Messages to Azathoth: A Cinereous Dawn

Agent Diana Berrigan has now been writing Arkham Files stories for seven months. When she started, little was known about the team's target audience—the mysterious cybercriminal nicknamed Azathoth. Over the months, the team has learned his identity and what motivates him. As a result, the subliminal signals embedded within the stories have also evolved.

The new vignette: Wish on a Star

Writing over the holidays has become a tradition for me, and this December I'm writing a story set in January 2005. Recently I'd posted a vignette about Peter's birthday in January 2004, and the upcoming Wish on a Star vignette occurs on his next birthday.

Story Playlists

Penna and I both find it helpful to create playlists when we write a story. The selections act as a personal soundtrack. Some songs evoke the atmosphere of a story, while others depict the mood of a character or simply create a stimulating background to write. Music, just like a plot arc, can extend over several stories. Whenever I hear Crosby, Stills, and Nash, I'm transported back to Arkham. If I play Schubert, the plot bunnies for Klaus Mansfeld come out of hiding. I had Diana reference the process in the last chapter of Nocturne in Black and Gold when the top of her playlist for Cinereous Skies was "Run through the Jungle" by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Novel Progress: NaNoWriMo

This year I participated in my first NaNoWriMo. I'm pleased with what I accomplished, and thrilled that I exceeded the goal of 50,000 words. Thinking it over these last two weeks, I'm undecided if I'll attempt NaNoWriMo again next year. If I do, I'd like to take a different approach.

Arkham Files: A Hybrid Blend

The world of the Cthulhu Mythos, an invention of the horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, has been almost since its inception a collaborative effort. Lovecraft corresponded regularly with other writers, notably Clark Ashton Smith and August Derleth. They later became known as the "Lovecraft Circle." They all contributed to the mythology and sometimes referenced each other's works in their stories. The process has continued to this day. In my stories, I've borrowed elements from many Mythos authors while also adding characters and concepts that are generally not found in Lovecraft's fiction.

Novel Progress: selecting the starting point

When it comes to writing stories -- regardless of whether they're short stories or novels -- I struggle with deciding where to start. That was true for Prime, as well as for the vignette I'm posting for the Caffrey Conversation series this weekend.

Novel Progress: title reveal

In the days before NaNoWriMo began, I finally selected a title for my novel: Prime Conditions.