Below the mist, I lay on wet soil among the rubble and ruin of past selves. Crisp outlines of shadows dance with the fall leaves and cascade into the still lake beside me. A scuttle of creatures, the movement of stones, as they scurry to the water’s edge to drink or clean bloody claws.
I am waiting for the moon to rise, to peak out between the mountain scape so I can join the owls and other night animals in their hunt for fresh flesh. Once, I lived in a city, now I’m just another thing gnawing on bones. What am I?
The famous line from the movie, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” was nowhere in the book. A creative add-on by Kubrick.
The Shining
Yesterday, I finished reading Stephen King’s classic THE SHINING. At about four-hundred-something pages this novel took me on the ups and downs of the Torrance family at The Overlook Hotel. What I loved about the book that was different from the movie (directed by Stanley Kubrick) was the building of tension between the characters through their POV’s. Seeing The Overlook from the perspectives of all the important characters added to the sheer terror of their situation while emphasizing how malicious the hotel really is. Plus the character of Danny Torrance is captivating, a clever little boy born with second-sight who has to fight evil forces to try and keep his mom and dad alive. This was a quick read for me and now I am planning on devouring DOCTOR SLEEP before the movie comes out at the end of the month, or at least before I see it.
Halloween
This year I haven’t done any ‘Halloween’ themed posts. To be honest, it is because I haven’t had any time. A little over a week ago, I finally quit my internship as an Intern for SG BOOK SCOUTING. After a month of working (unpaid) some 25-30 hours a week, I was worn out, irritated, and found myself with little to no time for my own writing or reading. Initially, the internship was for three months but I barely made it over one month. I found myself doing anywhere from 2-8 hours of work a day as an intern. On Fridays I would be given an assignment due on Monday morning, usually, this was to read an entire book (around 50,000 words or more) and write an extensive review. This weekend assignment wasn’t too bad except that I usually do doubles on the weekends at my job working 9-12 hour shifts, leaving me with little time to do the assignment. Since quitting, I’m less stressed out and I have had time to catch up on my daily writing and read whatever I want. I have been incredibly happy, enjoying my freedom again and I have decided that for the future any internships I apply to will have to be paid. My time is too precious for me to work for free.
I’m not sure if I’m going to have any time to write a few Halloween themed posts before the end of the month but if I do, chances are they will be centered around movies (of course).
My Novel
The last time I took a look at my novel it was September 9th, according to my google docs. Now I’m going to take another crack at it. Whenever I approach my novel, again and again, I do a read through from start to finish. Doing my best not to edit or change anything. I want to read it just to read it. When I go back over it to start the second reading, I will edit part by part (so far it’s three parts). I want to get a good portion of this done before November because I think I’m going to try to write another book (totally unrelated to the one I’ve been working on) for NaNoWriMo this year. I have a few story ideas and weird plot lines shifting around in my head and I think what I’d work on would be realistic fiction. A change of pace, something different, from the weird supernatural stories that are always floating around in my head.
I will keep you all updated and expect a new post soon in MY FIRST NOVEL series.
It’s been a few weeks since my last update, I’ve been busy baking, working on music, and being haunted by my characters.
Although I’m well into the fourth rough draft at this point, I can’t help but feel that there are a lot of parts that I’m missing in my novel. I’m trying to piece together what parts those could be, there are holes here and there when I replay the story in my head, not necessarily explanations or details but parts of the story that I’ve somehow overlooked and forgotten, parts that directly contribute to the story as a whole. I think it’s because of this that I’ve been finding myself haunted by my characters.
I’ll be out running errands, or at work, and suddenly I’ll start to hear parts of their conversations (my characters) running through my head. I’ll see the setting, the house, the open field and memories of their past all important. I’ll see something, or hear someone say something in my everyday life, and it will all come flooding back to me, the story, the characters, moments that I haven’t seen before, or new ones I haven’t seen yet.
This may all just sound like ramblings but I’m sure that some writer’s out there know what I’m talking about, when the characters, the story just suddenly doesn’t seem to be your story, it comes alive and starts to do what it wants, unapologetically. Then it’s more of your duty to document, write, what that story is or it just starts to nag at you.
The parts that I’ve missed they’re now surfacing into my everyday life like this, just out of the blue coming up and telling me this or that. The trick is that this story isn’t necessarily taking place in the present and the past is hard to interpret. All I am doing is trying to make sense of these little slices that are revealing themselves to me now. They must be important to the story in a broader sense, so I keep inserting these random scenes or dialogues here and there in my fourth rough draft.
I thought a couple months ago that all the progress I had been making since last fall with this novel signified that it was somehow closer to a complete manuscript, or at least cohesive whole but now I’m beginning to question that feeling. There appears to be more that my novel has to say than what I originally thought.
And the feeling that I’m being haunted by my characters, that somewhere they’re always chatting away to each other is becoming more and more apparent. Knowing that this is how so and so would talk, how she would respond, the sound of her laugh and eerie look of their eyes as they tell the truth, it’s all there. But really, it is too much sometimes. I know I’m filling in missing parts here and there, but a lot of it is unnecessary excess.
So that’s where I’m at, piecing together and filtering through the excess parts that have been coming to me in the last few weeks.
Besides baking and working on my music, I’ve been reading On Writing Horror,
A handbook put together by The Horror Writers Association. I’m about half-way through and it’s a fascinating read, filled with interviews, essays, talks, and pointers. My main goal is to write something equally disturbing and unforgettable, something that readers will never forget, that will resurface in their minds for the rest of their lives. But sadly I’ve been told multiple times that my writing isn’t really terrifying when reading but just has scary elements. Doesn’t really make sense but I know that it means my writing is not achieving my overall goal.
A Discovery of Witches I finished the first season in two days, it’s an interesting concept but feels a little jam-packed and overwhelming sometimes. I am now starting to read the first book, to take a look at Deborah Harkness‘ writing style and approach. I’m not really sure if I like this series or not.
Well, that’s all, thanks for reading up on my long update! Again to all my followers and regular readers, I appreciate you, all the time and attention you’ve given to my words, Thank you.
I am writing my first fiction novel, a Supernatural Thriller! I want to chronicle the writing of my book so I have a reference point in the future. This will be the place on my blog (Fiction: Writing My First Novel) where I’ll be posting updates on my progress, discussing elements of fiction, and any issues I have. I will be blogging my journey of writing in case other new fiction writers are looking for relatable content.
The Story Thus Far and NaNoWriMo
In 2014, I scribbled out a few pages of a story, an image stuck in my head of a man on the run puking up blood. But I hit a wall, and the pages were eventually forgotten. Four years later, in the Fall of 2018, I recalled the story, the image of the man popping into my head one day out of the blue. Since then, I have become obsessed with writing my novel.
For the National Novel Writing Month of November 2018, I spent the entire month writing the first draft. Barely over 50,000 words in three parts with countless chapters, it revealed itself as a Supernatural Thriller, no big surprise there. Now, in 2019, I am working on the second draft, which is a long and grueling process.
From now on, I will be chronicling my work, including my progress and the reading materials I am using (such as Self-Editing for Fiction Writers). I hope to create a dialogue about writing fiction novels that can help other writers while keeping an archive of my journey for future use and reflection.
Are you writing a novel? Let’s connect! I’d love to hear about your experience, process, and recommended reading materials.
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On Halloween, I finished Haunted Nights an anthology of short horror stories put together by the Horror Writers Association. It is full of all kinds of spooky stories that revolve around Halloween. There are sixteen short stories total, all of which range from an Irish Halloween with the good folk to grisly psychological thrillers of man and monsters.
Writer’s featured in this anthology include Seanan McGuire, Jonathan Maberry, Garth Nix, Jeffrey Ford, Kelley Armstrong, Brian Evenson, Eric J. Guignard, Pat Cadigan, and John R. Litte. My favorite stories in this anthology were “With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfsbane Seeds”, “A Small Taste of the Old Country”, “The Seventeen-Year Itch”, “Nos Galan Gaeaf”, “Sisters”, “The Turn”, “Jack” and “Lost in the Dark”.
A Brief Synopsis of My Favorites
“With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfsbane Seeds” by Seanan McGuire – a haunted house full of ghosts and a group of troublemaker teenagers bent on vandalism and fun, the night is Halloween and there will be plenty of fun and death for all.
“A Small Taste of the Old Country” by Jonathan Maberry – In Argentina after the end of World War Two, the dead return with vengeance on one fateful night with the aid of a man and some delicious food.
“The Seventeen-Year Itch” by Garth Nix – Locked up in an institution for the criminally insane an inmate with a secret will make Halloween a bloody special one.
“Nos Galan Gaeaf” by Kelley Armstrong – A town that still celebrates Halloween the old ways, two kids play with each others fates with hellish consequences.
“Sisters” by Brian Evenson – A family trying to blend in? A family of what? Curious about Halloween two mischievous sisters set out for some fun but return home with an extra treat.
“The Turn” by Paul Kane – Listen to your grandparents, is it just superstitions or something more? A man walks alone on Halloween night and encounters something terrifyingly familiar, man or monster?
“Jack” by Pat Cadigan – The dead, a cemetery, and good ol’ Jack, a trickster with something fresh up his sleeve.
“Lost in the Dark” by John Langan – Spinning horror films, documentaries and folklore all together in a modern tale. A writer researches the origins of a horror film with the help of a key interview leaving him disturbed and curious.
I would recommend this anthology for horror lovers that want a little slice of this and that, a box of chocolates with unknown fillings full of surprise, each different from the last. A few of these stories do contain gore, disturbing imagery, violence, and peril so be warned.
