Tag Archives: creative writing

Banishing the troubles of the universe

Posted on by under One Hundred Days of Blogging 2.0

And some other things. I’ll focus on the bigger topic first before I throw the real surprise out into the world, as it’s not really as substantial as I’d like just yet.

The good outweighed the bad yesterday. I would say it was an entirely terrible day, but there were enough redeeming qualities that I can’t damn all twenty-four hours for the transgressions of only a few. It was, however, enough to leave me feeling flustered and frustrated, stuck in a state devoid of creative thoughts. Such occasions are usually rectified with a healthy dose of my usual stubbornness, but not so much last night.

Before heading to bed, I posted this status:

I have resolved to make tomorrow a significantly better day than today. No over-the-top threats of violence, nor sarcasm to that statement. Just the conscious decision to not be affected by whatever stupid-assery the universe throws my way.

Reminder: I work in retail, and so this was a rather lofty goal. I’m also not always the most positive person in the world (a statement so obvious it’s painful). Keeping that in mind, I went to bed with every intention of making today superior to yesterday by will of not letting the universe ruin my perfectly good mood. Continue reading →

The revenge of the return of me self-destructing through writing

Posted on by under One Hundred Days of Blogging 2.0

It’s almost a month into the new year. I’m seven chapters and a couple of dreadful, pained paragraphs into chapter eight (because killing a major character is proving more difficult than I’d expected, so that’s regrettable). I’ve also watched three seasons of The Legend of Korra and a whole lot of Parks and Recreation, which is just great for not being productive.

Brianne and I had a delightful conversation about my writing, by which I mean she reminded me to stop focusing on what I haven’t accomplished. There was a specific mention of One Hundred Days of Blogging, the details of which are a bit blurry because I vaguely recall words intermingled with me screaming internally, and then an idea happened. It started as only a couple words, which was enough to lead to it finding a spot in my Miscellaneous Shit Notebook That Deserves a Better Name.

Let me make it perfectly clear that I hate myself so much for the words I’m about to type.  Continue reading →

Become your own hero

Posted on by under General Writing-Related Posts

And other one-sentence platitudes straight from the School of Shallow-Thinking Drivel-Poop.

I jest.

A very big influence in my writing, which is the same very big thing that can be applied to most any artist and their works, is the works of authors I hold in very high regard. Pratchett, Gaiman, Moore, and so on. People who have written works (books, short stories, and anything else) that have left me wanting to create something just as amazing as what I’d just read. Writing with words blended in such a masterful way that I just had to sit down and get to my own creative processes. This is both a wonderful and treacherous thing as it makes creating a balancing act.

On one hand it would be very easy to follow in the footsteps of one or more of the previously mentioned writers, borrowing bits and pieces of their styles and voices as it suited me. I imagine, with the right level of effort and patience, such writing could yield a very strong end result that would read almost entirely (but not quite) like a work of my own hard labors. Continue reading →

Once upon a time, I got a book published

Posted on by under Uncategorized

Well, more specifically I should say that once upon a time I won a book publishing contract that resulted in getting a book published. As a quick, highly-related aside: my backspace key seems to be sticking, so correcting errors is a real treat. Already prepared to say screw it and have typos from here on out. We all know that isn’t going to happen.

Right.

“But Phil,” you might say, “why are you saying published in the past tense?”

What an excellent question, convenient question-asking post-device persona. That’s because, and I’m both very excited and slightly anxious (for no good, real reason) to announce, my first novel, Joshua Harkin and the Wicked Nightmare King, is now available for purchase here.

Needless to say, this is really crazy exciting stuff for me, even if I haven’t fully processed it because I’m still partially lost to my Thanksgiving feasting-induced food coma.

Check it out and please consider picking up a copy (or two or ten; it would definitely be a great non-denominational holiday gift). There will be a Kindle version available down the road, and I’ll be more than happy to link to that as well.

A necessary break

Posted on by under One Hundred Days of Blogging

I moved about ten or so boxes of stuff into the new place, but I still have plenty more to go before this month is over. I’d say that’s a pretty powerful reminder that Brianne and I have a lot of stuff, that moving is quite difficult, and that time goes far more quickly when there’s a limited amount of it to accomplish things. Says the guy who is playing WoW while he writes this.

What I’ve discovered is this: all the good intentions and changes to my schedule can’t actually make balancing this move with writing any easier. I know, I know. That sounds an awful lot like an excuse. It probably isn’t much more than just that, but here are my thoughts on the matter.

My next novel project, which remains unnamed as of now, and any short stories I want to get to writing aren’t going to receive the attention they need, for the lengths of time they need it, while I’m busy finding time to move stuff from current dwelling to new dwelling. The only way I could really give any creative writing the attention it deserves is by using the time I normally set aside for sleeping, eating, and personal grooming. None of those things can actually be cut out of my day-to-day without a risk of serious harm to myself or others. There’s also the not-so-small-matter of me being quite behind on proofreading, so I’d feel quite guilty about doing my own writing before tending to that.

You might say, “But Phil, you found time for video games. Why not time for writing?” This is a fair question, I’ll admit. However, it’s pretty easy to counter with “I moved over half a dozen large, heavy boxes full of miscellaneous personal belongings from my current house, which requires travel up and down stairs and an awkward hill, to my new apartment”. It means I’m made of sleepiness and laziness right now. I know I’ll be like this up until the move’s complete.

Yet here I am, still churning along with the hundred days of blogging. At some point I should check what day I’m on, probably.

For now, however, I’m okay with taking a short break from creative writing. Maybe I’ll return super-charged and ready to go? Related to that super-charged comment: I’m still debating what to use my Warlords of Draenor 90 Boost on.

And dreading how badly my current graphics card will handle the new expansion.

One Hundred Days of Blogging – Day Thirty-Six

Posted on by under Joshua's Nightmare Updates, One Hundred Days of Blogging

Today was busy, eventful, and generally good.

However, I’m also entirely okay saying this post is being used as a cheat-day for the sake of focusing on creative writing projects. And because I just had a thirteen hour work-day, and I don’t have an idea I like enough to bother. Especially after the last two turned out so unfortunately.

On one hand, I’m really excited I have a book on its way to being published (FYI: it’s Joshua Harkin and the Wicked Nightmare King, which shouldn’t be surprising).

In closing, I have a question for you all (or at least those of you who comment…so a select few, I guess). How does Joshua Harkin and the Wicked Nightmare King sound as an official book one title? I know I’ve had it listed on the Joshua’s Nightmares page for a while, but I want to know what people think.

Wishing everyone a happy, productive hump day, I guess.

 

Sixty-four (just like one of Nintendo’s best, most carpal tunnel syndrome-furthering systems) days remaining.

One Hundred Days of Blogging – Day Twenty-One

Posted on by under One Hundred Days of Blogging

We’re twenty-one days into my One Hundred Days of Fiction. This post, by blog-years, can legally buy alcohol. Or maybe it’s the post I should write while completely intoxicated. I won’t do that because I have work tomorrow, but imagine how awful this would be to read had I written it drunk.

It’d probably be as bad as it is now, except with more typos and expletives.

This post is brought to you in part by an entirely carnivorous dinner of leftover ribs and chicken. I’m catching up on Project Runway (don’t judge, it’s a guilty pleasure). Life is pretty good.

That all being said, I feel super-guilty for not doing more creative writing. Yes, I’m doing these Hundred Days of Blogging posts as I said, but I’ve noticed a sharp decline in writing other than this. And proofreading (though I’ve not had much sent my way lately, so that’s unfortunate as well).

Instead of focusing on a topic, I’m focusing on a challenge to myself. Another challenge, yes. Contain your feigned surprise, folks. Continue reading →

Warpt Factor, installment six

Posted on by under Warpt Factor

Or “Wait, what? I actually wrote another one of these?”

This is long-overdue, and even more embarrassing because it was half-drafted for at least two months now. However, let’s not focus on that. Let’s focus on what shenanigans Izzy Warpt and the rest of the Lofty Albatross’ crew are getting themselves into now. Shorter entry, I’m afraid, but I’ll make up for it soon.

Continue reading →

The conundrum of dividing chapters

Posted on by under General Writing-Related Posts

Or “At least I didn’t just name this post ‘The chapter conundrum,’ despite my love of all things alliterative (oh god, I did it again)”.

There are plenty of elements to writing that could potentially bug the shit out of me, but only one particular thing consistently irks me. Dialog is easy enough, in a pinch, in terms of making sure characters don’t all sound the same (and in the event little bits of the narrator’s voice bleeds through, there’s always editing to fix that). World-building is time-consuming, and can be a tough, but necessary, evil.

I absolutely hate coming up with the right places to start and end chapters, because I almost never feel like they’re organic (and when I do, it’s because I’ve managed to set up a system of “oh-no-what-now? cliffhangers to be directly followed by the starting point of the previous problem’s resolution). Let’s just get this out of the way now: I’ve started drafting another novel idea I had some time ago (tentatively titled The Devil Made Me Do It), before Joshua’s Nightmares even crept into the creative areas of my brain (the existence of which can be debated, of course), and I find myself butting heads with the very issue of wanting to shift the focus of the story ever so slightly, but not enough that I feel like it’ constitutes a chapter change. This is how I’m choosing to occupy my time between short stories (or, more likely, punctuated by short stories as I work on this) while I wait for the last bits of critiquing to wrap up on Joshua’s Nightmares. 

Did I mention it’s only two pages and a paragraph into the story? Because that’s certainly a factor in all of this. Also, I suppose it couldn’t hurt to add a page to the top of Misadventures in Fiction to offer a synopsis of The Devil Made Me Do It.

The story begins focusing on the main character going through his morning routine, focusing on certain aspects of it being entirely unremarkable. I want to shift to another character (consider the title) and focus on his typical morning. The two narratives eventually come together, of course, but I’m really fighting myself on if I want to have a two-page-and-a-paragraph first chapter or not, and how to properly handle this situation. What similar issues do you, fellow writers, run into?

If nothing else, this post should confirm something I already knew: I have a serious writing addiction, and I’m completely okay with that.

The Old Castle on Meridan Street

Posted on by under Uncategorized

This short story was, in some way or another, a-brewin’ in the depths of my brain, and possibly somewhere deep down in that little, cranky dark place I occasionally refer to as my heart. My recent trip home for Easter, a short story my friend Lindsey had me read, and my own recent reflecting on the Pittsburgh area were apparently the necessary catalysts to bring this out.

I’ve not seen my grandmother’s house since the last time my family was there to pack things up and move her in with us. A lovely family moved in, and apparently it’s changed quite a bit. There’s something about that I can’t actually cope with, so I’ve stayed away.

Anyway, I’ll stop lollygagging and get to the important part: the story, which is titled “The Old Castle on Meridan Street”. This story took several emotionally-draining hours to write, and it made me feel a curious mix of nostalgic joy and sadness. I hope it translated into some good writing. Enjoy, and feel free to share similar locations from your past that have left permanent impressions on your heart in the comments.

Continue reading →