stjohnstarling

[stjohnstarling]

everyone is sick of reading everyone else's list of personal problems at the top of their blogs, we've been over all the reasons why this is a bad idea both interpersonally and as an online safety thing, however i think it should also be mentioned that just showing me the big list of what's wrong with you first thing when i click on your blog counts as spoilers and ruins the narrative tension. i clicked on your blog to find out over time, through a series of mysterious flashbacks and delightful subtextual nods, what's wrong with you. youre taking all the fun out of it

[stjohnstarling]

It can be tough to love a man who keeps trying to dissect you.

The doctor's devoted assistant knows his master isn’t dead, because he brought him back with his own hands — but he can't say that to the police...

🧪 Witness a man transformed against his will in a manner both monstrous and sublime.

🧪 Accompany a lost soul as his search for the object of his obsessive devotion leads him into a labyrinthine network of conspiracy and murder.

🧪 Revel in villainous excess as they conduct unethical yet homoerotic experiments on each other.

A COMPANION IN VICE is a gothic-noir hybrid novel about hazardously toxic queer romance and mad science — a chapter per week, sent (for free!) directly to your inbox — beginning SUMMER/FALL of 2025!

SIGN UP HERE →

[stjohnstarling]

[stjohnstarling]

If you don't feel like there's anything you can nail, you might consider trying to figure out how to write a simple piece of genre fiction completely straightforwardly. There genuinely is no better way to learn the skill of storytelling.

Write a murder mystery, or a quest to slay the dragon, or a ghost story, or a heist, etc. etc. Don't subvert the genre, just pick a kind of story you like that already exists and write it the way it's meant to be written.

(Also if you don't feel like there's anything you can nail may I gently suggest that you probably want to hone your skill more before going professional.)

One thing I wish people would ask themselves when they're trying to get started in any kind of professional capacity as a writer is "what can I nail?" Work that's an absolute slam dunk, well within your current ability to write, will open more doors - and teach you more in the process - than starting by tackling something way beyond your skill level.

[stjohnstarling]

And there's so much more to the profession of writing than just the writing - the more you can be completely confident in your work, the more you'll be able to rely on that when you do all the other nervewracking stuff. Save the major projects until you know what you're doing. Trust me. I am trying to save you.

One thing I wish people would ask themselves when they're trying to get started in any kind of professional capacity as a writer is "what can I nail?" Work that's an absolute slam dunk, well within your current ability to write, will open more doors - and teach you more in the process - than starting by tackling something way beyond your skill level.

[stjohnstarling]

One thing I wish people would ask themselves when they're trying to get started in any kind of professional capacity as a writer is "what can I nail?" Work that's an absolute slam dunk, well within your current ability to write, will open more doors - and teach you more in the process - than starting by tackling something way beyond your skill level.

[stjohnstarling]

A terrible, terrible nightmare - Jupiter and Io edition. Always wondered what happens in confessionals, guess I know now. If I wasn’t already going to hell for reading What Manner of Man, I’m going for this. See you lot there!

[stjohnstarling]

All the most elite post connoisseurs read my blog first thing every morning.

[stjohnstarling]

Do you have any idea how much it costs to keep a merman healthy? Well, it'd be a lot more without a free and reliable source of protein.

Bad and naughty detectives who break into my lab are thrown into the merman's tank.

[stjohnstarling]

Bad and naughty detectives who break into my lab are thrown into the merman's tank.

[stjohnstarling]

I call them my specimens because they’re the men who are special to me.

[stjohnstarling]

If you haven’t called Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, or Stripe yet, you really shouldn't feel guilty about it. For this to work, we need to keep up these calls for the long haul, and it's perfectly fine to take as much time as you need to get yourself feeling able to call in. You don't have to do everything at once. The fact that you haven't pushed yourself too hard means you're not burnt out on this effort, and if what you can manage is to call a single payment processor, that's one more than we would have had otherwise. It's not as bad as it seems, give it a try.

Numbers and info here

[stjohnstarling]

They literally walked up to where I was sitting and started eating my arm, occasionally pausing and considering the flavour like a chef.

[stjohnstarling]

Today on Patreon: a very soft announcement, some reflections on worldbuilding, and a film recommendation.

Putting You in the Contraption ->

[stjohnstarling]

With the news of the death of Benny Golson at age 95 this month, the great Sonny Rollins (94) is the last surviving of the 57 jazz musicians featured in Art Kane's 1958 photoraph A Great Day in Harlem

…and damn is he still cool!

The 1994 documentary on the story behind the photo is really good, even if you've no interest in jazz

[stjohnstarling]

wait can we make that a game. what does prev taste like ^_^

[stjohnstarling]

small collection of my greatest hits in case anyone wants a cool sexy freshly post-nuke artist to follow!