Podcasts about Palahniuk

↪︎(E) "Tripas, de Chuck Palahniuk, contiene temas de índole sexual que pueden no ser adecuados para todos los públicos. No es recomendable para oídos sensibles. Este podcast no se hace responsable de cómo cada oyente recibe o interpreta el contenido. No intente recrear lo relatado." El auditorio de la biblioteca de Las Vegas estaba a reventar. Cientos de jóvenes tatuados y chicas con rayas negras kilométricas en los ojos esperaban al escritor Chuck Palahniuk en aquella noche de invierno de 2004. El autor de El club de la lucha va a leer en público su nuevo relato: Tripas. Dice Chuck Palahniuk que es tan asqueroso, tan sumamente cerdo, tan jodidamente pestilente, que puede provocar dolor físico y hasta dañar la salud. Lo ha leído en varias ciudades de Inglaterra y ya van más de 40 desmayos. Algunos lo han hecho en su mismo asiento; otros corren al baño y ahí se dejan desfallecer, muertos del asco. “La razón por la que la gente lee a Palahniuk es su oscura ironía sobre la modernidad. Sus libros no son tanto novelas como fábulas dentadas, cuentos con moraleja sobre el peligro que representa casi todo”. El autor que debutó con El club de la lucha que acabó convirtiéndose en un bestseller y nos dejó una adaptación cinematográfica difícil de olvidar. 💻https://chuckpalahniuk.substack.com/ 🎙Más de Palahniuk "Casi California y Escorts": https://go.ivoox.com/rf/127442949 🎙'Zombie': https://go.ivoox.com/rf/137231979 ¡Únete a la nave de Historias para ser Leídas y conviértete en uno de nuestros taberneros galácticos por solo 1,99 € al mes! Al hacerlo, tendrás acceso a lecturas exclusivas y ayudarás a que estas historias sigan viajando por el cosmos.🖤Aquí te dejo la página directa para apoyarme: 🍻 https://www.ivoox.com/support/552842 ¡¡Muchas gracias por todos tus comentarios y por tu apoyo!! 📌Más contenido extra en nuestro canal informativo de Telegram: ¡¡Síguenos!! https://t.me/historiasparaserleidas Voz y sonido Olga Paraíso-Tema musical: Snakes and Fire - Par Hagstrom de Epidemic Sound con licencia premium para este podcast. BIO Olga Paraíso: https://instabio.cc/Hleidas Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

In this week's behavior, we discuss how seeking prestige can be dangerous for writers, specifically in the form of MFA degrees and literary agents. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Sword of the Squire, Book #1 in the Dragonskull series (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills), at my Payhip store: SQUIRE50 The coupon code is valid through March 14, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for spring, we've got you covered! 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates   Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 240 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is February the 20th, 2025, and today we are discussing how to escape the trap of prestige that can sometimes catch writers, specifically in the form of MFA degrees and literary agents. Before we get into greater detail with that, we will start with Coupon of the Week and then an update on my current writing projects and then also a Question of the Week before we get to the main topic.   But first, let's start with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Sword of the Squire, Book One of the Dragonskull series (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills), at my Payhip store. And that coupon code is SQUIRE50. The coupon code is valid through March 14th, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook as we head into spring, we have got you covered.   Now let's have an update on current writing projects. I am 94,000 words into Ghost in the Assembly. I had two 10,000 word days this week, which really moved the needle forward. We'll talk about those a little bit more later. I'm on Chapter 18 of 21, I believe, and if all goes well, I should hopefully finish the rough draft before the end of the month because I would like to get editing on that as soon as possible. For my next book, that will be Shield of Battle and I am 8,000 words into that and I'm hoping that'll come out in April. Ghost in the Assembly will be in March, if all goes well.   In audiobook news, recording for Cloak of Dragonfire (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) is finished and also recording on Orc-Hoard, the fourth book of the Half-Elven Thief series (as excellently narrated by Leanne Woodward). Both of those should be coming out sometime in March, if all goes well. So that's where I'm at with my current writing projects.   00:01:45 Question of the Week   And now let's move on to Question of the Week. Question of the Week is intended to inspire interesting discussions of enjoyable topics. This week's question, if you have off work or school because of a snow day or extreme cold or other intense weather, what do you do with the day? No wrong answers. We had a number of responses to this.   Surabhi says: Ha, jokes on you! It never snows where I live. We do sometimes bunk school on rainy days, though. What I mostly do then is catching up on homework or listening to the rain.   Justin says: We're having a snow day here; schools and many businesses are closed. So Lord of the Rings Extended Edition movie marathon! Popcorn popped, hot cocoa and cold soda prepped. I have to admit, that seems like a very good idea.   Mary says: Read, write, watch the snow fall, try to exercise inside.   Michael says: That hasn't happened to me since about 1985, but I seem to recall it was on my birthday and boy was I happy to miss school on my birthday! I think I read fantasy books, drank tea, and played video games.   Juana says: curl up with a book and hot chocolate or tea.   John says: Haven't had a snow day since I was a child, but I did either play in the snow or read a book (at that age, Andre Norton, Lester del Rey, or Ben Bova). I'm relocating later this year back to colder climes, but since I now only work remotely and have for the past six years, sadly my days change very little.   Jenny says: Usually shovel snow, make a pot of warm food, more snow removal, watch movies or shows. Bob says: I'm retired now, so probably not much different than any other day, but when I was working, I'd probably be out shoveling snow so I can get to work whenever the roads were clear. Of course, that necessitated more shoveling when the snowplow dumped its load across the end of my driveway and that's why I moved south, where I rarely see snow.   Yes, if you live in a colder climes and you have a driveway, you know that you'll shovel the driveway and then immediately when you're done, these snowplow will come and block up the end of the driveway.   Finally, Dan says: For myself, I enjoy a free day. However, soon the home duties encroach on this free time.   For myself, the answer is clearly that I write 10,000 words on the first snow day and then again on the second day because I just had two days in a row where it was too cold to leave the house. So what I did was stay home and wrote 20,000 words of Ghost in the Assembly.   00:03:54 Main Topic: Escaping the Trap of Prestige, Part I   Now onto our main topic of the week, Escaping the Trap of Prestige, Part I-as it pertains to MFA (Master of Fine Arts) degrees and agents. I'd like to preface this by saying that I'm not looking to knock anyone who has a MFA or who has a literary agent, especially if it's working out for you and you're happy with it. What I'm trying to do here is warn younger writers who are just starting out about the potential consequences of these things, which can be very severe if you choose wrongly. So that is my goal with this episode, to help writers escape the potentially bad consequences of the prestige trap because newer writers in particular want validation. I mean, we all want validation, but writers especially want validation and new writers are very vulnerable to wanting validation to the point where it's been well known for years that there's a large scam industry of various things that take advantage of newer writers looking for validation such as vanity publishers, scammy agents, and a wide variety of other online publishing scams. This isn't to say that MFAs and literary agents are scams, though some literary agents have committed serious crimes (as we'll discuss later), but again, to warn against the danger of wanting prestige too badly and the bad decisions that can lead you to make. And some of this comes from the idea of success in life, especially in the United States and large parts of the Western world, is hitting certain milestones in a specific order. Like you graduate from college, you get a good job, you get married, you buy a house, you have your first kid, and if you don't do these things in the right order, there's something wrong with you and you have made mistakes in life, which isn't necessarily true, but is something that people can fall fall prey to and use to make destructive decisions. In the writing world, some of those measures of success have until fairly recently been getting a Master of Fine Arts degree, finding an agent, getting traditionally published, and hitting the New York Times list. As of this recording, I have sold well over 2 million books without following that normal route to writing success. In fact, I think it's closer to 2.25 million now, and I mention that not to toot my own horn, but to say that there are routes outside of the potentially dangerous prestige paths I'm talking about. And despite that, many aspiring writers feel they must follow that specific route to writer success, otherwise they aren't real writers. They've got to get the MFA, the agent, traditionally published, and then the New York Times list. The quest for prestige can keep writers from succeeding in two ways that are more significant, getting their work in front of readers who want to read it and deriving income from writing. So today in the first part of this two part episode series, we're going to talk about two of those writing markers of prestige, MFAs and literary agents. Why are they no longer as important? What should you devote your energy and focus to instead?   So number one, the Master of Fine Arts trap. The Master of Fine Arts in writing has often been seen as a marker of writing ability, especially in the world of literary fiction. And I think the big problem, one of the big problems with MFA, first of all is cost. Getting a Master of Fine Arts degree is expensive, especially if you are not fortunate enough to receive scholarships or assistantships and so have to rely on student loans. The average cost of an MFA program is in the mid five figures when all is said and done, not even counting living expenses and textbooks and so forth. If you have to take out student loans to pay for that, that is a considerable loan burden, especially if you already have loans from your undergraduate degree.   Even the people who get their MFA paid for (usually in exchange for teaching introductory writing classes to first year university students), the opportunity cost of taking two to three years to get this degree means you're sacrificing other things in your personal and professional life in order to get this MFA. It's a huge outlay of time and energy, especially if you're moving across the country for a residential program. And what are you getting in exchange for this massive outlay of time, money, and effort?   You probably aren't going to learn the practical non-writing skills that you need in the modern writing world like marketing, data collection and analysis, and publication strategies (all of which I do on a fairly regular basis in addition to writing). All of these skills are important for writers now, even if they are traditionally published. The problem with many MFA programs is that they rarely, if ever teach these skills. It seems that what MFAs train their students to do is to become adjunct faculty professors with semester to semester contracts, which can pay around $2,000 to $4,000 USD per writing or literature course at most small to mid-size colleges and universities in the United States. Being an adjunct professor does not confer any benefits like health insurance or retirement funds.   I was talking about this episode with my podcast transcriptionist and she mentioned once she was at a faculty meeting where an adjunct professor in English with an MFA did the math and realized based on her hourly wage (based on all the actual hours she put into a semester), if she worked at the local gas station chain, she would be making $7 per hour more at the local gas chain and she would be only working 40 hours a week. That can be a very dismaying realization, especially after all the work you have put into getting an MFA and teaching. Many defenders of the MFA degree will say that the real value of the degree is learning how to take criticism and learning to edit. But if you're writing in a genre outside of literary fiction, poetry, and memoirs, you are not likely to find a lot of useful advice. To return to my transcriptionist's tales from her time inside academia, she once told me of meeting a faculty member who confessed that he never read a fantasy book and had no idea how to critique or help these students, and he was a writing professor. He meant well, but he's not even remotely an outlier in terms of MFA instructors and their familiarity with mysteries, romance, and science fiction works and fantasy, which is what most genre fiction is nowadays. Also, the quality of advice and help you receive varies wildly based on the quality of your cohort and instructors and their willingness to help others. It's a steep investment with very, very uncertain returns.   So in short, an MFA takes a huge outlay of time and money with very few tangible benefits, especially with genre writers. In all frankness I would say an MFA is the kind of degree you should not go into debt to get and you should only get if you can have it paid for through scholarships or assistantships or so forth. So what should you do, in my opinion, other than an MFA degree? I think you should write as much as possible. You get better by practicing. You should read extensively. You will learn about writing by reading extensively, ideally in more than one genre. If you read enough and write enough, eventually you get to the moment where you read something and think, hey, I could do a better job than this. This is a major boost in confidence for any writer.   It might be a good idea to join a local or online writing group if you'd like critique from other writers. A warning that writing groups can vary wildly in quality and some of them have a bad case of crab bucket syndrome, so you may have to try more than one group to find one that works for you.   Another thing to do would be to listen to advice from successful writers. I saw a brief video from an author who recently pointed out that many people online giving writing advice aren't current or successful writers. One of the downsides of the Internet is that anyone can brand themselves an expert, whip together a course, and sell it online for a ridiculous fee. And people like this, their successes in creating methods or courses that turn writing into something more complicated to make aspiring writers reliant upon that process. Aspiring writers may end up spinning their wheels following all of these steps instead of getting to the actual work of churning out drafts. They may be spending money they can't afford in order to learn ineffective or even damaging strategies.   Many successful writers offer sensible advice for free, such as Brandon Sanderson posting his writing lectures for free on his YouTube channel. If you're looking for writing advice, you could do a lot worse than watching those lectures. And if you're going to take advice from anyone you read on the internet, it's probably better to take advice from successful writers who have demonstrated that they know what they are doing.   And finally, this may be more general advice, but it's a good idea to be open to learning and observing new experiences. It's probably a good idea to go to museums and cultural events, read about the latest developments in science and history, go on a hike in a new place, and observe the world around you. New writers often ask where writers get their ideas come from, and they very often come from just serendipitous things you can observe in the world around you. And that is also a good way to get out of your own head. If you're worried too much about writing, it's probably time to go for a long walk.   So why are agents potentially dangerous to writers? For a long time (for a couple decades, in fact), from I'd say from maybe the ‘80s and the ‘90s to the rise of the Kindle in the 2010s, the only realistic way to get published for most writers in terms of fiction was to get a literary agent. Publishers did not take unsolicited submissions (most of them did not), and you had to go through an agent to send your manuscript to a publisher. The agents were very selective for a variety of reasons. Because of that, a lot of newer writers still idealize the process of getting agents. You'll see this on Twitter and other social media platforms where new writers will talk constantly about getting agents and what they have to do. And the ones who do get a request from an agent to send in the full manuscript after sending a few query chapters are just besides themselves with joy. And those who do get agents can sometimes sound like they're showing off their new boyfriend or girlfriend, like my agent says they like my book, or my agent says this or that. And as you can probably imagine from my description, this is an arrangement that has a lot of potential danger for the writer.   The traditional first step in this time period I was mentioning after finishing a book has been to get as prestigious of an agent as possible to contact publishers and negotiate deals on their behalf. The agent takes 10 to 20% of what a publisher pays a writer, but in theory can get a writer a better deal and are acting in their best business interests. And as I mentioned before, most significantly, most publishers are not willing to read submissions that are not submitted by an agent. If getting traditionally published is the goal, an agent is the crucial first step. I mean, that's the ideal that we've been talking about. In reality, traditional publishing is as cautious and risk averse as it has ever been. Agents have followed suit. It takes industry connections and/or a significant social media presence to even get an agent to look at your book.   Writing query letters and trying to get an agent also takes away from writing and is a completely separate skillset, as is the networking and social media work that is part of this process. Some people have spent months or even years working on query letters and getting an agent when they could have finished another book or more in the same time. Alright, so that is the practical and logistical reasons it's a bad idea for a writer to seek out an agent, and I frankly think you'd be better off. And now we get to the potentially criminal ones.   The thing about literary agents is there's no licensing or requirement or anything of that nature. You can set up a website and call yourself a literary agent. If you consider something like a lawyer, by contrast, I'm sure those of you who are lawyers in the United States will have many complaints and stories about your state bar, which is in charge of licensing lawyers. But the point is that the state bar exists, and if a lawyer is behaving in an unethical or unscrupulous matter, that can be brought as complaint to the state bar. Nothing like that exists for literary agents at all. And because of that, scammy agents are everywhere. Some try to get writers to pay a fee upfront or other made up fees, or they get cuts from scammy book publishers or book packaging services. Or in general, they just try to squeeze every penny possible from aspiring writers. And this is often sadly very easy to do because as we've mentioned, many newer writers still think getting an agent is a major mark of prestige and humans crave prestige. And even if you get a prestigious and seemingly legitimate agent, that can potentially lead to life ruining problems because many of the legitimate agents are very sticky fingered.   Several years ago, the firm of Donadio and Olson, which represented Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk, Godfather author Mario Puzo, and Catch 22 author Joseph Heller found out that one of their accountants had been stealing millions from their authors for many years. Although the accountant was sentenced to two years of prison, it's unlikely those authors will receive the money back fully. As Palahniuk put it in a blog post, “the legal process will be long and offers an iffy reward.” Mr. Palahniuk also lost out on money from touring to promote his books because of this crisis and said he was unable to support himself financially as a result of these stolen royalties.   By not filtering your royalties and earning statements through a literary agency that can falsify reports about these documents (as the accountant in question did), you have a full sense of what you are earning and what amounts you should be receiving. Amazon is open to many criticisms because of its decisions, but they pay monthly and they send a very detailed spreadsheet monthly to any Kindle authors of what books sold and what they expect to earn. It's sometimes almost too much data to process. The traditional publishing world would never even consider showing that to writers and agents often keep that from their writers. Palahniuk trusted his agency and accepted the explanations that rampant piracy and financial difficulties in the publishing world were keeping over a million dollars in royalties from him. He even later found out that this accountant was keeping non-financial correspondence from him. Returning to the topic of Brandon Sanderson, I recently saw an interview between him and a podcaster Tim Ferris. He made the interesting point that the power centers in publishing have shifted from traditional publishing agents to the platform holders and the writers, the platform holders being people like Amazon, Apple, and Google who have the platforms that sell the books and the writers who bring the books to those platforms. The power is shifted away from agents and publishers to the platforms and writers. And because of that, in my frank opinion, literary agents are obsolete for those wishing to publish independently.   And my frank opinion is also that you should be independently publishing and not trying to get an agent or go with a traditional publisher. There's no reason to give someone 15% when you can upload the files to a service like KDP yourself. An agent will not be able to get you a better royalty from KDP. Amazon does not negotiate royalty rates at the agent level, and you have to be a writer on the scale of J.K. Rowling or maybe Dean Koontz to get any kind of special deal from Amazon.   So what should you do instead of seeking out an agent? Publish independently or self-publish. Be wary of excuses and explanations that prey upon emotional responses or a sense of loyalty to individuals, such as the case of Chuck Palahniuk, where they preyed on his fears of piracy and the instability of the publishing industry, as well as sympathy for someone who claimed to be taking care of a family member with a terminal disease. That was one of the excuses they used for why the records weren't right. Ask for facts and verify everything regularly. Publishers and agents are not your friends and not your family, and do not accept that approach in your business relationship with them. Learn how to read and interpret any financial statements you receive. Don't trust a third party to do this for you, or if you must do that, make sure they're being audited regularly by a third party, not from just someone else at their firm.   So the conclusion is that in my opinion, the prestige of getting an MFA and an agent are currently not worth the trade-off and there are considerable risks that you take if your main goals are to build a following and sell books. Prestige is not going to put food on the table. And in fact, if you have five figures of student loan debt from an MFA, it may be keeping you from putting food on the table. So if you want to be a writer, I think both seeking out an MFA and seeking out an agent would be a waste of your time and possibly counterproductive.   Next week in Part Two, we'll discuss two more prestige traps in writing: getting traditionally published and hitting the New York Times Bestseller List.   That is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the backup episodes on https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.

It's time for the Comic Talk Headlines with Generally Nerdy! Ozzy Osbourne's Final Show adds more actsMarvel Rivals controversyNew Halo bookDumbledore cast for new MAX seriesClayface hits the Movie and Rumor sections both pretty hardAnd so much more...Plus, don't forget to subscribe for more fresh content.  Music Follow-ups/CorrectionsNeil Gaiman- Newest accusations have drawn now Ex-Wife Amanda Palmer (Dresden Dolls) into the fray. https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/neil-gaiman-wisconsin-rape-suit.pdf Primus- New drummer John Hoffman announced. Just some dude from Shreveport LA… sweetThe Sword- 2 new shows added to their “Return” April 10 in Dallas TX. April 11 in San Antonio TX. New Music/VideoRise Against- Nod https://youtu.be/7WkrZi19q4UNew mix sound for the band. Lyrical'ly seems to meander, and at times it feels like is wanders into territory already covered in “Savior.”Underoath- New album announced. “The Place After This One” due out March 28th through MNRK Heavy.Allegaeon- Driftwood https://youtu.be/SrUZdqy7spAas much as I don't WANT to like these guys, they are just really damn good. This might not be as good as their last single, but still better than a lot of newer bands.ALSO ~ new album, The Ossuary Lens, due out April 4th on Metal Blade. Not a concept album per se, but all about different views on death.Peter Murphy- Swoon Feat Trent Reznor https://youtu.be/ZPOgRAQdbtQGoth royalty being great. Not much more to say.Callous Daoboys- Two-Headed Trout/The Demon of Unreality Limping Like a Dog https://youtu.be/wL5UpOrHTBYThe Daoboys getting a little more theatrical with not just their presentation, but also their writing and arrangements.ALSO~ New record, I Don't Want To See You In Heaven, due out May 19.Tetrarch- Never Again (Parasite) https://youtu.be/yLFNdIRwng4Modern Nu-Metal… still just feels rather middle of the road. Tours/FestivalsAttack Attack!- Roadside Rumble Tour. Support from Convictions, Downswing, and Uncured.Starts May 15 in Greensboro, NC through May 22 in Memphis TN.https://www.bandsintown.com/a/186318 Dropkick Murphys X Bad Religion- Summer of Discontent Tour. The Mainliners opening. Will run from July 22 in Spokane, WA through August 17 in Big Flats NY. Tickets go on sale the 20th 10 a.m. local time at www.dropkickmurphys.com  and www.badreligion.com.Black Sabbath- Ozzy's final live performance. July 5th in Birmingham UK. Metallica, GnR, Tool, Slayer, Pantera, Gojira, Alice in Chains, Halestorm, Lamb of God, Anthrax, Mastodon, Rival Sons. Plus a slew of vocalists and musicians will be lending their talents to the show as well.Summer of ‘99 & Beyond- Creed and Nickelback to headline. Friday July 18 and Saturday July 19 in East Troy WI. Tickets on sale Feb 21.https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0700624A2E3B4183 Russian Circles X Pelican- Touring together starting March 3 at Delmar in St. Louis, MO and wraps up on March 22 at the Fine Line in Minneapolis, MN.ALSO ~ Pelican are releasing their first album in 6 years. Flickering Resonance, due out May 16.https://www.stubhub.com/russian-circles-tickets/performer/493440 Converge- have announced a handful of tour dates around the festivals they have already been announced on.https://jacobbannon.com/blogs/news/converge-announce-u-s-tour-dates-in-may-2025  Reg ‘ol NewsThe Melvins X Napalm Death- Not only are they touring together come April, but they have just announced a collaboration album titled Savage Imperial Death March, out this Sunday on vinyl. Other media at a later date.https://www.shoxop.com/  SuggestsSpiritbox- No Loss, No Love https://youtu.be/YfKlcLKDkz0?si=q9PUxksVuCsyKLZ8  Gaming/Tech Follow-ups/CorrectionsHelldivers 2 - New update that dropped last week added a new Terminid Strain to tussle with on Fenrir III. “The Predator Hunter is a specialized, evolved strain forged by the Terminids' extended exposure to The Gloom, enhancing their hunting abilities and turning them into even deadlier ambush predators. The Predator Hunter is a specialized, evolved strain forged by the Terminids' extended exposure to The Gloom, enhancing their hunting abilities and turning them into even deadlier ambush predators.”Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves- Adding Chun-Li and Ken later this year.https://youtu.be/h2JEb_ItQYY Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising- Season pass 2 announced.https://youtu.be/kamlq7O3t7Q?si=TuSFpYA12gi-vY9i Fortnite- Next season is called Lawless, and will feature Mortal Kombat characters Sub-Zero and Scorpion. Scorpion will be available for purchase in the store, and Sub-Zero is set to be a standard character in the battle pass. Meaning Sub-Zero will have up to 4 skins. Which has the community speculating as to what those skins will be.https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/fortnite-sub-zero-scorpion-mortal-kombat-skins/  Reg ‘ol NewsMarvel Rivals- The development team has all been laid off from NetEase Games.https://www.resetera.com/threads/marvel-rivals-director-shares-that-he-and-his-team-were-just-laid-off.1112481/ But that isn't stopping the game from moving forward. Human Torch and Thing gameplay was ALSO just released today. That and a new map will be coming Feb 21. Along with a reworking of how in game currency works. Once you have purchased the seasonal Battle Pass, and then accomplished all the goals, you can then use your Chrono Points for in game gold. The conversion ratio has yet to be revealed.https://thedirect.com/article/marvel-rivals-season-1-part-2-patch-notes-human-torch-thing-characters  SuggestsMarvel Rivals Comic Books/Books Reg ‘ol NewsSpider-Man- Marvel Comics has sparked controversy by teasing the possible resurrection of Gwen Stacy, a character whose death in The Night Gwen Stacy Died (1973) remains one of Spider-Man's most defining moments. A newly released teaser image shows a shadowy figure standing over her grave with the tagline "NOTHING IS SACRED," leading to backlash from fans who argue that bringing her back would cheapen the emotional impact of her original demise. While Marvel has yet to confirm details, they have promised more information in the coming week, leaving readers divided over what this could mean for Spider-Man's story.Donny Cates- The creator of Knull is finally returning to the fray after 3 years of turmoil and trouble.“Just wanted to check in with all of you and let you know that your boy is back on the dance floor,” Cates shared on Instagram. “Expect announcements this summer. And then another one after that. What do you think? Anyone want to guess? If you get it right I'll buy your first issue.”  Well, “finally” might be a bit strong. Hulk as a spaceship was a little out there. But at least he is an original voice.https://comicbook.com/comics/news/donny-cates-comic-book-writer-return/ TMNT X Naruto- The "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Naruto" crossover comic series is set to conclude with its fourth issue later this fall. This collaboration between IDW Publishing and Viz Media brings together the Ninja Turtles and Naruto's Team 7 in a shared universe where New York City and the Hidden Leaf Village coexist. The storyline begins with April O'Neil's clandestine meeting with Tsunade, attracting attention from both Naruto's team and the Foot Clan, who believe April possesses valuable information on Baxter Stockman's mutation research. As the series progresses, tensions escalate, leading to an anticipated showdown between Naruto and the Turtles' arch-nemesis, Shredder. Cover artist Jorge Jiménez has unveiled a preview of the final issue's cover, depicting Naruto launching a Rasengan at Shredder, hinting at the climactic battle to come. Written by Caleb Goellner and illustrated by Hendry Prasetya, this fallhttps://comicbook.com/anime/news/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-naruto-crossover-shredder/ Halo: Empty Throne- 2559. It has been a year since the rogue artificial intelligence Cortana seized control of the Domain, an otherworldly dimension housing a vast information network. With an array of Forerunner weapons at her disposal, Cortana set out to enforce an authoritarian peace on the civilizations of the galaxy. But as the United Nations Space Command flagship Infinity prepares to strike against Cortana at Zeta Halo, another plan has also been set in motion.Out now.https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Halo-Empty-Throne/Jeremy-Patenaude/Halo/9781668052129  SuggestsInvisible Monstersis a novel by American writer Chuck Palahniuk, published in 1999. It is his third novel to be published, though it was his second written novel (after Insomnia: If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home Already). The novel was originally supposed to be Palahniuk's first novel to be published, but it was rejected by the publisher for being too disturbing. After the success of his novel Fight Club, Invisible Monsters was given a second chance, and a revised version of it was published. TV Shows Follow-ups/CorrectionsHalo- dropped by Paramount+ but picked up by Netflix… at least in other markets. Does this mean it's saved? No just means that Paramount is trying to make money on that stinker. March 1 https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/after-being-dropped-the-lesser-received-xbox-game-turned-tv-show-has-been-picked-up-by-netflix-coming-march-1 Harry Potter- John Lithgow cast as New Dumbledore.https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/harry-potter-dumbledore-john-lithgow-tv-show-cast-concern/ Rings of Power- Season 3 confirmed… but why?? TrailersTwisted Metal S02- https://youtu.be/ptLE35Du2Dc?si=olB6RAZa3Ns-0ptJNo exact date beyond “Summer 2025.” Reg ‘ol NewsRobin Hood- MGM+ announced a new 10 episode series for the franchise. With Sean Bean cast already as the Sheriff Of Nottingham, and Jack Patten as Robin Hood. No official release date but it is expected later this year.https://cosmicbook.news/sean-bean-robin-hood-mgm-plus-series DnD- New series headed to Netflix.Titled Forgotten Realmshttps://deadline.com/2025/02/dungeons-dragons-series-the-forgotten-realms-netflix-shawn-levy-1236288182/  SuggestsTwisted Metal S01 - It may not be perfect, but it was fun. Catch up before season 2 hits and things get crazier.Movies Follow-ups/CorrectionsRed Sonja- The Matilda Lutz starring movie is FINALLY set for a release this year. No specific date just yet.https://deadline.com/2025/02/red-sonja-reboot-release-later-this-year-uk-deal-1236292579 Dune 3- Set for principle photography later this year. https://comicbook.com/movies/news/dune-3-filming-start-summer-2025-zendaya-schedule-issues-dune-messiah/  TrailersThe Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie- https://youtu.be/BtHUWHXfDyUnew Looney Tunes that ISN'T Coyote VS ACME… still looks pretty fun. March 14. And apparently the success of this movie is directly connected to the likelihood of Coyote being released. Reg ‘ol NewsMagic: the Gathering- Legendary Entertainment and Hasbro Entertainment have joined to bring Magic:The Gathering into Live Action. Said to be TV AND Film adaptations in the pipeline. The first project is set to be a movie, but there are series lined up beyond that, assuming everything goes well.Clayface- The movie will follow “a B-movie actor who injects himself with a substance to keep himself relevant only to find out that he can reshape his face and form, becoming a walking piece of clay” The synopsis given by THR has been drawing comparisons to The Substance… oh brother.https://view.email.hollywoodreporter.com/?qs=7497a3ea37771efbc71905bcd94459cefaa96f0dd32abb7bb9b912c1ef7003b23f18daee7af93b7341836964f343221fda027da4b45a3eeaac5e3ad5a210edfd7b0e7e94327a8aa5 SuggestsStar Wars: The Ghost's Apprentice- AI Fanmade movie. That isn't all that good, outside of the incredible showcase of where AI is right now.https://youtu.be/KWlxMC0j498  Rumor Mill Confirmations/RefutationsHe-Man- According to leaked set images, the movie WILL be set (at least in part) on Earth. Oh Boy… Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man. New RumorsX-Men Casting- Margaret Qualley as RogueHunter Schafer as MystiqueElliot Page in an undisclosed roleSadie Sink as Jean Grey Clayface- Now rumored to be ditching the Monster-esque version that is most popular in the comics. Perhaps implying the Basil Karlo version originally created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane?~ALSO~ Rumors of Kick Ass 2's Jeff Waldow and Speak No Evil's James Watkins both being eyed to direct.Still on track for release Sept 11 of 2026.Henry Cavill- Now he is being rumored for Nova over at Marvel… I really think that with his Warhammer 40k stuff he will be FAR too busy to do anything with Marvel.Robert Pattinson- Marvel now rumored to be possibly casting the Twilight actor for a future project…Dune 4- Garreth Edwards (Rogue One) is rumored to be heading up the short list to direct. SPECULATIONThe MCU is about to get NUTS. With Captain America: Brave new world doing better than anticipated, the hype train is gearing up already. BUT SOON we will be getting recasts.  Hot take – NOT rebooting the MCU for the recasts.You can support this show by visiting our merch store, or by leaving us an Apple Podcasts review.

It's time for the Comic Talk Headlines with Generally Nerdy! Ozzy Osbourne's Final Show adds more actsMarvel Rivals controversyNew Halo bookDumbledore cast for new MAX seriesClayface hits the Movie and Rumor sections both pretty hardAnd so much more...Plus, don't forget to subscribe for more fresh content.  Music Follow-ups/CorrectionsNeil Gaiman- Newest accusations have drawn now Ex-Wife Amanda Palmer (Dresden Dolls) into the fray. https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/neil-gaiman-wisconsin-rape-suit.pdf Primus- New drummer John Hoffman announced. Just some dude from Shreveport LA… sweetThe Sword- 2 new shows added to their “Return” April 10 in Dallas TX. April 11 in San Antonio TX. New Music/VideoRise Against- Nod https://youtu.be/7WkrZi19q4UNew mix sound for the band. Lyrical'ly seems to meander, and at times it feels like is wanders into territory already covered in “Savior.”Underoath- New album announced. “The Place After This One” due out March 28th through MNRK Heavy.Allegaeon- Driftwood https://youtu.be/SrUZdqy7spAas much as I don't WANT to like these guys, they are just really damn good. This might not be as good as their last single, but still better than a lot of newer bands.ALSO ~ new album, The Ossuary Lens, due out April 4th on Metal Blade. Not a concept album per se, but all about different views on death.Peter Murphy- Swoon Feat Trent Reznor https://youtu.be/ZPOgRAQdbtQGoth royalty being great. Not much more to say.Callous Daoboys- Two-Headed Trout/The Demon of Unreality Limping Like a Dog https://youtu.be/wL5UpOrHTBYThe Daoboys getting a little more theatrical with not just their presentation, but also their writing and arrangements.ALSO~ New record, I Don't Want To See You In Heaven, due out May 19.Tetrarch- Never Again (Parasite) https://youtu.be/yLFNdIRwng4Modern Nu-Metal… still just feels rather middle of the road. Tours/FestivalsAttack Attack!- Roadside Rumble Tour. Support from Convictions, Downswing, and Uncured.Starts May 15 in Greensboro, NC through May 22 in Memphis TN.https://www.bandsintown.com/a/186318 Dropkick Murphys X Bad Religion- Summer of Discontent Tour. The Mainliners opening. Will run from July 22 in Spokane, WA through August 17 in Big Flats NY. Tickets go on sale the 20th 10 a.m. local time at www.dropkickmurphys.com  and www.badreligion.com.Black Sabbath- Ozzy's final live performance. July 5th in Birmingham UK. Metallica, GnR, Tool, Slayer, Pantera, Gojira, Alice in Chains, Halestorm, Lamb of God, Anthrax, Mastodon, Rival Sons. Plus a slew of vocalists and musicians will be lending their talents to the show as well.Summer of ‘99 & Beyond- Creed and Nickelback to headline. Friday July 18 and Saturday July 19 in East Troy WI. Tickets on sale Feb 21.https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0700624A2E3B4183 Russian Circles X Pelican- Touring together starting March 3 at Delmar in St. Louis, MO and wraps up on March 22 at the Fine Line in Minneapolis, MN.ALSO ~ Pelican are releasing their first album in 6 years. Flickering Resonance, due out May 16.https://www.stubhub.com/russian-circles-tickets/performer/493440 Converge- have announced a handful of tour dates around the festivals they have already been announced on.https://jacobbannon.com/blogs/news/converge-announce-u-s-tour-dates-in-may-2025  Reg ‘ol NewsThe Melvins X Napalm Death- Not only are they touring together come April, but they have just announced a collaboration album titled Savage Imperial Death March, out this Sunday on vinyl. Other media at a later date.https://www.shoxop.com/  SuggestsSpiritbox- No Loss, No Love https://youtu.be/YfKlcLKDkz0?si=q9PUxksVuCsyKLZ8  Gaming/Tech Follow-ups/CorrectionsHelldivers 2 - New update that dropped last week added a new Terminid Strain to tussle with on Fenrir III. “The Predator Hunter is a specialized, evolved strain forged by the Terminids' extended exposure to The Gloom, enhancing their hunting abilities and turning them into even deadlier ambush predators. The Predator Hunter is a specialized, evolved strain forged by the Terminids' extended exposure to The Gloom, enhancing their hunting abilities and turning them into even deadlier ambush predators.”Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves- Adding Chun-Li and Ken later this year.https://youtu.be/h2JEb_ItQYY Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising- Season pass 2 announced.https://youtu.be/kamlq7O3t7Q?si=TuSFpYA12gi-vY9i Fortnite- Next season is called Lawless, and will feature Mortal Kombat characters Sub-Zero and Scorpion. Scorpion will be available for purchase in the store, and Sub-Zero is set to be a standard character in the battle pass. Meaning Sub-Zero will have up to 4 skins. Which has the community speculating as to what those skins will be.https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/fortnite-sub-zero-scorpion-mortal-kombat-skins/  Reg ‘ol NewsMarvel Rivals- The development team has all been laid off from NetEase Games.https://www.resetera.com/threads/marvel-rivals-director-shares-that-he-and-his-team-were-just-laid-off.1112481/ But that isn't stopping the game from moving forward. Human Torch and Thing gameplay was ALSO just released today. That and a new map will be coming Feb 21. Along with a reworking of how in game currency works. Once you have purchased the seasonal Battle Pass, and then accomplished all the goals, you can then use your Chrono Points for in game gold. The conversion ratio has yet to be revealed.https://thedirect.com/article/marvel-rivals-season-1-part-2-patch-notes-human-torch-thing-characters  SuggestsMarvel Rivals Comic Books/Books Reg ‘ol NewsSpider-Man- Marvel Comics has sparked controversy by teasing the possible resurrection of Gwen Stacy, a character whose death in The Night Gwen Stacy Died (1973) remains one of Spider-Man's most defining moments. A newly released teaser image shows a shadowy figure standing over her grave with the tagline "NOTHING IS SACRED," leading to backlash from fans who argue that bringing her back would cheapen the emotional impact of her original demise. While Marvel has yet to confirm details, they have promised more information in the coming week, leaving readers divided over what this could mean for Spider-Man's story.Donny Cates- The creator of Knull is finally returning to the fray after 3 years of turmoil and trouble.“Just wanted to check in with all of you and let you know that your boy is back on the dance floor,” Cates shared on Instagram. “Expect announcements this summer. And then another one after that. What do you think? Anyone want to guess? If you get it right I'll buy your first issue.”  Well, “finally” might be a bit strong. Hulk as a spaceship was a little out there. But at least he is an original voice.https://comicbook.com/comics/news/donny-cates-comic-book-writer-return/ TMNT X Naruto- The "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Naruto" crossover comic series is set to conclude with its fourth issue later this fall. This collaboration between IDW Publishing and Viz Media brings together the Ninja Turtles and Naruto's Team 7 in a shared universe where New York City and the Hidden Leaf Village coexist. The storyline begins with April O'Neil's clandestine meeting with Tsunade, attracting attention from both Naruto's team and the Foot Clan, who believe April possesses valuable information on Baxter Stockman's mutation research. As the series progresses, tensions escalate, leading to an anticipated showdown between Naruto and the Turtles' arch-nemesis, Shredder. Cover artist Jorge Jiménez has unveiled a preview of the final issue's cover, depicting Naruto launching a Rasengan at Shredder, hinting at the climactic battle to come. Written by Caleb Goellner and illustrated by Hendry Prasetya, this fallhttps://comicbook.com/anime/news/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-naruto-crossover-shredder/ Halo: Empty Throne- 2559. It has been a year since the rogue artificial intelligence Cortana seized control of the Domain, an otherworldly dimension housing a vast information network. With an array of Forerunner weapons at her disposal, Cortana set out to enforce an authoritarian peace on the civilizations of the galaxy. But as the United Nations Space Command flagship Infinity prepares to strike against Cortana at Zeta Halo, another plan has also been set in motion.Out now.https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Halo-Empty-Throne/Jeremy-Patenaude/Halo/9781668052129  SuggestsInvisible Monstersis a novel by American writer Chuck Palahniuk, published in 1999. It is his third novel to be published, though it was his second written novel (after Insomnia: If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home Already). The novel was originally supposed to be Palahniuk's first novel to be published, but it was rejected by the publisher for being too disturbing. After the success of his novel Fight Club, Invisible Monsters was given a second chance, and a revised version of it was published. TV Shows Follow-ups/CorrectionsHalo- dropped by Paramount+ but picked up by Netflix… at least in other markets. Does this mean it's saved? No just means that Paramount is trying to make money on that stinker. March 1 https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/after-being-dropped-the-lesser-received-xbox-game-turned-tv-show-has-been-picked-up-by-netflix-coming-march-1 Harry Potter- John Lithgow cast as New Dumbledore.https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/harry-potter-dumbledore-john-lithgow-tv-show-cast-concern/ Rings of Power- Season 3 confirmed… but why?? TrailersTwisted Metal S02- https://youtu.be/ptLE35Du2Dc?si=olB6RAZa3Ns-0ptJNo exact date beyond “Summer 2025.” Reg ‘ol NewsRobin Hood- MGM+ announced a new 10 episode series for the franchise. With Sean Bean cast already as the Sheriff Of Nottingham, and Jack Patten as Robin Hood. No official release date but it is expected later this year.https://cosmicbook.news/sean-bean-robin-hood-mgm-plus-series DnD- New series headed to Netflix.Titled Forgotten Realmshttps://deadline.com/2025/02/dungeons-dragons-series-the-forgotten-realms-netflix-shawn-levy-1236288182/  SuggestsTwisted Metal S01 - It may not be perfect, but it was fun. Catch up before season 2 hits and things get crazier.Movies Follow-ups/CorrectionsRed Sonja- The Matilda Lutz starring movie is FINALLY set for a release this year. No specific date just yet.https://deadline.com/2025/02/red-sonja-reboot-release-later-this-year-uk-deal-1236292579 Dune 3- Set for principle photography later this year. https://comicbook.com/movies/news/dune-3-filming-start-summer-2025-zendaya-schedule-issues-dune-messiah/  TrailersThe Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie- https://youtu.be/BtHUWHXfDyUnew Looney Tunes that ISN'T Coyote VS ACME… still looks pretty fun. March 14. And apparently the success of this movie is directly connected to the likelihood of Coyote being released. Reg ‘ol NewsMagic: the Gathering- Legendary Entertainment and Hasbro Entertainment have joined to bring Magic:The Gathering into Live Action. Said to be TV AND Film adaptations in the pipeline. The first project is set to be a movie, but there are series lined up beyond that, assuming everything goes well.Clayface- The movie will follow “a B-movie actor who injects himself with a substance to keep himself relevant only to find out that he can reshape his face and form, becoming a walking piece of clay” The synopsis given by THR has been drawing comparisons to The Substance… oh brother.https://view.email.hollywoodreporter.com/?qs=7497a3ea37771efbc71905bcd94459cefaa96f0dd32abb7bb9b912c1ef7003b23f18daee7af93b7341836964f343221fda027da4b45a3eeaac5e3ad5a210edfd7b0e7e94327a8aa5 SuggestsStar Wars: The Ghost's Apprentice- AI Fanmade movie. That isn't all that good, outside of the incredible showcase of where AI is right now.https://youtu.be/KWlxMC0j498  Rumor Mill Confirmations/RefutationsHe-Man- According to leaked set images, the movie WILL be set (at least in part) on Earth. Oh Boy… Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man. New RumorsX-Men Casting- Margaret Qualley as RogueHunter Schafer as MystiqueElliot Page in an undisclosed roleSadie Sink as Jean Grey Clayface- Now rumored to be ditching the Monster-esque version that is most popular in the comics. Perhaps implying the Basil Karlo version originally created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane?~ALSO~ Rumors of Kick Ass 2's Jeff Waldow and Speak No Evil's James Watkins both being eyed to direct.Still on track for release Sept 11 of 2026.Henry Cavill- Now he is being rumored for Nova over at Marvel… I really think that with his Warhammer 40k stuff he will be FAR too busy to do anything with Marvel.Robert Pattinson- Marvel now rumored to be possibly casting the Twilight actor for a future project…Dune 4- Garreth Edwards (Rogue One) is rumored to be heading up the short list to direct. SPECULATIONThe MCU is about to get NUTS. With Captain America: Brave new world doing better than anticipated, the hype train is gearing up already. BUT SOON we will be getting recasts.  Hot take – NOT rebooting the MCU for the recasts.You can support this show by visiting our merch store, or by leaving us an Apple Podcasts review.

Atención: lo que estás a punto de escuchar no es apto para oídos sensibles ni para quienes buscan comodidad. Este contenido puede ser perturbador, inquietante y profundamente incómodo. Aquí no hay suavidad ni palabras que te acaricien; lo que viene es crudo, directo, y puede sacudirte en formas que no esperas. Si decides continuar, hazlo sabiendo que estás abriendo una puerta que no podrás cerrar fácilmente. Así que, si estás aquí, asegúrate de estar preparad@. Esto no es solo una historia. Es un viaje hacia los rincones más oscuros del ser humano. ¡Buen viaje! “La razón por la que la gente lee a Palahniuk es su oscura ironía sobre la modernidad. Sus libros no son tanto novelas como fábulas dentadas, cuentos con moraleja sobre el peligro que representa casi todo”. El autor que debutó con El club de la lucha que acabó convirtiéndose en un bestseller y nos dejó una adaptación cinematográfica difícil de olvidar. https://chuckpalahniuk.substack.com/ Más de Palahniuk "Casi California y Escorts": https://go.ivoox.com/rf/127442949 ¡Únete a la nave de Historias para ser Leídas y conviértete en uno de nuestros taberneros galácticos por solo 1,49 € al mes! Al hacerlo, tendrás acceso a lecturas exclusivas y ayudarás a que estas historias sigan viajando por el cosmos.🖤Aquí te dejo la página directa para apoyarme: 🍻 https://www.ivoox.com/support/552842 ¡¡Muchas gracias por todos tus comentarios y por tu apoyo!! 📌Más contenido extra en nuestro canal informativo de Telegram: ¡¡Síguenos!! https://t.me/historiasparaserleidas Voz y sonido Olga Paraíso BIO Olga Paraíso: https://instabio.cc/Hleidas Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

Atención: lo que estás a punto de escuchar no es apto para oídos sensibles ni para quienes buscan comodidad. Este contenido puede ser perturbador, inquietante y profundamente incómodo. Aquí no hay suavidad ni palabras que te acaricien; lo que viene es crudo, directo, y puede sacudirte en formas que no esperas. Si decides continuar, hazlo sabiendo que estás abriendo una puerta que no podrás cerrar fácilmente. Así que, si estás aquí, asegúrate de estar preparad@. Esto no es solo una historia. Es un viaje hacia los rincones más oscuros del ser humano. ¡Buen viaje! “La razón por la que la gente lee a Palahniuk es su oscura ironía sobre la modernidad. Sus libros no son tanto novelas como fábulas dentadas, cuentos con moraleja sobre el peligro que representa casi todo”. El autor que debutó con El club de la lucha que acabó convirtiéndose en un bestseller y nos dejó una adaptación cinematográfica difícil de olvidar. https://chuckpalahniuk.substack.com/ Más de Palahniuk "Casi California y Escorts": https://go.ivoox.com/rf/127442949 ¡Únete a la nave de Historias para ser Leídas y conviértete en uno de nuestros taberneros galácticos por solo 1,49 € al mes! Al hacerlo, tendrás acceso a lecturas exclusivas y ayudarás a que estas historias sigan viajando por el cosmos.🖤Aquí te dejo la página directa para apoyarme: 🍻 https://www.ivoox.com/support/552842 ¡¡Muchas gracias por todos tus comentarios y por tu apoyo!! 📌Más contenido extra en nuestro canal informativo de Telegram: ¡¡Síguenos!! https://t.me/historiasparaserleidas Voz y sonido Olga Paraíso BIO Olga Paraíso: https://instabio.cc/Hleidas

This one was a rough read, and here's a content warning - rape and incest are plot points in this book, and we do discuss their use in this episode. If you haven't read this, we definitely wouldn't recommend it.Next month we jump into the world of LitRPG, which one of us is very familiar with and the other has zero knowledge of. Join us in December for Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl.Want to defend Rant or Palahniuk from us fools who clearly don't understand? rereadersclub@gmail.com is ready for your comments.Our Lord of the Rings reread at rereaders.substack.com is over but it's all still there. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Title:SHOCKtober Finale: Guts by Chuck Palahniuk | Dramatic ReadingDescription:Welcome to the chilling finale of SHOCKtober! Brace yourself as we delve into Guts by Chuck Palahniuk, a visceral short story that pushes the boundaries of horror and tension. This dramatic reading captures the raw emotion and shock of Palahniuk's dark and unforgettable tale, guaranteed to leave you breathless. Known for its intense narrative, Guts has shocked audiences worldwide and remains one of the most unforgettable pieces in horror literature.Join us for a gripping finale that will make your skin crawl. Perfect for fans of horror fiction, dark storytelling, and unforgettable short stories, this reading of Guts will keep you on edge. Make sure to subscribe to STORIES TELLING STORIES for more terrifying content, and don't forget to check out all of our SHOCKtober episodes, featuring dramatic readings of horror's most haunting tales.Keywords:Chuck Palahniuk, Guts short story, dramatic reading, SHOCKtober series, horror literature, visceral horror, thriller stories, dark storytelling, classic horror, horror short stories, STORIES TELLING STORIES, disturbing stories, intense horror, gripping narration, SHOCKtober 2024, horror series finale, horror fiction.

Esta noche os traigo dos historias extraídas de su libro 'Error Humano" Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories, 'Casi California' y 'Escorts'. Disfruta de la noche con Palahniuk. Seguro que te saca una sonrisa. “La razón por la que la gente lee a Palahniuk es su oscura ironía sobre la modernidad. Sus libros no son tanto novelas como fábulas dentadas, cuentos con moraleja sobre el peligro que representa casi todo”. Son palabras publicadas en Time sobre el nuevo trabajo de Chuck Palahniuk, el autor que debutó con El club de la lucha que acabó convirtiéndose en un bestseller y nos dejó una adaptación cinematográfica difícil de olvidar. El autor mantiene ese carácter atrevido, desafiante y con un gran dominio del suspense en La invención del sonido, una novela que reflexiona sobre la mercantilización del sufrimiento y el poder del arte. Se maneja en el horror como si fuera casa y lo podemos comprobar, una vez más, en esta nueva novela que nos cuenta la historia de Gates Foster, un hombre que perdió a su hija Lucy. https://chuckpalahniuk.substack.com/ https://www.instagram.com/chuckpalahniuk/?hl=es Audio y sonido: Olga Paraíso, marca registrada Historias para ser Leídas La base musical pertenece a Epidemic Sound con licencia Premium autorizada Tema cierre final: Lucifer, Is That You - Par Hagstrom 🛑BIO Olga Paraíso: https://instabio.cc/Hleidas ▶️Canal de YouTube Historias para ser Leídas con nuevo contenido: https://www.youtube.com/c/OlgaParaiso 📢Nuevo canal informativo en Telegram: https://t.me/historiasparaserleidas Canal WhatsApp Historias para ser leídas: ✅https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaCmoVmLtOjEBDYgYc00 🚀❤️ Si esta historia te ha cautivado y deseas unirte a nuestro grupo de taberneros galácticos, tienes la oportunidad de contribuir y apoyar mi trabajo desde tan solo 1,49 euros al mes. Al hacerlo, tendrás acceso exclusivo a todos las historias para nuestros mecenas y podrás disfrutar de todos los episodios sin interrupciones publicitarias. ¡Agradezco enormemente tu apoyo y tu fidelidad!. 🖤Aquí te dejo la página directa para apoyarme: https://www.ivoox.com/support/552842 Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

Palahniuk's Laughter. Drum machine, decorated actor and industry master of trades, Omar Abidi, is our guest on Episode 281 of Sappenin' Podcast! The Fightstar rhythm master, exclusively reflects on the bands 'one night only' return at Wembley Arena, twentieth anniversary celebrations and a career of unbelievable moments. In this conversation, Omar pulls back the curtain on breaking their hiatus, current status vs future plans, late night Charlie Simpson phone calls, wild crowd reactions, setlist antics, life away from music, backstage retrials, a cheeky request from Ed Sheeran, secret offers, classic tour stories, getting hit by a raw fish, worst gigs ever, early day chaos, being caught in the Busted break-up media crossfire, his acting appearances, broken sticks, sabotage conspiracies, American strippers, appreciating a new lease on life and more! Turn it up and join Sean and Morgan to find out Sappenin' this week!Follow us on Social Media:Twitter: @sappeninpodInstagram: @sappeninpodSpecial thank you to our Sappenin' Podcast Patreons:Join the Sappenin' Podcast Community: Patreon.com/Sappenin.Kylie Wheeler, Janelle Caston, Paul Hirschfield, Tony Michael, Scarlet Charlton, Dilly Grimwood, Mitch Perry, Nathan Crawshaw, Molly Molloy, James Bowerbank, Amee Louise, Kat Bessant, Kieran Lewis, Alexandra Pemblington, Jonathan Gutierrez, Jenni Robinson, Stuart McNaught, Jenni Munster, Louis Cook, Carl Pendlebury, James Mcnaught, Martina McManus, Jason Heredia, John&Emma, Danny Eaton, RahRah James, Sian Foynes, Evan, Ollie Amesbury, Dan Peregreen, Emily Perry, Kalila Keane, Adam Parslow, Josh Crisp, Vicki Henshaw, Laura Russell, Pip @lifegardenband, Fraser Cummings, Sophie Ansell, Kyle Smith, Connor Lewins, Billy Hunter, Harry Radford, George Evans, Em Evans Roberts, Thomas O'Neill, Sinead O'Halloran, Kael Braham, Jade Austin, Charlie Wood, Aurora Winchester, Jordan Harris, James Page, Georgie Hopkinson, Helen Anyetta, John Wilson, Lisa Sullivan, Ayla Emo, Kelly Young, Jennifer Dean, Tj Ambler-Shattock, Chaz Howkins, Michael Snowden, Justine Baddeley, David Winchurch, Jim Farrell, Scott Evans, Andrew Simpson, Shaun Croucher, Lewis Sluman, Ellie Gowers, Luke Wardle, Grazyna McGroarty, Nathan Matheson, Matt Roberts, Joshua Lewis, Erin Howard,, Chris Harris, Lucy Neill, Amy Thomas, Jessie Hellier, Stevie Burke, Robert Pike, Anthony Matthews, Samantha Neville, Sarah Maher, Owen Davies, Bethan Downing, Jessica Tiernan, Danielle Oldershaw, Samantha Bowen, Ruby Price, Jule Ferl, Alice Wood, Billy Parmiter, Emma Musgrave, Rhian Friggens, Hannah Kenyon, Patrick Floyd, Hayley Taylor, Loz Sanchez, Cerys Andrews, Dan Johnson, Eva B, Emma Barber, Helen Macbeth, Melissa Mercury, Joshua Ryan, Cate Stevenson, Emily Moorhouse, Jacob Turner, Madeleine Inez, Robert Byrne, Christopher Goldring, Chris Lincoln, Beth Gayler, Lesley Dargie-Walker, Sabina Grosch, Tom Hylands, Andrew Keech, Kerry Beckett, Leanne Gerrard, Ieuan Wheeler, Hannah Rachael, Gemma Graham, Andy Wastell, Jay Smith, Nuala Clark, Liam Connolly, Harri Louise, Lavender Martin, Lloyd Pinder, Ghostly Grimoire.Diolch and Thank You x Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

JDO is doing some live-developing of his novel-in-progress, Ronin Trash, about tusk hunters and demons. We're also talking beginner's mind, bringing more feminine left-brain energy into the process, voice vs plot, Palahniuk, Crichton, THE WILL OF THE MANY, WebNovel apps, and more. Go to patreon.com/agitator for short film content, extended episodes, exclusive Discord access, and more. Thank you for listening. Shout out if you vibe with this in any way.  brbjdo.substack.com kelbylosack.com

En esta ocasión del Ritual Habitual, David y Joserra recuerdan la obra, la vida y el impacto cultural de José Agustín, escritor que desde muy joven transformó de manera determinante el campo de la literatura mexicana. Por el éxito y la evidente calidad de la obra que escribió desde su temprana juventud, José Agustín cabe perfectamente en el grupo de escritores que el crítico literario e historiador José Mariano Leyva calificó de "Complejo Fitzgerald": creadores adolescentes (o casi) del siglo XX que publicaron novelas inmediatamente célebres y aplaudidas por crítica y público por igual, arrancando así una obra de impronta internacional. Definitivamente, el autor de Se está haciendo tarde (final en Laguna) o De perfil está ahí, con Welsh, Palahniuk, Easton Ellis, ¿o nel?

Faccia il conto di non averci mai vistoQuesto show fa parte del network Spreaker Prime. Se sei interessato a fare pubblicità in questo podcast, contattaci su https://www.spreaker.com/show/5496778/advertisement

Palahniuk joined Morning Edition host Rick Ganley on stage at The Music Hall in Portsmouth to discuss his latest novel Not Forever, but For Now. The book traces one notorious family of killers, responsible for some of history's greatest crimes, and tells the story of the two brothers set to take over the family business. This conversation was recorded live on September 12th, 2023. Please note: The reading at the top of the show includes some explicit language.

In this candid episode, James Altucher welcomes back Chuck Palahniuk, a guest who never ceases to inspire introspection long after the conversation has wrapped. As they unpack the twisted humor and darkness of Palahniuk's new book, "Not Forever, But for Now", listeners are invited into a world of professional killer families and the burdens shouldered by young successors. But it doesn't end there. In an episode filled with profound insights and electric dialogues, James and Chuck paint a vivid tapestry of how writing mirrors life, its joys, and its abysses.------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book Skip the Line is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast.------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe  to “The James Altucher Show” wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsStitcheriHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on Social Media:YouTubeTwitterFacebook

In this candid episode, James Altucher welcomes back Chuck Palahniuk, a guest who never ceases to inspire introspection long after the conversation has wrapped. As they unpack the twisted humor and darkness of Palahniuk's new book, "Not Forever, But for Now", listeners are invited into a world of professional killer families and the burdens shouldered by young successors. But it doesn't end there. In an episode filled with profound insights and electric dialogues, James and Chuck paint a vivid tapestry of how writing mirrors life, its joys, and its abysses.------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book Skip the Line is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast.------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe  to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsStitcheriHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on Social Media:YouTubeTwitterFacebook ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn

The internet's second hottest rapper, Tristan Haggard joins me in E Celebdom's most hyped comeback of 2023! What a perfect return - to cover one of the wildest 90's films of all time - which I have not covered somehow. We will explore the primitive / archaic revival and predictions in the film, as well as the ultimately anarcho nihilism themes, as well as mind control and dissociation.

We went on William Ramsey's show to give our updated analysis of Fight Club (previously covered in our series on David Fincher), getting into predictive programming, anarcho-primitivism as a tool of the New World Order, and the dark self archetype. The conversation also covers Fincher, Leto, Palahniuk, and connections to what we call the Joker Cycle. https://twitter.com/CinemaPsyophttps://www.patreon.com/PsyopCinemahttp://psyop-cinema.com/https://linktr.ee/psyopcinemathomas-psyopcinema@protonmail.combrett-psyopcinema@protonmail.comhttps://www.williamramseyinvestigates.com/https://twitter.com/WilliamRamseyIn

I've said before and I'll say the fuck again...GO WATCH NEW GIRL ON NETFLIX!!!This is a short and sad one guys, so bare with us! I Am Vanessa Guillen (2022) available on Netflix. Stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, U.S. Army soldier Vanessa Guillen tells her mother she is being sexually harassed before being murdered by a fellow soldier.Pygmy by Chuck Palaniuck (2009) A gang of adolescent terrorists, a spelling bee, and a terrible plan masquerading as a science project: This is Operation Havoc.Pygmy is one of a handful of young adults from a totalitarian state sent to the US disguised as exchange students. Living with American families to blend in, they are planning an unspecified act of massive terrorism that will bring this big dumb country and its fat dumb inhabitants to their knees. Palahniuk depicts Midwestern life through the eyes of this indoctrinated little killer in a cunning double-edged satire of American xenophobia.Slumberland (2022) A young girl discovers a secret map to the dreamworld of Slumberland, and with the help of an eccentric outlaw, she traverses dreams and flees nightmares, with the hope that she will be able to see her late father again.Till (2022) The true story of Mamie Till-Mobley's relentless pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, who was brutally lynched in 1955 while visiting his cousins in Mississippi.

The first and second rules of Fight Club, are to not talk about Fight Club!! But Will and Matt are going to break those rules, kind of. Topics include the Loaf of Meat, Palahniuk book recommendations, and The Pixies. DISCLAIMER: LANGUAGE AND SPOILERS!FIGHT CLUBdir. David Fincherstarring: Brad Pitt; Edward Norton; Helena Bonham Carter

Che cos'è la sinossi?È utile fare le schede personaggio?Cos'è l'orologio del romanzo?

This podcast is sustained by sales of our debut book, Meow: A Novel (For Cats). In this episode, we celebrate Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk's devotion to animal welfare; namely, his support of The Pixie Project, a Portland-based animal rescue facing an unprecedented inflow of “pandemic remorse” animals. Enthusiastically adopted during COVID lockdowns, rescue pets are now being resheltered in droves, enabling their owners to shed their tired dog-parent personae and ease into a more cosmopolitan, travel-selfie-based lifestyle. For more on how you can help Chuck help The Pixie Project, visit his Substack. As added incentive, we've included a reading of Palahniuk's Phoenix, a 2015 short story attesting to the apocalyptic power of a feline scorned, and a warning to fair-weather pet adopters. This reading is presented in cat language. The human-language original can be found here.  MEOW is the first and only literary podcast for your cat, conceived and presented in its native language. This podcast is sustained by sales of our debut book, Meow: A Novel (For Cats).   Praise for Meow: A Novel "Breathtaking... a revelation." - Stubbs, Unaltered Domestic Shorthair "Meow meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow. Meow? Meow." - Joan Didion Follow us on Instagram: @meowliterature and Facebook: facebook.com/themeowlibrary  

Una vez más nos adentramos en el fango tenebroso que palpita bajo las tumbas del cementerio. Si el terror ya puede ser un viaje, el gore y el ultra gore pueden ser la frontera final. En esta lista hecha por Alberto Nieto encontraréis todas las películas de las que hemos ido hablando en estos especiales: https://boxd.it/hpTmK Para estar al tanto de futuras actualizaciones, estas son las redes sociales a las que debes acudir: https://linktr.ee/Vuelodelcometa Y si quieres apoyar este y otros proyectos relacionados: https://www.patreon.com/vuelodelcometa o a través del sistema de mecenazgo en iVoox. Han participado en este programa: Alberto Nieto, nuestro Hierofante Oscuro: @albertohorrorgrinder en Instagram Coquín Artero: https://linktr.ee/coquinartero Entrad en su linktr para encontrar sus libros en Amazon. Alberto "Láudano" Martínez de Noviembre Nocturno, podéis encontrarlo: https://linktr.ee/noviembrenocturno El bloque de intro y outro del programa fueron realizados por Luis Alberto Martín, locutor, actor de doblaje y voz y periodista: https://twitter.com/lamartinvoz Arte de Basement artist. Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

Dedicamos nuestro podcast a libros de fantasía, ciencia-ficción, libros de videojuegos y algunos clásicos que nos han marcado. Y os contamos cuáles son nuestros autores favoritos y qué obras nos han decepcionado. Además comentaremos la actualidad de los videojuegos y qué títulos estamos probando. Como siempre, con sentido del humor y muchas sorpresas .

NinetyForChill.com returns to Ally's Accessories Shop on Etsy's Trash Feature Revue to provide you with opinions on DVDs whose values will not be affected by inflation. Cool Movies Darth takes us on a journey of traditional horror, no budget indies, and whatever Dark Castle Entertainment claims to be scary. This episode addresses the Full Moon Features' classic "Puppet Master", a vampire-fad character study in "Quench", the too vulgar for PureFlix "The Reaping", and a low definition attempt to cross Faust with Palahniuk in "Shadow Hours".

Cos'è l'orologio del romanzo?

The two biggest movies that most men going their own way respect are Fight Club and The Matrix. Both films came out in nineteen ninety nine which was before nine eleven. And after nine eleven most film studios didn't want to touch films that had anything to do with terrorism. As you may have noticed both Tyler Durden and Morpheus were considered terrorists in those films. Another similarity about these films is that they were created by men. The Wachowski brothers and Chuck Palahniuk were the creators. And all three of these men were part of an organization called Landmark. Now I don't know if Landmark is a cult but the people I've met that were part of landmark, for some of themit worked and for some it didn't. But what I do know is that out of these three men one is a blue pill mangina, one is gay man and the last one is a post op-transexual. I don't have anything against their sexual orientations and choices but I find it ironic that MGTOW looks up to men that are nothing like the red pill protagonists they showcase in their work. But if we dig below the surface you'll begin to see that Tyler Durden and Neo are not really red pill men. They are when they first start in the films but then they change over into something else. And I don't think it's the intention of the Wachowski's or Palahniuk to turn them into male protectors of women. The sad thing is that Hollywood and the corporate entertainment business is something that caters to women. Sixty to seventy percent of box office tickets are sold to women so women want to see themselves portrayed as powerful, beautiful and sexual on the big screen. And if a film doesn't portray women like that then usually it doesn't do well in the box office. The studios after-all have to pander to their market. Thinking about the Matrix the only character that I could really see as a red pill man was Morpheus because he wasn't involved in relationships with women in the first film. His soul purpose was to free minds of people trapped in the matrix. Only in the second film do we learn that he had a prior love interest and that instead of staying with her he decided to follow yet another woman, the oracle. It's almost like he went from the lie he was living with one woman and traded it for a bigger lie with the prophecy of the one. It's quite telling when thecharacters in the films we look up to get their guidance from women. In fight club The Narrator is a blue pill nice guy pussyfooting around the female love interest Marla. And Tyler Durden is like a bad boy Pickup Artist. The film is more about ghosting and creating a social revolution then giving up on traditional relationships with women.Darth Vader in Lovehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X9NF...MGTOW in Filmhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezFEe...Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/mgtow/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Tyler Jones' Burn the Plans reminds me of the first time I picked up Stephen King's Night Shift. I didn't know who this King guy was, only that his stories were varied, scary, funny, awful and sweet and sweetly awful. In short, a great time. Burn the Plans is the same.The collection dashes from an ever-so-American-Gothic farm to a bloodsoaked art gallery, CIA psychic experimentation to invisible Frankensteinian limb-monsters. Tyler's imagination runs amok and breaks the crockery.We talk about small presses and self-publishing, the discipline of being your own editor, the writing from the POV of kids and the problems with perfect prose.We also discuss the collection's theme – that life isn't safe, that we should learn to expect the unexpected, be ready to live with (and survive crisis). That message has never been so clear as in recent news … and if you listen to this episode, please stick around for my outro as I have something to say, and dedications to make.Enjoy! Burn the Plans was published February 28th by Cemetary Gates Media Other books mentioned in this conversation include:Criterium (2020), by Tyler JonesAlmost Ruth (2021), by Tyler JonesThe Bone Clocks (2014), by David MitchellThe Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (2010), by David MitchellConsider This (2020), by Chuck PalahniukFrom a Buick 8 (2002), by Stephen KingSupport Talking Scared on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TalkingScaredPodCome talk books on Twitter @talkscaredpod, on Instagram, and TikTok or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Download Novellic on Google Play or Apple Store.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/talkingscaredpod)

Chuck Palahniuk nasce a Pasco, nello stato di Washington, il 21 febbraio del 1962 da padre statunitense, figlio di immigrati ucraini, Fred Palahniuk, e da madre statunitense di origini francesi e ucraine, Carol Adele Tallent.Fino all'età di 14 anni, cresce in una casa mobile nei pressi di Burbank, ma dopo la separazione ed il successivo divorzio dei genitori, insieme ai tre fratelli, si trasferisce nella tenuta dei nonni materni.Ripercorriamo in breve la vita di questo grandissima artista.VOCE: Irene IsopiPRODUZIONE: PubMe SrlFonti citate: Wikipedia.org

Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Check out Impact Theory Episode Page & Show NotesRead the full notes @ podcastnotes.orgCheck out our sponsors: Better Help: Get 10% off your first month at https://betterhelp.com/impacttheoryMindPump: mindpumpimpact.com Pique: Go to piquetea.com/impact and use code IMPACT at checkout to get 5% off sitewide + FREE SHIPPING when you purchase a pu'er bundle! HigherDOSE: Go to HigherDOSE.com/impact to save $75 on the Infrared Sauna Blanket or Infrared PEMF Mat. InsideTracker: Get 25% off their entire store at insidetracker.com/impacttheory Ombre Lab: tryombre.com/ImpactToo often people have experienced life in a way that shapes their nature, their responses, and how to perceive life as it comes. Having your mind stretched and bent beyond its normal world view is scary but a treat worth exploring with guest Chuck Palahniuk. Last time he joined Tom to discuss life, death and finding meaning in your life. In this episode, we're deep diving into how Chuck pursues new ideas, stretches himself beyond the outcomes, and allows the magic of connection to take place through the process of creating stories. Chuck discusses his new essay, People, Places, and Things, and shares the juice of how he's able to compel such strong reactions from stories that make most people uncomfortable.Check Out Chuck's Short Stories on Substack: https://chuckpalahniuk.substack.com/ Chuck's Latest Essay, People, Places and Things: https://try.scribd.com/palahniuk60/ Mentioned in this episode:Suddenly, Last Summer: https://youtu.be/tFVcW2ntimM SHOW NOTES:0:00 | Introduction Chuck Palahniuk1:28 | Shaped Inside Out 4:28 | Mental Breakthroughs 9:46 | Pursuing Creative Ideas17:12 | Validating New Ideas25:04 | Surprising Outcomes29:58 | Mutual Consciousness36:35 | Freedom at Ground Zero40:39 | What Scares You Has Meaning49:16 | Life Influences & Performance1:00:35 | Allow Silence, Look for Patterns1:07:31 | Bathos, Comic Tragedy1:17:19 | Sincere, Not Offensive1:32:01 | Motivated by MeaningQUOTES:“We're drawn to these things that resonate with us, but I would bet that's because of something that's innate within us” [4:15]“You have this idea of what it's going to be to attain this thing, but when you actually attain the thing it's never what you anticipated, which is the glorious part. Because why strive for something, if you kind of already know what that thing is, but when you strive for it, and it surprises you, that's the glorious part.” [26:41]“It's not about my joy. It's about providing that moment for somebody else.” [29:51]“I like the idea of taking things that we have a negative connotation [about], like shame, and if there's some way to harness shame, and spin shame, so that shame becomes productive.” [36:35]“There's such freedom in that zero place where you're not trying to look good and you're not trying to dominate [...] it's like a fresh wake up.” [38:19]“Fear is the thing that validates that you're doing the thing that means something to you. Because if it didn't mean anything to you, you wouldn't feel the fear.” [42:26]“People who are in love with that constant exploration process, are the people who are creative throughout their entire lives well into their 60s 70s 80s, because they're in love with the process, rather than just this single outcome.” [46:25]“That's kind of the blessing of pain is that pain can only go on for so long before it shifts to something else. And all that tension comes out.” [1:13:28]“A lot of times people are offended, not because you've somehow hurt their feelings, but because you've said a truth that they don't want to hear.” [1:24:30]About Chuck Palahniuk: Chuck Palahniuk is the author of fourteen novels, among them Fight Club and Choke, which were adapted into feature films. His work also includes a travel guide, a collection of short stories, two graphic novels, a writing advice book, a collection of essays, and two coloring books. Follow Chuck Palahniuk:Website: https://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chuckpalahniuk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chuckpalahniuk/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/chuckpalahniuk New Podcast: https://smartassess.bandcamp.com/album/smartasses

Check out our sponsors: Better Help: Get 10% off your first month at https://betterhelp.com/impacttheoryMindPump: mindpumpimpact.com Pique: Go to piquetea.com/impact and use code IMPACT at checkout to get 5% off sitewide + FREE SHIPPING when you purchase a pu'er bundle! HigherDOSE: Go to HigherDOSE.com/impact to save $75 on the Infrared Sauna Blanket or Infrared PEMF Mat. InsideTracker: Get 25% off their entire store at insidetracker.com/impacttheory Ombre Lab: tryombre.com/ImpactToo often people have experienced life in a way that shapes their nature, their responses, and how to perceive life as it comes. Having your mind stretched and bent beyond its normal world view is scary but a treat worth exploring with guest Chuck Palahniuk. Last time he joined Tom to discuss life, death and finding meaning in your life. In this episode, we're deep diving into how Chuck pursues new ideas, stretches himself beyond the outcomes, and allows the magic of connection to take place through the process of creating stories. Chuck discusses his new essay, People, Places, and Things, and shares the juice of how he's able to compel such strong reactions from stories that make most people uncomfortable.Check Out Chuck's Short Stories on Substack: https://chuckpalahniuk.substack.com/ Chuck's Latest Essay, People, Places and Things: https://try.scribd.com/palahniuk60/ Mentioned in this episode:Suddenly, Last Summer: https://youtu.be/tFVcW2ntimM SHOW NOTES:0:00 | Introduction Chuck Palahniuk1:28 | Shaped Inside Out 4:28 | Mental Breakthroughs 9:46 | Pursuing Creative Ideas17:12 | Validating New Ideas25:04 | Surprising Outcomes29:58 | Mutual Consciousness36:35 | Freedom at Ground Zero40:39 | What Scares You Has Meaning49:16 | Life Influences & Performance1:00:35 | Allow Silence, Look for Patterns1:07:31 | Bathos, Comic Tragedy1:17:19 | Sincere, Not Offensive1:32:01 | Motivated by MeaningQUOTES:“We're drawn to these things that resonate with us, but I would bet that's because of something that's innate within us” [4:15]“You have this idea of what it's going to be to attain this thing, but when you actually attain the thing it's never what you anticipated, which is the glorious part. Because why strive for something, if you kind of already know what that thing is, but when you strive for it, and it surprises you, that's the glorious part.” [26:41]“It's not about my joy. It's about providing that moment for somebody else.” [29:51]“I like the idea of taking things that we have a negative connotation [about], like shame, and if there's some way to harness shame, and spin shame, so that shame becomes productive.” [36:35]“There's such freedom in that zero place where you're not trying to look good and you're not trying to dominate [...] it's like a fresh wake up.” [38:19]“Fear is the thing that validates that you're doing the thing that means something to you. Because if it didn't mean anything to you, you wouldn't feel the fear.” [42:26]“People who are in love with that constant exploration process, are the people who are creative throughout their entire lives well into their 60s 70s 80s, because they're in love with the process, rather than just this single outcome.” [46:25]“That's kind of the blessing of pain is that pain can only go on for so long before it shifts to something else. And all that tension comes out.” [1:13:28]“A lot of times people are offended, not because you've somehow hurt their feelings, but because you've said a truth that they don't want to hear.” [1:24:30]About Chuck Palahniuk: Chuck Palahniuk is the author of fourteen novels, among them Fight Club and Choke, which were adapted into feature films. His work also includes a travel guide, a collection of short stories, two graphic novels, a writing advice book, a collection of essays, and two coloring books. Follow Chuck Palahniuk:Website: https://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chuckpalahniuk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chuckpalahniuk/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/chuckpalahniuk New Podcast: https://smartassess.bandcamp.com/album/smartasses

You've researched how to ride a horse, maybe how to shoot a bow or what that fiddly bit on a sword hilt is really called, but have you considered how combatants actually FIGHT? Or how long it takes a bruise to heal... and what exactly is the impact of adrenaline post fight? Join Autumn and special guest Carla Hoch from FightWrite as they tease apart what so many authors get wrong about fight scenes, how to write a great fight scene, what Wonder Woman got wrong, and why dragon smoke is actually white (not black!). Visit FightWrite at www.fightwrite.net and follow Carla on Instagram at www.instagram.com/carla.c.hoch/. Tune in for new episodes EVERY single Monday.   SUPPORT THE AM WRITING FANTASY PODCAST! Please tell a fellow author about the show and visit us at Apple podcast and leave a rating and review.   Join us at www.patreon.com/AmWritingFantasy. For as little as a dollar a month, you'll get awesome rewards and keep the Am Writing Fantasy podcast going.  Read the full transcript below. (Please note that it's automatically generated and while the AI is super cool, it isn't perfect. There may be misspellings or incorrect words on occasion). Narrator (2s): You're listening to the Am Writing Fantasy podcast in today's publishing landscape, you can reach fans all over the world. Query letters are a thing of the past. You don't even need a literary agent. There is nothing standing in the way of making a living from writing two best selling authors who have self published more than 20 books between them now on to the show with your hosts, Autumn Birt and Jesper Schmidt. Autumm (30s): Hello, I'm Autumn. And this is episode 144 of the am writing fantasy podcast. And today Jesper is on break. And instead I have a very special guest with us. So Carla, who is the host of the FightWrite Podcast. Plus you have a website and classes and so much more. So I want you to introduce yourself, Carla (55s): Okay. I am Carla Hoke and I am the purveyor, I guess that's the word for the fight? Yeah, the fight right brand. I have the website fight, right? If I G H T w R I T e.net, and it's kind of a one-stop shop for everything that has to do with fight, right? Which helps writers write fight scenes action, and violence. And I have a book with writer's digest and it is fight right. How to write believable fight scene. And I have class with a writer's digest university. That's always in their library and hopefully we'll have more in the fall. Oh, I guess it is fall. We'll have, Autumm (1m 35s): That's fantastic. This year, Carla (1m 36s): I'm telling you this year has been slow and fast at the same time. It's either in park or it's in full speed ahead, right? Exactly. Autumm (1m 47s): Yeah. And in some ways, days can be, have elements of both. And so I'm not sure where we are. Carla (1m 55s): Yeah. Well, you know, they say that the days are long, but the years are short. Oh, Autumm (2m 1s): It's very, very true. Well, that is awesome. I remember, I think your website has actually won something for reader writer's digest too. Like best law Carla (2m 12s): It has. So it has it's it's in there top 100 websites for writers and they have different categories. And I think mine was in the category of writers helps writers. So three years and I have won a brand award to twice with can Christian authors network. Autumm (2m 35s): That's so brilliant installations. Yeah, that is fantastic. And so I do want to give a shout out because it was actually the secret of how we met is a joint listener. Stephen recommended that I see if you wanted to come on the am writing fantasy podcast because he thought we would just be cool. It's like dream diner duo. Oh yeah. Big shout out to Steven as a thank you for introducing us and making this podcast happen. Carla (3m 6s): And what's his last name? Autumm (3m 7s): Guglich. Carla (3m 10s): Okay. Autumm (3m 12s): All right. Well, I, you have quite the background in fighting yourself. So I Think that is really interesting. So this came about because you're also a writer end of fighter. Carla (3m 27s): Yeah. It, well, it came about because I was a writer and this is a classic case of the days being long, but the years being short, because it seems like I just kind of started, but it's, it's been like 10 years, 10 years since I started martial arts. I can't believe that, but it all started because I was writing a work that had fight scenes in it and I didn't know how to fight. And so I, my kids, I had my kids in TaeKwonDo. I think they were in like first grade and yeah, kindergarten, first grade. And there was a self-defense class that was at the TaeKwonDo studio. And I went to a couple of classes. I thought, you know, how much really do I need to know one or two classes, surely I'll know everything I need to know to write fight scenes. Carla (4m 12s): And I got in there and I kind of loved it. And it just, it just kinda snowballed from there. And the strange thing is I was asked in a podcast one time, and this was the hardest question I've ever been asked. He was like, what's the weirdest thing that's ever happened to you? And I'm like, where do, where do I even start with that? But one of the weird things, my life tends to backpedal. Like it's, you know, circular, like I taught at a high school that was the Raiders and then moved to a whole new city, whole, whole new state and the Raiders, you know? And it's like this person I knew. And then boom, this person I knew with the same name, coaches, exact same names. Carla (4m 53s): And I'm like, I don't, I'm not planning this, but I went to a writer's conference and I had the work with me that I started taking self-defense for the whole reason. I started wanting to know how to learn fight scene was this particular work. And I went to a writer's conference and I presented it to a man named Steve lobby, who I did not know. I had no idea who he was. It turned out he was Steve lobby of the Steve blobby agency. He was the head of a, a writer's agency. And I presented it to him and he, he didn't really, he, he didn't like it, you know, which I'm okay with that. And he said, I don't like the work. Carla (5m 33s): It's not right for me, but I do like you, so let's keep in touch. And so year after year after year, we would see each other. If you don't go to writers, conferences, writers, I highly suggest it because it's, it's the adult version of camp. You see the same people. It is, you see the same people year after year after year. And so I kept up with him and anytime we saw each other to writer's conference, we would make time to kind of sit and chat. Cause we get along really well. And when I wrote the book, I got in touch with him and I was like, you know, what would you like to read this book? He's I, of course I'd like to read it. So he read it. And he said, because he also has an imprint of small house publishing for craft books. Carla (6m 14s): And he goes, I do love this book. He goes, I don't have it in my budget right now. And I'm like, well, you know what? I, I sent it to writer's digest and he goes, you did what? I said, I sent it to writer's digest. And he started laughing and he was like, okay girl. He said, you go for it. And he goes, what he said, you know, just be patient, it'll take about six weeks for them to get back to you. And if you haven't heard from him by then, then just, you know, reach out. And I said, I'll do that. And it was not six weeks. It was six days. Oh my gosh, I know miraculous. And so I sent him a message back and I said, would you be interested in representing a writer's digest author? And he said, may be. And so the first person, I really pitched this book to the whole reason I started writing fight scenes is now my editor. Carla (7m 3s): I know my agent for a book about writing fight scenes. So circle Autumm (7m 8s): Really good kismet there. That is really Carla (7m 13s): Is, it really is writers don't give up writing honestly is just a war of attrition. It's about successful authors. Aren't necessarily the best writers. I mean, come on. We've we've all read some books. They were like, wow. I mean, I've read books. I'm like, how is this person got this book out? And I don't have this book out, but it really is. It's the difference in who, who gave up and who didn't. I was a high school teacher and a track coach for awhile. And there was a psycho psychological study done that when two runners are running side by side, after three strides, one of them will probably give up, oh. So I used to coach my runners and say three full strides and at time and time again, and I think that's how it is with writers. Carla (7m 59s): Keep the strides. Somebody is going to give up and you're going to be the one left standing. So just, just don't give up, keep pushing. Autumm (8m 7s): I love that. And I think that is so true because it's, I know I've read recently that it's 10 years and 1 million words before you can really start seeing your career take off. Carla (8m 17s): And Autumm (8m 19s): That's a long time I would lose a lot of authors, one or two books, and that's their feeling. They're feeling it. Then they want to see something then, but to really come into your own 10 years in your words, Carla (8m 33s): Right. And, and the average book and its lifetime in its lifetime, a published book only sells 2000 copies in its lifetime. Wow. So if you look and you think, okay, I've self published this book, or I've traditionally published this book and you know, I've only sold a hundred books this first year. Well, yeah, that's right. I worked, you know, people who are rich from writing, first of all are probably lying or, or they have, you know, a ton of books or they are just kind of, you know, this kind of lightning in a bottle kind of situation, you know, the JK Rawlings, you know, that just hit it big. Carla (9m 15s): So if, if you, you know, if you're struggling, if you're not selling as many as you think you should sell, if you're like, well, I still have my day job. Well that makes you a writer. Correct? All of those things. Autumm (9m 28s): Yeah. You might get one series of cells and you might get, you know, three years later it might die off and it might be one, one, a new one that doesn't sell it. It's also, I love Joanna Penn for that. She's very practical saying it's not a linear curve. You don't hit it big and stay up there for, you gotta work for it every day Carla (9m 45s): And write. And one of the reasons why I love what I do is because I do love fight training, and I do love writing and they, they have so much in common when you are a fighter martial arts of any kind, you're not going to walk onto the mat and immediately be a success. You have to, you have to take your lumps for a very long time. And, and it's, you feel very defeated a lot. I had a, a new white belt SAIS. I've been doing Brazilian jujitsu. I've done a wide swath of things, but the one that I just, I really am sticking with. Yeah. I have as Brazilian jujitsu, I've been doing it about seven years, including, you know, quarantine and time off it's surgery and stuff. Carla (10m 27s): And, and the kids, this white belt said, well, I just feel lost all the time. And I was like, yeah, me too. And she was like, what do you mean? You feel lost all the time. I'm like, that's just how it is. And that's one of the things I love about this art. So you really just have to keep plugging along. You have to take your lumps and not, everybody's going to give you a good review and that's okay. I call those. And some people will give you a negative review simply because they're a negative person. Don't always assume it is about your book. Especially if it's ugly, you know what some, what someone says may be based on our actions, but the way they choose to say it is about them. Carla (11m 11s): And so, yeah, you're going to have some people will give you a one-star review. You're going to have some people who are very snarky and they may be fellow writers that, you know, and that's okay. And I liken that to, you know, people who aren't your fans, you know, when I'm competing, not everybody's cheering for me. That's okay. They're not my fans. I don't expect them to cheer for me. So, you know, when you, when you do have people that are critical of you for, in an unproductive way, criticism is incredibly important. You don't get better without somebody showing you, you know, where you need to improve, but I'm productive criticism. That's not about you. Carla (11m 51s): It's not about your work. Those are just not your, that's not your team. That's not your fans. So when you write, keep your team in mind, when I compete, I'm not competing for the people who hate me and what my opponent, it to win. I'm competing for my teammates and my coach. So you just kind of have to have that, that same attitude when you write just, yeah, don't give up, don't give up. Don't take the easy way out. Autumm (12m 15s): Exactly. And it's so true. And I do know it is human nature that we for, what do they say? Like you can have 10 good reviews, but it's that one bad review out of the 10. That is the one that sticks out in your mind. It's just like, well, if you look at the numbers, you probably have more good reviews than bad. So focus on Carla (12m 34s): Differences. Yeah. Right, right. And you know what? I actually learned a lot from a review. I got on good reads. One of the reviews. I forget how many stars it was. It, I mean, it wasn't five stars. I think it was like two or three. And the lady said that I just, she told me the subjects that she wished had been in my book. Oh, that's, that's helpful. One of the things she, yeah. One of the things she asked was, but how does a person fight when they don't know how to fight? And I'm like, oh my gosh, that's a brilliant question. And so I actually reached out to her and I thanked her for her review. And I said, you know, I had never even considered that. And so I wrote a whole blog post about it. So that's brilliant reviews are all negative reviews. Carla (13m 17s): Not necessarily negative critical reviews are only bad if you don't learn something from them. But again, if they're ugly and mean-spirited, it's not about you. Autumm (13m 25s): Yeah. It's not about you don't even let it bother you and move on. Carla (13m 31s): Move on. Exactly. Autumm (13m 33s): So my big question for you, and I want to get into like tips and other things, you see authors doing wrong, but why should an author care if they're writing a fight scene correctly? Carla (13m 45s): That is a very good question. And I liken it to how a boxer reps, their hands before they fight. You know, you see boxers with these gloves on, but what people don't know is you take off those gloves and you have yards and yards of cloth. There are people who work for the fighters sometimes, personally, or they work for the event and their job is to wrap hands. It's that important. And what you do is you wrap a hand tightly and you pull all the bones together so that when contact is made, the force is distributed evenly over all the bones. If you compromise that and you break, you get what's called a boxer's break. Carla (14m 26s): And it's a break in the pinky on this very, very edge. It'll take you out of the fight. It doesn't matter how many other amazing bones you have or how great you punch that one, tiny crack compromises the whole. And so that's kinda how I see, you know, with fight scenes. If you have done your work, if you have done your research and you are proud of this, why not give your fight scene as much importance as everything else because you have to serve your story. And I was asked recently what that means. And it was like, you only put things in the work that further the work, if your fight scene is in there, there's a purpose for it. Carla (15m 6s): So, you know, make it believable, you know, don't make it absolutely corn ridiculous because when you do that or just don't do any research at all or anything like that, you're letting yourself sit open for a boxer's break. And though it's the tiniest bone and it may just be a tiny crack. It compromises the entire works ability to pack a punch pretty much. Autumm (15m 32s): And I do agree. I mean, we sit there and Google, you know, that, that lovely meme that it's like, when did you become a neurosurgeon? Do you last night? You know, we research now and it's true, but a lot of people assume they know how to fight and they assume how fighting goes. And I mean, I see this a lot because I'm a big hiker and backpacker and I go into, especially fantasy of blast. Yeah. You go into a fantasy test and like, they're not carrying a backpack. They have no food with them, but they said, I'll do fine for two weeks. And I'm like, Carla (16m 4s): Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Yeah. Fighting is just like that. You know, hiking is its own language, literally its own language. There's little symbols that, you know, there's things that can know to take. They're really hard. They're really are, you know, and my daughter and I went, we learned this the hard way. We went on a short little jaunt in Colorado and I am in Houston. We are below sea level here, you know? And you get to Colorado, Colorado is super stingy with this oxygen. I don't know what the deal is, you know, Colorado share your oxygen. It's okay. And we got maybe a quarter mile in and I have a picture of my daughter leaning over, supporting herself on her thighs, just breathing. Carla (16m 46s): I was like, yeah, we probably should have gone into this whole thing differently. But it is fighting. Fighting is like a foreign language. And people like hiking people at well, I know how to walk, not a hike, you know, and people will, I've seen fighting on TV, you know, I know, I know how to throw a punch. So you know, it, it it's akin to, well, I speak English, so I guess I can teach it. No, it is. It is. It really is fighting like hiking is its own language. It really is. And so, you know, when you watch people on TV fight and it looks so easy, there's a reason for that. Carla (17m 26s): They've been practicing Autumm (17m 29s): Choreographed. I mean, there's a lot going into creating a fight scene that you're going to watch. It looks so effortless. Yeah. Carla (17m 36s): Oh yeah. And I mean, even like in professional fights you watch a professional fight and you're like, well, that's not so hard. Oh my gosh, you have no idea the work that goes into it. And you really don't until you start. And you're like, oh, okay. Knowing how to punch is only this much. It's the timing and the movement and knowing how to defend and you know, setting up different things. So it's harder than it is harder than people think it is. And yeah, I do have a lot of people come to me with fight scenes and I'm just like, or here's another thing, you know, they have a person in their work. Well, this person does such and such fighting style. I'm like, oh cool. Carla (18m 16s): How long have you done that? Oh, I've never done it. I'm like, oh, I mean, I respect the challenge, but it's like, why would you be willing to write an entire scene in Portuguese? If you didn't speak Portuguese? You know, I really don't think you would just trust Google translate. You just want somebody who actually spoke Portuguese. Yeah. Don't as a foreign language teacher, former full language, don't, don't always trust it. You know, you would want somebody who actually speaks that language to look at it and say, well, that's not really how this works. You know? So yeah. It's not, it's not as easy as it, as it looks. And if you read a fight scene, that's done very well. It didn't just flow out. Carla (18m 58s): You know, Chuck, Palahniuk the writer of fight club. He's been writing a long time and he, to this day, to this day, if I'm not mistaken, he's still in writing groups. He still has people critique his work. He still has the beta reader, you know? So the learning never ends it doesn't and the easier somebody makes it look, the more work has gone into it. Guaranteed. Autumm (19m 24s): Yeah, I can go. I can definitely go agree with that. And so what are, what do you think are some of the worst things you see or maybe the most 10 things authors tend to use that is just not true in a fight scene. So are some of the worst offenses you've seen Carla (19m 41s): The worst offenders, the greatest offenders. I also write for writer's digest blog. I do a monthly fight scene kind of blog post for them. And the one that I recently did was about writing authentic, oh, fight scenes, everybody. One of the things I see is everybody wants it to be authentic. Oh, well, that's not true. Okay. No, you don't don't want it to be authentic if we wanted everything to be exactly as it is. When we walk outside our door, there would be no fantasy. There wouldn't be no scifi. Cause we don't see those things around them. And it was Ernest Hemingway said it is a writer's job to write the truth. And that is, that is true. Carla (20m 24s): But I don't think he meant true as in factual. I think he meant true to the human condition because if you've read old man and the old man and the sea, clearly he didn't make life because you had this old man for whom the short stories name named Santiago, because fights a Marlin, a Marlin that is longer than his skiff by just holding the fishing line. Okay. Nevermind. All the things that come after that, the man is dragged for three days, he ends up fighting off sharks and I'm like, okay, that's not authentic. You know, authentic is the Marlin takes it and he grabs it and it pulls him overboard and snaps at the same time. Carla (21m 6s): So right. It is. And the true thing you want is truth to the human experience, the human condition, you know? And so I think sometimes people get so bogged down with wanting their fights seem to be authentic, that they don't serve the story. It's like, they'll make it authentic to the point to where they'll sacrifice the scene if they have to. But here's the truth of actual fights. And I'll just use fights on the street. For example, most of them are over under 30 seconds and that's a generous estimate. Okay. There is next to no banter and talking well, that's no fun. Carla (21m 47s): I know. And most of the people involved don't know how to fight violent offenders. The majority of the time they pick their target and under seven seconds. And it's not about their height, it's about the way they walk, you know? And so it's all these things that if you're going to make your fight scene completely authentic, it's may not work for the story. If Hemingway had made the old man in the sea completely authentic, Lily would have ended after the first 10 paragraphs or, you know, so what you want rather than striving for complete authenticity, just like the title of my book fight, right? How to write believable, fight scenes. Carla (22m 29s): You want it to be believable. And I don't think that betrays the art because how many times have we watched movies? And we were like, oh man, that was so real. But we know it wasn't right. We know for a fact, what we saw was not real, but we believed it in that moment. And that's the writer's job, you know? So number one, don't aim for 100% authenticity aim for believability too. Don't ride so much, honestly, writers care more, more than what kind of fight it was. What kind of work went into the sword, plane, everything, what they care about most is the impact it has on the fighters, on the story as a whole. Carla (23m 16s): That's truly what matters. And I don't edit fight scenes very often, but every now and then I do contract work for different people and, and publishers. And I worked with a lady who her fight scene. I forget one scene was I forget how many thousands of words w not thousands over a thousand. I do remember that. And I highlighted a few things and I said, you know, these are great. Everything else just kind of needs to go. And she was kind of surprised. And I said, it's not serving the story. It's really not. You have to think of it like a navigation app. You know, if you're driving and the navigation app says, here's a mailbox, here's a road. Carla (23m 59s): There's a two story house. Now here's this road. If it tells you all those things, it's going to divert your attention to your destination. You know, you can't put too much into it. And so I tell people a good rule to kind of think of is only write what you would see illustrated in a comic book or graphic novel, because real estate in those is so prime. You know, every single page of a comic book and graphic novel is major money, every single page. And so they have to make the most of it. And so what they do is they highlight the major portions of the fight. Carla (24m 40s): They leave the rest of it to the reader's imagination and our readers are smart. They can do that. And they also make it a very much sensory experience. And which leads me probably to another thing. I think people are focusing more on the actions than the impact of the actions. You really want to focus on the sensory details because that's what everybody can relate to. Not everybody can relate to being stabbed with a Katana. Thank heavens. Yes, but we can identify with searing pain. And by the way, in my book, I go over diff I've I mean, firsthand account from people who've experienced different wounds to tell you kind of the, yeah. Carla (25m 29s): Kind of the entire spectrum of different things experienced, you know, people know the blood, they know what blood looks like. They know what a scream sounds like. They can understand looking down and seeing your own blood on your hands and it freaking you out. So you really want to hit your reader, make them feel it. It's not what you say. It's how, how you make them feel. You know, you can look back at books. My judo coaches is taking some type of class and every now and then he'll say, Hey, have you read this? Have you read this? And he said something about Anton checkoff. And I don't remember what by Anton check-off I read. But I remember thinking I liked that. Carla (26m 10s): So I don't remember the words, but I remember the feeling connected to it. And Maya Angelou said people, and this is so important thing. Remember this, as you walk throughout the world, people, people will forget what you say, but they won't forget how you made them feel. And so in your fight scene, they will forget the grip. You had, you know, the caliber, caliber of bullet, what type of sword, the foot movement, but they're going to walk away and remember how they felt. And I use Chuck Palahniuk again, as another example, there's a young man at my gym who wants to write and he's really good. Carla (26m 50s): Like he has a blog. And I, I mean, this kid is like 16 in our blog. And I'm like, I'm a terrible writer. This kid is so much better writer than I am. He asked me one time, well, what, you know, what are some writers you like? And I said, you know, for a sensory experience, Chuck pollen, it hits it pretty hard. And the kid read one of his short stories and I warned him. I said, now Chuck, Paula, Nick is gritty. He's not a nice and tidy writer. And he goes, okay. And he came back and he told me, you know, the short story he had read, I think it's called guts. And he goes, I'm still horrified by it. And I want to take lots of hours. And I was like, right. Carla (27m 31s): Isn't that awesome. So even though he doesn't, you know, years from now, he may forget the words of that story, but he's going to remember that when he got done, he was like, oh my gosh. So, you know, that's what you want to read with. You know, lastly probably is less as more. It really is. You know, I think we've all seen somebody who had on too much makeup, you know, and you look at them and you just think, oh my gosh, with half that makeup, you would look amazing. You know, sometimes too much is not enough. It's like, and my coach asked me yesterday, Hey, do you want to spar? And I'm like, yeah, I want to spar. Carla (28m 11s): That's like Starbucks asking me if I want whipped cream. Don't insult me. Yes. I want whipped cream. Yes, of course. I want whipped cream. The rule should be, if you don't want it, say it, there should never be a question about it. So, but when it comes to writing, especially in the time that we live in, if you read more classic works like, you know, Jane Austin, Bronte, DH Lawrence, oh, I love doing Florence. They tell you everything. They tell you about the pebbles on the walkway. They tell you everything about the daisies and the sun. Okay. But those were also people who didn't have TV. And so books where their TV, you really have to get into all the details. Carla (28m 55s): And we're a different society now for good and bad. I think they said that humans officially have a shorter attention span than goldfish kidding. And which is one of the reasons. Well, I mean, it's true. I mean, w we're multitaskers, we jumped to so many things. And for that reason, they do suggest that we make our chapters shorter. You know, if you're a Y a author, they tell you, Hey, make short chapters. Because teenagers that read Y a which actually the audience for why a is like 18 to 35, they want to feel that feeling of progression. You know, oh, I got this chapter done. I got this chapter done. And so we live in a very short attention span society. Carla (29m 40s): And so you have got to make the most of every single word Michelangelo. They asked him how he created David. And a lot of people have heard this. He said, I just took a rock, a piece of stone. And I took away everything that wasn't David, you know? And, and that's how, that's how it is. You have to edit, you have to edit, what is it? They say, edit with a knife or edit with a sword or something like that. But you know, you, you write, oh, well, Hemingway again, he said, write drunk, edit sober. Yeah. You have to be willing to really cut things down. Even if it's something you love, which reminds me of another thing about fight scenes. Carla (30m 22s): I think some, and I'm guilty of it as well. I think sometimes we write to teach rather than reach and that's the wrong way to go about it. We want to show the reader, look how much research I've done. I'm not a surgeon, but I play one in this book. You know? And when, if you're teaching your, unless you're writing a craft book, the, okay, I'm talking about fiction and informational nonfiction, your goal is to reach your reader, not be teaching your reader. If you have to constantly be defining things in your work, you've made an error. Carla (31m 3s): And you know that when you use technical lingo in your work, you risk losing your reader. You know, it can take, it can take, when you send in your work to an agent or an editor, they asked for the first 50 pages they used to, I don't know what they ask for any more, but usually it's first 50 pages. So in their reading, their, their idea is if you don't have me in that 50 pages, you don't have me. So it can take, you know, a ton of time to really get a reader in your work, but it can take a page to lose them, you know? And, and you don't want that. So don't isolate your readers, you know, and again, sometimes you have to use technical lingo. Carla (31m 44s): And I think print the princess bride, the book is absolutely a perfect example of that. Just like the movie, which is one of those that the book and the movie really do each other justice. You know, it's not one that like, oh, this is so much better. You know, they're really both, very tongue in cheek and funny, but the fight between Wesley, as the dread pirate, Roberts and Inigo, they starts the very first one where they're spitting out all that technical lingo. Yes. It's the same thing in the book, same thing. But it talks about the foot movement and about, and not he steps, right. But dust coming off the ground, okay, that's a picture. You told me how fast they're moving. Carla (32m 26s): And you realize that they're shooting out this technical lingo to outdo one another. So in that case, it matters. Technical lingo also matters. If you have someone who has an expertise or proficiency with a something, it makes sense that they're going to use some words, you know, a police officer wouldn't call the trigger, the pew pew thingy. You can do that. Somebody who works with knives, isn't going to call it the sticky part, you know, the stabby end. So yeah, you need to know the technical lingo there, but at the same time, you need to show the reader. What's that means you don't tell them. Carla (33m 6s): You don't tell them that, but you show it. So don't worry, aim for believability rather than authenticity. Number two less is more three, right. To reach rather than teach. And I think I've missed one in there, but yeah, start there. And, and honestly, I give you permission to not write so much, that burden has been lifted off of you. You do not have to convince your reader that you are an expert in this. You only have to convince your reader that the character is an expert at this. Carla (33m 46s): Okay. And Unless they aren't, which is statistically more likely, it is strange. How many people in books know how to fight when the average population does not. They absolutely. Don't when I'm at writing conferences, one of the things I do is I'll say, okay, make a fist and hold it up. And it's shocking. The majority of people don't know how to make a fist. And I'm like, that's why would you know how to make a fist? Nobody's taught you? So I give you permission to not know something it's absolutely. Okay. You know? And when it comes to fighting, there are some great resources out there. There are some great fighting resources. Carla (34m 27s): Mine happens to be a fighting resource from the perspective of a her, which is, is very, very different. So I think I answered your question. If I don't answer the question, say Nope, circle back. Autumm (34m 41s): Great. So yes, you listed definitely some things that authors are doing wrong. And I agree, because I think there's often a tendency to focus on the wrong aspects. I'll see descriptions of like the sword hilt coming towards you. And you're like, you wouldn't know the emblem as it's about to knock you in the forehead. Carla (35m 0s): Oh, you would not. You would not. Absolutely not. Autumm (35m 5s): You know, there a wound is mentioned, but not the pain that goes with it. And then it seems like a chapter later, the character is fine. And I'm like, well, if you'd focus on how it's going Carla (35m 16s): To feel to Autumm (35m 19s): Hold holds, Carla (35m 20s): These people heal so fast. Yes. If you want to go into the tiny nuances. Yeah. Healing time is a thing, people. And if your character is on the battlefield a lot, just because you don't get knocked out, doesn't mean you don't have a concussion just because you're knocked out. Doesn't mean you do have a concussion. And when you do get knocked out from a punch, you're not out all day, it's sometimes 10 seconds, sometimes 30 seconds, you know? So you don't have time to have a whole scene. You know, now, I mean, of course, when it comes to the human body, there's going to be variables that, you know, it depends on the age, the person and all that on my Instagram, I'm on Instagram at Carla C a R L a dot C dot Hoke, H O C H. Carla (36m 9s): Or you can just hashtag fight right. Once a week, I do like a little fight, right? Tip or I put a blog post that you might want to read. And one that I have coming up, I don't know when it's scheduled it. I think it's sometime this month, but it is the healing of bruise, bruise, healing time, and the different colors and the spectrum it goes through. And one of the things I say is, you know, this is dependent upon the age of the person, the health of the person. And don't think you're going to see all of those particular colors, but for reference, you know, this is what you have. So definitely I think it's important to focus on the pain of things. Carla (36m 49s): There's no greater motivator of man than pain. Everybody can relate to pain. So really I'm laser focused in on the things every reader can relate to versus only the readers who have held a bastard sword, or who have swung a mace. You know, how many people really have done that. So focus on the human experience, essence of the scene, which is the pain and the sensory details of it. Oh, I think that's the emotional impact. Yes. I was going to mention the other thing. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Very seldom. Does somebody, it, it seems so easy to kill people and you would, you know, we look at crime statistics and we think it's no big deal. Carla (37m 38s): You just, you know, shoot somebody, you go about your day. It has a lasting impact. It really does. And even if the person just kind of goes blank, that's an impact. That's not normal. It's not normal to feel absolutely nothing. And one of two things is, is going to take place either that person has some psychopathic or sociopathic issues with their brain, which is not normal, or they're going to put it in a little box in the side of their brain and not deal with it. In which case it's going to come up somewhere else in their life and just nightmare. And I cannot to, it is so common from what I've seen when people kill somebody else that they, they dream about that person again and again. Carla (38m 19s): And I mean, these are even people in jail who have killed multiple people in world war two. They did a study. There's a book called on killing by SLA Marshall. There's a lot of it. There's a subtitle with it too, but the main is on killing and, and he did a study of the soldiers and the Pacific American theater and how many bullets per kill. And it was an obscene. I forget like 60 something bullets for every one kill. And there is one instance where they had an enemy combatant running over, running through an empty clearing. And you had all these American shoulders shooting at them. Carla (39m 2s): And none of them hit them. It was very star wars, very, very norm trooper aiming. And they were all shooting over their head or they were shooting in front of him on the ground. And it's because inherently killing another person is not a normal place to exist. It's not our homeostasis. It should not be right. And so between world war two and the Vietnam war, that's the one that came next. Yet the Vietnam war, they started operant conditioning and it's the same thing they have to do with police officers. And it, they literally not only train soldiers to kill from a technical tactical standpoint, they train them from a psychological standpoint. Carla (39m 43s): And so they went through operant conditioning and all these little, all these things, you know, when you hear policemen talk about criminals that may have been killed, they don't, they don't say the person may say the perp, they say the target and that is distancing themselves from the other. And it's the other. And it's not a matter of coldness it's to help their brain process everything they've been through. So, yeah, and, and my book focuses a lot on that. I think people expect my book to be all about punching and kicking. And I would say a good half of it more than half of it is not, and is divided into five rounds. And there's chapters within those rounds, the rounds are sections. Carla (40m 25s): It's five rounds like a championship MMA. And the second round is all about the human experience. You know, it's, it's what happens to us psychologically when we kill another person, it's about what adrenaline does to you, what a surge does, what a dump does. It talks about mental manipulation and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, little things like that, that people don't realize. I'm also amazed how many characters though. They are soaked in adrenaline. Just think so clearly. So, and their hands are steady. And I'm like, I have had people ask me to sign things just after practice. And I can't, I mean, my hand is shaking. Carla (41m 8s): It's the adrenaline it's, it's what it does to your body. So yeah, I think the opportunities that writers are missing are actually the opportunities that number one are the easiest opportunity to, to take. And they make the most lasting impression. So step away from the technical aspect of it. I'm not saying make it completely crazy. You know what I'm saying? Look, there's some things that just, ain't a thing, picking up somebody by their neck and talking to them in the real world and a thing not possible Even then, because I did. Yeah. Oh, I know because my husband works in oil and gas and he's had to go to companies that do, they rent large equipment everything. Carla (41m 55s): And I asked him something about cranes and there is actually a formula. They go through to create a crane so that you know how much weight you can lift before that crane topples over. Right? And so then if I am strong enough to hold you up, your weight is going to topple me forward. And that was something in the wonder woman movie. I have so many issues with the one. I love gal Gadot as an actress. I think she does a beautiful job, but there's one scene in the most recent movie where she's holding a man over the balcony. I think she's holding him by his foot and she's leaning over and talking to him. Carla (42m 37s): And I'm like, gal Gadot is what a buck 25 with weights on. And she's holding this 200 pound man. She may be strong enough to do it, but physics isn't going to let that happen. Physics is going to pull her over the edge. So it's true. Make it, make it easier. And just remember physics is a thing the majority of fighting is physics. So, Autumm (42m 60s): Oh, I think that is actually a fantastic note to wrap up on because that is, that is something. So, you know, even though we're talking about fantasy, even though we can play with magic or maybe tweak the physics of our world a little bit, there's things that are real. Carla (43m 15s): We still have gravity. Magic has rules. You have to establish the rules of your magic. You have to establish reality for your reader immediately. Okay? If everybody on the planet has superhuman strength, it's not superhuman anymore. It's the norm. So you better know the rules of your world and you better print them out and keep them on the wall so that you can just glance at them. So you don't have to open a file. Cause let me tell you, who will remember the rules of your world and that's your readers? Absolutely. So I like it. I always say don't cross the streams. Meaning from Ghostbusters at the original Ghostbusters, at the beginning, don't cross the streams. Carla (43m 56s): Everything in the world will go into nothing. And then what do they do to get the stay? Puft marshmallow man. Yup. But we love the movie they had to, but they broke their own rules. So just, if you're going to put, if you have little rules to remember that you keep on your wall, behind your computer, put up, don't cross the streams, keep the rules handy. Do not defy the rules of your world. Do not defy the rules of your magic. And I'm sorry if we're going over time, do I just go for it? Okay. Okay. You have to have characters that can be beatable. They cannot be invincible. Carla (44m 36s): That's very true. Oh my gosh. If they're invincible, then the story's over the first page. Even Thanatos can be beaten. Superman can be beaten. And a lot of times what your care, if you're having a hard time figuring out, well, how can you beat this person? Okay. Well, a lot of times their strength is, is linked to their weakness. They knows who's super, super, super huge. And so what defeated him? Tiny little nanobots. They were able to drive. I'm pretty sure that's what it was. Another one. Superman. Why is he so strong? Because his home planet, you know, they have the sun and they have different gravity. Carla (45m 19s): Okay. Well what's his weakness. Something from his home planet kryptonite, you know? So look at, and while we're talking about fantasy, let me just, I'm going to digress super quick. Oh sure. Dragons, dragon dragons. I love dragons. I think we need to do them justice. You ain't going to stand on the back of a dragon while it's fine. You're not going to do that. It's like standing on an airplane. It's not going to happen when people think, oh, you've just got rains. And I'm like, okay, have you ever been on a horse? Do you know when you stand up on a, when you stand up on a horse, it's considered trick riding for a reason. Carla (46m 4s): So if you are riding, I should have gotten into the fantasy stuff straight off the bat. I apologize for that. If you are riding on the back of the dragon and you're like, what weapons should my person have? If they're on the back of a dragon, you're on the back of a dragon advantage. You, you don't need a weapon. It's like being in it. You are on the weapon. It's like, well, my person is my soldiers in a tank. What weapon does he need? He's in a tank. You know the dragon. Absolutely. If you need your wag, you know your dragon to do something, have them drop something from their claws. Oh, brilliant. Or have them use their, use that tail for heaven sake. Carla (46m 45s): Now they can't use it so well while they're flying because they need that tail while they're flying. Yes, it's a rudder. And you have to remember when the dragon takes off, it doesn't take off like a helicopter. You know, it's going to have to flap. And so the person on top is going to be, I'm not saying you can't ride a dragon. I'm just saying, I want to see that saddle. And I also don't think you're going to be able to keep your eyes open because of how fast they're moving. Oh my gosh, you're going to need goggles. Also. I don't think dragon smoke is black. I think it's white. And here is why. Whenever you see you have a fire and the dark smoke comes out of it, the dark smoke is what could not be burned off. Carla (47m 32s): Okay. It is what could not be efficiently consumed by the fire, a dragon, whatever is the source of their flame. Pretty sure it's going to be efficient enough to not have anything leftover may seem steam. It, yeah, you may seem steam in the air because the heat, you know, the humidity in the air. But I don't think there's going to be elements of that flame that aren't going to burn. That just doesn't make sense to me. And I talk about dragons in the book and I, and I call it my, my dragon soap box. Oh, the dragon soapbox. I love dragons. Carla (48m 14s): I, it's hard for me to imagine. And you know what, call me crazy. Don't care. Clearly I don't care. Every culture in the world has had a concept of a dragon. And so you're telling me nothing like that ever existed. How can the Vikings and you know, the Chinese who had never encountered each other, both have dragons, you know, you have CATSA. Quadel Exactly. So I, and you know, there, there are descriptions in the Bible that you're like, oh, okay. Carla (48m 53s): Maybe there were such a thing. So also, yeah. Get your dragon, right. People get your dragon, right. If it is a water dragon, it's construction is going to be different than if it's an ice dragon. It's going to be different than, you know, and not all dragons may have wings. Some of them may not. So, but I'm sorry. I love fantasy. Love it. Love it. Love it. And so that's one of my hangups. Autumm (49m 20s): Well, I'm not going to complain about that hangup. I think it's perfect. I already could talk to you for like, there's just so many nuances that I would love to get into and oh my God, this would be, this was so much fun. So yeah, I think we would carry on here for the next two hours. Carla (49m 38s): Yeah. Don't get me started about armor. I can go off on armor. I can go off about the weaponry. Armor is determined by the weaponry. It's not the other way around the armor that existed at the time of crossbows is not going to be the same as the armor that existed before, you know, crossbows armor from Japan is going to be different than armor from Europe. And that has to do with the availability of natural resources. So again, I could go off on that, but I know you we're running out of time. I apologize. Autumm (50m 7s): You know, we, we, like I said, I don't think that any listener is going to complain one bit. It's so true. I think, just to think about things like that, like you have different cultures, even if you're not using China, you're not using the earth. Think about the technology, the weapons and the different, depending on what's it, this is an aspect of you're right. Everyone's a winner. Carla (50m 29s): Right. And I can, I can do a whole podcast on creating weaponry to they look the way they do because they serve a certain purpose, not just cause it's cool. Autumm (50m 37s): So Carla (50m 38s): If you have a podcast on creating weaponry and all that kind of stuff, girl, I will talk your ear off. Autumm (50m 45s): Well, maybe we'll have to think about doing this a follow-up on something like that. Cause that would be, Carla (50m 51s): That would be great. Autumm (50m 52s): We could blast. Well, I, and I'm so excited to know, dragons are in your fight, right. Book, because you just hooked me. That's like, we could just, we could make your check-ins right. Oh Carla (51m 4s): Right. I have a fighting robots, dragons, robots, aliens, and Beasties. When I got the contract with writer's digest, they said, can two things, can you add 25,000 words? And can you add a chapter on fighting aliens? And I'm like, can I write a chapter on fighting aliens? That can be my 25,000 words right there. So yes, if you are fighting mythical creatures, if you have special circumstances, even I talk about, you know, battling telekinesis and all that kind of stuff. So there's a lot. Yeah. There's a lot of really groovy stuff in there. Autumm (51m 35s): Yeah. That sounds like, I think just about every listener's dream come true is being offered a book contract to say, can you write about fighting aliens or dragons? Carla (51m 46s): And you let your nerd show, oh, I can. So let my nerd shows like, yeah, what star Trek pajamas do you want me to wear while I ride it? Cause I have, Autumm (51m 55s): Yeah. Brilliant. Oh, thank you so much. And you know, we may have to, we'll have to give listeners, do you want to follow up, you know, let us know and we will maybe Carla back on that would be brilliant. So not everyone know. I will obviously have tons of things in the show notes, but let people know where to find you. Okay. Carla (52m 17s): The quickest way to find me is FightWrite.net. F I G H T W R I T E.net, if you mistake and do F I G H T R I G H T, you're still going to get there. I own them. It will lead you to the blog and the index. Just go to the index and peruse it. I'm trying to make it very search engine optimized so that you can really find keywords quick. And you can also buy my book directly from there. FightWrite. If I G H W R it's right here. It's right there on the back fight. Right? If I G yeah. How to write believable fight scenes with writers digest. Look me up on the Instagram hashtag fightwrite? Carla (52m 58s): Carla dot C dot hope because every now and then I'll put out a call on my story on, Hey, let me answer some questions for you. And I'll go, IGTV, I do have a YouTube channel that I have grossly abandoned, but I will get back to it. I just have too much going on. So that's the best way to find me. I have a contact form in the blog and, and on my website. And I, I literally answer questions, people. So send them my way. That's how I know what to write about on the blog. You know, I can write about what I think is interesting or I can yeah. Or I can write about what readers actually, or writers want me to know the answer for them. So feel free to reach out anytime. Autumm (53m 33s): That was good. And if you go to your website, take a look at your about section, which is hilarious on your wife's. I'm just going to leave that hook there to make people go and read your about section. It's adorable. Carla (53m 47s): You know, somebody called somebody called me and they said, I found your bio on a writer's blog. This is like six years ago. And I'm like, what are you talking about? And they were saying how to write a funny bio. And they had used my bio. I'm like, my bio is real. It's not funny. So get over yourselves, read the bio. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it also tells what all my fight experience is, Autumm (54m 10s): Which is definitely you have a resume there alone of what you're finding experiences. It is brilliant. Oh my gosh. Next time I'm in Texas. I am definitely stopping by. It would be way too much fun. Carla (54m 22s): Absolutely. Absolutely. For Autumm (54m 24s): A road trip. Cool. So come back next week for Monday where it'll be another one of our famous top 10 worst lists with Yesper and I they're awesome. There's so much fun. Narrator (54m 42s): You like what you just heard? There's a few things you can do to support the am writing fantasy podcast. Please tell a fellow author about the show and visit us at apple podcast and leave a rating and review. You can also join Autumn and Jesper on patreon.com/AmWritingFantasy for as little as a dollar a month. You'll get awesome rewards and keep the Am Writing Fantasy podcast going, stay safe out there and see you next Monday.

It´s Roman and me again. Stories aus dem täglichen Leben, wie mein Opa die Ratten aus dem Garten vertrieb, warum Delphinplacentaglobuli gut für euren Nachwuchs sind und warum Ansaugstutzen Fluch und Segen sein können. Finally Hundecontent vom Feinsten.

Amici e amiche, bentornati a questo nuovo podcast che parla di #libertà. Siamo davvero sicuri che essere liberi sia così semplice? Quanto #costa creare da zero il proprio mondo? Lo affronteremo oggi con questo #shotletterario! Come sempre, #palahniuk ci fornisce enormi spunti di riflessione con protagonisti assurdi e mai stereotipati!

Come si fa la divisione in capitoli?

Amici del #bardellapsicologia oggi parliamo del libro #invisiblemonsters e di due temi fondamentali: #narcisismopatologico unito al #dismorfismo! Una condizione #patologica che solo un genio come #chuckpalahniuk poteva ipotizzare. Come al solito, fatemi sapere cosa ne pensate!

Tre cose utili per superare la pigrizia e finalmente scrivere un romanzo.

Ecco il nuovo #podcast a tema #libri e #psicologia ! Era da un bel pò che volevo parlare di quest'opera a me molto cara e riconosciuta a livello mondiale come #cult assoluto. #fightclub di #ChuckPalahniuk rappresenta la fine di una generazione i cui costumi sono stati dirottati dal puro capitalismo senza scrupoli. Ma non solo. Parla del #disagio e della ricerca atavica di un padre crudele che possa renderci persone migliori.

This is Palahniuk's book on writing that I needed to throw in because I was getting bored. It may become an extra little punch that will get me back to Moore's Book. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/damnedbooks-451/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/damnedbooks-451/support

Here's part 1 of our near FOUR HOUR discussion wioth the one and only Matty B about Chuck Palahniuk's "Invisible Monsters"! Matty had a lot to say about a ton of subjects, that we did our best to keep it all in and so we split it into two parts! Don't worry, Part 2 is dropping on the same day as Part 1! We hope you enjoy it, and don't for get to RATE, REVIEW, and SUBSCRIBE! Points of interest: Fast reading, Bird-eaten faces, Palahniuk style, Turkey slicing techniques, "Sorry, Mom!"

An audio production of the short story “Tethered”. Wherein the narrator is systematically hunted by a supernatural predator from the Appalachian Trail.“Tethered” written by Chris GroffPerformed by SoullessRecorded at Soulless StudiosFound at the GW Outerbridge Shelter along the AT.

Brad Pitt at his peak. Edward Norton on the up and up. Helena Bonham Carter at her most underrated (but still kooky). And our boy David Fincher - getting his groove back two films after the disastrous Alien 3! A meta look at Fight Club, (Corrye sums it up with one Pitt line from the movie) and an exploration of everything from the camera techniques to Pitt's smoking nuances. And let's not forget Meat Loaf's nipples!

En este nuevo encuentro en el café de Mendel José Carlos y Jan hablan de sus últimas lecturas, que van de Chéjov a Pardo Bazán, pasando por Perutz, Cline y Weil, y Jan cuenta su experiencia con el marzo asiático de este año. Además, respondiendo a preguntas vuestras, hablan de Isabel Allende, los bestsellers, la autoficción y Palahniuk, entre otros.

Una ficción sonora adaptada por Regino García Martínez para Noviembre Nocturno y basada en la novela de Chuck Palahniuk, "Fight Club". El escritor norteamericano Charles Michael Palahniuk publicó el Club de la Lucha en 1996, Tenía 34 años, y había entrado poco tiempo antes en un taller literario, según dijo, para hacer amigos. Aunque había ejercido un tiempo como periodista en radio y periódicos locales, escribió sus primeras obras mientras trabajaba como mecánico para una compañía de transporte. El tono perturbador de Monstruos Invisibles, su primer intento de publicar, generó el rechazo de los editores que leyeron el manuscrito... El tono de Chuck era demasiado fuerte... Fue entonces cuando Palahniuk se decidió a escribir algo todavía más perturbador. Así, nació el Club de la lucha. Una de las novelas más polémicas, impactantes, leídas, odiadas, veneradas y respetadas de su generación, gracias principalmente a la fama que alcanzó tras el estreno de su adaptación cinematográfica. Sin que nos diéramos cuenta, la primera novela publicada por un mecánico de Portland terminó ocupando un lugar de privilegio en las estanterías de la generación X... Así pues, acomódense amigos, apaguen las luces, enciendan una vela y déjense llevar por la perturbada y delirante narrativa del maestro Palahniuk.... Qué comienzo el proyecto Mayhem. Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

As usual Hillary is the only person worth a dang on this production team and manages to walk Mal and Jill through the important pieces of the Women Tell All as well as the Semi-Finals aka the Fantasy Suites. Just to get this out of the way, Hillary snacked on leftover asparagus, mushroom and artichoke risotto. Mal had a blueberry muffin, Indica Nut-Balls (lol nut-balls amirite?) and coffee with a lil Baileys. Jill had the wrong brand of string cheese and a satsuma! Thought we should start with that since you can hear Hillary feasting but no mention of snacks is made at any point during the episode. We've only been doing this for three years! Anyway the title of this episode was going to be Tillamook: Rhymes with Palahniuk kind of and then Jill looked it up and learned that Chuck Palahniuk pronounce his own last name as "Paula-Nick" so daggum it all to heck anyhow.  Dat Recipe Blog - http://www.snackmondays.com Dat Email Addy - snackmondays@gmail.com Dat Insta Handle - @snackmondays

We covered cattle mutilation (to Brooke's dismay) early in Season 1 - and here we are again with surgical-precision removal of butts galore, but this time - of a human man?!

Our biggest donation for our fundraiser for the Make A Wish foundation was from one of our best friends of the show, Derek! He got to choose our first review of 2021 and he selected 1999's American Drama, "Fight Club". We discuss the darker side of this film and how the general public missed the point. We also talk about the lengths that the crew went to create this incredibly artistic film with some amazing performances. Derek joins us for our rewatch discussion and shares why he loves this movie.This is the first review we've done in our new format, which sees a return of our Nostalgia and Rewatch reviews in the same episode. Let us know what you think!Thank you Derek for supporting us! Check out his kickass music on:Facebook https://m.facebook.com/Rekkit-Moore-110923030533201SoundCloud https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/UKeFJtMSQWptj1iQ6----------Movie DetailsDirected by David Fincher, screenplay by Jim Uhls, based on the novel of the same name by novelist Chuck Palahniuk.This film stars Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter, the Bat out of Hell himself, Meat Loaf, and surprisingly Jared Leto, which makes this the second time we're reviewing a movie I completely forgot he was in.Budget of $63mil, made roughly $100mil in the box officeCurrently a 8.8 on IMDb----------Ko-fi Break Shout Out - Selina J - https://ko-fi.com/ofselina - Check her out on Twitter for her awesome commentary about the world, see updates about her writing and photography, and her day-to-day interactions with her dad which are hilarious----------Special Thanks to our friends for sharing their nostalgia with us!The Movie Cellar - https://twitter.com/themoviecellarIain Wilson - https://twitter.com/iwilson80Selina J - https://twitter.com/OfSelina----------Our 1-Up Heroes!Support us on Ko-fi and help us raise money for C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan! We're on a mission to buy Nintendo Switch consoles and a ton of toys and activities for the kiddos there.When this was recorded, the following people stepped up BIG TIME!Rob Turner - https://twitter.com/ReynardCityGeeksploration the Podcast - https://twitter.com/geeksplorepodSimon, Emma, and the ENTIRE Ko-fi team! - https://www.ko-fi.com/Our friends James and Carrieand of course, Selina J! https://twitter.com/OfSelina----------Request a personalized shout out - https://ko-fi.com/movieCommission a movie review of your choice! - https://ko-fi.com/movie/commissionsCheck out all our episodes and subscribe – www.oswpodcast.com Twitter – www.twitter.com/oswpodcast1Facebook – www.facebook.com/oswpodcastInstagram – www.instagram.com/oswpodcast

Ognuno di noi ha voglia di sentirsi dire "questa storia mi interessa, dimmi di più!" Per scatenare questa reazione, però, abbiamo bisogno di una solida proposta drammatica, ovvero un "what if..." alla base della narrazione che ci permette di colpire l'immaginario del lettore e trascinarlo dove vogliamo. Possiamo usare tutti gli artifici narrativi che vogliamo ma tutto parte da qui.✍️ Scrittura Efficace LIVE:https://www.spreaker.com/show/scrittura-efficace-live✍️ Agenda dello scrittore di Scrittura Efficace: https://www.edizionihaiku.com/prodotto/agenda-dello-scrittore-scrittura-efficace/✍️ Pagina facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scritturaefficace.officialpage/✍️ Gruppo: https://www.facebook.com/groups/scritturaefficace✍️ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scritturaefficace/✍️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/scritturaeffic1✍️ Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/scritturaefficace✍️ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_PI6E3rX1xvrAB5Cnkb5nw✍️ Sito: www.scritturaefficace.com

Hi everyone, and thank you for tuning in to another episode of the We Make Books Podcast - A podcast about writing, publishing, and everything in between! We Make Books is hosted by Rekka Jay and Kaelyn Considine; Rekka is a published author and Kaelyn is an editor and together they are going to take you through what goes into getting a book out of your head, on to paper, in to the hands of a publisher, and finally on to book store shelves. We Make Books is a podcast for writers and publishers, by writers and publishers and we want to hear from our listeners! Send us your questions, comments, and concerns! We hope you enjoy We Make Books! Twitter: @WMBCast  |  @KindofKaelyn  |  @BittyBittyZap Instagram: @WMBCast  Patreon.com/WMBCast   Episode 47: Let Us Tell You About Show Don't Tell (Our usual transcriptionist is taking a well-deserved break. Any drop in quality of today's transcript is totally our fault.) Rekka (00:00):Hi, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of we make books, a show about writing publishing and everything in between. I'm Kaelyn Considine. I am the acquisitions editor for Parvus Press. Rekka (00:08):And I'm Rekka. I write science fiction and fantasy as RJ Theodore. Rekka (00:11):And you know what you've done? You have shown us that you write science fiction and fantasy as RJ. Theodore, you have not just told us Rekka (00:18):Although today I did just tell you. Rekka (00:20):You did just tell me now, but I mean, the books exist. I've seen them. So you've shown us that, but you have also talked at length about different parts and aspects of how you've written these and things that have happened to you, therefore showing us that you wrote them. Rekka (00:34):Or did I just tell you all this stuff? I don't know. What does this rule mean anyway? Rekka (00:41):Yeah. So today we're, we're tackling another one of those,uthose weird, funny little notes that you get from,ueditors and people critiquing your work. And you'll see, "show me, don't tell me" and – Rekka (00:52):Really frustrating because everyone says it and assumes you know what they mean, but if you haven't really processed what it means, or you haven't managed to do it and have someone say, "yes, that's what I mean by show, don't tell," like you just feel a little bit lost. You feel like maybe you are falling behind in the class kind of thing. Like why does everyone know what this means? And I still don't understand? Rekka (01:16):It is difficult, but I think it's one of those things that once you kind of figure out, it's a lot easier to understand what the note means. What, you know, we're trying to get at here is describing something to the reader and making the sentence do a lot of– do work in more than one way is a lot more interesting to read than just a list of descriptions, actions, emotions, or feelings. Rekka (01:41):If you at least identify when you're doing it in the revisions that's going to go a long way to improving your relationship with beta readers and editors later. Rekka (01:51):And improving your relationship with your characters, because we're going to talk a lot about that in this episode too. So– Rekka (01:56):All right. So let's not tell you what the episode is. Rekka (01:59):Let's show you! Rekka (02:00):On the other side of the music. Kaelyn (02:17):In this case, we're here mostly just to tell people things. If we just record this while showing things to each other, it's not going to be very, Rekka (02:25):What we're showing is our competence with writing skills and techniques Kaelyn (02:30):Ah okay. Rekka (02:31):And demonstrating, Ooh, maybe that's it. Okay. I solved it. Don't call it. Show don't tell because that confuses people show, call it demonstrate don't elucidate. Rolls right off the tongue. Kaelyn (02:44):Oh goodness. That's going on a mug somewhere. So yeah, but today we're, we're talking about one of the other great notes that people frequently get back from editors and agents, which is "show me, don't tell me I, I will, I think this is not as quote-unquote unhelpful as, you know, "tighten your storylines, work on your character arcs," that kind of thing. Um. Rekka (03:12):But it's one of the ones that people get early on in their writing because it's supposed to be so helpful, but if you haven't come across it and you don't know how to identify why it's being pointed out in your work, like what the heck does it mean? Kaelyn (03:30):Yeah. So there's, you know, before we, before we get started in too deep into this, let's kind of define some of the areas that we're talking about here. And it's funny because Rekka and I were talking about doing this episode and we both came to this with kind of different approaches to the show. Don't tell me like, things that were important to Ned,uwhile doing some research, I kind of discovered that what Rekka and I both think is important. Most of the literary world doesn't think is as important. Rekka (03:57):Well, we are genre-focused. Kaelyn (04:00):Yeah. Exactly. Rekka (04:00):That just supports that. Kaelyn (04:02):Yeah. So I came into this with like one of my big pet show me, don't tell me a pet peeves is characters. Urecords is world-building and,I– Rekka (04:13):It's not even that it was that you said characters first. So I said, Oh, okay. But also "world building." It wasn't like, I was like, "No, world building first!" This wasn't like a showdown. Kaelyn (04:22):It's always a showdown. Rekka (04:22):It was a telldown. I'll show myself out. Kaelyn (04:28):All right. That's the podcast, everyone. We're done. Rekka (04:30):Like forever. She can't take it anymore. Kaelyn (04:34):Oh God. Okay. but it's funny because then when I was doing research on this and most of these "show me, don't tell me examples. And what everybody's talking about is more of writing and prose and style. So the point of all of it is nobody wants to be bombarded with facts and told "this is the way things are in this book" without actually experiencing it while reading it. One it's bad storytelling and two it's disorienting, Rekka (05:04):But if they're reading it, aren't they experiencing it? Kaelyn (05:07):Well, no, they're not because that's not experiencing it, that's just being read a list of facts and statements. Rekka (05:14):I know I'm playing devil's advocate in case you didn't tell. Kaelyn (05:18):I know. Um so why is this a problem? Rekka (05:23):Because you bore your reader, you don't engage them. You don't pull them through the book. Kaelyn (05:27):Yeah. This is one of those things that, and we rarely, you know, kind of come down to this it's bad writing. It's like, I mean, really, you know, we don't, we don't talk too much about like, you know, universally accepted things that are considered bad writing, but this is one of them because as Rekka said, it's boring, it is not engaging. It's not pulling the reader into the book. Anyone can sit here and rattle off a list of, you know, facts about like the, you know, the kitchen table that had sitting at right now, it was brown and round. Light brown with wood patterns on it. It was made of wood. And that's not really interesting. It distracts from the story. It doesn't paint a scene. It doesn't give you any indication of how the character is feeling or interacting, or considering how to act based on their surroundings or their thoughts. It's bad writing. And it's well, not always lazy, but oftentimes lazy. Rekka (06:30):But it's also not serving a purpose other than to describe the table. And if the table itself doesn't have anything to do with the tension you're trying to build in a scene or inform you what this character might be like, because you know, you're discussing the furnishings of their house, which describes the character. Maybe more than just saying the character can afford lots of nice furniture. You know. Kaelyn (06:58):The, every everything, well, the vast majority of what you write in your book should be serving two purposes. If a monster erupts out of the ground to try to eat our heroes and you have to stop the action and the story to describe the monster, that's serving two purposes. One, you want to describe the monster. You want to know what the heroes are about to fight against, but two, you want them to know how scary this monster is. So the words you use, you don't just say, "it looked like a centipede. It was purple. It had a lot of legs and weird green eyes with lots of facets on them. Venom was dripping off its fangs." Actually "venom was dripping off its fangs" is a good example of what, how to describe it. But instead of stating facts about it, what you should be doing instead is, you know, "the creature erupted out of the ground, spraying rock and sand everywhere. Once they cleared the dust from their eyes, they beheld the monster before them. It was a towering behemoth of," you know, and go on like that, because what you're doing is you're showing that the readers are, or excuse me, that the heroes are freed here. And then you also don't have to tell us that they're afraid. Rekka (08:09):I was just going to say well can't you sum it up and say the monster burst forth from the ground and scared the heroes? Kaelyn (08:14):Absolutely. If you don't want anyone to know what the monster looks like. Yeah. Rekka (08:19):Yeah. So you would use this to do both things, show that the person is scared and the reaction without having to say this is their reaction and do the thing that you'd really like to do, which is, I assume if you're creating a monster as you want to get into what the monster looks like and the creature design. Kaelyn (08:35):Yeah. So in this case you know, what we're kind of talking about here is the last thing I brought up, which is sort of like the style and prose and writing technique of, you know, making your sentences do extra work for you. You're describing the monster and then you're also establishing that it is threatening and our heroes are afraid of it to, you know, circle back to some of the other ones that Rekka and I came up with here. You know, well Rekka you know, had specifically said world-building. Rekka (09:05):Yeah, well, mostly because when you have a genre book, you've got some sort of aspect of the world that you've invented from whole cloth. And of course, you're very proud of that. And of course you want to talk about it. And this isn't to say, like, there's the whole iceberg theory thing, and I'm not going to go into that. That's not what I mean by this. But the idea that you want to keep the book interesting, which means you need to keep the motivation of the reader of wanting to find out what happens next. If you're just describing a setting in your world. Well, it doesn't matter what happens next. That setting is probably unaffected by the plot and the story. And the time you take away from keeping that reader in the story is detrimental to their, you know, their draw into the whole world. Rekka (10:01):So even though you think like, "Oh, my world is so cool. I have to get all this in here." Your reader cares less and less about the world when you keep interrupting the story to tell them about it. So just like Katelyn was saying, do two things with your sentences, you know, throw a little bit of your world building into an action. That's happening in the story. You know, passing the,uneon ice cream shop where all the ice cream was neon of course is what I mean. Not that it's painted neon. That's ridiculous. You know, so like build your world building in the same way that you're going to build your emotional reactions to things in and your physical descriptions of things. So in the sense, your first example kind of was world building. Ubut it was also emotional. And so your sentences need to do at least two things. So they can be emotion and world building or action and world building, or action and emotion, or character and world like, you know, mixing match. Don't just have nouns and verbs in the right order. Kaelyn (11:03):Yeah. So, and then my, my particular pet peeve with the show me don't tell me is is character related. I hate reading books, I hate getting submissions, where all I'm reading about is how a character is. So this and guys, this character, they are just, so This Thing, this, that they're, so This, that it's practically coming out of their ears. Everyone knows that they're, they're, This they're just the most This that there is. And then you see nothing in their actions, thoughts, or speech that would indicate that aside from the author and then usually other characters around them telling you this. Rekka (11:42):Reinforcing it in a very direct and obvious way. Kaelyn (11:45):Yeah. So it's that's, that's one of that is my big show me don't tell me pet peeve is,uif you know, you've got a guy who's supposed to be like the most brilliant, I don't know codebreaker in the entire world, but we don't actually see him break any codes and that's not part of the plot, why is that, you know, why do you need me to tell to know this? Why is that important here? And,uubut you know, there's, there's things that I think you get a little more and you see this a lot in,uyoung adult and teen novels where,uyou know, you want the cool kid, the shy kid, the goth kid, the, you know, where we get these sort of like emotional angles and none of them are actually then displayed in the writing of the character. Uso why... You know, apart from why is this important? Why, why is it bad writing? Rekka (12:45):Good writing is something that someone can enjoy. So if they're not enjoying it– you know, like, okay, across the board, not everyone is going to enjoy every story, but there are things you can do to increase your chances that someone's going to enjoy the story. And one of those things is to control, for example, the pacing and the immersion of the reader in the world. And when you tell someone something, rather than show it to them, you're kind of saying, "No, no, no, no, just trust me on this," without providing the proof. Exactly. And so it's hard for a person to sink into that world and enjoy it if they're constantly thinking, "Well, okay, you say that, but where I, like, what does that mean to this character? Or what does that, how is that going to impact the story or anything like that?" Kaelyn (13:36):Yeah. And I think that where this comes from a lot is this, especially, you know, in genre fiction, like, you know, Rebecca and I work in is "I've come up with this really cool thing, and I need everybody to know all about it. I need them to know about how awesome this world is or how scary this monster is or how cool and bad-ass my main character is." Rekka (14:00):Well we do want to know these things. Kaelyn (14:02):Yes, absolutely. But "if I tell them over and over again, they'll get it," and that is not how you get a reader to internalize things, readers, internalize things by the actions of the characters or the interaction with the world around them. Rekka (14:18):Do you think this is kind of, and I hate this phrase, is this just like a "rookie mistake" where they know they need to convince somebody of this, or they know they need to include this. They just don't know how to go about doing it properly? Kaelyn (14:30):Yeah. And I think it is. I think it's something that you see a lot with new and emerging writers, where you've just got all of these amazing ideas coming out of your ears and you've just, you know, gotta gather them all up and get them on a page. And so what it turns into is just, you know, a list of reasons why this thing is how you say it is rather than seeing people you know, either display those characteristics or seeing the world, or even just the way that you're writing. So a lot of times, you know, as we said, when you, you're going to get into, if you Google, you know, "show me, don't tell me" it's going to be pages and pages of you know, examples and literature and all of these famous quotes and stuff about it. But it goes beyond just style and the ability and the way that you write. Within the story itself, you can't, you know, make a character a certain way by having everyone else around them insist they are that way, but them showing no signs of that whatsoever. Rekka (15:41):So I'm going to give an example with Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, because when you think about Scrooge, you tend to think like, "Oh, well he's a cheapskate." I mean, the name is synonymous with cheapskate. This is a thing Dickens did. He made stuff pretty clear just by the way he named people. His story is about his character arc. You think about it, and you're like, "yeah, no, people are pretty clear that Ebenezer's really awful." And you can say "Ebenezer's is really awful," if you were writing the story or you can describe him as "the cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shriveled, his cheek, stiffened, his gait made his eyes red, his thin lips blue and spoke out shrewdly in his grading voice." Like– Kaelyn (16:27):Yeah, that's good writing that. Rekka (16:29):Yeah. And I'm not a huge Dickens fan. He got paid by the word. And so he did go on, but like he was described, he described Scrooge as "a squeezing wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching covetous, old sinner." Like these are descriptive things but they're adding so much. Right? And then not only that, but the character behaves in such a manner. You're not just told this, but he says, you know, when people come to him and this is what you're saying about like the character supporting like, "Oh, just saying, Oh, you're an old miser, Scrooge," no people come to him looking for charitable handouts for the holidays. As, you know, as being established as, as good and wholesome and Scrooge says, "are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?" Like, he has an argument with people that shows how you might expect a person to behave and how this person is behaving in contradiction to that. And so it's just like a really, Kaelyn (17:34):No, that's. Rekka (17:34):It's rich. Like the way that, you know, this is, this is seven layers of Scrooge-ness that you get out of these, these, these words that are chosen. And so like in some ways it's good that he was paid by the word. Kaelyn (17:46):Most people in the English speaking world, even if they haven't read a Christmas Carol or seen one of the movies, which by the way, the Muppet version of it is, is the best one. Michael Kane, as Scrooge, there should be no other Scrooges ever. Rekka (18:01):Certainly not Jim Carey. Kaelyn (18:03):Most people know when somebody says like, Oh God, he's a Scrooge. Or, you know, like call you Scrooge. They, Rekka (18:11):It's an idiom now. Kaelyn (18:11):Yes, exactly. Because this was so effective in the writing. So that's a really, really good example of why this is important. Going back to, you know, like new writers and just wanting to get this stuff out there. I just think that information dumps, this insisting upon– the characters that insist upon themselves, is really distracting from the story. Rekka (18:37):Because you can feel it's the writer doing the insisting. Kaelyn (18:40):Yes. It makes you not like the characters. And I'm not saying every character in your book needs to be loved and cheered for, but you usually need at least one to love and cheer for or everyone's going to have a really hard time getting through the book. Rekka (18:53):Yeah. And I'm dealing with that in some of the TV shows I'm watching right now. There are so many important characters, but you at least understand their motivations, even if you don't like them or want to spend any time in their presence. Kaelyn (19:06):Did you just finished The Boys, Rekka? Rekka (19:08):I might have, yes. There's no one left to root for almost. But the, the idea of you insisting, "Mary Sue–" Kaelyn (19:20):Yeah, let's lean in here. Rekka (19:20):"Was So beautiful. Everyone loved her and she looked great in everything she wore." That's, that's great, but I'm not getting anything out of that. Kaelyn (19:32):Well, also, do you see what just happened there? You're not developing a character. You're giving me a list of qualities and traits about them. Rekka (19:41):This is like a job application. Kaelyn (19:43):Yeah, exactly. Let's use Bella from the Twilight series. Rekka (19:49):I think she's a prime example of this. Kaelyn (19:51):Yes. So you know, for those of you who have not read this or have not seen the movies and I, dear God, Kirsten Stewart Um so one of the really common critiques of the Twilight books apart from, you know, like apart from the "dear God, why?" Was, you know, on, a literary level that Bella is an empty vessel and there's debate as to whether or not this was the intention of the author, you know, that she'd just come off as like a very plain uninteresting character with very little personality to speak of, so that young girls reading this could, you know, easily put themselves into, you know, relate to her and say, "I am just like Bella." But what is really infuriating about this character and full disclosure—I have read all of these books. I haven't read the most recent one because why would I, at this point Um one of the things that, you know, a lot of people pointed out about this that is a legitimate critique of Twilight apart from the fact that these are vampires that don't catch fire the sun, but that's fine. It's, it's fine. We don't actually see Bella do too much that would establish her personality. If you took out the fact that this is written from her perspective. And even despite the fact that it's written from her perspective, there isn't a whole lot going on with this girl. She doesn't have a whole ton of defining characteristics other than the fact that she's in love with a vampire. That is her entire personality. We're told things like she's very smart, she's very accident prone. She's very you know, she's a hard worker. Kaelyn (21:38):She's really loyal. The loyalty one, maybe we see a little bit, but I'm not sure if it's loyalty or obsession. One of the running jokes through the whole book is how accident prone she is. I, I could not come up with anything other than sometimes she bumps into people in the hallway there, so this is a good example of, you know, show me, don't tell me where and granted, here's the thing: this may have been deliberate on the part of the author, even though I said, I haven't read the newest one. So,ushe re-wrote the first book from the perspective of the shiny vampire boyfriend. Okay. Uso you're getting everything from his angle and you know what, for the sake of this podcast now, I think I'm going to have to go read this book because it would be very interesting to see Bella from outside Bella, and whether or not she seems to have a personality. And I think that's exactly what this book is. So now.. Dammit, Now I've gotta go read this book. Rekka (22:41):Well you don't HAVE to. Kaelyn (22:43):No. I have to, for the sake of science. Bella, I think is a good example of in terms of characters, "show me, don't tell me" because we just keep hearing all this stuff about her without ever actually seeing her be anything except pretty much completely passive aside from acting dramatically and irrationally when it comes to Shiny Vampire Boyfriend. Rekka (23:05):And you say, this is an effective tool to rope in a certain kind of reader. But it seems to me that if you write a compelling character, you're going to rope in a reader of any type. Kaelyn (23:18):I would hope so because here's the thing, there were, she was surrounded by compelling characters, everything around her was far more interesting than she was. Rekka (23:26):And it was just rubbing off on her, was that the idea? Kaelyn (23:29):I GUESS. You know, like I didn't, I remember talking about this with someone and they were like, "I don't understand why, you know, girls, like all of these young girls love this book so much. Like, I mean the main character is like so boring." And I said, "they're not reading it for her, the reading it for the love triangle, the reading it for Hot Werewolf Guy and Shiny Vampire Boy." Rekka (23:49):Yeah. Kaelyn (23:49):Um Bella's just a vessel to carry that story along in all of this. Rekka (23:56):It just seems like it could also be done effectively with someone who is not an empty vessel. Kaelyn (24:00):Absolutely. And that's the better story. Rekka (24:04):Okay. So getting back to the "show, don't tell," don't don't take too much to heart from the gobs and gobs of money that the Twilight series has made. Please. We would hate for you to go down that dark and disturbing path. Kaelyn (24:16):–To Make a lot of money off– Rekka (24:19):Look, if, if that's what you enjoy reading and that's how you liked your characters... I guess? Kaelyn (24:23):Hey, you know what, look, everybody like knocked Twilight for a lot of stuff. If that's just something you enjoy sitting down and reading and kind of, you know, mindlessly, or in a very engaged way, going through. Awesome. That's great. But Bella is a good example of characters that we were told about rather than shown. Rekka (24:42):Okay. So getting back to the, the origins of this, when it's handed out as advice and who's handing it out as advice and where does it come from? Where's it supposed to take you and how do you want a new writer to interpret the phrase? Kaelyn (25:02):So if I tell somebody, I never just put, you know, highlight something and say, "show don't tell me," I always put a note next to there saying like, "Hey instead of you telling me about how, you know, sharp, this sword is, have the character pick it up and slice something in half." That's way more interesting than, you know, just staring at this sword and describing it in great detail. Rekka (25:27):Although a little irresponsible. Kaelyn (25:28):Well, it depends what you're slicing in half. You know, if there was a watermelon that you were about to eat anyway, then sure. You know, Rekka (25:34):Yeah but the sword doesn't deserve to be used as cutlery! Kaelyn (25:38):Depends on the sword. Rekka (25:39):Okay. So two characters arguing over whether or not they can use the sword to cut the watermelon. "I'm Not saying it won't cut the watermelon. I'm saying that's not an appropriate use of our family's sacred sword." Rekka (25:49):"And I'm saying that we all want the watermelon. I see nothing else around except the family sacred sword. Don't you think your family would want us to have the watermelon?" Rekka (25:56):"And we'll wash it right away. We'll hang it back on the wall over the hearth. Everyone will just think we polished it. It'll look better. Everyone will be happy." Kaelyn (26:03):And then we get watermelon. Rekka (26:04):And then later, monsters attack and the edge of the sword is dull because you cut the watermelon with it and everybody dies, the end. Kaelyn (26:10):Oh. Very good Rekka. Very good. Yeah. So when I highlight these things, what I'm trying to communicate to the reader really at the core of it is either one, you were slowing down the story or two, you're missing an opportunity to contribute something to the story. Be it, you know, establishing of piece of information we didn't know before, giving the characters a chance to kind of show their feelings or their emotions a little bit you know, having an action rather than a description. The author who wrote Fight Club– Rekka (26:47):Palahniuk. Kaelyn (26:48):There you go. Chuck Palahniuk. I remember reading something that he wrote and I actually, I did go and look it up before this, and he, to remember doing exactly he said. But he doesn't like what he calls Thought Verbs thinks knows, understands, wants desires. What he's saying instead is make sure you have an Action Word in there. Kaelyn (27:14):And by that, like, instead of saying like, you know, "understands," describe what they're understanding. They smelled something and it triggered a memory and they remembered this. They, you know, reach their hand out in the dark and touch something and realized it was the centipede monster from earlier in the story. It ate both of those heroes and unow it's hiding in the dark. Rekka (27:38):He's back. Kaelyn (27:39):Yeah. He's back, the centipede monster's here forever. So, sensory and action details are a good way to avoid telling people about it because what you're doing then is you're making the character experience something and you're making them relate things to you and have to describe it. You can't just say "Rekka smelled something," you need to say, "Rekka smelled something foul. It made her nervous. It reeked of death." Because now what you're doing is you're describing what Rekka smelled. You're giving us a sense of her emotional state. And you're implying that there is probably a dead body somewhere. Rekka (28:14):Right. Kaelyn (28:15):So you're setting up the scene. Rekka (28:17):And I did find the Lit Reactor article that you're talking about with Chuck Palahniuk's words. And so "instead of characters knowing anything, present details that allow the reader to know those things" is kind of how he phrases it. So instead of a character wanting something, you have to describe the thing so that the reader wants it. In the sense of Twilight, you're putting the character in that main character's shoes, except you're not doing it by making those shoes empty for the reader to step into. You're actually tying them onto the reader's feet yourself. Kaelyn (28:50):Okay. That's– There you go. Yeah. And that's exactly what it is, is it's immersive. Every story is told from something's perspective, be it, you know, a super advanced alien life form or a somehow borderline sentient rock. They're both still experiencing things. Now they're experiencing them very differently, but that's your job to communicate in the book, and just telling us what they're experiencing is not immersing the reader. If you're a rock on Mars, just sitting there going "wow, I'm just this rock of Mars. It's really red and dusty here." Rekka (29:23):See, I thought you were going for Sylvester and the Magic Pebble when you talked about being a rock. Kaelyn (29:27):Oh, that's a good book. Rekka (29:28):That's an excellent book. Kaelyn (29:30):Scared me when I was a kid. Rekka (29:31):Scared you, really? Kaelyn (29:32):I don't know. It's just like, so for those of you who haven't read Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, first of all, go, go read that. But it's a story of a donkey who finds a magic pebble. Rekka (29:43):I think his parents give it to him. Don't they? Kaelyn (29:45):I thought he found it in a Creek and if he holds it and he realizes he can make a wish and the wish will come true. And he's being attacked by a lion at one point, and I'm not sure geographically where takes place. Rekka (30:00):It was Oatsdale, of course. Kaelyn (30:01):He's being attacked by a lion and wishes that he were a rock because the lion won't attack a rock. Except then he realizes he's dropped the pebble and he's not holding it anymore and he can't wish himself to be back from being a rock. Yeah. And he stays a rock for a really long time. Rekka (30:17):Well, that's what I'm saying, this is the point of view of a rock. Kaelyn (30:20):Yeah. But no, it's actually really sad because his parents think like he's dead and like go, you know, search for him forever. And like, they keep like standing on top of him to like search for him and sitting on him and crying about him. And it's, it's a really weird children's book. You know, so if you're, you know, as I said, the rock on Mars and you know, it's still dull, dull, boring life. And then all of a sudden robot shows up your prose and your sensory words and your, you know, way that you're experiencing, and the things that you're seeing obviously have to change in order to communicate the excitement of the rock, because "Hey, robot!" Rekka (30:58):Which you can't call to or wave to, or walk over to, or offer ice cream to. Kaelyn (31:03):Maybe it's going to pick you up to study you. Rekka (31:07):If you're lucky. Kaelyn (31:07):Yeah. And then what if, you know, you start to fall in love with the robot, but it turns out that it's not actually the robot because it's a bunch of people in NASA controlling the robot, but you don't know that. Rekka (31:16):I don't know, the robot's got algorithms. Kaelyn (31:19):Yeah. That's true. How do you fix this? How do you avoid falling into this trap? Rekka, have you ever had to kind of reconcile with this? Rekka (31:29):I was just thinking like, I wish I'd grabbed the notes, but Ryan Kelley, my editor at Parvus, when we were working on Salvage, one of the things he did was point out a few areas,uwith the one character Emeranth where some opportunities were there that I had missed to make her as clever and as caring and as smart as she could have been. And so his suggestion was something along the lines of like, "this is a great opportunity to show her doing the governing that she's forced into" and that sort of thing. Kaelyn (32:00):Yeah. That is something that I frequently make notes of is it's not even, you know, with the writers at this point that I'm getting bored, it's that you're missing an opportunity to have this person do something and, you know, be the bad-ass that you're saying they are. Be the clever person that you're saying they are, the great leader, the great fighter, the coward, you know, any, any number of these things Rekka (32:23):He said when he was pointing out a spot that needed showing, not telling he wasn't saying "show don't tell" waggling a finger and then moving on like, "Oh, my job is done. What a good editor I am." He was saying, "I would suggest that you use this to build this character into the character you say they are." And now Emeranth's scenes make me get all, like we be in shivery on the regular. So... Kaelyn (32:49):"Show don't tell" helps develop, you know, whether it be like your world building, your character, or just even your writing technique, it's going to give you a more rich style. You know, like at the most basic level you don't say you know, "Stephanie was a selfish immature entitled girl." You write a scene where Stephanie's throwing a fit because everybody forgot to throw a surprise party for her dog's half birthday. Rekka (33:20):So we talk about this broadly, we've talked about children's books, we've talked about movies, we've talked about YA books and all kinds of stuff, but are there genres in which this applies less or more like, are there expectations of like, "yeah, no, I actually just want you to get out of my way with this character and let me use them as an avatar for myself in this story." Kaelyn (33:46):I don't know if there are, genres where it's acceptable. I'll be honest with you. This is something that I think is pretty universally frowned on. This is one of the few sort of constants. You know, that said, anytime you're writing something, there's going to be instances where you have no choice but to do a little bit of quote-unquote telling you know, be it because maybe it's a really fast-paced scene and you want to keep the reader engaged and you want to keep the action going. So it's, "he parried left. She swiped, right. He ducked, she dodged they've rolled on the ground," you know, like you're. Rekka (34:20):But that's action. Kaelyn (34:21):Exactly. Yeah. Rekka (34:22):It's engaging. And if we're using Chuck Palahniuk's example, like that's exactly where you want to be, is more in the physical. So if you are telling and, but it's action beats, would you say that's better than telling in thought beats? Kaelyn (34:38):Absolutely. Yeah. Rekka (34:39):Okay. So then my question is, what role in this conversation specifically, would you say adverbs play? Kaelyn (34:49):Ooh. Rekka (34:49):I feel like there's some bleed in, you know, between the two. Kaelyn (34:52):I think adverbs are, like any other thing in life, good in moderation. You know, there's again, and this is another thing that there's a lot of people with very strong opinions about there, about– Rekka (35:05):Never ever ever use adverbs. Kaelyn (35:07):Yeah. That's impossible. Rekka (35:09):Right. Kaelyn (35:09):It's simply, it's simply, it's like not ending your sentences with a preposition, it's like just not the way the English language works. So what Rekka's referring to here is, you know, some editors and, you know, people who get all stuffed up about this stuff. Will say, I don't want to see you write "'Oh, you'll see,' Rekka said slyly.'" I want to hear "Rekka closed the laptop and turned to me with a sly smile on her face and a glint in her eye. 'Oh, You'll see,' she said." Notice how I made it not an adverb. Rekka (35:44):Yeah. By not connecting it to the say. Kaelyn (35:46):Exactly. Yes. And yeah, there is this little kind of weird nebulous area there where like, you're like, "well, I'm describing what she's doing. It's, it's kind of an action." But at the same time, you're telling me what she's doing, rather than showing me with a sly smile on her face. Rekka (36:05):That's I would point out that in the, the example, your quote-unquote correction, we also have things that ground us in the space. And so one, a person who might feel the need to tell you what everyone is thinking might also feel the need to show all the actions in the right order, what hand they're using. Like "she used her left hand to close the door while she scratched her nose with her right, with the fingertips of her right hand," you know, like being very specific about everything. Kaelyn (36:36):Yeah. That's interesting that you bring this up because what you're doing now is you're crossing into a different literary problem. We are past the "show, don't tell" and we are into the "excessively detailed for absolutely no reason." Rekka (36:47):And we will maybe talk about that in another episode. Kaelyn (36:49):Yes. But that is, that is a good point. Is that there is a certain, you know– we get past a certain telling like capacity and into the you're now describing the placement of every single thing in the room for no reason. Rekka (37:05):This is a game of twister. Kaelyn (37:05):Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Rekka (37:07):But what you did was you combined the two things to say, like, we've moved ahead with the story because the laptop has been closed or maybe "Rekka closed the laptop and grabbed her jacket. 'You'll See.'" That implies movement. Kaelyn (37:21):Yes. But you're leaving is she being threatening? Rekka (37:25):I wasn't going so much for the sly as talking about like trying to get more action in, in that sense. Kaelyn (37:29):Yeah, exactly. Rekka (37:30):In the case of being sly, then you might say "Rekka closed the laptop, grabbed her jacket and narrowed her eyes as she shut the lights off. 'You'll See.'" Or whatever. Kaelyn (37:39):Yeah. So yeah. Are there times where you have to, you will have to tell rather than show? Absolutely. Are adverbs a never use them? No, I mean, you will, at some point have to use an adverb, but they are a slippery slope to telling, not showing, even though they sound like you're doing a good job of describing something, they're really telling rather than describing, Rekka (38:00):They are skipping the cues that we want in the story and they are jumping right to the judgment. So what you're doing is you're telling the reader how to feel rather than making them feel that. But one thing you did mention earlier, real quick, that I just wanted to get back to before we wrap this up, is the idea of a fast paced scene where there's a lot of action and maybe you've just, you know, watched a Jason Statham movie and you feel like you need to really show all that action and show and describe the, say, like train– underground train tunnel they're in while they're running around chasing each other. But if stopping to describe the space they're in means that you lose that momentum, then it may still be in the physical, but it could also be more telling than we need. You know, "I nearly slipped on a loose piece of old soggy newspaper" or something like that. That's still– Kaelyn (39:02):Gross. Rekka (39:02):That brings you back into the action, increases the threat because you could fall down now, versus like "the train station had been abandoned since 1970, despite many attempts by the local politicians to renovate and drum up support for a Renaissance of the train museum, which was founded by so-and-so." Kaelyn (39:24):Yeah, Exactly. Rekka (39:26):That's world building! Kaelyn (39:27):We don't need to know all of that. Rekka (39:29):That doesn't serve your action scene with Jason Statham, who's got to get in that train car and then take off his sweater and use it to defeat his enemies. Kaelyn (39:36):Yeah. Because unless the enemy he's defeating is the corrupt politician that was siphoning money out of the budget to restore the train station. All we need to know is that has been abandoned for about 50 years. Rekka (39:46):Yeah. And some gross newspaper will communicate that better than a history lesson. Kaelyn (39:51):Just to round this out. You know, somebody comes back to you and is like, Hey, show me, don't tell me you're kind of going, "Oh, well, what the heck do I do with this?" Take a look at the sentence or the paragraph in particular that they're calling attention to and try– read it out loud, try to figure out if it sounds like the paragraph or the sentence is doing double work to you. Is it conveying more than simple statements of fact or very straightforward descriptions of what people are doing or how they appear or a feeling? Rekka (40:24):Is it a list of judgements of a thing versus list of evidence to support that judgment? Kaelyn (40:30):Yeah. I would say that, listen, this isn't, you know, we're being kind of catty about this in terms of, you know, like this is one of those universally considered bad things, but this is also very hard. This is one of the reasons why it's difficult to be a good writer. Because we, as humans are used to, when you describe something, you know, like, "Oh, I went on a date with this guy. Oh, cool. Let's say like, well he's tall and he has Brown hair and blue eyes and he's got a scar on his eyebrow. And,uhe, you know, plays the saxophone and he works as a barista." Like you're telling me, like, you're just listing this stuff about a guy who is a real living, breathing person, but that's a totally acceptable thing that we do all the time. Uyou know, a friend of mine is like, "Oh, let me tell you about my new boyfriend. I don't need poetic soliloquy about, you know, his feelings on the bass versus the alto saxophones,uand why he prefers one and the childhood trauma surrounding that. Umou know, I just like to know that he plays the saxophone. So that's a normal thing for us with how we talk and how we describe things to people in everyday life. However, when you're doing that, you're looking at your friend as they're doing that and you're and you know, says like, "'Oh, he, you know, plays the saxophone and he's a barista.' Rekka rolled her eyes. This was Kaelyn's fourth barista of the year. Second one that played the saxophone. Where was she finding these men?" But Rekka knows that that's going on in her head. Rekka (42:01):Right. But you put that in the story and suddenly there's context again. Kaelyn (42:05):Exactly. But for regular conversation, you don't need context. And hopefully if that's what Rekka's actually thinking, she's not going to start narrating her internal thoughts to me, because then I'm going to– Rekka (42:15):Oh! That's a great idea. I'm going to start doing that now. Kaelyn (42:20):Um so it's a hard thing to do just because of the way we're used to conducting ourselves in our daily life. We don't need to, you know, I don't need to describe to Rekka the fact that I'm sitting in my kitchen right now and I'm wearing a sweater because it's finally getting a little bit chilly here, but I still have some of the windows cracked open... Because one, Rekka doesn't need to know that two, she can see me in the sweater and probably see the window behind me. In stories you don't have that. So you need to make your sentences do as much work as they can, otherwise you are just describing lists of actions, emotions, and feelings. Rekka (42:57):And this might be a great opportunity to take the book that made you feel the most feelings, and give it a skim and see how their prose sounds compared to yours in areas where you're being told this needs some showing versus telling. I mean, the best thing to do is to pay more attention to people who are making you feel the way you want your reader to feel when they read your book. Rekka (43:19):"What Can I do to become a better writer? How should I get started writing?" And my first answer is always you need to read a lot. Rekka (43:25):Always. Never stop reading. Kaelyn (43:27):Really. Never stop reading, because having all of these things in the back of your head, you know, it's not stealing. Think of it as a research. How did this author, that I really liked this book, how did they handle this problem? How did they make sure, how did they grab me by, you know, the heart and really squeeze it for this one scene? Kaelyn (43:45):Like, what did they do that left me in tears here? What did they do that made me stand up and cheer? Why did I stay awake until three in the morning? Because of something I read? You know, so don't think of that as copying. It's not that I think of it as research. Rekka (44:00):Right. Cause you're not going to take their words and use them in your book. You're going to figure out what they did and find how that parallels what you're trying to do. And that's a good thing, you know? Chances are, they did that too. Kaelyn (44:15):Yeah, exactly. So anyway, I'm not sure how much advice that was on Show Don't Tell, but at least hopefully that was some information about why it is important and what people are trying to say when they point it out to you. Yeah. And if this is something you struggle with, don't feel down about that. It's hard. We don't think about practicing writing, but like you really do have to practice writing. Now granted, practicing is doing revisions, but you know, I think we think like you practice piano and then, you know, you don't really have anything to show for it at the end, but practicing can still, you know, it's the same way as like, you know, practicing cake decorating. Maybe it's not great, but you still have a decorated cake at the end of it. Rekka (44:56):Yeah. Rekka (44:57):Yeah. And you can use that to look back and say how much you've improved because your next cake has way more skill applied to it because you've learned Kaelyn (45:05):Plus cake! And even if it doesn't look pretty, maybe it tastes really good. Rekka (45:09):Exactly. You know, when you keep writing, that's how you keep improving. You're not going to sit down and plunk out one amazing novel and never write again. And it will need revision and whatever you write is going to need a second draft or is going to need at least another pass. There's little you can do to avoid that. The more that you write, the less often that you will fall upon some of these like quote-unquote rookie mistakes, you'll make all new mistakes of more advanced variety, but you will get better. And reading more, writing more, and you know, getting other people's opinions will help. There are critique groups out there on the internet, you know, that you can join and you'll get feedback of varying harshness and helpfulness, but like, it will help you. When you critique other people's work, it will help you critique your own work. Because if you can sit back and read it like you were reading someone else's work, how am I going to help this person understand what I'm trying to say I think it needs? Because sometimes you need to rubber ducky your own thoughts a little bit. Kaelyn (46:18):You know, at the end of the day, you hope that you get to a point where somebody puts a note in there of show, don't tell and you go, Oh, of course, right. You don't just sit down and be awesome at writing. That's not how this works. As I said, hopefully that at least kind of clear some of the mystery around the "show, don't tell me." Rekka (46:38):Hopefully clear some of the frustrations so that, you know, when you see those words, if they aren't paired with concrete advice, then you can back up and take a look from, you know, a little bit further away from where it is in your mind and say, "okay, what, what do I think I'm communicating that I'm not communicating?" Kaelyn (46:58):Exactly. Rekka (46:58):Because that's what it comes down to a lot of the times, it's like, okay, you say this person's great. Or you say this monster is scary, but – Kaelyn (47:04):You know that in your head for these reasons and you're not showing it to me, the reader. Rekka (47:09):Yep. Kaelyn (47:09):Well, I think that's, that's pretty much it. I guess that's what we got there. Rekka (47:12):We did manage to go on at length, despite me thinking it was going to be pretty straightforward. I got a whole bunch of these really straightforward quickie episodes planned that are going to be at least the normal length, if not longer. So if you're looking forward to those, make sure that you are subscribed to the podcast. If you have questions about any other kinds of editing tips that you've received in your manuscripts that you were like, "what, what?" Kaelyn (47:35):What is this note? Rekka (47:36):"Kaelyn, Explain this to me, please. Tell me I don't have to do whatever this is saying. "I Think did it say rewrite? Is it saying revise? No, I don't want to just tell me it's perfect." if you have any questions for us about these random topics that editors mark up in your manuscripts, and you're not really sure what they mean, or you want to know how to avoid them in the future, or advice you see that you still don't quite understand, just let, let us know, for sure, @WMBcast on Instagram or Twitter. Kaelyn (48:09):We like, we like these episodes. These are fun. Rekka (48:10):And we love to answer questions and we love to help people. So let us help you. And hopefully we have helped you. And if you feel that we have, you could really help us out by sharing these episodes with a friend who might be interestedUm do make sure that you're subscribed and not just clicking the link that we post on social media because having more subscribers helps other subscribers potentially find us. And also um, really helpful in getting subscribers to find us is to leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts or, you know, generally any review is helpful anywhere, but the Apple podcasts really seems to still have the corner on the market for that. Kaelyn (48:46):That's very true. Rekka (48:46):And, and if you are super, super appreciative and want to show that with currency, in gratitude or in an expression of the editor's fees we've saved you, you can go to patreon.com/WMBcast. We are not trying to steal the work from the professionals. We love all editors, present company included. Kaelyn (49:07):Thank you. Rekka (49:08):We will talk to you in two weeks. Kaelyn (49:10):Thanks for listening, everyone. Rekka (49:11):Thanks everyone.

Today, we're chatting with Chuck Palahniuk: a writer who almost defies description. His books are impossible to categorize, and - frankly - that's just the way he likes it. Palahniuk burst onto the literary scene in 1996 with Fight Club, which went on to be made into the cult-hit film directed by David Fincher. On this episode, we have a fascinating and revealing conversation about working outside of the "mainstream," writing for yourself, self-doubt, how the adult coloring book craze is saving the publishing industry, the importance of arousing physical reactions among readers, and Palahniuk's own personal approach to writing and storytelling. And poop. We also talk about poop.