Nicholas Beck's Blog

At the beginning of this semester, I was disappointed with the mandatory Shakespeare class I needed to take. Before, I had always begrudged reading anything by Shakespeare. But after taking the class, reading six of the plays, and learning all the complicated components included in his writing, it is no wonder I never liked the plays before when I would barely be reading the material.
I even am starting to use some of the ideas and tools in my own writing; like trying to mix in the comic elements in between the intensely dramatic scenes in order to lighten the load for the reader. Another thing I have discovered is that I have been trying to give certain characters idiolects. I don't know if this will work, or if anyone would even notice something like that, but its certainly adds extra significance to the writing.

The most amazing thing to me is how much my writing is affected by the books which I am reading at the time. For instance, when I was writing my first novel 'The Animal' I was constantly reading Dean Koontz and this greatly influenced the style in which I was writing. Over the summer and more recently this fall, I have been reading a lot of H. P. Lovecraft. That kind of unique horror is incredibly influential with the way I have been writing and what I wanted to write. With the reading of all those stories, this has caused me to write more short stories. Some of them after completion seem to be decent stories, however they are nowhere in comparison with the majestic style which the master of macabre composed tales. This makes me wonder how my writing will transform over time.

Thank you to everyone who entered 'The Animal' giveaway, I was extremely pleased by the turnout. Congratulations to the winners and I hoped you enjoy the books when they arrive in the mail.

Right now, while attending school full time, I am working on editing my second novel which I hope to release by early Decemeber. This novel is a horror, and has a different feel throughout the book than does my first book, 'The Animal'. There is the same psychological suspense style, yet there is a distinct difference in the book. I can see my writing came a long way during the course of developing this novel. I can't wait for people to begin reading it, but I want everything to be as near as I envisioned as possible. This is why I will wait until the end of the semester before releasing, 'South Wolf Creek'.

I will be giving away ten copies of The Animal, the giveaway will end on the twenty-fifth of September. So if you are interested, then enter to win a copy.

If you win, then I hope you will enjoy the story.

Either way, thank you for all the consideration of the novel.

This is the fist novel that I wrote titled The Animal. This is a suspenseful story about a group of people struggling to find purpose in their lives, when they believe their careers are in place.

Terry Jones was living what seemed to be a normal life. With a steady job at a oil company that promised huge career advancements. Everything changes for him in an instant when he starts having regular periods of blackness. Time that is being lost and he starts wondering if this could mean a split personality disorder. Terry begins to remember past experiences which before had been erased from his mind. Those memories suggested he was experimented on as a kid in the days following his father's murder.

At the same time Detective Dennis Smith follows a murderer's path through New York City. This is one of the most difficult cases of his career yet. While trying to find the killer responsible for a gruesome murder, he keeps having disturbing memories about his shadowed past. The path he follows leads him to places he never knew existed, and a discovery of incredible magnitude.

Terry and Dennis are sent on an amazing journey through terror, danger, and eventually love to discover the truth. Not only about their pasts, but also discovering who they really are as people.