Catherine Stine's IDEA CITY

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Tuesday, October 1, 2013

On Stephen King, HORROR & cool creative artists

I've been thinking about the horror genre lately, as I'm polishing my psychological contemporary YA horror novel. Recently I've read a few good posts on the topic, including this one in The Guardian with Stephen King, talking about his new book Doctor Sleep (Sequel to The Shining), and his revelations about his alcoholism and former drinking days. King says that it's still not exactly the second golden age of horror, though some authors think we're headed there.

Here are more posts on horror that I found on Kristen Lamb's informative blog. They're written by horror author, Kevin Lucia, and are quite fun and helpful to anyone writing horror, or a blend thereof.
Why is Horror Important-Part 1
Why is Horror Important-Part 2
Why Writing Horror is-SHOULD BE-Hard, Part 1
Why Writing Horror is--SHOULD BE-Hard, Part 2

TC Steele, oil on canvas
TC Steele, oil on canvas
TC Steele's porch, the set
for some of his paintings
I find that I'm inspired by not only authors who are writing in my genre, but many types of creative thinkers. I just got back from a trip to Indiana, where we visited the TC Steele Museum, and saw his former studio and home. He was a prominent painter of landscape in the late 1800's and he inspired other artists of the time to travel to Nashville, Indiana and set up a thriving artist colony. It is a
TC Steele, studio table

gorgeous setting--up in the forested hills, surrounded by cornfields and other crops. I was struck by his easel setup that still had his oils in cigar boxes, and even had the cigars he smoked while painting!
Gustave Baumann, woodcut
Gustave Baumann, woodcut
Gustave Baumann, one of the artists in the colony, was my favorite. He did detailed woodcuts that are like jewels. He eventually moved to Santa Fe, which, as most people know, became another popular artist colony. Anyone who lives and breathes the creative life, day by day, I find terrifically inspiring, don't you? Who are your most inspiring mentors? Artists? Authors? Musicians?

One final thing, I've gotten some great reviews for Ruby's Fire, and this blog, Eating Kids' Media, is worth checking out. Also, here's my guest post on creating worlds for The Artist Unleashed!

19 comments:

  1. I'm a horror writer and am thrilled you have a horror novel coming. That's awesome! :-)

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  2. My Touch of Death series is considered paranormal/horror. Horror is such a great genre.

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  3. Liz, Lexa and Kelly yay, writing horror is such mischievous fun! I love making the villain do horrific things to my characters.

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  4. Awesome! I will still read Horror occasionally, but I don't write it straight, not since I was 12. Regardless, it always creeps into my work. The creepy factor does amazing things for tension, doesn't it?

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  5. Those are some amazing paintings! I have a great aunt, Cora Boone, who painted the valley around where I grew up and her paintings hung all over my house. I love her work and it always inspires me. (Though maybe not to write horror--that takes a little more fun! :)

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  6. Cool you are branching into horror and found some resources.
    As a writer, I'm inspired by the works of Preston and Child. Their books read like movies. Just perfect.
    Musically - John Petrucci, guitarist for Dream Theater!

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  7. Have you read King's 'Danse Macabre?'

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  8. Alex, such interesting influences. Meradeth, it's great to have artists in the family. I have a few too. Crystal, yes, whether or not you're writing horror, the Creep Factor is a good addition to any story to up the tension. Suze, no, I have yet to rad that one. I'll check it out!

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  9. I love to be scared and King is the master at that. The only one of his books that disappointed me was Cell. Of course, I had to finish it even though it wasn't his best IMHO.

    I'm back from break. Loved visiting your blog again. See you soon.

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  10. Catherine, I love horror. I love reading it, watching it, and I'm attempting to write it. It's a tough genre to master. My teen daughter is one of my toughest critics. She's also a horror junkie, like me. I'm yet to let her read my latest, only because I fear the worst. She'll think it's lame! Yet, I know, before I send it out for critiques, she'll need to be my first reader. Before I'll consider it horror, it'll need to scare the pants off her. Until then, I won't be satisfied.

    I'm inspired by anything and everything creative. I can visit gardens, museums, art galleries, bookstores, concerts, plays, etc. and feel the creative juices flow. I love art of all kinds.

    I'm intrigued to hear you have branched off into horror writing!

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  11. I want to read King's sequel to the Shining because I loved that story. I just ordered Under The Dome and am anxious to get started with it. Look forward to your latest too.

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  12. Oooh, I heard King wrote a sequel to The Shining. OMG, that movie gave me the creeps.

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  13. I need to check out those links, thanks! The thought of a second golden age of horror is fantastic. Good time to be a horror author! I missed out on seeing Stephen King in Boulder this month because the tickets sold out so darned fast.

    Shannon at The Warrior Muse

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  14. Candilynn, for sure our kids are our harshest critics. I was elated when my sons liked Fireseed One. Lee, I haven't heard of King's Cell. Must be living under a rock. Julie, I've just started King's Doctor Sleep and it is SUPER-CREEPTASTIC! Shannon, yes, I considered myself really lucky when I landed those tickets to see King read. He did not disappoint.

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  15. I love those paintings. They're beautiful. That's the one thing I miss out here in the boonies, art galleries. And it's the thing I miss most about NYC.

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  16. I'm reading Doctor Sleep right now and it's quite an interesting story. King's interview is great, as well. I want to venture into writing horror. It's all I wrote as a kid, but not what I've written lately.

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  17. Doctor Sleep is GREAT and the cover typography is brilliant! Kudos to the cover designer.

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  18. Well done! Three of my writing group buddies are horror writers, will have to point them to this blogpost, Also congrats again on Ruby's Fire, the positive reviews are so well deserved.

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