Day: March 9, 2012

The Horror… The Horror…

“Horror… Horror has a face… and you must make a friend of horror.” Colonel Kurtz, Apocalypse Now

You’d think that horror would be one of the easiest of genres within which to write: create a protagonist who is either extremely likeable or go for the opposite, a character deserving of some particularly overdue and nasty payback; either invent or import a monster from Familiar Horror Trope Land (sparkly or not, preferably the latter); bring them together in some unexpected location and everything gets all squishy and liquidized and unpleasant and the audience members lose all control of their bodily functions and curse your parents… except that’s not necessarily what happens at all. Horror is hard to write. Okay, no, I just lied. Horror is easy to write, but good horror is hard to write. Continue reading “The Horror… The Horror…”

Character Creation by Arline Chase

Killraven by Arline ChaseI have seen a number of “character planning sheets” some in courses I have taken and others in courses I have taught, but over the years found they all needed a bit of a refocus, to refine motivation as to why the character acts as he or she does.

This is the list of questions I came up with for my own character work sheets.

Who IS Your Character?

Plot should come out of character, evolving naturally from each character’s beliefs and desires. To understand your characters’ feelings, take a look at the events that shaped their lives. Look first at the character’s emotional life, then at world events they may have experienced. Continue reading “Character Creation by Arline Chase”

Video Trailer: The Judas Syndrome Trilogy by Michael Poeltl

This is the video trailer for Michael Poeltl’s post-apocalyptic trilogy,  The Judas Syndrome.


The first two installments in the  The Judas Syndrome Trilogy are available at Amazon.com.

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The Bright Lights of Social Media – by Lili Tufel

Author Lili Tufel

Are you feeling overwhelmed by so many social media sites? Between Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Triberr, Tumblr, Pinterest, and blogging, who has time to write? They have all become one big blur to me.

This past weekend, my family and I attended our local Church Fair. Hubby got our kids a “bracelet” for unlimited rides. I strolled along while they rode each and every ride about ten times. At first, it was very exciting, running back and forth between Pharaoh’s Fury and the Ring of Fire, but eventually the lights and sounds all became one big blur. By Sunday afternoon, hubby said to me, “I’m all fair’d out.” I felt the same way, but the kids who have an endless pit of energy, still wanted more. By Sunday evening, even the most hyper of my children was dragging her feet for one last time on the Banzai ride. Continue reading “The Bright Lights of Social Media – by Lili Tufel”