people in the story before what happens to them matters in their minds.

Stephen King says: "You have to love the people -- that's what makes horror possible."

The characters must be believable.  You must see yourself in them in some fashion.

3.) THE ENDS JUSTIFIES THE MEANS

All readers agree: the end must satisfy.  It must have a good twist at the end.  The end must be unexpected and jarring.  The end must scare you down to your turning stomach.

4.) A JARRING PREMISE

A single mother wakes up to her alarm clock.  It is still dark outside.  In fact, it stays dark all day long.  The night never ends.

Her children become frightened and refuse to go to school.  The criminals take advantage of the darkness.  She tries to be strong for her children but she feels panic slowly gain control of her emotions.  The store shelves become empty.

Days become weeks.  Months becomes a year.  Crops fail from lack of sunlight.  The scientific community has no explanation.

Then, she notices her mind is not as sharp as it once was.  She notices her neighbors, co-workers, her children's doctor -- all slowly becoming dumber as the days progress.

She can no longer remember how to drive her car, operate the computer, cook a meal.  Her children have forgotten how to speak, to dress themselves.  

It would be a mercy to kill them, then herself.

The gun in her bedside stand consumes her thoughts.  How long before she forgets how to use it?

She awakens one morning with it in her hand, wondering what this piece of metal is for.

5.) HAPPY EVER AFTER IS FOR FAIRY TALES

As the above synopsis for my short story, DARK AGES, reveals --  

happy endings do not belong in good horror stories or novels.  

You do not contest with nightmare and walk away clean.  The monster becomes part of you.

I hope this has helped you in some small way.  Roland

THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES

“As a breath on glass,
As witch-fires that burn,
The gods and monsters pass,
Are dust, and return."
― George Sterling

Listen to Robert Rossmann narrate a portion of this 

mysterious Historical Fantasy:

 http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Death-in-the-House-of-Life-Audiobook/B00NLQR6OS/

***

I have come to Meilori's where the bronze ghosts of her mists sweep across the interior of the haunted jazz club like veiled women to their prayers.

In a sense, I have come home again, and I go now,

not to the rune-carved table where Samuel McCord waits in vain to see slanted jade eyes smiling at him one more time --

No, I go to the table of Robert Rossmann.

He is the distinguished voice actor who narrated DEATH IN THE HOUSE OF LIFE 

and is, even now, recording
THE STARS BLEED AT MIDNIGHT.

Robert and Emily Rossmann

But Robert is much more than a voice actor.

He has been a theater actor most of his life.  

He is a graphic designer who crafted the cover for the audio books, RETURN OF THE LAST SHAMAN & THE STARS BLEED AT MIDNIGHT.

And he had a career in 3D animation, mostly for video games.  Your pasttime was his employment!

Most of his theater experience was in the San Francisco area.  He now lives in the gold country of the Sierras.

In fact, he now helps run a theater company called Sierra Stages in Nevada City.

  http://www.sierrastages.org/

His Voice Over career has included video games, commercials, documentaries, audio books,

and live readings with an orchestra (PETER AND THE WOLF, SOLDIER'S TALE).

Working on THE STARS BLEED AT MIDNIGHT is an exceptional challenge even for such a professional as Robert --

due to the number of dialects, historical figures, and "otherworldly" pronuncitions.

In fact, the last is why Robert asked to see me.

I sit down and frown at his worried face.  "What's up, Robert?"

"Your way to pronounce that incantation we talked about was dead on, Roland."

"Really?  I'm glad."

"Oh, yes ... DEAD on ...

Now, tell me how to get rid of Anubis.  He's eating me out of house and home! 

Dead things are knocking on the door at all hours.  

And he's  taken to visiting my daughter and flirting with Emily!  And she's just married!"

***

Look for THE STARS BLEED AT MIDNIGHT soon to be released in audio.

NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE:

WHAT EVERY UNPUBLISHED WRITER NEEDS TO KNOW

WHAT UNPUBLISHED WRITERS NEED TO KNOW:

 
I.)  Agents don't read blogs ...

     As a rule that is. 

Unless you have 30,000 visitors a month, the agent wants to know the quality of your work not your blog.

 
II.) People visit blogs to see what's in it for them.

     We want the seven secrets to success in getting published ... and if you have them, would you please email them to me!

     Sadly, even I have fallen into the trap of trying to get people to buy my book.  Wrong way to write a blog. 

     Have something worthwhile and supportive to say.  Most of us know the basics.  Most of us are also struggling in the dark of doubt.

     Walter Knight had a great idea for all of us: Craig's List.  

Go there and see if you can snare the attention of non-writing readers.  Until we do that, we will not succeed at selling our books unless we devote 12 hours a day to it.

     I have a day job so that is out ... and I would wager that kind of investment is out for most of you.

     Plus, social networking is a time suck. You can go pretty far down the rabbit hole with Tweets and Facebook updates. Then you lose sight of the thing that’s really going to get you published: writing.

 
III.) Focus on your writing.

     And if you feel the need to be online, which you should, at least in some small way, put up a simple three page site: main landing page with info about your work, about you page, contact page.

 
IV.) DO'S

Create interesting content.

Leverage everything you do —

 blog about school visits, author events, books you’re reading, movies you see that have a good writing take-away,

milestones of your book’s journey to publication if you’re that far along

(check with your editor, though, to make sure you can post cover images and other production-related stuff), your agent search, etc.

If you’re an illustrator, share sketches and finishes,

talk about your process, talk about the tools you use, show works in progress.

Use pictures or cover images to liven up your posts.

Tweet or Facebook or post interesting links you find, don’t just blah blah blah all by yourself.

Leverage other people to create content for you —

host blog tours, have guest blogs, do interviews,

bring added value by using your blog to

spotlight fun and different people who fit in with the theme of your blog.

Write about things that interest a wider audience —

like here, sometimes I write articles on writing craft that can apply to fantasy writers

 but that can really benefit a broader audience, too.

Do contests and giveaways —

remember, people are always asking “What’s in it for me?” when they read blogs.

    

V.) DON'T'S

Rant or talk endlessly about yourself —  Enough about me; what do you think about me?

Do make your blog a place that other people will want to visit.

Besides, if you rant about how hard it is to get published or what scum publishing professionals are, it’ll come back to bite you.

The agent who clicks on your blog link in your query will think you’re a negative and difficult person…

not a positive business partner who will be a joy to work with.

Don't ...Force it.
 
Again, there are too many blogs online to try and add yours to the heap if you’re not committed. You’re better off not having one instead of doing a bad or unenthusiastic job.

Leave your blog hanging.

Blogs are a huge time commitment and endlessly hungry little monsters.

By the very virtue of a blog, your most recent post will be the first thing visitors see.

     If it’s from eight months ago, you’ll look outdated.

If you can’t update at least once a week, you should think of a static website like the one I mentioned above.

Promote via Facebook.

Use Facebook to get in touch with friends and fans and writing buddies. Don’t use your Facebook as a platform,

just set up a simple profile and use it to connect.

Exist in isolation. When you’re staring to blog, reach out.

Respond to comments on Twitter.

Post comments on the blogs of people who comment on your blog. Read other blogs. You can’t expect the “social” part of social media to be a one way street.

(Note, readers… I am a total hypocrite because I am too swamped to do this part… Forgiveness, please.

But ill infants are getting the rare blood they deparately need.)

     This should at least get you thinking about how much social media you really need and how much to get involved in.

It’s a slippery slope.

Some people start and can’t stop,

others start and can’t wait to stop,

leaving their blog skeletons up for the whole world to see

Find your own style.

Concerns of online platform are more pressing for non-fiction writers,

so the pressure is less for fiction writers,

but you should still have SOME kind of online face. Agents do look for one, even for fiction folks.

If your book is picked up by a publisher,

they’ll expect you to do some online marketing.

It’s better to have at least a small website and some presence than none at all.

THE VOICE OF VICTOR STANDISH

Listen to the voice of Victor Standish:
http://www.garyfurlongvo.com/#!/c17yt

Meet the man behind the voice --

http://www.garyfurlongvo.com/#!about/c2414

When I first met Gary, he was enjoying himself in Japan.  He has recently set up shop in Ireland.  Almost as much a world traveler as Victor!

In his own words:

I've been acting for as long as I can remember.  After a number of college productions including: 

The Merchant of Venice, Guys and Dolls

and many original pieces, 

I was cast in Bare Cheek's production of RENT as Tom Collins.  

In 2014 I began audiobook narration.  I have played guitar for over 10 years and am used to recording vocals specifically for singing.  

It is an entirely different and exciting experience recording spoken word and I am enjoying it.  

You'll have to wait a bit for THE RIVAL -- 

I'm 4th in line in his string of works in progress.  I just thought you might like to see Gary and his studio.

Victor from SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/gary-furlong-2/the-rival-1?in=gary-furlong-2/sets/audiobooks-in-production

WISDOM IS NO ONE'S MOTHER TONGUE

"Wisdom is no one's mother tongue.  It has to be worked for."
- Samuel McCord

AMERICAN SCHOOLS ARE TRAINING CHILDREN FOR A WORLD THAT DOESN'T EXIST.

Browse FB, skim Twitter, listen to the talking heads on TV.

Americans are getting dumber in crucial ways.

Our math skills are being stunted by strange ways of getting to simple solutions. 


 (But it does prepare kids for the nonsense of our political response to practical problems.)

“A man who has both feet planted firmly in the air can be safely called a liberal

as opposed to the conservative, who has both feet firmly planted in his mouth.”

- Mark Twain

 

Our reading skills are withering. 

(Yet, no subject of study is more important than reading, for all other intellectual powers depend upon it.)


Our kids learn within a system of education devised for a world that increasingly does not exist.

Over the next 20 years, our planet with sag under the weight of an additional two billion people.

OUR PLANET CAN NO LONGER FEED ITS PEOPLE.

The climate will continue to change.  Our coastlines and its populations are doomed unless we start thinking outside the box or make an entirely new one.

Microbiological threats will increase as our traditional techniques of anti-microbial defense lead to greater and greater resistances,

and to fight these we must discover new approaches to medical treatment.

AMERICANS NEED TO LEARN HOW TO DISCOVER.

Being dumb in the existing educational system is bad enough. 

Failing to create a new way of learning adapted to contemporary circumstances MAY PROVE TO BE FATAL.

DISCOVERY has always prompted interest.  It is fun to see the curtain lift before your eyes.  

CAN YOU REMEMBER SCHOOL EVER BEING FUN? 

It is worse in today's classrooms with combat-fatigued teachers and bored, unruly students.

But the good news is that Nature has a way of

wiping the slate clean and starting over.

What our leaders choose to do with education

in the next few years

may well determine

if we are around

after the slate cleaning.

What do you think?