Originally my short story, "The Camera" was salvaged from an ink jet printer copy (not on a floppy copy). Remember those old days of backing stuff up? "The camera" was a burst of inspiration I had late at night when I seem to do my best writing. When do I find the time to sleep? I eventually turn in on a forced schedule. Like my other website deals with antiques, my short stories are another passion of mine.
But where did I come up with material for "The Camera"? I hung around a few local antique stores, chatted with the owners, and some of the owners wanted their customers to park themselves on a couch and kick back with a good antique book. I never did, but would gravitate to the most beat up, chipped or neglected antique that were half price. Doesn't mean I would want the antique for myself, but what a story it could tell! Who owned it, how was it used, alas... there was no provenance (history about an object) on the particular antique and that's how I came up with my short story for "The Camera". I wrote out the rough draft and never bothered to run it through spell check or even revise it. It sat untouched and I pursued other short stories in the meantime. Recently, I revised it. Typed "The Camera" into a new MS word document and plugged away at it. I took my short story one step further than being horror and threw in some supernatural elements and a haunted Victrola talking machine. A what? you might think. Unless the reader collects these machines, then the majority of young readers will have to "Google" search Victrola to see one. I put one in "The Camera" for a spooky added element.
Long before the ghost-hunting shows aired on TV, the idea of a haunted antique-themed story appealed to me. Make the object be cursed or have some tie-ins with the devil. Make the antique(s) become that very thing that's irresistible. I did just that, clacking the keys while listening to the radio, and when I tired of hearing the same repetitious music night after night, I'd switch over to cassette tapes. Back in my early days of writing, the thought of owning an MP3 player was ungodly expensive in my eyes anyway. Since that time, I did break down and buy one eventually.
Mood music for that imaginary movie or plot when writing: I like to have spooky atmospheric music playing and prefer Midnight Syndicate. I heard of them back in early 2003 and their music is appropriate for drowning out everyday background interferences. Surprisingly, I seldom find the time to read anymore and I really should. I never browse the paperbacks at my local store. I do, however, find myself skimming through outdated Victorian era written antique books on occasion just to compare their ideas of romance versus what we write today, which is a lot more risque. I never found any ghost stories written from that particular time period, then again, maybe I'm not searching hard enough. I did find some Rudyard Kipling poems, "The Vampyre" and do believe that was about a seductress and less about the fictional folklore fang and blood vampire of modern literature.
I decided to sit down one evening after supper and watch all the new ghost hunting shows. At first a few of them were quite interesting (location-wise). A few shows focused on the Villisca Axe Murder house, Lizzie Borden's home, places that are geographically impossible for a person such as myself to ever visit in person. Interesting, none the less, but I wouldn't want to pay a whopping price tag just to stay the night in either of these places.
After watching four episodes of ghost-related TV shows filmed on location at a haunted antique mall, the truly scariest thing that popped into my mind wasn't "Did I just see that copper tea kettle *slightly* move in the back ground?" It was; "Oh, my-- if they break it, won't they have to then pay for it?" Don't believe everything you see on TV or watch on Youtube. Something just gives off a "rehearsed" feel to it. In every episode something falls over, makes a loud crash, and the ghost hunter is scared so bad, all they can do is rattle off a slew of swear words. Night vision cameras, spirit boxes, that's okay, but get some extra proof. EMF meters, those check the electro magnetic field readings. They're being sold everywhere online as the 'must have' item in a ghost-hunters kit. EMF meters pick up are supposed to detect a spirit's unseen presence, at least that's what I've read. Personally, I'm of the belief to leave the afterlife alone. If the dearly departed want to send us messages from the great beyond we need not communicate with them through technological gizmos and other electronic devices, no matter how fascinating.
I'll focus on "The Camera's" inspiration and why I decided to write it as a short story instead, of say, for example, a book. I look back at those incredibly long hours (and I mean sitting at the computer for six hours, taking frequent breaks as needed), was tiring. That would be the perfect time for me to run to town and step inside the air-conditioned comfort and chat with the antique store owners on a slow day. I'd happily amuse myself searching through piles of old "instant ancestor" photos. No names, background info-- nothing but the price. Yep, instant ancestors... the wheels in my mind where churning. "This would make an awesome character-- or ohh, how about this other one?" They could have been cattle thieves for all I knew. Just depends on the *time period* you set your main characters in. I wrote "The Camera" in one night and several hours later, I had a spooky angle to work with, threw in some 'cursed' and haunted antiques, and an old school house and ta-da! I had my short story. The central characters in the story (and I apologize) if I made them appear shallow or not thoroughly extraordinary. I was writing as fast as I could clack the keyboard. I moved on from that short story with the intent of getting it self-published and finally got around to doing so.
Okay, that's great. But why .99 cents for my short stories? Well, I don't want to overcharge for my short stories, it wouldn't be fair. Secondly, there just short stories that I wrote for the love of writing. There's a grey area... actually a "black hole" I read about recently from a blogger who writes (and writes) and revises, and really works extremely hard, recommended pricing books at .99 cents isn't such a good idea. The best medium is to price them at $2.99 and go from there. If its priced too low, readers might avoid them and wonder, Did the author remember to run it through spell check? I'm I going to shriek if I see two periods at the end of a sentence or a "/" back slash were there shouldn't be one? We've all hit the beloved back slash key and not just when writing, but when looking stuff up on search engines, email, messages, etc. I do it all the time and did so writing this blog post three times thus far. There will be more stories in the near future. I'm tying up the loose ends in one of my vampire books and that will take some time to revise, spell check, edit, proof-read, and format it for self-publishing. I have a few more stories that I really need to edit and get self-published. To me writing is an understatement. I'm dedicated.
But where did I come up with material for "The Camera"? I hung around a few local antique stores, chatted with the owners, and some of the owners wanted their customers to park themselves on a couch and kick back with a good antique book. I never did, but would gravitate to the most beat up, chipped or neglected antique that were half price. Doesn't mean I would want the antique for myself, but what a story it could tell! Who owned it, how was it used, alas... there was no provenance (history about an object) on the particular antique and that's how I came up with my short story for "The Camera". I wrote out the rough draft and never bothered to run it through spell check or even revise it. It sat untouched and I pursued other short stories in the meantime. Recently, I revised it. Typed "The Camera" into a new MS word document and plugged away at it. I took my short story one step further than being horror and threw in some supernatural elements and a haunted Victrola talking machine. A what? you might think. Unless the reader collects these machines, then the majority of young readers will have to "Google" search Victrola to see one. I put one in "The Camera" for a spooky added element.
Long before the ghost-hunting shows aired on TV, the idea of a haunted antique-themed story appealed to me. Make the object be cursed or have some tie-ins with the devil. Make the antique(s) become that very thing that's irresistible. I did just that, clacking the keys while listening to the radio, and when I tired of hearing the same repetitious music night after night, I'd switch over to cassette tapes. Back in my early days of writing, the thought of owning an MP3 player was ungodly expensive in my eyes anyway. Since that time, I did break down and buy one eventually.
Mood music for that imaginary movie or plot when writing: I like to have spooky atmospheric music playing and prefer Midnight Syndicate. I heard of them back in early 2003 and their music is appropriate for drowning out everyday background interferences. Surprisingly, I seldom find the time to read anymore and I really should. I never browse the paperbacks at my local store. I do, however, find myself skimming through outdated Victorian era written antique books on occasion just to compare their ideas of romance versus what we write today, which is a lot more risque. I never found any ghost stories written from that particular time period, then again, maybe I'm not searching hard enough. I did find some Rudyard Kipling poems, "The Vampyre" and do believe that was about a seductress and less about the fictional folklore fang and blood vampire of modern literature.
I decided to sit down one evening after supper and watch all the new ghost hunting shows. At first a few of them were quite interesting (location-wise). A few shows focused on the Villisca Axe Murder house, Lizzie Borden's home, places that are geographically impossible for a person such as myself to ever visit in person. Interesting, none the less, but I wouldn't want to pay a whopping price tag just to stay the night in either of these places.
After watching four episodes of ghost-related TV shows filmed on location at a haunted antique mall, the truly scariest thing that popped into my mind wasn't "Did I just see that copper tea kettle *slightly* move in the back ground?" It was; "Oh, my-- if they break it, won't they have to then pay for it?" Don't believe everything you see on TV or watch on Youtube. Something just gives off a "rehearsed" feel to it. In every episode something falls over, makes a loud crash, and the ghost hunter is scared so bad, all they can do is rattle off a slew of swear words. Night vision cameras, spirit boxes, that's okay, but get some extra proof. EMF meters, those check the electro magnetic field readings. They're being sold everywhere online as the 'must have' item in a ghost-hunters kit. EMF meters pick up are supposed to detect a spirit's unseen presence, at least that's what I've read. Personally, I'm of the belief to leave the afterlife alone. If the dearly departed want to send us messages from the great beyond we need not communicate with them through technological gizmos and other electronic devices, no matter how fascinating.
I'll focus on "The Camera's" inspiration and why I decided to write it as a short story instead, of say, for example, a book. I look back at those incredibly long hours (and I mean sitting at the computer for six hours, taking frequent breaks as needed), was tiring. That would be the perfect time for me to run to town and step inside the air-conditioned comfort and chat with the antique store owners on a slow day. I'd happily amuse myself searching through piles of old "instant ancestor" photos. No names, background info-- nothing but the price. Yep, instant ancestors... the wheels in my mind where churning. "This would make an awesome character-- or ohh, how about this other one?" They could have been cattle thieves for all I knew. Just depends on the *time period* you set your main characters in. I wrote "The Camera" in one night and several hours later, I had a spooky angle to work with, threw in some 'cursed' and haunted antiques, and an old school house and ta-da! I had my short story. The central characters in the story (and I apologize) if I made them appear shallow or not thoroughly extraordinary. I was writing as fast as I could clack the keyboard. I moved on from that short story with the intent of getting it self-published and finally got around to doing so.
Okay, that's great. But why .99 cents for my short stories? Well, I don't want to overcharge for my short stories, it wouldn't be fair. Secondly, there just short stories that I wrote for the love of writing. There's a grey area... actually a "black hole" I read about recently from a blogger who writes (and writes) and revises, and really works extremely hard, recommended pricing books at .99 cents isn't such a good idea. The best medium is to price them at $2.99 and go from there. If its priced too low, readers might avoid them and wonder, Did the author remember to run it through spell check? I'm I going to shriek if I see two periods at the end of a sentence or a "/" back slash were there shouldn't be one? We've all hit the beloved back slash key and not just when writing, but when looking stuff up on search engines, email, messages, etc. I do it all the time and did so writing this blog post three times thus far. There will be more stories in the near future. I'm tying up the loose ends in one of my vampire books and that will take some time to revise, spell check, edit, proof-read, and format it for self-publishing. I have a few more stories that I really need to edit and get self-published. To me writing is an understatement. I'm dedicated.