DID YOU FEEL THAT?

Up today, a little horror story of mine called "Touch" at FLASHES IN THE DARK: Horror Flash Fiction in Daily Doses:


FLASHES IN THE DARK

There's a permanent link to the story in the sidebar.

On Halloween, Rizzy Rodham's short story "Amanda," based on some poetry and prose-poetry I published over the last year, is scheduled to go up at Paul D. Brazill's YOU WOULD SAY THAT, WOULDN'T YOU?

TWITCHING THUMBS

The following poem, "the witch," appeared in a print anthology of New England poetry last year. I think. I got an acceptance letter, but no contributor's copy. The life of a writer. Anyway, Happy Halloween....


the witch

our neighbor
the widow mcdowell

--whose husband
worked hard for
sixty-odd years
was kind and quiet and
steady as they come
then spent his
retirement
running naked from the
groton town police—

used to set
baskets full of apples
from her own backyard
over the wall
and
into ours

my brother and i
would both yell
“witch!”
and run
into the house

looking back
i felt terrible
until i remembered
how she’d smile
when we ran
light right up
maybe even laugh

i realized
she wasn’t just
trying to be nice
but also
trying to
scare us to death

she did a
pretty good job
that witch
which
in a way
makes me
feel good too

________


Otherwise...

I'll have a short story published online tomorrow, another in December.

This morning, I hit page 87 on the adult Horror novel, NOW AND THEN. Itching to finish so I can revise the YA Horror novel I just wrote.

As for drawing, I'm about to do some serious work on negative space. I started an album called ART? at my facebook account to track my progress.

CONTOURS

Just posted an interview with Katashi Katsu, by Juliette "Rizzy" Rodham, at disenthralled:

STALL
_____

I'm on page 68 of the new book, NOW AND THEN. I've only been shooting for 5-10 pages a day on this, because (1) it's a more sophisticated novel than the last one I wrote and (2) I want to devote as much time as possible to learning how to draw. I turn out a decent sketch from time to time, but have never gotten serious about art. It's time I did. My goal is to be able to illustrate my own comics or cartoons. (I have always wanted to do a daily, horror comic strip. I did have one running online, about six or seven years ago, with an artist who manipulated photos of live models. It's where I first used the title BACK AGAIN AND GONE. Ramsey Campbell gave me permission to use the name of one of his early characters--Render of the Veils, from a Lovecraftian short story--as the name of my own sinister antagonist. It's tough coordinating with an artist for an ongoing project, especially when it's published strictly for fun. Perhaps being able to illustrate one myself will open some doors for me.)

I don't have much coming out this fall, since I haven't been submitting, but I may send out a horror story or two this week.

ED & THE DEAD

I have a little rhyme called "ED" in issue #40 of Danse Macabre, one of the ezines I appear in somewhat regularly:

ED

_____


This morning, I tried to choose what type of book I'd write next. It's a toss-up between a crime novel (for which I have @ 70 pages of raw material) and an adult Horror novel with the working title NOW AND THEN. I'm leaning towards NOW AND THEN. Wrote a couple pages. The idea feels like it's ready to go. NOW AND THEN is a ghost story, told in the past and present simultaneously, with a vicious little twist at the end.

Britt and I may go out to a local diner for breakfast to celebrate the completion of my YA novel, THE CALL.

_____

Yesterday, I submitted a new short story, "Over the Hill," to a site I haven't published at yet. Should know before too long if it's what they're after....

CALLED OUT

This morning, I completed the Young Adult Horror novel I’ve been working on. It’s the first in a series I had in mind based on the Cthulhu Mythos tales of H.P. Lovecraft.

I started it 8/20/10. The major difference between writing this and the other novels I’ve written this year was the pace. I recently changed schedules at work. Instead of banging out 3-5 pages a day, every day, like usual, I wrote 20 pages a day, Mon-Thu. Weekends off. It took about a month and a half to write.

I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable this set-up was. The book came in at 348 double-spaced pages—59,717 words. At this rate, writing a novel is far less daunting for me. I can keep the momentum up. The ending is always in sight—meaning that I don’t have that feeling of not knowing how long the project will go on. Plus, committing myself to write 20 pages a day FORCES invention, which is one of the key ingredients to making a long work interesting.

I kicked it off like this:

“You believe in that stuff?” Michael asked.

And then ran with it. I had the main character and basic framework of the novel in mind, but none of the other details. I just let it come. It’s great to be surprised yourself as you’re writing and some of the plot turns and revelations really caught me off-guard. As a rule, I don’t plot out much. Almost all of my poems and short stories begin with a simple line that pops into my head; I plunge in with no idea how things will turn out. If you trust yourself this way, I find, say what you mean and stay true to the rhythm and mood of the piece, the rest will take care of itself.

The first thing I noticed, upon completing it, was that I didn’t have the bittersweet, manic postpartum let-down that tends to accompany writing a book. I was happy to type THE END, extremely satisfied with how it went.

So what’s next?

I’m going to write one more book right away. I’ll figure out over the next couple days what kind of novel it will be. I have two or three ideas stirring. Then I’ll clean up the first three chapters of this one and pitch it, along with an outline of the series and the next installment.

This has been a good time for me. I’m in a creative free-flow like I haven’t experienced in quite a while. The painting. Photography. Music. Writing. Fashion madness. Everything is working and working together, with no one activity cutting into the others. 2010 has been the worst year of my life in many ways, but the love of those around me and the almighty power of Creative Expression have pulled me through. Here’s to even more of it as I head into 2011.


Walter Conley
Louisa, VA
10/5/10

BACK FROM THE BACK OF BEYOND

Some new work out...

THE STRAY BRANCH, Vol. 3 Issue #6: Fall/Winter 2010, contains my poem "this house is haunted," along with plenty of other poetry, art, fiction and photography. $9.00 via Createspace:

THE STRAY BRANCH

Quite a delay between acceptance and publication, but worth the wait. There's a recording of Quin Browne reading this poem that I would like to hear before I die.
_____

COME AND BECOME, the novel based on my recent trip to New Orleans, had to be put on hold.

After setting it aside, however, I began the first in a series of Young Adult novels based on the work of H.P. Lovecraft. It's tentatively entitled THE CALL. Unlike my previous attempts at YA, this one hasn't turned so dark that I've had to abandon it (my son has been begging me to complete a vampire novel, written primarily for my children, that got out of hand by the end of the second chapter). I'm only writing four days a week now, due to a change in schedule. I wrote ten pages a day for the first week or two, then decided to push myself a little; I am now averaging twenty pages a day. This morning I hit page 224. Once it's finished, I'll write three chapters and an outline for the second novel, WITCHHOUSE, along with a series overview, tidy up the opening of THE CALL and see if I can get anyone to bite.

I still have this spring's crime novel, SUMMERLAND, to revise, but don't feel the urge just yet.

Not sure what I'll write while I'm waiting to hear on the Lovecraft project. Maybe a dark contemporary fantasy, as Rizzy Rodham. If someone's interested in the YA series, though, I'll probably just focus on that for now.

I've been dabbling with a paintbrush lately; there a few pics on my facebook page. My first poem in over a month is up there, too. Banging on my new drum set every day. I also have a phonebook-thick stack of poetry I need to submit, if I can make time....

COME AND BECOMER

More about the new book.

I started it on July 28. It's a horror novel entitled COME AND BECOME, based on my recent roadtrip to New Orleans. The first thirty pages read more like a mainstream novel, but I have planted several things that will come into play later on.

As of this morning, I am @7400 words in.

_____


Major differences between C&B and the novel I wrote before my trip to New Orleans, SOMEWHERE ELSE (aka SUMMERLAND):

I had a feature-length screenplay and several short pieces to work with for SE, so the framework was already there. For the new book, I am just running with it. Deliberately. No notes. An idea but no set structure.

SE was stripped to the bone.

C&B is much more descriptive. Atmospheric. Broad. I'm allowing myself to write, rather than report. Reeling in invention. And one of the two main characters has become the most fully-realized I have ever created.

For SE, I wrote three pages a day.

C&B has no daily goal, but I am averaging more. More densely-written pages. SE was probably 3/4 dialogue.

I had a completion date in mind for SE and hit it on the head. I have no idea when I'll be done with C&B and don't care, but it probably won't go more than three months, at this rate.

_____


Once I complete the first draft of COME AND BECOME:

I will rewrite and shop SE, then come back and revise C&B--possibly sending it out as soon as the rewrites begin. And once C&B had been revised, I will begin another.

Questions? Want to talk shop? That's why I'm writing this post, so comment if you have something on your mind.