UCA New Pulp Revival Writing Contest (presented by Doctor Satan)

Doctor Satan presents the Creative Horror Network’s New Pulp Revival Writing Contest!  Indulge in the tales of yesteryear with our newest creative writing challenge and try your hand at the new pulp fiction renaissance.

RULES

  1. Write a short story in the vein of pulp fiction from the late 1800s to 1940.  Examples include but are not limited to:

  • Early British scifi e.g. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

  • Pirates/adventure on the high seas e.g. Strike the Black Flag by Jay Scotland

  • Sword and Sorcery e.g. Conan the Barbarian by Robert E. Howard

  • Cosmic horror e.g. Dagon by H.P. Lovecraft

  • Early American scifi e.g. A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

  • Detective/Film Noir e.g. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammet

  • Traditional or Gothic Horror e.g. The Woman Who Stole a Ghost by Agatha Christie

  • Unhinged nonsense e.g. Doctor Satan by Paul Ernst

2. General guidelines:

  • Write as if you are being paid by the word.  The more description and “unnecessary” words, the better.  Brevity may be the sole of wit, but we’re not writing Shakespearian prose.

  • Pulp is characterized as/by overly descriptive or rich imagery; cartoonish or even outlandish characters (especially the villains); imaginative settings and story lines; and ridiculous-ass names.  Your story should take us on an adventure, be it fun or horrifying.

  • Do not feel pressured to make it horror or horror-adjacent.  Though that is more than welcome.

  • Do not use slurs.  Do not Include prejudicial, discriminatory, racist, or otherwise obviously offensive material as if you as the author were in support of it or otherwise condone it.  While such language is an unfortunate asset in a lot of pulp literature, it is not welcome here.

    • You may, however, address, explore, and otherwise criticize these themes in a constructive way.  Themes include: Racism, slavery, gender issues, socio-political issues, war, violence, classism, etc. 

  • Do not feel pressured to include romance, a damsel in distress, or anything related to intimacy.  Of course, you are not prevented from doing that either.  While this is also a facet of a lot of pulp literature, it is not required. 

3. Word limit: Minimum 2,000 - Maximum 5,500.

4. No generative AI or generative AI-assisted submissions.

5. Deadline to submit: August 15, 2024 by 11:59 PM.

HOW TO SUBMIT

  1. Please submit to creativehorrorwriting@outlook.com with the subject line “New Pulp Writing Contest: [story title - author name]”.

  2. Stories may be submitted as a Word doc, pdf, pasted into the body of the email, or as a Google Doc link. (Please make sure any Google docs have permissions open for anyone to view.) Make sure your name is nowhere in the actual document or story itself.

  3. Only one entry per contestant.  If you submit multiple entries, only the first entry will be considered. 

  4. By submitting your story you are also granting Creative Horror permission to possibly use it in future episodes and the non-exclusive right to be published in a free pulp-style webzine.  Authors otherwise retain the copyright to their works.

  5. Any late entries or entries outside the word limit will be disqualified.

  6. As always, feel free to reach out on the discord or to any one of the judges if you want to confirm that your idea fits within the rules.

PRIZES

  1. Three winners will be selected from the entries and awarded cash prizes via Paypal or Venmo.

  • 1st Place: $100

  • 2nd Place: $50

  • 3rd Place: $25

Winning stories will be read and discussed in a future episode of UCA. Winning stories and honorable mentions may also be featured in a free Pulp-style webzine.

Lost Cryptid Writing Challenge

Some cryptids are so elusive that they even vanish in the midst of a writing challenge…

As an apology to those submitted an entry for Cryptid Writing Contest, but were lost due to technical issues, we are creating a new challenge: The Lost Cryptid Writing Contest. We will read all the lost stories and put them to our panel of judges. The winning story will story have the chance of being fully narrated with sound editing in a video on the Creative Horror Youtube page.

If you sent in an entry, but your story was not listed as one of the winners or read in the UCA episode, published on November 23, 2021, and you were not emailed about being disqualified, send your submitted story to our NEW email, Creativehorrorwriting@outlook.com, with an attached screenshot of the initial email with the time code to prove that it was sent to the previous email, midnightmarinara@gmail.com, before the original Cryptid Writing Contest deadline (we will take time zones into consideration, so please let us know the time zone from which it was sent in the email).

Once you sent your story, we will send an email back, letting you know we received it. You have until Tuesday, November 30th, 11:59PM PST to email your submitted story.

We will not accept any new submissions. Just as before, the subject line must contain: “Cryptid Writing Contest: Story Title - Author Name.” Stories may be submitted as a Word doc, pdf, pasted into the body of the email, or as a Google Doc link. (Please make sure any Google docs have permissions open for anyone to view). Make sure your name is nowhere in the actual document or story itself. By submitting your story you are also granting Creative Horror and UCA permission to possibly use it in future episodes. Any entries over the original 1500 word limit will be disqualified.

Thank you, and let’s get tracking!

Cryptid Creature Writing Challenge

What’s lurking out there in the shadows, waiting to pounce? You tell us! We’ve joined forces with Animal Fact Files to present a new challenge: create a fresh cryptozoological wonder (or horror)!

Rules

  • Write a story about a cryptid of your own design. It can be inspired by other cryptids, but it must be unique enough to differentiate from known cryptids.

  • The goal is to create a believable cryptid that could have been spotted in real life, written about in newspapers, discussed on forums, etc.

  • Your story can be in any format: poem, article, research paper, etc.

  • Word limit: 1,500

  • Deadline: Sunday, July 4th, 2021, 11:59PM PST

HOW TO SUBMIT

  • Email completed stories to midnightmarinara@gmail.com.

  • The subject line must contain: “Cryptid Writing Contest: Story Title - Author Name”

  • Stories may be submitted as a Word doc, pdf, pasted into the body of the email, or as a Google Doc link. (Please make sure any Google docs have permissions open for anyone to view.) Make sure your name is nowhere in the actual document or story itself.

  • By submitting your story you are also granting Creative Horror and UCA permission to possibly use it in future episodes.

  • Only one entry per person. If you submit multiple entries, only the first entry will be considered.

  • Any late entries or entries over the word limit will be disqualified.

PRIZES

Three winners will be selected from the entries and awarded cash prizes via Paypal or Venmo.

  • 1st - $50

  • 2nd - $30

  • 3rd - $20

Winning stories will be read and discussed in a future episode of UCA. The first-place story may also have the chance of being fully narrated with sound editing in a video on the Creative Horror Youtube page.

The Fog Report - Blowing the Foghorn (Introduction)

Good evening, intrepid readers, and welcome to the land of perpetual fog that is Southern California in October. For those of you just stumbling in, I’m David, the erstwhile creator of Midnight Marinara and Undercooked Analysis. And before anyone asks me some meteorological questions, I should explain that these foggy conditions are artificial: multitudes of machines blowing odd-smelling, musty mists from the dark corners of numerous haunted attractions, which rise up like so many restless phantoms every Halloween season. If there’s one thing you can count on at a haunt, it’s this fog.

I admittedly haven’t been going to haunts as long as others - my icebreaker was being coaxed into Knott’s Scary Farm in 2013 and never looking back - but as someone who loves horror, themed entertainment and creative storytelling, I feel like I can offer my perspective on what I experience every season. SoCal has a pretty unique scene when it comes to these kind of events - mainly that there’s so many in such a close proximity! I actually talked about what I saw last year on an episode of The Witching Hour, and have been wanting to revisit some of the ideas I brought up in there with greater emphasis, To that end, The Fog Report will be a series of posts about my Halloween odyssey, breaking down what each event has to offer, what I like, what I don’t like, and how scares and themes are brought across.

This is just an introduction, of course, but you can expect several of these going forward this year, and more where that came from in the future (provided I survive ‘til the next season). I can tell you right now I’ve already paid a visit to Knott’s Scary Farm with every intention of going back for more, and will be dropping anchor at Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor in a matter of hours from this post going live. I’m already stoked that I can start getting my spooky immersive fixes in before October has even hit, and am happy to be your ghastly lighthouse keeper in this perpetually opaque haze; hopefully I can offer some insight and entertainment along the way.

Drawing & Understanding Anatomy

Why is anatomy so difficult? I call myself a character artist because I love creating characters in both written form but especially drawn out on paper (or in pixels). Whether it's human or animals that you draw, anatomy gives us all a pretty hard time. Perhaps part of the reason I like drawing monster designs is because I can get away with some, not all, but some funny looking anatomy. I asked a couple of artist friends the same question.

Our friend Sergle, who I interviewed here on the blog, said that it might be because we have a good visual memory of what the body looks like but it's hard for us to process that from our brain to hands in pen strokes. RaeAnne, our part-time host from the podcast had a similar answer. That we see it (anatomy) all the time so we notice anything and everything wrong with it. And I have to agree with them both. Our brains are hard-wired to recognize the human face and form. So even the most subtle inaccuracies can stand out to us. Still, though, it’s not a satisfying answer. I doubt that if we had a good enough answer it still wouldn’t change the fact that the only way to master anatomy as artists is through hours of dedicated practice.

Great places to study:

So from here on, I’ll be talking specifically about human anatomy but all the tips I share can be applied to animal anatomy as well. I’ve mentioned before that part of the purpose of this blog is for me grow as an artist alongside readers. As I learn, I’m going to share it all with you. My intent is to tackle the biggest hurdle I can think of first. Yes, anatomy.

Let's start with some great places to learn anatomy. Below is a quick list of some great sites to find poses. Each of these sites have a great library of poses to work from. They also have a great set up that lets you set up a timer that'll switch between poses for you.

Posemaniacs

QuickPoses

But you’re going to need more than a good stock of poses. I’m going to give you the most basic but most effective tips and tricks to learning anatomy. The first one is pretty obvious, but possibly the trickiest. That’s working from live models. If at all possible, sign up for drawing/gesture classes that use live models. Next best choice after that is to ask a friend or roommate. Maybe head out to park and sketch people there. At the very least, grab a mirror. I know I’m saying this after I just listed those sites above and the sites are great but you’ll learn so much more from live reference.

My next tip is to grab some paper and dig out some pencils. Most of the artists I know personally, along with myself, very seldom touch traditional mediums anymore. But trust me on this one, I’m not the only person to recommend this. So let's dig out that neglected sketchbook and maybe buy some new pencils as an incentive. Below are the sketchbooks I’ll be using over the next few weeks to practice anatomy.

We’ve got our models or stock poses lined up and we’ve got our materials ready. What’s the plan of attack? Gesture drawings and detailed studies. Hard to say which to start with because I’m not sure whether starting with either or will be that effective. I do know that you’re going to need to implement both. Gesture drawings are simple but they might actually be more difficult than detailed studies. With a detailed study, you’re focusing on recreating what’s in front of you. Lines, shapes and structures. In gesture drawing, you’re trying to capture the movement and flow of the body.

Here some of my gesture drawings and a couple of detailed studies I did a long while back.

Now, for gesture drawings you want these to be quick. Don’t spend a lot of time on each one. Set a timer. What I’ve done in the past is start with 30 to 60 seconds per pose. This is a great way to warm up. After about 15 or 20 poses, extended the time. 3 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes and work up to a good 60 minutes. It's when you get to the longer times that you should be doing your detailed studies.

Which brings us to the fact that we need to make time for this. Time is vital and we’re always short on it, but if you’re committed to mastering anatomy and becoming a better artist you need to set aside some time for practice. I mean every 2 or 3 days if not daily. Once a week might be easier but you are not going to make the progress. If once a week is all you’ve got, though, hey that’s still better to than nothing. Really make an effort, though. Whether its anatomy practice or just drawing in general. Practice your craft.

And with talk of time comes our last tip, perhaps the one thing you’ve heard all your life. Have patience. Or maybe, better yet, have endurance. If you really devote the time, you will see improvement. It’s just a matter of having the patience, the endurance, and dedication to stick to it.

So with all that said, I want to share one last thing with you. I came across this, SirWendigo’s Anatomy Lessons - How To Improve Faster In 6 Steps. It's essentially a self-study course you can work through on your own. Over the next few weeks to a couple months, I’ll be going through it myself. So I encourage you to do the same! You can share your own progress with me on Twitter @DeadEndReyes and @witchhourhorror. And let me know what you think the answer is to our question, “Why is anatomy so hard to draw?” Or let me know what’s the most difficult part anatomy is for you. For me, it's always feet. Feet and toes!

Until next time!

5 Habits To Help You Grow As An Artist

Perhaps my biggest passion since the age 9 has been drawing. Since then I've always had a love for art and from there anything creative. These days, I mostly find myself doing digital art and I've narrowed myself into a corner, meaning that I tend to just draw my own characters. While I dabble in acrylic painting, watercolor and even use to sew plush dolls, I haven't done much this in the past few years. When it comes to growing as an artist I've come to a bit of a stand still but I have full intention of changing that with help from this blog.

Before I start on good habits every artist should adopt, I'll start with the biggest mistake we can all make. One that I'm very much guilty of, and that's the lack of practice. I follow a handful of young artists on sites like Deviantart who when I first met showed real promise. It's the ones that I see producing new consistent pieces of content, from 4 to 10 or more, a week that I've seen grow exponentially. At times, I find myself rather jealous of their growing skills but know I can only blame myself and lack practice.

So these five habits I'm going to share with you are ones I've learned from myself, and I'm looking to reapply or take up for the first time because I've seen first hand how they've helped others.

1.] The first habit is very easy. Look around you. Throughout the day make a point of looking at your surroundings, whether that be at school, work or on the street. Look at objects, at people and their faces. Visually break down what you see down into components and think about how you would put it all back together on paper. Watch for body movements and posture to the way wrinkles form on people's clothes. What’s everything you can learn from them visually? Emotions, age, background, etc. How can you replicate all that in a drawing, painting or animation? You can learn so much by just being aware of everything around you and studying its details.

2.] Sketch every day and every chance you can if possible. Doesn't matter if it's on a sticky note, napkin or in a sketchbook you carry with you (and you always should carry one). If you have to set aside at least 10 minutes to sit and draw. And draw anything. The important thing here is to keep yourself in practice. Even if all you drawing each day are little doodles, this habit more than any other I think will help you improve the most. An added note, try to always carry a sketchbook with you. Carry it like a lifeline. You won't have the excuse of not having anything to draw on and it's a place to jot down ideas or reminders. I always carry a sketchbook or notepad of some form. I even have a couple small ones to fit into my back pocket. Carrying a pen is the real hard part, surprisingly.

3.] Put the pencil down and sketch with ink! Hide all your pencils and find a pen you like. I learned this one from an old friend who would only draw in ballpoint pen and he explained it to me when I finally asked why. Drawing with pen means we can't erase any mistakes, and that’s exactly why you should draw with it. It forces us to work with our mistakes by either changing the drawing to cover it up or making it look intentional. I think after time it also helps us become more confident in the lines we put down because we're less afraid of making those mistakes.

4.] Horde reference material like a dragon and use it. If you're working on a piece, having reference for anything from lighting, color, anatomy to composition will increase the quality of you final product ten fold. You learn so much from having solid reference to work off of. I suggest compiling a folder or some kind of collection for the thing you like to draw and especially for the things you really struggle with.

5.] Which takes me to my last point, face your fears. By that, I mean any fears or hesitation of drawing things that are difficult. Anyone else hate drawing feet? Why are they so hard to draw?! To combat this I'm going to put aside time to just draw feet. Feet and anything else that makes me pull my hair when I draw. I suggest you do the same. I had a teacher once tell me he hated drawing wrinkles on clothes. So he took an old fat Macy's catalog and sketched every item of apparel in it until he was confident he had mastered wrinkled clothes.

Some of these you've probably heard before and you're seeing them again here because they really do work. It's just a matter of how determined you are to put them into practice.

Have any another habits or tips you want to share? Comment below or tell me about that on Twitter @DeadEndReyes, I’d love to hear them.