The blog of author Stacy Kingsley - Stacy Kingsley

Maine

5/10/2018

There are some places that tug at us, they call us as a writer and beg to be written about. I have yet to write about Maine, but part of that is because I wasn't living in Maine, and still don't. I do enjoy visiting, and have for the last 15 years or so. I enjoy the coast, I enjoy the flavor of the stillness, and I enjoy the food. The people are interesting, and the scenery is both breathtaking and eerie. Two nights ago I watched the fog roll in over the ocean. It was fascinating and frightening. It made me think of the movie THE FOG and I wondered what could come in with the fog.

Now I write horror, mostly, but lately I've been working on both science fiction and non-fiction. I've got one book in the realm of science fiction already finished, and it is in the editing and rewriting stage. I've got to get it through the a critique group first to see if it makes any sense. I am also working on two non-fiction pieces, one about the stupid things people say when someone dies, and the other is a fun little humor book of conversations I made up that I've has with my cat.

And back to Maine. Today was another day like any other. The reason I am in Maine, my Father-in-Law's memorial service. There will be a few popular, or once popular people there, and I know mostly none of their names. I look around and I can see why Stephen King liked it around Maine. There are a lot of spooky people and places here. There is the fog the rolls in, and sweeps its light fingers over the land, crawling in like the tendrils of an octopus's arm.

There are islands with single homes on them, and you can't help but wonder who lives there? Is it a person who likes to bring people to their island to hunt them down and kill them for sport? Is it a person who likes to torture women in his dining room by tying them to dinner chairs and forcing them to converse with them while the sit shaking in a fancy cocktail dress? Is it a person who likes to keep different men trapped in different rooms of their house so they can mate with them, or possibly use them as a brothel for special women to vacation at? There are several possibilities and they are all enchanting and fascinating.

Maine can be the home of horror and terror. Maine can be a nice place for a summer vacation where one can gorge themselves on lobster, or a winter solace where they can sit with a hot toddy and read a frightening book under a super warm blanket. There are a lot of things to love about Maine, and as an author, I really enjoy the look and feel of it. Of course I may also gorge myself on fresh seafood, but that is life. If I can't get good Mexican food, I will eat all the fresh seafood I can get!

New Stuff!

11/15/2017

First I want to apologize for not blogging for a while. Life has been very busy and of course I will talk a little about that in a minute.

I want to post about a book signing event I will be doing in December. I will be at the Downtown Fredericksburg, Virginia library from 1-3pm. The address is 1201 Caroline St, Fredericksburg, VA 22401 and I hope to see some people there. I am very excited to introduce myself to the people of Virginia. I am currently working on the final book for my zombie series, and another project for NaNoWriMo. I decided not to work on my zombie novel for NaNoWriMo because I didn't want to rush myself. Yes, I know some of you are asking why not, since I do need to get it out and you are waiting anxiously to see how things end.

Besides the books I have been teaching several English classes, which means lots and lots of grading papers. So I haven't been as vigilant with my blog, or updates, or even watching movies. In fact the last thing I watched was the entire SAW series since it is currently on Netflix.

I also received some bad news about one of my kittens. Well, she isn't really a kitten since she is seventeen years old. She is sick and was given less than a year to live, which has been very upsetting. I am trying to make sure that she has a good quality of life, and am giving her anything she wants to eat. In the last three months she has lost 2 1/2 pounds, which is not good at all for an already thin cat.

I do promise to try harder, and I will hopefully have some things to blog about in the next coming weeks.

So please, if you have a chance try to come to the book signing!!! It will be a blast and hey, you can get to know a little more about how a horror writer thinks.

Author Interview with Wayne Miller

7/23/2017

Today I have a treat for you, an interview with author and playwright Wayne Miller. Mr. Miller has written and produced several plays in and around the Huntsville, Alabama area, and is known for not shying away from tough subjects. He has also recently released his first novel, to which there are links at the bottom of the interview.

You have written plays and at least one novel, do you have a preference of which you write?
Not really. I love both. Each has its own unique charms. I do like that plays don't take as long to write, though.

What is your favorite genre to work on, since you have written in several genres? Why?
I'm a Horror junkie, through and through. As to why, exactly, I don't really know. It could be as simple as my parents letting me watch old monster movies when I was little. Or I could get all deep and psychological with it and comment on the ways in which make-believe horrors make the horrors of the real world easier to process; how Horror as a genre allows human beings to experience fear in a safe way, and how it is vital to our mental health to develop the proper coping mechanisms for dealing with fear. Or, if you ask some people, I'm just a sicko. You can take your pick. :)

What is the first book that made you cry? Why?
I honestly can't remember. I know Where the Red Fern Grows damn near killed me in elementary school.

What authors did you dislike at first but grew into? What changed your mind about them.
I used to hate the Harry Potter books. Not so much because I thought they were bad. There were just so, so many Fantasy books I thought were more worthy of all the attention, and all these kids had never heard of them. But watching the movies (because my wife made me) led me to a respect for the overall story. Plus Twilight came along and made me realize just how good the Harry Potter books were, after all, and deserving of the accolades.

Does writing energize or exhaust you?
Both. But it's a good exhaustion.

You just published your first novel, did you find the experience exhausting or inspiring? Why?
Inspiring. I detest the traditional publishing route, had tried to go that route, and even used to work in that industry. Technology has advanced to the point that an author doesn't have to choose between traditional publishing with all its drawbacks and throwing money away on a vanity press. It is now possible to go around the minefield.

How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?
It didn't, really. If anything, maybe I won't second guess myself so much in the future, worrying about whether something I want to do or say will satisfy some industry crony.

What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?
It depends. If the book is set in the present day, that requires little in the way of research. Historical stories are more involved.

What did you edit out of this book? Why?
This one? Me – yes this recent one. Just a word here, a sentence there. I didn't make any big cuts.

What was the best money you ever spent as a writer?
On books I want to read. The best thing a writer can do is read as much as he can get his hands on. Read for pleasure. Read to educate yourself. Read to study style.

What are common traps for aspiring writers?
There are so many. One of the biggest, I'd say, is grammar. You have to learn the rules before you break the rules. Back when I used to work as a submissions editor, if a manuscript came across my desk and there were grammatical mistakes or misspelled words, I'd dismiss it out of hand. One must learn to write properly before he can make the words "sing."

What literary pilgrimages have you gone on?
I've been to Cross Plains, Texas, home to Robert E. Howard, several times. I've visited the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia, where they have the original notes Bram Stoker wrote for Dracula and a whole wing dedicated to Maurice Sendek, author of Where the Wild Things Are. I've sat in the sharecropper's shack in Louisiana where the "Brer Rabbit" stories were first compiled.

In your opinion, what is the most unethical practice in the publishing industry?
Those literary agents who've figured a way around the rule against charging reader's fees, in fact some of the biggest names in the business are guilty of it, and they get away with it because of who they are.

What is your writing Kryptonite?
I have to be alone to write. If anyone else is around I can't do it.

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?
I'm not the fastest typist. I really should have taken typing in high school, but who knew I'd need it one day?

Websites Mr. Miller writes for: vampires.com, werewolves.com, zombies.org, topcomics.com, and darkness.com.

Mr. Miller’s newest novel is The Confessions of Saint Christopher: Werewolf and it is available at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/734763

His personal website is evilcheezproductions.blogspot.com and he is on Facebook as "Evil Cheez Productions."

Author event this weekend

9/8/2016

This Saturday, September 10, several authors will be participating in an author's expo in Huntsville, Alabama. I will be one of them.

If you want to come meet me, talk zombies and/or horror, buy a book or two and explore works by other authors come on by. The event is free to attend, and you get the chance to meet and talk with authors, and you can get some signed books to show off to your friends or give as a Christmas gift (winter is coming).

The website is https://www.evensi.us/southern-authors-expo-downtown-huntsville-library/180670978

Hope to see you this weekend! I love meeting fans and readers alike!

Coming up

2/16/2016

So next weekend, one day only, I will be selling books and bookmarks at the Birmingham library in Alabama. Come see me! I'm very excited to be doing this since I haven't seen much of Alabama outside of Decatur, Athens, Huntsville, and Madison. I'm assuming that Birmingham is a bigger type of city!

http://www.bplonline.org/programs/LocalAuthors/

October

10/20/2015

Yes I know, October is almost over and I haven't posted anything. Damn, people of the net, I have been so freaking busy and I'm so sorry. I promise I will write some posts, probably Friday, when I have a little free time. I went to Rocket City Lit Fest and I think they need to work out some kinks before I go again. Tomorrow I will be the featured author at a open mic night. This weekend I will be at Rocket City Nerdcon, selling books and other stuff. But, I do have at least two movie reviews to post, possibly four depending on if I can get this one movie watched.

So, if you have free time, come see me at Nerdcon this weekend. I'll be up on the third floor.

Oh, and lastly, BOOK 3 if FINALLY available. For the moment it is only available on Amazon as a paper book, but hopefully next month it will be in other online retailers as a paperback and as an ebook. I just don't have time right now to make it available on all channels.

So look for it, ZOMBIE WASTELAND, is available!

Zombie Book Update

6/23/2015

I am reworking the formatting of my first two zombie books so now they are more accurate, like with page numbers and everything, thanks to the help of Jennifer Pinkley who actually got the page numbers to go on and fit properly. This means that my books now look like professional books. I opted not to put my name or the book title on any of the pages because I like to keep things simple. The third book ZOMBIE WASTELAND is still on schedule to be out in October, hopefully by the first week but I am not exactly sure yet. The fourth book is finally in process. I've got 4 chapters written but I am rewriting them now after getting some good advice from the authors at Phoenix Comic Con. Now for those of you worried I might not finish don't, I'm not rewriting everything I am just reworking things.

I'm also working on a free story to follow the release of the third book. I will be honoring a contest winner, Amanda Bretz, and will be using her name and likeness in the story. She won the chance to be mentioned in the book, the opportunity to be turned into a zombie and killed off gruesomely. The other winners of contests will be put in the last book as zombies and I will give them a shot out later.

I have several things scheduled coming up and am hoping for a few more. I am also going to try getting my book into a few stores on consignment. I will be updating appearances and signings as they come up, so far nothing is until October but there might be one opportunity in August and another in September that I can get into.

So exciting stuff. And fans, bloggers, strangers who read this, feel free to comment and feel free to ask questions. I love answering questions. They don't even have to be about zombies, they could be about how I keep my curly hair so bouncy (mousse, and only a little).

Let's talk writing

3/21/2015

I know a lot of authors or writers have their own way of doing things. Some write with the television on, some with music, some in crowded coffee houses, some need silence, some need deep deep "I am stranded in the middle of the woods and hope a serial killer doesn't stumble on me" silence. I need a place to look at people and either a horror movie or television show on, or music to match my characters moods.

There is also the question of whether to share in a group or hide in a room. So many of us worry that if we share someone out there will either steal our work or pirate it. I personally don't worry, if someone pirated my work I would wonder why they chose THAT book and not something better (I, personally, still wonder why anyone would want to read my stuff, but I have self-esteem issues, and I'm incredibly happy when I find out that not only has someone read my stuff, but they have an opinion about it!). If someone steals my work, I know how to sue, and I know how copyright laws work, so that's covered too.

The problem for me, in regards to sharing with a group, is really twofold. I am not always good in social situations. I shake and tremble and my voice warbles when I talk. I get red and feel hot. I worry that someone will start throwing food at me because I am just that terrible. Then I worry that what I am sharing, the words that have come from my brain first and my heart second, will not be interesting enough to attract the attention of anyone listening. I am afraid that I will read my first, or second, or fifth draft and someone will say, "ew, no one should read this, EVER." This, however, has happened to me. I was kicked out of a writer's group and one of the other writer's told me that he felt my work was crap and the world shouldn't be subjected to my crap because it was destructive and horrible. I have never found a way to push past those words, so I write, I write and write and write and hope that people like what I write.

Honestly, no writer, no matter how bad and no matter what the subject, should be told that their work is destructive and that they should give up writing to save society from the perverse horror they have written. All writers should be taught and if there is a serious problem, they should be steered in another direction. No one should ever be belittled, not in a writer's group and not in a book or story review. The world out there tends to forget that there are people behind those stories, people with feelings and ambitions and goals.

A writer should feel safe in a writer's group, safe to explore and develop and even to offend. A writer's group can help new writer's learn the craft, and learn to schedule time, and they can help others grow and expand.

I no longer worry about offending anyone, I'm writing about zombies, serial killers, the death of children, and I've destroyed the life on one ten-year-old in my books. I can't worry that the violent sex, or brutal torture, or tasting of human flesh is going to put anyone off my books. I write horror, not books set in happy dancing bunny land. My main zombie character likes Pearl Jam and sad songs, my serial killer loves everything that has a good beat to kill to, my other characters like a variety of music depending on their moods. I write in coffee shops, at the kitchen table, and if it's sunny outside I grab my notebook (yes I write longhand) and sit under a tree with a soda and a snack.

So writer's, write. If you're new, write. If you've been writing a while, continue to write. If you've only written poems and want to write stories, go ahead and write it. And as for those reviews - don't let the bad ones hurt. Sure they sting, but more like a splinter not a sword slash.

Where to write?

3/18/2015

Since moving to a new town in a new state I feel like I am flailing in my writing. I am lost without a well-known cafe to write in and I have no beach to sit at and write longhand. So I have started searching for a place to write, and I am finding it incredibly difficult. Partly, because I don't know the area, and partly because I haven't been stable long enough here to explore like I need.

There is something about being in a new environment that makes it difficult to work. I've got the ideas flowing, I've got the music going, and the characters all want to run out and say, "Hey, I'm here so put my life down on that paper." Yet, I can't seem to do it. At home there are too many distractions, the laundry needs to be done, the dishes need to be washed, dinner needs to be cooked, food needs to be bought. It is an ongoing war. I wish I was one of those people who could shut everything down and just write, but I'm not. I get distracted too easily.

It's kind of weird. Writing comes easy, finding the proper place to write is the hard part.

I don't know if any other writers have this problem. I'd like to think I am not the only one, but there are times when I feel like I am. Part of that is that writing is such a solitary experience. Authors write alone. They create worlds and people alone. They cry alone when someone dies, and they are afraid alone when they turn their babies out in the world. Rejection doesn't scare me. Bad reviews don't scare me. Not being able to find a place to write, that, that scares me.

The Meaning of Death

2/4/2015

I know, a lot of people will read the title and say to themselves, "Death has no meaning, it's just the ending of life." If that were true then I doubt we would be so afraid of death or mourn those who passed. Death has a meaning, the question is, what?

To each person death will mean something different. I remember the first time death left a bitter, bloody taste in my mouth. It was when I learned my sister had died. Death walked up to me, I was just a child at the time, and slapped me so hard across the face that my head was spinning for weeks. Not long after I lost two more relatives, and with each backhanded slap death hit me with my face stung as hard as the last. I wanted to crawl into the bathtub, curl into a ball, and destroy myself in the darkness. The pain of losing someone is, for the living, the hardest part of death.

As a horror writer I think about death often, maybe more than the normal person. I think of how it might feel to be stabbed, shot, garroted, set on fire, decapitated, drowned, and well you dear reader get the picture. I think about how one feels when they walk into a crime seen and see their family member, friend, lover, or just the victim, dead. I think about the pain that might cause one to seek revenge. I think about the life one might lead after losing someone. I think about death often.

Some of you will never get over the death of someone, maybe that person meant the world to you and you can't fathom life without them, maybe that person was someone who caused you pain and you wanted them to suffer more than they did, whatever the reason, you hold on. You hold on to the memory, you hold on to the hope that maybe, just maybe, someone got it wrong and that person isn't dead. There might not be closure. You might not get to see the body of the deceased. You might never really even get the relief of knowing, 100%, that the person you are missing is dead.

Maybe, possibly, the meaning of death is the meaning of life. Death might just be a tool, put in place to make you appreciate what you have. Everyone knows death exists, maybe the meaning of death is just living. Weird right?

Of course, I, a poor writer living in a southern town, trying to find my place in a new environment, I don't have the answer. I know one day death will come for me, I'm not sure I'll ever be ready. As I think back, and as tears tremble in my eyes, I know I will always miss those who have passed, and I hate to think about those who I am going to lose.

For me, death just means focus on life. Then again, death also means a paycheck if I twist it around enough to get you, the reader, to but into what I'm selling.