Tag Archives: Inspiration

September 5, 2012

Day of Demons Giveaway Extraordinaire ♥

By Anne Michaud

Colin F Barnes edited the ecclectic Day of Demons anthology with amazing authors, so I decided to pick their brains out with a few questions…

I’m always curious as to how other writers find inspiration, especially when submitting to an anthology which connects its stories with one common subject, in this case demons. How do you approach such a task? Do you have stories stored-up? Do you write on demand?

GARY BONN: All of the above. I think most writer’s heads are like overstuffed attics. If you have a stimulus like a theme, you can dig around dusty old boxes in you head and find something shining. Often, a stimulus gives you the very thing you need to bring a story to life.

 KT DAVIES: Hey Anne and everyone:) I’m used to working to a brief having done so writing for various live-roleplaying game systems. I also like having a prompt, (possibly because I’m lazy;p). I have got some short stories that I’ve written on a whim and that I’d like to find homes for, but it’s tricky finding the time to work on them whilst keeping up with more pressing projects.

SARAH ANNE LANGTON: Panicky words on demand! I actually think of a title first. Yup, possibly wierd. I know. Then chaotically wander the internet to start filling in the characters and hunting for demonic little ideas I might like use. DOD was wonderful to write as it was a great excuse to go poking about online into all sorts of dubious occulty places. Good call Mr Barnes : )

VICTORIA GRIESDOORN: That’s an interesting approach, Sarah! I would have never thought to go on the internet to come up with story ideas. I’m usually very thin on the ground with story ideas. So I usually only submit to anthologies if I already have a story idea that fits the theme. They’re few and far between for me. I am even worse at developing an idea past the premise-stage into full story-stage. With me it usually comes down to blank screens, frustration and deadlines.

KRISTA WALSH: I think my approach is closer to Victoria’s with the frustrating and looming deadlines…and I also tend to go for anthologies where I’ve had an idea sitting around for awhile but not known what to do with it. DoD was perfect because the premise had been simmering for months. I’m slowly developing the ability to write on a whim. I’ve participated in a number of flash fiction contests the last couple of months where it’s just a matter of closing your eyes and diving in. How successful I’ve been? Guess I’ll leave that up to the readers.

EDWARD DRAKE: I write quite a few short stories and have loads of unfinished ideas, some seeing the light of day on my website while others stay locked away until needed. It was just really lucky and really good timing that I spotted the request for Day of Demons submissions when I did. I had just started drafting Cost of Glory when I saw the shout out, so I already had the idea…kind of. It needed tweaking, mainly the demon aspect, but I was just lucky that I already write a lot of fantasy and I spotted the posting for submissions when I did. The ideas themselves come from anything, a daydream, a line of dialogue or even requests from family and friends that I have run with and expanded upon. Some lead to nothing but luckily others can lead to something more, like a part of the Day of Demons anthology.

LAURA DIAMOND: Hi all! I’m pretty new to the short story scene. I keep my ears open for anthology topics or genres that I enjoy, then I brainstorm a story for that anthology.

Great to see diverse approaches to writing for an antho:) Now, let’s get down and dirty. I’ve heard many times – and have been asked twice – about women and horror: some say the two don’t match, something to which I strongly disagree. What’s your take on it? Can women scare people shitless as much as men? Should women stick to ‘softer’ genres, such as romance and erotica? Yeah, I just vomited inside my mouth asking that last one.

KRISTA WALSH: I think Colin’s already proven that theory wrong with his City of Hell collection. That one kept me up for days! So resounding answer: no! Women may have a different spin on horror but it’s no less effective or skillful. I can’t take credit for itmyself, though. Not so much a one for the creepy.

GARY BONN: I just wish Ren Warom was here to answer you. Her debut novel is with an agent now and will scare people totally… er how do I say this? You know the way people talk about watching scary films whilst hiding behind the sofa? That’s how people will read it – and it’s not even intended to be horror. If she were to write in that genre… Excuse me, I’m off to hide behind a sofa.

EDWARD DRAKE: Trust me, women can scare just as well as men. There really is no gender divide when it comes to genre. Be it horror, war, sport, anything, women can write just as well as, if not better than men.

COLIN F. BARNES: I see no distinction in genders, personally. Women can write equally as horrific stories as men. (Women In Black, and Frankenstein immediately come to mind). I’m not sure why there aren’t more in the mainstream, but I blame traditional publishing for that. Them and their pre-conceived marketing ideas. If more women were given chance to show their horror work, I think the genre would be in much better shape than it is now. Probably less derivative zombie stuff.

VICTORIA GRIESDOORN: I agree with Edward. I think there’s no such thing as gender divide in genre. I think it’s much more determined by personality than gender. But I do think there might be a societal bias. Women in our society are commonly taught to think of themselves as the gentler sex and I think that sometimes shows in genre choices (as readers and writers), not capabilities.

SARAH ANNE LANGTON: Really? People still question this? Erm…. totally amazed folk would even think that chicks writing horror was an issue in genre fiction these days. I can tie my own shoelaces too.

What Mr Drake said 🙂

JAMES MAZZARO: I think different things scare women as opposed to men. Take for example Anne Rice. While her vampires are deadly, they use the art of seduction far more than what we saw from Stephen King’s Mr Barlow in Salem’s Lot. Men concentrate on blood and gore and delivering that shock scene in vivid detail. What I see from women is deeper levels of suspense and far more intricate motives for their heroes and villains.

Both methods are extremely effective. The goal is to keep the reader turning the pages far past their bedtime.

KAREN REAY-DAVIES: Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in 1818, I count that as horror, indeed, it’s probably the first horror story. as Camilla didn’t come until, what? 1870 something. Interesting to note, the monster made of body parts that embarks on a terrible path of revenge was written by a woman and the two next nearest horror stories about sexeh vamps were written by men : le Fanu and Stoker respectively. Maybe it’s the men folk who lean to the softer types of horror, but are too shy to ‘come out’?;p But to answer the question. Yes, I think women are equally as capable of writing any genre as male writers.

SARAH ANNE LANGTON: Yes, Mary Shelley never dabbled in gore & Bram Stoker never touched on the sexual natures of vampires. Really don’t think an author’s approach is defined by virtue of their sex.

I never thought it was an issue until critics and interviewers asked me about it – and that was last year, not in 1954. Depressing. But speaking of writers block (literally), when writing, so you auto-censor yourselves? Have you ever changed entire scenes after realizing you couldn’t let it in? If so, what was the scene and what was the genre?

KRISTA WALSH: Can’t say I have. I’ve come close in the most recent project I’m working on. It’s just a short paragraph that’s sure to upset some people, but I’m standing by it.

JAMES MAZZARO: I have one of those fertile minds where stories are playing all the time in my head. The best way for the story to come out is to put myself in a locked room and write. I wrote a mothers love in the middle of the night in about an hour. The words flew onto the page faster than I could grasp what I was writing. I enjoyed writing it so much I couldn’t wait to see how it was going to turn out. When I sent it to Colin, he asked me to expand on the conflict between mrs Gray and the demon. It just clicked.

Since I signed on Twitter, I’ve noticed how many horror writers are out there, promoting or just trying to get published – if not already – and yet publishers and critiques always say the genre is in decline in popularity. I personally don’t believe it, but do you?

COLIN F BARNES: Yes, I do believe it is in decline. You can see it in bookshops; the shelf space is given over to Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy. What little shelf space that there is for Horror, it’s mostly stalwarts like King, Lovecraft, Barker et al. Supermarkets, which are selling more books than bookshops these days, rarely have any horror on their shelves of thrillers, romance, and women’s fiction.

If you look at online marketplaces for horror, there’s really nothing of note, hardly any pro markets or zines, just a few smaller token or non-paying ones. Then when we look at Amazon, horror is mostly made up of badly produced derivative zombie, werewolf, vampire fiction and old classic collections. There’s very few top-end horror novels in the marketplace compared to other genres.

But, genres are cyclical. In 5 or 10 years we might see Scifi and Fantasy recede, and PR/UF go the way of the dodo, and Horror return to its former 80s/90s heyday.

This is one of the reasons why I didn’t focus on horror for Day of Demons, instead the focus was on fantasy and dark fantasy with a few horror stories mixed in to give it a wider appeal.

VICTORIA GRIESDOORN: Well, I think when publishers and critics talk about a genre being in decline, they mean that there are fewer books of that genre published through traditional houses, fewer bought by readers via traditional houses and it’s rare they’re on traditional bestseller’s lists. Publishers and critics still don’t pay much attention to how many indie authors there are writing in a genre and how much they’re selling, unless there’s an indie breakout bestselling success, in which case publishers will flock. But I can’t remember a case like that in the horror genre.

KRISTA WALSH: Since I’m not really a horror writer, I can only answer this question as a Twitter observer. Seems to me like it’s still one of the most popular genres among writers and readers. Sometimes hiding under different genre labels, perhaps, but still with a strong presence.

It’s a Day of Demons giveaway madness!!!

The generous editor will ship a softcover copy of the Days of Demon anthology to one lucky (and international) winner as well as choose three others to win ecopies – but you must leave a comment on here and tweet about it (as proof, the link, please) and sign up to Anachron Press to be eligible. Colin will whisper the winners on Friday the 14th of September at midnight.

Good luck:)

8 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Good Book, Highly recommended

July 23, 2012

My Heart is a Drummer

By Anne Michaud

My good friend Adam Sydney is officially a published writer, and with his second book, My Heart is a Drummer, he explores ♥love♥ the only way he can: weirdly. Adam will choose two lucky ecopy winners, one for My heart… and another for Yolanda. Good luck:)

The structure of My Heart is a Drummer is nothing like I’ve ever seen before – what inspired you to write this particular story this way?

Read it, it’s excellent.

AS: I wrote the first draft chronologically, but as this was the first draft of the first real novel I’d ever written, I wanted it to feel fresh and spontaneous. Consequently, I wasn’t writing off of an outline, which for me, I’ve learned, leads to very leaden, predictable writing. So everyday, I wrote for an hour or two, just plowing ahead on the timeline.

Sometimes, though, I’d run into spots where I didn’t know what was going to happen next. For some unknown reason, I came up with this idea that at these points, I would write little scenes that had nothing to do with the story but would keep me writing and hopefully open my stuffed up brain passages. This actually worked for me.

For the next draft, I decided to take the week that I’d covered chronologically and regroup the scenes into chronological order for each character. So we cover the week with Lourdes’ POV, then we cover the same week again with Eric. For me, this kept the story from revealing too much information too soon, and it also kept the story more firmly focused on the people around Donald and how he affected them, rather than on him.

I don’t know why, but I left in the weird little scenes that I’d written basically as exercises– and lo and behold, people weren’t incredibly annoyed by them! I was surprised, but glad, because they ended up feeling to me as if they were sketches of some of the people who might have benefited from knowing Donald if they’d just lived in his part of the world and/or in his time. But maybe I’m justifying?

You’ve lived in London, LA, New York, but you always write stories taking place in rural nowhere kinda towns…why, Adam Sydney, why?

AS: Wow! No one’s ever asked me that one, before, either! I can see how someone could really get properly cross-examined by a friend who knows them well. I’ll have to behave myself, or you’ll ask me a question that might really expose the darkest recesses of my psyche…

But it’s true, I’ve lived in a lot of big cities– and some smaller ones, too. The setting of My Heart is a Drummer is more suburban than anything else, I think. Montclair, New Jersey is in the metro area of New York City. But I grew up in small towns– maybe that’s it? Although I’ve never consciously avoided writing stories set in large cities, now that I think of it, I get nervous at the prospect. Lots of people will know the place well, and if I don’t represent the city in the way that they’ve experienced it, maybe I’m worried that they’ll not feel the story is as authentic as it could be.

This might also explain why I set my stories in places that I’ve never been to, before. I’m not personally a big fan of fiction that seeks to capture a place; I’m a story man. It’s the background in screenwriting, I guess. So I get a little bored when a novel spends ten pages describing a room or a street. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, necessarily. I just prefer to get down to the nitty-gritty of character and action.

Do you believe writers pour pieces of themselves in each work, and if so, what’s your piece in My Heart is a Drummer?

Adam Sydney, author

AS: I think that each and every novel is probably a piece of its writer. After all, we spend so much time with it, and the process can be very intimate. But my problem answering this question is that I tried to ensure writing My Heart is a Drummer would depend almost solely on subconscious creative decisions. So it must all be pieces of me; I just can’t tell you which pieces! People who know me well could probably answer that question better than I could. What do you think? What pieces of me are in there? I have to admit that I’m terrified of your response.

That being said, there were a couple of brief stories recounted in the book that I consciously put in there. They were based on reality, and reading over the book later makes me think that the personal reasons I included them make them weaker than other elements, perhaps. However, no one ever said that they stuck out or felt awkward or self-indulgent, so I’ve left them in.

If any of your readers take a look at My Heart is a Drummer, I’d love to hear what they think might be these factual stories!

So what’s next for you? Are you working on a new story?

AS: I think what’s now and next for me is going to be a lot of marketing for my books. People warned me that getting them published would be next to impossible, but marketing would be a thousand times tougher. So far, that’s turning out to be true. But I was a creative director at an advertising agency for a while, and my boss used to draft me to handle P.R. sometimes, so I kind of understand a few of the basics. I did threaten to quit the job if he me do any more publicity, though, to give you an idea of how I feel about it.

And I’m also working on my third novel, which defies categorization. It’s sort of an experimental, semi-narrative horror treatise on existence. Yeah, I’ll be raking in the dough on that one. I really enjoyed writing experimental screenplays because I’d rather try out a few things that I haven’t seen before onscreen and felt that if I did what everyone else was doing, someone’s probably already done it better, anyway. To give you a good idea of how twisted I am, one of my favorite authors is Faulkner. Of course, with the film industry, the chance that an experimental feature will be financed is pretty slim (I’d put a understatement emoticon here if they had one), so I’ve turned my attention to books. My first two are pretty conventional, but I started to get the urge to try some new things, hence Something’s Wrong. So far, I could only get three of my writing friends to take a look: two said it was profound, and one couldn’t make it through the first third of the book. So yeah, it’s going to be one of those projects. But I still plan on publishing it– mostly just because I can.

So if anyone out there enjoys experimental, semi-narrative horror treatise on existence, please do get in touch!

**Leave your comments, guys – you could win an ecopy of the book on Monday July 30th:)**

20 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Good Book, Highly recommended

January 1, 2012

2012 Resolutions

By Anne Michaud

New year’s melancholy. What I used to be, who I wanted to become. Have I changed? Probably. But one thing remains: to aspire to something different.

Write More * Write Better * Write for me

In the spirit of this list of wishes, here’s a flash inspired by this dream I’ve had just before waking up. You know the kind – one that stays with you all day, that you can’t push out of your mind. And days later, you just have to bleed it on the page.

On the Rocks

Clever, they pretended to be something else. A meteorite shower all over our planet, but nothing to worry about. Brown shapeless space stones weren’t a concern to us, until they landed.

Inside, millions waiting to take our place, to send us away. Ships lined up, futile fighting ended in death; my father, the neighbor, our president. The only hand left to hold was my mother’s.

Through the shredding of our lives, she smiled at me. I asked her: In the wide map of black above, will we lose ourselves? She said: Between the stars and the moon, nothing will catch us if we fall.

 

For all of you who are still missing out, City of Hell is on the loose, catch it if you can while one of the wonderful stories is FREE ♥

12 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in #fridayflash, All about me, myself and I, Good Book, Highly recommended, Little Obsession, Short Fiction

December 15, 2011

Blog Award, German style

By Anne Michaud

Darling zombie poet April R Denton bestowed this award to me – as if her  dedicated poem wasn’t enough. Sadly, she is taking a break from blogs, tweets, etc, but if you want to read her amazing prose, come here.

My blogging nominations to spread the love of the Liebster – it means beloved and dearest. Cute, non?

REN WAROM is one amazing, weird, creepy, cursing sailor of a writer, and I adore not only her rich stories but how she always has a nice word twist. Beware: highly addictive.

AMY L OVERLEY makes me laugh with her genius plots and schemes as  the co-founder of the Genius Club. One hell of a writer.

MIKE WORDPLAY is a new friend who cheers me up when I feel ugly, old and fat – not an easy feat, let me tell you. Quite a talented boy.

JASON DARRICK can be very scary and a little creepy, but that’s only when you read his stuff. He’s a cool dude with great muscial taste, too.

TYMOTHY LONGORIA is a sweet, kind-hearted and go-getter writer who helps practical strangers with their query letters. Oh, and he’s adorable, too.

There you have it, peeps – stalk them on twitter, follow their amazing blogs, and show the love ♥

26 Comments   |  tags: , | posted in All about me, myself and I, Highly recommended, Little Obsession

December 8, 2011

Comparing Goth Notes with Angela Addams

By Anne Michaud

My friend and Gothsis Angela Addams got a great idea: we exchange notes on what we loved/hated growing up being goth. Here’s the second part, the first being posted on her blog.

NINE INCH NAILS

The Trent I'm trying to forget

Angie: This band changed my life!!! I remember the first time I ever heard a NIN song. My cousin tossed a cassette tape (yes, it was that long ago) at me and said, “I think you’d better listen to this, I don’t expect I’ll get that tape back once you do.” And she was right…the album was Broken and I listened to it until the tape actually broke! Wish and Gave up, in particular, were two songs that I couldn’t get enough of…and I’ve never been disappointed in concert because Trent Reznor always plays them for me 😉 By far my favorite band! I’ve got a ton of NIN stories…in fact, I think I’ll write up a separate post about them!

The Trent I'd like to Goth up good

Anne: I discovered them through a friend, too, but I hardly remember who or where we were. What I can’t forget is when my friend Christopher dragged me to their concert at the Astoria in London, 2005. I pictured Trent Reznor sick and dying from too much rock and roll – circa 1995 – but then this beefed up dude with arms like trees came out and I couldn’t believe my eyes: Le Trent lives! And yum, I’d goth him up real good in an alternate universe, one in which his wife wasn’t some sex kitten and he didn’t have a kid. SO HAPPY he chose to live instead of, you know…

ROBERT SMITH

Angie: Okay, I couldn’t resist…sorry Anne…although it seems like some kind of prerequisite for all goths to LOVE Robert Smith and The Cure…I just couldn’t get into it…mainly because a bunch of people told me I HAD to like them…Angie’s instant reaction to being told what to do…full stop, brakes on, arms crossed, don’t tell me what to do stance…so, I’ve never been a fan.  So much so that when I finally relented and decided to give them a try…paid a crapload of money for a ticket and went to see them in concert…I fell asleep in my seat…WORST.CONCERT.EVER

Seriously, can I have a piece of him?

Anne: My husband, my lover, my imaginary boy! You know, I’ve been defending Mr Smith & Co for so long – 25 years, actually – when people call them out for wearing badly-applied makeup and for singing happy songs, that…I won’t stop now! HOW can you say that, Angie? He’s a genius, a rock star, an unbelievable composer, an artist, a poet, my heart & soul! Then again, you do like Marilyn Manson, so we can’t all have good taste, huh?

JACK & SALLY

Angie: I was a little late to the Jack and Sally party…I missed the movie in the theaters…well, actually, I once again, pulled a classic Angie and skipped it cause I hated all the hype and can’t stand to be told what I’ll just love…trust me, worst mistake ever…since then though, I think I’ve watched the movie at least 200 times, I know all the songs off by heart (even had part of one play as my wedding song) and have an obscene collection of movie stuff…AND I have Jack tattooed on my leg!

Love conquers death and the Oogie Boogie

Anne: I went to see it four or five times at the cinema, a thousand years ago. I just couldn’t get the songs out of my head, and that love story was exactly the kind I like: with skeletons, spiders and heartbreak. I watch it 3 or 4 times each year, can’t help tearing up as they meet up at the end – aw, and that twirly hill just kills me. And yeah, I’ve accumulated loads of Burton crap throughout the years, but I call it my prized collection, which proves everything is relative, I guess.

So there you go, you know a little bit more about the two gals who brought you The Minion of Misery Award:)

33 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in All about me, myself and I, Highly recommended, Little Obsession

December 5, 2011

Chatting with Lisa Forget

By Anne Michaud

I’ve been meeting such great people from around the world on Kelley Armstrong’s forum, that when I learned that Lisa Forget lived close to me, I almost didn’t believe it! This gal is a well-rounded artist, and with her new short story available at MuseItUp Publishing, she’s now a published author, too.

 

Me: You’ve kept your approach to romantic vampirism fresh even if it sometimes feel like it’s all been said and done in that genre. What/who inspired Deathly Quiet?

 Lisa Forget: First, I want to thank you Anne for inviting me to chat. I’m thrilled you feel my little dark tale might offer something fresh for those who enjoy this genre.

Although, I’ve always loved stories about vampires – especially written in the gothic style – I never intended to write one.

Deathly Quiet was inspired by a little street in Montreal, near where I grew up. Just like Moira, it always intrigued and frightened me and as a child I was convinced the houses on the street were haunted. When I grew up I often drove by Sebastopol street just to soak up the ambiance and to watch the Caleche drivers tend the horses in the stables that exist there even today. One night, after driving through that part of town, I set my mind to writing a dark tale about an young woman coming face to face with terror. Writing the story “by the seat of my pants” I started with a young Irish girl named Moira, a creepy street named Sebastopol Row, an inky-black crow and a pool of dripping blood and let the words flow. The moment I penned the stranger stepping out of the shadows – he bared his teeth at me. That’s when I knew he was a vampire. Perhaps my deep-rooted feelings about the street, the stables, the houses, coloured my story and my love of the gothic style decided my traditional treatment of him. In a way it was as though one of my childhood nightmares had come to life.

Me: Loving this – I do the same, Iinspire myself from what surrounds me, and then of course I twist it into my own darkness. When you write, do you need to be in a frame of mind? Do you put music on? Does it influence your writing?

Lisa Forget: Usually, I only sit down to pen a story if I’m in the right mood. The only time I “force” myself is if I’m doing NaNoWriMo or editing. However, sometimes I do put on music to heighten creativity right before I sit down at the computer. I usually turn the music off once I begin typing. Yes, I’d say music does influence my writing. Three bands who get my creative juices flowing are Hedley, Coldplay and Muse. Their music and lyrics touch me and spark ideas.

Me: What are you future writing plans? Other paranormal short stories in the works? Or maybe a novel?

Lisa Forget: At the moment, I’m awaiting the first edits from my publisher for a YA short story entitled “Leapling”It’s slated for February 2012. And, I’m writing some dark shorts for a project I’m collaborating on with Pat Hollett and Tammy Crosby – an anthology called “Bleeding Ink – a collection of Dark Tales.” We’re compiling a collection of creative and dark stories from talented writers like you Anne….hint, hint.

My plan is to finish the stories I started…. LOL! I have several. What I’m presently working on is “The Guardian of Secrets” – a paranormal romance. I’m also editing two completed novels, “The Powers Within” (YA) and “Love Eternal” another paranormal romance. “Love Eternal” was the very first writing project I completed a few years ago based on a 5th century Welsh legend. Once I’m done the edits I plan to submit the stories to my publisher. Hopefully they’ll like them and I’ll have reason to write a sequel to Powers and finish the sequel to Eternal!

Deathly Quiet is a hauting tale of love and regret, get it now! 

7 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Good Book, Highly recommended, Short Fiction, YA

November 28, 2011

Impressions of China: Details

By Anne Michaud

With everything so big—the buildings, the streets, the crowds—it’d be easy to forget what Beijing is, the city’s essence. In my writing as in my life, I believe it’s the little details that count, and once again, I was proven right.

 

I collect antiques, so when I saw these red doors with the peeling paint and old wood, I felt right at home. Those knobs are so pretty, many reproductions are sold in markets and souvenir shops – I should’ve brought my screwdriver.

 

That is one thing French-Canadians haven’t realized, yet: old houses are worth restoring to give them new life. Most of the old hutongs in the Forbidden City are being renovated, and they’re doing a fine job.

 

I was amazed by the stone carving found on the Emperor’s stairs at the Imperial Palace, and then near a hotel on the side of a business, a pretty medallion.

 

But details mean nothing when you know the amount of information China hides from its people, the number of people being thrown out of their homes to build new condos, and the size of the revolution that is bound to happen, sooner or later. And I can’t help but think it’ll reach us all the way to the other side of the world, changing us just the same.

 

*** The winner for the City of Hell giveaway are: DIGITAL DAME & LEONARD WHITE. Congrats you two, and thanks for everyone who participated♥***

10 Comments   |  tags: | posted in All about me, myself and I, Seeing the World

November 24, 2011

Chatting with April R Denton…& GIVEAWAY!

By Anne Michaud

The #CoffinHop wasn’t only about meeting horror authors and enjoying Halloween’s festivities – it was also about winning goodies! I was super happy when April R Denton told me I won a poem she’d write for me, so I proposed to premiere her composition over here.

AM: You’re such a prolific writer: poems, short stories, and novels…where do you find your inspiration, dear Zombie Girl? What sparks your fire?

April R Denton: Music and my dreams are most influential. When I find the right music for what I am writing the words flow freely, but they also influence my tone in the piece.

AM: Me too! Some dreams have become novels – they were that good to expand! Give me examples of the music you listen to write a scene, like a fight scene or a more mellow, romantic one.

April R Denton: I let Winamp do most of the work for my by shuffling until I reach a song that gives me goosebumps. For a sexy scene I use Puscifer, Maynard always makes me want to do dirty things. For violence Morphogenesis by Scar Symmetry or maybe some Killswitch Engage.

AM: Cool stuff. So when you wrote my ♥poem♥, how did you come up with it?

April R Denton: To write your poem I read your blog and took words that described you. Then I used rhymed.com to find rhymes that would work well. I reread the poem about 20 times until I was satisfied.

AM: It feels personal, you did a great job:)
Here it is, folks. Enjoy!

Gothic girl

Hazel eyes

Dark obsessive

Sweet surprise

Gloomy tunes

Oh so tall

Anne, the wordsmith

For her words you’ll befall

***In honor of the macabre and gloomy, I’m giving away two – yes, 2!! – ARC e-copies of City of Hell – Chronicles 1 (horror anthology featuring 7 scary short stories) to anyone who subscribe to this blog and leaves a comment to this post. Drawing of the lucky winners on Monday November 28th at noon-ish, Mtl time. Good luck♥***

12 Comments   |  tags: , , | posted in All about me, myself and I, Highly recommended, Little Obsession, Short Fiction