Shameless Self-Promotion of My Short Story Book The Ghastly Family
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1484871022/sr=8-1/qid=1380129817/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1380129817&seller=&sr=8-1
When I was in fourth grade, our teachers began assigning creative writing essays. Usually they would hand out a paper with one unfinished sentence. We were supposed to write a story by the topic the sentence introduced. I remember one particular paper, "If I were a balloon...." I had never written a story before then, but I suddenly felt very inspired. I had just seen a French movie about a boy and his red balloon. It was Halloween, and I wished I could go to a Madonna concert that was playing in my area at the time. These influences made me easily compose a story about a red balloon dressing up as a ghost on Halloween, attending a Madonna concert, befriending a child, and going trick-or-treating.
I always wondered how my teachers felt about my work. Most of my classmates managed to write their entire story on the one sheet of paper. "If I were a balloon...I would float up and up and up. The world would look very tiny. I would go into outer space. I would fly into the sun and pop, because the sun is too hot. The end." I was handing in novelettes. I always got good grades, but I doubt the teachers read them. I remember my best friend saying, "Why do you write so much?"
Writing was a pleasure. I looked forward to those assignments. For years, I wrote. Generally, I wrote with pen and notebook paper. I remember when I inherited my stepfather's old, metal manual typewriter. Good lord those keys were hard to press--and they often stuck. Writing went slowly--I had to use a pencil to press the keys. My hand hurt. Eventually, I had to give it up when the typewriter ran out of ink. I don't think they sold the type of typing ribbon that it took by then. It was the age of the electric typewriter.
As I got older, writing became less of a passion. I still enjoy it, but it is more painful. It is like giving birth. It became painful when my insight became better. I became a better writer, but pain is mixed with the joy...and sometimes I just can't stand it.
My mother, though, has always held out hopes that I would publish. I did submit my work and collected a few rejection slips. One problem with my work was that it didn't fit neatly into any age group or genre. One book I wrote was basically a drama, coming-of-age story...but the fact that it took place on another plane of existence made it a sci-fi fantasy. I often wrote fairy tales, but there was a lot of adult content that made it unsuitable for children. Mainly, I just found the whole process of submission rather tedious.
Then the wonderful world of self-publishing gained more respectability. Of course, initially many places required you to pay...and in the end, even with payment plans, I found this impractical for the type of life I had. However, Amazon offered a free deal. They don't pre-print books, so they don't have to forward any costs. Books are printed as they are ordered. When my mom found this, she encouraged me to submit one of my old stories.
So, here we are. I chose to try one of my short stories first. The Ghastly Family is inspired by Charles Addams' The Addams Family. That is obvious from the start. I explain this, though, by saying that the origins of the Ghastly family occurred when a relative had a nervous breakdown and believed that Charles Addams was a prophet. He modeled his life after The Addams Family. I must also mention that there are dolls known as the Ghastlys--I believe they are made by Tonner--but this has nothing to do with my story. They have the same last name. I didn't copy them. I chose the name ghastly from a list of synonyms for a word I used to describe this family. It also conveniently rhymed with Astley, which was the family's original name before they converted to their new belief system.
This short story is now available on Amazon. It is even available for international sales, which I am happy about--because I think it might do well for people who are learning English. The writing is simple, and the story is short enough not to be intimidating for beginners. I did pay for two things--and both were optional. I paid $25.00 to have my book offered to other book dealers and libraries. My book can be found on many online bookstores, including Barnes and Noble. This widens distribution. I also paid $2.48 (I believe) for a copy of my book. I don't get royalties for buying my own book, but I do get a discount. The book will be available on Kindle as soon as I proof that version. Proofreading and editing are the things I hate most about writing. The good news is that Kindle will probably be cheaper, and I have allowed people to lend books on it.
I was sorry that I couldn't sell it cheaper. It is a small book, a short story. Yet, to make any profit, I had to sell it for $6.50. It is a paper back, and I don't know how good of quality the paper will be. I put it as low as I could. At this price, I will only make 12 cents a copy with one of the distributors, though I will make more money if people buy it through Amazon. I am a long way, folks, of quitting the job I don't have and living off my royalties. J.K. Rowling I am not.
I did my own artwork for both the front and back covers. This book may have done better as a graphic novel, but graphics inside the book cost extra to print. Doing the covers was a real headache. Amazon kept saying that my resolution was too low, even though I changed it to their requirements. It took it a while to recognize it. I worry that the covers may be blurry.
This is NOT a children's book, though it is suitable for teen readers. If you are looking for a book that makes you think, that delves into the mysteries of life that has haunted humanity for ages...this book is NOT for you. This book was meant for a good laugh--or I hope so. It is dark humor, and that is a touchy form of comedy. Sometimes when I read this book, I am actually horrified that I wrote it--when I am in my more sensitive moods. Other times, I think I was quite amusing. Humor--particularly dark humor--often pokes fun at things that aren't really funny if you really think about them. The thing is, though, that a person has to have a sense of humor about life...have the ability to laugh at it, even the horrible things that aren't really funny, because otherwise you truly risk insanity. Even if you are not insane, you are often too serious for most people to be able to stand you.
Though it is meant to be humorous, that doesn't mean it doesn't have points that could be discussed at a book club (though in my experience, people in book clubs almost never read the book and just seem to be there for the cheesecake and coffee). What inspired me to write The Ghastly Family was my interest in evil, and to a smaller degree...the habit most people have of being attracted to people and then wanting to change them, even at the risk of destroying what they liked about the people in the first place. You see this a lot with friends and lovers. Somebody starts out perfect. Then they would be perfect if only....Pretty soon, they have degraded into the worst person in the world. Generally, the person hasn't altered at all except in the eyes of the beholder. What I also noticed is that people who often want to change other people are hardly perfect specimens themselves.
As for my interest in evil....There have been countless TV shows and movies about people going back in time and killing Hitler or some other bad person. Or sometimes they don't kill them. They have some special drug that alters them. It always seems like a good idea, better for humanity...but I was debating that if such a thing were possible, would it really be a good idea? It would be so long as evil doesn't have a purpose and is just a mutation.
In no way do I condone evil acts. Yet, I have wondered. We have made enough progress where we have conquered many diseases that used to be epidemics. We have gained some control over the elements to minimize loss of life. For the most part, the majority of people manage to get enough sustenance to meet their basic needs. Yes, I know that people still die from incurable diseases, they die in natural disasters, and many still don't get enough to eat and drink...but overall, I'd say our species is thriving. Death is unfortunately a necessary part of life. It keeps the population from overgrowing to a point where it endangers us. Nobody wants to die or wants the people they love to die, but the sad fact is that we all have to die someday to make room for the new people being born. Do enough people die from diseases and accidents to maintain the population? Or would we reach dangerous overpopulation growth if not for our self-destructive tendencies and war-like nature? You often hear tales of enlightened societies that soon disappear from the face of the Earth, usually attributed to some natural disaster. Yet, if all of humanity embraced our enlightened principles, would we in fact jeopardize the species? Are we in more danger from our enlightened principles than our self-destructive ones?
I was also interested in the idea of altering your life. It is considered ideal to be proactive and deal with your problems. However, if you can change your life, it is doubtful it would be problem-free. You would just have different problems than the ones you have now. What if you preferred your old problems to your new problems? Would that be an incentive to NOT change your life? How would society perceive such a person? A lot of people often look down on homeless people. I know quite a few homeless people, and I often have found that many of them--aside from suffering from some sort of addiction problem and/or mental illness--also have a low stress tolerance. Many cannot handle the stress of owning things or having any responsibility. You look at them and see how dirty they are, and yet many of them seem rather content in life. If they get enough change to buy a sub or get a package of cigarettes, life is good.
This idea was something I played with in the book. The character Weirdo Ghastly is a young boy who is the oddball of his family. He is often embarrassed by them. He doesn't like their past-times. When they are first altered by the mad scientist, he is actually glad. However, he is one of the first to start regretting the change. His family becomes socially acceptable, but they develop other qualities he doesn't like so well. They were sociopaths before, but they weren't bigots--they would be glad to kill anyone of any race and showed no preference. When they are altered, they stop being sociopaths, but they become bigots. Weirdo's parents had been devoted to each other before the change, but not so much afterwards. They were tolerant, loving parents--oddly enough--before, but after the change they are more critical and less supportive of the odd duckling Weirdo. Society is more critical of Weirdo too when suddenly he has a winner family, whereas before he was considered the best of a bunch of rotten apples.
People often want to change or get rid of undesirable people, but my book poses the question of whether this is a good idea? Would you really be happy if you could successfully change the annoying qualities of your mate? If they became what you think you want them to be, would you wind up being more unhappy with them? What if you are interfering with the person's ultimate purpose (if people have a purpose) by changing them? Could it be the end of life as we know it? Or would life just re-adjust the variables? (In my story, it didn't). How would the consequences affect you if you successfully changed someone?
While a lot of philosophizing did result in this story, don't take it too seriously...it was meant just for a laugh.
When I was in fourth grade, our teachers began assigning creative writing essays. Usually they would hand out a paper with one unfinished sentence. We were supposed to write a story by the topic the sentence introduced. I remember one particular paper, "If I were a balloon...." I had never written a story before then, but I suddenly felt very inspired. I had just seen a French movie about a boy and his red balloon. It was Halloween, and I wished I could go to a Madonna concert that was playing in my area at the time. These influences made me easily compose a story about a red balloon dressing up as a ghost on Halloween, attending a Madonna concert, befriending a child, and going trick-or-treating.
I always wondered how my teachers felt about my work. Most of my classmates managed to write their entire story on the one sheet of paper. "If I were a balloon...I would float up and up and up. The world would look very tiny. I would go into outer space. I would fly into the sun and pop, because the sun is too hot. The end." I was handing in novelettes. I always got good grades, but I doubt the teachers read them. I remember my best friend saying, "Why do you write so much?"
Writing was a pleasure. I looked forward to those assignments. For years, I wrote. Generally, I wrote with pen and notebook paper. I remember when I inherited my stepfather's old, metal manual typewriter. Good lord those keys were hard to press--and they often stuck. Writing went slowly--I had to use a pencil to press the keys. My hand hurt. Eventually, I had to give it up when the typewriter ran out of ink. I don't think they sold the type of typing ribbon that it took by then. It was the age of the electric typewriter.
As I got older, writing became less of a passion. I still enjoy it, but it is more painful. It is like giving birth. It became painful when my insight became better. I became a better writer, but pain is mixed with the joy...and sometimes I just can't stand it.
My mother, though, has always held out hopes that I would publish. I did submit my work and collected a few rejection slips. One problem with my work was that it didn't fit neatly into any age group or genre. One book I wrote was basically a drama, coming-of-age story...but the fact that it took place on another plane of existence made it a sci-fi fantasy. I often wrote fairy tales, but there was a lot of adult content that made it unsuitable for children. Mainly, I just found the whole process of submission rather tedious.
Then the wonderful world of self-publishing gained more respectability. Of course, initially many places required you to pay...and in the end, even with payment plans, I found this impractical for the type of life I had. However, Amazon offered a free deal. They don't pre-print books, so they don't have to forward any costs. Books are printed as they are ordered. When my mom found this, she encouraged me to submit one of my old stories.
So, here we are. I chose to try one of my short stories first. The Ghastly Family is inspired by Charles Addams' The Addams Family. That is obvious from the start. I explain this, though, by saying that the origins of the Ghastly family occurred when a relative had a nervous breakdown and believed that Charles Addams was a prophet. He modeled his life after The Addams Family. I must also mention that there are dolls known as the Ghastlys--I believe they are made by Tonner--but this has nothing to do with my story. They have the same last name. I didn't copy them. I chose the name ghastly from a list of synonyms for a word I used to describe this family. It also conveniently rhymed with Astley, which was the family's original name before they converted to their new belief system.
This short story is now available on Amazon. It is even available for international sales, which I am happy about--because I think it might do well for people who are learning English. The writing is simple, and the story is short enough not to be intimidating for beginners. I did pay for two things--and both were optional. I paid $25.00 to have my book offered to other book dealers and libraries. My book can be found on many online bookstores, including Barnes and Noble. This widens distribution. I also paid $2.48 (I believe) for a copy of my book. I don't get royalties for buying my own book, but I do get a discount. The book will be available on Kindle as soon as I proof that version. Proofreading and editing are the things I hate most about writing. The good news is that Kindle will probably be cheaper, and I have allowed people to lend books on it.
I was sorry that I couldn't sell it cheaper. It is a small book, a short story. Yet, to make any profit, I had to sell it for $6.50. It is a paper back, and I don't know how good of quality the paper will be. I put it as low as I could. At this price, I will only make 12 cents a copy with one of the distributors, though I will make more money if people buy it through Amazon. I am a long way, folks, of quitting the job I don't have and living off my royalties. J.K. Rowling I am not.
I did my own artwork for both the front and back covers. This book may have done better as a graphic novel, but graphics inside the book cost extra to print. Doing the covers was a real headache. Amazon kept saying that my resolution was too low, even though I changed it to their requirements. It took it a while to recognize it. I worry that the covers may be blurry.
This is NOT a children's book, though it is suitable for teen readers. If you are looking for a book that makes you think, that delves into the mysteries of life that has haunted humanity for ages...this book is NOT for you. This book was meant for a good laugh--or I hope so. It is dark humor, and that is a touchy form of comedy. Sometimes when I read this book, I am actually horrified that I wrote it--when I am in my more sensitive moods. Other times, I think I was quite amusing. Humor--particularly dark humor--often pokes fun at things that aren't really funny if you really think about them. The thing is, though, that a person has to have a sense of humor about life...have the ability to laugh at it, even the horrible things that aren't really funny, because otherwise you truly risk insanity. Even if you are not insane, you are often too serious for most people to be able to stand you.
Though it is meant to be humorous, that doesn't mean it doesn't have points that could be discussed at a book club (though in my experience, people in book clubs almost never read the book and just seem to be there for the cheesecake and coffee). What inspired me to write The Ghastly Family was my interest in evil, and to a smaller degree...the habit most people have of being attracted to people and then wanting to change them, even at the risk of destroying what they liked about the people in the first place. You see this a lot with friends and lovers. Somebody starts out perfect. Then they would be perfect if only....Pretty soon, they have degraded into the worst person in the world. Generally, the person hasn't altered at all except in the eyes of the beholder. What I also noticed is that people who often want to change other people are hardly perfect specimens themselves.
As for my interest in evil....There have been countless TV shows and movies about people going back in time and killing Hitler or some other bad person. Or sometimes they don't kill them. They have some special drug that alters them. It always seems like a good idea, better for humanity...but I was debating that if such a thing were possible, would it really be a good idea? It would be so long as evil doesn't have a purpose and is just a mutation.
In no way do I condone evil acts. Yet, I have wondered. We have made enough progress where we have conquered many diseases that used to be epidemics. We have gained some control over the elements to minimize loss of life. For the most part, the majority of people manage to get enough sustenance to meet their basic needs. Yes, I know that people still die from incurable diseases, they die in natural disasters, and many still don't get enough to eat and drink...but overall, I'd say our species is thriving. Death is unfortunately a necessary part of life. It keeps the population from overgrowing to a point where it endangers us. Nobody wants to die or wants the people they love to die, but the sad fact is that we all have to die someday to make room for the new people being born. Do enough people die from diseases and accidents to maintain the population? Or would we reach dangerous overpopulation growth if not for our self-destructive tendencies and war-like nature? You often hear tales of enlightened societies that soon disappear from the face of the Earth, usually attributed to some natural disaster. Yet, if all of humanity embraced our enlightened principles, would we in fact jeopardize the species? Are we in more danger from our enlightened principles than our self-destructive ones?
I was also interested in the idea of altering your life. It is considered ideal to be proactive and deal with your problems. However, if you can change your life, it is doubtful it would be problem-free. You would just have different problems than the ones you have now. What if you preferred your old problems to your new problems? Would that be an incentive to NOT change your life? How would society perceive such a person? A lot of people often look down on homeless people. I know quite a few homeless people, and I often have found that many of them--aside from suffering from some sort of addiction problem and/or mental illness--also have a low stress tolerance. Many cannot handle the stress of owning things or having any responsibility. You look at them and see how dirty they are, and yet many of them seem rather content in life. If they get enough change to buy a sub or get a package of cigarettes, life is good.
This idea was something I played with in the book. The character Weirdo Ghastly is a young boy who is the oddball of his family. He is often embarrassed by them. He doesn't like their past-times. When they are first altered by the mad scientist, he is actually glad. However, he is one of the first to start regretting the change. His family becomes socially acceptable, but they develop other qualities he doesn't like so well. They were sociopaths before, but they weren't bigots--they would be glad to kill anyone of any race and showed no preference. When they are altered, they stop being sociopaths, but they become bigots. Weirdo's parents had been devoted to each other before the change, but not so much afterwards. They were tolerant, loving parents--oddly enough--before, but after the change they are more critical and less supportive of the odd duckling Weirdo. Society is more critical of Weirdo too when suddenly he has a winner family, whereas before he was considered the best of a bunch of rotten apples.
People often want to change or get rid of undesirable people, but my book poses the question of whether this is a good idea? Would you really be happy if you could successfully change the annoying qualities of your mate? If they became what you think you want them to be, would you wind up being more unhappy with them? What if you are interfering with the person's ultimate purpose (if people have a purpose) by changing them? Could it be the end of life as we know it? Or would life just re-adjust the variables? (In my story, it didn't). How would the consequences affect you if you successfully changed someone?
While a lot of philosophizing did result in this story, don't take it too seriously...it was meant just for a laugh.
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