Hello Everyone at AW,
I've been poking around the Water Cooler reading threads for days to make sure I don't miss any pearls of wisdom that are found throughout these posts. My thanks to all of you for providing much to read (and learn from). With all the topics/subjects I don't think I've even made a dent yet but I'm working on it. So far I've noticed sound advice, helpful information, and kind encouragement are the norm and this made me want to be a part of AW instead of on the sidelines. Best of all I'm glad to see AW's not a cannibalistic online community that eats their young which makes being a newbie look pretty safe.
As for me and writing...Like many writers I tend to write what I love to read. While I relish many types of fiction I have a soft spot for anything that reads like old school storytelling. I was raised in NYC but with much of my extended family in the South I spent many summers there. I grew up hearing stories as savory as the ones I read. Y'know the "come and gather round on the back porch for a story on a scorching night while crickets chirp in the background" kind of thing... My great grandfather could tell ghost stories that gave us chills in July or I could hear a scandalous tale in five minutes or less from the grocer that knew everyone's business past and present. Southerners know how to do a pitch! They would always make my eyes widen and my mouth hang open while I whispered "then what happened?" My other influences are varied. I would hear these tall tales and then come home and read the classics for school. This shows up in my writing in unexpected shapes because of the way they intermingle.
So far my novels came out like this:
Fantasy (more Jorge Luis Borges than Dragons),
Suspense/thriller (think Monkey's Paw in an...ohhhhh you shouldna done that thing....sort of way),
Quirky chick lit (think of Tom Robbins Under the Tuscan Sun).
Though they are very distinct genres my stories all tend to have a literary flavor, lessons learned, bits of wisdom found. The other thing they have in common is a supernatural or spiritual element in varying degrees due to my interest in those subjects. I began with screenplays then short stories and some flash fiction but wanted a bit more leg room and turned to novels. Now I feel most at home with novels for character development and intricacies in the plots I develop. A couple of my short pieces I don't know how to categorize. I'm not sure where they fall. One is more psychological horror (not usually my thing but that's how it turned out). The other one, well, I don't know what that is. =[
When I'm not working or writing I volunteer with an international humanitarian organization that responds to disasters. I've been involved in that since 2005. Besides volunteering being something I sincerely love the side effect is that it keeps the ups and downs of writing in perspective. No mountains grow from molehills.
I can't think of what more I ought to tell you. I like pink? My left foot is one inch shorter than my right? Hm. Now this is starting to sound like 25 Random Things About Me on Facebook. I tend to babble sometimes so please forgive the lengthy introduction. I guess I should stop now.
I look forward to hanging around more, getting to know everyone here, learning much, and once in a while chiming in with a comment of my own if it might be of use.
See you at the threads
I've been poking around the Water Cooler reading threads for days to make sure I don't miss any pearls of wisdom that are found throughout these posts. My thanks to all of you for providing much to read (and learn from). With all the topics/subjects I don't think I've even made a dent yet but I'm working on it. So far I've noticed sound advice, helpful information, and kind encouragement are the norm and this made me want to be a part of AW instead of on the sidelines. Best of all I'm glad to see AW's not a cannibalistic online community that eats their young which makes being a newbie look pretty safe.
As for me and writing...Like many writers I tend to write what I love to read. While I relish many types of fiction I have a soft spot for anything that reads like old school storytelling. I was raised in NYC but with much of my extended family in the South I spent many summers there. I grew up hearing stories as savory as the ones I read. Y'know the "come and gather round on the back porch for a story on a scorching night while crickets chirp in the background" kind of thing... My great grandfather could tell ghost stories that gave us chills in July or I could hear a scandalous tale in five minutes or less from the grocer that knew everyone's business past and present. Southerners know how to do a pitch! They would always make my eyes widen and my mouth hang open while I whispered "then what happened?" My other influences are varied. I would hear these tall tales and then come home and read the classics for school. This shows up in my writing in unexpected shapes because of the way they intermingle.
So far my novels came out like this:
Fantasy (more Jorge Luis Borges than Dragons),
Suspense/thriller (think Monkey's Paw in an...ohhhhh you shouldna done that thing....sort of way),
Quirky chick lit (think of Tom Robbins Under the Tuscan Sun).
Though they are very distinct genres my stories all tend to have a literary flavor, lessons learned, bits of wisdom found. The other thing they have in common is a supernatural or spiritual element in varying degrees due to my interest in those subjects. I began with screenplays then short stories and some flash fiction but wanted a bit more leg room and turned to novels. Now I feel most at home with novels for character development and intricacies in the plots I develop. A couple of my short pieces I don't know how to categorize. I'm not sure where they fall. One is more psychological horror (not usually my thing but that's how it turned out). The other one, well, I don't know what that is. =[
When I'm not working or writing I volunteer with an international humanitarian organization that responds to disasters. I've been involved in that since 2005. Besides volunteering being something I sincerely love the side effect is that it keeps the ups and downs of writing in perspective. No mountains grow from molehills.
I can't think of what more I ought to tell you. I like pink? My left foot is one inch shorter than my right? Hm. Now this is starting to sound like 25 Random Things About Me on Facebook. I tend to babble sometimes so please forgive the lengthy introduction. I guess I should stop now.
I look forward to hanging around more, getting to know everyone here, learning much, and once in a while chiming in with a comment of my own if it might be of use.
See you at the threads
