Ah-ha!
There have been a lot of them. Early on, most came via Michael Cisco’s eye-opening reading recommendations, but the monster, that only came a couple of years ago.
When you don’t dream of being a writer and don’t study the craft, when you accidentally fall into words, let’s say, like turning a corner you didn’t plan on or even see coming, you can get rocked hard by something simple. Mine was a Facebook post that said something along the lines of — A “first draft” is just a draft. It does not have to read like a finished work, or even be good.
WOW! I thought— Why didn’t someone tell me that, that day nearly 20 years ago when I began this dance with words? All the blood, sweat, and coarse street-words… I could have side-stepped 100 tangos with frustration; I could have gone to bed nights and slept peacefully.
I see a lot of pros handout helpful tips to newbies; most have solid advice, but I’ve only seen this once, so I pass it along a lot and, every time, I hear the same thing: “Is that true? Why didn’t I hear about that before?”
Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., is the author of the novels, The Orphan Palace (Chomu Press 2010) and Nightmare’s Disciple (Chaosium 1999), and he has written many short stories that have appeared in magazines and anthologies, including “Weird Fiction Review”, “Crypt of Cthulhu”, and “Lovecraft eZine”, Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year, S. T. Joshi’s Black Wings (I and III; PS Publishing) and A Mountain Walked (Centipede Press 2013), Ross Lockhart's Book of Cthulhu (Night Shade 2011), and many anthologies edited by Robert M. Price. His highly–acclaimed short story collections, Blood Will Have Its Season, SIN & ashes, and Portraits of Ruin, were published by Hippocampus Press in 2009, 2010, and 2012, respectively.
He edited A Season in Carcosa and The Grimscribe’s Puppets (Miskatonic River Press 2012 and 2013), and collections by Ann K. Schwader (The Worms Remember) and John B. Ford, and Edward Morris’ A CROOKED MAN series (Mercury Retrograde Press 2013).
His new collection, Stained Translations, edited by Jeffrey Thomas, will appear in 2013.
There have been a lot of them. Early on, most came via Michael Cisco’s eye-opening reading recommendations, but the monster, that only came a couple of years ago.
When you don’t dream of being a writer and don’t study the craft, when you accidentally fall into words, let’s say, like turning a corner you didn’t plan on or even see coming, you can get rocked hard by something simple. Mine was a Facebook post that said something along the lines of — A “first draft” is just a draft. It does not have to read like a finished work, or even be good.
WOW! I thought— Why didn’t someone tell me that, that day nearly 20 years ago when I began this dance with words? All the blood, sweat, and coarse street-words… I could have side-stepped 100 tangos with frustration; I could have gone to bed nights and slept peacefully.
I see a lot of pros handout helpful tips to newbies; most have solid advice, but I’ve only seen this once, so I pass it along a lot and, every time, I hear the same thing: “Is that true? Why didn’t I hear about that before?”
Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., is the author of the novels, The Orphan Palace (Chomu Press 2010) and Nightmare’s Disciple (Chaosium 1999), and he has written many short stories that have appeared in magazines and anthologies, including “Weird Fiction Review”, “Crypt of Cthulhu”, and “Lovecraft eZine”, Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year, S. T. Joshi’s Black Wings (I and III; PS Publishing) and A Mountain Walked (Centipede Press 2013), Ross Lockhart's Book of Cthulhu (Night Shade 2011), and many anthologies edited by Robert M. Price. His highly–acclaimed short story collections, Blood Will Have Its Season, SIN & ashes, and Portraits of Ruin, were published by Hippocampus Press in 2009, 2010, and 2012, respectively.
He edited A Season in Carcosa and The Grimscribe’s Puppets (Miskatonic River Press 2012 and 2013), and collections by Ann K. Schwader (The Worms Remember) and John B. Ford, and Edward Morris’ A CROOKED MAN series (Mercury Retrograde Press 2013).
His new collection, Stained Translations, edited by Jeffrey Thomas, will appear in 2013.
3 comments:
Most of the best advice is very simple. That's a good bit, indeed.
What a great observation. Reminds me of when a wise old woman told me in my youth that dating was supposed to be fun. Who'd have thought?
Thannks great post
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