Short stories

My favorite short stories are the ones that make you feel that an entire world exists as background.  Stories that leave you wondering what came before, and what came after. All of my favorite fiction engages me and only does have the work; it provides prompts and I fill in the backgrounds. This style of writing makes me an active participant in the world that was created, and when I write I hope to engage readers in the same way.

Do's, Don'ts, Wills, and Won'ts

Don't write with the goal of profundity, you'll be found lacking. Hemingway's advice was to sit at your typewriter and bleed, but I've always tried to burn.  And by that, don't just write about how you've been hurt, and play the writer as victim. It's not that interesting. Write about the shitty things you've done to others. You know, the way you've shorthanded people that didn't deserve it, and the way you justified why you did it? Stop making excuses and admit to them, and then give those deeds to your antagonist. You'll end up with a bad guy that did the same asshole things you did, and maybe he/she won't be quite as bad.  You'll end up with a villain that's a little more human, and as a side effect, you'll probably find yourself apologizing for all of those things you forgot you did. That reminds me, I have some calls to make. Till tomorrow, loves. -Joe


Novel:882 new words added to it. At least some of which I'll probably keep.

The Ceremonial Cherry Popping of a Blog

Writing fiction is the flawed process of collaging your memories, dreams and lies into something resembling a cohesive narrative. You have to be narcissistic enough to believe you have a point of view worth telling, and self deprecating enough to keep plugging away, because deep down you know there was a better way to write that sentence, sculpt that character, or show the reader something they haven't seen done uncountable times and with more grace and tact than you could ever manage. But we try. Because in a world of references within references, parodies, re-makes, re-imaginings, re-boots, re-starts, re-treads, I re-fuse to let myself get that lazy.  Nostalgia and the familiar is a powerful crutch that we all rely on, but sometimes we need to seek something new to us, to push us forward, make us grow, in a mental type-of hypertrophy. Sometimes reading can be a way to escape from the world, to withdraw from it, to hide from the painful humiliation of failing, but sometimes it can inspire you to seek out experiences as good or better than the ones you read.   Some writers seek truth, but I only seek my truth, with the hopes that at least some of it-maybe something in the corner or even in the peripheral-will remind you of a little of your own truth. And maybe we'll both be a little better off for it. Or maybe we won't.  Love, Joe