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Literary Underworld Ramblings

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If this writing doesn’t work out, maybe Shrews and I can become a pro wrestling tag team.


In an effort to raise awareness of our consortium of writers at the Literary Underworld, we’re offering guest blog appearances on the craft of writing.  Today, Steven Shrewsbury invades the Ramblings with his ideas on violence in writing.  If you haven’t read any of his work, please check out his books at http://www.literaryunderworld.com/  Use this code LUBLOGTOUR  and receive a special discount on your purchase.  Thanks for supporting independent authors.  Without further ado, here’s Shrews:

TEMPERING THE BLADES?

I’m author Steven Shrewsbury and I’m filling in today. Let’s talk violence.

I’ve been told that my sword & sorcery works and horror novels are too violent. Some say the violence is extreme and shouldn’t be put in such close quarters where sexual situations just occurred, much less dialogue with God or demons. My usual answer to these statements is, “Ever read the Bible?”

Now, my work could never be confused with Biblical scripts, but I mention this to let the reader know they might need to grow a pair. Okay, it’s only a story. It cannot hurt the reader. Much. Yes, sometimes violence one reads can stay with a casual reader, an act so revolting or crazy it pops up in the mind later at work or during dinner. Fine. While that isn’t what I go for, to gross out or make the smashed potatoes hit the wall via projectile vomiting, I do desire to entertain and tell a story that might last in the mind. One might say, “That Shrews, he goes to far.” However others say, “That Shrews, I bet he’s a crazy bastard. I bet he’s fun to have a beer with.” It’s the latter. Trust me. Most days, anyhow.

That said, even a writer who likes to sling the entrails and mix up heads on bodies after decapitations feels that tempering the violence is a good idea. If the story degenerates into describing battles or an act of murder over and over with such vapid detail, at times, one will wonder if the writer penned it with his pants around his ankles. It’s my natural inclination to use humor (albeit dark at times) along with the violence and spread it out as the story unfolds, but also to make it credible. I’m not using Green Lantern Rings or powers endowed by a Yellow Sun, but usually iron and steel. Things bend and break under such force and usually, its more fun to describe the will behind the steel that made such an incision.

Real life is screwier than fiction, I’ve heard tell. I’ve never been in a sword fight in my life, and I bet that’d be pretty scary to face down a man (or woman) who has been. That is reality, not pulling a blade and making a mess. The person behind the instrument can invoke bravery or cowardice.

What one will do in a given situation, that is interesting. Wouldn’t one want to run? Sure. Would we really stand and fight if given the chance? Maybe. I love to relate the story of the hero in Robert E. Howard’s “The HOOVED THING” for it is set against the usual H.P. Lovecraft setting: New England, unspeakable horror, a monster out to get us all. This time, though, the main guy isn’t an erudite man from Mass who will commit suicide rather than face the ultimate horror. The lead character in Howard’s tale (shockingly) is a strapping Texan who grabs from a curio cabinet a sword blessed by a saint (lucky!!!) and decides, screw it, I must fight this thing or it will kill everyone else. Do or die, gung ho! The line “Fear can become so intense it defeats itself.” What courage. What a guy. What balls. Ya gotta root for that fella and hope YOU have that kind of stones in such a case. It isn’t high art, but it makes the point, literally.

Is violence bad? Sure. It hurts. Emotional scars run pretty deep, and might last longer than the Vicoden can ebb away a broken limb. Frankly, I’ll say what many might not want to: Violence is good for a story, and it makes it more interesting if used properly. Forget S&S or horror, but pure action or thrillers, a fight breaks out or the weapon is drawn, the game is afoot like a motherf—okay, I already did a blog on foul language in fiction, so I digress.

So temper the violence, folks, and try to entertain. Many can do it. Now, I’m off to try and figure out how to write a vampire work without bloodshed or lots of violence. Dunno if that can be done, but I hear racks of books are being sold by authors penning vampy romances, apparently writing with condoms over their heads. Wish me luck. What will come out will probably be a really blood-soaked, brutally real look at the genre, but I promise you this: It won’t be boring and the only sparkling with be the glisten off the blood pooling on the floor tiles in waning candlelight.

Cheers from Central IL

Steven Shrewsbury

Author of OVERKILL, THRALL, HELL BILLY, BEDLAM UNLEASHED and HAWG.

http://sshrewsbury.wordpress.com/

General Posts

The Writers’ Workshop Ramblings

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The Writers’ Workshop of Science Fiction and Fantasy

In seeking publication for his newest workshop project, Bram Stoker award-winning editor Michael Knost sought a small press, for the care and enthusiasm a good one harbors for the genre and its fellow writers. Seventh Star Press is that kind of publisher, bringing its own love for science fiction and fantasy to the project, and its “got your back” attitude for genre writers and other small and independent presses.

Seventh Star Press is very excited about the opportunity to release this project, but as it is one outside of our originally projected 2012 publishing schedule, a little help from outside is needed to bring this project to fruition.

Perhaps the first question that comes to your mind, if encountering us for the first time, is:  Who is Seventh Star Press?

Formed in the fall of 2008, Seventh Star Press is a respected speculative fiction publisher based in Lexington, KY, boasting works from such authors as Jackie Gamber, Michael West, D.A. Adams, Steven Shrewsbury, David Blalock, R.J. Sullivan, J.L. Mulvihill, and Stephen Zimmer.  The press also features two highly-acclaimed, award-winning artists, Matthew Perry and Bonnie Wasson, whose creative work is featured on the covers and interiors of all SSP releases.

Now that you have a little more of an idea about us, we would like to introduce you to the particulars of this proposed book project.

The Writers’ Workshop of Science Fiction and Fantasy is a collection of essays and interviews with some of most influential names in the industry; each article covering a specific element of the craft of writing science fiction and fantasy.  The collaborators in this wonderful anthology include:

Neil Gaiman — “Where Do You Get Your Ideas?”

Orson Scott Card — “On Rhetoric and Style.”

Lou Anders — “Nebulous Matters, or Speculations on Subgenre.”

Lucy Snyder — “Ursula K. LeGuin Talks About A Lifetime in the Craft.”

James Gunn — “Beginnings.”

George Zebrowski — “Middles.”

Jay Lake — “Endings.”

Nayad Monroe — “Tim Powers Talks About Writing Supernatural Awe and More.”

Pam Sargent — “Talking Too Much, or Not Enough: Dialogue in Science Fiction and Fantasy.”

Geoff Fuller –– “How Alien the Alien: A Primer on Viewpoint.”

Nancy Kress — “The Green-Skinned Zorn Laughed With Grief: Character and Emotion in Science Fiction and Fantasy.”

Harry Turtledove — “Alternate History: the How-To of What Might Have Been.”

Kelly Green — “Larry Niven Talks About the Collaborative Process.”

Joe Haldeman — “Hemingway Talks About Writing.”

Nisi Shawl — “Unbending Gender.”

Alan Dean Foster — “Reverse Engineering: Writing Novelizations.”

Alethea Kontis — “Kevin J. Anderson Talks About Spin-off Novels and Prequels.”

Elizabeth Bear –– “Tactics of Worldbuilding.”

Jackie Gamber–“Ann and Jeff Vandermeer Talk About Weird Fiction”

Michael Knost — Short fiction editors Ellen Datlow, Stanley Schmidt, Gordon Van Gelder, James Patrick Kelly, Mike Resnick, and John Joseph Adams discuss what they are looking for when reading submissions.

Levels of Participation

There are seven levels of participation, six of which involve receiving a version of the book, ranging from the eBook to a limited hardcover edition.  We invite you to look over the various levels and rewards in this campaign, the core of which serve effectively as a pre-order offer for The Writers’ Workshop of Science Fiction and Fantasy.

What does the money raised in this campaign go towards?

The money raised in this campaign goes towards paying pro-rates for collaborators, as well as cover art fees and other hard costs involved in producing this title.  It will be issued in a limited hardcover edition, softcover, and various eBook formats.

How You Can Help Further

We encourage tweeting, posting, sharing, and we happily do interviews too!

You can join with us in bringing writers a wealth of insight and writing advice in a book that is rich in premium content.  Take a look at the seven options we have for this campaign and come aboard today!

General Posts

Tuesday Morning Ramblings

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This is my opinion and nothing more.  I don’t typically write advice to other writers or aspiring writers because it feels too pretentious on my part.  Also, the world is already full of authorities who spend the majority of their time and energy telling others how to write, but this particular topic is rather important to me, so here goes:

Writing at its essence is a solitary endeavor, one of the most intimately solitary activities a person can do.  If you need applause and cheers to motivate you to create, you should be a musician or a stage actor, not a writer.  Live performers have live audiences.  Writers spend the vast majority of their creative time alone staring at a computer screen or notepad, allowing ideas to flow through them onto their medium, with virtually no feedback from anyone until after the project is complete.  This solitude can lasts weeks, sometimes even months or years, before an author gets feedback on their project, and usually that first round of feedback is from an editor or first reader who points out most of your mistakes.  It can take literally years before your work reaches its intended audience, if it ever does.

If you need instant gratification, prose writing is not the creative endeavor for you.

That’s not meant to be harsh or put anyone off from attempting to write.  However, it’s a basic reality all serious writers must accept.  You will create alone in a vacuum with no promise of your work ever being read by the people you want to reach.  If that seems too daunting, do something else with your time and save yourself a lifetime of frustration.  Writing is not a glamorous profession.  It’s not hip or cool or sexy.  It’s damned hard work that requires a level of commitment and personal sacrifice that can crack the souls of even the most ambitious and talented who attempt it.

I’m a writer.  At the core of my soul, that’s who I am.  For twenty-two years, I’ve dedicated my life to learning my craft, honing my skills, practicing, failing, getting up, failing again, trying harder, failing again, absorbing criticism, learning, growing, failing even more, and scratching out a meager existence.  A smarter person would’ve given up years ago, but my Scots-Irish obstinate nature won’t allow me to quit.  I’m proud of each and every small victory of my career, but those are not what motivate me to write.  I do it because I must, because the story and the characters demand to be shared.

As I wrote book four this summer, I posted updates each night on Facebook and Twitter to let my friends and readers know how the book was coming.  I did this not because I needed their “likes” and words of encouragement but because, after the years of delays that plagued books two and three, I wanted to assure them that I was working as hard as I could to make certain book four was completed on time.  While their feedback was appreciated, it wasn’t needed for motivation.  The only sustainable motivation is that which comes from within.  External motivators are temporary bandages that can never bolster long-term success.

All that said, if you want to write and need writers’ groups or NaNoWriMo or any other social network to prop up your self-esteem to get you through the draft, then, by all means, use whatever helps you.  If you need to dream of instant riches and overnight arrival to keep you focused, then dream of those things.  You may be that one-in-a-million who gets lucky and has sudden success, but in my experience and after a lifetime of studying the careers of other writers, I know the odds say you will be disappointed.  As for me, I’ll write because I have to.  I’ll follow my personal process for self-discipline.  I’ll edit and spit and polish until I’m tired of looking at the words.  And then, I’ll do it one more time just for good measure.  After I’m happy with the manuscript, I’ll send my baby out into the world to be enjoyed, criticized, praised, ripped apart, lauded, and laughed at.  I will do all of this with no expectations of monetary reward or literary awards or delusions of immortality.  I’ll do it simply because it’s who I am.  I’ll do it because I’m a writer.