Dead Oaks Podcast

You may remember that a year or more ago, I wrote a post about how much I absolutely love horror , and that still holds true to this very day. However, when I decided to switch gears and begin writing it, the unthinkable happened... I lost my groove. It's not uncommon for me to get writer's block (It's more like writer's dam, but whatever.), and I like to write in a way I've been calling "organic" for a long, long time: if the words aren't coming to me naturally, I'm not going to force them and end up with writing I think is mediocre or sub-par. And that's okay. I prefer to write this way, and it's always worked for me, even if it takes me longer to write something than if I would have forced the words onto paper (or Word document). All was going good and well, that is until I started writing horror... I signed up to be a part of a really awesome event called The Stanley Hotel Writers' Retreat last October, hosted at one of the ...

This week's Dead Oaks  story comes from a very talented friend of mine, Eric Valek. If you like this story and would like to write your own entry in the Dead Oaks  anthology, contact me via  Twitter  or  Facebook .            At some point in one’s life, the desire to escape may become overbearing, almost obsessive- and for some, this desire may be fulfilled, and even prove beneficial. But for those who truly have a need to run, to evade what they have done or what life has befallen upon them.. Sometimes the past never truly leaves. And in Dead Oaks, I learned, the past is never truly behind.             I am a graduate of Michigan State University, 2012- a major in Fine Arts, a degree that I quickly learned had little fruit to bear, but my persistence and my experience urged me to pursue it to the end, and finally, I achieved my goal- but at a large cost. In 2011,...

What is this Dead Oaks ? you're probably asking. Well, lucky for you, I'm here to give you a quick introduction before things get kicked off! And let me tell you, big things are (hopefully) happening soon here at One [Word] at a Time... If you've read this blog before, then you probably already know I'm a BIG fan of horror , even if I don't write it all that often. However, that's all about to change, as I've been working on a brand spankin' new, web-only writing project called, if you haven't guessed already, Dead Oaks . The best part of all this? I want YOUR help! The goal of Dead Oaks is simple: Each week I am going to upload a new, terrifying, spine-tingling, underwear-soiling, sleep-with-the-lights-on short story all revolving around the same town, a place where nightmare creatures live among normal people like you and me. All of these stories can fit together into an anthology, or can be read individually with no repercussions f...

I used to define myself as a contemporary YA writer. I always have and always will love stories about young people growing up and facing whatever life has to throw at them, both realistic and fictional (but mostly realistic). I like to read and write stories with the thought in mind of ‘ Wow, this could happen to me.’ Of course, even the most realistic YA stories can seem exaggerated because, well, they usually are. However, over the past month, I’ve decided to take a leap and start writing about one of my other passions: horror. I’ve grown up reading horror stories, watching horror movies, and generally loving the genre, but somehow it never dawned on me to actually have a go at writing it… until now. What exactly made me make the switch? Well, I’m not completely sure, but I’ve outlined some of the reasons I love horror and why I’m excited to be writing it below. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A lot of people grew up watching Buffy and I’m one of them. You may even...

You may or may not be familiar with an author who was pretty popular in the 90s and still carries a household name today. The author I'm talking about has written hundreds, if not thousands of young adult horror novels/stories that, compared to today's standards, are nothing but fluff and happiness. His not-so-happy endings and use of red herrings, gore, and the occasional curse word made him an idol to my third-grade self. The author I'm speaking of is no other than R. L. Stine, creative mind behind such "awesome" series as Goosebumps and the Fear Street books. In honor of Stine's incredibly under-credited and often cheesy work, and because I recently stumbled upon an amazing blog dedicated to recapping and poking fun at Stine's work (see Fear Street Blog here), I've written a short continuation of one of his more beloved tales, 99 Fear Street: The House of Evil . For those of you who don't know, 99 Fear Street is a saga divided into t...