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These are a few of my favorite themes
As a recovering English major, I’ve always thought of themes as belonging in literary fiction. You know, serious writing. Not stories about a woman with a time portal in her basement (Vanishing, Inc.), a woman in the crosshairs of a serial killer (Delta Dawn), sentient navigation equipment (“Woe is Me, Poor Child, for Thee”), the devil coming down to Stockton (“The Fine Print”), or a serial killer who leaves corpses in cacti (“Adam Carmona and the Case of the Saguaro Ripper”). Stories like mine have tropes, not themes, right? Wrong. Genre fiction can and does have themes. And (shocker) literary fiction has tropes. Including the classics. Especially the classics, because…
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Open House serialized on Substack (free)
My suburban gothic horror novelette, Open House, is serialized on Substack this week. I’m posting one part each day, with the finale dropping on Halloween. All parts will be free to read, and I plan to leave them up (and free) for the foreseeable future. Here’s the blurb: When very pregnant Kim Idlewood attends an open house with her husband in an expensive Portland suburb, she hates the place. The décor is hideous (The 1980s called. They want their mauve curtains back. And their mauve walls.), the kitchen hasn’t been remodeled since the Iran-Contra scandal, and the Idlewoods can’t afford it anyway. But Kim’s husband loves the house–a little too…
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Frail but tough women and nosy but loving neighbors: my favorite character archetypes
Now that I’ve been writing for awhile, I can see patterns in my own work: I love to include music (and wish it were less expensive to include song lyrics), I’m a sucker for a good revenge story, I write about sexual assault a lot, and I tend to gravitate toward two favorite character archetypes: frail but strong women and nosy but loving neighbors. I’ll talk about those character archetypes today. But first: This post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) blog hop. On the first Wednesday of every month, we IWSG-ers share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Our awesome co-hosts this month are Kate Larkinsdale, SE…
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Writing regrets, I have a few: 3 things I wish I’d done
Hot take: Be wary of anyone who says they have no regrets. At best, they probably aren’t very self-aware. At worst, they’re sociopaths who don’t know they’ve hurt other people or, more likely, don’t care. Anyway. Today I’m going to talk about regrets, specifically my 3 biggest writing regrets. But first: This post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) blog hop. On the first Wednesday of every month, we IWSG-ers share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Our awesome co-hosts this month are Shannon Lawrence, Diedre Knight, Liza, and Pat Garcia. Please stop by and leave them some comment love. Each month our fearless leader (Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh) gives…
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3 things I’d like to change about the publishing industry
Whenever authors gather, we will complain about the publishing industry. Guaranteed. Why? Let me count the ways (because most of us can count those ways a lot more easily than we can count the money we earn from publishing). In this case, I’ll only be counting to 3, which is good, because I haven’t had my caffeine yet. Read on for my list of 3 things I’d like to change about the publishing industry. Before I attempt advanced mathematics: This post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) blog hop. On the first Wednesday of every month, we IWSG-ers share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Our awesome…
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Where my story ideas come from
Where do you get your ideas? That’s a stock question almost every author gets asked at some point. For authors of crime fiction and horror, like me, it’s often asked with a tinge of, well, horror. I imagine the person’s thought bubble as either, “How does a nice girl like you think up so much murder and mayhem?” or “I’m going to back away slowly before she kills me and dissolves my body with quick lime.”1 Today I’m going to share where my story ideas come from. The short answer is, everywhere. For the longer answer, keep reading. But first: This post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group…
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The most inspiring feedback I’ve ever received
As soon as you show your writing to someone else, you’re going to get feedback. Readers, critique partners, agents, editors, contest judges, hell, even your mom–all will have something to say about your creative darling (let’s hope at least your mom is kind). Some of that feedback will be encouraging, some will be daunting but constructive, and some will break your fragile little writer’s heart. Then there’s the special kind of feedback querying authors are all too familiar with: silence. As someone wiser than I once said, No answer is an answer–and it’s rarely the answer you want. But I’m not going to talk about the heartbreaking feedback or the…
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How my novel, Delta Dawn, got its name (#IWSG)
If you’ve been hanging out here in my little cobweb-infested corner of the interwebs for very long, you know that I’m currently revising a domestic suspense novel called Delta Dawn. Inspired by this month’s IWSG discussion question, I’m going to tell you how it came to be called Delta Dawn and infest your brain with a wonderful early 1970s earworm. But before we get to the brain infestation: This post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) blog hop. On the first Wednesday of every month, we IWSG-ers share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Our awesome co-hosts this month are Melissa Maygrove, Cathrina Constantine, Kate Larkinsdale, and Rebecca Douglass. Each month…
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Dispatch from the query trenches
Happy March! Welcome to this month’s IWSG post, a/k/a my latest dispatch from the query trenches. I continue to labor away, though my querying is winding down. I’ve queried all the agents on my query list that are open to queries. Fortunately, some agents I have my eye on have opened in the new year, so I’ve sent a few more queries out. Otherwise, I’m in waiting mode, which is so much fun.1 Before I whine say more about my querying experience: This post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) blog hop. On the first Wednesday of every month, we IWSG-ers share our doubts, fears, struggles, and…
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What it’s like to reread my old work
This week on the IWSG blog hop, we’re talking about rereading old work. What’s it like to reread my old work? Before I dive into that: This post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) blog hop. On the first Wednesday of every month, we IWSG-ers share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Our awesome co-hosts this month are J Lenni Dorner, Victoria Marie Lees, and Sandra Cox. Stop by and leave them some comment love. Each month our fearless leader (Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh) gives us an optional question to answer. This month’s question is, Many writers have written about the experience of rereading their work years later. Have you…
Janet Alcorn
Suspense | Horror | Romance
