New and improved!
Several people have told me that it's nearly impossible to post a comment on this blog. (Which may explain why there are hardly any comments - though it's also possible that nobody is reading ... and really, can you blame them?)
Anyway, I have changed the settings to make it easier to comment. Registration is no longer required. You can comment anonymously.
I hope this helps.
Anyway, I have changed the settings to make it easier to comment. Registration is no longer required. You can comment anonymously.
I hope this helps.
posted by Michael Prescott at
Thursday, February 03, 2005
8 Comments:
I could pretend to be someone else, but no, it's still me, Michael. Just checking to see if the anonymous commenting really works. Apparently it does. We now return to our regular programming ...
Just cruising blogs when I came upon yours. I'll never forget reading Stealing Faces...I was alone, the wind was whistling and even my two huge Goldens didn't keep me feeling safe and secure. Oh to find a book that speeds up your pulse while not insulting your intelligence! Thanks.
Thanks, marybishop, for the kind words and for your very atmospheric re-creation of your reading experience! The howling wind on a dark night ... now *I'm* getting scared!
I appreciate the nice note. Thanks again.
Kids, now you can try this at home! Finally, I can comment on Michael Prescott's blog, after a day or two of trying to find my way through the labyrinth of user names and passwords, a la the backstage-area scene in "This is Spinal Tap." Good to hear MP's scaring the pants off everybody with his books. We all need a good fright that's not actually part of reality, even though it certainly seems real. At least we can all come out of MP's books alive.
J. Carson Black
Great New Blog Mr. Prescott!
Just stopped by to say hi...MP, if you have time to respond, when did you know you wanted to write a novel and where did you find the confidence to write the first one and how did you find your niche?
I've written one "movie of the week " type piss-poor novel - still don't know how I did it, as in putting word after word down until it was finished.
Yet, I take extreme pride in creating a story with a begining middle and end - even if it ended up being so much less than I'd hoped for.
Marybishop wrote,
"Just stopped by to say hi..."
Hi!
"MP, if you have time to respond, when did you know you wanted to write a novel and where did you find the confidence to write the first one and how did you find your niche?"
I wrote a lot of amateur fiction even as far back as high school, although my original ambition was to work in the move business. Still, I read a lot - science fiction mostly - and tried my hand at writing. My Christmas gift one year was an electric typewriter! So you can see that writing was important to me from the start.
After college, I moved to L.A. and wrote a dozen screenplays, trying to get into the film biz. I had very little success, and the experiences I had were so negative that I gradually lost interest in Hollywood. Needing money, I wrote magazine articles and eventually tried my hand at writing novels.
My main inspiration at the time was Stephen King. (This was around 1986.) I was late getting into his books, but finally I began reading him. CUJO was the first book of his I picked up, at a used book store for a dollar or two. As soon as I read it, I thought, "I can do something like this!" It was clear that King and I had grown up reading the same authors and watching the same (bad) movies. I started writing horror novels and sold a few, eventually switching to suspense novels because the market for horror had dried up.
So that's the story.
"I've written one 'movie of the week' type piss-poor novel - still don't know how I did it, as in putting word after word down until it was finished."
Well, any novel is an accomplishment. People don't realize how much work goes into one of these things.
"Yet, I take extreme pride in creating a story with a begining middle and end - even if it ended up being so much less than I'd hoped for."
I usually have such low expectations that my books end up being better than I thought they would be! When I start a book, I think, "Oh, this idea is no good, it's never going to work, I wish I could've come up with something else..." Then when it's finished, if it's even half-decent, it's better than I expected.
Thank you for your thoughtful response. I was a fan before finding your website, but now I'm a greater fan.
It is so helpful when a successful person takes the time to share his or her story on how they got to where they are today. It gives hope to the rest of us, typing away and dreaming about being published.
Thanks again and continued success!
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