Discussion: Q1 Volume 39

Posted by: @henckel

Posted by: @toddjones

I find that Rob Zombie, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, etc. songs are great for horror writing.

Are you kidding?

I listen to these bands because they make me feel happy  

There's nothing wrong with potential horror inspirations making you happy. They make me happy, too!  (I thought I didn't like horror when I was a kid, but it wasn't that I didn't like horror--it was that I didn't fully understand what horror was as a genre, and there are specific subsets of horror I don't like.)

Posted by: @doctorjest

Posted by: @henckel

@toddjones 

My personal taste lean toward Motley Crue, Zakk Wylde, and nightwish. But Rob Zombie is my go-to for driving. 

For writing, yes, rob zombie can be super fuel for high energy horror. ... but I often move toward Roling stones (give me shelter) for better pacing (otherwise I'm not a stones fan). 

Mostly, when writing, I'll turn on low ambient. No lyrics. But for plotting and brainstorm, I listen to epic fantasy playlists. Still no lyrics.  

I'd guess that there's a sizeable gang of us here with tastes running this way. I'm a big fan of Devin Townsend, really love Avatar as well, and more recently went on a bit of a Ghost kick for a spell. I have multiple Cradle of Filth instrumentals mixed in with my listening music, too, as they throw a really dark ambience into their stylings. But by and large, I don't listen too much to my writing-only playlist anymore, but instead, just click on my Random Unsorted Stuff list and let it roll--it's a muddle of every damn thing I happen to like, or have liked at some point, pretty much, so you can get almost anything.

OMIGOD, I LOVE AVATAR. *happy squeal!* My husband is more into Ghost than I am, and I'm more into Avatar than he is, but we both appreciate both.  

Posted by: @scribblesatdusk

I write to the sound of many children screaming. So I guess that counts as death metal?

Absolutely. ? ? ? 

I write to Disney songs, and Country.

@scribblesatdusk is that metal or mental?  

Thankfully mine have outgrown that. At least they better have. The youngest is 17. 

Posted by: @disgruntledpeony

Posted by: @elainemidcoh

I have a style question for you. If writing a story in third person, which do you think is a better way of conveying the main character's (MC) thoughts, keeping third person or going to italics for the first person POV?

My personal benchmark on this matter is primarily whether or not I need the italics for something else. 

My f2f writing group just had a discussion about this style issue last week. We did some web research on it. Suggest you do the same; you'll find lots of opinions. The answer we found was that the answer isn't clear. Some things we found:

Apparently, writers in the UK tend to use italics for internal thoughts more than in the US. 

Italics can be a good way to get explicitly inside the character's head and avoid the repetition of "He felt..." and "She thought..."

If you're striving for deep POV, though, italics can jar the reader by reminding them that the author exists.

Posted by: @disgruntledpeony

OMIGOD, I LOVE AVATAR. *happy squeal!* My husband is more into Ghost than I am, and I'm more into Avatar than he is, but we both appreciate both.  

I got really lucky with Avatar, I only stumbled onto them because Devin Townsend was supporting them live in 2019--I booked tickets mostly to see him, but they were freakin' awesome, and they've been in heavy rotation in my playlists ever since. Ghost was weird in that I listened to some of their music, thought they were alright--not as heavy as I expected or was hoping for at the time, which probably played a part in that--then dismissed for a couple of years. But then, whenever I heard it, it seemed to have grown on me more. Crept up on me all sneaky-like.

Oh, and I missed The Hu! Because rock and metal-styled Mongolian folk music is the genre I never knew I needed, and everyone should give them a listen at least once.

@disgruntledpeony Horror is a wide range that seems fluid more these days.  That is considering that Zombie comedy sitcoms, sparkly vampires and teen wolves shows that are out there.  Suspenseful horror, like Salem's Lot, Alien, etc. where you don't even see the 'creature' until over half-way through is a great way to play on the reader's imagination and get them involved.  I'm into angels and demons that 'could' be walking around.  Kind of like the Constantine movie where the half-breed is in the corner store.  Crazy that when that came out, one of my friends called me and said they just did a scene from one of your stories in a movie.  It wasn't the same, but the concept of 'creatures' hinting, whispering, etc. to you is interesting to me.  I still believe that it is free will that dooms the people, but tempters are fun to write.   I'm up to 300+ pages, so 70K words in my horror novel (feels like a 90K length novel), which I plan to be a trilogy.  I had more done, but decided to take 15K words or so chapter out and put them in book two.  Once I get the final draft done from chapter 1 through end, then I'll go back and polish.  May need to get an editor to help me with flow and pace and how to even go about trying to sell it.  Working on getting draft done by end of May.

I got the chance to meet Jody Lynn Nye this weekend! She's so nice.i kinda expected to feel intimidated, but nope. She did mention she's still reading Q1. Do not twitch yet.

Posted by: @empressed

I got the chance to meet Jody Lynn Nye this weekend! She's so nice.i kinda expected to feel intimidated, but nope. She did mention she's still reading Q1. Do not twitch yet.

Honestly, I feel too busy to twitch right now. Also, I feel twitchier about my Q2 than I do my Q1, so...there's that too. History suggests I can't tell which of my entries are actually the better ones, though, so who knows...

Posted by: @doctorjest

Posted by: @disgruntledpeony

OMIGOD, I LOVE AVATAR. *happy squeal!* My husband is more into Ghost than I am, and I'm more into Avatar than he is, but we both appreciate both.  

I got really lucky with Avatar, I only stumbled onto them because Devin Townsend was supporting them live in 2019--I booked tickets mostly to see him, but they were freakin' awesome, and they've been in heavy rotation in my playlists ever since. Ghost was weird in that I listened to some of their music, thought they were alright--not as heavy as I expected or was hoping for at the time, which probably played a part in that--then dismissed for a couple of years. But then, whenever I heard it, it seemed to have grown on me more. Crept up on me all sneaky-like.

Oh, and I missed The Hu! Because rock and metal-styled Mongolian folk music is the genre I never knew I needed, and everyone should give them a listen at least once.

The Hu is epic.  

I gave Hu a listen. It's definitely different from anything I've ever heard. I'll listen some more at some point.

I haven’t been following the forum for a month or two. There’s no results yet for Q-1? Seems a bit late. 

Yes, apologize for the delay be we are still working on Q1 at this time. Been lots of changes, delays, change of hands of coordinating judge, and a wonderful event in the middle ( https://writersofthefuture.com/event-2022-volume-38/), etc.

Please rest assured it is being worked on and will get the results as soon as possible.

Best, Jason

@jason Got it. Spend less time twitching and more time on QTR 3 entry.  

Thanks @jason. Updates are always appreciated ?

In the debate about submitting early or late in the Q, this is what an early sub looks like:

I'm on day 201

Posted by: @angelslayah

In the debate about submitting early or late in the Q, this is what an early sub looks like:

I'm on day 201

Whoo! My all-time record for long sub is 166 days, so you have me beaten pretty handily there!

Hi, all!

Slush update!

I'm finished with everything that came in as a digital submission, and Jody will be finished with the Hold pile tomorrow. She still has to winnow down the stack of possible finalists, though, and that often took Dave 1-2 weeks just by itself.

Joni still has a few paper subs for me, as well, but we are very close to done.

My guess is that no one needs to twitch for at least a week, but after that - helmets and bunkers at the ready!

I'll start slushing for Q2 on Monday.

Cheers,

Kary

Thank you Kary for keeping us up to date!

Thank you, Jody, and Joni for your hard work. It is much appreciated!

Onward ... Never give up, never surrender.

Thank you @karyenglish , Jody, Joni and to everyone behind the scenes. 

@karyenglish Thank you for the update, Kary!

Thanks for the update, Kary. It's greatly appreciated.

@karyenglish Thank you for update. Your making great progress.

@karyenglish Thanks, Kary. The wait can be trying for people. It helps knowing the status.

@karyenglish thanks for the update, Kary! I appreciate the effort you and the entire team has put in while grieving Dave. God bless!

@karyenglish Wow!! The progress you and Jody have made is impressive!!! Thank you for the update! I’m so excited for results on first quarter and second quarter! My goal is to get third quarter finished and in before hearing results on any of them. It’s actually kinda cool this way because it feels like getting to share a handful of stories with you all at once ?

Posted by: @karyenglish

Hi, all!

Slush update!

I'm finished with everything that came in as a digital submission, and Jody will be finished with the Hold pile tomorrow. She still has to winnow down the stack of possible finalists, though, and that often took Dave 1-2 weeks just by itself.

Joni still has a few paper subs for me, as well, but we are very close to done.

My guess is that no one needs to twitch for at least a week, but after that - helmets and bunkers at the ready!

I'll start slushing for Q2 on Monday.

Cheers,

Kary

Thank you so much for the update and all your efforts thus far!

I'm not going to lie, the anticipation is getting to my subconscious. Last night I dreamed that I got a phone call, and the caller ID said "Joni Labaqui," and I was too excited to answer it   Talk about optimistic!

Awesome update Kary. 

Posted by: @ease

Thank you so much for the update and all your efforts thus far!

I'm not going to lie, the anticipation is getting to my subconscious. Last night I dreamed that I got a phone call, and the called ID said "Joni Labaqui," and I was too excited to answer it   Talk about optimistic!

 

Imagine answering the phone only to hear "We've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty."