Kickass Trailer: "Dead Snow"

In pure horror movie essence, Dead Snow revolves around a group of Norwegian med students vacationing in the mountains. Instead of the anticipated boozing, skiing and "sexing," they get a throng of WWII Nazi-zombies (Nazombies, if you please).

Entertainment Weekly calls the movie "Cheery, silly, splattery, and respectful of its elders (and betters, particularly Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead)." There's just one thing we have to say about this: "Groovy!"

Possible Stickers?

Coming soon to a bathroom or sign post near you.

This just in...

On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles of The Mercury Theater on the Air presented an adaptation War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. Welles narrated a series of news bulletins about martians taking over the world. Due to some listeners tuning in mid-broadcast they thought the invasion was real.


Now it's your turn to get those news media/tabloid consumers riled with your own script or news article of an alien invasion; There are so many possibilities such as just a regular ole 1950s invasion, or maybe an illegal alien invasion (i.e. zombies). But whatever you do, the alien should not utter: "Take me to your leader!"

6 Easy Steps to Maintaining Your Craft (and Sanity) While in School

Papers are building up like plaque on teeth. Extra curricular activities and volunteer work bring a burden, not to mention going to frat parties! Your brain has to settle after being jolted from one class to the other.

You sit at the computer and try to get those voices that have been nagging at you all day onto paper. The warming sun is drawing nigh, barely casting it’s rays through the sheets of Post-It notes sprawled over the window (History presentation: Oy!; French test: Mon dieu!).

Wincing as if you’ll turn to dust as the sun brushes your skin, you utter those six infamous words from your pursed, tired lips: “I’m too tired. I’ll write tomorrow.”

This is where I scream-(Noooo!)- and you plead for my help. Follow these six easy steps and you too will maintain your craft.

ESTABLISH A BOND WITH OTHER YOUNG WRITERS

Being a young writer can get stressful as people don’t always take us seriously. Befriending other young writers can help reduce that stress. They understand just what you’re going through whether they’re in school or not.

With your “writing buddy,” as my friend and I call ourselves, exchange tips and criticism. You can meet writing buddies anywhere. I met my writing buddies through school and MySpace.com.

TAKE A FREE ONLINE COURSE

Make sure that the writing course is free. Writing is supposed to be fun, not a hole in your wallet. Online courses are better because they’re done on the Internet and at your own pace. Try www.absynthmuse.com for some free, fun courses geared towards young writers.

Not only will these courses give you a chance to interact with other authors, some experienced, others not, but it will give you a chance to shine and better your art. And they’re free!

WRITE A SENTENCE A DAY

Buy some spiral notebooks in bulk at a wholesale store (it’s cheaper that way). In that notebook you’ll keep all your writing.

When you start to write that first sentence most likely you’ll keep on writing. In no time a story will have blossomed.

Ask someone to buy you The Write-Brain Workbook: 366 Exercises to Liberate Your Writing by Bonnie Neubauer, or The Pocket Muse: Ideas and Inspirations for Writing by Monica Wood for your birthday, Christmas, Hanukkah, etc.

The books have writing prompts and inspirational quotes to keep the juices flowing and help you through the dilemma we call “writing.”

GIVE YOURSELF A GOAL

You have academic goals, why not have writing goals? Tell yourself that you want to write at least one short story by the end of the semester. Don’t worry if it’s just a first draft. Like wine, you have to let your story age before the editing stage in order to get the best quality.

You can set your goals higher such as writing a novel, but write at least one short short--a story between two and six pages long. If you write the short short and you hate it, at least you wrote something.

PERMIT YOURSELF TO INDULGE IN YOUR TALENT

You shouldn’t punish your talent. Let it roam free and just write! While others schedule time to work out (or make out), why not enjoy your own hobby?

Learn to time manage and sneak writing into your daily planner. When at lunch or sitting in the park, observe and write.

What do you see? What do you smell? How does the air taste? Ask yourself all these questions and more. Step outside of the cubicle! One answer to your plethora of questions can set your mind into full throttle, resulting in a beautiful story.

HAVE FUN

Stephen King once wrote in an article written for The Writer’s Survival Guide: “Ask yourself frequently, ‘Am I having fun?’ The answer needn’t always be yes. But if it’s always no, it’s time for a new project or a new career.”

Writing should be fun and stress-free, and most of the time it’s one or the other (and one out of two ain‘t bad). Find new and exciting ways to keep yourself enthralled in your writing.

Make character sketches of your favorite cartoon character; make word anagrams; write out of your genre.

And when you feel like giving up because school or work or lack of loving from your friend with benefits pushed you out of the writing zone, find a quote or phrase to keep yourself going like The Little Engine that Could (“I think I can, I think I can…”). Dory, from Disney/Pixar’s film Finding Nemo, inspired me to use “Just keep swimming.”

So before the sun rises, let your thoughts rise instead. Follow these six easy steps and not only will you maintain your craft while educating yourself, but you’ll maintain your sanity.

*Originally published in The Communitarian

Look Who's Coming to Dinner

We'd like to remind you that Tainted Tea isn't just written for horror writers and readers. Tainted Tea is for fans of all things macabre. The editors love all horror media: books, movies, television...it's not wonder they're favorite holiday is Halloween.

That said, we invite you to sit at our table--rustic candelabras set at each end with thick, spider-less webs strewn across; thin, red wine spilling from goblets made of stone and the stiff butler speaking through pursed lips ("Dinner is served.")

For those brave enough, try this writing prompt:

Pick three horror icons. Anyone related to the horror genre (alive or dead, fictional, etc.) and invite them to dinner. What goes down?

What kind of conversations do you have? Any special meal accommodations for the Creature from the Black Lagoon? You forgot to pick up a bottle of Chianti and Dr. Lecter isn't pleased. Why would you put out the silverware when you knew the Wolfman was coming? Hide the knives, Lizzie Borden just pulled up.

Set the scene and write a page or more (but no less) on the dinner. Be unique, have fun and don't scare yourself too much.

Midnight Movie: "Parents"

What Type of Story Are You Writng?

Allow me to reiterate: "horror is an emotion." Sure there are other writing elements thrown in such as plot, character and short sentences (this helps with your stories pace), but the core of it all is the emotional aspect.

Yet, within the horror genre there are sub-genres. In the article "What Type of Book Are You Writing?" from the magazine Writing Basics, author Michael J.Vaughn breaks down genres such as romance and Sci-Fi/Fantasy, but most importantly: Horror.

Here are a few types of sub-genres Vaughn mentions that the editors of Tainted Tea particularly get hot for:

• Comic Horror: horror stories that wither spoof horror conventions or that mix gore with dark humor.

• Fabulist: derived from "fable," an ancient tradition in which objects, animals or forces of nature are anthropomorphized in order to deliver a moral lesson.

• Hauntings: a classic form centering on possession by ghosts, demons or poltergeists, particularly of some sort of structure.

• Quiet Horror: subtly written horror that uses atmosphere and mood, rather than graphic description, to create fear and suspense.

• Weird Tales: inspired by the magazine of the same name, a more traditional form featuring strange and uncanny events ("Twilight Zone").
  

• Zombie: tales featuring dead people who return to commit mayhem on the living.

We've mentioned before that we are open to considering any and all horror, so don't be shy. Show us what you've got. Didn't your mother tell you to share? You wouldn't want to disappoint Mama, would you?