Today’s story setting inspiration photo is a bit different than the others. Instead of being focused on a certain place, its emphasis is on what could be right in front of your face without you even realizing it. I took this photo shortly after a snow and ice storm. That doesn’t always stick to the … Read more
For the latest story setting inspiration photo, I took a shot of a local reservoir, Lake Ontelaunee, back in February. It was an odd day to say the least. The temperature was heading into the mid-60s, like an early Spring day. Yet the reservoir was still frozen over from the recent cold. As I was … Read more
In two recent posts I talked about a screenplay I’m working on and how my own unfinished nursery influenced one scene in the story. In the former I mentioned I’d be going up to NY for the day and photographing some points of interest in my hometown in Brooklyn. While Brooklyn isn’t the setting for … Read more
Today I’d like to move on with the regular photo post series with a shot I took in December of 2014 at the Bethlehem Steel Stacks. It’s becoming a bit of a tradition to meet up with my aunt and uncle from New Jersey there before Christmas to attend Christkindlmarkt. I’m a big fan of … Read more
I had a tough time deciding whether or not to write this post. And in 12 years of blogging, this is the only post that’s ever brought me to tears and forced me to stop working on it multiple times. It’s a simple photo inspiration post, so no big deal, right? Not quite. Today the … Read more
To continue the photo series on story setting inspiration, today I’d like to share a series of four photos. These were taken in Milford, Connecticut — a New England town my Puritan minister ancestor founded in the 1600s, and the town whose cemetery I featured previously. Today, I want to share four photos I took … Read more
Last week I shared a photo taken from my front door, explaining how the setting I write in can inspire emotions and settings in the stories I write. Today’s story setting inspiration is a photo from the other side of my house — the woods running deep behind it. I mentioned in the previous post … Read more
Pretty much anything can inspire a new story. A person. A place. An image. An overheard conversation. Even a memory. With a big push planned in short fiction this year, I’m pulling inspiration from anywhere I can find it. And memories are proving to be a surprisingly fruitful source. What’s great about our real-life experiences … Read more
To continue with the photo post series on setting inspiration, I want to share this photo which I took right outside my front door last week. This photo isn’t necessarily tied to any of my own horror stories, but the beautiful yet eerie tone of the sky caught my eye that morning. And the backlit … Read more
Today I’m kicking off a new series of posts — setting inspiration for horror writers. These will sometimes be photos inspiring my own stories’ settings. And sometimes they’ll just be eerie or otherwise interesting photos that I’m sharing in the hope they’ll inspire others. I’m aiming for one of these posts each week. All of … Read more