Writing

Apology

/ Damean Mathews, Author / Leave a comment

I have to apologize for my absence of late. I have been working hard at my research and trying to regain the full level of my inspiration by immersing myself in all things vampire. I have been reading Dracula and preparing to read its sequel and looking over legends and myths that give me the true essence of my work. In addition to this, I am looking very hard for a publishing deal and all of the required additions to put my first novel Maverip on the market and make it available to you all. I’m currently considering trying my hand at self-publishing/e publishing one of my early short stories, and if I do I will be sharing that link with you all on every venue I have. I hope you all can relate to my dedication to my work, and I hope you all understand. I’d love to hear from every reader to see how their work is going, how this blog has or has not helped, or anything else you would like to say. I promise to post more helpful tips as soon as possible, and I thank you all for bearing with me through my obsession. More is definitely coming soon, and I again welcome every bit of feedback you are willing to give. Thanks,

Damean

The Avoidance of Inspiration-killing Stress

/ Damean Mathews, Author / 2 Comments

Authors can seriously be crippled by the lack of a proper atmosphere. This is a huge helpful tip for anyone who hasn’t figured out the full deal for themselves, and a great pointer for someone currently trying to figure out how best to do their work.

Step #1; Find your happy place. Overlook the cliché of that statement, it holds vast truth and importance. You have to find where the you write best. It may be somewhere quiet, it may be somewhere loud, it may not even be the same place all of the time, but you have to use it when you find it. While the place may take some time to find, you’ll definitely know it when you do. It will be the place your writing comes most naturally and easily, and where the flow of your words is best. The atmosphere must be perfect to get optimum work, for a lot of people anyway. Granted that, as much as anything else, can vary from person to person, it is something that absolutely must be paid attention to. Your work area is your happy place, your safe place, your haven, and it must fit your standards to the finest points. Whether you like it quiet or loud, bright or dim, crowded or completely empty, it must be the place that most helps you do what you do best.

Step #2; You must find your time also. Most people can write at nearly anytime, but there will be a certain time of day (not necessarily an hour or minute per se, but more a generalization like morning, dawn, dusk, afternoon, evening, night) that they find their work absolutely at the top of its game. This must be taken advantage of. That is the best way to deal with your day, and can even be a great stress reliever in itself. Just finding what time works best for you gives you an idea of how you can literally schedule your entire day around your writing and get top quality work without having to edit as much (which always helps in the end).

Step 3; Utilize every second of your time. Setting up a schedule will definitely help this, especially if you have taken the time to follow the first two steps. Going to your ‘happy place’ at the time that you have found to be your best work period is going to make you feel you have become increasingly accomplished in the craft, and help to complete your project as quickly as possible.

These steps are probably fairly generic to most people, but they can still be very helpful to new authors, and we can all admit that it never hurts to be reminded of such things. Life can cut its way in on us and ruin our mood and inspiration. Stress has killed more books throughout history than book burning protesters have, most likely, and we have to do all that we can to fight it at every turn. These steps will help most authors on their way to success (or at least completion of projects), and I really would like to hear what you all think about them. If they have helped, let me know. And if they haven’t let me know also, and hopefully you’ll share why they have or haven’t. And if you have any more tips definitely leave them in the comments, and of course you will get all of the credit. I look forward to hearing from everyone.

-Damean

Get Your Name Out There

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That is one of the most important things an author new to the game needs to have on the brain. Spread your name as far and wide as you possibly can in an attempt to find your audience. Success very rarely comes to those who do not try to find it, especially in today’s world. You must find a way to reach your audience if you hope to give them your work and make your name known.

So who is your audience? And more importantly; where are they? Those are two questions you must be able to answer for yourself, and they are questions you should attempt to answer before you even try to put your work out. You have to know where to look to find the people who will truly appreciate your work. Just as much as you have to know what you are comfortable writing, you have to know who is going to be comfortable reading it. For instance it probably would not be the wisest choice to advertise a book about the occult on a church website or forum. You must be able to target groups of people who would at least be likely to enjoy your work. And it wouldn’t hurt to find people who can help spread that work to others who would like it as well; thus you have begun to build your fan base.

That is a huge part of this business. The fans are really everything. Not only are they the ones we write for most of the time, but they are our very life. It has been said that an artist, in the end , is only as good as his worst piece, so it really behooves the artist to find his muse and his audience, doesn’t it?

My First Worthy Poem

/ Damean Mathews, Author / 1 Comment

I thought I would give you all another sample of my writing today, this time of a different genre. I want to first say that I am not a poet by any means. This poem is merely a fluke, and it is one of two that I felt worthy to ever share with anyone. This poem was published in the literary journal Jimson Weed and has given me a lot of satisfaction and positive feedback. If any of you like this poem let me know and I will explain more about its origin and inspiration.

 

I

By Damean Mathews

 

I watch the wind blow through the trees

I hear the fairies’ footsteps playing on the breeze

I watch as the world spins beneath me

I watch from above; seeing all, being seen by none

I watch alone, apart from them, yet a part of all

I am all, I am none

Always watching, never touching

I am everything

I am nothing

Beware Inconsistencies

/ Damean Mathews, Author / 2 Comments

I have recently become a victim of my own creativity. That is something an author must always be on the lookout for, and I’m ashamed to admit that I made such a rookie mistake. I started working away on Maverip 2 and forgot a couple of minor details that I’d already covered in part 1. Granted that mistake wasn’t too huge, and was easily fixed, it could have been much worse. Any real mistake or fluke in your writing can be something that could seriously cripple your career, or even end it before it began. You have to know every detail, both major and minor, about your work front and back and have things working in serious order. Self-contradiction in your work is something that will cause most agents and/or publishers to immediately disregard your work. And if they don’t catch it, by chance, then your audience will and it will likely ruin your fan base before you even build one. You have to pay very close attention to your work, and everything that involves it.

That being said, I am going to go and work more. I apologize for the short length of my posts of late, but I am in a roll and trying to take advantage of my lack of writer’s block. I think I will soon post another piece of my work if you all think it is a good idea. In the meantime, take heed that you do not contradict yourself or ruin a piece of your own work with inconsistencies. It can be the death of an author.

My First Published Short Story

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As promised, I have decided to post my first published short story to give you all an example of my writing style. I hope you enjoy it, and perhaps even find some inspiration from it. Feedback is, of course, welcome.

The End

By Damean Mathews

 

            “The system has failed you,” the professor said, raising his eyes to the mostly full classroom beyond the boundaries of his desk.

 

            “The government has failed. The militaries have destroyed all hope for survival. The world has begun its quickening decline from civilization and we don’t matter anymore. The battle will rage,” he spoke sternly while walking around his desk, “and we will cease to be of any importance.”

 

            His students stared, the usual low rumble of the incessantly distracted pupils now nonexistent. They didn’t know what to make of this speech. Their professor had never been this forward with them and they were a little unnerved by the sudden change.

 

            “The totalitarian form of government that has controlled the world under the guise of democracy has turned its back on us. The attitude toward citizens is now the age-old saying “every man for himself.” There is no fate that has been set supposedly, but this certainly seems to be the closest thing to fate I’ve ever seen, and the powers that be have chosen ours for us.”

 

            The professor stopped, rubbed his temples, and leaned back against the desk. He slowly picked up his water and drank deeply, savoring the chill as it ran through his body. He looked at his pupils through his thick glasses, and saw the faces of the next generation- Generation X- looking back at him in vague confusion.

 

            Standing, he spoke again, “You all have not experienced true betrayal yet, but it is coming. The world will slowly take back that which belongs to it. The wild which has been cut back will take back the hold it once had. As many people who have been born on this earth will not be enough to save it, or, for that matter, themselves.”

 

            “What are you saying sir,” one annoyed young lady asked.

 

            “That there is no hope for human kind. As a whole, we have almost no chance of survival in this matter. The big groups will be targeted, then the smaller ones. Individuals will be slain mercilessly. In effect, this will discourage life as a society, and as an individual, causing us to break all the bonds of civilization, and lose the will to live alone.”

 

            “Are you saying the world’s gonna end? So, what, like are we gonna be attacked or something,” interrupted a student.

 

            “I don’t know how it will come about, but it will happen. You see, every now and then Mother Nature just has to do something to show us that we aren’t what we think we are. We created the system to protect us in a hostile environment, so it makes sense that it be used against us. We think we own the Earth, and it is about time the Earth proves us wrong.”

 

            “So, you’re saying that the Earth is going to use our own defense system against us?”

 

            “No. The system is not something that can just be controlled, that’s what I’m saying. We have been treating it like a tool, thinking we have won, and that it’s all ours. Humans take advantage of all this. We will learn. The system will see to that.”

 

            He was met with silence after this stern speech. Slowly, as he stared intently into the crowd of pupils facing him, the murmur built up. Turning around, he walked back to his seat and resumed his work. The pupils continued the hushed conversations for the short remainder of the class, then gathered their things and left.

 

            Going home, a few of the students thought of their professor’s speech, wondering if there could be any truth to it. Sooner or later, however, all thought of the old man’s absurdity was driven from their minds. The evening rolled on into the night, and the students went about their lives as usual; either partying, studying, or sleeping.

 

            At midnight, the bombs began to fall. The System had won.

 

Killer stress

/ Damean Mathews, Author / Leave a comment

There are many things in life that can have negative effects on us. These things can range from the personal to the professional, and they can seriously damage our work if we aren’t careful. This post is about caution, as the one yesterday was, but in a different fashion. We, as authors, have to constantly be on the lookout for things that are going to kill our work. Personally I find the higher the stress level, the harder it is to write these days. Which, sadly is the exact opposite of what used to happen. When I first began writing it was the writing itself that helped lower my stress level, but now it seems that stress hinders me more than anything else. That is a very disappointing situation to a fifth year English major; stress is an essence of life, and if the one thing I was put on this earth to do is hindered by the one thing I have to do in order to be taken seriously  in that task then I am in a very tight spot. That’s a destiny that awaits all writers at some point in their lives; running into a spot that hinders all writing and makes your inspiration sporadic and trite. But there is always a way out, and this post is more relative to past posts in that it refers more to my post about inspiration. Because this post is a reference post it will be relatively short. The reason for this is because I am personally just getting over my own bout of writer’s block due to stress and am reaping the benefits of my return to my own creation. Maverip 2 is currently going very well, and I’m still looking for a publication deal for part 1 so you can all see the work I’ve done instead of having to just listen to me ramble about it. Tomorrow, I may post a bit of my work so you all can get an example of what I’ve done so it will sound less like I’m just sitting here blowing smoke in your faces. For now, enjoy whatever inspiration you are getting and write your hearts out like I’m trying to do. Thanks for sticking with me, and feel free to contact me with any comments, concerns, questions or feedback you have.

Dealing With Fraud

/ Damean Mathews, Author / Leave a comment

This will be a fairly short post I think, but one that is going to help a lot of people potentially. One of the biggest things you need to be on the lookout for as an author, especially if you are looking into trying to use online resources to get your name out there, is fraud. There are countless websites and individuals out there who would love nothing more than to take your money and leave you high and dry, and worse off than you were to begin with. If you are searching for online publication you have to be very very careful about who you trust.

One thing that is very beneficial to you in this field is caution. Google, although perhaps not the absolute most reliable 100% of the time, can be your best friend here. You need to Google the name and stats of any person or website you are considering before you entrust your work to them. If they are fraudulent there is a good chance you aren’t the first person they’ve tricked- but they’d love you to be next. An easy way to tell if these sites or individuals are trying to pull one over on you is whether or not they try to charge you before even looking at your work. This is something that can easily be forgotten when you’re being given a great pitch, believe me. I recently fell victim to one of these too-good-to-be-true situations and very nearly wasted my money trying to get somewhere with it.

Research is going to be your absolute best friend as you are starting out in this business, and a very reliable companion once you’re name is out there. Success can be ruined by falling into a scam. I don’t want to see it happen to anyone of you anymore than I want it to happen to me, so take heed here. 99% of the time Professionals will not charge you money to read your work, and they will not ask for a fee just to talk to you or give you opportunities. Do your research and enter this with caution, or you may well end up at the bottom of a deep dark whole of scam and trouble.

Completing my first novel

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Today I think it would actually be beneficial to explain a bit about my biggest work; Maverip and its subsequent series. The work itself is one thing that I am most proud of in my life. It took three years to write the first novel in the series, and at the end of those three years I felt like I had finally accomplished something I could really be proud of. I spent three years on this work, not just writing and thinking, but researching. That was one of the most important parts of the novel. I had to look into the vast depth of vampire lore and rip it apart to find what I felt I needed. I have spent the last five years of my life immersed in a literal plethora of everything vampire, and I couldn’t be happier. I am one of the biggest vampire fans you will ever meet, and now I am basically an expert on nearly all things vampire too. But I’m not trying to brag here, that is farthest from my purpose. I’m just trying to really share the depth of my experience.

I spent three years with almost nothing but Maverip on the mind. I did and still do eat, drink and breathe vampire, and I wouldn’t accept anything less with my life. I love it. That is one reason I tell you all that you have to write about something that you are passionate about. It is the reason I became a writer of fiction, especially horror fiction with a specialty in vampires. It’s something I’ve always been nuts about.  That’s what makes it so easy to just dive in. Writing about it is just about the most natural thing in the world and the research has given me so much more added knowledge on something that I absolutely love.

In a manner writing this series has basically been less than work in any way and more of an immensely fun and incredibly life-changing event for me. When I ponder the work, its history and it future, I feel like it is something that will change the world. That is a feeling you just can’t help but love. I think about these novels and they make me realize how blessed and lucky I am to have the gift of being able to write as I do, and I am eternally thankful and grateful to God for giving me this gift and allowing me to attempt to share this series with the world.

Thus far the hardest part of this has been trying to find a publisher who will give me a good deal. Granted many people look at my subject matter and think that it will fall short of the expectations of some, I must assert that one of the biggest things I have attempted to do with this series is return to the true origins and roots of vampire tales. But that will come later, especially once the work has actually been picked up. Basically the point of this post has been to give an insight into my experience and to help you guys get to know a bit about me personally. I hope it has been interesting at least. My next post will include something that’s actually helpful, I promise. Thanks guys.