Genre Niche with Beth Daniels*

So what’s a scribbler to do? How about spinning a short story rather than a longer one?

Now, granted, short stories are a world unto themselves. The scope is tighter, not as much can happen, but things can still be done within its confines. In all the creative writing classes I took in college during the years spent on the BA and then on the MA (which has a long tag attached to it: “with an emphasis on Creative Writing”) I was stuck writing short stories because of the time allowances in a semester or quarter (one U broke the year down into three while the other did it in four parts). Professors don’t appear to take to the NANO system, you see.

Considering it’s October, is there any other topic OTHER THAN Horror stories to address? I didn’t think so.

Horror tales are present in nearly every fiction writing niche out there. We have the gothics, the paranormals, the science-gone-wrong, the off planet type of aliens, the serial killers, and terrorists.

Vampires have had a hypnotic effect ever since Bram Stoker’s DRACULA hit bookstores and the stage during Victoria’s reign. Werewolves and other shape changers are out there seducing and being seduced by mate minded romantics in a lot of stories. Wizards and witches and their minions can still be the wicked which comes – for middle grade to adult level readers, too.

How did I happen to choose Anthologies for the subject this month? Well, it has a lot to do with an anthology being released today that has a story of mine in it.

The way I came to being included in an anthology was through a notice. It said that a couple editors were looking for warped, mutated, mangled, re-envisioned popular fairytale short stories for a collection they were calling MOTHER GOOSE IS DEAD. Because my muse hadn’t been very cooperative at the time, I asked him (I don’t care what the Greeks pictured them as, the Greeks who wrote about them were male, right? So my muse is a hunk – if anyone’s going to wear those diaphanous gowns, it’s gonna be me!)

Perhaps it is because lately I’ve picked up more books to read that were the continuing adventures of a particular character. Perhaps it is because with my favorite shows on hiatus I’ve been watching one episode after another of television shows, streaming them from Netflix without commercial interruptions. Whatever the reason, my mind has been on writing series rather than stand alone books.

by Beth Daniels, aka Beth Henderson, J.B. Dane

Between various patriotic holidays cropping up and the days of summer vacation where those of us who stay out of the sun and away from the grit of beaches clinging in uncomfortable places, vacations are most definitely on everyone’s mind. To my mind that equates to our historical past.

Why? Well, any trip away from home should include visits to museums, historic homes, battlefields, libraries and bookstores, shouldn’t it? I also have a fascination for maps. This means my luggage might be light when I leave on a trip, but it’s darned heavy when I return.

Beth Daniels, aka Beth Henderson, J.B. Dane

I thought I was organized this year. Figured out what each of the monthly blogs would be about in advance, made a list, and promptly lost it somewhere in the many piles of paper that clutter my office. And if I saved the list on the computer, it was under some name that I have yet to figure out.

So I’ve been punting, keeping an eye peeled for ideas to use until that list surfaces (and I find I’ve already used what I planned to do in later months, no doubt). Today…nothing like last minute…someone in my western workshop asked about biopunk and whether it would qualify under Weird West Steampunk.