Mexicans are not the only ones that have a celebration around death, our latine siblings from the Ecuador have “El día de los difuntos” Day of the Perished the same day, Japanese (Mahayana) Buddhists have the Obon or Bon festival around July or August, and Chinese people have the Qingming festival in April.
However it is the Mexicans’ Día de los Muertos that has more national recognition. Part of that, I believe, is because of our geographical proximity that México has with the United States, and the U.S. (imperial) power that it has around the world. It certainly helped that (Disney) Pixar made a movie around the holiday.
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The Ethics of Self-Publishing on Amazon10/30/2022 Self-publishing is a great way to get your work out there in a way that isn’t playing into the hands of greedy and corrupt publishing houses. However, it can be quite difficult and pricey to publish on your own. No worries, this is where Amazon comes in! Through Amazon, self-publishing your novels become far easier and more accessible. But, it bears acknowledging that Amazon is yet another Big Evil Corporation, so where does that leave writers who don’t want to fund another rocket for Bezos, but who still want to get their works out there and have them be accessible to be read widely?
Writer Fears: Trying Out New Genres10/30/2022 You had never planned to get lost in the woods. It is past midnight now, and the distant growl of an animal and a cold wind make goosebumps crawl up your skin. All you did was follow the same pebbled road all day. But now, through the depths of the night, you can distinguish how the road opens in a Y. You could continue down the pebbled road at your left. But the road at your right seems to be calling you. Pulsing, waiting. Who knows what you might find if you take it? Which nightmarish monster will you encounter? This is not the best time to try out a new path. And yet…
If you have read any of my articles, you might have noticed that I firmly believe that growth happens outside of our comfort zone. For writers, this means trying out new formats, methods, and genres. More often than not, it is a scary decision to make. But it will teach you more than it will seize away. The (Queer) Comfort Horror Genre10/18/2022 I have previously talked about the comfort horror genre in my review of Dead End: Paranormal Park however, a few paragraphs are not nearly enough to cover this emerging way in which to tell stories.
The comfort horror genre is a subsection of horror in which the story does not look for the reader to be scared, but rather to see the terrifying happenings of life in a new light and to recognize the beauty in them. It is a way of looking at horror through a unique queer lense; there are a lot of essays and articles detailing the relationship between ostracized communities (in this case LGBT+) and the monstrous. Vampires are gay not only because the fear of sexuality society projected into themselves but also because as gay people we saw ourselves in the same position as them. Writer Fears: Your Work & The World10/15/2022 The crowd is expecting you. Expecting a story that will impact them, something that will make them laugh or cry. Anything able to move them. And as a low murmur falls upon the public, a sinking sensation settles on your stomach. Days of researching, late nights of writing, early mornings of editing. How will your work be received?
Showing your work to the world comes with a variety of unwelcome fears and doubts. The fear of a negative reception often keeps us from showing our work to others. I used to think that my work would never be ready for publication, but during the past months, I have put effort into sending my work to LitMags, speaking at workshops, and submitting to contests. And so, I have divided this article into three things that can be helpful to remember to get over this fear. This work is part of a series, starting at FanFiction 101: Where to Read & Post.
Is there something that fanfic writers love is comments, we would literally sell you our first-born for a lengthy juicy in depth analysis for what we consider trash, or in a good day, passable stuff. However readers, and fanfic readers at that, are very often shy, don’t know if expressing their love for the work directly to the author is appropriate, and/or just don’t know what to say. I know it, I’m one of them. There are several “how to comment” posts in tumblr and probably one in fanlore too, but I thought an article like does 40s etiquette books couldn’t hurt. Writer Fears: Editing10/8/2022 It is a cold rainy afternoon, thunders crashing in the distance. It is dark outside, and the Pomodoro timer is already counting down. Hiding somewhere in the depth of your computer’s archives, lies an overwhelming, chaotic file: a first draft. Where to begin? How to tackle your plot, characters, settings, and scenes? How many drafts will you need to go through? Will you ever be satisfied with your piece?
At one point or another, every writer has been there. The beginning of every second draft is an important step on the path to publication, but editing can become scary when reality sets in and we know that our characters are rough and we have the unnerving presage that sooner or later we might fall into a plot hole. Having a sketchy first draft and pushing through to improve it is something that every writer should be proud of. Most of us will also have a variety of methods that suit our goals and processes better. And so, I have explored two main pieces of editing advice from the writing community, best-selling authors, and my own experience, which will hopefully make this journey less frightening. Recently I picked up a copy of If We Were Villains. I’ve already been quite interested in the Dark Academia sub-genre, despite my conflicted feelings on the sub-genre as a whole. Generally, this issue comes with the romanticization of books that are meant to be critiques of the cutthroat elitism of academia, such as The Secret History and If We Were Villains – something I will touch on later. However, I found If We Were Villains to be incredibly compelling and well written, I even enjoyed it more than The Secret History!
In recent years the radio star has slowly crawled out of their grave for revenge with the video. Although, I believe the more mediums for storytelling the merrier, it is true that audio has its perks that make it stand out and be the favorite of a lot of people.
My relationship with sound as a form of storytelling starts since my early writer days, when while being on the road I would end up making stories and reciting them to my dad and sister to pass the time (until they grew tired of my voice and told me to write them), it continued as we got stuck at our homes and I found out about this 2 big indie podcasts: Welcome To Nightvale and The Penumbra Podcast. Since then my obsession has continued to grow. Book Review: They Were Here Before Us10/7/2022 CW: This novella contains themes of horror, graphic descriptions of gore, corpses, and animal death. Reader's discretion is advised.
Everyone who is even remotely interested in horror literature has heard of (or at least should have heard of) Eric LaRocca by now. Their nail biting, suspenseful and brilliantly written novellas have shaken the horror community ever since the viral sensation Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke was released in June of 2021. Since then, LaRocca has continued gracing the world with his talent and serving beautifully grotesque queer stories that keep readers satisfied, but hungry for more. Categories
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