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 |  This is a continuation of my blogging here at WdC |
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This will be a blog for my writing, maybe with (too much) personal thrown in. I am hoping it will be a little more interactive, with me answering questions, helping out and whatnot. If it falls this year (2024), then I may stop the whole blogging thing, but that's all a "wait and see" scenario. An index of topics can be found here: "Writing Blog No.2 Index"  Feel free to comment and interact. |
| Who I Write For This is another general bit of information that some might relate to. The question is right there in the blog's title - who do I write for? Well, first and foremost - I write for me. I write what I want to read. I write to get ideas out of my skull, characters and situations that refuse to leave me alone. I write because I need to. The problem is, what ends up finished is not always what I at first envisioned. I rate my own work on a 1-10 scale, and the lowest I've given is a 2 (highest is 8.5), with an average of 5.22 (median & mode both 5). yes, I do tend to be harsh on my own work, but also honest. [1. For me.] Second comes from the work's inspiration - I write sometimes for someone. Be it a love poem (worked on my ex-wife when we were courting; has not worked on the woman I currently like), a story based on a dream they had, a column idea they've given me, or a ghost-written work, then there is sometimes an external person involved in the genesis of the work. In which case, I write for them as much as I do for me. [2. For a loved one.] Third is the least important, and that is I write for an activity or contest at times. This means no matter how crap the work is, it has been written for an external set of eyes even above my own sensibilities. Sorry to those who run such things here on WdC, but that's the way it goes. [3. For an external activity.] Fourth and final is an added extra: I write to sell. Sort of. I mean, I don't set out to write a story with an eye on the market. I just write to get the things out of my head, to make them leave me alone. And not everything is written with this sales eventuality; only things I personally rate well are even submitted. But this means I will tweak a work to fit into the guidelines of a publisher, an anthology, a magazine or an online site. So, while I am not writing for an editor/publisher and the audience they hope to get, I will change what is written for this purpose. This becomes important to me, as I am trying to make money from writing, and do not self-publish. [4. For an unknown and unseen audience.] That's who I write for, and I have to be the first and foremost person at the top of that list. |
| Write What You Know This was the first bit of advice I was given that I can remember when it came to the content of my writing: Write what you know! This was emphasised in primary school, and then through high school. As such, in the early years of my writing, a lot of the incidents I included were autobiographical. In fact, my first few long works, written when I was in high school, my friends had great fun trying to work out who was who. (In primary school, my long work my friends knew because I didn't change the names!) Even in the novel I wrote in my final year of high school that got me out of other work, it was pretty obvious who the people were. As I've got older, I will still use little incidents that happened to me or around me or viewed by me because it just adds a touch of realism to my mind, And considering I write predominantly horror, it helps to make the horror (again, to me) more visceral. If I look at the story Lines of Communication in my port... the first three chapters happened almost exactly as I wrote them to the coupling pair. The stuff around them was an amalgamation of various incidents from other parties, but they all happened as well. They were both my friends, but after that third year, we'd left school and it just stopped. I just took it and ran with it. The later chapters were based on other things I saw with other couples. Only a few of the incidents actually came whole-cloth from my imagination; I just made them into a coherent story. Autobiographical? Maybe. I do not tend to do that so much any longer, for what it's worth. I will base stories on the incidents, but to tell them whole-cloth? Not nowadays. So, how do people write fantasy and science fiction, about monsters and unreal creatures? They've been invented whole-cloth, surely. This is what the phrase Write what you know means, I feel. You cannot just write. Even for a pantser like me, you cannot just write. You need to know the area, the characters, etc. Every character you write is based on a combination of people you know, people in books you have read, people you've seen on TV and in films, characters from plays, emotions from songs, people you've heard about from other people. You cannot just create people out of nothing - there is a basis or a lot of bases upon which you've built. It also shows the value of world-building. A lot of my stories are set in South Australia because I know the place really well and that gives it a sense of realism. But if I want to set a story in a city I make up or, like in my fantasy, whole worlds, then I need to make maps, give at least some sketchy outlines to what is what and where. If I set it in, say, the USA, then I need to do research on the place (and the joy of the Internet is I can email real people, use Google maps and post questions on fora to get answers to questions). There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Readers will pick up if you make it up without this knowledge. It is why so many magic systems in books do not work - because people do not bother to world-build it properly. It is why books written by people from other countries who rely on Wikipedia do not work - they have no idea and have not asked (like the idiot who said Melbourne to Adelaide was one day by horse... 800 km, sure). Write what you know means "do your research, create your characters and build your worlds before you start." Even pantsers like me need to remember this! |
| The Boring List Post So… this is a list of my publication credits, just to give people an idea of where you can sell these things. Most of the websites are no longer valid (the Wayback Machine might help), and 95% of the books are also no longer available, and the poems can be found in old copies of the newspaper… Here goes! BOOKS Invasive Species (AM Ink Publishing, 2022) Patch Of Green (Little Demon Books, 2022) Relick [competition winner] (Lightning Source UK, 2013) Sins Of The Fathers (Grinning Skull Press, 2019) Under Ground (Black Hare Press, 2021) SHORT STORIES ‘Adelaide, City Of Churches’ in A To Z: Cities Of Death (Static Movement) ‘Another Endless Night’ in The Undead That Saved Christmas (Rainstorm Press) ‘Bobo’ in Satan’s Toybox: Terrifying Teddies (Angelic Knight) ‘Box Factory’ in South East City Stories (Box Factory) ‘Carnal Knowledge’ in Once Bitten Never Die (Wicked East Press) ‘Conspiracy Theory’ in Told You So (Pill Hill Press) ‘Contemplation’ in Worlds Dark Drabbles #1 (Black Hare Press) ‘Corvalo And The Outside World’ in Key To The Kingdom (Sword & Sorcery Book 1) (Black Hare Press, 2020) ‘Couldn’t Be Bothered’ in Sloth (Black Hare Press, 2020) ‘Dark’ in Trembling With Fear (https://horrortree.com/unholy-trinity-dark/) ‘Dead Silence’ in South East City Stories (Box Factory) ‘Discarded’ in Thema Vol. 31 No. 3 (magazine) ‘Doppleganger’ in Beyond The Grave (Static Movement); The Speculative Edge, Issue 3, October 2012 (magazine); The Speculative Edge, The Best of 2012 ‘Evil?’ in Trembling With Fear (https://horrortree.com/trembling-with-fear-06-16-2019/) ‘Extinction’ in The Temporal Element (Martinus Publishing) ‘Facebook Friends’ in A To Z Of Horror: I Is For Internet (Red Cape Publishing, 2021) ‘Facebook Reality’ in Through Death's Door (Monnath Books) ‘First Martian Contact’ in The Martian Wave Magazine, March 2020 ‘Food For Thought’ in First Contact Imminent (Red Skies Press) ‘Forever Young’ [highly commended in competition] in Shades Of Sentience ‘Fortune-teller’ in Curses And Cauldrons (Blood Song Books) ‘From Arkham’ in Lovecraftiana Magazine, Candlemas 2019 ‘From The Forebears’ in Midnight Echo Vol.9 (magazine) ‘Gardening Work’ in Legends And Lore (Static Movement) ‘Ghost Tour’ in The Haunted Life (Alban Lake Publishing, 2019) ‘Glorious Destiny’ in Mythic Resonance (Specusphere) ‘Here's One I Prepared Earlier’ in Long Pig (Static Movement) ‘History Of Love’ in Rabbit Hole Vol.3 (Writers Co-Op, 2020) ‘Humanocentricity’ in Martian Wave March 2021 ‘Hunting Vengeance’ in The Trigger Reflex: Tales Of The Monster Hunter II (Pill Hill Press) ‘I Shot The Sheriff’ in Wicked West (Summerstorm Press, 2021) ‘Killers’ in Monsters (Dark Drabbles #3) (Black Hare Press) ‘Knight-Time In Adelaide’ in Crunchy With Ketchup (WolfSinger Publications, 2021) ‘Lament Of The Unknown Soldier’ in War Is Hell (Cruentus Libri Press) ‘Lazarus Rising’ in Short Sips (Wicked East Press) ‘Like Romeo And Juliet’ in Flash Fiction Addiction (Zombie Pirates Publishing) ‘Love Of His Life’ in Under The Knife (Cruentus Libri Press) ‘Lover's Belief’ in Mon Coeur Mort: My Dead Heart (Post Mortem Press) ‘Maid And Monster’ in Monsters (Dark Drabbles #3) (Black Hare Press) ‘Misplaced Optimism’ in Worlds Dark Drabbles #1 (Black Hare Press) ‘Money?’ in Curses And Cauldrons (Blood Song Books) ‘Mr Hadley’s Circus’ in Beyond The Grave (Monnath Books, 2021) ‘Mystery’ https://insidepulse.com/2012/12/10/the-view-from-down-here-12-10-2012-wrestling-... ‘No Stand’ in Broadswords And Blasters, Issue 12 (2020) ‘Office Education’ in It Calls From The Doors (Eerie River Publishing, 2021) ‘On The Wings Of An Eagle’ in Fated (Stormy Island Press) ‘One Less’ in Use Enough Gun: Tales Of The Monster Hunter III (Emby Press, formerly Pill Hill Press) ‘People Of The Earth’ [2nd place in competition] in Goodnight Goodnight (Seaview Press) ‘Power Of The Gods’ in Scribing Ibis (Bibliotheca Alexandrina) ‘Random Encounter’ in Strangers (Thirteen O’Clock Press, 2020) ‘Rejection’ in SQ Magazine, Winter/Fall 2010/2011 ‘Rescuing A Princess’ in Flashes Of Fantasy (Fantasia Divinity, 2021) ‘Resolution Cycle’ in Positive Words, August 2011 (magazine) ‘Return Of The Blade’ in Modern Pulp Heroes (Pulp Empire) ‘Rex The Rotten - Beast From A Very Long Time Ago’ https://www.irbstore.co/product-page/rex-the-rotten-by-s-gepp (Alban Lake Publishing) ‘Roadhouse Blues’ in Dark Transitions (13 O’Clock Press, 2019) ‘Romance In The Botanic Gardens’ in Trembling With Fear Valentine’s Special (https://horrortree.com/trembling-with-fear-happy-2020-valentines-day/) ‘Rudolph The Avenger’ in Eerie Christmas (Black Hare Press) ‘Russian Roulette’ in Pulpsploitation (Metahuman Press) ‘Sacrifice To A Dragon’ in Dragon Blood (Static Movement) ‘Scientific Method’ in Blood Trails: Tales Of The Monster Hunter IV (Emby Press) ‘Scrumpy Making In The West Country’ in Shots Of Terror (Angelic Knight Press) ‘Second Chance’ in Tales Of Terror And Mayhem From Inside The Box (Evil Jester Press) ‘Secret Love’ in Fornever After (Jolly Horror, 2021) ‘Sentience’ in Wordland 8: Time We Left (Wordland, 2020) ‘Sibling Rivalry’ in Predators In Petticoats (Black Cat/White Cat, 2020) ‘Siren's Song’ in The Rabbit Hole Volume 2 (Writer's Co-op) ‘Soul Of The Town’ https://thegingercollect.com/issuenine/issueninefiction/soulofthetownsgepp/ ‘Southern Sojourn’ in If I Die Before I Wake 6: Tales Of The Dark Deep (Sinister Smile Press, 2021) ‘Spider Worship’ in Bugs! (Pill Hill Press) ‘Stay’ in Come To My Window (Song Story Press) ‘Steel Horse’ in Legends And Lore (Static Movement) ‘Sugar Shack’ in Song Stories: Volume 1 (Song Stories) ‘Surprise Cocktail’ in Under The Stairs (Wicked East Press) ‘The Critic’ in The Monster Behind The Mask (Static Movement Press) 'The Leader Of The Pack' in Vinyl Cuts (Scary Dairy Press, 2024) ‘The Model’ in I’ll Never Go Away (Rainstorm Press) ‘The Oddest Sea’ in Non-Binary Review Issue #22: The Odyssey (https://www.zoeticpress.com/lit-journals?category=NonBinary+Review) ‘The Seeker And The Dark One’ in Tough As Nails (Collaboration Of The Dead) ‘Thomas’ in Mirror, Mirror (Iron Faerie, 2022) ‘'Twilight' Time’ in Dying To Live (Diabolic Publications) ‘Uncovering A Body’ in Crypt Gnats (Jersey Pink Ink) ‘Unseen Success’ in Curses And Cauldrons (Blood Song Books) ‘Waiting For The Beginning’ in Banned Drabbles (Black Hare Press, 2020) ‘Waiting For The End’ in Banned (Black Hare Press, 2020) ‘What's Real?’ http://www.writingraw.com [Nov 1, 2010] ‘World Of Heroes’ https://insidepulse.com/2011/05/23/the-view-from-down-here-fantasy-fantasy-booki... ‘World Of His Own’ in Fire And Brimstone (Specul8 Publishing) ‘Wrestling Gators’ in Lucha Gore (Cruentus Libri Press) ‘Xanadu’ in A To Z: Cities Of Death (Static Movement) ‘Xmas Secrets’ in Ho Ho Horror (Australian Literature Review) ESSAYS ‘Australian Love Rites’ [3rd Place Best of Times competition Autumn 2010] http://wildthoughts.com.au/comp9.html ‘New Year Realism’ https://www.weekendnotes.com/new-year-realism/ ‘Nostradamus The Misunderstood Prophet’ in Grapple Annual No.1 (Grapple Publishing) ‘Primitive Religious Practices’ [Commended Best of Times competition Autumn 2011] http://wildthoughts.com.au/comp11.html ‘Soundtrack’ in One Hundred Memories (Dream Well Writing) POEMS ‘A Visit From A Vampire’ [parody of the poem by Clement C. Moore] in Trembling With Fear (https://horrortree.com/trembling-with-fear-slaying-christmas-2019-edition/) ‘A Visit From Zombie Nicholas’ [parody of the poem by Clement C. Moore] in The Undead That Saved Christmas (Rainstorm Press) ‘An Australian Visit From St Nicholas’ [parody of the poem by Clement C. Moore] in YP Country Times, Dec 3, 2019 ‘Ants’ in NEW Voices (Ginninderra Press) ‘Australia’s Most Dangerous’ in YP Country Times, May 2, 2023 ‘Begging’ in NEW Voices (Ginninderra Press) ‘Black Dog’ in YP Country Times, May 14, 2019 ‘COVID?’ in YP Country Times, May 25, 2021 ‘Fishing Fun’ in YP Country Times, Apr 30, 2019 ‘For My Daughter’ in YP Country Times, Apr 23, 2019 ‘For My Son’ in YP Country Times, June 12, 2019 ‘For The C.F.S.’ in YP Country Times, Nov 27, 2018 ‘Garage Sale’ in YP Country Times, Feb 9, 2021 ‘Getting Fit’ in YP Country Times, November 26, 2019 ‘Green Thumb’ in YP Country Times, April 2, 2019 ‘Growing Up Or Old’ in YP Country Times, October 6, 2021 ‘Long Drive Woes’ in YP Country Times, August 25, 2020 ‘Modern Worries’ in YP Country Times, June 16, 2020 ‘Modern Zombies’ in YP Country Times, Feb 26, 2019 ‘Needle On Vinyl’ in YP Country Times, Dec 1, 2020 ‘New Year Again?’ in YP Country Times, Jan 21, 2020 ‘New Year's Poem’ in YP Country Times, Jan 2, 2019 ‘Newspeak’ in YP Country Times, September 17, 2019 ‘On A Crowded Street’ in YP Country Times, March 17, 2020 ‘Online Shopping Woes’ in YP Country Times, July 7, 2020 ‘Only At Night’ in Eldritch & Ether (Black Hare Press, 2022) ‘Pandemic Thoughts’ in YP Country Times, April 7, 2020 ‘Parched’ in YP Country Times, October 9, 2019 ‘Play’ in YP Country Times, August 6, 2019 ‘Political, Huh?’ in YP Country Times, Jan 30, 2019 ‘Raise The Finger’ in YP Country Times, Sep 11, 2018 ‘Real Heroes’ in YP Country Times, February 11, 2020 ‘Seeing Santa Claus’ in YP Country Times, Dec 18, 2018 ‘Going Shopping’ in YP Country Times, Oct 25, 2022 ‘Start At Valentine's’ in YP Country Times, Feb 19, 2019 ‘Start With Halloween’ in YP Country Times, Feb 14, 2023 ‘That Time Of The Year’ in YP Country Times, October 29, 2019 ‘Today’ in YP Country Times, Oct 16, 2018 ‘Visit To The City’ in YP Country Times, Sep 11, 2018 ‘Watching’ in YP Country Times, March 13, 2019 ‘What Is Australia?’ in YP Country Times, Jan 27, 2021 ‘Winter’ in YP Country Times, Sep 13, 2022 |
| Writing Advice I am often asked for what advice I would give novice writers. This has not changed in years, and so I will give the advice I always give, and then explain myself. Advice: 1) Read. Read some more. When you’re done, keep reading. 2) Write. Write some more. When you’re done, keep writing. 3) Get your technical aspects down. That’s it. Nothing else. Now… to explain. 1) By read, I mean read a lot, but also a lot of different stuff. If you want to write horror, for example, don’t just read horror. Read science fiction to see how technology can be utilized. Read romance to see how character relationships can be improved. Read non-fiction to give you “what if…?” questions. Read widely and often. 2) The old adage is practice makes perfect. However, there is a caveat – perfect practice makes perfect. You need to make sure what you are writing is as good as it can be. And the only way to do that is to write, and write a lot. Simple. 3) This one is contentious nowadays, as the online narrative is that it is elitist and ableist. The idea is that story is all that matters and the rest is window dressing. My counter to that is if you do not have the basics of spelling, grammar and punctuation down, no-one is going to understand you. This does NOT mean if you do not have these, do not write. Far from it. Write away. But you should be prepared to gain these skills and improve them. It would be like a plumber who doesn’t know how to use a wrench, a basic tool. Sure, he can still do plumbing work, but without that tool at his disposal, he is not going to be effective. So he simple learns to use it. Same with the tools of writing. If you do not know how to use commas, how to spell, fine. Do not let that stop you writing. But also do not accept it as your limit and take the time to learn. I guess nowadays, I might add little extra things like don’t plagiarise, don’t use AI, Grammarly and the like suck… but they’re not really rules so much as things I have come to realise, and I think everyone needs to realise these things on their own. And that’s my rules! Feel free to abuse me. |
| Backstory So, this comes up every so often in Newsfeeds and the like - how did you become a writer? Here's my story. Now, it is long, so get ready to be bored witless by some personal history. So, the story starts before I have concrete memories. According to my mum, I'd dictate stories to her and expect her to write them down. As such, she then taught me to read and write before I hit school so I could do it for myself. Story-telling was something I just did. So, fast forward to when I was eleven, and in the final year of primary school (year 7). Our teacher wanted to show us that everyone had a talent, that everyone could do something that made them special. It was a great thing to do, as it gave every single class member a chance to feel good about themselves. So, we had people cooking food for the class, showing their art, showing their sporting (or dance in one - two? - case) trophies, a bit of everything. Well, I didn't fill in the form. I was the only member of the class who didn't, so I was called up after school. The teacher wanted me to talk about my grades - I'd topped the state in the scholarship exam to the elite private schools - and stuff like that, but I didn't feel that was special. She then spoke to my mum, who was a helper at the school (back in the days when parents could help out), unbeknownst to me. Mum found a story I'd written. It was long. How did she find it? I'd given it to a friend to read because he was one of the main characters (in fact, all 12 characters in the story were me and my friends, names, descriptions, the lot) and she found out from this friend's mum, so when my friend finished it, his mum gave it to my mum who gave it to the teacher. Now, I didn't spend Fridays in class. I'd finished all the work we were supposed to do in primary school and to stop me getting bored I worked in the library every Friday. So, while I wasn't in class, she read the story. I only found out after the first time. Why wasn't I there? Because she knew how I'd react (badly) and didn't want to have the whole class staring at me while she read it. It took 6 weeks for her to go through, and the class and her all told me it was good. That was the first positive feedback I'd received from a wider audience. But it was still the work of an 11-year-old. So, let's fast forward again, to my last year of high school, year 13. I had a reputation as a writer - one of my plays was performed when I was in year 8 by my class-mates - and was editor of the school newspaper. Anyway, English classes consisted of four sections. Term 1 was prose (reading books), term 2 was drama (reading plays) and term 3 was poetry (reading poems). Along with this came essays, of course, and all that rigmarole. Term 4 was revision, for what it's worth. However, once a week we had creative writing class. One day, I forgot to hand up a piece and this was so unlike me that I was asked to see the teacher at lunch time. I apologised and told her I had got caught up writing a "novel." After some discussion, we came to this compromise: I would write the novel and not do any in-class work. Minimum of 40k words. Due at the end of the October holidays (start of term 4). If I handed it up, automatic C grade, a pass. From there, she would read it and give me a final grade. Sounded good to me. I handed up my first draft before the holidays. She gave me full marks; in fact, I got full marks for English in general. She told me to keep on writing because she felt I had something, but her edit points/beta reader comments were amazing. She encouraged me and made me feel like I was doing something right and worth doing. In that same year, I sold my first short story. It was a horror-erotica piece (well, porn), and I sold it to Knave magazine (this was 1988, pre-Internet). Problem was, I was at a Catholic (Jesuit, in fact) high school, and had put the school's phone number down as my "work number." To say the school was unhappy is an understatement. However, this same English teacher came to my aid (I hadn't finished the novel yet, for what it's worth), and with her on my side, we agreed to a pseudonym and no mention of the school, and, as far as I'm aware, it was published. Why don't I know? I wasn't old enough to buy one or be sent a copy! I'd already sold a poem (to Dolly magazine, a magazine for girls) under my girlfriend's name, but this first story told me I might be able to do this writing thing for real... And that is how my writing "journey" (I really dislike that term) started! Sorry for being boring. |
| New Year, New Blog So, I asked people on the Newsfeed what they want from my "Writing Blog", and it seems those few who read this want writing advice. Not that I feel I am the most qualified to offer said advice, but I will endeavour to do so. Now, the occasional bit of my personal life might intrude, but I do plan on toning that down. Also, it must be remember that I am Australian. This means I write in proper (i.e. UK) English, with the odd Australianism (punctuation, slang) thrown in. The advice I have been asked about should keep me going for a while, but if there is anything you would like me to write about, then, please, add a comment or shoot me an email. I will also apologise in advance for any repeats of information I have given in the past, but that's the way things go. I am also considering putting an item in my portfolio which will be an index of sorts to the stuff in the blog, as I have been asked about things I wrote long in the past (e.g. word counts) and it can be hard to find things. So, yeah, let's see how long this lasts before it deteriorates into me feeling sorry for myself. Again. |
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