Bizarro Central: Flash Fiction Friday

A flash fiction story I wrote has been featured over at Bizarro Central. Check it out!

Flash Fiction Friday: No Encore

DRAWLOWEEN!

   Totally late on this, but I will be participating in Drawloween this month!

   Drawloween is a challenge to draw a different horror themed picture every day in October, as dictated by this hand-dandy calendar. (See picture)

   You can check out my Tumblr & Instagram each day for my #Drawloween update!

Book Review and Author Interview - Birdsnatch by Mark Ryan & C.J. Cummings

Check out my latest article on BoxofBizarro.com!

The Tragic Aftermath

Welp, the writing marathon bonanza is ended, and the nuclear fallout has settled. The final outcome, 2000 words.
Unfortunately I was forced to cut it short at around 02:20 hours due to my son waking up with a fever. Poor lil' dude.

Either way, the thing I learned from the experience is that I really need to start outlining my stories. I found myself continuously going back and editing, instead of continuing to write the first draft.

Also, due to a particularly awkward dialogue scene, I found myself loosing momentum and focus. The story started to lag, which is why I began to knit-pick. I got some great moments in there, but my word count really trickled off at the end.

The first hour or so I was an effing juggernaut wordsmith though. Sorry for the masturbatory ego boosting, but I'm happy with my progress thus far.

I will try to make this a weekly occurrence in my writing schedule. An hour here and there is fine, but there's nothing like strapping yourself to the keyboard and going downtown Charlie Brown on your work.

Thank you to those who followed along on Twitter. I hope that you were able to get some writing done as well.

Skål!

WRITING MARATHON:

   Tonight, for no specific reason, I'll be brewing up a pot of blackest coffee, and burning the midnight oil. I've decided to have a one man writing marathon from 20:00 hours this eve until 04:00 hours on the morrow.

   Thankfully my lovely wife has agreed to let me sleep in Sunday, thus freeing me to bang my head against the keyboard for six hours straight. My weird western short story is looking more and more like it may end up being a novella.

   I'm really excited about this one too, as it is the first time I've purposely written Bizarro fiction. I've made an effort to strip away many of my internal filters, thus ensuring a much more crude and sophomoric band of characters, but hopefully in a tongue-firmly-in-cheek sort of way. Think Ren & Stimpy vs. The Garbage Pail Kids; rated a hard R, and set in the weird west. That's what I'm going for, and I sure hope you all enjoy it. More updates later!

   Feel free to do your own #WritingMarathon and join me on Twitter @Dev_M_Anderson as I check in every hour with a brief update and current word count.

Write long! Write hard!

Skål!

Box of Bizarro

Check out Box of Bizarro:
A delightful up-&-coming bizarro publisher that I write for.

Welcome Sean Kelly and Devin Anderson: 

http://www.boxofbizarro.com/2015/08/welcome-sean-kelly-and-devin-anderson.html

The Inspiring Muse (is an abusive lover):

Over the years I have heard countless writers, even published authors, complain about the infamous WRITERS BLOCK. That terrible affliction which strikes without warning, nor mercy, and leaves writers hopelessly lost.

Many writers, and publishing gurus have their own "tried & true" method to fix this ailment. Some of them work (for some people), but sadly none of them work for everyone.
Let's go through a few of these examples:

-Free Writing:
The act of sitting down and writing whatever thoughts are in your head. Usually a time limit is chosen beforehand. The idea behind this exercise is that the act of writing, uninterrupted for a set amount of time, will stimulate the creative half of your brain. Kind of like letting your car warm up before you drive.
This method has worked for me in the past, but not with any regularity, and it is time consuming. I do recommend trying it at least once.

-Music:
Many authors find that listening to music either before and/or during writing helps them get into "the zone".
Some choose music based on the particular scene they are writing, others choose music that encapsulates a certain character, while some just pick a nice ambient selection to help with the mood.
I absolutely endorse this method, and practice it almost every time I tickle the keyboard. In fact I doubt I'd be able to get any writing done without music.

-Go for a walk/run:
Stephen King himself has endorsed this method, even after the tragic accident that nearly brought his career to a brutal end. (Read his book: On Writing for full details)
The idea behind this is fairly self explanatory; you go for a stroll to clear your mind of distraction. The same could be said for any physical activities. You could go play a game of tennis, or swim laps at your local pool. The intended results are the same.
I have used this method in the past, and find it extremely helpful, though a bit time consuming as well. I wouldn't use this if you're working under an eminent deadline.

-Read:
Some writers find it useful to take a small block of time out of the day to read.
"A writer taking time to read? What madness is this?"
I know I know, Writers reading is a fairly ubiquitous concept. The point is a brief recharge of your creative battery is not only good for you, it is necessary. Get that recharge however you can.
I have found that on the days that I set aside time to read, I have a more successful writing session that evening. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I'll take what I can get.

-Outlining:
Authors like R.L. Stine swear that they never get writers block, because they outline their entire book before they sit down to write it.
Outlining is planning out the entire story from start to finish using various methods. The tree method, and snowflake method are two of the most well known. (You can buy instructional books on these and many others at your local bookshop/online)
I have always wanted to try this method. I've heard arguments for and against outlining. The point comes down to this: If it helps, use it. If it doesn't help, don't. It's that simple. I don't understand why there is such a vicious feud between these two groups. Different pen strokes for different folks.

-Just Write:
There is a famous quote that I read as a young aspiring writer:

"Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work." -Stephen King

I can see why some don't like this particular quote; it does seem rather arrogant. Saying that anyone who can't just sit down and write on command is an "amateur" is some next-level trolling.
However, I have found it to be one of the most helpful and inspirational pieces of advice I've ever read.
It goes along with another favorite quote of mine:

"One thing that helps is to give myself permission to write badly. I tell myself that I’m going to do my five or 10 pages no matter what, and that I can always tear them up the following morning if I want. I’ll have lost nothing—writing and tearing up five pages would leave me no further behind than if I took the day off.” -Lawrence Block

There's a similar quote by Anne Lamontt in her book Bird By Bird, but I'll leave it there for now.
Sit down and get it out on the screen/page. It's okay if it sucks. That's what the 2nd draft is there for, to improve upon your 1st draft. You can't improve upon what you haven't written.

So there you have it boils and ghouls! What methods work for you? Have any that I haven't tried yet? Share them with the rest of us in the comments section below!

Skål!