Blogging All About It

[Mac Campbell]

As for me, I put up my short fiction on my blog. I think it's a good way to get the word out: I take my inspiration from Peter Watts, David Moody, and that other David who wrote those other online zombie novels. I've a got a number of novels saved up(boy, do those things need work!), but I think readily available short fiction is a good way for people to get to know you. I have five stories up right now, and there are several more coming. Yes, I'm a complete unknown, I know.

But I've got some good responses from some people whose opinions I respect. And my first compliments were from a girl from Manchester and a scientist from New Zealand - that's the internets for you!

[ozmosis7]

Up to 30k words on "The Dead Civil War" project. Its only a rough draft, but its up there to read if anyone is interested. Still a lot of story to go though.

[hamount]

I started a blog, where I review novels, the first one I posted was last Monday about The Husband by Dean Koontz. If you want to check it out the URl is in my signature. If you have any suggestions about books you'd like to see reviewed in my blog leave a comment on my blog and I'll look into it. Hope you enjoy my opinions, it seems I've suddenly taken an interest in journalism, and no better way than a blog to get started. Opinions about my blog, and suggestions are welcomed.

[JJ Holden]

Just posted an interview with Simon Wood. I'm reading his book, Paying the Piper, now. I read his book, Fall Guy, earlier and liked it a lot. He used to race cars before writing and doing PI work. Interesting guy.

Dang it, Draven, I'm going to have to put your blog on my regular go-to list.

[ozmosis7]

Just posted an interview with Simon Wood. I'm reading his book, Paying the Piper, now. I read his book, Fall Guy, earlier and liked it a lot. He used to race cars before writing and doing PI work. Interesting guy.

Is he the guy that the TV was based on?

[Draven Ames]

Just posted an interview with Simon Wood. I'm reading his book, Paying the Piper, now. I read his book, Fall Guy, earlier and liked it a lot. He used to race cars before writing and doing PI work. Interesting guy.

[Draven Ames]

I believe you have something there, Nik. I think voice is very important.

[Nik Houser]

I'm no writer, but with my few experiences in the field. The biggest key to making a living at writing, is learning to write what sells. Sadly what sells is not always what everyone wants to write. Also, what sells can be very hard in the horror field, especially if you are trying to sell your stuff to the New York publishers. They are harsh critics, that don't buy a lot of horror.

My feeling is that most horror writers' style is too idiosyncratic to genre fiction to penetrate the mainstream market. I'm not saying their writing isn't good. Far from it. It's GREAT. But it's not typically told with the kind of voice that appeals to non-horror fans. I think it takes a very specific combination of idea, tone, and most especially voice to make that leap from the horror fans to the larger markets. I think the same is true for sci-fi, as well. Take two of my favorite sci-fi writers: someone like Scalzi almost has it. He's got NYTimes bestsellers, but that's still mostly because enough sci-fi fans pick up his stuff, not because it really crosses over to the mainstream. Now take Paolo Bacigalupi, who's brilliant and has won a zillion awards is a very early career. He's in a class of his own, I think, and yet he doesn't write with that mainstream voice. So yeah, he sells and makes a living from his writing, but he doesn't SELL. This is NOT a criticism in any regard. Merely an opinion based on my own observations. Personally, I love idiosyncratic writing. And I love horror. And I thank the small presses of the world for championing both!

[Draven Ames]

Thanks for stopping by to read it, JJ. I'm sure Michael will appreciate the read as well. Keeping it up for a week so people can check it out and hopefully check out his book. He is very intelligent. It was moderately intimidating.

[JJ Holden]

If you want, you can check out the phone interview I did with Michael Marano, author of Stories from the Plague Years - published by Cemetery Dance.

http://dravenames.blogspot.com/2011/...el-marano.html

Draven, very cool interview, you asked some good questions. A beautiful book, too. The artwork is amazing.

[Draven Ames]

If you want, you can check out the phone interview I did with Michael Marano, author of Stories from the Plague Years - published by Cemetery Dance.

http://dravenames.blogspot.com/2011/...el-marano.html

[onipar]

true, horror does have trouble in NYC unless you're named King or Straub or Koontz - small presses, thank god for them

True. If it wasn't for Bad Moon Books, I'm not sure my first novel would have ever seen light. It's a bit too...different.

On topic, I add new blog posts all the time. My current post is just some humor related to "blog awards." I'm also trying to start a new segment called "Ask the Professor" in which readers send me writing related questions, and I may even answer them in between the insults and sarcasm. Another segment I do is something called "Sunshine Says." It's basically a picture of a human skull (Sunshine) with a funny one-liner. Sometimes I use Zed (a stuffed Zombie).

[RichardThomas]

I wasn't necessarily referring to "literary fiction". Mostly just referring to horror in general. It's a very tough field when it comes to the NY publishers, in general there are a lot more writers that make a living at it, in the other genre's than there are in the horror genre, and that's because horror is a tough genre to sell. I forget how Brian put it to me awhile ago, but basically what he was saying is that NY publishers don't really care a lot about the horror genre, but the small press is the champion of it.

true, horror does have trouble in NYC unless you're named King or Straub or Koontz - small presses, thank god for them

[Dan Hocker]

I wasn't necessarily referring to "literary fiction". Mostly just referring to horror in general. It's a very tough field when it comes to the NY publishers, in general there are a lot more writers that make a living at it, in the other genre's than there are in the horror genre, and that's because horror is a tough genre to sell. I forget how Brian put it to me awhile ago, but basically what he was saying is that NY publishers don't really care a lot about the horror genre, but the small press is the champion of it.

[RichardThomas]

I'm no writer, but with my few experiences in the field. The biggest key to making a living at writing, is learning to write what sells. Sadly what sells is not always what everyone wants to write. Also, what sells can be very hard in the horror field, especially if you are trying to sell your stuff to the New York publishers. They are harsh critics, that don't buy a lot of horror.

well, kind of true - if you look at the NYT bestseller lists, who is on there? horror, fantasy, SF, mystery, romance and YA - there is SOME literary fiction, but most of it doesn't sell really well compared to the genre fiction writers

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/b...m-the-top.html

take the link above (some of these i'm guessing on genres or using broad strokes)
- you've got dan brown (thriller), john grisham (legal thrillers), stephen king (horror/thrillers), james patterson (mystery), janet evanovich (mystery), stephanie meyer (horror)

cornwell, crichton, grafton - if anything we should be learning to write mysteries

that's partly why i'm trying to diversify - i write horror, noir/neo-noir, crime, thrillers, fantasy, SF, and literary - the only genres i don't write are romance and YA, really

new york is funny, they love literary fiction, but it's not the best selling genre at ALL - some of the big names (again) do well, Franzen just had Freedom out - believe me, as i get my MFA i'm sending work out to both literary journals that most of you have probably never heard of, but i'm also hitting the big names in horror and noir

if you write dark, sometimes a little tweak in one direction can change what genre or sub-genre they put you in