I don’t know if the hash tag is #flashfriday, or #fridayflash, and I found both on Twitter, so I didn’t know which to use. Guess I’ll use ‘em both?
Whatever it’s called, I finally broke inertia a little and wrote something. I need a special shout-out here for a few folks who’ve helped with critiques over the last week or so.
For one, my buddy Sherri. Her insights are amazing, which is no surprise because she’s an awesome writer. I don’t know what I’d do without her. Thanks, Sher, you rock. I appreciate it. I know this isn’t your favorite piece, but you helped me just the same, and that means a lot to me. I’ve never failed to grow after you’ve pruned.
Next, another friend and awesome writer pitched in on short notice not once, but twice this week. He used to go by the handle Dwight Wannabe, but he’s taken down his blog now. Maybe I can shame him into getting it back up someday. It was an incredible resource. DW, I just can’t quit you dude. Thanks for being there and being willing to not withhold your honesty. I learned valuable things from this, and I’ll be a better writer for it. Thank you.
Finally, my amazing, beautiful and wondrous wife, who is always my first, best reader, and without whom fingers would never reach keyboard. I love you.
So, without further ado, my contribution to this week’s #flashfriday or #fridayflash is at my fiction blog, awaiting your perusal.
Have a great weekend, everyone. God bless.
-JDT-
All original content © 2009 DarcKnyt
ALL rights reserved.
I’ve read a book by a guy named Brian Keene, and on the back cover he was heralded as “the new Stephen King”. Or was it “the next Stephen King”? Whichever. The point is, this author is being held up to Stephen King as a successor.
I found that sort of interesting. I’d think, in order for him to be the successor to King, King would have to be either retired or dead. Instead, he’s still actively writing and doing book promotional things. His website has a lively forum, in which he seldom if ever participates, but still, it’s lively. He has a weekly newsletter. He still does interviews for the media. Heck, a few years ago he even did a couple of spots for ESPN.
That doesn’t much sound like a guy who’s calling it a career, or a life for that matter. So, how can there be a “next” or “new” one if he’s still out there doing what Stephen King does?
I’ll admit, I was skeptical at the title. The implication is, I think, Mr. Keene’s work is horror fiction on the order of Stephen King’s work. At least, Stephen King’s early works, which set the tone and tenor for the genre in the mid-70s and forward. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. I don’t intend to bash Mr. Keene’s work here; I’m sure he writes just fine and someone thought enough of his work to compare him to what many consider the master of the horror genre. I disagree, but that’s an opinion.
I started to wonder, though, what it would be like to be compared to an icon. How would one live up to that standard? How can you be “the next Stephen King” and not disappoint those loyalists who have adored every jot and tittle which dropped from King’s keyboard? How would you ever measure up to a man who can write 2000 words a day and thinks 180K words is a “goodish” book length?
The idea of being the “next” anything also carries with it some ramifications. Does that leave one room to be oneself? Can you be the next Stephen King and still be you? How does one who writes with one’s own voice become compared to someone else?
I write with standards in mind. Some of you might think my standards lax and unacceptable. Others find my standards harsh and demanding. But I write to try and improve, to strive for betterment with every piece, with every work. In my mind, I am not the equal in prose mastery of a Stephen King, but when I am, I’m not sure I want to be considered “the new” or “the next” Stephen King. I’d like to be considered the only me, and valued and appreciated (or scorned and hated) for who I am as a writer.
I don’t think Brian Keene writes as well as Stephen King. I wouldn’t consider him the successor to that throne. I don’t know if anyone ever will be, the same way there will never be a “new” H. P. Lovecraft, or Edgar Allan Poe, or Bram Stoker, or Mary Shelley. I think each of us, as artist, creators, or just individuals, wants to achieve greatness in what we do without having to mimic the path and parcel of someone else. While I’d love to have King’s talent, ability, notoriety, distribution and most of all, MONEY, I don’t know if I want to be “the next Stephen King”. As much as I admire the man, I’d like to be in his league as myself, my own person, and free to write what I want to write in my way, whichever way that ends up being.
How about you? Do you know of someone who’s “the new” or “the next”? Is it you, maybe? Does that label help or hurt?
-JDT-
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Yeah, must be sweeps week on TV.
How do I know? Well, the surest sign was the spanning of a story across three different shows in the CSI franchise. All three of them are having the same story cross over between the three shows over three nights. Miss a night, you miss the story. Don’t like the show? Tough. Take it like a man and watch anyway.
It’s not a new trick. I remember comic books doing this most of my life. As far back as I can remember, comic books ran a single story arc across multiple titles. Sometimes they’d unify the continuity of the titles. For instance, Spider-Man had no fewer than three titles back when I first recall reading them. But none of them were consistent in continuity, so when something came across all three titles, the writers had to huddle up and make the story make sense for the title and where it occurred in their time line. In the 1990s, things got flat ridiculous. And when you kill off a character? Well, that creates mayhem, ala Superman and its multiple titles, circa something like 1992.
But with three separate shows on the same network in the same franchise, nothing has to be so dramatic or difficult. I’m sure the coordination of the writing is challenging. I did notice, however, the association of the three franchises with one another did nothing to elevate the suck-factor of the first episode. (My wife and I stopped watching the Miami version of this show because it became … well, sucky.) So having the characters cross over didn’t help the show at all; it still sucked.
But it’s all right. It never helped the comics the way they wanted it to, but maybe it will help the CSI franchise. It certainly hooked my wife. She’s watching it right now, as I type this, and there are two more on tap.
What cheap TV tricks do your shows use to keep you tuned in, engaged, involved in the show? Which ones really burn you up? Which are you fond of?
-JDT-
All original content © 2009 DarcKnyt
ALL rights reserved.
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My buddy Sherri has done something sort of interesting over on Facebook recently: she created a fan page for herself.
She’s not boasting about her readership or anything, but she took a step toward the day when she does get published and will have fans. She can use it to promote her books, and generate interest in future projects, etc. It was an interesting idea, and I wondered if it was a wise move to have one ahead of time.
See, since FB is one of the social network buzz-word sites, I wondered if you could generate fans there by having a fan page. You might create some interest in what you’re doing, getting the word out about being an artist, writer, creator, whatever. Generate some pre-emptive interest in you, your writing (for us writers, at least), and maybe pull in some people who might be potential fans if and when we get published.
Trouble is, I don’t know too much about it. I don’t know how to promote myself on Facebook or anywhere else, and marketing isn’t my forte. So I haven’t made the step yet. Heck, I don’t even have a finished manuscript. (Still editing, remember? Yeah, I forgot too.) So I’m not sure I could use it to good effect, even if I could figure out how to create one (or meet the qualifications if any).
Still, I wondered. And I often wonder about Twitter too. I know I’m not using that resource to full effect, and I won’t be able to really get into it until I actually have something I want to do with Twitter to promote myself. I know plenty of authors don’t get into social networking, but we’re talking about people like Stephen King (who doesn’t involve himself in any social networking of any kind). For little bums like me, I need all the help I can get. If social networking is a way to generate some buzz – because my blog only goes so far – I probably need to think about it.
What do you think? Anyone here on FB who’d be willing to “become a fan” on Facebook? Are you savvy with how to use that for self-promotion, or have you utilized it to get the word to the world about something you’re doing? And Sherri, how’s that coming along for you? What can you do so far with your fan page?
Any experiences you have, I’d love to hear. Thanks!
-JDT-
All original content © 2009 DarcKnyt
ALL rights reserved.
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Well, I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again – I like knowing the answers.
So, because I don’t do movie theaters well, and because I don’t like knowing just the plot or story of a book or movie, I have a tendency to tell people who want to describe a movie experience to me to go ahead and give it all to me. I want everything … including the end. If you’re not going to give it all away, don’t tell me anything. I’ll wait for it to come to cable or go find it online or whatever.
With that in mind, there are several movies I’ve wanted to see over the past couple of years. Well … okay, I’ve wanted to know about them, not necessarily to sit through them. Some examples would be 9, a Tim Burton affair I believe, and Orphan, and Let the Right One In, and so on. So, when I want to know and don’t have the patience to wait for them not only to come to cable but to move to the premium channels or free movie selections (hey, I’m unemployed, all right?), I go check out The Movie Spoiler.
The problem with this site is, the spoilers are all written by site users. Anyone can do it. You go see the movie, you send them the trailer. They post it. Raw. Typos, grammatical nightmare constructs and all. It goes up. So, when you read the spoilers, you have to try and decipher what’s being described. Very interesting. A lot of work, sometimes. But in the end, I have an okay idea of what the movie’s about.
The good news is, I get the endings, and can decide based on what I see whether or not I want to watch the movie. Investing a couple of hours of my life into something that sucks doesn’t excite me. So I use this site to good effect. It’s how I knew I wanted to see the Nicolas Cage movie Next, and how I knew I didn’t really care one way or the other about the same actor’s movie Knowing. (If I catch it, great; if I don’t, meh.)
My wife is great at getting to the point with me about books too. She reads approximately sixteen gazillion books a year, and while her tastes and mine differ pretty widely, she’s very good at giving me the straight skinny (ha! me, “skinny”! rriiiiiiight!) on the ones I want to know about. So I feel I’ve read a lot more books than I have and I’ve seen a lot more movies than I have. Truth is, I just know how they end.
I spent some quality time with the spoiler for 9 and The Box this weekend. I’ll probably look up a few others while I’m there. What the heck? It only takes ten minutes and could save me hours of wasted viewing time.
How ‘bout you? Do you like to know the ending? I’m that way with all things, including life. I want to know the answers, know the future, know the twists and turns. Maybe you like things darker and more mysterious, or enjoy the discovery of what lies ahead whether in art or in life.
Sound off, let me know, and I hope you had an amazing and happy weekend.
-JDT-
All original content © 2009 DarcKnyt
ALL rights reserved.
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