Category: Guest Post

A picture’s worth a thousand words.

So the centuries-old idiom goes, implying that a picture is more valuable, more eloquent than words could ever be.

No wonder, then, that so many writers feel intimidated by picture prompts. What on earth should we do with them? What if we choose the wrong approach? Who decides what the right approach is anyway?

Three years ago I felt the same – any writing challenge involving picture prompts reduced me to a state of dread-tinged bewilderment.

The turning point for me was joining the Ladies of Horror Flash Project in May 2020. I was a regular reader and was desperate to join as a writer – the prompts were beautiful, the writing so well-crafted and the ladies themselves seemed so cool. But joining them would mean facing up to picture prompts, as each writer is assigned one of four different prompts every month with a 10-day deadline to produce a flash piece – prose or poetry – up to 750 words.

I was absolutely terrified the first month that I took part. I was daunted by the prompt and overawed by the talent of the other women taking part. But as time progressed, discomfort turned to confidence. I now look forward to the new prompt arriving in my inbox – it kick-starts my writing and shakes off any lingering inertia as I tackle the rest of my writing goals for that month.

I am not a plotter, but I am a thinker. Behind every piece I write is a subconscious process driven by bits of information that I’ve gathered on my writing journey along with a solid foundation of trial and error…lots of errors.

This article brings that subconscious process into the light and explores some of the questions you may want to ask yourself when faced with a picture prompt. But remember, be kind to your brain – this series of questions is not an interrogation – have fun and allow your imagination to free the words locked in the image.

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Writing a Novel? Where to Start.

by: Jeremiah Cain author of Thorns of Chaos

To begin with, I should note there’s no single way to write a book. Authors, like all artists, should find their own, unique creative path that works for them. However, in finding the path I use, I found (and still find) it helpful to read about how other authors tackle the daunting task of taking those important first steps in the long journey of completing a novel.

That said, I started as a pantster. The novel I wrote in high school and the next two novels I wrote afterward were all made up as I went along. I had a general idea of where they were going, but for the most part, they just flowed without a real plan. For me, it was a good creative exercise, but I don’t plan to publish them. However, the time was not wasted. The pantster—I hate that word—books help me develop the world of Perdinok. A mythology developed as did cultures and various religions. A lot of aspects changed considerably as I worked out all the kinks. However, I found that as the story changed along the way, it caused the need for major revision and complete rewrites. Granted, any method is going to require revision and rewrites, but for me, the pantster method required a lot more.

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Amazon vs. Piracy: Who’s Winning?

by: Michael Clark

My novel Hell on High was pirated this week, one day before launch, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around Amazon’s blunder. Here’s what I think I know:

Brigids Gate Press uploaded the eBook in mid-January for a 99-cent presale. The official launch date was set to March 9. The listing had a nice bright blue thumbnail of what I consider to be a gorgeous cover. Once that was done, we sent out over one hundred advanced reader copies in exchange for reviews and also listed it on NetGalley, which does the same thing. 

For seven weeks, we pushed the sale, not for money, but for the reviews. These are free books, after all—one hundred to two hundred people that won’t have to buy it. I’m a new author, and attention is what I need most.  

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AI and the Future of Book Covers

by: T.L. Bodine

The internet being what it is, it really never feels like a good time to release a new book. You peek your head out like a groundhog to get a vibe-check of Twitter so you can make an announcement, and the coast is clear. Two seconds after you post, someone, somewhere, has been crowned the internet’s main character of the day, and your feed is awash in discourse. 

Or is that just me? 

One of the many hot-button recurring issues of the year so far has been generative AI, both the apps that churn content (ChatGPT) and the ones that spew images (Midjourney, Dall-E). Like a lot of things, this new tech emerged in a slow-building arc: 

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Unreliable narrators can seem strange to some. However, one could argue that every person is an unreliable narrator for their own life story. They tend to believe their version of events. Truth is subjective and varies depending on the individual’s perspective. Authors must follow one rule when allowing characters to tell their stories: the characters must present their version to the reader.

Although a narrator can be deceitful to a degree, the reader must have enough information to see the truth. Even in fiction, no reader likes to be deliberately misled. They do.

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Mini Bible – Character List & Dictionary

Whether you write a romance, mystery, thrillers, or spec fic, I discovered this simple little document can save you a world of hurt if you ever expand beyond the first book. Sometimes it will even help you while writing the first book!

What is this document?

I call it a Mini Bible. This can be handwritten, a word document, an online document or site, a separate document in a Scrivener or other writer program project, or even an excel document. Anywhere you want to build it that suits your needs and writing style.

Just make sure to create it and keep it open while writing or editing.

This isn’t the same as your outline or synopsis or general notes. This should be separate from all that. If you’re a planner, this is something you can create during the pre-writing, discovery, and research stage. If you’re a planster or one who jumps write into the writing, perhaps keep a small pad and pen nearby to jot notes and create the document later.

What should this bible include?

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“We cannot have light without dark and we cannot have dark without light …We are no less important than the light for without us, the light would not know itself.” – Lucifer Morningstar, excerpt from THEY HIDE: Short Stories to Tell in the Dark coming April 7, 2023 from Brigids Gate Press 

We Need To Talk About Rape

We need to talk about rape. As a girl growing up, the idea of someone violating my body in the most intimate way terrified me. I walked in constant fear of the boogeyman coming out from behind the bushes and dragging me back into the woods to violate that most private part of myself.  It would keep me up at night. A tree branch scratching against my window was an intruder that wanted to have his way with me. The creak of the house settling was a rapist breaking in through the sliding glass door. I am still terrified of being raped in some dark alley or even within the sanctity of my own home. I do not believe I’m alone in this fear.

That is why I write about rape. It permeates through a number of my stories as my protagonists try to find a way out, to fight back, to stand in their power and not be defeated by one violent act.  How can a rape survivor regain a sense of peace, of trust? How can they heal their soul, mind and emotions when their body is desecrated? How can they come out stronger for having survived such a cruel act?

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