(Part 3) Top products from r/NoSleepOOC

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 :)

> I can't even remember what made zombies more popular than cat videos.

The Walking Dead pushed them over the top, but the initial groundswell came from The Zombie Survival Guide (which is actually a pretty fun, humorous read.)

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.

u/PoloniumPoisoning gave a lovely shoutout to "13 Days of Christmas" (we also both wrote about the same universe and I promise that we're different people).

I just wanted to mention that it's now a 26-author book on Amazon!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1093647760?pf_rd_p=76bd99fd-409f-46a4-9ff6-b66b5703e95b&pf_rd_r=69YGY47501XJEXFJYBKR

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.

It is, actually! Thank you for letting me plug my books. Vol. 1 [Vol. 2] (http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Thin-Air-C-K-%60-Walker/dp/1517039916/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1453911535&sr=1-1&keywords=cold+thin+air+volume+2)

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.

This is Peggy, in the loopy bar, sitting and watching the moment when the loopy enters the stage. "Swamp water" is a drink.

> The curtain swept open with such a rush, she almost dropped her glass. It thumped down heavily on the table, swamp water cascading up its sides and raining on her hand. The music exploded shrapnel of ear-cutting cacophony and her body jerked. On the tablecloth, her hands twitched white on white while claws of uncontrollable demand pulled up her frightened eyes.

~Matthew Richardson: Dance of the Dead

The last sentence sends shivers down my spine whenever I read it.

"Dance of the Dead" and "I am Legend" are incredibly awesome. I think it was Mike that recommended it somewhere on OOC, thank you!

As to my own sentence - I don't think I have a favorite that stands on its own. They all live in their little place where they were born and raised. In that form I would choose this two word sentence.

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

If you look at a lot of my SSS stories, they're all concepts which I narrowed down to their shortest form and most complete form. Most of them, I could have easily compounded upon to create larger stories or even novels.

For example, Always Use Protection was written back when SSS was only 275 words. At the time, I didn't quite know how to handle expanding upon it up until maybe two years ago, when I decided to use the concept for a short story collection which came out this year, Vices and Virtues. I expanded upon the story, fleshing out characters, situations, and adding sprinkles of my own life into the narrative to come up with a much longer story.

The one which haunts me the most to this day is the one people seem to still PM me about years after posting it: My Father's Letter About the Family Jewel. I've got the plot outlined and I've even stopped and started the story a few times but ultimately, I stop because I'm not ready to undertake it yet. Maybe its the scale of it? Maybe the idea simply isn't strong enough? I don't know but one of these days, I'll get around to writing it.

Personally, I think sometimes we have ideas that are beyond our skill levels or dedication at the moment. We put these on the back burner until we're ready for them.

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!

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