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Melting Pot

By Scott Nicholson

http://www.hauntedcomputer.com/

Conventional wisdom says that a writer should find a groove, stick with it, and do the same book over and over. And some very popular writers manage to do just that, especially with series books.

I had a phase of my career, what I call Act I, where I was publishing with the word “horror” stamped on the spines of the books. Of course, not many books get that label since the 1980’s horror glut and crash. During that time, I was pretty much presented as a “brand,” with similar titles all starting with “The.” But remember how ranchers branded their cattle? They seared their cows’ flesh with a glowing red iron. Ouchie.

The publisher believed an identifiable brand was the best way to build an audience, and that might have been the right approach. The trouble was that I was writing all kinds of different things that didn’t fit into the box. While I was able to slip out an experimental story here and there, I didn’t go haywire until this year and started publishing my own stuff.

That’s why I can write funny YA paranormal romance in October Girls and dark crime in Disintegration and publish them in the same month. They could hardly be more opposite. Some people may like them both, and some may love one and hate the other. But it’s all me.

 

I edited and wrote for the kiddie comic Little Shivers at the same time I was putting together the grown-up horror comic Grave Conditions, plus I was working on the teen graphic novel Dreamboat for my agent while I was finishing up Speed Dating with the Dead.

As if that’s not weird enough, I’ve written tons of poetry, songs, articles, writing advice, and I’ve been a newspaper reporter for 12 years. Before that I wrote radio copy. My screenplays range from B-movie horror to caper crime. I am about to publish my first children’s book.

And all of that has been done without permission or approval. I am not rich or wildly famous and successful, but I am very satisfied with exploring all these areas of life. And guess what? I’m going to take up oil painting again in my old age.

So I say follow every crazy dream you have, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone. Let your brand be unbranded, wild and free.

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My new crime thriller Disintegration is a Kindle bestseller, and paranormal mystery As I Die Lying just launched, both for 99 cents for a limited time.

Scott Nicholson is author of 12 novels, including the thrillers Drummer Boy, Forever Never Ends, The Skull Ring, Burial to Follow ,and October Girls. His revised novels for the U.K. Kindle are Creative Spirit, Troubled, The Gorge, and Solom. He’s also written four comic series, six screenplays, and more than 60 short stories. His story collections include Ashes, The First, Murdermouth: Zombie Bits, and Flowers. His web site is www.hauntedcomputer.com.

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