Posted inAmbulations

Snapshots from DogCon 5 at the Broadkill Writer’s Resort

DogCon is the annual gathering of writers, readers and fans of Raw Dog Screaming Press. This year's DogCon5, held in the new RDSP-owned beach house -- the Broadkill Writer's Resort -- focused on writers who wanted to relax, learn, practice, and mingle together in a kind of bizarro sci-fi literary retreat. While the programming was professional, it was relaxed, and the whole experience had the vibe of a 48-hour con suite at a genre convention, with occasional excursions to the beach and many spontaneous acts of chatting, gaming and writing. At the event, I ran a "Live Instigation" activity, which…
October 5, 2016Posted inAmbulations
Posted inInstigation

Joe-La Dowdy Wins the Instigation Marathon!

Imagine a red devil jumping for joy, wagging its deadly tail, and applauding with hooves ablaze -- that's me, cheering for writer Joe La Dowdy, who just published her 365th creative blog entry, marking a full year of dark flash fiction and devious poems inspired by the 365 prompts in my book, Instigation: Creative Prompts on the Dark Side! That's right. She wrote 365 stories. Jealous? You should be. I am! READ THEM. Joe-La's accomplishment is not easy. It takes a tremendous amount of stamina and discipline to return to the computer, every single day, to do yet another exercise,…
July 5, 2016Posted inInstigation1 Comment
Posted inInstigation

13 Cannibal Conflicts

Give your cannibal character a dietary restriction. Have your cannibal review a restaurant critic as they dine on him. Put your cannibal on a fat farm. Play referee in a new sporting event: Cannibal vs. Cannibal! Depict the chores of the dishwasher in the back of the cannibal cafe. Your cannibal has lost his teeth. What now? Write The Constitution for the country of Cannibali. Convert your cannibal to a new religion. Poison your cannibal in an inventive way. Describe the day job of your cannibal without ever referencing his or her insatiable appetite. Invent a TV show for the…
June 13, 2014Posted inInstigation1 Comment
Posted inInstigation

Showcase Updated: KZ Morano

The Instigation Showcase page has been updated with a new featured author, KZ Morano, who talks about her creative process and offers up a new Instigation prompt all her own. KZ is the author of the new book, 100 Nightmares -- an illustrated collection of horror drabbles, each 100 words long. Recommended reading! She also generously reviewed Instigation: Creative Prompts on the Dark Side on Amazon with the following kind words: "...These are not the kind of prompts that you can find just anywhere. The ideas are bold, bizarre, brilliant. They make you go to places that you never even…
June 9, 2014Posted inInstigation
Posted inArnzen News

Horror 101 – New Book for Writers

Horror 101: The Way Forward has just been released by Crystal Lake Publishing, and if you're a writer on the dark side, I highly recommend it. As Mort Castle wisely notes in the book's introduction, this book is a successor, of sorts, to JN Williamson's classic writer's guide, How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction, and enters the canon of "essential reference" for the dark fiction author, alongside the HWA's On Writing Horror and Michael Knost's Writer's Workshop of Horror. It's a great collection of "advice from seasoned professionals" on how to sustain a career in the…
April 29, 2014Posted inArnzen News