Writing in Shadows
What do I mean when I call this blog "Writing in Shadows"?
I suppose two things come to mind, the first and most obvious being that my preferred style and genre of writing lends itself to horror and dark fantasy/speculative fiction. Inspired by authors such as H. P. Lovecraft, Bentley Little, Robert Bloch, Ramsey Campbell, and Clark Ashton Smith, I suppose it's only natural for my own writing to follow a similar tone. When I was younger, I had a great love for fantasy fiction (and still do), and the stories I would write at my desk as a young boy were more of that nature - noble heroes, magical events, and feats of grandiose heroism. Yet somehow my true interest, my true "talent" (though I am reluctant to use such a word to describe myself, for who am I to judge?) lay with darker stories, whether grim tales of horror or the grittier, darker style of fantasy and science fiction.
The second reason I chose to name this blog "Writing in Shadows" is because I am only just now returning to writing after many long years during which I simply couldn't find the time for it. That isn't to say, necessarily, that the time wasn't there (one can always make time to do the things we feel are important, after all), but that I was so preoccupied with dealing with those mundane tasks that enable us to get by in our daily lives - earning a pay cheque, paying the bills, making sure there was food in the fridge, etc. - that I simply couldn't find it within myself to take the time to write. First I would restrict my writing to the bus ride to work (when there was little else to do), then to just jotting down ideas that never were expanded upon. Eventually I stopped writing entirely, encouraged (if you want to call it that) by the sentiment that one cannot make a living writing stories.
That may be true, but I have now found myself at a point in my life where I am making a living, and happily married to a wonderful woman (Kelly), who upon learning that I used to write stories has gone to great lengths to coax and nurture that interest and "talent" (again that word that makes me feel rather immodest when I apply it to myself). Ironically, with so much more going on in my life than ever before (married life, a career rather than a mere job), I find that now I have the time to write, which begs the question why I couldn't find the time for it before.
I digress, however; "Writing in Shadows" was the name I chose for this blog you are reading because in addition to my penchant for grim tales best read at night by a single lamp in an otherwise darkened house, this blog is about finding my way "back" to that place within myself where I used to draw my writing from. It was a part of me that was left behind, under the mistaken notion that it had no place in my adult life. My wife has helped me realize that isn't the case, and so now I hope to "find my writing", in a manner of speaking - dig it out of that shadowy corner of the attic, dust it off, and see what comes from it.
So enjoy the read - and if you take nothing else away from this, I hope that other aspiring writers will take with them the lesson that you shouldn't stop writing just because you can't make a living at it. For one thing, there are those out there who can make a living at it, but even those who can't still have stories worth telling. The publishing world is very hard to break into - there are countless writers, each wanting their story told, their tale published, and sometimes even the good ones never see print. Don't let anyone discourage you from making the effort, however - the only thing to be afraid of when sending your work to a magazine or publisher is that you don't know what their response will be.
H. P. Lovecraft once wrote "The oldest and greatest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and greatest fear is fear of the unknown." It's always worthwhile to try, to see what the publishers and critics will say. The first one might say "no, thank you", perhaps not in quite so kindly of a phrase; the next one hundred might say the same.
It only takes one of them to say "yes, we love your story and would like to publish it", and if you never let them see it, they'll never get the chance.
I suppose two things come to mind, the first and most obvious being that my preferred style and genre of writing lends itself to horror and dark fantasy/speculative fiction. Inspired by authors such as H. P. Lovecraft, Bentley Little, Robert Bloch, Ramsey Campbell, and Clark Ashton Smith, I suppose it's only natural for my own writing to follow a similar tone. When I was younger, I had a great love for fantasy fiction (and still do), and the stories I would write at my desk as a young boy were more of that nature - noble heroes, magical events, and feats of grandiose heroism. Yet somehow my true interest, my true "talent" (though I am reluctant to use such a word to describe myself, for who am I to judge?) lay with darker stories, whether grim tales of horror or the grittier, darker style of fantasy and science fiction.
The second reason I chose to name this blog "Writing in Shadows" is because I am only just now returning to writing after many long years during which I simply couldn't find the time for it. That isn't to say, necessarily, that the time wasn't there (one can always make time to do the things we feel are important, after all), but that I was so preoccupied with dealing with those mundane tasks that enable us to get by in our daily lives - earning a pay cheque, paying the bills, making sure there was food in the fridge, etc. - that I simply couldn't find it within myself to take the time to write. First I would restrict my writing to the bus ride to work (when there was little else to do), then to just jotting down ideas that never were expanded upon. Eventually I stopped writing entirely, encouraged (if you want to call it that) by the sentiment that one cannot make a living writing stories.
That may be true, but I have now found myself at a point in my life where I am making a living, and happily married to a wonderful woman (Kelly), who upon learning that I used to write stories has gone to great lengths to coax and nurture that interest and "talent" (again that word that makes me feel rather immodest when I apply it to myself). Ironically, with so much more going on in my life than ever before (married life, a career rather than a mere job), I find that now I have the time to write, which begs the question why I couldn't find the time for it before.
I digress, however; "Writing in Shadows" was the name I chose for this blog you are reading because in addition to my penchant for grim tales best read at night by a single lamp in an otherwise darkened house, this blog is about finding my way "back" to that place within myself where I used to draw my writing from. It was a part of me that was left behind, under the mistaken notion that it had no place in my adult life. My wife has helped me realize that isn't the case, and so now I hope to "find my writing", in a manner of speaking - dig it out of that shadowy corner of the attic, dust it off, and see what comes from it.
So enjoy the read - and if you take nothing else away from this, I hope that other aspiring writers will take with them the lesson that you shouldn't stop writing just because you can't make a living at it. For one thing, there are those out there who can make a living at it, but even those who can't still have stories worth telling. The publishing world is very hard to break into - there are countless writers, each wanting their story told, their tale published, and sometimes even the good ones never see print. Don't let anyone discourage you from making the effort, however - the only thing to be afraid of when sending your work to a magazine or publisher is that you don't know what their response will be.
H. P. Lovecraft once wrote "The oldest and greatest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and greatest fear is fear of the unknown." It's always worthwhile to try, to see what the publishers and critics will say. The first one might say "no, thank you", perhaps not in quite so kindly of a phrase; the next one hundred might say the same.
It only takes one of them to say "yes, we love your story and would like to publish it", and if you never let them see it, they'll never get the chance.
posted by Shadow-writer at 1:28 p.m.
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