Tag: The Art of Writing

Information on the art of writing in general

“Diabolical: Three Tales of Jack Thurston and Revenge” is Available on Kindle and in Print

Please go to amazon.com/author/philslattery or Goodreads or any other social media to leave a review.

Jack Thurston is a retired professor of medieval literature and history. He is also a widower and father and a retired sorcerer who has returned to the black arts to exact revenge for the death of his wife, daughter, and brother. He has an intriguing position in the universe at a focal point of life, the afterlife, logic and reason, anger and hatred, the ancient and the modern worlds, grief and his attempts to escape grief through self-destruction. Though he wants to have the peace he once found with his wife, Agatha, he is pulled in many directions by circumstance and by his powerful negative emotions.

I am a fan of the old school horror practiced by such authors as H.P. Lovecraft, Poe, Edward Lucas White, and Arthur Machen.  I endeavor to make a story as terrifying and suspenseful for the reader as possible without resorting to gratuitous blood and gore for a simple shock or quick feeling of disgust.

This collection of three short tales is perfect for those who have only a few short breaks to escape into the hidden world of horror, black magic, sorcery, and anger-fueled revenge.

You can find this and other works at my Amazon author’s page:  www.amazon.com/author/philslattery.

Currently, Jack has a Twitter account (@jthurston666), where he has attracted a small following and where it has only recently been revealed that he is fictional. Jack has his own blog at jackthurstonblog.wordpress.com (a work in progress) and his own e-mail at jackthurston666@gmail.com.

Information on more social media accounts and other characters (as they are developed) can be found at: philslattery.wordpress.com. Please interact with him at any of his social media accounts as you would with a real person.

Show your appreciation for these stories by leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or other social media.

If you enjoy horror, check out my collection of horror short stories A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror: Stories of wizards, werewolves, serial killers, alien worlds, and the damned, which includes these stories.

How to Write a Great Headline — The Art of Blogging

On average, 8 out of 10 people will read the title of your blog post, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest. This is why a great headline is so important. The better the headline, the better your odds of getting your content read by more people. Writing a great headline still […]

via How to Write a Great Headline — The Art of Blogging

Atemlos durch das Jahr. Über Herbert Kapfers Roman „1919“ — Literatur.denken

Am 7. Juli 1987 besuchte der Herausgeber und Autor Fritz J. Raddatz seinen Schriftstellerkollegen Walter Kempowski. Nach dem Treffen notierte Raddatz in seinem Tagebuch: „Dann zeigte er mir sein vollkommen absurdes, tickhaft überbordendes Archiv mit 1000en von Fotos, Laienbiographien, grotesken handschriftlichen Lebensläufen im Sinne des ewigen Taxifahrergesprächs ‚Mein Leben, wenn ich das aufschreiben täte, es…

via Atemlos durch das Jahr. Über Herbert Kapfers Roman „1919“ — Literatur.denken

Update: June 8, 2019, 4:48 p.m. “The Man Who Escaped from Hell”

One of my concepts of cover art for The Man Who Escaped from Hell using an alternate title. The locket is a significant detail in the overall story. The graphic is from the public domain, but it dovetails nicely with the story and provided inspiration for the inclusion of a locket.

After reviewing the word counts on my three novels in progress, I realize that I should be focusing on The Man Who Escaped from Hell (working title), which is by far the furthest along at 84,000+ words. I want it between 80,000 and 100,000. Shadows and Stars…, however, is at 54,000+ with the same goal of 80,000-100,000. Another, The Long-Pig Inquiry, (working title, sci-fi/horror), is at around 34,000+ with the same goal. I worked most recently on The Man Who… over the Fall and Winter, but the ideas would not flow, but ideas for Shadows and Stars… were coming constantly and still are.  Ideas for The Long-Pig Inquiry come occasionally.

But with The Man Who… being closest to a complete first draft, I will take some time to review its status and see if I can stimulate enough ideas to bring it to a well-crafted conclusion.  I do not want this to be some (pardon my French) half-assed hack work. I want it to be a true work of art. I will have to continue with Shadows and Stars… simultaneously, because the good ideas keep coming.  It would be foolish to let them slip away.

By the way, “long pig” is a term cannibals of New Guinea reportedly use to refer to the flesh of humans, much as we use “pork” to refer to the flesh of swine. The taste is said to be similar to that of pork.

Of course, the subject of The Man Who… is a man who literally escapes from Hell, but there is a twist revealing that escaping from Hell is not as simple as one would think, not that escaping from Hell would be ever be simple.

One thing I have learned in writing these posts, is that it is fun to tease the audience with the superficial details of a mystery and this helps me learn how to hold an audience in suspense.

 

“Diabolical: Three Tales of Jack Thurston and Revenge” is Available on Kindle and in Print

Please go to amazon.com/author/philslattery or Goodreads or any other social media to leave a review.

Jack Thurston is a retired professor of medieval literature and history. He is also a widower and father and a retired sorcerer who has returned to the black arts to exact revenge for the death of his wife, daughter, and brother. He has an intriguing position in the universe at a focal point of life, the afterlife, logic and reason, anger and hatred, the ancient and the modern worlds, grief and his attempts to escape grief through self-destruction. Though he wants to have the peace he once found with his wife, Agatha, he is pulled in many directions by circumstance and by his powerful negative emotions.

I am a fan of the old school horror practiced by such authors as H.P. Lovecraft, Poe, Edward Lucas White, and Arthur Machen.  I endeavor to make a story as terrifying and suspenseful for the reader as possible without resorting to gratuitous blood and gore for a simple shock or quick feeling of disgust.

This collection of three short tales is perfect for those who have only a few short breaks to escape into the hidden world of horror, black magic, sorcery, and anger-fueled revenge.

You can find this and other works at my Amazon author’s page:  www.amazon.com/author/philslattery.

Currently, Jack has a Twitter account (@jthurston666), where he has attracted a small following and where it has only recently been revealed that he is fictional. Jack has his own blog at jackthurstonblog.wordpress.com (a work in progress) and his own e-mail at jackthurston666@gmail.com.

Information on more social media accounts and other characters (as they are developed) can be found at: philslattery.wordpress.com. Please interact with him at any of his social media accounts as you would with a real person.

Show your appreciation for these stories by leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or other social media.

If you enjoy horror, check out my collection of horror short stories A Tale of Hell and Other Works of Horror: Stories of wizards, werewolves, serial killers, alien worlds, and the damned, which includes these stories.

Mulling over Plans for the Website

I am thinking about restarting the Saturday Night Special, which was a weekly short horror story I ran a couple of years ago. I used stories primarily from before 1923 for their historical interest and to ensure they were from the public domain to avoid copyright issues. This time I will probably add some more mainstream stories into the mix, though still having a lot of horror. I will probably rerun some of the past stories initially to give me time to find newer ones.

I am also considering taking submissions of new material from new and established writers. There will be no pay, of course, just a publication credit.

Let me know what you think.

Update: June 3, 2019, 6:01 p.m.

Back home now. Here are a few photos I snapped along the way. The tall, red cliffs are north of the town of Thoreau. The bizarre rock formations are along the highway as it passes through the Bisti badlands. A couple are just of the road to show the expansiveness of New Mexico. I had no earth-shattering ideas for the novel on my return.

Update: June 3, 2019, 2:29 p.m.

I traveled to Milan, NM, today on (non-writing) business. It’s about a 5-6 hour round trip from Aztec, so I am glad I brought along my voice recorder to take notes on the road for Shadows and Stars… I have already recorded a couple. I have concluded my business and have just finished lunch at El Ranchero Mexican restaurant in Milan and am about to head home. I had tacos 🌮 al pastor, which were good. I have eaten here before and it is a nice, quaint place with tasty food.

Update: June 2, 2019, 7:24 p.m.

I couldn’t come up with an idea at Angel Peak, so I changed locations. I had a taste for the minestrone at Olive Garden, so here I am. I went over the very short chapters before and after where I wanted to insert the new chapter, and decided that they worked better as one chapter and that I didn’t need the new chapter. Now on to another chapter.

Update: June 2, 2019, 5:35 p.m.

For those wondering about my preferred writing ✍🏻 habits, here they are in a nutshell: iced tea/coffee (today water in the cup), smoking good tobacco in my pipe, writing notes and ideas on the back of the manuscript I am editing, a reasonably quiet place (outdoors during good weather; indoors during bad), writing by hand with a pen, and taking photos or walking around or posting when stuck for an idea. The satchel contains manuscripts, pens, notes, phone-recharging stuff, and maybe a few other odds and ends for the day.