Treading the Dangers of Fiction

Writing a novel based, even in part, on true events or real people is a very tricky affair. If a novel is based on facts, the facts are never good enough as they stand, simply because the motives behind the acts that made the facts rarely make sense, at least to rational people. And the [...]

Infighting About Grammar & Punctuation

Nothing seems to get writers butting heads so much as suggesting that they might need to brush up on proper grammar and punctuation. Mention the “right” way–traditionally speaking, of course, as per The Elements of Style–and the fight is on. On one side, you have those who know enough about good grammar and punctuation to [...]

Scary Writers

It's scary the number of young writers who, though they may never publish, write extraordinarily gruesome stories and novels. Pain, torture, and cruelty seem to be, not just acceptable, but celebrated. Purposefully sadistic and, in some cases, masochistic, as well, the writing demonstrates, not just a disregard for decency, but a willful, even joyous delight, in the suffering of self and others. Am I alone in considering this an extremely disturbing phenomena? To me it seems, if they can write this sadism/masochism, not with condemnation, but with such a sense of acceptance, delivering this as if it were a just and normal, approved and even satisfying, state of being and living, that we have a very large proportion of very disturbed psychopathic and sociopathic individuals populating our nation. Now, I'm sure that conservatives and fundamentalists, especially the sort who embrace Limbaugh and Palin, might point and cry out that this is the fault of the decline of family values, the decline of religious influence, and the influence of liberal perspectives. However, many who are creating these startlingly gruesome treatises embrace both the neo-conservative perspective and Christian fundamentalism. Not all, but certainly a provable great many. Fiction carries its author's overt or sublimated perspectives, views, philosophies, and ideologies. If gruesome treatment of others and self is considered acceptable behavior, not condemned, but expected and delivered as normal, what does this say of our culture? I shudder to think what it means to our future.

New Novel, Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO Mog stopped at the second floor landing, squatting on the railing. Rowan stopped, too, just out of sight as she waited for the boom of the door knocker. Within moments of hearing it, she saw Miss Emily cross the entry hall and disappear inside the foyer. She heard the grate rattle, then the gears [...]

To the Book Store

To the book store that wanted to order copies via the form on this website, the form is fixed, now. It seems that new security patches disabled the captcha, but that’s fixed now with a more user-friendly, supposedly unbreakable version in place.

New Novel Amid Chaos

With all that's going on in our family with Mom suffering continuing medical crises, one would think that my brain would be too preoccupied to conceive and organize a new novel. It seems, however, that novel writing is my brain's way of coping. So, even with Deborah's continuing nightmare with William cooking away in the sequels to To Inherit a Murderer, here's the beginning of yet another novel about an orphan boy with special "gifts," a single-parent teen with special "needs," and the "family" who takes them in, and, yes, it's another "wierd" one.

Chapter One

Nobody in town much liked West Gate or the Groves who owned it. Encompassing all of Gate Creek from its source to something the locals called The Plunge... .

Raw Gore, Explicit Cruelty, Debased Sex in Novels

Having mostly ignored Twitter, though I signed up months ago, I happened over to the place to block a hussy who was advertising her "wares" from following me...not that there's much to follow, mind you. In the process, I happened upon some old, unread messages from authors directed at me and checked out a couple of their novels. Lo, many were quite good. Others were well-written, but too obviously a very visceral kind of horror. I do not understand people who enjoy reading gore, explicitly violent, and visceral novels--graphic cruelty, gore, sex, or perverse violence. I mean, okay, graphic scenes are part of a book when needed, as is the intimate sex scene...when the story calls for it. But this stuff was uncalled for, in my opinion, because the violence wasn't an integral part of the plot and story, but rather added for titillating the reader's senses...if one can call gore and cruelty titillating (which I can't). If something happens in the violent scene that is key to the story climax or subsequent crises, then the scene belongs. But does the scene--any scene--belong when nothing happens in it other than graphic incidents, incidents that don't have any pertinence to anything later in the story? I don't think so. So, when applying the rule of "Cut everything that doesn't forward plot and story" in writing and editing fiction, why are these scenes populating so many books? Are readers that hungry for blood, gore, and perversion? I really don't think so. Those who do aren't the fiction reading majority, else these sorts of books would top the best sellers lists, and they don't. (...And, no, Liz, I'm not talking about Under the Bridge, which is very tame by comparison to some of this stuff.)

Back from Summer Hiatus

Coming back after a long summer hiatus, the first thing that strikes me is The Net Hasn’t Changed. At all. The second thing that strikes me is that writers haven’t changed…at all. (The industrious ones are still working hard, more than willing to hone their craft and perfect their manuscripts; the lazy [...]

Self-Publishing IS Better

I have a searing record for disdaining self-publishing. Now, I must recant my previous position. One week in, and the relief is palpable. No longer must I sit on manuscripts and stories, no longer must I think about pleasing editors, marketeers, and literary agents, no longer must I suffer spending an entire day composing yet another query letter, only to have a literary agent say, yes, they'd love to read it, then turn around and tell me that, yes, it's very well written, intense, engaging, riveting...BUT. But what? But they can't figure out how to place it or market it. I'm FREE. I can write for readers, not traditional publishing moguls. This is the very best thing to have happened to me when it comes to my career as an author. Why? Because I call the shots, now. And that's a pleasure. It means I can say what I want, how I want, when I want, and, if someone doesn't like it, they can say so, but it's not going to come back to me via frowns from my literary agent or house editor. Thank you. And apologies to all you independent authors out there who are worth your salt as novelists and short story writers. To you I own a bow and beg your forgiveness for my previous attitude. HOWEVER, to those independent "authors" who write tripe and trash and stuff that should never see print, I wish you'd all go play with your cell phones and your various sex toys instead of pushing your pulp on the fiction world.

Sold My First Copy of To Inherit a Murderer

It's official. I sold my first copy of To Inherit a Murderer. My thanks to the buyer, whoever they are. I hope you enjoy it. E. J.