A Master of the Macabre: Dale Eldon

And today, FilingWords picks at the twisted mind of Mr. Dale Eldon.

The gorgeous Dale Eldon

Horror maestro Dale works in fiction. I have born witness to his work. It is truly stomach turning, but stomach turning in a good way. The best way. 

FW: Dale, welcome to FilingWords. First of all, tell us a little about yourself:

DE: I'm just a dude who works fast food by night, and plots dark stories by day… well okay I plot at work too :^P

FW: Your horror is certainly dark, twisted material. Where do you get your ideas? What inspires you to write such things?

DE: Various places. Some come from a picture that will spark an opening scene, and then I go from there. Others come from my own darkness, and since I tend to have conscience, I let that dark side run rampant in my stories. Right now I still have a stack of stories I'm supposed to already have out under my self publish line, but that's going a tad slow to say the least. But it's cool as I don't want to rush anything. But some of those that will be coming out down the line have a lot of myself in them, things that I've had to deal with or watch others deal with.

In a short story that will be expanded into a novella, ESCAPE FROM LIMBO, it starts off with the ghost of a very bad man who travels back in time into the body of his younger self, where he is able to reset his wrongs. This story is based on my late grandfather who didn't change even up to his very end. The idea occurred to me when my grandmother (the best grandma in the world, mind you) passed away. I wondered, what would my grandfather think as he watched her life ebb away? What would be thinking or feeling if he had the chance to set things right? He left a huge scar on my family, and my grandmother was ready to leave it all behind.

Other stories have elements of my childhood, and there will be some that I have taken from previous relationships. Though lately I have either been writing about the various crazy conversations between me and my girlfriend, or I just make it up off the top of my head.

In my opinion, most of the best writers out there have a huge range to draw from on their ideas; they don't have just one or two.

FW: How long have you been writing?

DE: I have tinkered around with it for the pass thirteen years, but only really got serious in the pass five. Although it was still not on a regular basis, to me I have only been writing for the pass two years, since those years have been the most productive. When I was a kid I wanted to be a writer, and I tried to write, but aside from dad who wrote some in his youth giving me some coaching, I really had no clue what I was doing. I didn't even really grasp the basics until much, much later on.

Coming June 2013!!

FW: In tune with another of the blogs themes, why horror?

DE: Because horror is all around us. It unites us, and divides us. It is something we want to see, and at the same time look away from. While right now I'm writing horror mainly for sheer entertainment, I have some other works on the backburner with deeper meaning, all horror in some way or another.

When I first started out writing, I focused a lot on sci-fi thriller, but horror always intrigued me.

FW: How do you find life, being an author?

DE: Frustrating. I want to do this for a living. I don't have to live in a mansion or drive cars worth more than US debt, but I want to live comfortable without having to do anything else for a living.



It also separates me from non-writers, which a lot of times I don't mind. But even readers don't always grasp where I'm coming from. As an author I look at the world under a very different lens. I put myself in the shoes of others, and my feelings and thoughts are quite a bit of the time outside of the understanding of others. But at the same time I put my point of view into a character, or a non-bias piece, and people will love it. So there is a reward to it.

Despite the emotional solitude, I wouldn't want to be anything other than an author. No matter how much I fail as a person, no matter how much this world goes to hell, I'll always be a writer, and I'll always have a story to tell.

FW: You have taken the leap into self publishing; tell us, what was it like?

DE: Broke. LOL. Right now I only have a short story out, but I have sold more copies on Amazon than on Smashwords. Though I'm working on a werewolf horrorotica at the moment, and as soon as I can, I will be releasing it. After that I'm taking a break from self publishing to finish a Bizarro novel I tend to use to shop around a few presses that take the crazy shit I write.

FW: And the biggest hurdle to overcome...?

DE: Focus. Like for any writer.

FW: What’s coming next?

DE: MYTHOS, a werewolf horroroctica.

SMELL OF THE DEAD, a zombie novella through Crowded Quarantine Publications June of 2013.

FW: And one piece of random writing advice:

DE: Don't stop these three things: Write. Read. Love.



You can find Dale at the Eldon Blog, here, his Facebook page, here, and his Amazon Page, here.

And go here. Buy this:

Tips for writing awesome. Like what I do.

I am not a serial killer. I just feel like one.

I don't know what it's like to be a vampire. I really don't. And yet I can write about being a vampire. It's not about knowing what a vampire is. It's about characterizing the vampire. If you can put yourself in the frame of mind of the vampire, feel the vampire, the actions will flow. You'll know what to do.

Never cross the line. What line?

Being of sound mind and body, like all writers (not the alcoholic, socially retarded, weirdy-beardy I may lead you to believe), there are social conventions that one never speaks of. There is the line. But that's real life. Writing isn't real life. Writing is a fairytale land where unicorns frolic amidst golden showers, and everything is fapulous. As a great man once said, "...you're so far past the line that you can't even see the line! The line is a dot to you!" How right he was.

A great man. Wise.

Dip your toes in the syrupy goodness of genre.

Yeah. Try something new. You might like it. And if you don't? It's experience. That's what I keep telling myself, anyway.

You should expressly avoid writing too much.

Said no one, ever.

Stuck? Experiment like a teenager at college.

I've had writers block. It's awful to sit there and not know where to go, what to write, especially when in the middle of something. The usual advice is, "Just write. Anything. It will start the juices flowing." And it's good, sound advice. But it's not easy advice. Wanna tip? It doesn't matter where you are, or what your characters are doing, just throw something in. The most inexplicable thing you can imagine. After all you can change anything, right? You're the puppet master. Middle of a wake? Emotional turmoil got you stuck? Have a postal worker burst in and kill ever last motherfucking one of them. Hostage situation? Tense? Nail biting? Orgy! It will put a smile on your face. And that's half the battle, kids.

Procrastinating?

Turn off the damned internet. Yes, you heard. I have a PC now that I write on that isn't connected to the web. It's like I'm in the dark ages. It's like I suddenly need to write letters to people and put them in envelopes and shit. But you know what? I write like a writer when I'm at that PC.

Anyway.

Hope this might help. If not? Sorry. My bad.


   

Self Editing

While this is not strictly falling on either side of the fence, I thought that this was a good place to drop it in. So whether you're subbing to an anthology, self publishing or touting a novel, when you're ready to say, "It's finished," where should your work be?

Spell Checked

Yeah, I know it sounds obvious, but I have read many pieces of 'finished' work that haven't been spell checked. Even in a novel it is not a long process. So why not do it? Yes, you have to check each and every thing that it throws at you - hey, even spell check tries to change names into adjectives occasionally - but it's worth it.

Punctuation

Nobody expects you to know everything. Don't try to know everything. But know the basics. You should know where a semi-colon, period, comma, or colon go.
To my mind, it is extremely important to know how to create punctuated dialogue. Know when to capitalize and when not. Sure, mistakes can, are, and always will be made, but to often...

Continuity of Production

Believe it or not, I have seen completed work - read 'already self-published' - that changes font. Not randomly, not on purpose, but accidentally in the center of a work. It went from a serif to a sans-serif. Fairly noticeable I would say.
Make sure your chaptering is labelled in a continuous manner. If you roman numeral, roman numeral. If you have headings, heading. Don't drop one. Indent the same amount the whole way. Make it uniform.

Continuity of Fact

We all change things when we write. We do. But make sure that if you have changed something - say, someones name - do a find on the document, especially if it is a novel, and make sure you got them all. I did it in the Wicked East Press Shootout. You can imagine the response I got.

Perspective

Okay, this is one that I struggle with, but make sure that perspective doesn't change illogically. Check back on the scenes where you do shift from one character to another - does it work? Is it jarring? Did you mean to do it?

Repetition

I do it. I think we all do it from time to time. Repetition of the same word... well... repeatedly. When writing it is easy to get 'stuck' on a word. Your beta readers should find that one for you. It's hard to spot it yourself. I pulled a word out of one piece of work that was there over two hundred times and the first person who read it threw it straight back at me.

And on that note...

Readers

If you are going to self publish, or you want to get noticed, get as many people as you can to read something before you say it's finished. And listen to their opinions. Some will tell you about things that don't make sense to them. They're readers. They're probably right. Some will point out that your chronology fails, your facts are wrong, you made a mistake. Use that information.

'Til next time...

Back!

Right. I'm back. It's been a hell of a month, I've been editing mostly, also writing.

I have a short most of the way done, and another subbed yesterday. I'm on part III of The Devil's Hand series, 5K away from finishing the collab with the ever patient Mr. Charles Day, and Soul Reflections has been sent back to Wicked East Press completed.

Phew.

I know I owe a couple of peeps a couple of things too. You are not forgotten. Trust me.

So, back to self pubbing next time, and I've got an interview going up in the next week of a gentleman who I'm sure is going to be familiar to a lot of you.

'Til next time...

Hall of Twelve: Free Weekend Giveaway!

Rebecca Besser originally wrote Hall of Twelve as a flash fiction story (1000 words or less) for a contest on the Collaboration of the Dead forum. Although she didn’t win, she and a few others were in love with the concept of the story – beings for an alternate realm that had flesh craving monster pets. These Beings captured those who didn’t serve as immediate meals for the pets and took them to the Hall of Twelve, where each captive was given the chance to win their freedom by a roll of dice.

This version – the short story version – is much expanded past the original one that didn’t even reach 1K, and she plans to expand Hall of Twelve into a full length novel sometime in the future.

The short story in ebook form usually sells on Kindle for $.99, but she has decided to give Hall of Twelve away for free March 15-17^th (2013) so you can “taste” her brand of horror. I hope you enjoy the story and look up more of her writing. You can find out more about Rebecca Besser by visiting her website: http://www.rebeccabesser.com or by searching her name on Amazon to find more of her work. (She recently released a novel entitled, “Nurse Blood,” for Kindle.)

To “wet” your appetite for Hall of Twelve, enjoy this brief excerpt!

Excerpt from Hall of Twelve by Rebecca Besser:

“Lying on the bottom step was his daughter’s tennis shoe with a bloody bone protruding out of it, pointing into the corner. Blood dripped from the leg to the step and onto the tile of the foyer; strips of muscle and skin hung loosely from the bone, slouching limply against the red, saturated carpet.

Jack bent over as he lost the contents of his stomach, adding color and acidity to the already wet floor. He fell to his knees, and that’s when he saw Regan’s head; it was sitting in the potted fern by the door.

Her eyes were gone, leaving dark hollows where the windows to her soul had once been, and all the flesh was missing from her face. Her cheekbones were still pinkish red from the blood that was trickling down over her small, exposed white teeth to drip into the dark soil beneath her jawbone, which hung at a drunken angle.

Slowly, he crawled over to her, envisioning her beautiful face and her bright smile. Held in his vision of the girl he loved so much, he lifted his hand to caress her hair, but when his hand came in contact with slick, rough skull, he knew the carnage was indeed reality. He cupped the head of his daughter in his hand and drew it close into the crook of his arm – his mind and body were numb with shock and grief.

Jack’s hand absently caressed the top of the bloody skull and his fingers became entangled in the few scraps of scalp and clinging hair that still remained on the bone. With disgust he shook them off, and as they landed in the blood and vomit mixture with a plop, he noticed for the first time that there was a hole in the back and the brains were missing. Around the hole were deep groves that looked like they’d been made with something long and sharp. The only thing his brain could come up with was tooth marks, but he couldn’t think of anything that large with teeth that big. Now curious, he looked over at the leg bone laying a few feet from him; he could clearly see similar grooves on it.

Suddenly, his brain cleared a bit and he remembered his wife. He’d been so shocked at finding the severed pieces of his daughter, he’d forgotten all about her.

“Maggie,” he whispered, and looked around frantically, but he didn’t see any of her laying in the entrance way of their home.”

Get your copy from Amazon (Free March 15-17, 2013):

Amazon US link: http://www.amazon.com/Hall-of-Twelve-ebook/dp/B00B14OLD6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1363272451&sr=1-1&keywords=hall+of+twelve+rebecca+besser

Amazon UK link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hall-of-Twelve-ebook/dp/B00B14OLD6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363273042&sr=8-1

(Also available on other Amazon sites. Look up your local one to get it there.)

Being an Author: On Writing...

Writing. It's a funny old game.With all the advice that we get (and some of us give), can we say that there are hard and fast rules on writing?

Write Every Day

Yes. Well. No, actually. I do something writery everyday. Sometimes though, it's not actually writing, per say. These days I'm tied up with so many different projects (from cover art, promotional materials, trailers, serials, editing, collabs, novels and shorts, blogs (yes, multiple - more on that another day)) that much as I would love to write every day, I simply just can't. 

I know my time limitations and I work with them, not against them, as I dearly love to actually write, but on some days I do have to edit this piece, and sacrifice the words.

Enjoy it

Firm yes. I know that editing is troublesome to some etc. but the written word - your written word - must be fun. You must like to do it. Sure, you can do it just for the money (or a thousand other reasons), but your narrative will suffer.

I always have fun with my characters. I may not like them, but I enjoy them. When they're no fun anymore, they don't stick around (hence why I'm so big on the culling). 

Writing is the same. If you don't enjoy it, it's time to try something else - a different genre, style, or hey, maybe go play video games for a while. 

Read for fun

Just do it. I read for fun everyday. You have to. I know the rule is reading will make you a better writer, but damn it, just pick up a book to enjoy sometimes. That's what they were written for.

Finish something

Right now I'm a little guilty of this. I've got a lot on the plate, and nothing seems to be taking wild priority. But finish something. Even if it sucks donkey balls. I've got a pile half-arsed shorts, half-arsed started. They're not what I'm talking about. I think we are all guilty of writing a couple of hundred words and then going, "Nah. Load of ol' bollocks."

I'm talking about giving up on a short that you were aiming to hit around 4K with, and then stopping at 3K because oh I don't know, the tide went out.

'Til next time...

Self Publishing: More Cover Work...?

Fiverr?

Never heard of it?

Well, I've never used it, I'm not endorsing it in any way, nor dissing it either. I'm just... bringing it to your attention.

So what is it?

Fiverr is a website that puts you in touch with people that sell services for $5. (No, not those sorts of services. Besides, for $5? Yek!) It does offer all sorts of services from the strange and bizarre (have anything you like written on a piece of card and I'll hold it in one hand, and a bunny in the other) to things like, oh, I don't know EBOOK COVERS.

Here's the link to the ebook bit.

Generally, for cover design, the gig appears to be, send me your picture and text and I'll put it together for you. So if you know what you want, but don't have the technical ability, then this might just be the place for you.

For $5 you buy the expertise, not the images, etc.

This is good, a) if you know what you want, and b) understand the legal blah blah on stock images etc.

But be warned. Some of the service providers don't allow you to go back and say, "Hey, can you just..." whilst others will offer you a choice of 4, and you can pick.

Just sayin'.

Oh, and one other thing...

Let's just take this moment to reflect on ebook only covers. Think for a moment - just quickly - about the size of the image. I know, when you look at it on screen, it's fecking awesome, right?

Now go and look at Amazon. Go on, I'll wait.

Your book cover, on it's own Amazon sales page, isn't very big, is it?

Does it still impact?

Can you still read the text?

And worse... at the bottom of the page, there is the other customers who bought this also bought...links. OMG. They're even smaller.

And inch by an inch and a half.

I can't read hardly any of them. I don't know what the pictures are of.

I'm not going to click on any of them.

Think about it.

I'll be back...