7 Advice Podcasts For Writers Of Weird Fiction And Horror

I don’t know what I’m doing! Sometimes I think I do but, more often than not, the further into this writing game I get the more I realise I know far less than I thought. However help is at hand in the form of people who know a bit more than I do making words into microphones. Take their hand (don’t kiss it, it’s probably sticky) and follow them down a dark corridor. Or a well-lit one, whichever seems nicer.

Speculate!

Billing itself as the podcast for writers, readers and fans, Gregory A. Wilson and Bradley P. Beaulieu have been referred to as ‘the best interviewers currently podcasting about genre fiction.’ They’re also joined by Michael R. Underwood and all have a good background in writing weird. As well as in depth interviews they review books and discuss writing techniques and publishing.

Bizzong The Bizarre And Weird Fiction Podcast

If you like silly and daft you’ll feel at home here, but there’s a lot of information too. Frank Edler interviews a different weird writer each episode to discuss their work, life, and zombie Elvis.

The Horror Show With Brian Keene

Brian Keene seems like a nice man. He and his friends discuss horror fiction as a genre, the various news and points of interest facing horror authors and, well, pretty much anything else. It’s like having a nice cup of tea – except when they talk about something unpleasant, then it’s like having an unpleasant but interesting cup of tea.

This Is Horror

This is also an informative podcast! Authors discuss their personal work, outlining stories, getting published, getting self-published and everything it entails – pretty much anything a horror writer needs to know.

The Outer Dark

Winner of the ‘This Is Horror’ award 2015, guests are interviewed about their books and writing techniques followed by ‘news from the weird.’ This is any information weird writers may find interesting such as anthologies looking for submissions.

Dead Robots’ Society

Soothing and amusing, they chat with a guest on subjects ranging from beta readers, selling yourself, emotional arcs and mankinis with heels. 

The Horror Writer’s Podcast

Zach Bohannon and J. Thorn ‘discuss all things horror’ including an interview with the director of The Invitation, horror news and interesting TV. Bless their cottons.

Ta dah! Fill your ears with facts and interesting titbits and may it help you on your journey. Don’t forget to pack a lunch!

Bizart – Podcast of Advice For Writers And Artists

Good day! I trust you slept well. Time to brush away the cobwebs that have grown around you and have a listen to the latest podcast episode by myself and artist friend Steve.

We discuss making art on a budget, ways to earn money using your creativity and a story by one of our listeners. Feel free to send us your own unusual tale under 300 words, just visit the podcast site for details. Unsure if it’s unusual? Send it anyway and let us decide.

Next episode we look at making digital art and scams targeting writers and artists to avoid.

Link to Podcast

New App – Write Or Die 2

Having trouble…procrastinating? Or just spend much of your writing day staring out the window (ahem). This new app, a mark two of an existing one called Write Or Die (funnily enough), says it can help. Visit their website.

Usable on Windows, Linux and Macs this new version provides rewards for doing well and hassling you when you fail to write for more than ten seconds. Apparently you can choose what pictures you’d like to see – or not to see as punishment:

“This version of Write or Die introduces the concept of positive reinforcement. Sometimes the journey down the blank page seems a long and desolate one. Reward mode helps you mark your progress along the way.

You can finitely adjust how frequently the program rewards you. Set a word goal and tweak the incentive frequency slider to increase or decrease the frequency of word count rewards.

You can also select a directory of images for use as custom reward images, if you have a folder of your favorite pictures and you’d like to see those pictures as rewards.”

Have a look on their website and, if it’s for you, go ahead and let me know what you think.

About that letter Amazon sent it’s ebook authors…

Hello! if, like me, you received an email from Amazon regarding it’s ongoing dispute with Hachette Books, here is an interesting blog post which certainly helped me understand what it could mean for authors. Have a read, join the discussion.

Articles On Finding An Editor

At some stage soon I’m going to need to find an editor and, like you (or maybe you’re the world’s expert on finding editors. Won’t you tell us how to do it?) I don’t know the first thing. So here’s a few articles I found on doing just that. The final article features recommended editors plus articles on the editing process.

1. Tips For Choosing The Right Editor For Your Indie Book

2. Finding The Editor For You

3. 5 Ways To Find The Right Freelance Book Editor

4. How To Hire An Editor For Your Book

5. Editing and Editors

A List of Small Press Publishers

Hello! Here’s a few small press publishers for you to explore. Some horror, some bizarro, some literary, stick your face in their sites and see which you prefer. I also advise searching websites Duotrope, Dark Markets, The Horror Tree and The Erotica Readers and Writers Association, if you like that sort of thing. Some of those below do poetry too. The list isn’t exhaustive, there are plenty more out there.

Raw Dog Screaming (RDSPress) – “fiction that foams at the mouth.”

Burning Bulb Publishing – all kinds of oddities.

The Strange Edge – absurdist, bizarro, weird horror and other oddities. Currently a website but branching out as a magazine

Kraken Press – horror and general darkness

Forbidden Fiction – paying erotica website

Shock Totem Magazine – horror

Eraserhead Press – strictly Bizarro

Starcherone Books – “independent innovative fiction”

Belladonna Publishing – “preferred genres are dark fantasy, urban fantasy, gothic, steampunk and fairytales.” They also do comics/graphic novels.

Weird Year – erm…weird stuff

Strange House Books  – horror, horror porn and everything gross in between

LegumeMan Books – absurdist and strange

Coffee House Press – “non-profit literary publisher”

The Dalkey Archive – literary

Dzanc Books – literary

Jaded Ibis Productions – literary and ‘narrative arts’

Les Figues – literary and ‘narrative arts’

Spuyten Dyvil – literary

25 things you should know about outlining

On my travels today I stumbled upon (OK, someone uploaded to twitter) this helpful and amusing post on book outlining.

Go here, read, come on, what are you waiting for? Oh, you’re still here. Yes, that’s it, that door there. Phew, I know, now they’re gone we can say whatever we want about – oh hi! You’re still here. Er, no, we weren’t talking about anything…

Novel, novella, short story? The word count difference in writing

Two posts in one day? Have the clocks been destroyed? Has my face melted into an Escher painting?

Word count is something that worries all writers or, if not, it probably should. Is it a novella? A short story? A microwaveable napkin?

OK, so for some definitive answers I suggest you trundle onto this post here by D. Robert Grixti, and it is definitely recommended – by me anyway, and what higher authority is there?

Interview with author Jeremy C Shipp

Hello my little slices of pepperoni. You may remember American bizarro author and all round anomalous egg Jeremy C Shipp from such books as Cursed (which got him nominated for the Bram Stoker award), Vacation, Fungus of the Heart and Sheep and Wolves.

He kindly assented to an interview regarding his work and writing in general (and to not press charges; I mean, kidnap is such a strong word) and here it is:

Which of your books is your favourite, and why?

J: One of my books that is near and dear to my heart (and spleen) is Cursed. The story was a blast to write, primarily because of the character Cicely. She’s a loveable weirdo with a heart (and spleen) of gold.

 

What impact has the Bram Stoker nomination made on your career?

J: I would say the main thing is that more readers have tried my books. Also, the nomination gave me  super powers. For instance, with the power of thought alone, I can transform sporks into slightly smaller sporks.

 

What’s the one (or more) thing you keep in mind when writing gets difficult?

J: This is your dream, Jeremy. If you’re not going to fight to live your own dream, then you’ll have to live someone else’s. And that’s no fun.

 

How do your ideas come to you?

J: Dreams, nightmares, personal events, world events, people on the street, people in the clouds, a little goblin named Bob who lives in my skull.

 

Is it possible to make a successful living from writing?

J: Yes. Mostly, it just takes a lot of work and dedication. And skill. And luck.

 

Who are your heroes?

J: Super Grover, my family, my friends, Hayao Miyazaki, Joss Whedon, Felicia Day, Kurt Vonnegut, Larry Blamire, Tree Trunks.

 

Is being a Bizarro writer a natural state of being, or do you sometimes have to push yourself to make your ideas even weirder?

J: It’s my natural state. Sometime I have to push myself to make my ideas palatable for human consumption.

 

What goes through your mind when you see your published book/story?

J: Hooray! Book! Time to sing and dance and eat chili cheese fries!

 

Did (or do) you have to do a lot of networking to get your stuff popular?

J: I enjoy entertaining and connecting with people on Facebook and Twitter, and I believe it’s on these sites that most people first hear about me and my work.

Thanks Jeremy, you may live another year. Bye!

Charlie Brooker on writing detective spoof A Touch of Cloth in The Writer’s Room

Charlie Brooker and co-writer Daniel Maier discuss writing spoof detective series A Touch of Cloth, follow this link.

Here he discusses his inspiration.