It’s almost time to start the second draft. Exactly one month ago tomorrow, I put aside the first draft of my new MONSTER (a novella inspired by Edgar Allan Poe) so it could ripen. By August 31 it will be speckled like a perfect banana. Well, not really but…. A little time between drafts is an essential ingredient in the writing process. I put the manuscript aside for an entire month and, like a green banana left on the kitchen counter, the book has ripened with the literary equivalent of little brown speckles. That means it’s time to peel it
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The summer is winding down and the pace of New York is slow. I decided to run away for an afternoon and spend it monster hunting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The MET is a huge museum and attempting to see it all in day is a lot like trying to cram for an art history exam — your brain will not absorb the quantity of images and objects. If you pick a slice of the museum — a wing, a period, an exhibit or two — you’ll have a much better time. I decided to focus entirely on
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A great deal has changed since I started this ebook adventure with The Mary Shelley Game last October. I think 2012 is turning out to be a MONSTER year. After my initial reluctance (read fear and loathing) I forced myself to take a class on social media at F.I.T. I became a regular blogger and — drum roll — a devoted fan of Twitter. I started connecting with other writers on LinkedIn and follow a few too many blogs to mention here. I now have helpful friends in Australia and seven of my short stories have been included in an
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Maybe there was a time when a MONSTER could simply be a MONSTER. Those days are long gone. I bet that even Count Dracula would have to open his home to tourists — day visits only — to cover the taxes on his huge and drafty castle. Would a werewolf make a good dog groomer? Perhaps he’d be a good veterinary assistant or a bartender working a shift closely related to the lunar cycle? I live in New York. It’s a city full of hyphenated people. Nearly everyone waiting tables is auditioning for acting roles. Baristas are screenwriters. Bartenders are
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I finished the first draft of the third MONSTER — my Edgar Allan Poe inspired novella — on July 31. I have to stay away from the manuscript long enough to get a little “distance” before starting the second draft. This is not as easy as it sounds. I want to dive back in and start reworking it. I want to do it right now, but…. Time is important. Waiting is a critical step and I can’t skip it. I can skimp on it — reduce it to a minimum interval between drafts — but I can’t skip it entirely.
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Like many writers, I’m comfortable expressing myself in written words and not as easy-going in an interview. Fortunately, Bill of TheBookcast.com is a generous and gracious interviewer. Here we are talking about Bram Stoker’s Summer Sublet. Chatting about Bram…
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My ghostwriting client is returning to New York this week and I’ll be spending a great deal of time with her, working on her memoir. It’s a big project that was begun a couple of years ago and is now in its final phase. I’m very excited. Ghostwriting is a fabulous exercise for a writer. In fiction, the writer creates the universe and the characters. Often, the characters surprise the writer taking the story in an unexpected direction. Ghostwriting this very real story put me in a new position. My role was to facilitate the narrative while not directing it.
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This has been a very exciting week. On Tuesday, I finished the first draft of the third Candy’s Monster — POED. It’s my Edgar Allan Poe inspired novella. If I were to follow Stephen King’s advice in “On Writing” (a fabulous book), I’d put the manuscript aside, hide it in the bottom drawer of my desk, for about six months before embarking on the second draft, but…. There’s no way I can wait that long. So I’ve set it aside and will not go back to POED for a couple weeks. With freelance work and other projects, I hope I’ll
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