Nightmares and Dreamscapes discussion

This folder and thread is for the authors and/or aspiring authors in this group.
I thought I would create a folder for you in case you all would like to share writing tips, chat, create something, etc. :)

Great idea, Marie!

I'll take the plunge here and start something....

When deciding on a new story to develop. What is your process? Do you have a list of potential ideas and pick one, or do you just run with the first one that comes to mind?

Hi Peter, it often begins with a scene, or a vignette.

But until I have a clear sense of the protagonist and the antagonist and the driving forces within them that throw them into conflict with each other, I don't have a story.

Once I've got the characters right, I can move forward from there.

Hey Peter, fun question!

Much like Graeme, it begins with a small scene. From there, I play around with a list of potential ideas to see what conflicts work, flesh out the characters, and spin that single scene into a story.

What about you?

S.K. wrote: "Hey Peter, fun question!

Much like Graeme, it begins with a small scene. From there, I play around with a list of potential ideas to see what conflicts work, flesh out the characters, and spin tha..."

I have sort of a strange approach. I'll start with listing out emotions, then I'll slowly build characters assigned to them. and then I sort of let the plots dictate themselves a bit. I almost act as a facilitator for the stories, if that makes any sense.

Peter wrote: "S.K. wrote: "Hey Peter, fun question!

Much like Graeme, it begins with a small scene. From there, I play around with a list of potential ideas to see what conflicts work, flesh out the characters,..."

That is a strange approach, and very unique. Do you have emotions you more commonly use, or does it vary?

Right?

It varies a lot. Concepts I've had for lighter fare stories are much different in tone than my Preternatural books, for instance. For that trilogy, it's all focused on anxiety, fear, sadness, and anger.

I also tend to develop soundtracks of sorts for each book. These are songs that encompass the characters or portions of the books. I'll listen to them when I need inspiration or to think through certain barriers while writing.

Same on listening to soundtracks. Do you have any composers or bands to recommend? I also write Fantasy/Paranormal/Horror and am always happy to check out new tunes to write to.

I tend to be very eclectic in that sense. Could be rock, classical, or whatever else catches my ear, and plunges me into a potential story. Within Temptation seems to always find a way in, though. :)

Peter wrote: "I have sort of a strange approach. I'll start with listing out emotions, then I'll slowly build characters assigned to them.,..."

I define the primary conflicts between the characters, and allow the emotional responses be be defined by the flow of events.

For example, my primary protagonist (Anton) witnesses the torture and murder of his mother by the primary antagonist (Chloe), his emotional responses range from shock, to horror, to incandescent rage and then settle into a burning need for vengeance.

The inciting incident of his mother's murder drives him forward, and provides the emotional fuel to sustain much of his journey over the next few months of narrative. As events unfold he forms strong bonds of loyalty, friendship and love which are all tested and revealed through the flow of events and his motivated choices and actions.

Taking a step back to look at the big picture, the fundamental conflict is formulated thus: Chloe wants to do something (Kill her boss (Cornelius), free herself from a curse, and win her liberty) which she is unable to do (due to the curse) and she manipulates Anton onto a path to do it for her (making Anton her cats paw against her boss). Anton, will either wake up to the manipulation and subvert it, or blindly follow through on it to Chloe's success or failure - if he doesn't exact vengeance on her first by killing her for murdering his mother before his eyes.

The antagonistic relationships between Anton & Chloe, and between Chloe and Cornelius are the fundamental drivers of the main narrative. The main narrative is further fleshed out and shaped by the agendas of other characters as they attempt to seize (and sometimes succeed in doing so) the initiative, in the plays for power, dominance, and simple self-actualization between the main players within the story.

Graeme wrote: "Peter wrote: "I have sort of a strange approach. I'll start with listing out emotions, then I'll slowly build characters assigned to them.,..."

I define the primary conflicts between the character..."

"Incandescent rage" is my favorite kind of rage to read about

Indeed, S.K. 😉

That's all very interesting, you guys. Me, I'm maybe a bit different. I usually draw upon my nightmares for inspiration. The more vivid and urgent it feels, the higher in priority in my current writing schedule it becomes.

Once I have that concept or event, I will try to reason my way through what the surroundings would be, who would populate it, how it might logically occur in whatever world I might occur.

I have, candidly, a lot of ideas that came from nightmares. And I'm kinda backed up! One of my bigger projects I'm plodding away on stems from something that came to me waaaay back in high school! I'm just hoping I'm around long enough to get a good chunk of them down on paper.

Jeffrey wrote: "I have, candidly, a lot of ideas that came from nightmares. .."

Here's hoping your nightmares aren't prophetic.

Graeme wrote: "Jeffrey wrote: "I have, candidly, a lot of ideas that came from nightmares. .."

Here's hoping your nightmares aren't prophetic."

Yeah, no kidding! Life is hard enough as it is. Thanks, Graeme!

Indeed. Pacifica is a nightmare realm

Peter wrote: "When deciding on a new story to develop. What is your process? Do you have a list of potential ideas and pick one, or do you just run with the first one that comes to mind?..."

For me, another key thing is that I have to feel 'shivers,' from the story idea - no shivers, no story.

Some other points about process.

I like to establish early what the ending (Crisis, Climax, Resolution) is and then the following.

Define the inciting incident that puts the conflict between the main characters in motion.

Define the big turning points in the story.

Then work from the top down detailing an outline of the story until I know enough about it to begin writing scenes.

Sometimes, a story will just drop itself in my lap, seemingly fully formed. All I do is transcribe the events. That's rare, however, and I can't sit around and wait for the inspiration to strike.

Far more often, I'll get a rough idea for a plot and a flow of the action going into some sort of twist. From that core of a story, I'll write a synopsis. From that synopsis, I'll develop an outline. After that, I expand the outline: The hero is here doing this and then he's there doing that... but HOW does he get there? The outline keeps expanding and filling out, adding dialog and description until it's a story.

I've been writing a slew of historically based horror stories in the last few years. Currently, I'm working on several adventure tales set in China, India, Iran, and other exotic lands and that means a great deal of research. Being a history buff, that's a labor of love. The real problem is that all that research takes time from the act of writing. I have to tell myself when enough is enough or I'll never get anything written.

Like Jeffery, I find that nightmares are great inspiration. Three or four of my published horror stories were based on nightmares, with several more to come. A good nightmare is pure gold.

I usually start with a concept + 1 or 2 characters. Then I let them simmer and marinate, outline something in Visio, refine. By the time I get to writin', its somewhat formed, like I know I'm going from A to B to C, but I leave the imagination to fill in the journey. I never, never, never start by staring at a blank page and try to figure out what to do, since by the time I get there, I have something already in play, mentally.

Or mental. Not sure yet.

Like, I tell folks, "I see dead people all the time. They are everywhere. But they're the characters that chose poorly."

And they will often ask, "Well, that's nice, but am I in your book?"

To which I say, "No comment. But you can read it to find out."

Yep. Talking to myself is another thing I do a lot. Sometimes, that's in character and with an accent.

It's not crazy if it works. And you're not paranoid if "they" are really out to get you.

J.N. wrote: "I usually start with a concept + 1 or 2 characters. Then I let them simmer and marinate, outline something in Visio, refine. By the time I get to writin', its somewhat formed, like I know I'm going..."

Very similar to my experience, J.N.

Author fellows,

Do any of you know of good social media waters for fishing for ARC readers?

I'm looking at a few groups on Goodreads and Facebook, I've done HiddenGems and am looking at BookSirens, but I was wondering if any of you had success to share, particularly in groups targeted toward speculative fiction. There are a ton of ARC groups for romance reads, but finding those for fantasy/paranormal/horror is slimmer pickings thus far.

Thanks, friends!

Hi S.K. I'd suggest approaching the Mods here and at Castle Terror about rustling up an ARC or Beta read.

Hey Everyone!
So my 11th book, The Macabre Masterpiece: Vile Humanity is complete and I'll be releasing it on January 2023. Just started my 12th book, Brimstone Express, a western horror which should keep me busy.

I also plan on writing a short ghost story for an anthology and then am planning my own two anthologies next year.

The Macabre Masterpiece: Vile Humanity came out today and is available on Amazon! It is the 3rd book in the Macabre Masterpiece series and the best part is because it's horror poetry you don't need to read them in order.

Hello all! Are there any good sites that are accepting short Science Fiction stories? I hope this is ok to ask here! I couldn't find any proper threads on the subject of submitting stories and or poetry.
Mr. Fright

Eric wrote: "Hello all! Are there any good sites that are accepting short Science Fiction stories? I hope this is ok to ask here! I couldn't find any proper threads on the subject of submitting stories and or p..."

I'm not sure about stories but there is a place that accepts Science Fiction Poetry. There may be a few that accept stories, you can always check. I often check the place out myself.

https://www.sfpoetry.com/markets.html

I decided to revamp my 2nd book, A Bloody Bloody Mess in the Wild Wild West by making a few changes to it. The book now has Editorial Reviews and takes place in states more western rather than southern states. I'm looking to get it a few more reviews so I can start running Amazon ads on it. If anyone would like a free copy let me know. :)

Hey, does anyone know if you remove your story from Amazon, does that completely screw with the folks who bought it via Kindle? I want to rework mine into Vella, but I don't want screw over people who paid for it.

Hi Caleb,

Sound like you can have the same book in both formats.

REF: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/top...

I think you're right. The language is a bit all over the place on there, Graeme, when you go to content guidelines. But, we shall see.

It's clear that you have to update your product pages to point out that the story is on the other platform too.

Ohhh. Alright, that should be simple enough.

I think the concept is that Vella is just another format, like paperback vs ebook...

But slightly more complicated...