Finding the Method in Your Madness

"All is change; all yields its place and goes."
-Euripides

"Change is the only evidence of life."
-Evelyn Waugh


This week my school is beginning a new quarter, which means new classes, new students, new preps, and new minds. Without a doubt, this has to be the most exciting and nerve-wracking portion of the quarter for me. With a new class I try to remind myself that all of the conceptions/notions that I may have should be thrown right out the window. A new quarter and a new class mean a fresh start. When approaching something new, even with writing, it is important to make sure you approach your writing in an innovative way. Otherwise, there can be baggage from the previous piece that makes its way into others. This can create dull writing.

For example, once I finished writing Demon in My Head, I began writing The Modern Prometheus, a “follow up” to Demon. In the initial stages of the writing, I found that the manuscript was very much like Demon. The protagonist was going through a “step-by-step” process (for tracking down a serial killer). It was eerily similar to Brimstone’s quest. When I discovered this (mercifully after writing only twenty pages), I scrapped the project immediately. I was still writing Demon in My Head! My major discovery was that even though I finished and published a “rewarding” novel, I was no longer finished telling the story of Gabriel Brimstone. I looked at this as not being finished telling a story. There was more that I could write.

As such, what I did was tell the story of others touched by Brimstone and his quest. The end of Demon placed Gabriel Brimstone in a very precarious position (that is all I will say). However, there were others who were affected by the events in that novel. So I decided to write a piece that follows up on the events in that novel. Due to this, Prometheus does not really act as a “sequel”, but it tells another story in that world. Many writers have a single character who acts as the protagonist. This protagonist continues to narrate throughout many books. Gabriel Brimstone, the “protagonist” (although I hesitate to use that word to describe him) that narrates Demon, is barely in Prometheus; yet, his presence is felt through the entire manuscript. Now when writing, I try to “breathe” between projects. Each piece that one writes should be different. There should be a different texture within a project, even if one is writing with the same character. In both manuscripts, the theme of family is present, which makes a lot of connections; however, it expands on the Brimstone mythos. Demon acts more as a horror story, whereas Prometheus (as it stands now) acts as a very dark (and horrific) mystery story.

I encourage writers to expand their horizons, write about something that is interesting to you, yet is different from you (or at least what you have recently written). Mystery fiction is a major passion of mine. However, when I wrote Demon, I wasn’t writing a mystery. It was outside of my element. With Prometheus, I am returning to my love, however, I am doing it in a different way. Writing involves growth and I encourage every writer to expand outside of your comfort zone.

In the Composition classes that I am teaching this quarter, I assign three major essays and a smaller essay at the end of the course. Each essay focuses on a different essay, and with each one, it stresses a different component on writing. I encourage those writers to choose a different approach when writing on that topic. If you are writing something persuasive, try writing it from a different point of view. When editing your text, how many times do you refer to yourself (using the first person)? Try cutting back on that in the next essay (or draft). Diversity is the spice of life!

Only when experimenting in your own writing will you discover what works and what doesn’t work with your own writing. At the very least, you will find out what not to do, this does nothing but narrow down what to do with your writing.

No matter what you do, keep writing!

The Schizophrenic In Me

“Are you really sure that a floor can’t also be a ceiling?”-M. C. Escher
“Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t looking at you and licking their lips.”-Gabriel Brimstone



Just this past weekend, I attended a wedding shower and it was discovered, by many of those who attended, that I had recently published a novel. I felt like a celebrity (something that doesn’t happen very often) and was excited to answer many questions about writing a novel. One of the questions was “How close do you feel to your characters?”

Many people have asked questions regarding to my process and where I come up with ideas, but that was the first time someone had asked me about how close to my characters I was. On the heels of publishing Demon in My Head and nearly completing The Modern Prometheus (both of which feature the vampire hunter Gabriel Brimstone), I had to think about how I felt about finishing Demon. In short, I was depressed.

It took me exactly 365 days to write the first draft of Demon in My Head (then titled Addicted). Before that, I had written many short stories featuring Gabriel. After I edited Addicted for publication in Night to Dawn Magazine, I found myself rewriting the manuscript, changing it into the version that is currently out for “consumption”. That rewrite took a good two years to complete. As such, Gabriel and I spent many, many years together.

So when this dear, sweet woman asked me about the closeness of my characters, I told her that I felt “schizophrenic”. Much like Gabriel, I, too, have demons and voices in my head. Some of them are friendly, and some of them are very, very dark. These are the characters that make the inspiration for my stories. I have eaten, dreamed and slept with Gabriel Brimstone (much to the chagrin of relationships that I have had). It took me a lot of effort to continue the conversation and refer to Gabriel as a character. Otherwise, I would have sounded like a person with severe mental issues to the curious woman.

“They are a part of me, and I am a part of them,” I remember telling her. Before Brimstone, I had published very little writing. It mostly consisted of mystery tales. However, when I jumped into horror fiction, which was when my writing received the most amount of attention.

My fiancé has mentioned many times that I should write something more romantic or (as she puts it) “real.” The problem for me is that the definition of “real” is a very ambiguous term when I dip my pen into the ink well of my imagination. Even though Gabriel Brimstone is a vampire hunter and spends his nights keeping the things that go bump in the night away from the rest of us, he is very “real” to me. At a risk of giving some of the plot away, there are some very real facets of Demon. On many occasions, I have had to work at separating myself from my characters (Gabriel Brimstone being one of the most prominent characters). Mr. Brimstone and I have philosophized on many occasions the meaning of life, the definition of reality, and our hopes and dreams. Demon tells reality through the eyes of a man who looks at the world a little different than most of us, but to him, it is no less real. After all, what does “real” mean to you?

I don’t attend wedding showers very often (in fact, this was my very first one), but I had a great time justifying my psychosis to a dear woman who wanted to get inside the mind of a writer, but got more than she bargained for. The next time you ask a writer how close they are to their characters, see what their answer is.

If you’re a doctor, don’t be afraid to prescribe something.