Spotlight On Writers
James Dean Collins
@TheGigconomist
- Where, do you hail from?
- What is the greatest thing about the place you call home?
Well, I want to start by writing that I’m not a fan of most of the people from Newark or any of the other cities in the county. However, there are a few good people here. As it pertains to writing I suppose the greatest thing about Newark is the Deer Park Tavern. It opened in 1851 from a burned-down business known as The Saint Patrick’s Inn, which in turn opened in 1747. It’s haunted, and it’s rumored that Poe himself wrote The Raven here. Poe also put a curse on the land. “A curse upon this place! All who enter shall have to return!” Yeah, thanks Edgar, I remembered that quote when I moved back from Los Angeles.
- What turns you on creatively?
- What is your favorite word, and can you use it in a poetic sentence?
My favorite word is probably “verbose”. I’m not the best with poetry but how about some prose?
Jessica stood at the reception desk in the hotel lobby. She berated a nervous clerk as Tom looked on.
“What do you mean you gave away our room, you imbecile?!” she screamed. “I don’t know what kind of muddled operation you run at this hotel, but how are we to be compensated for this dissatisfaction?”
Tom knew she was verbose, and it was something he found sexy.
- What is your pet peeve?
I’ve looked into eBook publishing lately so I’ve visited Reddit for some answers to my questions. I found out that customers on Amazon tend to spend more money on books with longer word counts. The emphasis on word count drives me nuts. If a person chooses to pay 99 cents for a story that’s 25,000 words over one that was 17,000, the reader didn’t gain any value there. It’s not like purchasing a used car. I would hope the reader would spend their hard-earned dollar on the story that seemed to better pique their interest. One of my favorite authors is Ambrose Bierce, who I LOVE as a horror writer over Edgar Allen Poe. Bierce wrote short stories that were maybe a page at best. Ambrose got to the point, and thus he gave us a scary read.
- What defines James Dean Collins?
Hopefully at this point in my life it’s tenacity. I can’t say I’m not trying every day to get better. I really just hope that at the end of the day someone read my story and they liked it for what it is.
- Ghost Tour - October 24, 2021
- Epitaph - August 7, 2021
- Tuesday’s Gone - July 28, 2020
