(Part 2) Top products from r/NoSleepOOC

I took a look at your previous posts, here some pointers.

First: Basics.

• Formatting - make your text readable by using paragraphs. Press Enter TWICE to make a line break on Reddit - else most people will just skip over your posts.
  
• Use proper grammar and sentences - e.g. a slash doesn't belong in your story ("restaurants/fast food places"). Use an "and" or "or" instead.
  
• Spellcheck - "resturaunts". If you want people to read your stories you have to do them the favor of proofreading your own posts. At least use Word, LibreOffice or Google Drive to write your stories, they have a spellcheck built in.
  
• Make it a story. Think of books; a book never starts with "Alright. So a little backstory" and then goes on to excuse that "The backstory is longer than the actual story, sorry." Instead start the way a tale would be told. Start with action or at least an image that the reader can see and feel.
  
• Use written language, not spoken language and style. Cut out words like "alright", "so", that are mere oral filler words and shouldn't appear in written text (unless appropriate). Words that don't add meaning should not be in your writing.
  
  Second: Writing.
  
  
• Story flow. Honestly I don't understand your last story. There are too many breaks in continuity and too many unnannounced location and character switches.
  
  > Mom walks up to me and says I looked a little disoriented, and I just say its nothing. I don't know why, but that creeped me out.
  
  What creeped you out? Your mom's asking you? Or the events before?
  
  
• It would be good if you read some more fiction and try to look out for basic writing standards. Again line break, this time for dialogue. Dialogue without line break is very hard to read.
  
  > "Hey! I thought it would be fun to go see a movie, so we are going to the 10 o'clock showing of the new star trek movie tonight. I can't wait to see you and your brother again." He said. "Wow. Okay..." I said. Not even a hello or goodbye.
  
  much easier:
  
  > "Hey! I thought it would be fun to go see a movie, so we are going to the 10 o'clock showing of the new star trek movie tonight. I can't wait to see you and your brother again." He said.
  
  > "Wow. Okay..." I said.
  
  > Not even a hello or goodbye.
  
  Lastly: Make us hear and feel things. Give us a chance to feel what you feel
  
  > When I hear tapping. And then water. Then, without warning, the toilet flushes in a bathroom that has always been manual flush. I hear walking, she shadows, the lights flicker, and I hurry up to wash my hands and get out.
  
  This should be three or four paragraphs rather than four sentences. Where does the tapping come from? How loud is it? How did you notice it first?
  
  What does "And then water" mean? You heard water flowing somewhere? You saw water on the floor, running into your stall?
  
  You hear WALKING and you tell us nothing about it? Silent? fast? did you see feet? Did it sound like bare feet or hard soles?
  
  You need to paint a picture that we can see, hear, smell and touch.
  
  That is the actually my main point: How to format your writing and spellcheck should be the minimum and are required for any story to be worth reading. Learn that, there is no way around it. Look at stories you like and see why they are good - your formatting should never be in the way of your story.
  
  But what you need to practice is to paint that picture. Try to sit down and describe one simple mundane thing. Try to describe, as in-depth as possible, what it feels like to sit on your chair. Describe the scene you see out of your window - not just "there's a house", instead make that house visible for someone thousands of miles or hours away. Try to describe what your mother's footsteps on the corridor sound like. Where are they? How does the volume change? Are they hurried or does her heel strike the floor hard? Are they louder if she carries heavy objects?
  
  When you are able to do that you can take the stories you wrote and develop them from a summary of your experience into a full-blown story. Tell the tale, and of course feel free to add some more fiction to make it creepier. Maybe you did see feet, or maybe you did hear something soft rubbing along the window or door or maybe even your stall. Don't limit yourself to "reality".
  
  tl;dr (1) Learn proper formatting - simply by reading more and by trying to figure out when and where it works and when and where it doesn't. Look at a book or story you enjoy and see how the paragraphs are layed out. Also get yourself a copy of Strunk & White. (2) Practice painting that picture (in all senses, not just visually). Then you will get places :)

wow that's great! I would love to be added to the list, thanks!

link for me

/u/hughwouldnotbelieve

subreddit for the book / series. I don't have a personal sub yet, but I might make one.

/r/shadowbound

Google link for free reading of entire book (not super well edited, I'm doing all that myself)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hzIZTaJ--icKnG2JMe4SKivKRjZtV6GWHqhT3eDcoYM/edit?usp=sharing

link to amazon for current version of book (not free. ha)

http://www.amazon.com/Shadowbound-Only-Someone-Answers-Volume/dp/1481933477/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1358642091&sr=8-7&keywords=shadowbound

I probably won't need links to the alternate account AgentX29, i don't use that one much since it was an account made purely for the story itself.

facebook link. woo

https://www.facebook.com/hughwouldnot.believe

The original goal of nosleep--and a mod can happily correct me if I'm wrong, of course--was to be like tales around the campfire, those urban legends that seemed real. The core was that the story was believable on some level.

Werewolves are certainly believable, if managed correctly; I mean, we have legends about creatures like the Jersey Devil and these books exist, which fit your question perfectly: https://www.amazon.com/Michigan-Dogman-Werewolves-U-S-Unexplained/dp/0979882265/ref=pd_sim_14_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=G1ZFT21ENVH80KSTBSGJ

So, personally, I'd say make it feasible and have fun writing a good story :)

1.) Recite your dialogue in the mirror. If it feels weird, it probably is. I believe /u/Grindhorse told me this a long time ago. I could be wrong, though.

2.) Don't try to be Tarantino.

3.) People watch. Eavesdrop. Replicate what you hear.

EDIT:

Robert McKee has a great book on writing dialogue if you're willing to read about it. I'm not a big fan of being told how to do something one way because I feel like that's how you end up in the state of entertainment we're currently in. On the other side of the coin, it's a great foundation for you to start at and expand upon. Just my two cents.

There is a list of authors with Amazon pages on the NoSleep authors' non-nosleep pages.

If it needs to be updated, then just let /u/ALooc know.

Also, I was just looking at buying a bunch of these to support the nosleep community. I know the following authors have pages as well (links go to amazon, not their reddit profiles):
/u/bloodworthOOC
/u/1000Vultures
/u/theworldisgrim
/u/AsForClass
/u/The_Dalek_Emperor

Anybody wanna sign a copy for me? :)

Here's one.

Here's another.

Here's one of my favorites.

This one is pretty freaking sweet.

I'm pretty sure this one qualifies...

Don't read this one before bed.

Here's an interesting read.

This one is a compilation of several of the above.

Sealed In by Jacqueline Druga was a pretty good one IMO. It's about a hybrid virus known as Ebolapox breaking out in the midwest. Scary thing is that it's an actual experiment from during the cold war.

Also, check out Isolation Ward by Joshua Spanogle. This one isn't about a big scale breakout, but more of the CDC preventing one. Still, it's one of my favorite medical thrillers (and a big inspiration for my writing); so I would definitely suggest it.

I think it would help if we got to look at some of your writing. Personally, I’m no pro but if you pm me a google doc I’ll gladly take a look.

Otherwise, the biggest advice I can give is also of the most cliche writing advice out there— show don’t tell.

Don’t tell us your character is sad, happy, or mad, show us the tears beginning to take shape, the twinkle in his eyes, his smile widening, his face beginning to turn red.

I recommend checking out the emotion thesaurus,it’s helped me out quite a bit.

Yep! It's currently $2.51 on Amazon.

UK Moxley-ites can purchase here

I've been in a few anthology books with other NoSleep authors:
Sirens at Midnight
Daughters of Darkness
Dark Dreams
And the soon to be released Killer Collection

Here are two of mine, soon to be five!

https://www.amazon.com/Til-Death-Do-Us-Part/dp/1533438633/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1481860210&sr=8-2&keywords=Til+death+do+us+part


https://www.amazon.com/Edens-Eye-Leonard-Petracci/dp/1539414639/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481860244&sr=8-1&keywords=Eden%27s+eye

I have "Tales From the Midnight Hour" right here next to me. The version I read was in there.

The Torturous Tome by J M Forth is a good one!

"Let the Old Dreams Die" http://www.amazon.com/Let-Dreams-John-Ajvide-Lindqvist/dp/0312620535/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449028825&sr=8-1&keywords=let+the+old+dreams+die

Collection of scary/creepy/weird/lovecraftian short stories.

Check out Knifepoint Horror: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Knifepoint-Horror-Soren-Narnia/dp/1470164299

There's also a podcast of Knifepoint Horror stories and they're really great!

I took a long time to get back to you, which means I need to delete my reddit account and hide forever. I mean apologize. That one.

Anyway. Junji Ito is awesome. Not sure which of his stuff you've seen, but I think his best works are the short The Enigma of Amigara Fault (not for the claustrophobic!) and the longer series Uzumaki.

Thomas Ligotti is sort of the best-kept secret of modern horror - he's very reclusive due to severe anxiety and bipolar disorders. It gives his work a grounding in the sort of horror that comes from inside your own mind, and a sense that reality is a weird, broken place, or maybe something even worse. There's a couple of his stories online here if you want to check him out. "Nethescurial" is one of the creepiest things I've ever read.

One of my favorite books is House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. It's sort of experimental with how the text is laid out in parts, which can make it kind of weird to try to read, but the overlapping narratives are really strong and chilling in a number of different ways.

Are you familiar with the SCP Foundation? If you like /u/ParanormalAdvisor's posts it should be right up your alley. There's so many different kinds of scary there, plus all kinds of awesome.

Hmm, okay.

For the Recommendation thread, I'm barring people from recommending their own work (since that's not a rec; you can't recommend your own work, y'know? lol)

For the nomination threads, I think I'm gonna allow people to self-nominate like I've been planning. I get that it's risky, but I'm really hoping that the comment format of the nominations will make a significant difference. It hasn't been posted yet, but this is an excerpt of the Short Story/Novella Nomination thread (which is nearly identical to the excerpt in the Book Nomination thread - just a different example):

>Please format your nomination properly!

>We need the title, author, link to wherever the short story/novella is available, story summary, & your commentary (optional).

>So for example:

>The Mist by Stephen King

>Summary: David Drayton, his son Billy, and their neighbor Brent Norton head to the local grocery store to replenish supplies following a freak storm. Once there, they and other local citizens are trapped by a strange mist that has enveloped the town and in which strange creatures are lurking. As the mist takes its toll on the nerves of those trapped in the store, a religious zealot, Mrs. Carmody begins to play on their fears to convince them that this is God’s vengeance for their sins and that a sacrifice must be made and two groups—those for and those against—are aligned. When it is realized that staying in the store may prove fatal, a small group including the Draytons, store employee Ollie Weeks, Amanda Dumfries, Irene Reppler, and Dan Miller attempt to make their escape. They find that what’s “out there” may be worse than what they left behind.

>Commentary: this short story/novella is riveting; I want us to read this for the month because valid reasons. Valid reasons valid reasons.


I'm really hoping that people nominate and vote based upon summaries and I very much want people's 'commentaries' to be well-written and persuasive. Also, the nomination threads will all be in contest mode so nobody (except me) will be able to see what story is 'winning' at any given time.

Fingers crossed it'll work out well. If it doesn't and it starts going the way you're describing, I'll curb it.

The books I'm using are:

1. The Easy Way to Write Horror That Sells by Rob Parnell
   
   
2. Writing Dark Stories: How to Write Horror and Other Disturbing Short Stories (Writer's Craft Book 6) by Rayne Hall
   
   
3. Writing Scary Scenes: Professional Techniques for Thrillers, Horror and Other Exciting Fiction (Writer's Craft Book 2) by Rayne Hall
   
   
4. On Writing Horror: A Handbook by the Horror Writers Association by Mort Castle et al.
   
   
5. Mini Horror Fiction Writing Guide: 7 Steps To Writing Horror Fiction For Fun by Randal Schaffer, HowExpert Press
   
   
6. Horror Writing 101: How to Write a Horror Novel by Steve French
   
   
7. Writers Workshop of Horror by Michael Knost et al.
   
   Anybody have any other book recommendations while we're at it?
   
   Note: none of these links are affiliate links.
   
   Edit: formatting