The making of a horror novelist.
Butt in chair, fingers on keyboard: word counts, first drafts, second drafts, and the occasional serendipitous sentence.
Yes, my 3rd quarter goals. But first, how did I do on the goals I set for the first half of 2021? I had a goal of writing three novellas. (One of them was already in a Nano draft phase.) 1st half of 2021: Write and edit 3 novellas. FIRST NOVELLA: Done, in an editor’s … Continue reading 3rd Quarter 2021 Writing Goals
Can you use pronouns for a non-binary character without confusing readers? I recently read a ghost story (link below) by Nadine Rodriguez that successfully uses they/them for the protagonist. The story works because: • Rodriguez almost always keeps plural items and multiple persons grammatically isolated from the protagonist’s they. • The author is non-binary themself, … Continue reading Can you use pronouns for a non-binary character without confusing readers?
Yesterday I finished the second draft of my horror novella set in a dystopian society called the Colony. The story takes place in the 1980s with real world events sneaking in. I sent the story off to a beta reader. Betas are golden.:-) The working tagline: Ward hates his job. He slaughters animals for a … Continue reading Second Draft DONE!
I was 21, about to graduate from college and set up my own household, you know, with a sofa that didn’t come from the curb, ceramic plates instead of paper plates, and real cups instead of the plastic freebies with the school mascot on the side. Bring this cup back for a free fountain drink … Continue reading The Odd Writer
For Nanowrimo 2020, my goal was to write four short stories, edit them, and submit them to paying markets. I ended up deleting a story (because it was plain silly), but three out of four ain’t bad. One of the Nano stories I wrote is about slugs, a mom/scientist who knows all about mollusks, and … Continue reading Slug Story Accepted, Happy Dance!
Word counts . . . as in why NOT do a blog post listing daily writing progress? I’m chugging along as I write my first horror novella of 2021, making some progress. Here are my word counts for the last 14 days. Monday, February 1: 1068 words and an hour of outline work. Tuesday, February … Continue reading Daily Word Counts, Chugging Along
Priscilla Bettis, Author 