So Old Odd Ends has one of the main characters as a variation on the succubus. I got to thinking... what the hell? Why are we so obsessed with them. For a historical reference you can look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succubus
So they started out monstrous and gross. Over time they got sexy as hell. They are a demon that even in religions that say all demons are fallen angels they were once human. Conflicting much?
I know many people who love angels and demons in their art. I know even more who think of the succubus when they think of demons. Why the obsession? Is it just the association with sex? Is there something more?
I am seriously asking here. I love them, love using them in my writing and I am not completely sure where my obsession comes from. Normally with angels and demons I prefer to stick to the traditional. Angels are angels and were never humans, demons are fallen angels not the souls of the damned. Yet, while I will fudge this in my writing, all information says these were humans not angels. So this is an oddity to me.
Succubi, why do we love them? Why do you love them? Sound off! Do it now!
#commentary #hello #magic #thoughts #villainess #writer #writing #succubus #demons #mythology #religion
Showing posts with label hello. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hello. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
What is Horror
So I am popping off a couple of non story things here. This is a post of some random thoughts on the subject of horror.
When I was putting Old Odd Ends out there I couldn't classify it. I mean it has monsters in it. It is dark as hell. It's modern but has magic. I'm very wordy and have a strong focus on the characters. I also focus on the story because while I love a character driven story that second word is still a big part of it.
Finally an agent told me what it was. She said it was Literary Genre Fiction. I was able to further define the genre to a combination of Horror and Urban Fantasy. For those of you who do not know Literary Fiction means the author is wordy and focuses on the characters, sometimes to the exclusion of the story. Genre Fiction is your standard stuff where the story is all important and it can be further sub-classified into horror, fantasy, urban fantasy, dystopian and the like.
So I was feeling great about myself. I had some information and this agent, unlike most of them, had been very helpful to me. Even though what I wrote wasn't in her realm I did and do like her. Then I went and self published. When you classify most places, guess what. Literary Fiction is not an option, and Literary Genre Fiction is a, what the hell did you just say? Also you are limited to one or two classifications. So I had to classify as either horror, or horror and urban fantasy. I went with horror because I write for adults. I have no problem with kids reading my books but they are dark and there are some touchy subjects in them. So I want parents to be involved if their kids pick it up. Horror tends to get a more watchful eye from parents than anything with a fantasy label.
So I was annoyed at not being able to classify it right but I went on. This leads me to my thought. What is horror?
In the modern day we think of Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street. We think of shocking, gory titles without a plot or a very simple one. We also think of things that are often meaningless and slightly entertaining for a couple hours on screen or a week in print. Shock value has replaced what is scary. That bothers me. I mean it has its place, don't get me wrong but it is not the horror I grew up with and still love.
I think of horror in one of two ways. It is either the thing where you sympathize with the monster. You feel a connection and that is scary. The other is the cautionary tale, the warning that things are bad and the world is dark and there might or might not be any hope. These stories might have those shocking and gory moments in them but they might not. If you look back dystopian works have their roots in what I consider true horror. What do I think of as true horror? Well I will give some examples from both categories without identifying which they belong in.
Dracula and Frankenstein are horror. 1984 is horror and probably the beginning of the dystopian movement as well. Almost anything written by Stephen King is horror. Edgar Allan Poe (one of my personal heroes) wrote horror almost exclusively, if you consider his stories not his poems. Bradbury wrote some amazing horror stories, some set in scifi worlds and some not. Silence of the Lambs is amazing horror. Mr. Frost is a great horror movie that is always classified as a drama. I guess that is my point. You take a monster out of any horror story and people want to call it something else.
To me horror is not a bad B movie with blood and guts. What about to you? Don't be afraid, leave some comments. What kind of horror do you like? What is horror to you? What are some of your favorite horror movies and books? Which great authors did I miss?
Maybe I'm just getting ready for Halloween early.
#author #commentary #dark #hello #writer #writing #horror #thoughts
When I was putting Old Odd Ends out there I couldn't classify it. I mean it has monsters in it. It is dark as hell. It's modern but has magic. I'm very wordy and have a strong focus on the characters. I also focus on the story because while I love a character driven story that second word is still a big part of it.
Finally an agent told me what it was. She said it was Literary Genre Fiction. I was able to further define the genre to a combination of Horror and Urban Fantasy. For those of you who do not know Literary Fiction means the author is wordy and focuses on the characters, sometimes to the exclusion of the story. Genre Fiction is your standard stuff where the story is all important and it can be further sub-classified into horror, fantasy, urban fantasy, dystopian and the like.
So I was feeling great about myself. I had some information and this agent, unlike most of them, had been very helpful to me. Even though what I wrote wasn't in her realm I did and do like her. Then I went and self published. When you classify most places, guess what. Literary Fiction is not an option, and Literary Genre Fiction is a, what the hell did you just say? Also you are limited to one or two classifications. So I had to classify as either horror, or horror and urban fantasy. I went with horror because I write for adults. I have no problem with kids reading my books but they are dark and there are some touchy subjects in them. So I want parents to be involved if their kids pick it up. Horror tends to get a more watchful eye from parents than anything with a fantasy label.
So I was annoyed at not being able to classify it right but I went on. This leads me to my thought. What is horror?
In the modern day we think of Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street. We think of shocking, gory titles without a plot or a very simple one. We also think of things that are often meaningless and slightly entertaining for a couple hours on screen or a week in print. Shock value has replaced what is scary. That bothers me. I mean it has its place, don't get me wrong but it is not the horror I grew up with and still love.
I think of horror in one of two ways. It is either the thing where you sympathize with the monster. You feel a connection and that is scary. The other is the cautionary tale, the warning that things are bad and the world is dark and there might or might not be any hope. These stories might have those shocking and gory moments in them but they might not. If you look back dystopian works have their roots in what I consider true horror. What do I think of as true horror? Well I will give some examples from both categories without identifying which they belong in.
Dracula and Frankenstein are horror. 1984 is horror and probably the beginning of the dystopian movement as well. Almost anything written by Stephen King is horror. Edgar Allan Poe (one of my personal heroes) wrote horror almost exclusively, if you consider his stories not his poems. Bradbury wrote some amazing horror stories, some set in scifi worlds and some not. Silence of the Lambs is amazing horror. Mr. Frost is a great horror movie that is always classified as a drama. I guess that is my point. You take a monster out of any horror story and people want to call it something else.
To me horror is not a bad B movie with blood and guts. What about to you? Don't be afraid, leave some comments. What kind of horror do you like? What is horror to you? What are some of your favorite horror movies and books? Which great authors did I miss?
Maybe I'm just getting ready for Halloween early.
#author #commentary #dark #hello #writer #writing #horror #thoughts
Friday, September 19, 2014
New Links
So I just discovered that when you set up your page on Author Central for Amazon it only does the US.
Spent some time doing the other markets that have one available and added the links over to the right there. Now I have a page in the US, UK, Germany, and France. Doing this publishing thing really eats into actual writing time.
Thank you to the visitor from Germany I have been noticing. Seeing that hit made me go back and read the email from Amazon about setting up the additional pages. I put all of the information in English because I don't trust translation programs completely and don't want to butcher another language. Interesting thing is while I can add twitter to all of the other markets I am only able to link this blog in the US. Makes me think about putting the link in my biography.
I also noticed some errors in the bio for Amazon because I copy pasted it from the back of the book cover information. Now it makes more sense.
So more links! Also more shameless self promotion since I am all about that. I guess I am also all about ease of use.
Okay, that is enough random musings and shameless self promoting information from an overtired me.
#aboutme #author #hello #novel #shamelessselfpromotion #thoughts #writer #writing #germany #uk #france
Spent some time doing the other markets that have one available and added the links over to the right there. Now I have a page in the US, UK, Germany, and France. Doing this publishing thing really eats into actual writing time.
Thank you to the visitor from Germany I have been noticing. Seeing that hit made me go back and read the email from Amazon about setting up the additional pages. I put all of the information in English because I don't trust translation programs completely and don't want to butcher another language. Interesting thing is while I can add twitter to all of the other markets I am only able to link this blog in the US. Makes me think about putting the link in my biography.
I also noticed some errors in the bio for Amazon because I copy pasted it from the back of the book cover information. Now it makes more sense.
So more links! Also more shameless self promotion since I am all about that. I guess I am also all about ease of use.
Okay, that is enough random musings and shameless self promoting information from an overtired me.
#aboutme #author #hello #novel #shamelessselfpromotion #thoughts #writer #writing #germany #uk #france
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Welcome to My Nightmare
So I am told authors have blogs. Mostly this will be about my writing, or specifically it will be my writing. I have long held the belief that blogs can be silly because they are often like writing a diary in the public domain. I am also a shameless shill and will do anything to get some more sales. So hopefully this will boost the sales of my new book. It is available in ebook and paperback here http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00NCV8UVK or you can just follow the books for sale link.
Interspersed in this writing thing you may find some commentary. I can't help it. Being one of those long term unemployed I may occasionally have to rage about unemployment and finding work. I will try to stay as unpolitical as possible but no promises. I will also occasionally spout off about writing and being a writer. You will see an example of this in the next post.
Most of what I post here will be short stories that I put on writing prompts and enter into contests. Hopefully this will wet your appetite and you will, as mentioned before, buy my book. I will also pop up any deal days for the books when I set them up. So there you go. That is me for now. Welcome to my world. My writing tends to be dark and while my shorts are not adults only read with caution and bear that in mind. Over the next few days I will post some of my favorites.
Thanks for dropping by and my next post will be one of those on writer's things I told you about. Oh, and I guess I'll be spending some time learning hashtags. New to the whole social media thing. Can anyone tell me if they go in the post or labels or where?
#newhere #hello #author #writer #aboutme #novel
Interspersed in this writing thing you may find some commentary. I can't help it. Being one of those long term unemployed I may occasionally have to rage about unemployment and finding work. I will try to stay as unpolitical as possible but no promises. I will also occasionally spout off about writing and being a writer. You will see an example of this in the next post.
Most of what I post here will be short stories that I put on writing prompts and enter into contests. Hopefully this will wet your appetite and you will, as mentioned before, buy my book. I will also pop up any deal days for the books when I set them up. So there you go. That is me for now. Welcome to my world. My writing tends to be dark and while my shorts are not adults only read with caution and bear that in mind. Over the next few days I will post some of my favorites.
Thanks for dropping by and my next post will be one of those on writer's things I told you about. Oh, and I guess I'll be spending some time learning hashtags. New to the whole social media thing. Can anyone tell me if they go in the post or labels or where?
#newhere #hello #author #writer #aboutme #novel
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