Tag Archives: Horror

Wednesday Writerly Update #7

Posted on June 24, 2015 | 5 comments

This week’s been a week of ups and downs. Not completely sure what’s to blame for my off mood, but I’ve recoiled a bit in terms of being so scatter-brained and tackling 50,000 things at once, and I’m trying to refocus (successfully?) on what inspires me to write: reading.

Anyways, progress on editing the YA horror novel has stalled. I haven’t edited any of it since last week, and I’m contemplating putting it on vacation indefinitely. The YA contemporary has been planned for what… two weeks now? Yeah, not much progress there either (read: none at all). In better news, the Middle Eastern fantasy novelette has seen an additional 1,000 words which is nice, but it’s nowhere near finished in a first draft form. I did however do another free write (I’m on a roll!), and I hammered out a 4,000 word short story. It’s a horror about teenagers but for adults, and I’m just teasing out plot points now. I’m thinking I’ll add another 2,000 words to fix pacing, develop characters, etc. before starting a comprehensive edit.

As for the NA speculative fiction novel, it is still in limbo. But we shall see, my friends.

Okay, so, goals. I’m not sure I want to make any for the coming week. Frankly, I’m not good at meeting goals. Yes, I like to goal set, but I’m thinking that by attaching expectations to what I’m writing is making me stressed out and a little weary (hence, my weird mood). So, let’s just say I want to write, and it would be nice if I could finish something for the time being.

Now for The Black Oracle news:

  • Reviews have been slowly trickling in which is awesome! If you’ve finished the book and wouldn’t mind leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads, that would be great!
  • In addition to the signing at Roxanne’s Reflections Card and Book Shop in Fergus, Ontario on July 4 from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm, I have another signing on August 8. That one is at Chapters Woodbridge in Vaughan, Ontario, and will be from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.
  • Chapters Woodbridge, you say? Well, yes, “The Black Oracle” is now available at that location. If you’re in the area, drop by and snap a picture of it.
Chapters Woodbridge

Derp faces all around!

Until next week!

5 Comments

Posted in Writing

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Wednesday Writerly Update #6

Posted on June 17, 2015 | 5 comments

Good morning!

Just a short update today of my writing progress for Writerly Wednesdays, and an early post at that too because I have a pretty busy day today.

The Inception-meets-The-City-Trilogy NA speculative fiction novel is still in limbo, not quite ready for pre-publication but getting there. I got notes back from a lovely critique partner (check Jessica out! She has a novel coming out soon too, and it’s gonna ROCK!), and her notes have been very helpful.

I’ve started editing my YA horror novel. I’m 20%-ish through a second draft, but there’s a whole lot of work to go. There’s a bunch of plot holes/cliches in the second half of the novel that I need to get rid of, so I’m kind of dreading that. And even then, draft three is going to be just as trying: the tone of the novel isn’t right. I don’t know what will make it right just yet, but it’ll be a process.

OH, and remember that free write from last week? The speculative fiction novel with a Middle Eastern setting? Well, let’s just say it’s been plotted, and an additional 3000 words have been added. Still not sure how I feel about it, but it’s set to be a novelette (around 12,000 words), and there’s a publication I’ve been eyeing if finish the piece and deem it publish-worthy.

So, goals for next week: keep editing the YA horror and maybe even move on to draft three; finish Middle Eastern speculative fiction (I can dream, right?).

As for “The Black Oracle“, there isn’t a whole lot of news to report. I’m still working on some promotion and marketing efforts that will *hopefully* kick off in July. If you’ve read it, though, leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. I’d love to know what you think!

Until next time!

5 Comments

Posted in Writing

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Freedom 25! (Wherein I Divulge Some Cool News)

Posted on March 6, 2015 | Leave a comment

You’ve heard of Freedom 55, right? It refers to the idea that one can retire from work at the age of 55 instead of the more probable age of 65 (or older, depending on financial situations and pension). But what if I told you I was aiming for freedom at the age of 25? I’m 23 now, and 25 is in reality only one and a half years away, so have I lost my mind?!

Not really. I’m not looking to retire at the age of 25. Not only is it entirely NOT possible unless I win the lottery, but I’m not even sure if I could just stop being productive altogether (but sometimes it’s a nice thought though, isn’t it?)

For me, Freedom 25 means that I will be at a stage of my life when I am happy with where I’m at, what I’m doing professionally, and where I’m going at the time I am age 25. I’ve been struggling with this a bit lately, but I can finally say I’m on track. So, without further ado, I have something to announce.

Along with having my first novel The Black Oracle released in the spring (official release date to come!), I have also been taken on as an Acquisitions Editor by Curiosity Quills Press!

Starting within the next few days, I’ll be on the front lines tackling the slush pile and looking for gems that are suitable to be published. Curiosity Quills Press, publisher of my novel The Black Oracle, is a small hybrid press that specializes in everything from science fiction and fantasy to contemporary romance and everything in between. They’re a legitimate publisher (no reading fees), and my experience with them has been amazing! You can check out more information about them here.

But what does that mean for you? Well, if you have a finished manuscript and you’re looking to have it published, consider sending your query to me! You can do so by going to this website, reviewing the submission guidelines, filling out the webform, and marking the submission “For Michael Cristiano“. So, would your project interest me, you ask?

First and foremost, I like reading anything that’s good, and by good I mean well edited and well thought out and polished. I generally read fantasy, so that includes but is not limited to epic fantasy, magic realism, urban fantasy (I’d die for an awesome urban fantasy — think The City Trilogy by Darren Shan). I dabble in science fiction, especially dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction. Some of my favourite sci-fi/fantasy authors include Patrick Rothfuss, Terry Goodkind,  JK Rowling, Suzanne Collins, and Lem0ny Snicket. I also like horror and paranormal novels, but I’m more into a slow creepy build than blood and guts and murderers. Not big on romance, but I am a fan of literary fiction — I adore Margaret Atwood, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, and Kurt Vonnegut. As for age groups, I’m open to all age groups from upper middle grade to adult fiction (as per Curiosity Quills’ guidelines).

In doubt? Send it along. If it’s not something I’d read but I think the premise is good, I’ll send it to another Acquisitions Editor.

Happy weekend and happy writing, everyone!

Leave a comment

Posted in Writing

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Writerly Updates + Mid-Manuscript Inspirations

Posted on February 6, 2015 | Leave a comment

I thought I’d just do a quick post before I leave tomorrow. Oh, yeah? Did I mention that I’m off to the Dominican Republic for a week? No? Well, I leave tomorrow and I’m extremely excited and I shall make a post about it when I get back. In any case, I thought I’d talk a little bit about a project that I’ve been working on the past couple months.

In the beginning of December, I cheated on a work-in-progress with another work-in-progress. One thing led to another, I became invested with WIP #2 and slowly stopped working on WIP#1, and BAM! I have 40,000 words. I’m proud. This is the quickest I’ve ever written anything, and I’m thinking that my vacation will clear my head and rejuvenate my creative juices enough to power through another 15,000 words when I get back so that I have a completed young adult paranormal/horror manuscript first draft by the spring!

In fact, besides ditching WIP #1, this writing process has been very typical for me. I became enthused with the project from the beginning, wrote 25,000 words in no time, slowed down in the middle, the scenes leading up to 40,000 becoming more difficult to write, and now I’m taking a two week break before writing the climax and the end.

The one difference this time, however, is that I have a blog.

I’ve never had a blog while I was writing and completing a first draft before. Think of all the feelings I could document! Think of all the goal-setting I could do and then fail at! Well, instead, I thought I’d talk about what was inspiring me.

New Tunes!

download

Like all of my other manuscripts, this one has a particular feel to it because of the music I’ve been listening to. This manuscript has been inspired by recent albums by BANKS, FKA Twigs, and Bjork (trip hop and electronica for a paranormal/horror novel?), but also by the new Marilyn Manson album and the singles that have been released by Marika Hackman for her upcoming debut neo-folk album. And as usual, I’m really into neo-classical music (AKA. the best writing music). I’ve written a lot of scenes to Ludovico Einaudi’s Nightbook. It’s haunting and creepy and wonderful. I definitely suggest checking it out.

Horror Movies

What can I say? I’m writing a paranormal novel. No, I’m not aiming to write the next Twilight or romanticize vampires or werewolves or zombies. I wanted to move away from all of that, move into a little bit more of a traditional sphere. So, I decided on ghosts and spirits and hauntings… And I’m happy about it! I love traditional horror, and I’ve been inspired a lot by its revival in the film industry lately, most notably Annabelle, The Conjuring, the Insidious movies. To me, those things are always a little bit creepier than vampires or werewolves, and to be honest, I really don’t want to write a paranormal romance. Amendment: I will never write a paranormal romance.

Ahhh! So creepy!

Ahhh! So creepy!

Books… Okay, Maybe Not Quite

Books have been inspiring me in a weird way this time around. In fact, I’ve been finding it really hard to get into any of the books I’ve been reading. Sure, the books I’m reading are well-written enough, but I’m just not passionate about them. I’m not lost in them. I’m not obsessed with them. (Got a good book? Get at me… I’m in a lull).

So, I’ve done some soul-searching–or rather, bookshelf searching. What YA books did I absolutely love? Which ones was I obsessed with? There’s Harry Potter and A Series of Unfortunate Events and The Demonata to name a few. I’m not looking to recreate those series, I just want to understand what made them so good and then apply that logic to this piece. I may not have figured it out yet, but I’m trying.

How’s your writing going? What are you working on? What’s inspiring you?

Leave a comment

Posted in Writing

Tagged , , , , , , ,

My Plight With Demons (And Not the Metaphorical Ones)

Posted on September 7, 2014 | Leave a comment

That time of year is coming again, so bring on the creepiness! First topic: Demonic Possession.

Whoa there, this is not going to be a Satanic post. I’m not going to talk about sacrificing goats or promising your first-born child or selling your soul for whichever power would make your life easier. What I will talk about though is how they scare the crap out of me.

Trust me, they're not always this cute.

Trust me, they’re not always this cute.

So here we go. Gahh, even writing this post gives me the creeps. First of all, I love horror movies. Honestly, I would much rather watch a good horror flick than anything else, and the longer the impact, the better. But demon movies? I’ll watch simply because I can’t resist, but they occupy a special category in my psyche called things-that-make-me-shit-my-pants.

And the ironic part? I’m an atheist, so the fact that they scare me so much seems ridiculous, right? But for me, that just puts the paranormal in a peculiar place in my life. I may not have a religion, but that doesn’t have any baring on ghosts and boogeymen and *gasp* demons.

So after years of being scared of these movies, I wanted to find out why these things scare me so much. Aside from the obvious visual effects, why is it that a demon movie keeps me awake at night? What is it about them that has me terrified to fetch soup from my cold cellar and to sleep in my house alone?

Control. I think it’s all about control.

Let me explain:

For your basic ghost story, the solutions seem simple enough. If I found my house haunted by a vengeful spirit who was treated terribly in life, I would move. If I stumbled upon a cursed doll or video tape or mirror, I would be giving that thing away (for Christmas, if necessary. No take-back-sies). But if I found my body occupied by some supernatural being that caused me to speak in tongues, levitate, and thrash around? Well, I don’t know what I’d do.

But that got me thinking. In the modern day, a person is in a constant struggle to maintain control their life. We find ourselves losing control of what we buy and how we buy it. We find ourselves losing control of what our governments say and do. We find ourselves losing control of our own livelihoods and career aspirations, especially in an economy as rough as this one. In fact, there are times when I’ve found myself feeling like I have little control over my day-to-day life.

And this relates to demonic possession? Well, assuming it could happen (and I don’t really think it could, but let’s pretend), I would have no control of my words, my actions or even my thoughts. I would quite literally be out of control. No one could stop me, except potentially a priest, and even then, I’ve watched enough movies to know that doesn’t always work.

I think demons scare me so much because they would strip away my self-determination — they would take over my body and do what they want with it. And I think this resonates through historic depictions too. In ancient times, demons would possess people and make them do terrible things, or so accounts say.

To me, demons symbolize the ultimate loss of control and that’s terrifying.

Leave a comment

Posted in Life

Tagged , , , , ,