Wolf in White Van

Wolf in White Van
Author: John Darnielle
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 168
Release: 2014-09-16
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0374709661

Beautifully written and unexpectedly moving, John Darnielle's audacious and gripping debut novel Wolf in White Van is a marvel of storytelling and genuine literary delicacy. Welcome to Trace Italian, a game of strategy and survival! You may now make your first move. Isolated by a disfiguring injury since the age of seventeen, Sean Phillips crafts imaginary worlds for strangers to play in. From his small apartment in southern California, he orchestrates fantastic adventures where possibilities, both dark and bright, open in the boundaries between the real and the imagined. His primary creation, Trace Italian, is an intricate text-role playing game that enables participants far and wide to explore a dystopian America, seeking refuge amidst the ruin. However, when two high school players, Lance and Carrie, extend the game into their reality, the consequences are horrifying, leaving Sean to account for it. Darnielle’s Wolf in White Van invites us to comprehend the depth and intricacy of Sean's life. Told in reverse, the story draws us back to the moment that fundamentally altered Sean’s life as he knows it.

Horror Writer's Block: Characters & Subgenres (2021)

Horror Writer's Block: Characters & Subgenres (2021)
Author: Steve Hutchison
Publisher: Tales of Terror
Total Pages: 596
Release: 2023-02-26
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1778871119

This book tells you what kinds of movies have rarely or never been made and warns you about saturated niches. Authors and screenwriters might want to avoid those. The lower the frequency meter, the more unique the concept. These statistics are based on about 3000 horror and horror-adjacent movies I’ve reviewed and rated. 21 subgenres and 27 character types were combined, resulting in 621 permutations. The best movies for each subgenre/character combination are listed for inspiration’s sake.

Horror Writer's Block: 100 Adventure Writing Prompts (2021)

Horror Writer's Block: 100 Adventure Writing Prompts (2021)
Author: Steve Hutchison
Publisher: Tales of Terror
Total Pages: 107
Release: 2023-02-26
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1778871194

This book tells you what kinds of adventure films have rarely or never been made and warns you about saturated niches. Authors and screenwriters might want to avoid those. The lower the frequency meter, the more unique the concept. These statistics are based on about 3000 horror and horror-adjacent movies I’ve reviewed and rated. 8 moods, 31 subgenres, and 63 antagonist types were randomly combined; one for each page for a total of 100 dark writing prompts. Titles of existing movies belonging to each mood/subgenre/genre/antagonist combination are listed to further inspire the reader when available.

The Dragon Squisher, Volume 1

The Dragon Squisher, Volume 1
Author: Scott McCormick
Publisher: Bookbaby
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2020-12
Genre:
ISBN: 9781543979169

Meet Nigel: digger of latrines, shoveler of poop, and the single greatest threat to all the humans, elves, dwarves, and halflings of Esteria. Desperate to escape from military school and return to his carefree life as the village no-goodnik, Nigel sees the king's declaration of war on the gorks as the perfect opportunity to flee, since he's pretty sure his latrine-digging skills aren't going to do much good on the front line. But his escape efforts have a habit of backfiring, and by the time he and his arch-frenemy are banished from the kingdom and sent on an impossible quest for a (probably bogus) magical artifact, the humans of Amerigorn find themselves longing for the good old days when they were merely being annihilated by Lord Smoron. The Dragon Squisher is a fantasy novel for teens that spoofs the tropes of the genre and will appeal to teens, young adults, and adults who love the humor of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. If this is the kind of book you've been searching for--and who hasn't?--look no further than Book One of the Nigel Chronicles: The Dragon Squisher. Funnier than Lord of the Rings! Shorter than Harry Potter! This coming of age fantasy novel is an epic fantasy treat for all fans of humorous fantasy.

Horror Writer's Block: 300 Writing Prompts (2021)

Horror Writer's Block: 300 Writing Prompts (2021)
Author: Steve Hutchison
Publisher: Tales of Terror
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2023-02-26
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1778871135

This book tells you what kinds of movies have rarely or never been made and warns you about saturated niches. Authors and screenwriters might want to avoid those. The lower the frequency meter, the more unique the concept. These statistics are based on about 3000 horror and horror-adjacent movies I’ve reviewed and rated. 8 moods, 31 subgenres, 9 genres, and 63 antagonist types were randomly combined; one for each page for a total of 300 dark writing prompts. Titles of existing movies belonging to each mood/subgenre/genre/antagonist combination are listed to further inspire the reader when available.

Horror Writer's Block: Tarot Writing Prompts (2021)

Horror Writer's Block: Tarot Writing Prompts (2021)
Author: Steve Hutchison
Publisher: Tales of Terror
Total Pages: 390
Release: 2023-03-03
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1778871283

Included in this book are 366 tarot spreads, one for each day of the year, any year, to inspire stories and overcome writer’s block. You can use this guide to find movies to watch today, or you can use it for inspiration in your writing, whether you’re a screenwriter, a novelist, or any kind of fiction writer. Some spreads list up to 20 movie suggestions but pay attention to the rare or unique combinations listing none if you’re looking for unusual story ideas. All cards have properties explained on the first pages. The major arcana are powerful and tend to narrow down movie lists. They have more properties than minor arcana, which offer broader results. This tool tells you what kinds of movies have rarely or never been made and warns you about saturated niches. In theory, for every film listing, the lower the frequency indicator, the more unique the concept. If you get no results, you should probably write that story. These writing prompts are based on about 3000 horror and horror-adjacent movies I’ve reviewed and rated.

Dark Visions

Dark Visions
Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Orion
Total Pages: 381
Release: 2000-08-10
Genre: Horror tales, American
ISBN: 9780575402904

Take three of the leading names in contemporary horror writing, commission one-third of a book's worth of stories from each, and the result is DARK VISIONS. Stephen King leads off with three stories, including "Sneakers", about a very unusual haunting, and "Dedication", one of the most powerful and unsettling of all his works. Dan Simmons pays homage to Philip K Dick with "Metastasis", one of three highly accomplished stories. And George Martin rounds off the book with the brilliant werewolf novella, "The Skin Trade". DARK VISIONS is a brilliantly original showcase from three masters of the macabre.

Horror Writer's Block: What's Been Made (2022)

Horror Writer's Block: What's Been Made (2022)
Author: Steve Hutchison
Publisher: Tales of Terror
Total Pages: 780
Release: 2023-03-03
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1778871267

This book tells fiction writers and screenwriters what kinds of movies have often or rarely been made and warns them about saturated niches. The lower the frequency, the more unique the concept. These statistics are based on about 3300 horror movies I reviewed, classified, and rated.

Writer's Block Trilogy

Writer's Block Trilogy
Author: A. K. Kuykendall
Publisher:
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2012-11-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781936085712

Since his youth, Gregory Stillingsworth has known his destiny: to become a great writer. Indeed, now a wildly successful author, he has penned seventy-three novels, all of them best-sellers. Obsessive and possessive, he writes the old-fashioned way - on a typewriter. His instrument, beaten and tattered even when his parents gave it to him for his fourteenth birthday, has earned a name over the years - Buford. It has also earned a voice. Early on, it spoke to him, repeating a simple mantra: "You and I, forever. You and I, together." Gregory Stillingsworth, a world-renowned horror writer, an author who has already surpassed the great ones like Koontz and King, was destined to reach the top. Or was he? Was he destined, instead, to live the life carved for him by his cursed forebears? Instinctively, it has always been Gregory's custom to write his books one after another. His wife, Jamie, who serves as his lawyer, critic, and business partner, gave up convincing him to slow down so as to focus on starting a family. Gregory is relentless in nourishing his career; that is, until for the first time, he runs out of words, sending him into an uncontrollable rage that even his wife cannot comprehend. Is this unexpected rage an extreme reaction to the stresses of writer's block? Or is it the unveiling of his true role among us, a scribe born into this world only to write of the coming Armageddon? Writer's Block: The Possession is a dark, horror story, a psychological thriller, and a labyrinthine cryptogram that the reader must unravel one scene at a time. With no way to tell what is truth and what is fiction from Gregory's perspective, the reader is led to wonder how much of this novel is autobiographical information from the real author's perspective, taking the horror factor from the realm of fiction into the realm of possibility. As part one of the Writer's Block Trilogy, The Possession leaves the reader on the edge of his seat, chewing his nails, anxiously waiting for a resolution. About the Author A.K. Kuykendall was born in Albany, Georgia, but grew up as a military brat on the Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH), and later at the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in Jacksonville, North Carolina. He is married and is the proud father of three sons. His true passion in life is writing thought-provoking novels that blend the concepts of fact and fiction.

Around the Writer's Block

Around the Writer's Block
Author: Rosanne Bane
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2012-08-02
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1101597119

Discover the tricks that your brain uses to keep you from writing—and how to beat them. Do you: Want to write, but find it impossible to get started? Keep your schedules so full that you don’t have any time to write? Wait until the last minute to write, even though you know you could do a better job if you gave yourself more time? Suddenly remember ten other things that you need to do whenever you sit down to write? Sabotage your own best efforts with lost files, missed deadlines, or excessive self-criticism? The good news is that you’re not lazy, undisciplined, or lacking in willpower, talent or ambition. You just need to learn what’s going on inside your brain, and harness the power of brain science to beat resistance and develop a productive writing habit. In Around the Writer’s Block, Rosanne Bane-- a creativity coach and writing teacher for more than 20 years-- uses the most recent breakthroughs in brain science to help us understand, in simple, clear language, where writing resistance comes from: a fight-or-flight response hard-wired into our brain, which can make us desperate to flee the sources of our anxieties by any means possible. Bane’s three-part plan, which has improved the productivity of thousands of writers, helps you develop new reliable writing habits, rewire the brain’s responses to the anxiety of writing, and turn writing from a source of stress and anxiety into one of joy and personal growth.