Scott Nicholson's Posts - CrimeSpace2024-03-29T15:45:14ZScott Nicholsonhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/hauntedcomputerhttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/60987904?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://crimespace.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=hauntedcomputer&xn_auth=noNew River Writing Retreat, Oct. 24-26tag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-08-25:537324:BlogPost:1573032008-08-25T15:13:29.000ZScott Nicholsonhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/hauntedcomputer
I'm hosting a writing retreat and cerebral spa in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains just before the Halloween season. Talk novel writing and the craft as well as business, eat good food, and get in the sauna. $295 for three days includes food, lodging, workshop and critique. www.hauntedcomputer.com/writingretreat.htm
I'm hosting a writing retreat and cerebral spa in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains just before the Halloween season. Talk novel writing and the craft as well as business, eat good food, and get in the sauna. $295 for three days includes food, lodging, workshop and critique. www.hauntedcomputer.com/writingretreat.htmsalem's Lottag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-06-19:537324:BlogPost:1469872008-06-19T18:48:07.000ZScott Nicholsonhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/hauntedcomputer
I've always enjoyed the early Stephen King novels and for some reason I'd never gotten around to "'salem's Lot." I picked up a copy in a local thrift shop, a first edition paperback with a chipped cover and an inscription from Austin, Tex. Makes me wonder how a book can travel across three decades and 1,500 miles to my fingers. It had sat there on the rack by the thrift-shop counter for a couple of months, and I didn't buy it because I have so many other books I don't have time to read. Now…
I've always enjoyed the early Stephen King novels and for some reason I'd never gotten around to "'salem's Lot." I picked up a copy in a local thrift shop, a first edition paperback with a chipped cover and an inscription from Austin, Tex. Makes me wonder how a book can travel across three decades and 1,500 miles to my fingers. It had sat there on the rack by the thrift-shop counter for a couple of months, and I didn't buy it because I have so many other books I don't have time to read. Now it's mine and I am carrying it everywhere, sticking it in my back pocket--the guy is that good.<br />
<br />
He breaks plenty of "conventional rules," like dumping in backstory and shifting POV in the same scene. The edition has some typos and apparently King hadn't yet mastered the hyphen in compound modifiers. Once he used "indolently" and redolent" in the same sentence, which any writing instructor would have red flagged. And there I was trying to nit pick one of the greatest storytellers to ever sit at a keyboard. He has such an elegant simplicity about his work that compels you to keep reading, yet he's also poetic and deeply insightful. Stephen King reminds me of why I wanted to be a writer in the first place--to engage people and deliver my version of truth and what it means. Plus the guy knows how to nail off a scene.Pen to Press Writing Retreattag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-06-05:537324:BlogPost:1446832008-06-05T15:22:47.000ZScott Nicholsonhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/hauntedcomputer
June 5<br />
I managed to pose with the lucky face of Hannibal at Mardi Gras World in New Orleans, though I am not sure which of us look most deranged. For the record, I'm not all that fond of liver.<br />
<br />
The city experience was bizarre--from the Disneyland quality of the French Quarter to the psychotic bums on the ferry landings, it definitely was rich and ripe and crowded. I don't know how Bourbon Street looked before the hurricanes, but I felt like taking a hot shower after walking through it. I guess…
June 5<br />
I managed to pose with the lucky face of Hannibal at Mardi Gras World in New Orleans, though I am not sure which of us look most deranged. For the record, I'm not all that fond of liver.<br />
<br />
The city experience was bizarre--from the Disneyland quality of the French Quarter to the psychotic bums on the ferry landings, it definitely was rich and ripe and crowded. I don't know how Bourbon Street looked before the hurricanes, but I felt like taking a hot shower after walking through it. I guess if your idea is to get plastered and pickpocketed and pimped on, it's the place to be. Then there was the old guy bumming change on the ferry who said, "We had a storm here, you hear about that?" His world was so small that he didn't realize Katrina had been international news.<br />
<br />
One of the topics to come out of the writing retreat was to "craft your author persona." I guess I never really took to the "horror" thing because it felt too hokey as a stage costume, though I love the genre. In talking to industry professionals, I saw the most interest in the Southern Appalachian flavor of the work. So I'm going back to being "The love child of Stephen King and Sharyn McCrumb." Even when I'm straying from the folk-legend stuff, I still use the mountain settings, so there's no real reason to stay gone too long. And that Rebel cap thing is kind of fun and is easier to take off than a spider tattoo on the forehead.dead horrortag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-12-05:537324:BlogPost:1010772007-12-05T15:26:32.000ZScott Nicholsonhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/hauntedcomputer
<p class="blogContent"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">This is something I've been wondering, and it directly affects my career, but I already know the answer: How do you write horror that isn't horror? I
hear over and over that "Horror doesn't sell," yet clearly major<br />
publishers are regularly printing books that are horror in most every<br />
sense but the label on the spine. Truth is, there is no loyal horror<br />
readership out there, at least not one that matters enough to influence<br />
the publishing…</font></p>
<p class="blogContent"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">This is something I've been wondering, and it directly affects my career, but I
already know the answer: How do you write horror that isn't horror? I<br />
hear over and over that "Horror doesn't sell," yet clearly major<br />
publishers are regularly printing books that are horror in most every<br />
sense but the label on the spine. Truth is, there is no loyal horror<br />
readership out there, at least not one that matters enough to influence<br />
the publishing landscape. People who read Stephen King obviously aren't<br />
embracing other horror authors with a similar passion. This could be<br />
because King is one of America's best writers in any form, and he just<br />
happens to enjoy writing spooky stuff, at least most of the time. And<br />
people enjoy good writing more than they enjoy ordinary writing.</font></p>
<p align="left"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">Of course, Hollywood is the exact opposite, and films are more likely to
undeservedly be labeled "horror" because the audience for the genre is<br />
very loyal and broad. A run of popular horror films have never really<br />
carried over or created interest in horror fiction, and I think it's<br />
safe to assume this will always remain true--with the recent National<br />
Endowment for the Arts study showing a continually declining<br />
readership, I believe there will never be a large horror book audience.<br />
That doesn't mean people don't read, or that people don't like scary<br />
stuff; horror is just as dead as westerns and big-bug monster fiction.<br />
Kind of makes you wonder why anybody bothers writing the crap...</font></p>
<p align="left"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">Oddly enough, I'm not bitter about it, though I have not yet embraced the
idea that I either need to write something else or cleverly disguise<br />
the weird stuff in my books. I just kind of fell into a groove, and I<br />
don't even read that much horror fiction myself. I don't even view it<br />
as a "problem." It's not like I can say, "You're stupid if you don't<br />
like horror" or "Everybody loves horror," because it's clearly untrue.<br />
It's just reality. Lucky for me, I've never had much use for reality.</font></p>rotten tomatoes and dirty old mentag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-10-29:537324:BlogPost:873042007-10-29T17:27:33.000ZScott Nicholsonhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/hauntedcomputer
<p class="blogContent"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">Girl is really into the Bermuda Triangle right now. She wants to take a boat to the edge of it and flay a paper plane into it. Her big thing now is
"teaching" in her classroom, and of course I am the inept pupil. Her<br />
earnestness is so cool, and she's obviously modeling her second grade<br />
teacher. And I get to trick her into improving my math skills.</font></p>
<p align="left"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">Got contributors' copies…</font></p>
<p class="blogContent"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">Girl is really into the Bermuda Triangle right now. She wants to take a boat to
the edge of it and flay a paper plane into it. Her big thing now is<br />
"teaching" in her classroom, and of course I am the inept pupil. Her<br />
earnestness is so cool, and she's obviously modeling her second grade<br />
teacher. And I get to trick her into improving my math skills.</font></p>
<p align="left"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">Got contributors' copies today of</font> <a href="http://woodlandpress.com/proddetail.php?prod=0128"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">Legends of the Mountain State</font></a><font color="#000000" face="Arial">, a collection of <img src="http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/lotms_small.jpg" align="right" height="200" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="134"/></font><font color="#000000" face="Arial">stories based on West Virginia folk tales. My story "Silver Run" was inspired
by the haunted train tunnels that abound in the coal country. It's a<br />
little cynical, almost Twainish, and probably is pretty honest about my<br />
interpersonal relationships with females, such as they are. I feel my<br />
last couple of novels were cynical, too, but I think the newer projects<br />
move away from that a little, mainly by making women more prominent and<br />
heroic figures and moving away from the value of a "core relationship"<br />
to the plot. Let's face it, family moving to haunted house, couple<br />
under stress, couple resolves their differences while overcoming Evil<br />
is a pretty tired scenario. And I've yet to see that actually happen in<br />
real life.</font></p>
<p align="left"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">I do a lot of thinking about storytelling, in whatever form, and usually
I can figure out the ending, or the two possible plot twists, very<br />
early. I think it's because I'm thinking along with the creator, not<br />
because I'm a genius or anything. Most creators paint themselves into a<br />
corner in the second act, so it's delightful when something completely<br />
works for me. I've been under the weather so I've been on the couch<br />
watching a lot of movies. I'm not stretching my brain much. Recent ones<br />
have been Revenge of the Zombie Army, Boogie Nights, The Emperor's New<br />
Groove, The Astronaut's Wife, and The Attack of the Killer Leeches.<br />
Okay, this may surprise you, but for pure storytelling skill, here's<br />
how I rate them:</font></p>
<p align="left"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">1) The Emperor's New Groove. This movie is just plain awesome. It has
charm, humor, and heart. A good moral lesson without being cheesy,<br />
decent animation without copping out for the visual extravaganza and<br />
losing the story. This is the kind of thing I would be very proud to<br />
create. This is probably the fourth time I've seen it and it still<br />
holds up.</font></p>
<p align="left"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">2) The Attack of the Killer Leeches. Roger Corman. That tells you all you
need to know. Lack of budget and inflatable vinyl monsters aside, this<br />
one delivered exactly what it promised and maintained its tone.<br />
Square-jawed, hairy-chested hero saves the day with a little help from<br />
his friends and the support of the loyal but overprotective gal pal. An<br />
honest movie, with a solid plot and interesting characterization.</font></p>
<p align="left"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">3) The Astronaut's Wife. I love Johnny Depp, he's probably my favorite
actor now that Eastwood and Nicholson have aged out of prime time. He<br />
does a great job here as the warm man turning cold, and Charlize Theron<br />
is easy on the eyes, but the plot is little more than a big-budget<br />
version of a Corman effort, with an inherently flawed premise. It gives<br />
nothing away to say that once the big mystery is revealed, you<br />
automatically realize that the plot development is contrived solely to<br />
benefit the convenience of the storytellers--the reality is that the<br />
premise doesn't require the cooperation of Depp and Theron at all, it<br />
could happen to anyone, or everyone at once. It gets even worse when<br />
they try to throw in "twists" when there are really only two possible<br />
outcomes and neither would be a surprise.</font></p>
<p align="left"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">4) Revenge of the Zombie Army. Old b & w with zombies that basically
just stare straight ahead and do whatever their master bids and never<br />
so much as munch a finger. But it is built around a timeless conflict,<br />
a man's love for a woman and how he's willing to shed morality to win<br />
her, while knowing she loves another. Despite some ham-handed<br />
production and predictability, it still has some heart.</font></p>
<p align="left"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">5) Boogie Nights. The late 1970s disco era was already old and square when
I was entering my formative cultural years, so I try not to let that<br />
influence my look at the structure. Okay, we get it: the porn industry<br />
is filled with desperate, vapid, cynical people. Anybody who watches<br />
five minutes of real porn understands this already. And it would have<br />
worked if it had maintained that air-headed tone throughout, but<br />
somewhere near the end of the second act it veers off in a totally<br />
random and violent direction and becomes another movie. Sure, there is<br />
violence in any seedy industry where funny money abounds, but to have<br />
it happen all at the same time to a small group of people in separate<br />
incidents seems way too contrived and basically broke the contract with<br />
the audience, and Humpty Dumpty could not be put together again. All I<br />
ever heard about this movie was "It's Burt Reynold's comeback," which<br />
is probably the only thing anyone could really say about it, for better<br />
or worse.</font></p>
<p align="left"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">Okay, so now I've figured out what works and what doesn't. And I'm sure
you're thinking, "Gee, Scott, if you're so damned smart, why aren't you<br />
writing blockbuster movies with heart?" Good question. I think I'll go<br />
do that right now.</font></p>A Star Is Airbornetag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-09-06:537324:BlogPost:698972007-09-06T22:40:12.000ZScott Nicholsonhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/hauntedcomputer
I<font color="#000000" face="Arial">t looks like the airfield scenes for</font> <a href="http://www.againstthewindfilm.com/"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">"Against The Wind"</font></a> <font color="#000000" face="Arial">are pretty much finished. I got to fly in an old biplane yesterday. I was dragged <img align="left" height="319" hspace="5" src="http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/leatherhead2.JPG" vspace="5" width="240"></img></font> <font color="#000000" face="Arial">bloody<br />
and groaning from the plane for an extended scene, a wounded unsung<br />
hero. My Method Acting was through recalling the wee hours when I…</font>
I<font color="#000000" face="Arial">t looks like the airfield scenes for</font> <a href="http://www.againstthewindfilm.com/"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">"Against The Wind"</font></a> <font color="#000000" face="Arial">are pretty much finished. I got to fly in an old biplane yesterday. I was dragged <img src="http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/leatherhead2.JPG" align="left" height="319" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="240"/></font><font color="#000000" face="Arial">bloody<br />
and groaning from the plane for an extended scene, a wounded unsung<br />
hero. My Method Acting was through recalling the wee hours when I was<br />
dragged back to my dorm room, dribbling booze vomit and nursing a<br />
kicked head...</font><br />
<p align="left"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">Though I look mean and serious in all my scenes, it's actually because my brain is boiling due to all the leather and the fact that I'm not
wearing my glasses and I'm squinting at everything, like bullets,<br />
airplane hangers, the director's wildly waving arms, the ground. I'm<br />
also ready to ditch the mustache.</font></p>
<p align="left"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">New article up about</font> <a href="http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/scottst54.htm"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">graphic novels</font></a><font color="#000000" face="Arial">. I've got a positive response on adapting</font> <a href="http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/theyhunger.htm"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">They Hunger</font></a><font color="#000000" face="Arial">but I'm realizing I need to get some artwork for it, which probably means hiring an artist. I believe professionals should be paid but I'm
not so sure about investing in a speculative venture. besides, all my<br />
friends in movies and comics are all trying to write novels now because<br />
they think the grass is greener over here...hell, and here I am winging<br />
into the world of indie acting, which is almost as bad as poetry when<br />
it comes to getting paid.</font></p>ASU Footballtag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-09-06:537324:BlogPost:698962007-09-06T22:39:41.000ZScott Nicholsonhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/hauntedcomputer
<p class="blogContent"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">The big news in Boone is Appalachian State University's historic 34-32 football <img align="left" border="0" height="192" hspace="5" src="http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/ASUwins.JPG" usemap="FrontPageMap0" vspace="5" width="288"></img></font> <font color="#000000" face="Arial">victory over Michigan. I'm an ASU graduate and though I grumble about increased traffic, it was a wild time. The students tore down the home goalposts, even though it was an away game. Our newspaper is printing extra copies
of the sports edition because we figure it will be a collector's item.<br />
My friend…</font></p>
<p class="blogContent"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">The big news in Boone is Appalachian State University's historic 34-32 football <img src="http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/ASUwins.JPG" usemap="FrontPageMap0" align="left" border="0" height="192" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="288"/></font><font color="#000000" face="Arial">victory over Michigan. I'm an ASU graduate and though I grumble about increased traffic, it was a wild time. The students tore down the home goalposts,
even though it was an away game. Our newspaper is printing extra copies<br />
of the sports edition because we figure it will be a collector's item.<br />
My friend Marie Freeman took a lot of cool pictures at</font> <a href="http://blueridgeblog.blogs.com/"><font color="#000000" face="Arial">www.blueridgeblog.blogs.com</font></a><font color="#000000" face="Arial">.<br/> <br/>
I love football but for some reason I feel more connection with the<br />
Carolina Panthers. I used to enjoy many sports but now pro football is<br />
my main sofa-tuber purpose--it's probably because I don't have TV and<br />
for football I only need to find a TV once a week or so.<br/> <br/> I</font></p>Kicking the tarstag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-08-20:537324:BlogPost:651172007-08-20T16:48:38.000ZScott Nicholsonhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/hauntedcomputer
Just seeing if this here vehicle is up to snuff for plowing the back 40...<br/>
Just seeing if this here vehicle is up to snuff for plowing the back 40...<br/>