RIP George A Romero and Martin Landau

I know I said I wasn't going to post again until next week, but as soon as I published my previous blog article, two horror icons died. George A Romero of Night of the Living Dead fame:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/16/movies/george-romero-dead.html?mcubz=2

And Martin Landau, who portrayed Bela Lugosi in the Tim Burton film Ed Wood, starring Johnny Depp, for which he won an Oscar:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/16/movies/martin-landau-actor-academy-award-dies-89.html?mcubz=2

More about the writer's group

Last week, I posted about my writer's group and how happy I was with it. I'm still happy with the group themselves, but now they are changing around some of the meeting times. Friday afternoons was a great time that worked well for me, but this week they changed to Thursday, and I had other early evening plans, so I could not make it, and next week they are planning to meet on Wednesday. I'm not sure if I will make it or not.

However, I did get a Beta reader out of the group. I've sent him several chapters to review, and he's sent them back. I asked if he was willing to continue looking at chapters, and his reply was that he was in this for the long haul. He's also stated he wanted to send me a few things for critique, so of course I said sure. He writes comedy and I write horror (which are more closely related than most people think, but that's an item for another post one day).

Anyway, my current project is Blood of the Werewolf, which I'll also post more about in the future. I first started this story back in college, and put it through one rewrite already, but it desperately needs another. I'm currently on chapter 6, and have added several scenes. My Beta reader recently reviewed chapters 3 and 4. I'm saving further revisions until I finish this one though. Perhaps this Blog should also be about me receiving information about writing and the writing process as well as providing it. Does anyone have any feedback about Beta Readers and whether or not you feel I'm doing this correctly?

Next week, I'll be attending Fanta-Sci at the Chesapeake Public Library and Fantasmo that evening, so I'll post about that. As a preview, below is a photo of me at Monster Fest one year.

So I joined a writer's goup

I've always heard about writer's groups where everyone sits around reading each other's work and sing cum by ar. I never really knew if I really wanted to join one of these groups, not because I'm afraid of showing my work to others and gaining criticism. I took creative writing classes in college. I know how this works. Everyone reads and talks about what they think of it. Invariably, everyone mentions what they do and don't like about each story. It's always up to the writer to decide if they wish to follow the advice of the crowd or not. Usually, if you're receiving the same advice from most students, it's probably best to take it. Everything else can be done a-la-carte.

Anyway, that's not what I was afraid of because I had done it before. What I was afraid of is what everyone is afraid of: the unknown. I've heard the horror stories. If it winds up being a group of dopes who all give all the wrong advice, and swear it's gospel, or if there's others who do take offense to all the advice they receive.

Fortunately, this was not the case with the writing group I found. In fact if anything, this group has the potential to be my dream team. The group leader is a fan of science fiction and fantasy, and even kaiju (Godzilla, Mothra, and other giant monsters). Another member is a fellow professor at the Virginia Community College System, so I can receive the academic perspective from him, and finally one more member says she reads a lot of period pieces (which is exactly what I write).

Hopefully, this group sticks around. My only complaint is logistics. It is all the way in Virginia Beach and sometimes they meet in Chesapeake. I live in Suffolk, Virginia, so we're talking about a 30 to 45 minute drive each week. The second week, I was actually thinking about starting my own writing group right here in Suffolk. The Suffolk main library is about 5 minutes from my house. But this group has turned out to be so good so far that it's actually worth the drive. I read a chapter of my current project, and got feedback that I feel was very good.

So I guess my point is, don't be afraid to meet up with people and share your writing. It is a positive experience. Sometimes it's better than sharing it on a message board (which I've also done), because you get real reactions in real time. The most important thing is you have to let others read your work in order to really improve. Good luck out there.

Slinging Poo

Welcome to Classic Camp's Classic Blog! At first I wasn't sure if I should start a blog, but then I decided it seems like every monkey has a blog these days, so what's the difference if one more monkey is out there slinging poo with the rest of them. During the course of this blog I will likely talk about some of my many interests, including old classic horror movies (I'm not talking 1980s slashers here, I'm talking Bela Logosi and Boris Karloff of the 1930s), books and literature or whatever I'm reading, teaching college writing (which is what I do for a living right now), Classic television shows, old time pro wrestling (because I'm weird that way), and writing. Sometimes I may just post a link to an interesting article about some of these interests, but most of the time I will write items myself. Sometimes I'll also write about my collection of action figures. So sit back and enjoy, eat some monsters cereal (pictured above), and I'll do my best to entertain you, and if I make you think in the process, all the better.