I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
The Published Ramblings of a Confused Michiganian |
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I just had the pleasure of speaking to a grade school class about writing. Sometimes I forget how curious and intelligent children can be. They were genuinely interested not only in the subject matter of my books but also had questions about my writing process! I was gobsmacked by how much they wanted to know and how much they understood. Now, I know that not every kid I spoke to is going to run out and become a writer, but maybe if they hear about what it takes to be a writer and about the writing process, they will be more interested in reading. And we all know that most kids could stand to read more. I highly encourage other writers out there to share their passion for writing with children whenever you can. The way I see it, it can only lead to good things. Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness! We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words. I Write to Burn Off the Crazy. A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing. It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
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So, I've known of Ken MacGregor and stalked him at other cons for some time now, but I don't think that we've ever really intersected until the Pupal Writers Panel at Penguicon this year. Soft-spoken, charming, funny; you would never guess that he writes eloquently disturbing horror stories. That fact is made even more amusing (to me at least) by the weird association I have with him and Mr. McGregor from The Tales of Peter Rabbit (though I guess Mr. McGregor did want to put Peter in a pie and eat him, so maybe the association isn't that far off)...anyways, here's author Ken MacGregor in three questions. 1. What do you wish that people would ask you about your writing? - How does it make you feel? I get "Why do you write that stuff?" and "Where do you get your ideas?" (naturally - everyone gets that), but nobody ever asks me how writing makes me feel. Most of the time, I love the process of creation. Most especially, of course, when it's flowing freely from my mind and onto the page. But, even when it's more challenging; I still enjoy the process. Writing horror, especially, is cathartic. I get all of my aggression, frustration, annoyance out on the page. I'm a much more laid-back guy because of it, I think. 2. Which of your characters would you most like to meet and why? -I've been asked this before, and my answer hasn't changed. Gavin the werewolf, who appears in two short stories and a novel (that last is pending publication), would definitely be my first choice. I've created some others I thought were amazing, and I'd like to sit down and shoot the breeze with them, too. Of course, some of my characters are the kind of folks who are just as likely to stab you in the head with a garden tool as buy the next round. Those folks, I'd just as soon not spend time with. But, Gavin is super cool. He's my boy. 3. I've heard about your editing chops and anti-exclamation point campaign. Why do you feel so strongly about that particular punctuation? -Ha! It's funny to me that I have this reputation. Really, that I have a reputation as an editor at all is funny. I've only been doing it for a little over a year now. Okay. I'll try to explain. Exclamation points make a sentence jump off the page like a shout. They should be used in cases of dire need only, to really get an urgent point across, to hammer it home. If you're dropping them all over the manuscript, it creates a heightened state of anxiety in the reader. At some point (quickly, too), they become acclimated to it, and no longer feel the impact. So, my rule is: one exclamation point per short story. I will bend on this rarely, when I think there is more than one instance of insanely heightened tension, and there's no better way of illustrating it. But, really? There's almost always a better way. One is plenty. A single, well-placed exclamation point draws the eye. It gets the reader's attention. It lets them know, Hey! This is important. Notice it. A glut of them is like watching a movie where everyone screams the dialog all the way through. It's exhausting. Ken MacGregor's work has appeared in dozens of anthologies, magazines and podcasts. His story collection, "An Aberrant Mind" is available online and in select bookstores. He co-wrote a novel (pending publication) with Kerry G.S. Lipp and they are working on a sequel. Ken is a member of The Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers and an Affiliate member of HWA. He edits an annual anthology for the former. You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Amazon and at ken-macgregor.com. Ken lives in Michigan with his family and two cats, one of whom is dead, but we don't hold that against her. Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness! We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words. I Write to Burn Off the Crazy. A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing. It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again. Well, it's that time again. What time? Time for another Awesome Author Interview! This time I'd like to introduce you to Alex Kourvo (a.k.a. M.H. Mead). I met Alex at Confusion this year on our panel Forensics and the Science of Crime, and found her to be fun, witty, and a delightful co-panelist. We met up again this year at Penguicon on several more panels and I was lucky enough to get her to sign my copy of her novel "Taking the Highway." Let me introduce you. Questions: 1) What do you wish people would ask you about your writing? What's the first thing you ever wrote? The first thing I wrote was Star Wars fan fiction. I was in fifth grade and Star Wars had made a huge impression on me. I wanted more stories set in that world. Specifically, I wanted more of the robots! To my ten year old self, they were the real stars of the show and didn't get nearly enough screen time. So I wrote my own stories of the adventures of C3P0 and R2D2. Of course, back then, I had no idea what fan fiction was, or that years later there would be a whole community of people writing this stuff. Now, I kind of wish I'd saved those early efforts. 2) Which of your characters would you most like to meet and why? My co-author and I have written lots of fun characters, from a charming cop in TAKING THE HIGHWAY to a master hacker in FATE'S MIRROR. But my favorite has to be Aidra Scott, a single mom and PI who stars in THE CALINE CONSPIRACY and LIVING ALL DAY. I love Aidra's common sense and awesome parenting skills and funny one-liners. More importantly, I feel like I know her. It's never hard to think up what Aidra would say or do. I just know. 3) How did you come up with the "pie slices" explanation for your blog, Writing Slices? My blog, Writing Slices, reviews how-to books for writers. I give each book a traditional 1-5 star rating, but I also give it pie slices. The rating is a straightforward measure of quality, but the pie slices tells you what kind of book it is. Is it a book to help you with craft, business, or inspiration? The reason I use pie slices is because I'm crazy about key lime pie. I was going to say that if you don't like key lime pie, you can't be my friend, but that's not true. Because if my friends don't like key lime pie, then that's all the more for me! Alex Kourvo has written numerous short stories under her own name and four novels under the name M.H. Mead. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with two other humans and sometimes a dog. Her newest novel LIVING ALL DAY, came out last month. To find out more about Alex, or to read some of her free short fiction, visit http://alexkourvo.com. Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness! We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words. I Write to Burn Off the Crazy. A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing. It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again. So Penguicon 2016 came and went in a crazy tornado and now here we are one week out and I'm still reeling. We arrived at the Southfield Westin around 6pm Friday night, promptly checked into the hotel and then ran around like crazy people for roughly the next 48 hours (and that doesn't include the running around like crazy people to get ready for the con). Friday highlights for me included Scott's Editing for Your Spouse panel, getting my books shelved at the Writer's Block, and attending the Demon Lobster Sanity Claws Podcast (SO VERY VERY VERY NSFW!!!) You may think that you hear Scott and my voices on this podcast, but let me assure you that you are wrong...cough cough... Anyways, highlights on Saturday included immersing myself in the literature track and attending and being on panels with some of the coolest, nicest, most talented authors around. Authors like Jim and Janice Leach, Ken MacGregor, Michael Cieslak, Alex Kourvo, Christian Klaver, Clif Flynt, Christopher Purrett, Mary Lynne Gibbs, Andrea Johnson, Catherynne Valente, Sean M. Davis, Michael W. Lucas, Robert Kroese, Mark Oshiro, Jeff Pryor, Christine Daigle, Stewart Sternberg, and so many others! Scott and I also had a blast at the Geek Prom though it was very poorly attended. :( There was a bit of badness when one of the room parties down the hall was blaring music into the hallway until 2:30am, but after that the music mysteriously ceased (*whistles innocently*). Sunday was more low key although Scott and I still both had panels to be on, and the highlight was having lunch with friends and fellow authors Ericka Kahler and Skeeter Enright (both featured on this blog previously in Awesome Author Interviews). To recap: fun was had, little sleep was gotten, a few books were sold (THANK YOU!!!), friendships were rekindled, and overall it was another great con. :) You should've been there. ;) Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness! We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words. I Write to Burn Off the Crazy. A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing. It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again. |
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