Right? What happens when an absolute monster gets thrown in with other absolute monsters? I have my doubts that it will be a warm and fuzzy get together...
Read this last night. Been a bit down in the dumps so I tuned to my favorite channel. Beautiful prose coupled with relentless terror. Perfect. Reading you is attending a masterclass, Liz!
I can see how it would be. But this is stellar, Liz. I can easily see this adapted for the screen. I'm gonna do my best to catch up today or tomorrow. My own writing is struggling a bit-- the only reason I'm so late to this fantastic party. But with my last post bombing (again), I've been thinking of calling it quits and focusing on reading and supporting others. You're top on that list and I'm really hoping this ends up in your next collection!!
I haven’t read Parker yet, but it’s waiting in my queue. I’ve been to stuffed into my own head to be a very timely reader. But I am going to read it this week! And we have fallow times when we recharge. I had one between putting out Palace and starting Intuition. Be kind to yourself. The magic is always there.
Yeah, I know. I’ve been having the same issues. I’m slowing down in every aspect. Which is why I’m contemplating making the shift back over to the passive side of things. Anyway. I’m cautiously optimistic to hear this story keeps stretching, Liz. I really hope this breaks out of novella range. I read a portion of part 4 a few hours ago before I stopped myself. So good! I’m loving this Tom and Will relationship, and I think this has the potential to go the distance!
No, no, you mustn’t ever quit! You never bomb! It’s summer, and reading and commenting slow down, but it will pick back up again and go Bang! It’s a good time to mess around with new ideas and have a little space to wiffle-waffle. That’s what The Intuition is doing. I have only a nebulous idea of its shape, and I’m just feeling my way. It is working itself out in front of everyone like it’s in a workshop (terrifying), but if I didn’t do it this way I would just sit thinking it to death and never write it. Whatever works to get it out!
That's true, Liz. But experimentation or not, Intuition is already a masterpiece, imo. "Parker" took me two weeks to write, and although it was shaky, I thought it was "something", at least. I just keep getting these hints that I'm losing my touch, you know? It's fine. When I was in my twenties, I once consoled myself with the knowledge that whatever else, I'd be able to read, read, read. There's joy in that. And I'll read your stories with absolute pleasure. So keep at it. I'll be around to devour them, one by one.
Thanks, Jennifer! He is a terrible guy, and this part was hard to write/hard to read over. He does have some interesting complexities, and hides the worst of himself from himself.
Thanks, Jim! I'm timid about posting these installments. Will Dovedale is the worst character, I think, to ever visit me. His behavior shocks me. His backstory hurts my heart and disgusts me equally. I despise him...and yet, he is my creation. Maybe this is how Victor Frankenstein felt?
Evelyn, thank you for this very thoughtful comment! When I read dark or heavy pieces by confident writers, I so admire their facility with the material. And I’ve written some nasty characters…but I’ve always shied away from this kind of thing in my own stories. For myself, it just always felt too real, too ugly—and I don’t want to sicken readers (at least, not too much). I also don’t ever want to write this kind of material just for shock value. I wouldn’t have written this (or, I’m afraid, some scenes to come), but Will is…a different sort of character than others I’ve created. He just won’t be subtle or polite, and he’s stuck in my head.
I was wondering about this. I must admit, I had this exact reaction to YOU, Liz. I admire your confidence and commitment with this piece. It was disturbing as hell, to the point of making me a bit uncomfortable, but that's what makes it so powerful. You gave shape to Will's darkness that just wouldn't have been quite as potent if you had tempered the writing. Wolf would have been a few shades lighter than the pitch black you revealed to us in this scene.
Thanks, Shane. There are a lot of bits in this story so far that are uncomfortable for me. But Will has had deep trauma, and it has shaped him in disturbing, and horrific ways. And then, the time he inhabits and that in which he grew up were so different from today. In some ways romantic, but the opposite side of that coin is dark and dismal. I admit, I’m sort of feeling my way with this one.
I can well understand your nervousness about posting these. Like self-censorship. I'm very much the same with some of the stuff I have posted and some of the stuff I may intend to do. The problem is it's all necessary for the story and without it the story is hardly even half-told and then not worth it. I think it's a fear that the reader might associate us - the writer - with what a character is like. So I am trying to convince myself that the reader is more intelligent than that, and will understand that when one can't portray evil without writing some very dark stuff, and that it doesn't mean the writer is the same.
That's my hope, anyway.
That dark bit in the second half was brilliantly done, by the way. Definitely a sense of dissociative alters there. So I'm guessing he was the subject of trauma in his backstory, as that's how multiple personality arises...
This has Jekyll and Hyde vibes. Meeting a vampire is the least he deserves!
Right? What happens when an absolute monster gets thrown in with other absolute monsters? I have my doubts that it will be a warm and fuzzy get together...
With vast outpourings of hemoglobin! He deserves it all :)
Read this last night. Been a bit down in the dumps so I tuned to my favorite channel. Beautiful prose coupled with relentless terror. Perfect. Reading you is attending a masterclass, Liz!
Thanks so much, Ken! I’m really glad you liked it. It was a rough one to write.
I can see how it would be. But this is stellar, Liz. I can easily see this adapted for the screen. I'm gonna do my best to catch up today or tomorrow. My own writing is struggling a bit-- the only reason I'm so late to this fantastic party. But with my last post bombing (again), I've been thinking of calling it quits and focusing on reading and supporting others. You're top on that list and I'm really hoping this ends up in your next collection!!
I haven’t read Parker yet, but it’s waiting in my queue. I’ve been to stuffed into my own head to be a very timely reader. But I am going to read it this week! And we have fallow times when we recharge. I had one between putting out Palace and starting Intuition. Be kind to yourself. The magic is always there.
Yeah, I know. I’ve been having the same issues. I’m slowing down in every aspect. Which is why I’m contemplating making the shift back over to the passive side of things. Anyway. I’m cautiously optimistic to hear this story keeps stretching, Liz. I really hope this breaks out of novella range. I read a portion of part 4 a few hours ago before I stopped myself. So good! I’m loving this Tom and Will relationship, and I think this has the potential to go the distance!
No, no, you mustn’t ever quit! You never bomb! It’s summer, and reading and commenting slow down, but it will pick back up again and go Bang! It’s a good time to mess around with new ideas and have a little space to wiffle-waffle. That’s what The Intuition is doing. I have only a nebulous idea of its shape, and I’m just feeling my way. It is working itself out in front of everyone like it’s in a workshop (terrifying), but if I didn’t do it this way I would just sit thinking it to death and never write it. Whatever works to get it out!
That's true, Liz. But experimentation or not, Intuition is already a masterpiece, imo. "Parker" took me two weeks to write, and although it was shaky, I thought it was "something", at least. I just keep getting these hints that I'm losing my touch, you know? It's fine. When I was in my twenties, I once consoled myself with the knowledge that whatever else, I'd be able to read, read, read. There's joy in that. And I'll read your stories with absolute pleasure. So keep at it. I'll be around to devour them, one by one.
This is terrifying and tragic. Incredibly well written Liz.
Will's a terrible guy but an interesting protagonist.
Thanks, Jennifer! He is a terrible guy, and this part was hard to write/hard to read over. He does have some interesting complexities, and hides the worst of himself from himself.
My first thought is, “Whoa. Damn.” Immediately followed by, "How do I learn how to write as well as this?”
Exquisite, Liz. Too good.
Thank you so much, Shane!
Fantastic one of your best can’t wait for more❤️
Thanks, Dad!
Just beautifully done. Poetic, violent and dark. I can't wait to see more.
Thank you, Jean. Will lives in a dark place. He's...outrageous, horrible.
And you capture him perfectly.
Thanks, Jim! I'm timid about posting these installments. Will Dovedale is the worst character, I think, to ever visit me. His behavior shocks me. His backstory hurts my heart and disgusts me equally. I despise him...and yet, he is my creation. Maybe this is how Victor Frankenstein felt?
Evelyn, thank you for this very thoughtful comment! When I read dark or heavy pieces by confident writers, I so admire their facility with the material. And I’ve written some nasty characters…but I’ve always shied away from this kind of thing in my own stories. For myself, it just always felt too real, too ugly—and I don’t want to sicken readers (at least, not too much). I also don’t ever want to write this kind of material just for shock value. I wouldn’t have written this (or, I’m afraid, some scenes to come), but Will is…a different sort of character than others I’ve created. He just won’t be subtle or polite, and he’s stuck in my head.
I was wondering about this. I must admit, I had this exact reaction to YOU, Liz. I admire your confidence and commitment with this piece. It was disturbing as hell, to the point of making me a bit uncomfortable, but that's what makes it so powerful. You gave shape to Will's darkness that just wouldn't have been quite as potent if you had tempered the writing. Wolf would have been a few shades lighter than the pitch black you revealed to us in this scene.
Thanks, Shane. There are a lot of bits in this story so far that are uncomfortable for me. But Will has had deep trauma, and it has shaped him in disturbing, and horrific ways. And then, the time he inhabits and that in which he grew up were so different from today. In some ways romantic, but the opposite side of that coin is dark and dismal. I admit, I’m sort of feeling my way with this one.
I can well understand your nervousness about posting these. Like self-censorship. I'm very much the same with some of the stuff I have posted and some of the stuff I may intend to do. The problem is it's all necessary for the story and without it the story is hardly even half-told and then not worth it. I think it's a fear that the reader might associate us - the writer - with what a character is like. So I am trying to convince myself that the reader is more intelligent than that, and will understand that when one can't portray evil without writing some very dark stuff, and that it doesn't mean the writer is the same.
That's my hope, anyway.
That dark bit in the second half was brilliantly done, by the way. Definitely a sense of dissociative alters there. So I'm guessing he was the subject of trauma in his backstory, as that's how multiple personality arises...
"Her new gown of bruises"....what a line. What a story. Just terrific writing. Each new story is your best. - Jim