Copyright Lia Scott Price
I once received a message, a comment about how positive I am, but how I write about negative stuff such as serial killers. Well, it’s simply a what-if scenario, using my imagination, and also a way of getting negativity out of my life. So what if I write about what I write about? It’s my choice. To me, creative writing is venting and releasing negative thoughts, emotions, and feelings, and thinking outside the box. I turn them into stories, or I use the negative emotions and people that I meet or hear about. Of course, I don't advocate or support violence, I'm just using creativity to address my fears, experiences, and explore my imagination. It's therapy, and sometimes even better than therapy. Would this person think the same ways about horror film producers, writers and actors? Just because I write horror doesn’t mean I’m “negative”.
I also encounter this thinking whenever I talk about my love of death metal and heavy metal. Most people think that because the lyrics and music are “negative”, the band must be negative too. But it’s in fact the opposite. People in metal bands and in the metal scene that’s I’ve met are the friendliest, most open-minded, creative, coolest, most supportive people who are more family to me than the people who choose to criticize what I do. They write about politics, social issues, and other things that are considered negative to make a point, to be vocal about what they see is wrong in society, or about what they fear or change or whatever else they want to write about. It’s a creative way to vent or make a statement. It’s better than keeping your own fears in and thinking that the world will become more violent if anyone expresses it in a creative way, like saying that listening to certain music will make you a serial killer. If that’s the way you think, then maybe you should avoid horror movies and books. If you think these things are going to come true, that’s a little unrealistic. Then you might as well live your life in fear of everything.
Vampire Guardian Angels is a comic book series written and created by Horror Author Lia Scott Price. Don't Pray. You Become Prey.
Friday, July 10, 2015
What I am Thankful for
I'm thankful that I am able to to what I love. I'm thankful that I can make do with what I have, and do something creative. I'm happy with who I am and what I have been able to accomplish, happy with the decisions I have made in life, looking forward to learning more and creating more, and most of all, I'm happy that I used writing to cope with adversities in life and that life was able to inspire creativity. I got all the negative elements, people and naysayers out of my life, surrounded myself with positive friends and creative people, and I'm looking forward to the new year and to new projects and to continue being creative and doing what I love to do, and I hope this inspires you to do the same. Go out there and create, and share your talents with the world!
What “Secret Formula” ?
Copyright Lia Scott Price
I was recently asked by someone about how to go about writing and publishing. I gave him my usual advice of balancing creativity and business, running yourself as a business, and my writing techniques. I said it was simpler that you think, and that he didn’t need a big publisher to get started. In terms of writing, when I tried to share how I put together ideas, overcome writer’s block etc, he got agitated, telling me to stop making it sound so easy and that I was holding back the “good stuff” from him. He implied that the only way to become a “writer” was to take classes and form sentence structures correctly and take proper grammar lessons and that was the only way and he had to do all that before he even out a sentence to paper.
I tried to tell him that the process was not that complicated. Instead of listening, he became even more angry at me because he was convinced the process was very difficult and that I was hiding the “Secret Formula” and that I was refusing to share it with him (What “Secret Formula”? Really? There is one? Then I must be going about this all wrong!). He said that nothing I said or did worked and that I was not giving him the “real” ways to write and publish. As he rambled on, I kept thinking to myself that if nothing I did “worked”, then how was I able to publish my novels and comic books? (And I’m on my 5th published issue of my comic books now). He called me selfish for refusing to divulge “secrets”. He was completely convinced that there was some sort of magic writing formula that he was supposed to follow, that there was only one “correct” way to write and that I was “cutting corners” and “making things up”, and to “deviate” from that was “not real writing”. He also kept insisting that the only way to be a writer was through a big publisher and that whatever I did was “not legit”. (Never mind the fact that I’m on amazon).
He finally ended his rant by saying he was too “skeptical” and scared of trying my methods and that I couldn’t help him and that he would find someone else who could, who would help him do it "the right way". Well, I wish you al the luck in the world. In the meantime, I will keep doing what I’m doing. I really don’t feel I should waste my time again with negative people who ask for advice and then put you down for it. When I asked if he planned to get started and take his classes and go about things his way, he scoffed and said “Nah, it’s too complicated. And I don’t have the time.” Well, there you have it.
I'm not sure what advice to give for this, but I guess I can sum it up this way: Don't be this guy. If you ask for advice, listen to what someone has to say, especially when they ARE a published author. Don't be negative. I guess that is sort of a secret formula: Don't put something down and give up before you try it because of some preconceived notion of what a published author should be. You've failed before you even tried. The only thing stopping this person was himself.
Please read my writing and self-publishing disclaimer here
I was recently asked by someone about how to go about writing and publishing. I gave him my usual advice of balancing creativity and business, running yourself as a business, and my writing techniques. I said it was simpler that you think, and that he didn’t need a big publisher to get started. In terms of writing, when I tried to share how I put together ideas, overcome writer’s block etc, he got agitated, telling me to stop making it sound so easy and that I was holding back the “good stuff” from him. He implied that the only way to become a “writer” was to take classes and form sentence structures correctly and take proper grammar lessons and that was the only way and he had to do all that before he even out a sentence to paper.
I tried to tell him that the process was not that complicated. Instead of listening, he became even more angry at me because he was convinced the process was very difficult and that I was hiding the “Secret Formula” and that I was refusing to share it with him (What “Secret Formula”? Really? There is one? Then I must be going about this all wrong!). He said that nothing I said or did worked and that I was not giving him the “real” ways to write and publish. As he rambled on, I kept thinking to myself that if nothing I did “worked”, then how was I able to publish my novels and comic books? (And I’m on my 5th published issue of my comic books now). He called me selfish for refusing to divulge “secrets”. He was completely convinced that there was some sort of magic writing formula that he was supposed to follow, that there was only one “correct” way to write and that I was “cutting corners” and “making things up”, and to “deviate” from that was “not real writing”. He also kept insisting that the only way to be a writer was through a big publisher and that whatever I did was “not legit”. (Never mind the fact that I’m on amazon).
He finally ended his rant by saying he was too “skeptical” and scared of trying my methods and that I couldn’t help him and that he would find someone else who could, who would help him do it "the right way". Well, I wish you al the luck in the world. In the meantime, I will keep doing what I’m doing. I really don’t feel I should waste my time again with negative people who ask for advice and then put you down for it. When I asked if he planned to get started and take his classes and go about things his way, he scoffed and said “Nah, it’s too complicated. And I don’t have the time.” Well, there you have it.
I'm not sure what advice to give for this, but I guess I can sum it up this way: Don't be this guy. If you ask for advice, listen to what someone has to say, especially when they ARE a published author. Don't be negative. I guess that is sort of a secret formula: Don't put something down and give up before you try it because of some preconceived notion of what a published author should be. You've failed before you even tried. The only thing stopping this person was himself.
Amazon Comic Book Reviews
Thank you so much for all the reviews and feedback for my comic books! Truly appreciated! You all rock! :)
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