Inkstains

  The gargoyle knows the difference between story and plot. Do you? What exactly is an InkStains? Are the Beatles all still alive and well and on tour and releasing new music in a parallel universe? We have the tape! Stories include the King in Yellow, packages at the Outer Reaches,and Metro Demons! John Urbancik discusses writing, photography, art, and creativity, and also reads stories.  

One of the most important things you can do as an artistand as a human being may be to try to understand how someone else lives. Their hopes, dreams, and fears. Empathy. Also, it's time for you to talk about your favorite artists, musicians, and writers. Stories include a special deck of cards, a life flashing before the eyes, and a lady and a tiger. John Urbancik discusses writing, photography, art, and creativity, and also reads stories.

  Structure in fiction and art: narrative structure, sentence structure, the structure of collections and albums and exhibitions. Three act structures, five act structures, and when to ignore the rules. Also: Mozart in the Jungle and the fantasy it portrays. Readings this week include riding the lightning, March in hiding, and "Autumnal Fete". John Urbancik discusses writing, photography, art, and creativity, and also reads stories.  

Moving, memories, the things that inspire us, and the questions artists should be asking themselves. Brainstorming, or variations of brainstorming. That party for time travelers. Obsessions other than the Olympics. And release information on DarkWalker. Readings this week include non-fiction about language and story, death by misadventure, and a tale called "Storm Butterfly". John Urbancik discusses writing, photography, art, and creativity, and also reads stories.

Love and Romance are the order of the day. Romance is more than just a genre of fiction. It's in all fiction. Art is Love. Love is Art. All of that. It's almost time for us to help The Horror Show with Brian Keene Telethon for Scares That Care. Moving house. DarkWalker. How the next project is chosen. Stories this week include   a magic box, open doors, and a prisoner ready for execution. John Urbancik discusses writing, photography, art, and creativity, and also reads stories.

  The dark night of the soul preys on artist of all sorts. The belief that nothing is working, and nothing will ever work. What can you do? John Urbancik reads something he wrote about courage during the storm (and talks about some of his experiences with hurricanes and tropical storms). Updates on DarkWalker. And you, too, should be reading Chuck Wendig. Stories this week include   Bestiary, The Smiling Clockwork Thing, and Me and the Magic Beans. John Urbancik discusses writing, photography, art, and creativity, and also reads stories.  

Is wasting time always a waste of time?Host John Urbancik discusses the difference between conscious and subconscious work, and explains how watching Game of Thrones might be a good use of your creative time. Discussions also include Point of View, and the restrictions POV puts on a story. Dragons are mentioned, and Maestros and Their Music, by John Mauceri, is discussed. Brief mentions of Moby Dick, The Hobbit,Haruki Murakami's Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgraimage and Liszt. Stories this week include a fox and her hunter, a bad chef, and constellations. John Urbancik discusses writing, photography, art, and creativity, and also reads stories.

  How do you know when advice is good,or merely well-intended, or truly bad? Host John Urbancik discusses advice and teachers (good and bad), then he talks about writer workshops and writer retreats, and the singe most important thing these offer you. He'll also talk about spreadsheets. All that, plus readings that include grandfathers and magic and love, the circus coming to town for you, and a statement of purpose. John Urbancik discusses writing, photography, art, and creativity, and also reads stories.  

In honor of Edgar Allan Poe's birthday this week, host John Urbancik tries to remember how and when he was introduced to the work of Poe. Readings include Poe's poems "Eldorado" and "Annabel Lee", and also "The Black Cat". Host John Urbancik discusses writing, photography, art, and creativity, and also reads stories.  

We all write our first stories for the same reason: we have a story to tell and the means by which to tell it. But none of us know what we're doing. Not yet. First, we go over motivations, and the kinds of things we learn that are necessary to tell a story. Then we review Guillermo del Toro's CABINET OF CURIOSITIES, not because he just won an award for Best Director, and tie that into this week's InkStains challenge. Then it's notebooks: journals and diaries and sketchpads. Stories include "Dry Seas", about a boy and a mermaid and the Leviathan; the fairy tale "Snow Sparrow"; and a Midnight story, "Motorcycle Race". Host John Urbancik discusses writing, photography, art, and creativity, and also reads stories.

What happens when the angel of vengeance fails to do his job because of a really good cup of hot chocolate? First, we congratulate you for surviving 2017, then immediately tell you it's time to get back to work. We discuss intentions, paths, the future, and all sorts of indefinable things. Then it's fashion sketches for secret projects! Readings come from fifteen years ago: "Lapse of Vengeance", in which an angel fails to do his job because of a distraction; and "Celia", something of a ghost story. Host John Urbancik discusses writing, photography, art, and creativity, and also reads stories.

Host John Urbancik discusses writing and photography and art and creativity. This week: favorite books and movies of the year, a call for everyone to participate in a Book Flood, and the end of a yearlong project. Yes, the InkStains stories are almost all written, but the show goes on. Readings include a ghost in a hurricane, a madman roaming the streets of New York City, and an almost entirely true memory of Matchbox cars in the early 1970s.

Host John Urbancik discusses writing and photography and art and creativity. This week, he talks about one of his earliest foundational influences: STAR WARS. This is not a review, not of the original movie, not of the prequels, and not of The Force Awakens, Rogue One, or The Last Jedi, and there are no spoilers. This is about inspiration, and the fires that spark your creativity. Readings include a story about a tree, a changing tattoo, and a woman who forces her own birth from the heart of a volcano.

Host John Urbancik discusses writing and photography and art and creativity. This week, he discusses lighting in fiction and answers why he wastes time pursuing other forms of art before delivering a new InkStains challenge. He does not review The Library at Mount Char (by Scott Hawkins) or The Ballad of Black Tom (by Victor LaSalle) or the Nero Wolfe books (by Rex Stout), but claims he's reviewing the classic film Casablanca. Readings include finding a moment of beauty during the robot uprising, a failed writer picking a new thing, and what lies underneath the skyscraper during an apocalypse.

Host John Urbancik discusses writing and photography and art and creativity. This week, he discusses persistence, the most important tool in the creator's arsenal, and he issues his most expansive InkStains Challenge yet. Also, he offers to rescue the Justice League. Readings include a card game of sorts, InkStains instructions, and what happens when the cards come to life.

Host John Urbancik discusses writing and photography and art and creativity. This week: Names. He discusses the importance of the naming of characters, the naming of cities and streets and record shops, and the naming of books and stories. Readings include the construction of dreams, the queen of the gods on a subway, and Jill and a wolf.

Host John Urbancik discusses writing and photography and art and creativity. This week: another handwritten project, his annual Christmas cards. Also, he discusses themes, the conscious and subconscious themes in our work; and he answers a listener question about the existence of dragons. Readings include a Christmas story, a tale of thieves in the opera house, the Japanese art of Kintsugi, and what happens when a man challenges Merlin to a duel.

Host John Urbancik discusses writing and photography and art and creativity on InkStains. This week: the conclusion of the reading of the novella NECROPOLIS. Two couples and a woman on her own are in the necropolis when twilight falls. But it's a long twilight, and a lot can happen, especially as they each realize they're not as alone as they thought. Also, John Urbancik talks more about novellas, discusses the the difference between first readers, editors and gatekeepers, hints at a future for his DarkWalker series.

Host John Urbancik discusses writing and photography and art and creativity on InkStains. This week: part four of the reading of the novella NECROPOLIS. Two couples and a woman on her own are in the necropolis when twilight falls. But it's a long twilight, and a lot can happen, especially as they each realize they're not as alone as they thought. Also, John Urbancik discusses the creation of novellas, the day he bumped into Clive Barker, his obsession with writing even random words, and his writing process for the next novella.

Host John Urbancik discusses writing and photography and art and creativity on InkStains. This week: after discussing the Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival and cartography (map making), part three of the reading of the novella NECROPOLIS. Two couples and a woman on her own are in the necropolis when twilight falls. But it's a long twilight, and a lot can happen, especially as they each realize they're not as alone as they thought. After, John Urbancik discusses unsympathetic characters, the overload of Edgar Allan Poe references, and spiders.