Subject: Cold Flesh: Ask John Rector, Oct. 24-29

[hugonian]

Session: John Rector, Oct. 24-29

Instructions: Post a question for the author and wait for a reply. From Monday to Saturday, the author will peek in periodically to answer questions. If the author cannot answer your question before time expires, feel free to PM the author with your question.

This week’s author: John Rector “A Season of Sleep” has contributed fiction to several publications, including The Seattle Review, Black October Magazine, NFG, The Edge: Tales of Suspense, The 13th Warrior Review, Prose Ax, FlashQuake (1st place for fiction), and 42nd Parallel where he won the Porterhouse Prize for best fiction. He can be reached at johnrector@cox.net.

Q&A Schedule: See when other authors will be available--schedule of authors

Cold Flesh info: For more info regarding Cold Flesh, such as reviews and updates, please visit the official thread or the official website.

[hugonian]

John, tell us how you came up with the idea behind your Cold Flesh story, “A Season of Sleep.” What experience spurred the premise?

‘Season’ was a weird story for me. It was the first Horror story I ever wrote, and it didn’t start off that way. I had the opening for about a month but I had no idea what to do with the rest. I thought at the time it would be about a girl who sat on her porch and picked off her neighbors out of sheer boredom, but there’s only so far you can go with that. Still, I’d just moved to Nebraska from Colorado and I could sympathize with that motivation.

Around this time (about four years ago) there was a Zombie Anthology looking for Romero-ish stories as a tribute. I have always been a huge fan of the movies, so I tweaked the beginning and wrote the rest of the story in two days to fit the anthology. I submitted the story and they accepted it, and right after they did they went under due to lack of interest or something. Since then, the story has been through one rewrite that Black October requested, and Paul Fry was good enough to take the change for Cold Flesh, too. That way I could keep it the same in both places.

That’s been the strangest thing about this story. For two years no one would touch it because of the similarities to Romero. Even James Cain from Dark Animus (who has a story in the anthology) rejected it, but with a really inspiring ‘I want to see more’ note attached. Now, since Zombies are the new fad, I’ve had no trouble placing this story.

I think timing is important in publishing, and that’s definitely true with this story.

[hugonian]

In general, how do you generate story ideas? Also, how do you deal with writer's block?

Personally, I think “Writer’s Block” is a bullshit excuse not to write.

I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, but there is a huge difference between not having a decent idea or not knowing what should happen next in a story and true writer’s block.

Not having a good idea or being confused about a story is called writing. Everyone on every level of publishing struggles with this kind of thing because writing is hard work. The trick is to sit down and write through it.

I’ve noticed that most people (especially beginners) who want to write don’t like it when they find out how hard it can be, and they need an excuse for why they can’t do it. They figure if they chalk up their lack of productivity to “Writer’s Block” then they won’t feel like complete losers when they get up from their desk –having accomplished nothing- and go watch TV.

“I have Writer’s block” sounds better than “I’m Lazy” any day.

***

As far as story Ideas…

Ideas are usually not a problem for me. What I struggle with most is how to translate those ideas into a fictional structure that works. But structure is a completely different topic, so I’ll stick with what you asked.

If I’m stuck for an idea I’ll start with a sentence that grabs me. Usually, if I find the right sentence, it’s easy to add another and another until I start to see a bigger picture. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I'll get a complete story. Other times all I’ve got is a good paragraph or page or scene that has tension and good dialog or an original voice or whatever, but I’ll have no idea where to take the story. If that’s the case, I'll keep these on the side and go back to them at some point in the future. This was how ‘Season’ came around. I had the beginning and the rest was a blank to me for a long time, then one day I read it and I saw the entire story.

Most recently, I just finished a 3000 word story based around the image of a Texas redneck in a pickup truck screaming, "I need bones for ma Dawg, Boy! Bones for ma Dawg!" That was all I had in my head when I started, and it practically wrote itself.

Why some come so much easier than others, I have no idea.

[hugonian]

Originally Posted by jrector

Personally, I think “Writer’s Block” is a bullshit excuse not to write.

I agree. Whenever I’m stuck on a story, truly stuck, I just write something else. I let the story incubate, I let it fester. There is no excuse not to write--barring emergencies and the requisite “day off.”

With that said, I have another question. . . .

What is the best piece of advice you can give to beginning writers?

Originally Posted by hugonian

What is the best piece of advice you can give to beginning writers?

It’s the same answer everyone already knows, but it’s still the truth...

Write everyday: Set writing goals and meet them, and finish what you start.

Throw away your TV: Seriously. If writing everyday is rule #1 then getting rid of your TV is rule #1a. TV aims for the lowest common denominator in its audience. It rehashes cliché after cliché and it will destroy your imagination. I can’t tell you how many beginning writers I’ve read rehash Buffy or CSI or X-Files episodes and think they are being original. Turn it off and let your imagination develop on its own. There are way too many bad writers publishing books out there already. Don’t add to that group.

Read everyday: Understand the genre you want to write in, but make sure you read outside that genre just as often. I think everyone should read lit fiction. Not so much the contemporary crap because most of it is complete MFA drivel with no soul or fire to it, but the writers who not only had something to say but were incredible writers.

I know this is a horror board and people will probably ignore this idea, but if you’re serious about being a writer you should at least develop an understanding of what constitutes “good” fiction.

Here’s a small list of the books that inspired me to write. Not all are “literary” books, but all are well written and I learned a lot from them.

‘Lord of the Flies’ – William Golding.
‘Fahrenheit 451’ – Ray Bradbury
‘A Farewell to Arms’ – Earnest Hemingway
‘The Beach’ – Alex Garland
‘I Am Legend’ – Richard Matheson
‘Cruddy’ – Lynda Barry
‘Where I’m calling from’ – Raymond Carver



Also, don’t take advice from people unless they are doing better than you are, or they are paying you for your work.

If one of these people tells you something you’ve written doesn’t work, don’t get mad and tell them why they’re wrong because chances are they’re not. To be a writer you need to develop a thick skin or else you won’t last.

I’m not saying you need to blindly accept a person’s opinion just because they call themselves an editor. Jim-Bob-Joe, running a webzine out of his mother’s basement, probably isn’t someone you need to take seriously, but if Richard Chizmar (editor at Cemetery Dance) tells you your story sucks and he does you a favor by telling you why, you better damn well listen to him. Oh, and when an editor comments on something you’ve written, they ARE doing you a favor and you should be grateful. Thank them regardless of whether you agree with them or not.


Finally, avoid college workshops and MFA programs. This new trend is responsible for more dull and lifeless writing than anything in history. I think this scam has come around because Art in America is frowned upon (unless it makes $$$) and people feel they need to validate their desire to write by getting a degree, which is bullshit. Do yourself a favor, save your $50K, and do it on your own.

Also, when you write in a mixed workshop, chances are you’re deleting the uniqueness from your story to meet with the group’s approval. That’s bad. Unless you can find a group of like minded people to work with, you’d do best to avoid workshops all together.

Writing is solitary, and as nice as it is to get instant feedback, it can be a trap. A lot of people find they can’t write outside of the workshop environment because they’ve become addicted to the quick response. Writing and publishing is about waiting. Get used to it. I waited two years from submission to publication for Cold Flesh, and I've had the same experience with other print publications.

That's just the way it works if you want to be in print.

To start, thank you for your time and commitment!

As a beginner, one thing I seem to always struggle with is writing dialogs. What are some things a beginner could do to write more effective dialogs? Would buying "how to write dialog" reference books at bookstores be my best route or are there any certain techniques used by writers that help with forming believable dialogs?

~nyte

Originally Posted by nyteKrawlerr

What are some things a beginner could do to write more effective dialogs? Would buying "how to write dialog" reference books at bookstores be my best route or are there any certain techniques used by writers that help with forming believable dialogs?

~nyte

I think dialog is a problem for a lot of beginning writers, and I'm sorry but I don’t have a lot of advice for you. Dialog is tricky. I know there are some good habits you can develop in relation to attribution and beats and how to build tension and conflict through speech, but as with everything other aspect of writing, you will only improve through a ton of practice.

The more you write and the more you read, the more you see what works and what doesn't. Eventually, I believe anyone can write passable dialog. But if you want to be a master at it like Elmore Leonard or Ross Macdonald, then I think you need to be born with an ear for it.

Another way to improve your dialog is by reading and analyzing the writers who do it well. Like I mentioned before, you can't go wrong with Elmore Leonard. I’d suggest getting one of his books and then studying how he reveals character and story and mood through speech. Also, pay close attention to what his characters don’t say. Sometimes what is left out in dialog is just as important as what is said.

I'd suggest getting either 'Freaky Deaky' or 'Glitz' by Elmore Leonard. Go out to Amazon.com and read the opening chapter to 'Freaky Deaky' and see what I mean about his dialog.


As far as how-to-write books go, the only one I feel strongly about is 'Self Editing for Fiction Writers’ by Browne and King. This book is good for any writer, beginner or not. It's filled with excellent advice on all aspects of good writing, including dialog. And, they have a section on beats that is worth the price of the book by itself.

Good luck.

[hugonian]

Originally Posted by jrector

Another way to improve your dialog is by reading and analyzing the writers who do it well.

Also, eavesdrop. Overhearing natural conversations will develop your ear. But one caveat: dialogue only reflects true speech in how it sounds; the content differs because you must omit trivialities. If your dialogue fails to characterize, relay information, or advance plot (superior dialogue achieves all three), cut or revise it.

Hi John. Dug your story. Couple things: Have to disagree with your assessment of MFA programs. I'm in one, and it's been a great experience so far. Quality depends on the school/program, of course, and the work a person is willing to put into it. Being surrounded by talented, like-minded artists can be inspiring. Hey, you never know what'll help. On the other hand, I agree with tossing away the tube. I don't have cable for that very reason...just rabbit ears and the local networks. I get much more done that way.