• …
  • About
  • Vampire Month Alumni
  • World Book Night

Lurking Musings

~ Musings of a newly published writer

Lurking Musings

Tag Archives: horror

[Vampire Month] Doing what you love by Isabella Favilli

06 Thursday Mar 2014

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

art, Bites, books, Fine art, graphic designer, guest posts, horror, Isabella Favilli, Last of the Blood, Ninfa Hayes, Vampires


My name is Isabella Favilli and I was born in Rome in 1973, I moved in UK in 1999 and after spending nine years in Manchester I moved in Yorkshire with my boyfriend, my daughter and my pooch and lived there since. Isabella

I like to think about myself as born with a pencil in my hand, as I cannot recall a moment in my life in which I didn’t like drawing.

I can remember myself drawing as early as back to my first childhood memories; all I wished for were colours and sketch pads, I loved nothing more than to spend hours drawing the fantasy stories I created in my head.

I used to copy Manga cartoons, as they were incredibly popular in Italy back in the 80s and 90s.

At school I truly excelled in Artistic subjects so it seemed like a natural step when it came to my education to pursue my love for drawing too.

I always thought that I would have ended up attending Art Lyceum and then Art Academy, but when the time to make the choice came, I was advised to go for Graphic Design instead, because at the time it was a very sough after job and many schools in Italy were creating courses to be trained to such a career.

Nataliya_human I must admit, when I graduated I did leave with a much more refined hand and more expertise in various techniques but with hindsight, my first idea would have suited me best.

After spending a year working in a Graphic Design studio it became clear to me that Graphic Design was not my passion at all and that Fine Art was what I truly loved.

There was no room for an artist in the employment world, especially in Rome, where you are lucky if you get a cleaning job with recommendation. For many years I didn’t know what to do with myself but never stopped drawing just for the pleasure of it.

Eventually I gave up on making my talent a bread winner and left it for my pleasure only, I would just grab whatever job I could, and at some point I moved in UK.

I think I never really put the pencil/brush down for a long time, until I moved to Yorkshire and I became a stay at home mom.

I suppose I was too immersed in my new role that I felt like I really didn’t have time for myself, in fact at some point I felt like I forgot who I was.

I could feel I was unsatisfied with my life but could not really grasp why, until one random evening one year ago I found myself talking to a total stranger on Twitter.

This person had just spoken of how they totally moved from one career to another, doing what they really loved, they had described their feeling before deciding to become who they really wanted to be, and I saw myself in them: deep inside I was unsatisfied with who I was just like them had been.kiSS

So, I told them that, I told them I was feeling that way and I didn’t know anymore where I was going; they asked me what I enjoyed to do, and it came out as easy as a breath “drawing”, and I haven’t done it in ages.

Their reply to me was very simple and to the point “Then draw, do whatever makes you happy”.

It’s strange how sometimes, a random person can give you more insight to your true self that your own self, but that’s how I came back to my first love.

Together with drawing there is always been another passion/obsession, and that was vampires, so it is really no surprise my first subject after my re-awakening happened to be the character of Ninfa Hayes’ novel The Last Of The Blood.

KatrineI am currently working to turn the novel into a comic/manga, but I have noticed how  this subject seems to find me when I am planning to draw something else  too.

There is something incredibly sensual in drawing by hand, I cannot find the same feeling when I use a computer tablet or a graphic software. It is in the holding of your pencils, the brushing through the paper or the feeling of the colour, it is a physical sensation just as intense as a vampire kiss, not that I have ever been kissed by a vampire, but I guess the idea that I have of it mirrors sometimes my art: while consuming the graphite, squeezing the colour and spreading it on a piece of paper I create a new, strange immortal life, a bit like a vampire kiss.

I put my whole soul in any drawing I do, because most of all I draw for the love of it, and if it becomes my bread winner jolly good.

 

[Vampire Month] The Rewards of Horror by Aaron Smith

06 Wednesday Mar 2013

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Vampire Month

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

100000 Midnights, Aaron Smith, books, dark literature, entertainment, guest blogging, guest posts, horror, Horror writers, Musa Pubkishing, Vampires, Why write horror?


I’ve written stories in quite a lot of different genres. Mentioning any particular type of fiction gets a certain reaction, especially if the person you’re talking to is not specifically a fan of that genre. They might smile politely, they might ask if your work is comparable to a well-known book, character, or franchise in the same genre (usually Star Wars or Star Trek if you mention science fiction, Harry Potter if you talk about fantasy), or they might ask a silly question. But one genre is likely to get the strongest and strangest reactions of all. That would be horror. (To be fair, I’ve heard that erotica gets some weird reactions too, but since I haven’t written anything in that category, I can’t speak from experience, but horror has to be at least a close second.) DSC00358

Some people get excited by the revelation that I sometimes write horror. You find fans of dark literature in the most unexpected places sometimes. That’s always a pleasant surprise. But you get the opposite a lot too. Some people tilt their heads and give you a look like you just started speaking in tongues or confessed to a five-year-long murder spree that stretched across seventeen states. The most common reaction that comes from those who find it surprising that I write horror is a simple question: Why?

Most people who know me, whether they happen to be relatives, friends, coworkers, or just casual acquaintances, seem to think I’m a nice person. I try to be nice. I’m polite, have never intentionally hurt another person, and try not to offend anyone unless it happens in the process of some sort of debate (in which case I will state my opinion and speak honestly about any topic). So I can understand why some people, especially those who don’t often read horror and might have some erroneous notions about the genre, would wonder how I could want to put myself through the process of taking the darkest and most gruesome thoughts in my mind and putting them into words and eventually casting them out into the world where others can read them. Why would I go down that road?

The answer is that writing horror, and reading it too, can be a very rewarding experience. Here are some of the reasons why.

Horror brings out the best of its characters. At the core of all fiction is the responsibility of the writer to put their characters 320_7303743through hell. It’s essential in telling a story to make your characters go through tough experiences. Otherwise, what’s the point? Without struggles or difficulty or high stakes, a story is boring. In horror, the stakes are highest, lives are at risk, and the danger is turned up to maximum volume. I find that the events at the heart of my horror stories tend to break the chains of the characters’ lives, setting them free from the mundane or dull elements of life and throwing them headfirst into the unknown, which is not necessarily a bad thing to have happen to someone.

In my novel, 100,000 Midnights, the lead character, Eric, leads as boring a life as you can imagine, never really fitting in, until he gets pulled into a world he never knew existed, a world populated by vampires and other creatures of the night. He goes through a month of gruesome, dangerous, life-threatening experiences but it makes him stronger, gives him a fuller life to live, and even shows him what love truly feels like. Without the horror, where’s the story?

In my other horror novel, Chicago Fell First, which is due out around Halloween of this year, a group of strangers are brought together by a series of very horrific events and tested as hard as anyone ever is, but those who survive are, perhaps, better for having been through it.

If I’m going to bring characters to life, I might as well have them face the worst of things. If they make it to the end of the story, what they’ve learned on the way there can be looked at as having truly been earned.

A second reason that makes horror worth writing is purely selfish on the part of the writer. It provides a release, gives us a 179269709method by which to take all our darkest thoughts and most disgusting ideas and put them to good use. As we write horror, that blank page on the screen and the keyboard at our fingertips dare us to go there, dare us to not hold back, to push all our darkness out into words and lay it out there for the world to see. I’ve written scenes that have made me nauseous, and I see that as a success! I can wake up in a cold sweat after a terrible nightmare…and make something out if for which people will send me money. I think that’s a pretty good reason to write horror.

And third, and maybe this is the most important driving force behind horror writing: I hope it sometimes serves as medicine for the reader.

What I mean is that life can be pretty frightening sometimes. Turn on the news and you’ll see war, disease, crime, debates over gun control, incompetent politicians, religious fanatics, and an assortment of other awful things either happening or on the verge of happening. And that’s just the worldwide, publicized stuff. I have no idea what’s going on in the personal lives of anyone reading my books. They might be facing illnesses, worrying about money, going through a hard ending to a relationship, or struggling through any of a number of types of hardships. Just as hearing a happy song can make a broken heart ache even more, but a sad one can make you feel like somebody somewhere understands just how you feel, I hope getting lost, even for a short time, in a world filled with monsters can dull the pain of real life just a bit. Scared of life’s terrors? Maybe the best medicine can be reading about somebody else having a worse time. Maybe the exaggerated, dramatic experiences of the teenagers fleeing the homicidal maniac or the victim about to be bled dry by the vampire or the citizens of Chicago on the run from hordes of zombies can do for the frightened reader what the deepest blues music does for the brokenhearted lover. I hope that’s the case.

So for anyone who’s mystified about why a seemingly nice guy would want to write about some of the worst things imaginable, there are a few good reasons. I hope that answers the question.

***

Aaron Smith can’t stand to go a day without writing. He’s the author of more than twenty-five published stories in genres including mystery, horror, science fiction, and fantasy. He has written stories featuring well-known characters such as Sherlock Holmes and Allan Quatermain. His novels include Gods and Galaxies, Season of Madness, and, most recently, 100,000 Midnights.

Information about his work can be found on his blog, Gods and Galaxies,  or his Amazon page.

 

Disney and Star Wars?

31 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Film

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Cthuhlu, Disney, Eliza Dushku, elizabeth bennet, entertainment, George Lucas, horror, Jane Austen, Joss Whedon, Megan Fox, Michael Bay, Nathan Fillion, pirates of the carribean, Pride and Prejudice, Serenity, Sigourney Weaver, Star Wars, videogames


Today, on this hallowed day that celebrates horror in all its forms, the internet is abuzz with news of a horror beyond even the worst imaginings of your average geek.

No, it is not that the stars are right for the rise of Great Cthuhlu from the vasty depths of R’lyeh. Despite what the great Mayan practical joke would have us believe about the end of the world being nigh, Cthuhlu is not likely to be rising anytime soon as he forgot to set his alarm clock before he went to bed.

Mitt Romney before his morning cup of coffee

And no, it is not the news of a new version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice directed by Michael Bay and starring Megan Fox as Elizabeth Bennet and Sigourney Weaver as a modern, lesbian take on Mr Darcy with more explosions, car chases and giant robots than any previous version of Pride and Prejudice…*

It’s not even as horrific as the possibility of a new version of Babylon 5 written by Stephenie Meyer with a new concept for Vorlons which has them as ‘sparkly’…

No, the true horror that has gripped geekdom this Halloween is the news that Disney has bought the rights to Star Wars…

People are rightly concerned. They see Disney as a twee insititution which whitewashes over stories to make them far less dark than they actually are. They also look at John Carter and consider what a mess was made of that film. They quake in fear at the possibility of an animated Star Wars with a big goofy dog instead of a wookie and jedi with large ears and squeaky voices… and the joke memes are already coming in thick and fast.

Me, I am optimistic… While Disney is indeed guilty of the crime that was John Carter, other voices on the internet have spoken up and said such things as ‘But what about Pirates of the Carribean? And what about Avengers?’ Yeah, what about them? Disney is as responsible for those two success stories as they are for John Carter and, frankly, I think two phenomenal successes totalling two excellent films and 2 sort of OKish sequels to one of them make up for one failure.

And amidst all the discussion one possibility has arisen which has got many excited. The name Joss Whedon has crawled its way out of the lamentations… Disney got him to do Avengers, are hiring him again for the sequel… what if they also attached him to the Star Wars project?

Think about that for a moment, revel in it. A new Star Wars film, written and directed by Joss Whedon. Could it get any better than that? What would such a film likely include? Well, here are my predictions…

1) A kick arse female jedi. One thing the Star Wars films have always lacked was female jedi. They exist in the universe, there are even books that include them as characters and some of the computer games also have them, but they have never really been seen on the big screen. Whedon is known for his kick arse female characters – Buffy and River Tam being his main ones – and he even managed to give Black Widow some Buffyesque moments in Avengers. I think Whedon would take this step and make the female lead a jedi instead of a constitutionally confused princess in a republic. That or make one of the bad guys a kick arse woman in black leather. Possibly played by Eliza Dushku…

2) Smugglers. One thing I always felt the prequels lacked was the presence of a smuggler style character. A Han Solo to Luke’s clean cut farm boy, a Jack Sparrow to Will’s clean cut blacksmith. The relationship between the morally dubious Han Solo and the rest of the cast in Star Wars was an integral part of the character dynamic which was lacking in the prequels and made them so flat as a result. I think Whedon would insert such a character because he knows only too well the importance of there being friction between the characters. Now, in the ideal dream world, this smuggler character might well be played by a certain Mr. Nathan Fillion, who would no doubt leap at the chance, but that may depend on whatever other projects he is working on at the time… and at this point you have to ask yourself the very important question: Exactly how tempted would Whedon be to make Star Wars VII as close to Serenity II as he possibly can without anyone noticing?

3) Story. Joss Whedon understands how stories work. He has an almost innate grasp of structure and knows how to insert tension and plot to keep a film interesting for the viewers. The prequel trilogy seemed to drag in places, Whedon would make the story jump and move.

4) One liners. Another thing Whedon is good at are pithy one liners that get geek juices flowing. His characters quip and joke and worry about ordinary day to day things – not everything is all about the plot.

I could go on, I could regale you with endless points discussing at length the things that Joss Whedon would bring to the Star Wars franchise if someone let him get his greasy hands on it. But I think you have got the point already and I am aware that many of you may well have stopped reading at point 2 above and are currently sitting there with a dreamy expression and sighing the words ‘Nathan Fillion’ over and over again and therefore lost to any further eloquent arguments. So I will end there with only a final entreaty to Disney… MAKE THIS HAPPEN! Please…

*Note to Hollywood, just in case you do want to make this film, you can buy the rights off me. I’ll do you a good deal for it. I think the world is ready for a lesbian Miss Darcy. Have your people call my people… well, maybe wait a bit so i can acquire some people then call them or maybe just call me direct. If it helps I can pretend to be my own people and go through the rigmarole of pretending to put you through various departments until you get me. i’ll even do the voices.

[News From the Spirit World] Vampires

15 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Guest posts

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

guest blogging, guest posts, horror, News From the Spirit World, Vampires


Those of you who follow this blog will know I have a thing about vampires. I even declared March Vampire Month (and I hope you are all preparing for next year’s celebrations). So it should come as no surprise that when News from the Spirit World asked me to contribute to their Halloween postings I leapt on the Vampire topic.

Here is the post:

http://newsfromthespiritworld.com/2012/10/15/3-vampires/

[Guest Post] What is Horror? by Rebeka Harrington

22 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Guest posts

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Ann Rice, books, Gary Oldman, guest blogging, guest posts, horror, horror author, horror genre, horror writer, Rebeka Harrington, Vampires, writing


Today we have another post by Vampire author Rebeka Harrington in which she discusses the definition of ‘Horror’. Note, I was careful there to refer to her as a ‘Vampire author’ not a ‘Horror author’ for reasons which may become apparent in the post…

Earlier this year Angelic Knight Press featured yours truly in an article: “REBEKA HARRINGTON – WOMAN IN HORROR” (Many thanks AKP) As an indie author I’m always very happy, if not flattered, when someone out there in cyberspace spares me a mention. But until I saw this article I hadn’t even stopped to think I may be considered a “horror” writer. Sure I write about vampires, and they can be pretty horrible, but me…. a horror writer?

My first book, Vampires Revealed, was more like an autobiographical mocumentary than any other tag you care to throw about. Bektamun, narrator and star of the tale, relives some of the “horrible” things she has done; but only when forced to protect those she loves.

Desires Revealed, my latest release, is a love story first and foremost. And of course there are ample vampire shenanigans thrown in. (Got to feed the bloodlust)

Rebeka’s latest book – Desires Revealed

Does writing about vampires automatically mark you as a “horror writer”? When I think of horror fiction the first name that springs to mind is Stephen King, which I’m sure is the same for a lot of people. Mr King has dabbled with vampires (very successfully too, I might add), but his most famous and popular works are far removed from the world of vampires.

Also worth considering is whether or not, despite the vampire revolution, the general expectation is for vampires to appear in the horror genre. Maybe I’m just weird, because I really don’t think of vampires as characters of horror; well at least not so much anymore.

Dracula (as played by Gary Oldman)

Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula was pretty terrifying for the time it was written. Fast forward to The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice; doubt I would’ve bought and read the books if I’d thought I was buying horror. For me, books in The Vampire Chronicles, were about Lestat’s inability to understand humanity; not that he was a blood-sucking monster. Like I said, maybe I’m weird. No doubt my opinion of vampires as characters of horror would change instantaneously should I ever meet a Dracula, Lestat or Eric (Southern Vampires, Charlaine Harris).

When I think about horror, and the things that scare me, I only have to look at history to have shivers run down my spine.

Part of my vampire mythology is a group of extremist vampires known as the Eleiveb. While searching for inspiration as to what kind of things they may subject their human victims, I simply did a search for “torture”. One of the most interesting/horrifying sites I came across was Medieval Torture. The site features a myriad of tools and equipment which sole purpose was to inflict pain and torture on human victims.

While I may be uneasy being assigned as a horror writer, and steadfastly believe mankind is far more horrible to each other than legend or any creature we can imagine, the fact remains I will continue to write about vampires; and they will inevitably do horrible things.

About the Author

Raised in country Victoria, Rebeka started her writing career working for the local newspaper as a teenager. While she decided not to pursue this as a career, she has always enjoyed writing and being creative

With so many varied interests and eccletic taste in most things, Rebeka enjoys incorporating all of them in her writing. She particularly enjoys writing about vampires.

Rebeka seeks to define and explain vampires in a way not done before. This was achieved with her debut title “Vampires Revealed”. Following titles revolve around exploring the world and characters created in her first release.

Currently Rebeka lives inMelbournewith her “demented” but lovable cat, dividing her time between writing and managing a small boutique entertainment agency.

Her latest book Desires Revealed is available for purchase at:

Smashwords

Amazon

Catch up with her characters

www.vampiresrevealed.com

Follow her blog

www.rebekaharrington.com

Bram Stoker (1847 – 1912)

20 Friday Apr 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Ann Rice, Blade, Bram Stoker, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Christopher Lee, Demeter, Dracula, Francis Ford Coppola, Gary Oldman, Godfather, Hammer Horror, horror, John William Polidori, Joss Whedon, Lestat, Lost Boys, Tony Lee, Twilight, Vampires, Vietnam movies, Whitby


I was reminded by the inestimable Tony Lee that today was in fact the centenary of the death of Bram Stoker, who died following a series of strokes on the 20th April, 1912.

Though he is not credited with the creation of the literary vampire (that credit goes to John William Polidori, one time  personal physician to Lord Byron) he certainly did his bit to ensure that the Vampire became the enduring myth we know and love today. Without him there would have been no Lestat, no Lost Boys, no Blade, no Buffy the Vampire Slayer* and, of course, no Christopher Lee or Gary Oldman as Dracula. In fact, Hammer horror would have spent the entirity of the 70s having nothing good to make films about and Francis Ford Coppola would have been stuck making endless sequels to the Godfather and Vietnam war films.

Of course, there would also be no Twilight. But I feel we can forgive the old chap for that one.

I would like commemerate this occasion by talking about something else which was instrumental in the creation of Dracula and hence all of the above… the town of Whitby. Whitby is the place where Stoker may have got the inspiration for Dracula – at least the evidence suggests this to be the case. Based on the notes he left, the only mention of the name ‘Dracula’ comes from a reference to a book called  ‘An Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia’by William Wilkinson (1820) which he found in Whitby library.

Whitby Abbey

Of course, Whitby is also the place where the Demeter, the ship that brings Dracula to England, lands. I suspect this was by way of crediting the contribution the town made to his work.

It is easy to see how Whitby can inspire one of the greatest horror stories of all time. While the inspiration for the character came from Wallachia, the moody and misty atmosphere of this little Northern port town must have had some influence on the feel of Stoker’s writing and, indeed, the interpretations that followed. I remember my own visit to Whitby with fondness. I was a teenager, taking a yaught trip down the north east coast with a group from college, and we stopped overnight in Whitby. We visited the Abbey, went to the Dracula Museum and spent a fun day wandering aroung the place. The Abbey alone is an imposing and grand sight and I have always had a love for dynamic coastal views.

And Whitby is not shy about crowing about its connection to Stoker. Not only is there the Dracula museum and the blue plaques commemmorating his visit but it also welcomes the many goths who congreate there twice a year for the Whitby Goth Festival. And personally, I do not see why they shouldn’t be proud of their role in creating a character who is promising to be almost as immortal in popularity as he was in actuality.

*There is absolute evidence which suggests that, had Bram Stoker not written Dracula, Joss Whedon would never have been born.

[Vampire Month] Finale

05 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Dianna Hardy, horror, Jason Petty, Ninfa Hayes, Rebeka Harrington, Skyla Dawn Cameron, Vampires, writing


So, that was Vampire month. A month and a bit of Vampires and the people who write about them.

I would like to thank all the writers who have contributed to this month – Rebekah Harrington, Ninfa Hayes, Jason Petty, Dianna Hardy and Skyla Dawn Cameron. All of them have been fantastic and produced some excellent interview answers and blog posts. I have been impressed by everything produced by these wonderful writers. I have also been intrigued by the very different takes on Vampire lore that have been showcased here. It is clear that the term ‘Vampire’ is a catch all term covering a multitude of sins, all with a loose connection and it would take a lot more time than we have had here to properly overview the subject.

With that in mind, I definitely intend to repeat this process again and do another Vampire month next March. Hopefully it will be as successful as this one has been. If you are interested in taking part, please contact me for more details.

On a related topic, I’ve also decided that the format of interview and blog post over a week is a good one and intend to use it more often. If you are a writer of any topic and want to be showcased, feel free to get in touch and I will subject you to an interview and ask you to write a blog post on the subject of your choice.

With that, I close Vampire month and pack all the coffins and stakes away for next year…

[Vampire Month] Jason Petty

27 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Guest posts

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Ann Rice, books, guest blogging, guest posts, horror, Jason Petty, Skyla Dawn Cameron, Vampires


This week’s Vampire author was supposed to be Skyla Dawn Cameron. However, she has suffered an injury which makes writing difficult and has a load of stuff to catch up on and has therefore sent her apologies. However, I am not one to be thrown by a mere disaster like this. I always have a back up plan and in this case my main guy on the substitute bench is Jason Petty, author of The Vampire of Meadow Lake. He was intended to run to the touchline in week five of Vampire Month (cos, months have five weeks in them, right? 🙂 Well, even if they don’t Vampire ones do cos they is special that way) but I have pushed him forward to week four instead. Don’t panic, Skyla will be headlining the mythical week five of Vampire month. For now, enjoy Jason’s answers to the questions…

What is the earliest memory you have of writing? What did you write about?

I was in seventh or eighth grade, so I was probably 13 or 14. I was bullied like few would believe. I’d had a really bad day, and I mean BAD. I was physically abused by a gym teacher for finishing a fight three guys picked with me, and then told by the sheriffs office that I couldn’t do anything unless I could prove they started it. He was the coach and the bullies where on the team and they were the only witnesses so I was up a fairly stinky creek and none too pleased about it.

I punched the bag till I collapsed and I was just laying there thinking, “Man! If I could just get these jerks one-on-one…” So I pulled out a notebook and a pen and I wrote it out. I wrote about cornering one of them on his farm and running him down with a combine; pretty standard, craptastic angsty BS. I’d written in school, but that piece felt alive to me. It was like unchaining my darkest urges.

In the real world I’d have been locked up for killing that jerk, but this wasn’t the real world. It was my world and in it I could do anything I pleased. I remember shaking with every emotion I knew writing that piece. I think I actually scared myself.

 I bet if a kid wrote that sort of thing today he’d be arrested. Hell, I’m pretty sure that story would have qualified as plotting a terrorist act even back then. It was pretty gruesome. I’d have never acted it out in real life, but that doesn’t matter to a school board that feels their star quarterback is threatened. I think I shredded it for fear that my parents would find it or something. Hard telling. Those were strange years for me. 

When did you decide to become a professional writer? Why did you take this step?

I sort of jumped in right around 2004 when I realized that the short story I was writing had passed the 60k word marker.

What would you consider to be your greatest strength as a writer? What about your greatest weakness? How do you overcome this weakness?

My characters are my strong suit. By the time they hit paper they’ve “lived” in my head for upwards of two years, cooperating, arguing, scheming and fighting. I don’t have any perfect characters. They all have weaknesses and fears and things they don’t understand, even the heroes. Instead of comparing one of my characters to a comic book hero or villian or other literary character, I compare them to real people I know or read about. I try to avoid dramatic speeches or overly heartfelt “You complete me” type scenes, but I let the characters do the talking. They feel real to most people.

The other thing I’m really good at is painting a picture with words, which is right where my weaker points begin, too. My rough drafts are usually too descriptive. My greatest weakness, however, is my ADD and diverse interests, which lead me to get distracted waaaay too easily. I like trees. And wikipedia. And ducklings. And (not joking) going for bike rides.

 I’ll sit down to write, turn on Itunes and decide thirty seconds into a song that I should go try and learn the song on guitar. It’ll only take a minute, right? I get back to the computer, read what I was working on and go “Oh, I should just draw that out so I have a reverence pic.” Fifteen minutes into that fresh distraction I usually go “Y’know what? I need to make a 3D model of this so I can try it from this angle!”

Then I notice it’s a nice day out and I think “I should go for a bike ride! Heck, I should drive over to mom and dad’s and have some target practice.” I get there and go “Hey, it’s so nice, I’m gonna go over to the farm and walk back to the pond!” Two hours into that I’m sitting there on the shore watching the trees in the breeze and I go “Man, I could just see my characters here in this situation. I bet Dawn would climb that tree. Kevin and Marc would probably try and see what motor that old car has in it. Dawn would slip trying to get a better look at a bird’s nest or something: she always gets hurt, it seems. Then again, so does her brother. He’s gonna die of tetanus someday…Must run in the family. I wonder if that’s something they got from their mom or their dad…OH CRAP! I need to get that chapter done today!!”

I just did it again. Everything from that last question to here was half a paragraph before I chased that rabbit. See what I deal with now, mi amigo? Add to that the fact that I act as my own agent, which means managing my fan page, my website (www.vampireofmeadowlake.com), doing giveaways on the facebook page and keeping track of prizes and shipping addresses, all while calling book stores, and the paperwork, plus taxes…Time management is my weakest skill. I beat it by telling someone I’ll get something done on an impossible deadline, and then setting it in stone by telling everyone and their brother that I’ll get it done. I can’t stand going back on a deal, so then I have to do it.

Tell us about the place where you live. Have you ever derived any inspiration from your home or from anywhere you have visited?

I live in a speck on the map that some joker labelled “Meriden, Kansas.” There ain’t much to say, really. It’s just three or four thousand people who like each other a lot less than they let on at the gas station, three cops that get paid to sleep in their cars most nights, and a little grocery store full of local crops and grass-fed beef. Hunting dogs make the front page of the paper every few weeks, narrowly edging out a big fish someone caught, a big deer someone shot, a minor car accident, and local dirt track race drivers. To say not much happens would be a gross understatement.

                I like that, though. You can’t beat a place where the biggest “crime” is kids throwing donuts in the school parking lot or a family having a bonfire with out a burn permit. Even if you don’t necessarily like someone, you care what happens to them. They’re your neighbour and you stop to help them if they look like they need it. That’s how it is, and that’s how it should be. And that carries directly into my writing. Almost every story I’ve ever written is set in Smalltown, USA.

Meadow Lake is an amalgamation of several of the little towns I haunted as a teenager. Many of the details are taken directly from little the dots on the map along k-4. Like my home town, Meadow Lake has an overabundance of muscle cars and farm trucks. Both have a grave yard across the street from the high school and are surrounded by farmland. You can drive a few miles from either of them and be at the lake. And both have colourful characters littered in and among some pretty bland yokels.

There’s an eerie, quiet tension to small town life. You know so much about everyone around you that you start wonder what all you don’t know. Every killer lives next door to someone, y’know. Where does that guy go on his motorcycle at two in the morning most Tuesdays? Why does that blue Chevy wagon always seem to ride lower in the back on the way out of town than coming back? Why don’t you ever see anyone home at that house on the hill outside of town? Why are the lights always off at that neat old mansion on the corner? Your imagination runs wild because there ain’t much else for it to do. A story can write it’s self in seconds if you just look around you.

Which book, if any, would you consider to be your greatest influence and inspiration?

                I’m not a big reader, really. I’m dyslexic and it takes me forever to finish a full-length novel. I got the British audio books for Harry Potter and listened through them while I played through a video game, though. Rowling’s work definitely had an effect on my writing. I love how simple and straight forward her work is. And I’m always stunned by how easily she can set a scene, or even introduce a different time of year. I like how approachable her writing is. It’s important to note that I’m also a life-long Narnian and more than a bit into Stephen King.

What drove you to write about Vampires?

Tricky question. I’ve always been fascinated by ghosts and such. I’ve heard a lot of first-hand ghost stories, but sadly, I’ve never seen one for my self. That’s probably a good thing, come think of it. I always liked stories about haunted houses and in particular, ghost cars.

So then one night in 2002 (or maybe ’03?) some friends and I were playing Halo 2  when one of them just blurted out “Y’know what would totally suck?” Before anyone could speak I replied “If you went to look at a car only to find out that the guy that listed it for sale was a vampire using the car to bait in victims?” I think he was going to say something more along the lines “If Jason got hold of the #$%@ing carbine again,” but we’ll never know.

At any rate, my imagination latched onto the idea. I wrote a short story and started working my way up from there.

What do you think is the attraction for Vampire fiction? Why is it such a popular topic?

                I think right now there is a lot of hype over the subject. Some (if not most) of the stuff coming out now will later be retroactively labelled into a new genre, where it belongs. Right now there are a lot of people looking for and demanding Twilight-esque reads. Some of them branch out into witches, other werewolves (or Coyotes) but most of the top sellers right now are romance novels with a paranormal veneer.

You could gut the paranormal/vampire part and replace it with rival gangs or any number of soap opera love triangles. Not that they’re all bad books or anything, (my own book is a murder mystery with vampires thrown in for good measure, fer Petesake) but they don’t fit into the classic definition of vampire fiction, or even vampire romance. They’re their own thing and it’s not fair to anyone to lump them in with the classic vampire stuff.

                People come to it for different reasons. Some are looking for an escape from their endless sequence of crappy love interests. Some are Potter fans all grown up and looking for a new world of magic now that Voldy’s gone moldy. I imagine a lot of folks are hopping the bandwagon just to see what the fuss is all about. Some stick around, some don’t. There are as many reasons to read vampire fiction as there are books in the genre, really.

In a fight between all the greatest Vampires of fiction, who do you think would come out on top?

                I don’t really know, but my money’s on one of Anne Rice’s characters. Mercy Thompson is more of a shifter type, but she’s pretty tou—never mind. She’d get seduced or raped halfway through and need rescued or something. My money is definitely on someone out of Anne Rice’s catalog.

What about in some other contest such as sexiness or dress sense? Who would win that one?

                You’re asking the wrong guy, chief. I don’t find murderous reanimated corpses to be all that attractive, to the truth. Most guys I know prefer their date stop at giving a hicky, and nobody wants ANYTHING sucked to the point that blood comes out of it. Most of ’em are sharp dressed, though. Gotta give ’em that much. Dracula had some style, man. The cape and the ruffled shirt…he was like Elvis before there was one!

How well do you think your character would fare against the winner(s) of the above?

                Very well. My protagonist is mortal, but carries a cross bow and a .45 loaded with silver hollow points. When time comes to put boot to rump…well, you get the idea.

Tell us the basic premise behind your latest novel.

                To me, a vampire is like a 180 pound spider. They live in dark, quiet places where they aren’t apt to be disturbed; attics, basements, abandoned cabins up in the woods and local legends. They’re rarely in the spotlight, but if you pay close enough attention you might catch one skulking around the shadows when no ones looking. As a result most people don’t even catch on that they are what they are until it’s too late. And that’s the case with the Vampire of Meadow Lake.

                The desolate stretches of road around the town used to be the stomping grounds for a vicious and brutal killer. He hunted his prey on the open road in what could best be described as a race car. And once he’d caught them and had his fun, he wrote things on their car in their blood. But no one’s seen or heard from him since the early 80’s: or if they have they’ve been in no position to tell the tale. Some say he died. Some say he was dead when he started. Some say he’s still out there, biding his time and waiting for the right moment to strike again.

                And they have reason to think just that. Every so often someone goes missing or turns up dead. The most recent victim happens to be high school heart breaker, Amy Walker. And that’s where the reader picks up at: six months after she’s found dead in the woods near the lake. Her best friend, Jenny, took it the hardest.

Her mom is no more help to her than her abusive dad and older brother. She spends most of her nights drinking herself numb and her days wishing she were. Moody and snappish, she tends to ward off any would be pity or help with a derisive comment and snort. Her only real relief are day dreams, which often turn into full-blown flash backs to time she spent with Amy. Invariably, she wakes up, literally landing face-first in the present, all alone. John, her boyfriend and fellow protagonist, is about ready to wash his hands of Jenny and the whole situation.

The two have every problem a couple can. They communicate in different ways, handle problems in different ways, have different morals…the relationship looks pretty bleak. The tension is mounting. Despite John’s many warnings and concerns, Jenny insists on trying to track down the killer herself. After everything she’s been through, her greatest fear is that she’ll never find the killer; his greatest fear is what will happen if she does.

Bio:

I’m bad at “who I am” sort of stuff, so I’ll just tell you about my dream day, and let you make what you want of it.

It’d be on vacation, for certain. My friends and I would be staying at a small, family run resort on a lake someplace. Probably Lake of the Ozarks. We’d get up near dawn and hop in a rented boat and spend a few hours making fools of ourselves on a innertube because none of us can freaking ski. At noon we’d stop at a restaurant on a beach and get burgers. We’d have to walk around town for a few hours, taking in the local sights and posing for pictures in front of neat oddities, probably buying a few souvenirs, too.

                The afternoon would be dirt bikes on old mining trails, hopefully with some good jumps and washboard runs to play on. The trail would have to go up to something abandoned, where we would go in and get some pictures and climb on things we ought not climb. Then we’d head back down the trail to the town, park the bikes and go do something like lazer tag, or paintball. We’d wind down playing skiball at some place with old, old machines.

                The whole thing would end with a bite to eat at someplace with live music and cold drinks, preferably outside with a nice moon watching over us. After we tired of the band screwing up our favorite songs we’d get in the boat go back to the cabin to make a bon fire and stare at the stars, telling ghost stories, reliving the day’s antics and talking about things we never got to do. Hell, that won’t work! It wouldn’t be the perfect day without going for a drive in a classic piece of American steel with a V8 mill and cushy seats. At any rate, we’d end up on the beach with a roaring fire that settled to a crackle.

                Then I’d return to my normal, boring life in small town America, where I eagerly wait for the next chance to get out and do something fun in something that goes too fast.

[Review] Being Human: Puppy Love

12 Monday Mar 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Guest posts, Reviews

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Being Human, guest blogging, guest posts, horror, puppy love, solar storms, Vampires, Werewolf


A little late this week (I blame solar storms…) but here is my review of yesterday’s Being Human episode…

http://www.cultbritannia.co.uk/2012/03/12/being-human-puppy-love-review/

Feel free to pop on over there and comment. Or comment here… either way I’m happy.

Oh, and this does count as part of Vampire Month 🙂

Vampire Month

01 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Guest posts, Publicity, Reviews

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Edward, guest blogging, guest posts, horror, Lestat, Ninfa Hayes, Rebeka Harrington, reviews, Skyla Dawn Cameron, Vampires


The big grand-daddy of all Vampires. Christopher Lee as Dracula.

This month is Vampire month on this blog.

What? You say March is a stupid time for Vampire month? You think that maybe it should be another month, like October? Well, on this blog we don’t follow trends we make them and I reckon that this time next year EVERY blog will call March ‘Vampire Month’ and I will take the credit for starting a whole new social trend.

Well, that or, you know, the rest of the internet will just carry on doing what it always does and not be affected at all by what I say or do.

So, why is it Vampire month here? Well, over the next month I will be featuring articles and interviews with three writers of Vampire fiction starting next week with Rebekah Harrington, author of Vampires Revealed. This will be followed by Ninfa Hayes, author of the upcoming novella Bites. Finally, Skyla Dawn Cameron, author of Bloodlines* and the newly released Lineage, will weigh in with her opinions. In these articles we seek to understand the underlying appeal of Vampires, their psychology and motivation and, most importantly of all, who would win in a fight: Lestat or Edward…

So, that is three writers, in three different continents, writing about Vampires in three different ways… Should be something to look forward too…

*If you remember, I reviewed Bloodlines here: http://www.epublishabook.com/2011/10/28/book-review-bloodlines-by-skyla-dawn-cameron/#axzz1nuXKfHgn feel free to go back there to be reminded about how awesome I thought it was…

← Older posts

Twitter Updates

  • The Elementals: Russell A Smith interview. #knoxpublishing #theelementals dalascelles.co.uk/2021/01/06/the… 1 week ago
  • New Year Dog dalascelles.co.uk/2020/12/31/new… 2 weeks ago
  • The Elementals: Heather Young Nicols interview #kindle #knoxpublishing dalascelles.co.uk/2020/12/15/the… 1 month ago
  • Just entered the Wet hair competition on @PurplePort #photo #competition #PurplePort purpleport.com/competition/vi… #NSFW 1 month ago
  • The Elementals: Jared Lain interview #theelementals #knoxpublishing #kindle dalascelles.co.uk/2020/12/03/the… 1 month ago
Follow @areteus

Like me on Facebook

Like me on Facebook

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join the Lurkers

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,003 other followers

Recent Posts

  • The Elementals: Russell A Smith interview.
  • New Year Dog
  • The Elementals: Heather Young Nicols interview
  • The Elementals: Jared Lain interview
  • Release day tomorrow!

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy