Well now, greetings and salutations to anyone who is reading this here profile. I am new to this site and have only just created my account so do excuse me if I don't seem to have clue what I am doing! Ever since I was a little girl I have loved reading and writing. I attempted to write a novel at the age of eight about a talking fox and his friend, who was an evil leprechaun. As this is not in print you may rightly assume that this particular writing venture never really took off! Since then I have started various projects, but never had the ability to concentrate on one set of characters long enough to finish anything. So I am now trying to embrace the concept of short stories. This is rather difficult for me as I have a tendancy to ramble off on tangents (as I am very possibly doing right now!). I have always been fascinted by the darker side of life and am an avid reader of horror stories and watcher of horror films. Some of my favourite authors include Clive Barker, Caitlin R Kiernan, Stephen King, Jim Butcher, James Herbert and Laurell K Hamilton. Hopefully this site will help slap me into line when it comes to writing within a scale and also give me chance to experience stories by some of the other aspiring writers who are out there in the cyber-community.
And no, I'm not evil... I function in various shades of grey. :)"
Believe me, it doesn't seem to matter how much money I make either, I always end up tight for cash at some point. Frustrating. Maybe I need to buy less crap. :)
You hit on a good point, though; I'm going to be adding a little bit of a distinction between types of comments in the near future (maybe this weekend)... will probably talk about that in the next update, too. :)"
2 volunteer jobs! You sound like a bit of a masochist (then again, look at me with this thing...) :) But more power to you... I'm sure someone's appreciating all of your labours."
Nothing wrong with working two jobs, that's basically what I'm doing. At least most people get paid for both. :p"
Although I've had a few tribulations here, I like to think that I'm a good science fiction writer. It seems to be my niche, and I flourish in ideas that are some-what outlandish.
Anyways if you want to hit me with some ideas that you have I can help you develop them into something that allows you to rise above the wall rather than just trying to go through it.
If you want to chat about it just hit me up at my e-mail, you can reach it through that message this user thing. Otherwise good luck with it. Most science fiction writers have a lot of heart, and that doesn't seem to be lacking in your case."
http://www.amazon.ca/Game-Thrones-Book-Song-Fire/dp/0553573403/ref=pd_sim_b_title_3
That'll get you started. As for Steven Erikson, "Gardens of the Moon" is the first in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series.
Enjoy. :)"
Neither of them is for the faint of heart, though. And Bakker is worse... dark, moody, and very deeply philosophical. I took a while (much longer than usual) reading the Prince of Nothing trilogy just due to the intensity and depth of the writing.
I'll check out Caitlin Kiernan... just loading up Amazon.ca right now. ;)"
That's a good place to start I think.
But I may be talking through my hat.
Failing that there's always the space-opera lol"
Though, you're absolutely right. Writers-some of the most undisciplined people due to a need to creativity-need discipline to get things done. Catch-22, anybody? Haha."
In any case, here's a welcome to the site from a fellow newbie."
I have odd taste in movies and books, too. Dark, gothic fantasy really appeals to me. George R. R. Martin and R. Scott Bakker are great if you're into that (though Bakker can be a bit intense on the psychological side.) Martin is great for political strife and skullduggery... good stuff."
Seldom, I think Scar Night had a bit of a slow start, but it picks up like crazy after that. Kinda reminded me a bit of Steven Erikson's "Gardens of the Moon" (book one of the Malazan Empire series) — had a very slow, confusing start, over 100 pages before the action kicked in. But after that, the rest of the book and the following 6 (?) books are all amazing. Worth a read too."
Joe Abercrombie has been on my list for a while. You know on the amazon 'recommended for you' list? - it just keeps topping mine."
As for Joe Abercrombie, I seem to recall seeing one of his books in a bookstore, but I haven't read any of his stuff. Is he similar in style to Campbell? I'll definitely check it out."
Alan Campbell was a great find, I didn't realize he was a programmer for the GTA games before becoming a writer (and I just started playing GTA4 too, wow -- awesome game.)"