Blood, they say, is thicker than water, this is true. It’s also why it makes for better ink.

Mark Hayes 2023

Once in a while one quotes oneself. That particular quote is from a short story I started a while back and have never quite finished. Mainly because that quote is about the only worthwhile couple of sentences in the whole story. At least in the opinion of the person who wrote it.

As a quote it stemmed from a somewhat recurring theme in recent correspondence when I’ve talked about writing in general, and my own work specifically. That being, that to make any piece of writing worthwhile requires a little shedding of blood on the page. If the words don’t cost you a little blood, if your not leaving something of yourself within them, then what’s the point? I say this in full knowledge that some for my books contain more blood than others. The Hannibal stories are supposed to be mostly fun, light, and silly. There is blood in them, but its often disguised and hidden, and on occasion no more than a pricked fingers worth, here and there. Maybe took a little more blood, and some of the short stories too. But Passing Place and Cider Lane, well…

Just to be clear, this is almost certainly an analogy and I don’t recommend actually trying to write a novel in your own blood. You just end up anaemic at best or if you write too much plain passing out through blood loss. Neither of which is very productive, though that said you can have some truly inspiring fever dreams while you hang on the edge of consciousness, but there are better ways to get in such a state, which are a tad less dangerous.

Of course, using the blood of others to write has always been an option, but of late (in the last half dozen centuries or so) this has been frowned upon, even in cultures dominated by the followers doctrines that engage in ritualised deity cabbalism and sanguinity. The Church of England, Catholicism and what have you.

So, to be clear, its best to stick to shedding metaphorical blood on the page. But make sure you bleed once in a while, for in blood there is truth, and every fantasy need a little truth within it.

Occasionally… One bleeds anyway because as we all know paper cuts are the worst…

PS. Don’t look at me like that. Yes I know that even by my standards that’s a bit of an odd blog post, but I had no idea where this was going when I started and it just kind of ended up going no where. It happens, it can’t all be wonderfully insightful stuff you know, I just liked the quote…