Welcome to December and things are happening once again. I got notification from Sci-Fi Lampoon Magazine that they’re picking up a story I wrote called, Olde World Whiskey. A huge thanks to their team!!!
It’s a departure from my usual horror as I tried to create something a little more comical, but the story turned out well (at least in my mind) and now I’m getting validation :).
I’ll keep you up as I get more details and cover art, but it will come out next spring!
Which leads me to the topic of writing genres. Everyone has their niche—I know I do. When I started writing, it was mostly fantasy. It’s what I grew up reading with fervor and my natural inclination was to mimic those great works I was raised on. However, I have and always seem to sneak a tiny amount of horror into each of my stories. Not always supernatural or monstrous, but there is usually a sliver of something dark in each of my books and tales.
It wasn’t until I sat down and started writing horror short stories that I realized it was much more fun than I’d remembered. For the present, my writing has shifted around to primarily horror, seeing as I’ve had several successes in the last two years, but also because I’m really having a lot of fun writing them.
It doesn’t hurt that the creative juices are egging me on, giving me lots of ideas for paths to wander down along the horror motif.
So, while I wouldn’t call this a foolproof plan, I’m of the mind it doesn’t hurt to try writing out of your comfort zone from time to time. I’m not advocating doing a crazy shift to the left and writing horror if you don’t even like the genre, but we all have multiple interests and it would be good exercise to stretch those writing muscles in different directions.
I’m not about to try my hand at romantic stories (unless maybe it’s romance gone wrong), because that is definitely not in my wheelhouse. However, fantasy and horror have a place, and certainly sci-fi and horror mix together quite well.
The Alien movies are case in point (the first two—the third flat out stinks, and while the fourth was a creative shift, it still wasn’t quite there). The Terminator series, the original Deep Blue Sea, John Carpenter’s The Thing, and a whole slew of others I can’t remember off the top of my head (sure throw them at me . . . I dare you), prove a perfect marriage of genres.
If you get stumped, try it—pick another genre you might enjoy and see what you can turn out. If nothing else, it may get the cogs a-turning and you’ll be able to shrug off that writer’s block. Either way, no harm done.
In the meantime, don’t go into places called The Haunted Liquor Shoppe, but do check out Sci-Fi Lampoon! Here’s a link to them:
Above all, find some time during the holidays to rejuvenate, relax, and enjoy some good reading or writing.
Craig