When Carrie first started writing, she wrote contemporary teen fiction and she heard a lot of comments about being quirky.
She’d hear comments like “Could that really happen?”
And a lot of times, she’d answer, “Um. It already has.”
One time, I had a story with a wedding expo that featured cannabis. Everyone said, “You need to cut that. That would never happen.” Last week in Canada? It did. It was called the Canadian Canabis Wedding Expo.
In this world, things you don’t expect to happen tend to happen. And in your stories, it’s good to do that, too. Don’t be afraid to be bizarre. Don’t be afraid to have your character be the clerk in Petco who is there when a Watusi walks in. On a leash of course.
When you’re afraid to be weird, bizarre, or even just afraid to be yourself your writing suffers and becomes bland and boring. Take chances. Stand out. Be different.
Writing Tip of the Pod
Take chances. Stand your ground. Write weird. Life is weird. It’s okay to reflect that because when you do? You and your story stand out.
Dog Tip for Life
Weird is not an insult. Weird means you’re not boring, that you’re unexpected. Weird is good. Also, weird can make you go viral. 🙂
SHOUT OUT!
The music we’ve clipped and shortened in this podcast is awesome and is made available through the Creative Commons License. Here’s a link to that and the artist’s website. Who is this artist and what is this song? It’s “Night Owl” by Broke For Free.
WRITING AND OTHER NEWS
IN THE WOODS – READ AN EXCERPT, PREORDER NOW!
My next book, IN THE WOODS, appears in July with Steve Wedel. It’s scary and one of Publisher’s Weekly’s Buzz Books for Summer 2019. There’s an excerpt of it there and everything! But even cooler (for me) they’ve deemed it buzz worthy! Buzz worthy seems like an awesome thing to be deemed!
You can preorder this bad boy, which might make it have a sequel. The sequel would be amazing. Believe me, I know. It features caves and monsters and love. Because doesn’t every story?
HEAR MY BOOK BABY (AND MORE) ON PATREON
On February first, I launched my Patreon site where I’m reading chapters (in order) of a never-published teen fantasy novel, releasing deleted scenes and art from some of my more popular books. And so much more. Come hang out with me! Get cool things!
WHAT IS PATREON?
A lot of you might be new to Patreon and not get how it works. That’s totally cool. New things can be scary, but there’s a cool primer HERE that explains how it works. The short of it is this: You give Patreon your paypal or credit card # and they charge you whatever you level you choose at the end of each month. That money supports me sharing my writing and art and podcasts and weirdness with you.
HELP US AND DO AN AWESOME GOOD DEED
Thanks to all of you who keep listening to our weirdness on the DOGS ARE SMARTER THAN PEOPLE podcast as we talk about random thoughts, writing advice and life tips. We’re sorry we laugh so much… sort of. Please share it and subscribe if you can. Please rate and like us if you are feeling kind, because it matters somehow. There’s a new episode every Tuesday!
BE A PART OF THE PODCAST!
Hey! If you download the Anchor application, you can call into the podcast, record a question, or just say ‘hi,’ and we’ll answer. You can be heard on our podcast! Sa-sweet!
No question is too wild. But just like Shaun does, try not to swear, okay?
Here is the link to the mobile app. Our latest episode is above. It’s also on YouTube here.