Me?

Another year, another blog post (that’s how often you’re supposed to blog, right? Just once a year? I think that’s how it’s done).

2017 was a very interesting year for me. Although I didn’t make my deadline for the new book, I did have one of the most productive years of my writing career.

“But J, your output makes Axl Rose look prolific!”

This is true. But I’m talking about productivity in terms of the development of my style and technique. In that case, I’ve been quite prolific. In fact, my style and technique have changed more in the last twelve months than it has in the last twenty years. How? I did something quite revolutionary:

I started asking myself for help.   

It’s been a strange journey over the last few years. First, I quit pantsing and decided to become a plotter. Then I became disillusioned with plotting after I realized that 99% of how-to writing books are written by people who’ve only written how-to writing books. They’ve never written a successful novel and wouldn’t know how if their lives depended upon it.

So I chucked most of what I’d learned and combined what remained into a strange hybrid called plantsing (a mix of pantsing and plotting).

Plantsing worked for me. And it would continue to work unless I found a new structural problem. If that happened, I’d have a real dilemma. But what were the odds of that happening?

Right?

Right!

Back in February, I faced a big structural problem. The kind of scenes I wanted to write just didn’t fit with my existing method of structuring. Either I would have to change the content of my scenes and keep the existing structure, or chuck the existing structuring method and create a new one to fit the scenes I wanted to write.

I didn’t want to change the content. Changing the content would tear a big hole in the plot.

So, I had no choice. I’d have to change the pre-existing structure. But how? I couldn’t go back to those writing books; they’d just lead me down a path of self-doubt or, worse, cause me to write a cookie-cutter scene with no life.

After a mild panic attack, I asked myself: “Well … if I could create my own structure … what kind of structure would I create?”

And my brain whirred to a stop.

It actually paused for a moment.

What kind of structure would I create?

Me?

No, no, no. That was a preposterous question. I was just some indie writer with one book under his belt. People like me don’t come up with new ways to structure scenes. Professors of literature do that, and qualified people like…

Like…

Like all those goobers who wrote all those how-to writing books?

I sat and thought about that. Those goobers weren’t qualified to create new ways of structuring a scene. They weren’t best-selling authors. They were (I’m assuming) mostly educated in marketing. So, if they could come up with a method, why couldn’t I? Something tailored just for me?

I decided to give it a try. I tore apart the structure of a scene. I re-worked it, simplified it…

And it worked.

Whoa.

WHOA.

It was my Neo moment. Remember when he watches Morpheus leap from one building to the next?

Whoa.

After scene structure, I moved on to plot structure. And then style, character development, narrative description, everything! On and on and on, one by one, month after month, I asked myself what could work. And I haven’t stopped. Only last week I started ripping apart my method of writing dialogue.  

And it’s still working.

Have I discarded everything from those writing books? Oh, no. Some writing advice is as old as Aristotle, and it’s still used by writers because it works. But I’ve kicked most “recent” advice to the curb.

If you’re struggling with your writing, ask yourself what’s blocking you. Is it you, or are you trying to contort your story so that it adheres to the “36 Laws of Writing Success” or the “5 Secrets of Best-Selling Authors” or some method with a silly name like the “Camel Method” or the “Snowball Method” or the “Power Pyramid of Plotting Potential.”

Get rid of that junk. Create your own structure. Stop giving money to those hacks.

Don’t believe that trusting your own way could yield results? Could Stephen King or Ray Bradbury persuade you?

Scour “On Writing” and “Zen in the Art of Writing,” and you’ll find no mention of the myriad of fiction teachers that have dominated the industry over the past 50 years. It seems that both King and Bradbury, outside of grammar, pretty much adhered to their own method.  They relied upon their own intelligence to create a story.

Sure, you say, but that’s freakin’ Stephen King and frackin’ Ray Bradbury.

Yes, but King used to be a 28-year-old janitor living in a trailer park. Bradbury was a 30-year-old short-story writer who had to rent a typewriter (at 10 cents for every half hour) because he couldn’t afford to buy his own.

That janitor followed his own method and wrote “Carrie.”

That short-story writer followed his own method and wrote “Fahrenheit 451” on that rented typewriter.

Not bad for two writers who didn’t follow the “36 Laws of Writing Success.”

If you still don’t believe you can build your own structure, consider this: As a writer, you create worlds out of nothing. Worlds. So, you can do that, but you can’t create a simple method that is reliable, increases productivity, and allows your story to thrive?

Come on. Don’t lie to me.

Don’t lie to yourself. 

I Quite Like It

Happy New Year! It turns out that I am still alive and writing. What a relief!  

Now, I’ve had a few inquiries about the new book. I’m happy to report that I am on the 3rd draft, which is the final major draft and also my technical draft (in which every word is scrutinized, and whatever needs to be peeled away is peeled, and whatever needs to be added is debated, and my inner grammarian shouts at me). This means that, if all goes well, I should have the book finished by the end of March. Considering that my last book came out in 2011, I am eager to get this one finished.  

It’s going very well, and this terrifies me. I’m not used to any book going well.  I’m used to a brawl. Sure, I've had a few panic attacks over this book, but nothing major. Is that a good sign? I hope so. 

Maybe the "going well" part has something to do with my new writing style. I stumbled upon something interesting back in 2014, but I didn’t know what to do with it, so I fumbled with it for a while until I finally saw a pattern. And now that pattern is my style. It’s probably not original—I assume I cobbled it together from a hundred different writers—but it gives me a little more room to play with imagery. And I quite like it.

It may also have something to do with Hemingway. I recently spent some time researching Hemingway's use of minimalism (a subject near and dear to my heart), and I ended up doing a deep dive into the topic of literary impressionism. Basically, literary impressionism is the idea that emotions can be implied by using the external environment to represent the internal. According to the theory (championed by Ezra Pound), this allows the reader to create whatever emotions he or she needs in order to understand the scene. This, in turn, creates a stronger emotional impact.

I really like this idea because it reminds me of “The 50% Rule” for description in a scene. This rule states that if you describe around 50% of a scene’s setting (or a character’s physical description), the reader will fill in the other 50% with his or her imagination, leading to a much more vivid scene in the reader’s mind. It’s one of my favorite magic tricks, and I’ve used it for years.

But literary impressionism takes this idea to the extreme, and Hemingway was such a disciple of it that his writing could sometimes (in my opinion) take on a stilted, wooden, and unemotional characteristic. Although I don't think I'd ever take it as far as he did, I think I can add it to the mix, just like Fitzgerald did in Gatsby, or Stephen Crane did in "The Red Badge of Courage."

In other happy news: That sci-fi novel that I had to abandon back in 2015? I have an idea on how to save it. All it needs is a trim of about 40k and a new ending. Easy peasy. I think I’ll try it, if for no other reason than to justify the four years I worked on it. And maybe there’s still a psychic “gut punch” associated with it that I need to heal.

What else? Oh! My PEI fantasy novel is still waiting for its 2nd draft. I hope to work on that in the spring. And then it’s either on to the next draft of a novella, or I decide to give my sci-fi novel its new ending.

So, anyway, I’m still alive and writing.

J. Birch, Epic … Plantser?

In my last post, I talked about the failed book that I quit after 4 years of writing, rewriting, and editing. When I wrote that post, I was still reeling from the experience of crashing and burning on such a long project. However, I said that I would get up again, and I have.

And the experience has been fantastic.

Sometimes, one must hit a kind of rock bottom before gaining a moment of clarity. Looking back on my pre-crash, I can see how tied up I’d become in writing the "right" way. Although writing, like any art, is full of guidelines, I began to see those guidelines as rules. This, of course, can have two effects. One, it can aid in writing more clearly (and it did), but it can also constrict creativity until it chokes.

A typical discussion in my brain: 

“I want to write this scene this way but I can’t because rule 786 of How to Write the Masterpiece That Will Make You Instantly Rich and Famous by Billy-Bob McHack says that you can’t structure a scene this way. So I’ll have to write it another way, even though I won't like it.”

Yup. After 17 years of writing, I got caught in that terribly destructive mindset. 

So my book crashed, and I crashed.

But then two amazing things happened. One, I read “Story Trumps Structure” by Steven James. This book emphasizes writing from the gut and following the logical path of your characters. Which is interesting, because that's how I had finished Gasher Creek in the first place (and then dismissed that method as too simplistic. Yarg.). 

Second, I read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I’ve read it before, but that was back in high school when my head was stuffed full of study points and suffocating symbolism (West Egg means birth, Gatsby is God or Hamlet or capitalism, etc.). As a result, I couldn't just enjoy it as a reader. 

So, I re-read it a couple months ago, and it was a revelation. Not only because it's brilliant and deserves all the kudos it gets, but because it represents an era in fiction when writers were unafraid to experiment with form, structure, character, and dialogue. Gatsby is fast, fun, dizzy, and it somehow flows beautifully despite being written half a century before all those how-to writing books enlightened us on the "proper" way to write.

So how did Fitzgerald do it? He wrote from the gut (and, apparently, the liver), following the logical flow of his characters and refusing to constrict his own creativity. Because of that, he crafted something that still resonates and still reads as remarkably modern. 

Although I don't fancy myself as brilliant or talented as Fitzgerald, his example has given me the courage to apply a new writing style to my fiction, a style I had worked on in the summer of 2014. 

Because of this, I've never had so much fun writing. That youthful energy, the energy I had before trying to become an “expert” at this stuff, is back. Since my August crash, I’ve written the second draft to a new western, and I’ve nearly finished the first draft of a new YA sci-fi adventure series. And both are going remarkably well. 

Have I abandoned all I’ve learned from those how-to writing books? Oh heck no. I still believe that structure is important, and the lessons I’ve learned from Stephen King (On Writing) Ray Bradbury (Zen in the Art of Writing), Rebecca McLanahan (Word Painting) and Renni Browne and Dave King (Self-Editing for Fiction Writers) have been invaluable.

Guidelines are important, and they must be studied (especially grammar). But it’s also okay to bend those guidelines. Or, on occasion, break them.

So what do I call myself now? I no longer think of myself as a pantser. After all, I do follow a loose structure. Nor am I a plotter, as that's too constricting. I suppose I’m some strange hybrid of the two. Maybe … a plantser? I suppose that could work, although it sounds like the name of a poorly-conceived comic supervillain who's trying to destroy Metropolis with radioactive tulips.   

Whatever the label, it seems to work, and as long as I’m having fun, that’s all that matters.

2016 is going to be an awesome year. I should have two new novels out this year, and I may re-work a few old projects as well. If I can update them to my new style, they may see the light of day.  

For those who have asked about a sequel to Gasher Creek: the answer is yes, there will be a sequel (and possible prequel) coming out in the next couple years. But a few other characters are looking for the opportunity to breathe first.

For those who have asked about the podcast, yes, I'm still planning a podcast. But I want a new book to promote on the first episode, so that's where the delay is coming from. That "new book" was supposed to be the one that crashed back in August. But that's okay. I have a better book to promote, and I think it's worth the wait. 

Yikes, I have a  lot of work to do. Better get started! 

Executive Decision – Barf

“A book itself threatens to kill its author repeatedly during its composition,” Michael Chabon writes in the margins of his unfinished novel “Fountain City” — a novel, he adds, that he could feel “erasing me, breaking me down, burying me alive, drowning me, kicking me down the stairs.”

-  From the New York Times article: “Why Do Writers Abandon Novels?” By Dan Kois 

That quote from Michael Chabon pretty much sums it up, but I feel a brief announcement is in order for those of you who have taken an interest in my writing (and I thank you for that).  

I’m abandoning my book after 4 years and 2 months. Yup. 4 hours a day, 7 days a week, 4 years, and I’m chucking it. Why am I chucking it? I’m not sure how to answer that. Summarizing with “it just isn’t working” wouldn’t be adequate, and to explain all the reasons could fill a book of its own.  

But it’s the right decision. And I feel awful because of it.   

I’m sure, in a week or two, I’ll feel better. Intellectually, I know it’s the right thing to do. I’ve been paddling a boat full of holes for over a year now, and I’ve exhausted myself trying to keep afloat. Plot problems upon plot problems upon plot problems just, finally, became too much to bear. Future projects continued to be delayed. My morale plummeted.

After I passed the time it took to write Gasher Creek (3 years, 6 months), it became clear that something was very wrong. As of today, there is no end in sight for the current book. I’d probably still be trying to plug plot holes well into next summer.

But there is some good news. Now that this project is finished, my future output should begin to increase. Last year, I made two major changes to my writing: first, I discovered a new writing style that is frenetic, fun, and removes some of the old stylistic errors that have consistently slowed my editing process.

Second, I studied plotting and decided that my previous “pantsing” method was eating too much time. Last summer, I tried plotting a western novella as an experiment. Wow, did the first draft roll out smoothly.

As a result of these changes, I foresee future novels taking months, not years, to finish. That’s both exciting and a relief. Burnout is a very real threat to writers, and one I hope I can avoid (or at least reduce) from now on.

Did this experience sour me to writing? No. I love it more today than when I first started. Perhaps it’s the writing process itself that has allowed me to deal with this defeat. Writing is a continual slog of “one step forward, two steps back.” Failure is a natural, everyday part of it.

We punch, we get punched. We get knocked down, we get up again.

Time to get up again. 

New Year, Same Goals

Still alive! Another huge gap between blog posts—not good. However, I have been busy and have a few updates to report. 

Last we left off, I was working on a sci-fi romance and dreaming about a podcast. And now? I’m working on a sci-fi romance and dreaming of a podcast. But I’m happy to report that I’ve made progress in both ventures: 

The Sci-Fi Romance: Sometimes, books love to take their time, and L is no different.  I wanted to be finished by late November, and here we are in January. But I’m happy to report that I’m on a polishing draft that, with any luck, will be finished by late February. After that, it’s another quick read-through, then it’s off to my First Readers. And then I hope this long process will be finished. I’m looking forward to studying some marketing and working on other projects. Speaking of which:

The Podcast: I’m still excited about it, and I’m chomping at the bit to get started. I’ve been refining the concept, and I hope other people will become excited about the idea. Its chief focus is the promotion of other writers, so I think there will be some interest.

That Very, Very, Very Odd Western: Back in the summer, I was given the opportunity to house sit. 10 days in a house by myself. I decided it was the perfect opportunity to a.) test out a nagging feeling and b.) work on that very, very, very odd western.

The nagging feeling? That I should’ve been plotting all these years. From ages 21 until now, I’ve been a solid “Pantser”, that is, taking the Stephen King and Ray Bradbury route of jumping head first into a first draft and seeing where it takes me. And there’s nothing wrong with this method (obviously it works for King and Bradbury!), but after 11 books pantsed (And Gasher Creek, number 11, being the only one I felt was good enough to publish), I wanted to try something different. So I decided to plot the very, very, very odd western. 

I’m happy to report that not only did I get the first draft written in a short 14 days, but I think the editing process will be severely truncated as a result of the plotting. Future books, I hope, will be finished in months, not years.

And I really like the story, although it is as odd as I’d expected. Even I wonder where some of this stuff comes from.

An Expanding Universe: Writing the very, very, very odd western has also rekindled my passion for the "western world" that Gasher Creek takes place in. As a result, I've decided to set a whole series of books in the same territory where the town of Gasher Creek is located. The v.v.v. odd western is just the first of many, including the much inquired sequel to Gasher Creek.

Where I belong: Although my current novel is science fiction, I think future projects will take me back in time instead of forward. I enjoy watching and reading sci-fi, but I don't feel as if I belong in that world. As a result, the next few years will be preoccupied with the past. After the v.v.v. odd western is finished, I'll be heading to the early 20th century for a comedic road trip. After that, it's back to a western, and then on to an adventure in Upper Canada. 

Anyway, that's it for now. 2015 is shaping up to be a tremendously busy year for me, and I hope some of it will prove fruitful. Although I'm not living in my mansion in Hawaii (yet), my motivation has only increased since GC's release. The dream I caught at age 11 is stronger now than it has ever been before, and that's a good thing. I'll need that tenacity and stubbornness if I want to be a success.   

Lotsa Good Stuff

Hey everyone! 

I’m still alive. You wouldn’t know it from the lack of blog posts (geez, the last one was September of 2013!) but I can assure you that I am. Unless, of course, you are reading this sometime in the distant future, and then I might really be dead. Whoa. Dude…

It’s been another year of feverish editing. The current book (like Gasher Creek) has managed to stretch itself out much further than I ever would have expected. And while I still have another draft ahead of me, I’m hoping it will be a “polishing” draft. With any luck, the major edits are behind me, and you’ll have a chance to read it around November.

I’m hoping people dig it. Fans of Gasher Creek will find themselves reading a very different story in a very different genre. Have I decided to switch genres? Nah, I never had a dedicated one in the first place. I hope I never do. GC wanted to be a western, and LP wants to be sci-fi. After that, I’ll be diving into historical fiction. A little bit for everyone, I suppose.

But fans of westerns, don’t lose hope. A western novella is coming your way. It’s going to be a very, very, very, odd story. But if you’ve read Gasher Creek, then you know that I like a little oddness in my stories. Odd is fun!   

So that’s it? A new book, that’s what I’ve been working on? Nope, there’s more. I have big plans, kids. 

Here’s what’s coming in the fall:

1.      A new webpage

2.      A hard copy of Gasher Creek (with art by the awesome and amazing and endlessly talented Tracy McCusker)

3.      Gasher Creek the audio book? I hope so.

Plus—whoa—a podcast. Yup. You’ll actually be able to hear my wacky Canadian accent on a bi-weekly basis. It’s an idea I’ve had for a while now, and the greatest part about it (besides the wacky Canadian accent) is that it will serve as a cross-promotional tool for other independent writers. I've loved being a voice of encouragement on Twitter, and I want to expand on that. The Internet holds unlimited promise for a new generation of writers, but we must help each other if we are going to be successful. This will be my contribution.

The Great Gatsby Movie Creeped Me Out

It’s true.

But it’s not the fault of the film or anyone who worked on the film. I quite liked it. Baz Luhrman’s slick, dizzy filmmaking melded well with the slick, dizzy decade of the 1920s. I even liked the modern hip-hop music, which I felt added to the party atmosphere rather than detract from it. The cast did a great job with difficult material, and DiCaprio, Maguire, and Mulligan poured their hearts into their roles. 

No, The Great Gatsby creeped me out for the same reason that other films, music, TV shows, and photographs of and about that decade creep me out:  

It, well ... seems so familiar.

Now, I should state right here that I do not believe in reincarnation. It’s a fascinating concept, and the idea of a cosmic ‘do-over’ is almost too romantic to pass up. I have a ledger of mistakes and regrets that I’d love to shelve in my coffin and forget about. Plus, there’s always a chance that my next incarnation could be something fun, like an eagle or a wiener dog.

But there’s the problem of evidence. Namely, that there is none. And because of this, reincarnation is an act of faith, despite the protestations of apologists. Yes, I know the story of Jeffrey Keene. Yes, I do know who Dr. Ian Stevenson was. I’m still not convinced.

Yet, the familiarity persists.  

By familiar, I’m not talking about the vague recognition I feel when watching a western. The wagons and cowboy hats and six shooters and wise-crackin’ prostitutes are familiar because I’ve seen them in a dozen other western movies. No, I’m talking about a deep familiarity, a type of sensory osmosis that seeps through the screen or through the audio track or through the portrait. 

The feeling of an ivory cigarette holder pinched between two fingers.

The hot touch of a Ford Model A on a summer day.

The itch at the back of the neck from a wool suit jacket.

The soft clack of a pearl necklace when dancing the foxtrot.  

I’ve told a few friends about this, and those few friends (who do believe in reincarnation) have pointed to my experience as proof. This is proof, and I'm just being stubborn. What else could it possibly be? 

And I suppose they could be right. Perhaps I did live in the 20s. One particular friend declared that she was Zelda and I was F. Scott Fitzgerald. This could be true, although everyone was someone famous, weren’t they? Most likely, I was just some dapper ‘sheik’ who, one night, drank too much wood alcohol and thought he could fly. That sounds more like me.      

Plus, I’ve always struggled with The Great Gatsby. It is great, but I’m not always sure why it’s great. Perhaps my internal editor reincarnated with me!

Let’s suppose for a moment that all this is true, and I was alive in the 1920s. What do I do with this information? Investigate through regression hypnosis? Regression hypnosis has even less evidence than reincarnation. Search for a photo of my likeness? What if I wasn’t a Fitzgerald, but a Zelda? Then the search for a photo would be futile.

Maybe it’s all psychological. I could be suffering from Golden Age Thinking.

I first learned about this disorder from the Woody Allen film, “Midnight in Paris”. In that film, writer Gil Pender (Owen Wilson) doesn’t like his modern life and yearns for Paris in the 1920s. In one scene, he and his friends are touring Versailles when Paul (Michael Sheen) says that Golden Age Thinking is: “The erroneous notion that a different time period is better than the one, one’s living in.”

This could be true, although I do enjoy my computer and my Ipod and my pizza pockets. On the other hand, I do understand Gil’s romanticism of that time period. A chance to hang out with Hemingway, meet Picasso, and appear in a Dali painting alongside a rhinoceros? Yes please!

A few years ago, I found out that I’m not alone in this phenomenon. A musician friend told me that she has the same feeling about the 1970s. Somehow, she knows that period in history, and movies like "Almost Famous" feel all too familiar to her.    

Perhaps we all have a comfortable time period, a place in history where our personality would be better suited. Perhaps that explains it. Maybe I just like the 1920s.

But that doesn’t feel right either. Like can’t explain the constricting tightness of a bow tie (which I’ve never worn), or the smoke and sweat stink of a speakeasy, or the baffling crush I’ve always had on Mary Pickford.   

The easiest explanation? I have an overactive imagination. But as a writer, I’ve spent more time with my imagination than I have with any flesh and blood person. I know those ghosts when they come to visit.

These sensations don’t come from the same place. They come from an Other place. And they are always fleeting, vanishing once I stop watching the movie, or close the book, or look away from the photograph.

But when I return to them, they return to me, a vague reflection in an indistinct mirror.

And Vows

Hey everyone! Here's my contribution to the Dark Fairy Queen Writerly Bridal Shower. 

Title: And Vows 

Author: J. Birch 

ebook: Yes 

“This is madness.”

Ella crumpled the page. Then she flattened it out. Then she read it again. “Madness.” She ripped it into strips and tossed it into the air. It landed in her hair and in her lap and snuck down the back of her blouse. It itched.

She opened her window and stared at the oak on her front lawn. Her fingernails tapped the windowsill. A robin chirped.

“Shh.”

She spun around in her chair, stood, and stepped away from the typewriter, note pads, and pencils. On the dresser, Billie Holiday sang Glad to be Unhappy from her portable radio.  

“Shh.”

Billie sang.

“I put a man on Mars,” Ella said, tugging the hem of her blouse. She felt the strip tumble out. “I put a woman on Venus. I sent Stitch and Drake to Nebulous Prime to fight the Comet Lords. But I just, can’t…” She marched over to her bookcase and pulled A Stitch in Time Saves Nine Planets by E.A. Smith off the shelf.

Opening the book, she said, “343 pages of words.” She tossed the book onto her bed. She pulled out The Nero of Neptune and said, “238 pages of good, strong, words.” She tossed it. The book struck the bed and bounced. “For crying out loud, I’ve been published in Amazing Stories, Weird Tales, Galaxy, and Future!”

A breeze disturbed the sheets of blank paper on her desk. She returned to her chair and grabbed a pencil. 

Outside, the robin chirped.

She threw the pencil at it and then grabbed another. At the top of the page she wrote the words future and Sam. “Bother.” She tapped the pencil on the page.

She wasn’t good at near future. She was good at far future: jammed airlocks on a super intelligent space station, gaseous beings on Pluto, slime monsters in the sewers of a post-apocalyptic Manhattan. Not churches crammed with people in tuxes and dresses—

“And white gowns.” She slumped. “And vows.”

A crisp black and white photo of Sam stood beside her typewriter. She lifted it. “And handsome grooms in black.”  

She set the picture down. She tapped the pencil on her chin. “From the day we first met … no. I knew we would be … no.”

It must be perfect and special and cause those brown eyes to widen and those lips to smile and it must make him proud. “I vow to love no no no!”

The pencil flew out the window. It clattered on the sidewalk.

Ella leaned on her elbows and propped up her chin. She shut her eyes. On the radio, Miles Davis felt Blue in Green.

How did she feel about Sam? How did she feel. She opened her eyes and looked at his picture. He was tall and handsome and loved to dance and whispered in her ear when they danced. He read Jules Verne and D.C. Fontana. She loved him, of course. She saw babies in-between deadlines.

And in five days, she’d see him at the church with her white gown and his priest. And a congregation.

And blasted vows.

She plucked another pencil. 

“I vow…”

She touched the pencil to the page.

“I want to…”

The pencil started looking aerodynamic.

“You…”

She paused at the word you. She swallowed her lower lip.

And then she had it. She had it!

* * *

The church was full. Sam stood before her in his black tux. She stood before him in her white gown. He held her hands, saying, “From the day we first met, I knew we would be together. I knew I wanted to be with you for the rest of my life.” He paused. “My dear bride; I vow to love you now. I vow to love you forever.”

Father Maxwell nodded. The congregation nodded. Ella’s mother and Sam’s mother started bawling in unison.

“And Ella?” Father Maxwell said. “Your vows?”

Ella nodded and breathed. She resisted the urge to swallow her lip. Pews creaked as the congregation leaned forward to listen.

“Sam,” she said, gazing into his eyes. She squeezed his hands. She smiled. “You will always give me writer’s block.”

Q&A with Anne Michaud, author of "Girls & Monsters"

Excerpt from "Death Song": 

Something catches in the back of my throat. I hide my face in my hands to quiet the sobs. But then, something ain’t right. Air moves around me and I stop. I look between my fingers, but the blur of my tears thickens everything: the bathtub, the towels, and someone on the floor. A woman’s in here with me, door still closed and locked. An exhale, like after a deep swim, and a smell, like the swamp close to my empty home. A chill runs down my back, I wipe my eyes, rub and scratch them to see more clearly. And I do.

Recently, I was given the privilege of reading an advanced copy of “Girls & Monsters”, a collection of YA horror stories by author Anne Michaud. After diving into her twisted world of lake monsters, giant spiders and blood thirsty dogs, I emerged with a plethora of questions not only about this newest collection, but also about her fascination with the macabre, and the craft of writing. 

J: Hi Anne, thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions about your newest collection, “Girls & Monsters”. As I made my way through, I couldn’t help but notice some similarities between your style and that of Stephen King. Was he an influence on your writing?


AM: Actually, I’ve only read Salem's Lot from King, and although everybody says he's a great writer, I've never been tempted to read his other novels. I know, I can hear people groan, too.


J: Who else would you cite as an influence?


AM: I really love Neil Gaiman, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Suzanne Collins, Jean-christophe Rufin and Edgar Allan Poe. I love different genres with darkness as a common thread.


J: Why did you choose to write a YA novel? Do you write specifically YA, or have you written novels for adult readers as well?


AM: The thing is, writing young characters automatically puts your book into the YA category, even if you don't deal with teen angst and sweet emotions. I've never imagined myself writing for YA. When I was young, I read books for adults, but now that I am one, I prefer stories aimed at a younger audience. I might need therapy.

J: Is writing therapy for you?


AM: I strongly believe it is. I do like to base my antagonists on people I hate in real life—and then let all hell break loose. I highly recommend it, by the way. It feels great after you kill them off, but you don't go to jail. One stone, two birds.


J: There is a continuous theme of small towns in these stories. What inspired you to use small towns as a theme?


AM: I come from a small town and live in one at the moment, living close to my own family and my beloved niece, which reflects in my own stories. Although I've had addresses in Montreal and London, I’ve never truly felt that I belong in a big city.


J: These stories seem to be centered around American characters or locales. Why the decision to make these stories American-centric instead of Canadian?


AM: Good question. Let me think. I have not a clue. I mean, I've travelled in the US many times. I love NYC, LA, Maine and Vermont, so that might be it. I write what I love, which means living in a small town in the USA, it seems.


J: Have you considered writing any stories which take place in Canada? Do you have any Canadian themed projects planned for the future?


AM: I do! The third installment of my French books will take place where I live at the moment, on the south shore of Montreal.


J: Short fiction writing can be difficult when it comes to character building. Did you find the restricted word count a hindrance when constructing believable characters?


AM: No, I think it’s the exact opposite. Since you have so little lines to bring someone from your mind to life, you have to be precise without lingering on useless thoughts and actions. Although I restricted these novellas to a 12k word count, there was still space for the characters to shine through. Well, I hope so.

J: Was it a challenge to squeeze in backstory for your primary characters?


AM: No, because I've never been a fan of long flashbacks, so my approach was to keep them short, sweet, and effective. You never need much, anyway. 

J: What attracts you to the horror genre?


AM: The no boundaries approach to it. Even if my collection is dark horror and not gory-gross-super-scary horror, I let myself be guided by what creeps me and other people out: going insane, suburbia, things at the bottom of a lake, one big spider and leaving everything you love behind. Horror has so many levels, you can just pick one and go with it. Plus, the authors are cooler.


J: Are there any horror genres that you feel have reached a saturation point? And are there any genres that you’d like to see better represented?


AM: I am fed up with nice vampires and white trash werewolves. They are supposed to be beasts, so how come everyone wants to tame them into humans? I just want my monsters to remain monsters. I do hope vamps and wolves become hungry and angry again, and soon.


J: How long have you been writing?


AM: This, intensely, for about eight years. It started with screenwriting and now is exclusively novellas and novels. Almost. I have this idea brewing for a script that’s begging to come out, so I'll attack it this summer.


J: Which comes easier for you: writing scripts or novels?


AM: A script is faster to write, but a novel gets deeper. On the screen, characters mostly develop through dialogue and action. In a novel, characters think and describe feelings through inner monologue. These days, I think in novel-length for every story, so my answer is: novels.


J: How much does music influence your writing process? Do you play music while writing, and if so, which artists?


AM: I cannot write if there's no music playing. Although The Cure is my favorite band of all time, I cannot listen to them while I'm working. Instead, Nine Inch Nails, Vast, O.Children, James, Mumford & Sons, The Box, John Denver and many others accompany me while I write. I block if silence surrounds me, but I also can’t write surrounded by people. I'm just special. 


J: Are you currently working on any new projects?


AM: Oh hell yeah! I'm almost done with the sequel, “Girls & Aliens”. After that, I’ll be starting its last installment: “Girls & Ghosts”. Then, I have to edit this French novella about Hiroshima, a script about a musician and his muse, and it's back to Rebel for the 365th draft.


J: Thanks, Anne, this has been a pleasure.



Anne Michaud’s “Girls & Monsters” will be available for purchase on April 30th through www.darkfuse.com. You can find her online at http://annecmichaud.wordpress.com/, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/annecmichaud, and on Twitter @annemichaud.

Enter here for a free softcover copy of "Girls & Monsters" plus The Monster Collection Skellies: 5 pieces handcrafted by the author. The winner will be announced during Anne's exclusive live chat at 9PM EST on April 30th.

Visual Dare 1: Between

To check out the other Visual Dare entries, visit Angela Goff's Blog: 


We’ll Fall

Her wings are granite. Her eyes are white. She’s wrinkled with cracks. Her toe is missing. 

I’ll catch her when she falls. When the mortar cracks and she tumbles, I’ll catch her and we’ll fall together. We’ll smash on the sidewalk and cheer like scattering coins.

She is beautiful.

Blog Hoppin'

Hey everyone! My friend and fellow author  Julianne Snow tagged me for a blog hop. And when you're tagged, you must respond! Although some of these questions are directed toward a WIP, I've decided to shed a little more light on my book Gasher Creek. Here are the questions and answers:

1. What is the working title of your book? 
- Gasher Creek.

2. Where did the idea come from for the book? 
- To be honest, I'm not sure. I wanted to write a book about loneliness, and thought a western would be a good setting for that. Gasher ended up turning into a book about guilt, but I still think the genre fits.

3. What genre does your book fall under?
- Western, although there are both mystery and paranormal elements to it.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? 
- I think Andrew Lincoln from The Walking Dead would do well as Sheriff Tracker. Jack is a little more difficult. He's a very enigmatic character. Not sure.

5. What is a one-sentence synopsis of your book? 
- Geez, that's a tough one. Boy thinks he's a murderer, boy runs away, boy can't outrun his past?

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? 
- Self-published. This was a very difficult decision but I'm glad I did it.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
- I'm thinking three or four months. It was quite a long time ago now.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your own genre?
- Honestly not sure. I'm not a big western reader. This story just wanted to be a western. Elmer Kelton and Elmore Leonard are fantastic western writers though. Same with Richard Matheson.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book? 
- It just sorta popped in my head.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader's interest? 
- The most common comment I've been getting is "I'm not a western fan, but I like it." Not being a big western reader myself, I don't think I wrote a western in the traditional sense. Gasher Creek's skin is a western, but there's so much more beneath. It's a drama about guilt, it's a mystery, and it's a paranormal thriller.

TAGGED: The amazing and awesome Thea Gregory . She'll be posting her answers on the 9th of January. Thanks for reading everyone!

Five Days of Awesome!

I’d like to thank everyone who downloaded a copy, posted retweets, and shared my updates on Facebook over the past five days. Because of your help, I gave away over 4,000 copies of Gasher Creek. It charged to number one on the Kindle Store’s list for Paranormal and Western genres, and cracked the top 100 of the Amazon Best Seller’s list. I never could have imagined it would have been so successful, and I’ll be riding on Cloud Ten (which is WAY better than Cloud Nine) well into the New Year.

When I started this, I only expected 100 copies to be given away, so four thousand is mind boggling. I can hardly believe it.  But I do like it! 

Over the last few days, I've received some criticism over offering my book for free, but I feel too good to argue. Instead, I'll just summarize with this:

Money is good, but being read is better. Nothing can equal this feeling of satisfaction. People all over North America and Europe are reading my book! The thought of it makes me smile. And years from now, it'll still make me smile.

That's priceless.

Thanks

It’s been a great year for old man Birch, and I have Twitter to thank for it. It’s amazing what social media can do, especially for writers. Not only have I made a bunch of new friends, but Gasher Creek has been making the “kudos” rounds for a few months now. People seem to really dig it, and that’s made me feel all squishy inside. (At least I hope that’s what’s causing the squish. If not, I should probably see a doctor.)

And it’s not just “kudos” that I’m getting from Twitter. It’s also practical help. Of course, the greatest gift I’ve received this year was the artwork of Tracy McCusker. Her cover art for Gasher Creek (see top left of this page) captures the spirit of the book in a way that I never thought possible. If you are a lover of art and poetry, please check out her website: dustyjournal.com. If you are an indie writer in need of a cover, contact her immediately. Her talent is getting noticed, and it won’t be long before she’s part of the elite.  

I’ve also had invaluable help from other writers such as Antonio Angelo. He took the time to offer some tips for a better book description. I’m still not thrilled with the result, but it’s much better because of his input. Thanks sir!

So, because of all the goodness the Internet had done for me this year, I want to return the favour. From Dec. 25^th to the 29^th, my book Gasher Creek will be available for FREE from Amazon.com and its affiliated sites. Why December 25^th? Two reasons. One, because it’s a Christmas gift (aww). And two, because Quentin Tarantino’s new western “Django Unchained” premieres that day. I’m a huge Tarantino fan, and this is my way of saying thanks to him for keeping the interest in westerns alive.

So, after you’ve seen “Django Unchained” (and you know you will), and you are all fired up for more western adventure (you know you will be), go ahead and download my little western for free. And I thank you for it.

Onward to a new year and a new book!

J.