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    Chain of Evil: JournalStone's Guide to Writing Darknes
    Chain of Evil: JournalStone's Guide to Writing Darknes
    Chain of Evil: JournalStone's Guide to Writing Darknes
    Ebook428 pages6 hours

    Chain of Evil: JournalStone's Guide to Writing Darknes

    By Michael R. Collings

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Chain of Evil: The JournalStone Guide to Writing Darkness, by Michael R. Collings, approaches the question of writing from multiple directions. The essays in this volume range from the abstract and philosophical to the concrete and specific; from reminiscences as they relate to the art of writing to near-scholarly studies of the nature of genre, in particular horror; and from general discussions of literary forms and what they can achieve to practical advice on where to place commas, exclamation marks, and quotation marks. Dr. Collings’ expertise emerges from nearly thirty years teaching writing and composition at the university level, gaining acclaim as an astute voice in science-fiction, fantasy, and horror studies, as well as from the more than one hundred books—novels, scholarship, collections of poetry and short fiction, criticism, and bibliographies—he has published over the past four decades.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJournalStone
    Release dateAug 29, 2014
    ISBN9781940161655
    Chain of Evil: JournalStone's Guide to Writing Darknes

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    Reviews for Chain of Evil

    3.5/5

    33 ratings14 reviews

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    • 3/5
      In my library this is cataloged as a writing tutorial. It's a collection of essays by a man who writes and teaches writing exploring the concept of evil and how it is best presented.Dr. Michael Collings is a prolific writer, characterizing himself as having written "well over one hundred books, including fiction, non-fiction, bibliographies, and verse; hundreds of individual chapters, articles, and reviews; and nearly 2,500 poems, long and short". Not all of this work is derived from deep thought and hard effort.The essays in this book should be approached as musings on horror with some instruction on writing horror. Some of the essays seem trivial to me but might resonate with you. I would not go out of my way to acquire this book.I received a review copy of "Chain of Evil: JournalStone’s Guide to Writing Darkness" by Dr. Michael R. Collings (JournalStone) through LibraryThing.com.
    • 4/5
      Michael Colings does a fine job bringing together the more scholarly approach with the art approach to horror. Not only is this book important to the ongoing discipline of writing in some peoples' lives, but it also allows for a wide range of respect to be given this oft-times maligned genre - horror.The "best books" and "best movies" lists almost never include horror.Maybe this fact will start to change now with the attention given by Collings in CHAIN OF EVIL!
    • 5/5
      The best book on horror genre writing I have read in a long time. Stephen King has written writing books that were less useful in terms of pragmatic details. The author even goes over the use of punctuation in order to create atmosphere. A+
    • 4/5
      Chain of Evil, JournalStone’s Guide to Writing Darkness by Dr. Michael R. Collings, gives us 50 essays on a blend of topics related to horror writing. While the first part of the book does a good job of holding reader interest by having chapters on typical horror tropes such as vampires, werewolves, zombies, and such, it’s the middle that takes the longest to get through. Not unlike a long novel, sometimes middles don’t have as much action as we’d like, but they set us up for the end. And in this case, Collings gives us grammar and writing advice, which every writer needs, but not what we necessarily want when reading a book on horror writing. But I’m probably a better writer now for having made it through the dreaded middle, and again, like a good novel, it gets stronger as we near the end.If you are a horror writer, or are considering it, you probably want this for your writing library. There is some really sound information here, grammar section included. It’s well worth your time.
    • 3/5
      Chain of Evil: Journalstones Guide to Writing Darkness. The Ebook was received as member of Librarything Givaway Group. I received this book a couple months ago. It is a compilation of the authors views of classic writings of darkness as-well-as he and his sons writings. I read the first third of the book rather quickly and the remainder slowly. Actually forced myself to finish the book. There are numerous important interpretations of the best manner in which to present certain types of scenes, evil representations, the plot and progression of the storyline. Also information on what not to include or draw out in the plot. I like factual references and summaries when describing what makes specific examples of a genres better quality. I believe the author needs to reference a majority of sources to substantiate points on what are effective descriptions, styles of writing, sentence structure and tense from writers other then himself and his son. Basically, valid and helpful information is provided by the author, but sometimes it seems more paragraphs are inclinded that drone on and on which could of been much more sucinct and to the point. I have an interest in both writing and in understanding how a good author structure and presents his storyline. I recommend the book because it does contain helpful information for writers of books based on evil.
    • 3/5
      "Chain of Evil" is to a greater degree about the author, his opinions, and his own writing and experience than about the ostensible subject matter. Less teaching of technique than analysis where writing is discussed. The book was entertaining, though; I don't expect Dr. Collings's voice sounds just like that of Vincent Price—but that's how I heard it.
    • 4/5
      I won this book on the early reviewer program on librarything. The book started out alright, but a bit like an annoying plug of the author's and his son's books. However, it improved as it went along. It discusses the horror genre and why it has always been so popular, different types of horror, and gives many examples of "good" horror. The second half of the book is a writing guide that will prove to be an indispensable part of my collection. He hits on all of my pet peeves, such as dangling modifiers, misused cliches, and more! He gives many helpful hints, like how to determine whether an adverb is needed or not. I like the following quote from chapter 20: "Let us assume that instead of receiving payment for words..., writers must pay to use words." It has inspired me to write more! One thing, although this was an ARC, there are quite a few typos, some quite obvious. For a book that discusses how typos can be distracting, I hoped there would be fewer. Distracting and disappointing. I can overlook them, though, as I will be referring to his book again and again.
    • 4/5
      As I was reading, I had the feeling that this work would have benefit tremendously from editorial reorganization and restructuring. But as I worked my way through Dr. Collins' essays masquerading as chapters, his seemingly haphazard approach to the thematic elements and concepts of horror writing provide an incredibly in-depth look inside both the mind of the horror writer, horror writing literary critic, and literary academic. After reading this you will have a better understanding of the approaches, the process, and the major themes and norms of the horror genre
    • 5/5
      This is a fascinating book. In the first third, the author explores the reasons for the popularity of dark within our stories, including an historical perspective that may surprise many readers. He addresses the various popular monsters and what they mean symbolically and psychologically. The remainder covers the way a writer can use words, grammar, sentences, paragraphs and dialogue to create atmosphere and guide a reader toward resonating emotions. Common writers' traps and their solutions are also covered.This is a great book for any writer, whether delving into the dark big time or aiming for lighter fare. Throughout, the author shares himself and his trials, as well as his expertise. It's an enlightening book for anyone, writer or not, who wants to look into the darkness we all share. This is a book I'll be dipping into time and again. Kudos.
    • 2/5
      An easy guide to understand, and seemingly knowledgeable. It kind of seemed like the author was just saying what he did in his works, why he did it, and why it was good. At least that's how the beginning sounded to me. He did mention other author's works but mostly just glided over them and moved on to his stuff. Not too bad, I guess.
    • 4/5
      Dr. Collings has always had a fluid way of writing so that his points come across easy to understand. I recognized his name from books I used to own about Stephen King and always thought they were some of the best. That was years ago but it appears Collings hasn't lost his touch. This guide is well written and it is loaded with examples of how to do horror writing right and how to do it wrong. Many advanced horror literature fans out there will know many of the points in this book but some, like me, may not think of these points when we actually sit down to write. That's where this book really comes in handy. It's one I will be keeping on my shelf right next to On Writing and my other guides. I think younger writers who are interested in the horror genre and writing horror and suspense would really benefit from this book.
    • 2/5
      I really did not care for this writing guide. I have not had a lot of luck with JournalStone's titles in the past so I think I may be steering clear of them from now on.This title was given by the publisher through Early Reviewers in exchange for an honest review.
    • 5/5
      Very, very interesting. The author is a professor and novelist himself, and this book is a combination of academic analysis, historic backstory on various horror tropes, and a textbook on how to write horror fiction. In depth, but accessible to a lay audience and entertaining as well as educational. More profs should write like this. Highly recommended.
    • 5/5
      Chain of Evil: The JournalStone Guide to Writing Darkness, by Michael R. Collings, approaches the question of writing from multiple directions. The essays in this volume range from the abstract and philosophical to the concrete and specific; from reminiscences as they relate to the art of writing to near-scholarly studies of the nature of genre, in particular horror; and from general discussions of literary forms and what they can achieve to practical advice on where to place commas, exclamation marks, and quotation marks. Dr. Collings’ expertise emerges from nearly thirty years teaching writing and composition at the university level, gaining acclaim as an astute voice in science-fiction, fantasy, and horror studies, as well as from the more than one hundred books—novels, scholarship, collections of poetry and short fiction, criticism, and bibliographies—he has published over the past four decades.

    Book preview

    Chain of Evil - Michael R. Collings

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