Ben Pienaar

Today in writing: No words. Stared at screen for 10 minutes, then wall for 15. Then realised there is a much better way to start the final act of this novel. Deleted last scene, then made a rough plan for what comes next. Smiled at ceiling and thought for 25 min.
Total of minus 1250 words. Satisfied

Damn this is actually great. I might start failing to learn spanish again

Dancing for the Gods officially released! Enjoy my latest 'slice of horror'...

"Pienaar shackles you to his story with razor-wire tension... This page-turning slice of horror will keep you at the mercy of his tale. Zachary Ashford - author of Polyphemus.

shorturl.at/qP0qm

I am sick, but writing stops for no man! Even one with a sore throat. I have noticed though that being sick can make me loopy, and i pursue weird story developments i wouldn't normally.
Hmm, maybe i'll give myself 1 strepsil per 500 words. Seems reasonable

I've been working at the same liquor store for almost twelve years, and in that time I wrote 10 horror novels and published the last 3. Selling delicious poison is fun, but it's stories that feed my soul, and one day, that will be all I do. Here's to 10 more!

I have not! Hellhouse is my favourite found footage so far, so if you think origins is even better I'll have to check it out!

I have many from childhood, but recently it's been Hellhouse LLC, Oddity, and I Saw the TV Glow. That last one was more of an existential dread rather than jumpscare but I think it still counts

I've always preferred having physical books (don't we all?) but lately I've been really getting into the idea of physical media in general. Movies, games, even music. It's so nice to just... have something. In the flesh, as it were.

In retrospect, doing a deep dive on the Rwandan genocide at 1am was... not the best choice

Or, wait, could it be potatoes?

Lettuce is the bread of the vegetable world.

I'd rather spend 2 hours on a single paragraph I think is good than 1 hour on 2000 words I vomited to hit an arbitrary word count goal. Then again, I'd rather finish a shitty novel in 1 year than agonize over a 'masterpiece' for 10. Strive for perfection, but only until the deadline hits.

Keen as hell to finally have something coming out again! Get ready...

In the mean time check out this badass cover by the great @kealanpatrickburke.bsky.social at elderlemon designs!

If you like bittersweet, noir horror, pre-order here: acesse.one/mw164

I once saw advice that would grind my writing to a halt if I followed it. They said that 'you have to know the ending of the story at the start' and that would be impossible to me. I'd lose interest. I need to solve the mystery. I write as my interest arrives and then edit it together layer by layer

Write what you want.
Embrace who you are.
Forget everything else.
Get lost in the art.

I didn't know about this one! I'm on a Tremblay binge right now because of 'Horror Movie'. He's hitting a very specific kind of Creep I really like

My only piece of writing advice is that if your thing DOESN'T include characters saying things like this, it is bad and you should throw it out

Picture of the cover of the Becky Siegel Soeatford edited collection of essays Why I Love Horror, published by Saga Press

Why I Love Horror lands 9/23. Edited by @raforall.bsky.social, published by @sagapressbooks.bsky.social, this one's not to be missed!

"... my first impulse is to look to my childhood..."
-- John Langan

Indeed, indeed, indeed. My memories are vivid and bloody. So bloody.
#whyilovehorror

It's Friday night tonight, and when work's done at 9 I got two bottles of wine waiting for me and whole lot of pages to fill. Life is good

Text mounted on a screen reads as follows: WHAT IS SCIENCE FICTION? 1. DOESN'T MATTER 2. WHO CARES 3. MARKETING DEPARTMENT'S PROBLEM 4. NOT YOURS

Simply the best slide I have ever seen in a powerpoint presentation care of @premeemohamed.com’s talk at @banffcentre.bsky.social re: Putting the Science in Science Fiction

Oh my god no I had nightmares about being eaten alive. Then again, this was also around the time I was having nightmares about 'attack of the killer tomatoes'...

Every time trash like this gets made it will only make people hungrier for the real thing.

Man I saw these when I was really young, my brother and Dad were laughing the whole time but I was jumping out of my skin. To this day the idea of critters really freaks me out. All those mouths...

"You are only entitled to your labour, not the fruits of your labour" - Bhagavad gita. I think about this all the time

My first exposure to horror as a kid was reading my Dad's graphic novel copy of Raw Head Rex. It's such a simple story yet filled with so much dread and horror. It's stayed with me all my life.

God damn that's crazy. You must have been permanently traumatized! To this day I don't like to get too close to drains... especially when it's raining

I did enjoy Bill skarsgard's portrayal as well, but at the end of the day there is no replicating Curry - he really nailed it.

IT (1990), when I was about 7. The worst part was I couldn't go to my parents for comfort because I was afraid they would turn out to be Pennywise in disguise and drag me down the drain

The greatness of the book is also the reason why there is no danger that it will be abandoned. The popularity of reading books might go up and down but I don't think people will stop reading any more than they'd stop eating. And if they do... that means book prices would plummet - more for me!

#books are awesome.

I used to care a lot about word counts, but these days I only think about time spent. As long as I spend that time dedicated to the story at hand, I don't care what I do with it. Sometimes I write, sometimes I edit, and sometimes I just stare into space with a loony smile.