[Link] Don’t Let Perfectionism Strangle Your Creativity

by Rob Bignell

Ever hit a moment of frustration when you just can’t seem to get a sentence or a passage to sound right? The result is a brain freeze. You keep working at the line, though, only to suffer through the penning of seemingly even worse lines or passages.

The problem likely is that you are overly judgmental of your own work. To a degree, that is a good thing, as it means you hold your writing to a high standard, and the result is you then produce above average pieces.

If you produce at all, of course…

Taken to an extreme, perfectionism can lead you to never finish a task through constant rewriting, procrastination, or not even writing at all.

Fortunately, there are a lot of ways you can overcome perfectionistic tendencies when writing:

Read the full article: https://inventingrealityediting.com/2023/05/04/dont-let-perfectionism-strangle-your-creativity/

After 15 years, Sean Taylor's script book, WARTS AND ALL, is finally back in print!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

​Atlanta, GA--After 15 years of being out of print, Sean Taylor's script book, WARTS AND ALL, is finally back in print!

The book collects all of Taylor's comic book scripts from The Shooting Star Comics Anthology, Gene Simmons' House of Horrors, All-Star Pulp Comics, and more. WARTS AND ALL also includes never-before-published comic book scripts. 

​"If I had a dollar for every time someone at my convention table asked me how to write a comic book script," Taylor writes in the foreword, "let’s just say I’d make a lot more money that way than I ever made getting paid to write." 

It's in that spirit he offers these scripts again after creating a DIY version he copied on a photocopier years ago and sold out of promptly. Partnering with Kindle Direct, this new edition will be available for the long run both in print and eBook. He will have them for sale on his convention tables and also via Amazon. 

Available in paperback and eBook. 

Sean Taylor writes short stories, novellas, novels, graphic novels, and comic books (yes, Virginia, there is a difference between comic books and graphic novels, just like there's a difference between a short story and a novel). In his writing life, he has directed the “lives” of zombies, superheroes, goddesses, dominatrices, Bad Girls, pulp heroes, and yes, even frogs, for such diverse bosses as IDW Publishing, Gene Simmons, and The Oxygen Network. Visit him online at www.thetaylorverse.com and www.badgirlsgoodguys.com.

​# # #

Sharing Information Online Responsibly (i.e., Don't Be a Douche)

Here's your periodic reminder not to be irresponsible or manipulative when sharing links. Knowing is half the battle before you start spouting bad sources:

News -- This is news. It is fact-checked, verified, and references credible, relevant sources or interviewees specific to the story or event. It strives to be as objective as possible, sticks to actual data parsed by multiple experts, and always provides a counterpoint(s) for credible discussion (questioning an interviewee who claims the earth is flat or continuing to cite debunked theories about massive scale election interference isn't a credible opposing point, for example). It focuses on the who, what, where, and when of a story or event.

Analysis -- This is not news. This is someone's breakdown of what he/she/they feel are the takeaways from actual news or some event. This one confuses many people because the person presenting the opinions is usually some kind of expert in a matter related to what he/she/they are analyzing, such as pundits discussing a presidential debate or a legal expert discussing how a court case plays out. However, even though the analysts are experts , they tend to have a vested interest in promoting one side of an issue over the other side, such as a conservative pundit for a conservative news station or a climate change attorney for climate change rulings. The best examples of this include a variety of experts who can discuss and even disagree with each other, providing the experts are peer-respected, tenured, and credible (again, there's no point in including flat earth "scientists" for a credible discussion of geology or a pillow salesman or pop star for a discussion of world politics). 

Opinion/Editorial -- This is not news. This is someone's opinion (quite often a complaining, partisan one) about some issue or event. I'm surprised how often I see people reference these as facts or news because they are quite often clearly identified as just Op/Ed in the papers or sites they appear in/on. (Although some sources do incorrectly and irresponsibly let these appear alongside news stories as a counterpoint to news.) Sadly, this can often masquerade as Analysis and confuse those who are looking for quick, easy "facts" (not actually facts though) to support their preconceived beliefs.

Review -- This is not news. This is an assessment by a professional critic regarding (typically) some published media. 

Political Memes -- Not only are these not news, they are often flat-out lies and falsehoods. Unless they cite a credible source in the meme, these are typically unverified and intentionally misleading or designed to elicit an emotional, knee-jerk response. If it has no source, just don't share it. You could do more harm than good. If it does have a source, check it out before sharing it. Chances are the source is made up to provide false credibility or designed to take an actual quote or fact out of context. And trust me, we've all been fooled at least once by these pesky critters. 

Most YouTube sources fall under Analysis, Op/Ed, or Review. There are some that actually do the work of journalism to present news.

Most podcasters tend to fall under the Analyst-Op/Ed-Review category as well, though there are a few credible investigative journalism podcasts that report relatively unbiased news.

It's okay to share Op/Ed and Analysis articles. But please don't source it as news. Always be sure to explain that it is merely an opinion, albeit in some cases a more informed opinion, but an opinion nonetheless. If you intentionally imply that such a source is news or is a factual account of a story or event, you are irresponsible at best and outright spreading lies and trying to manipulate others at worst. 

Most partisan sources that identify as such promote bias and don't actually cover news. They inject a lot of Analysis and Op/Ed into so-called news stories.

Now Available!

 Get your books online at: 

Website: www.thetaylorverse.com

Blog: www.badgirlsgoodguys.com

Amazon: www.amazon.com/-/e/B002QW6XNS

Audible: www.audible.com/author/Sean-Taylor/B002QW6XNS

[Link] Gothic Fiction with a Twist

by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore

When most people think of gothic fiction, they envision a heroine dashing through a crumbling manor in middle of nowhere England, chased by the ghosts of her lover’s past, one as rife with secrets as the holes in her moth-eaten gown.

19th and 20th century classics such as Bronte’s Jane Eyre, du Maurier’s Rebecca, and Austen’s Northanger Abbey come to mind, as well as monster gothics like Shelley’s Frankenstein and Stoker’s Dracula. Many in non-publishing tend to believe the genre is as dead as these authors, maybe excepting fans of Guillermo del Toro’s 2015 gothic masterpiece Crimson Peak. 

When I tell my non-publishing friends about my new book, The Haunting of Moscow House, a gothic horror set in post-Revolutionary Moscow, their first question is WHY. Why gothic fiction? Why write such a story at all? First of all, why not gothic fiction? 

It doesn’t have to be the same old iteration, though that can be delightful in its own way. After all, the genre is more relevant to us now more than ever. Gothic fiction and, more broadly, horror, shows us the darkness within ourselves and our worlds. And since our world today seems very dark indeed, it reflects our deepest, greatest fears, our most insecure vulnerabilities as humans. It horrifies, it entrances, it romances, it invites escape, all in equal measure. Like other genres, gothic fiction doesn’t need to be static. It can change with the times, encompassing our modern realities, sensitivities, and preoccupations. And it has.

Read the full article: https://crimereads.com/gothic-fiction-with-a-twist/

Quoir Publishing Releases Better Living Through Literature

BETTER LIVING THROUGH LITERATURE

For 2500 years people have been debating how literature changes lives, and versions of those debates continue today in classrooms, school and library boardrooms, and state legislatures. The life-transforming potential of books caught the attention of Dante, Cervantes, Jane Austen, Percy Shelley, and many others. Better Living through Literature surveys what the great thinkers have said on the subject, from Plato and Aristotle to Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud to W.E.B Du Bois, Harold Bloom, and Martha Nussbaum. Contending that reading is sometimes like playing with dynamite, Robin Bates brings the issues alive with compelling accounts of stories and poems upending individual lives and sometimes history itself.

Available on Amazon. 

Sunday Funnies: You've heard of the dramatic plot structures... Well...

 

[Link] After a Splashy Book Deal, I Got Dropped By My Publisher, But I Kept On Writing

Why stubbornness is the most fundamental skill an author can have

by Rob Hart

This is the thing I’m probably not supposed to write. But I tried to write it six different ways without telling the truth, and I couldn’t do it, so here goes:

My career has not been the success people think it is.

My first book came out from a small press in 2015. The advance was just enough for a fancy steak dinner after taxes. I wrote four more books in that series, and while I was getting some solid acclaim in the crime fiction community, I wasn’t anywhere close to quitting my day job.

And that was fine. I was doing the thing I loved.

Then I wrote a book called The Warehouse, which was pre-empted by a Big Five publisher for a ridiculous amount of money. I thought the book was unpublishable because it was essentially a fuck-you to Amazon. Then I thought it would never appeal to foreign markets, but we sold it in twenty languages. It generated enough heat to be optioned for film by an A-list director.

All told I made enough money off that book to become a full-time writer.

And I thought: This is it, I made it through the door; the rest of my career is going to be sunshine and smooth sailing.

It was not.

Read the full article: https://opensecretsmag.substack.com/p/rob-hart-writing-career-publishing-struggles

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION PRESENTS SHERLOCK HOLMES – CONSULTING DETECTIVE VOL. 20

After ten years of publishing some of the most exciting and thrilling new adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Airship 27 Production is proud to offer the 29th Volume in its Consult Detective series. Here, in this super special collection, are stories by I.A. Watson, Teel James Gleen, Ray Lovato, and Michael Black, offering challenging new mysteries for the dynamic crime-solving duo of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Included is I.A. Watson’s “The Adventure of the Strand Magazine Murder,” which brings Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s best-loved characters around to the venue that introduced them to the world.

There will be two different editions designed by award-winning artist Rob Davis. One in our normal 9 x 6 pulp book format and a special to look exactly like Holmes' publisher The Strand Magazine in size and spirit. This deluxe edition contains more illustrations and facsimile advertisements typical of the era in which the magazine first appeared.  Regardless of which version fans buy, this will be a volume they will cherish forever.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTION – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!

Available now from Amazon in two different paperback formats and soon on Kindle.

[Link] What Is LitRPG for Writers (and How Do I Get Started Writing It)?

Bestselling LitRPG author Matt Dinniman answers what LitRPG is (for those who don't know) and shares five tips on getting started in this style (not genre) of writing.

by Matt Dinniman

Okay, picture this. You’re sitting down at your desk, and a portal appears in the wall of your office. A mysterious wizard steps from the gate and announces, “Hey! You! If you want to save the realm, you need to complete this quest. You need to write a novel. And it needs to be a LitRPG!” He hands you a pen and a notebook, and he disappears back into the portal with a puff of smoke.

(You, of course, want to save the realm. One must never ignore quests bestowed by mysterious portal wizards. You’ve heard of LitRPG before, but you’re not really sure exactly what it is. Doesn’t it have something to do with video games? All you really know is that the term suddenly seems everywhere, and more importantly, LitRPG books seem to be really hot right now. And now that you have a quest to write one, you better get started. Here are five tips on how to save the day.

Step One. Know what LitRPG is in the first place.

Okay, okay, this sounds pretty obvious, right? Like it should be something the wizard tells you before we even get to the five tips part. But here’s the thing. Knowing exactly what you’re getting yourself into is absolutely crucial for success in this style of writing. Are these games? Are they like those Choose Your Own Adventure books? And why the heck are we calling it a “style of writing” and not a genre?

LitRPG stands for Literary Role-Playing Game, so it’s not surprising that people who are new to the term think these books are games. Or Choose Your Own Adventure Style books. They are not. They are just regular novels, usually with no reader interaction. And while many people call it a genre, they’re not, technically, a genre, either.

Read the full article: https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/what-is-litrpg-for-writers-and-how-do-i-get-started-writing-it

New Collection by L. Andrew Cooper Will Leave Stains in Your Mind!

Stains of Atrocity: Twenty Tales of Horror and Dark Fantasy

by L. Andrew Cooper

This volume’s twenty horrific tales vary in style and extremity, but each aims to leave an unusual, dark, and lasting impression. It begins with “Silence,” a surreal haunting about a woman who visits a strange house and then quietly loses the people closest to her, and it ends with “Mandy Schneider Makes Friends,” a taboo-breaking account of three psychopaths who form an alliance and then torture a group of campers and their chaperones. Arranged into five sections or “blots” that might stain your psyche in different ways with the atrocities they depict, the stories explore distorted responses to tragedy, strange connections that form when people give in to chance, political anxieties acted out through rent flesh and spilt blood, miraculous feats paid for with massacres, and a crime that lives on in a place and in people devoted to human violation.

In “David Langley and the Burglar,” a thief works up the nerve to add more violence to his crimes, and his intended victim struggles to escape from what seems to be a supernatural trap. In “Highway Romance,” a truck driver takes an illicit interest in a boy he sees in a passing car, and the boy lures him on, pursuing illicit and deadly interests of his own. “Dinner for Two” follows media-obsessed Brandon Landry as he becomes a mass shooter and meets his fan Daisy Ruttle, who after watching him online has decided she must play a part in his murders. A small, diverse group tries to dispatch the scourge of their neighborhood—a white supremacist who refuses to die, no matter how grisly the attempt to kill him—in “Undying Support.” “Blood and Feathers” presents a fateful early meeting between Dr. Allen V. Fincher and Elijah Eagleton, characters familiar from some of Cooper’s other works, a meeting that spawns a spate of human sacrifices. In “Eternal Recurrence of Suburban Abortion,” a young woman goes to a house famous for the atrocities committed there to have something removed from her body, and she ends up on a mind-bending journey between lives.

Seven of these stories have not previously been published, and the others are otherwise unavailable. They share fascinations with the macabre and the grotesque, as well as with storytelling that defies the typical. While some possess a twisted sense of humor, all aim to disturb. Get comfortable. It won’t last.

About the Author:

L. Andrew Cooper specializes in the provocative, scary, and strange. His current project, The Middle Reaches, is a serialized epic of weird horror and dark fantasy on Amazon Kindle Vella. His latest release, Records of the Hightower Massacre, an LGBTQ+ horror novella co-authored with Maeva Wunn, imagines a near-future dystopia where anti-queer hate runs a program to "correct" deviants. Stains of Atrocity, his newest collection of stories, goes to uncomfortable psychological and visceral extremes. His recent novel, Crazy Time, combines horror and dark fantasy in a contemporary quest to undo what may be a divine curse. Other published works include novels Burning the Middle Ground and Descending Lines; short story collections Leaping at Thorns and Peritoneum; poetry collection The Great Sonnet Plot of Anton Tick; non-fiction Gothic Realities and Dario Argento; co-edited fiction anthologies Imagination Reimagined and Reel Dark; and the co-edited textbook Monsters. He has also written more than 30 award-winning screenplays. After studying literature and film at Harvard and Princeton, he used his Ph.D. to teach about his favorite topics from coast to coast in the United States. He now focuses on writing and lives with his husband in North Hollywood, California.

https://www.amazon.com/Stains-Atrocity-Twenty-Horror-Fantasy-ebook/dp/B0BRMS6Q4S