This month, ‘Ty-ing Up the Genre’ on Hellnotes dot com, brought in Adam P. Lewis to interview the legendary, Joe R. Lansdale. You can read the interview here.
Enjoy!
Archive for the Advice For Writers Category
Ty-ing Up the Genre with Joe R. Lansdale
Posted in Advice For Writers, Published Works with tags books, writing on January 18, 2011 by Ty SchwambergerGuidance from the Dark Scribe – January 2011
Posted in Advice For Writers, Published Works with tags magazines, writing on January 3, 2011 by Ty SchwambergerYou can read the article, ‘The Other Side(s) of Writing’, in Issue #11 by clicking here. The article starts on Page 4.
This may be just the kick in the ass that you need to get off your duff in 2011 and start writing like a loon that’s just broke outta the bin.
Ty-ing Up the Genre with John Everson
Posted in Advice For Writers, Published Works with tags books, writing on August 17, 2010 by Ty SchwambergerThis month, ‘Ty-ing Up the Genre’ on Hellnotes dot com, brought in John Everson to write a guest article – ‘Why Do You Wanna Write Horror?’
New Column for Morpheus Tales Magazine
Posted in Advice For Writers, Published Works with tags magazines, writing on July 30, 2010 by Ty SchwambergerMorpheus Tales is a leading horror, science fiction and fantasy print magazine based in the United Kingdom. They publish their magazine quarterly in January, April, July and October of each year. They have included interviews and fiction from leading authors; Joe R. Lansdale, Michael Laimo, Christopher Golden, Ray Garton, among others. Along side their quarterly print edition, they have a free pdf download on their website each month of the Reviews Supplement, which is a mini-magazine, featuring non-fiction, interviews, columns, articles and book reviews.
It’s in the Reviews Supplement that beginning in October you’ll find my new column, ‘Guidance from the Dark Scribe’. In each column I’ll talk about practical writing advice, infused with my own personal experience and knowledge of the horror genre. I will provide links here and add them under the Published Works page as the articles become available in October 2010 and January, April and July of 2011.
Stay tuned!
So You Want To Be A Fiction Writer
Posted in Advice For Writers, Appearances with tags writing on July 21, 2010 by Ty Schwamberger‘So You Want To Be A Fiction Writer’ – is the next class I am teaching at the University of Akron (Ohio) come this Fall. You can now visit UA’s site and read the class description, class topics, location, dates and times and cost by clicking here. The ‘textbook’ I will be using for the class will again be Writers Workshop of Horror edited by Michael Knost. You can then go to the top of the page and use their Online Registration to sign up and pay for the class.
For those of you that are seriously interested in the class below is the Class Objective & Outline what will be covered during the 5 class meetings.
Learning Objectives –
Some of the skills that will be taught during these sessions include:
- Turning your idea into a book or short story
- Developing characters, plot, pace, and more
- How to stay focused and avoid distractions
- Finding time to write with a busy schedule
- How to find a Publisher
- How to promote your work after it has been accepted and released by a Publisher
Topical Outline –
- Turning your idea into a book or short story
- How to come up with ideas that a general audience or a particular niche would enjoy
- How to expand on a general story idea and be able to compose an effective novel or short story from it.
- How to organize your thoughts so they are coherent throughout the entire story
- Developing characters, plot, pace, and more
- How to write believable but fascinating characters
- How to format your plot so that readers will stay focused on the story
- How to space out character descriptions, action, sub-plots and general scenes while not making it boring for the reader
- How to stay focused and avoid distractions
- How to find your own time to write without the worry of outside distractions of a busy life
- How to keep your eye ‘on the prize’
- Finding time to write with a busy schedule
- How to find time each and every day to write if it is your passion
- How to find a Publisher
- Where to look for a publisher of books and magazines that accept short stories
- To self-publish or not
- How to promote your work after it has been accepted and released by a Publisher
- How to use all the media outlets; magazines, the internet, radio, newspapers, etc, to market and promote yourself and your work
So, if you live in the Greater Cleveland/Akron area and are truly interested in being a horror writer or just an overall better writer in whatever your chosen genre might be, this class may be just right for you!
Ty-ing Up the Genre with Jeff Strand
Posted in Advice For Writers, Published Works with tags novels, writing on July 20, 2010 by Ty SchwambergerThis month, ‘Ty-ing Up the Genre’ on Hellnotes dot com, brought in Jeff Strand to write a guest article – ‘The Scariest Thing Imaginable: Rejection’.
Enjoy!
Free Online Class with Michael Knost
Posted in Advice For Writers with tags writing on July 13, 2010 by Ty SchwambergerOn Friday, July 16th at 9:00pm eastern time, Michael Knost will host a Free online class on manuscript formatting. If you’re serious about becoming a complete writer this is definitely a class you should attend.
More information on the class can be found here.
Today’s Required Reading
Posted in Advice For Writers with tags writing on June 25, 2010 by Ty SchwambergerToday, literary agent, Rachelle Gardner, discusses ‘Write from Your Heart? or Follow Trends?’ on her blog. You can read the post by clicking here.
The Michael Knost Commandments for Fiction Writing
Posted in Advice For Writers with tags writing on June 18, 2010 by Ty SchwambergerPer Michael’s permission to post it here…
The Michael Knost Commandments for Fiction Writing
1. Thou shalt have something to say.
2. Thou shalt populate thy story with living individuals, not
characters.
3. Thou shalt give thy protagonist a want.
4. Thou shalt allow an antagonist to (at least temporarily) keep thy
protagonist from obtaining that want.
5. Thou shalt avoid temptations of clichés, puns, info-dumps, and
dream endings.
6. Thou shalt slay adverbs and adjectives with the jawbone of an ass.
7. Thou shalt research everything.
8. Thou shalt ensure thy words perform double and/or triple duties
when possible.
9. Thou shalt circumcise excess.
10. Thou shalt never remind the reader she is reading.
Ty-ing Up the Genre with Jason Sizemore
Posted in Advice For Writers, Published Works with tags books, magazines, publishers on June 17, 2010 by Ty SchwambergerFor June, ‘Ty-ing Up the Genre’ on Hellnotes dot com brought in guest, Maggie Jamison, to interview Jason Sizemore with Apex Publications.
You can read the interview by clicking here.
