Most writing advice would suggest you follow a certain formula, as if the best stories are something you create in the lab. And look, there’s plenty of good movies that follow familiar formulas. Most can be viewed in the idea of a three act structure: the setup, the confrontation, and the resolution. Some prefer five acts: introduction of conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. But some of the best stories ever told are those that are cut right down the middle, with act structures that resolve and then start anew before the finale. Today at Scriptophobic, I’m going to talk about three films that are split in half and still tell a compelling story — maybe two stories.

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"It hates."
Big Egg is the first non-kaiju novel by author Raffael Coronelli. But fans of his kaiju works will find a lot of overlap in terms of themes and content. One of the things I'm frequently struck by in Coronelli's work is the author's belief (or a desire to believe) in a diverse group of people being accepting and doing the right thing in the end. For the kaiju novels, I made the comparison to famed Godzilla director Ishiro Honda, who repeatedly showed all of mankind coming together to defeat a common threat to the planet. With Big Egg, we still get that sense of hope, but there's an added underlying current of dread as well. Something wicked this way comes. And though it's never spelled out as a good vs. evil sort of novel, that's ultimately what this is; good people coming together to face a force of unknown evil.

In the sci-fi novel, we follow a small group of people who are stationed on a Mars colony. They share Mars with strange alien beings that we don't get along with. A violent mishap leads to even more strained relations with the Mars humans and aliens, but that soon takes a backseat to the happenings of Earth... The planet Earth, our homeworld, explodes into a million pieces and from the cracking planet comes forth a 'hatchling' of enormous size. It's an evil, hateful being that has birthed itself from the planet like a chick cracking its egg. And now this bouncing baby is on its way to Mars, looking to cause more destruction. The last remaining humans must try to mend fences with their Mars alien neighbors, while also questioning if the aliens had anything to do with the space giant, in an attempt to survive its coming arrival.

It's like Coronelli took a look at the space baby from 2001: A Space Odyssey and said, 'what if this guy was as big as a planet and a bit of an asshole?' and then let it go wild. The author also plays with some 'western in space' ideas as the chief law enforcement officer on Mars tries to rally her troops and unite a colony against a coming threat. But it's the hatchling that's my favorite thing about the book. Just looking in its eyes puts bad ideas in people's heads. It's an evil, hateful creature that defies reason -- and I found the driving ideas behind it truly unsettling in many chapters.

Big Egg is full of big new ideas. From the mech action, to alien colonists, to the giant evil space monsters, fans of science fiction will find a lot to like. In addition to the genre content, Big Egg offers some thoughts on tolerance, mental health, and getting to know another culture in order to improve a shared society. It's incredibly fun, while also sporting a dark side that keeps things from feeling too safe. Big Egg rates as my favorite Coronelli book so far. #Yeehaw

​BODY HORROR GORE!
A SLOW CRAWL TO MADNESS!
THE CRUMBLING FOUNDATIONS OF OUR WORLD!
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I wrote a thing about using different forms of decay to develop characters and enhance worldbuilding. Check it out, won't you? 

In his book On Writing, Stephen King discusses his method for discovering the story as he writes it and why he is not a fan of outlining his books. King suggests that he can tell when a book came naturally to a writer versus being an outlined work. I admit I cannot pick up on this quality in the books I read, but then I am not the master that is Stephen King (though sometimes I wonder if I might be able to pick up on a King novel’s finale that clearly was not planned ahead of time). I respect King and read On Writing at an important time in my writing journey, so I took its lessons to heart. And while I still think highly of the book and return to it more often than any other book on writing fiction, I have distanced myself from the master’s stance on outlines.

Head on over to Scriptophobic to read my evolving stance on outlines, when to ignore the advice of masters, and why it's sometimes best to ignore your own outlines to create a better story.

In the Shadow of Extinction is a big book at roughly 800 pages. Or, if you prefer to view it as three volumes in a trilogy of books, it’s… still roughly 800 pages. I can’t help but view it as one big book, because I wrote it all at once. And it’s not hard to write a long story like that. Sometimes my attention waned -- I wrote the horror novella Rakasa on those days -- but mostly you just gotta keep going. I always planned on In the Shadow of Extinction being a long story. That was the design. If it had happened accidentally, that’d be cause for concern about a book that’s out of control. One of my favorite reader reviews called it, ‘The "War And Peace" of kaiju novels,’ and that’s kind of what I was going for. Epic story. Large scale action. Character arcs that play out not by the chapter but by the year. As long as you keep putting in the work/words, a story can be as long or as short as you want it to be.

But holy shit, editing those 800 pages was hell. It was originally even longer. You print up something like that for a proper edit and it breaks the spirit knowing just how much work you have to do. I set it aside, fearful of the task that awaited me after the mad sprint to write the first draft. And then finally you read the first draft and realize it’s only one grade above shite and so you’ve got more work to do after that.

I started writing In the Shadow of Extinction in 2014 and finally finished it for publication in 2018. I never had one work of fiction with me for long before. I never want to have that happen again, either. Editing a 300-page novel is no small task but it can be enjoyable if approached with the right mindset. Editing In the Shadow of Extinction was not fun. And the task continued from draft to draft as characters were created and deleted, subplots were added and removed, and new conflicts were devised throughout (never cut conflict).

What I learned is that I should have edited it one volume at a time. Smaller chunks. Sure, it would’ve felt like editing three novels as compared to one, but the point is not to make one feel needlessly overwhelmed in their creative work if it can be helped.

As I mentioned above, I started writing In the Shadow of Extinction in 2014. A great deal has happened since then, both good and bad. In relation to the novel, two key things have transpired: 1) kaiju have seen a surprising boom of popularity in the US and 2) Donald Trump got elected president.
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When I started writing the book, Gareth Edwards’ 2014 Godzilla was still on the horizon and there was very little in the way of kaiju fiction beyond Jeremy Robinson’s popular Project Nemesis (fun book!). While I edited my book, Jeremy Robinson got some company in the kaiju fiction sub-genre with the likes of JE Gurley, Raffael Coronelli, and Jake Bible. And kaiju cinema continued to see some interesting/entertaining films like Kong: Skull Island (2017), Shin Godzilla (2016), and Colossal (2016).

​he hope of being ahead of the pack was gone. But! The surprising popularity of the kaiju genre did give my book more of a landing pad when it was ready for release. Do I wish I had gotten it out sooner? Of course. But I did what I could. And it’s in good company now. I’m happy as a creator and as a fan of the genre that the kaiju boom continues to go on strong.

Now let me get political… accidentally? Well, no. Not accidentally. Art is political and I’ve got some opinions, man. But my book only accidentally has something to say about President Donald Trump.

In the story’s apocalyptic future, most the world has been reduced to ash and ruin from failed wars to beat back the kaiju invaders. Refugees migrate from one burned out city to the next looking for a safe place to rest their heads. Word is spoken of a safe haven in America and refugees flock to it from all corners of the globe. But when they get there, they find walls have been erected around the safe city. Only those with something of worth are allowed through the gates and into the city walls. The rest remain on the outskirts, occasionally rising up in violent protest in their desperation to reach safety.

So, yeah. I wrote some science fiction which accidentally hit close to our current reality of walls, refugees, asylum seekers, and pitiless policies on how best to deal with the weak and wounded. Coming up with that years ago and preparing it for publication as it started unfolding above a Breaking News banner was kind of weird. Totally unintentional. And I’d really rather my book about a deeply flawed city at the end of the world had no relation to today’s America, but here we are.

The world doesn’t wait for your book to be ready so that it can land at the front of the line of the new trend. Likewise, life-changing world events happen at a rapid pace, and can have an impact (good or bad) on your work’s themes that you never intended. My book is different now from how I first conceived of it, not only because of my own changing concepts for how to deliver the story but because of uncontrollable outside influences. Your art enters into the world at a certain time. If you’re lucky, you get to pick the date. But you don’t get to pick the world.

​So, um, there’s a dark section in the book that I got some notes on. I won’t go into it, but if you’ve read In the Shadow of Extinction chances are we’re thinking of the same section. Originally it was different. For whatever reason, I tapped into my inner Tobe Hooper and went wild with that thing in all the worst ways. My early readers were not pleased by this surprising turn in the middle of a giant monster story into sweaty, backwoods horror territory. I listened — thank goodness — and I made the necessary changes. It’s still a dark, unpleasant section of the book, but in an entirely different way.

​Though I don’t think of myself strictly as a ‘horror author,’ my writing instincts always point me to horror for inspiration and plot fixes. I firmly believe that it is important to trust your instincts. This is what makes you you. But you can overdo it if you’re not careful. One must juggle the need to subvert genre expectations with the need to please genre fans. In other words, don’t impale somebody on a meat hook in the middle of a kaiju novel.

I went too dark. I got too nasty. I was trying to say something about a certain ugly part of culture and went about it the wrong way.

I rewrote the entire section (probably the biggest rewrite of the book). I substituted the sweat and rust for cold, clean surfaces. I removed hooks and chains in favor of hospital hallways and orderly staff. Instead of chaos and lawlessness, it became all about the new law of the land, which was sterilized, unfeeling, inhuman government operated rationale.

The change actually helped me say what I wanted even clearer than before. At least I think so. I still get occasional notes, but I’m okay with that. I feel like it’s the right amount of dark now. And besides, the bad guys die horribly, so that’s fun.

If you read just about any book on writing you’ll find the advice that you should never chase trends. And I agree. However… if you’re already into that trending thing, then maybe now’s a good time to tell that story you’ve always wanted to tell.

If you’re not into vampire tales, you’d be silly to follow the Twilight hype and write your own (are we through that now? Is it safe?). But if you do love your vamps and Bela Lugosi is your dream guy, then damn it, now’s your moment. Write fast. Write with passion.

​Listen, In the Shadow of Extinction is not a big hit bestseller. It’s not. I’m a small-time author. But it sold well by my standards. Better than my previous books. The first month’s sales were especially nice and I got myself that big ol’ Bergman box set from Criterion as a gift to myself. I call that a win.

​I do not believe it sold better because I have a larger platform now (though I do) or because the cover art is good (though it is). I believe it sold well because it settled into a popular subgenre of fiction that people are reading now. You can easily identify it as a kaiju novel, not just a horror, sci-fi, or disaster novel, you know? It has a niche. And that matters.

Don’t chase trends. Chase your passions. And if what you’re passionate about is trending, then you better damn well make the most of it.

I’ve used beta readers before but they were all friends, family, and writers I knew. When I was pushing In the Shadow of Extinction into its 4th draft, I decided to reach beyond my trusted circle to find beta readers who had never heard of me or my books before. It was worth it.

One beta reader came back with notes that dramatically improved Part 1 of the story. I mean, holy shit what an improvement. It was a problem section of the book for me that my circle of trusted readers/friends didn’t think was that big of an issue. This one beta reader who I’d never spoken with before comes in and almost immediately points out what’s wrong and why. And it’s like, Duh. There it is. That’s the problem. So much of the time the lightbulb of an idea is there but it requires someone else to flip it on.

​Another beta reader had good suggestions about one of the book’s kaiju, which they felt didn’t fit in with the attempt at ‘realism’ found in the other kaiju (let’s be real, they’re giant monsters. But if some of them exist by a set of physical rules, it only makes sense that they all should. And failing that, at least explain/point out that this particular monster is special for some reason).

Another reader had notes about the section alluded to in #3. One reader said they found a certain character dull. At least a couple of folks suggested chapter cuts. Another came up with a notion of where the story might continue in a sequel.

All of these thoughts, even the ones that had very little to say beyond ‘this good’ and ‘this bad’, were invaluable to me as I shaped the mammoth manuscript into its 5th and final draft. Chances are I would not have ever made some of these alterations had it not been for these beta readers. It is worth it to reach beyond the usual circle of confidence now and then, find someone with the basic requirement that they enjoy reading, and see what they have to say.

A note on beta readers and feedback from writer friends: if someone tells you there’s something wrong with the book, they’re probably right. However, if that someone tells you how to fix it, they’re probably wrong. Fix it yourself. It’s the only way you’ll be totally happy with the change.

​It seems like Toho sues somebody every other week for the unlawful use of Godzilla in entertainment or advertising. There’s a reason for that. Simply, Godzilla is so much a part of modern pop culture that it’s become shorthand for ‘giant monster.’ And though we see some interesting, totally original monsters now and then, the influence of Godzilla informs the design of many original beasts.

In the Shadow of Extinction was no different. The influence of Godzilla and all his rubber-suited friends can be found throughout. But I tried to put some distance between us and make these original kaiju my own. There’s no atomic rays or fire breathing dragons to be found anywhere in the text. And radiation has little to do with how they’re brought to life.

In the Shadow of Extinction has four main kaiju: the gargantuan dinosaur-like beast, the insectoid horde, the giant sea creatures, and a blind mole monster. But they were just monsters until I discovered what they were trying to say. You know, Godzilla is a stand-in for nuclear annihilation. Kong is about capitalism and slavery. Hedorah is a monster that symbolizes the danger of unchecked pollution. A great many more were about diving too deep, going where we did not belong, or being reckless with our scientific discoveries. And so on. So, what were my monsters up to? What did they have to say?

​I didn’t figure it out right away. Wasn’t until rewrites when I deduced that the monsters were about war and all the misery that comes with it. In the book, mankind enters into war with each other as well as with the monsters, thus speeding along our own demise (that’s not a spoiler; most the book takes place after the end of the world). The Tyrant, the big guy on the cover of the book, is like war made flesh as it crashes through our cities looking for something new to fight. And some of the human characters are no better, continuing to want a fight with the monsters long after that fight is already lost.

​Once I understood this, the vision of the book changed for me. The ending came into clearer focus. And I had it.

Listen to your monsters. Find the theme hidden beneath the rubble. You don’t have to write a ‘message story’ to have something to say.

​Bit by bit over the past couple years, Raffael Coronelli has been writing one of the more original takes on the kaiju genre in fiction. That world exists sometime after our present world has perished and the titans that are linked to the spirit of the earth – titans that play some role in both our salvation and destruction – have largely disappeared back into myth and religion. The stories (Daikaiju Yuki, Y2K: Yuki Conquers the World, Mowka, and now this collection) tell the tale of this fantastical world in small doses from multiple perspectives, with not one of the volumes thus far topping 250 pages. It’s an interesting but enjoyable way to present a new sci-fi/fantasy world – a world that is deep, well-drawn, and familiar yet also full of new discoveries. The manner in which Coronelli presents the world in these smaller, but regularly released volumes allows us to keep up with the story while also not becoming overwhelmed by any one particular chapter. With the latest release of the ongoing saga, we get four standalone stories set within the realm of Daikaiju Yuki, set some years prior to the events of the original book.
 
The title story, Scythian Frost, starts us off on the best possible note. Set in an arctic outpost, the story focuses on a trio of men who walk out onto the frozen tundra looking for a fabled temple that is rumored to house a dormant kaiju god. It’s a dark, somber story about men at the edge of the world venturing into the unknown. My kind of jam. This is the best story of the collection.
 
Also strong is story two, Outrigger, which is an oceanic adventure over troubled waters. A two-man vessel takes a ship over sleeping leviathans, disbelieving the maritime horror stories of their existence in these waters. But they probably should’ve charted a different course. Outrigger is thrilling and features a pair of unlikely kaiju antagonists that I quite enjoyed meeting.
 
Lair of the Devourer is a jungle river adventure looking for a fabled crocodile kaiju while threats of local warlords threaten all involved. This is the one story where I really felt like it could’ve benefited from a longer length and more depth. It’s not bad, but there’s a rushed quality to the story that’s not present in the first two stories.
 
The shortest story is Thyrus the Beast of Umbria (previously published in the Mokwa paperback), an action/horror chase sequence with a mother and daughter on the run from giant wolves in the night. I really like this one. It’s short but satisfying.
 
The collection finishes up with The Pantheon Arrives! which is about the escape from a place of work under attack by kaiju, with the desperate hope for the arrival of the land’s protector kaiju. This is the weirdest of the bunch, complete with bizarre clam kaiju and a ‘wait what?’ twist regarding its characters that has me asking a lot of questions. More than any of the other stories (including my favorite, Scythian Frost), this one seems to build the most lore for the world of the series its set in.
 
I quite enjoyed the collection. As with all anthologies, you’re going to have your favorites and least favorites, and I definitely have my picks. But on the whole it’s very solid. Coronelli has grown considerably as a writer in the two years since Daikaiju Yuki, here crafting some truly special science fiction/fantasy. For kaiju geeks like myself, the Scythian Frost collection is a real treat, giving us one strange story of adventure and wonder after the next.

I didn't read nearly as much as I would've liked this year. Partly this is because I read and re-read my 800 page book In the Shadow of Extinction a few times over in preparation for its release. Partly it's because I was just distracted by movies, videogames, and a BREAKING NEWS world on fire.

But I did read some good stuff in the time that I put aside for ink and paper. Here are my favorites...

The Force feels so very much in the moment. It is a cop epic for a time when cops are viewed more cynically by more people than perhaps ever before. Police brutality and videos of cops killing unarmed black men are major subplots that make up a background (and eventually the foreground) of American justice on the edge of a knife. It is an angry piece of work, one that points an accusatory finger at police but also takes time to see the world from their point of view. It also points out the corruption and the hypocritical attitude found in the courts and D.A. offices. No one gets out looking super clean in The Force and the story is all the better for it.
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I’m coming to learn that there are few real heroes in the works of Don Winslow and many bastards. The Force's Denny Malone is a complex antihero, a man who is hated, loved, feared, and honored. It’s impossible to approve of everything the man does, but one can’t help but end up rooting for him as the world closes in around him. Supporting characters on both sides of the law, of which there are many, are also well drawn. And the action is written in a blunt force manner which I really enjoyed.

The Force is a brilliant crime epic and I give it my strongest recommendation. Don Winslow is fast becoming one of my favorite authors writing today. Winslow's The Border, his sequel to the masterful The Cartel, is probably my most anticipated novel of 2019.

In the introduction to the book, Stephen King says he kept Pet Sematary in a drawer for years because he was disturbed by the book and the conclusions it made. It's true, the book is dark as hell. One of the darkest, most uncompromising of King's long career of dark fiction. I decided to give the book a look because I never had before and I was excited for the new film adaptation (the original film is very, very good). I knew the story going in and as such probably wasn't as frightened by the twists King comes up with. But the novel is darker and sadder than I was expecting, even while I knew the original film to be dark and sad itself. This is one of King's very best. 

Donald Trump visited hurricane victims and was enchanted by the arrival of a boat where it should not have been. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert then turned it into a kid's book complete with new artwork. All the lines are actual quotes from Donald Trump.

​It is hilarious. It is sad. There is no moral.

Broken Shells is a nasty little book. It’s like a long lost Tales from the Crypt episode in the way that it starts as one thing, becomes something else, and only gets darker as it goes. Hicks fits in a bit of political commentary into the book as well. The main character is a poor African American man in Trump’s America and deals with open hostility long before a giant bug bites off his ear. There are moments that call to mind Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, a horror movie ahead of its time with politics on its mind that also featured a black man as a hero.

But what Broken Shells will be remembered for is its gross monster horror brutality. Hicks does not shy away from the slimy details. If anything, the unflinching look at the gory details seems to be one of the author’s primary intentions in writing this story. The author’s style—blunt but squishy—makes for very readable prose. The protagonist Antoine is a likable, flawed hero fighting against the odds and even the villainous car salesman is written with unexpected depth.

The book is grim. Maybe too grim for some folks. But for those in the mood for hardcore monster horror, look no further. I’m gonna remember it for a while, especially for one bug birthing scene that I think would make Ridley Scott proud. And I’m gonna think twice before following the car salesman to his office to make a deal.

Matt Frank is one of the friendliest kaiju geeks in town. Pairing him with Redman, the most bloodthirsty kaiju killer Tsuburaya ever created, did not seem to me to be an automatic yes-this-makes-perfect-sense combo. But I was wrong. Of course I was. You never doubt Matt Frank, gang. How foolish I was to forget this.

Redman is like a cousin of Ultraman except he goes around like Jason Voorhees stabbing kaiju to death whether they're good or bad. Absolute maniac. He kind of returned to relevance in the last few years after episodes of the largely forgotten/rarely seen 1970s tv series were officially uploaded to YouTube.

The comic, printed in a darker, pulpier fashion than most Frank art, is a loving tribute to the character that just ten years ago would've been inconceivable to see published in America. It is not just the best Redman story I've seen, it's also maybe Matt Frank's best work (Godzilla: Rulers of Earth is hard to beat, though!). I believe Vol. 2 is not far away and I can't wait to get my hands on it. 

Hell yes, I'm following up a kaiju comic with a nonfiction book written by a former Secretary of State about the history of fascism and its dangerous return. That's who I am.

This is a good book. And, sadly, an important one for where we are today. In it, Albright details the historic rise of fascist states, how she dealt with fascist leaders during her time in politics, and how to recognize its ugly stench as it comes slithering out of the shadows today. She comes this close to calling Trump a fascist and leaves the reader to make their own conclusions (guess what I concluded). Today, when leaders with fascistic tendencies wield power all across the world, and free elections continue to vote these guys into office (WTF WHY), books like this one and Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny are worthwhile reads for recognizing the warning signs. There is good cause for worry. 

After failed attempts to get into the works of H.P. Lovecraft in years past, in 2018 I gave it another go and much to my surprise... I really dig some of these stories. Yes, the man and some of the intentions of his text are problematic to say the very fucking least. I am not forgiving those things. But these are mega creepy, very enjoyable stories. I understand their draw now where I hadn't before. The Dunwich Horror, Dagon, and The Hound are wonderfully crafted horror tales.

Writing can be a lonely task in the day-to-day but that doesn't mean you shouldn't have some sort of backup helping or cheering you along. Today at Scriptophobic, I offer some Dos and Don'ts for building your writer support group.