Author/Screenwriter PJ Woodside – I spent decades learning how to use fewer words. (Is that a short enough story?)

About

My first memory of writing is telling my cousin I could write cursive, and making rows and rows of loopy lines across the page. I wasn’t prepared for her to ask me what it said, but when she did I gave her an entire story, putting my finger on each “word” as I told it.

I’ve been writing ever since. I passed a million words a long time ago. I should probably take a rest, but I can’t. Writing is what makes me feel the most like me.

I would love to work with you!

CONTACT: I can be reached at pj.woodside at gmail.com or pj@pjsproductions.com

My co-authored book combines our writing and movie-making experiences. Now available: Cheapskate Movie Makers: How We Made 10 Horror Movies in 9 Years With Nearly Zero Budget

Novels

I have an MFA in fiction from George Mason University and studied under Ernest Gaines and Richard Bausch. My publications include of short stories, poems, and non-fiction articles.

Below are my current projects looking for homes.

The Untwinned, 98,000 words. Carusse is a rare single-born in a world where only twins have rights, but she refuses to live in the shadows any longer. Speculative fiction. Based on my short story “Carusse and Emmel” published in Peridot Online (now known as Allegory).

Ravine, 84,000 words. A middle-aged theater professor whose husband and lover die in the same tragic accident attempts to numb her grief through a series of sexual encounters. Women’s fiction.

A Reckoning of Hands, 82,000 words. A reluctant psychic is trying to quit the business when the son of a former client walks back into her life and demands she put right the trauma she caused his family. Speculative fiction.

In development

The Jesus Project. Based on my short story “Second Coming” published in NFG in 2005, this story is set in a future world which has cloned Jesus for political purposes, and is told from the unwitting surrogate mother’s point of view. Speculative fiction.

Screenplays

Unproduced

Love From a Safer Distance (Romantic Comedy): When a struggling wannabe costume designer finally gets her big chance on Broadway, her dream is complicated by the pandemic –and by the ruse, attractive stranger who moves in next door.

Pretty Demons (Demon Thriller): When the brilliant but bullheaded curator of a struggling museum accidentally unleashes a sex demon that preys on men and terrorizes a city, she must find a way to unravel the spell or lose everything she cares about.

The Creepy Doll Returns (Horror): A doll with eerie powers entices a bullied teenager to take revenge on her older stepsister and the friends under her control in this sequel to The Creepy Doll (2009) which can work as a standalone as well. Complete and ready for sale.

Produced

Frances Stein (2015) with Big Biting Pig Productions

Lucid (2013) with Big Biting Pig Productions

The Creepy Doll (2011) with Big Biting Pig Productions

Widow (2009) with Big Biting Pig Productions

Movies

For 9 years I worked with Big Biting Pig Productions making micro-budget horror movies. I wrote and directed four of them and Steve Hudgins wrote and directed the other six.