 Drama: December 04, 2024 Issue [#12851] |
This week: Are Monsters Reversed Heroes? Edited by: Joy  
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“"Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you".”
Friedrich Nietzsche
There is no denying that Hitler and Stalin are alive today... they are waiting for us to forget, because this is what makes possible the resurrection of these two monsters.
Simon Wiesenthal
Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.
Stephen King
“The next thing I knew, I was falling. I dreamed I was being thrown into an open grave, but jerked awake and landed on a bed.”
Eric Jerome Dickey, Finding Gideon
“Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw Jace shoot her a look of white rage - but when she glanced at him, he looked as he always did: easy, confident, slightly bored."
Cassandra Clare, City of Bones
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. This issue is about using in fiction monsters in human form or any monstrous situations.
Thank you for reading our newsletters and for supplying the editors with feedback and encouragement.
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
About a month ago, a tiny monster or rather a sweet little six-year-old girl rang my doorbell and said meekly, "Trick of Treat!" Yes, it was Halloween and her mother behind her answered my "Oh, how sweet!" with, "She's a little monster, all right!"
I guess there was more to that sweet child than her cuteness and her costume. I only hope that nice mother and child were not the human replicas of Grendel and Grendel's mother in Beowulf. Grendel and his mother might be old news in fiction, but they still have the capacity to creep me out.
Like the monster Grendel, using a monster in writing a dramatic fiction piece can add depth, intrigue, and symbolism to a story. This is because monsters serve as powerful story devices that heighten the tension and show us the struggles of the main character. Also, while monsters are often terrifying, dramatic fiction insists on emotional stakes.
In what ways, then, can we incorporate a monster into a fictional story, be it if our monsters are in human form or if they are real monsters? Here are some ideas I could come up with:
 As a metaphor: We can use a character to represent deeper fears, flaws, or societal issues. In the Legend of the Sleepy Hollow, the creepy headless horseman is a metaphor for the anxieties about the isolation of settlements during the colonial America. Isn't it something that, to this day, the dilemma of new people becoming a problem in an established setting still continues!
Also, a few other ways using a character as a metaphor are:
 Internal Conflicts: A character may face a monster that symbolizes their guilt, anger, or trauma.
Cultural and Societal Issues: A monster like a zombie or a werewolf, for example, can mean mindless shopping or losing control of something or other.
Abstract Fears: A monstrous person or entity can throw threats to alienate people or discriminate against them, or they may destroy the environment openly or covertly.
To build up the conflict: They create situations by threats of physical and emotional harm. They can:
Force characters to unite or divide against a common foe.
Drive the plot forward through action and suspense as any kind of battling monsters does.
Show the depth of characters with the way characters respond toward a monstrous presence, such as with courage, cowardice, compassion, or betrayal.
Now, this is what I consider to be very important: What makes someone—or something—a monster? A good dramatic story often explores that, or rather, the humanity of the monsters. Here, the question to ask ourselves as writers is, "Does this monster act out of survival or malice?"
Then, while creating our monsters, let us not forget the atmosphere and the setting. This is because monsters come to be or they thrive in places and situations that encourage their behaviors. A decaying mansion, a dishonest commercial enterprise, or a political party come to mind, as examples.
Another point is this. We writers have to pay attention to not let the story monster overshadow the main character's or the human being's personal drama or the human being himself. To say this in other words, the presence of the monster should enhance the story rather than distract attention away from it.
May all our stories come together with emotional depth and with their utmost symbolic significance!
Until next time! 
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 This Issue's Tip:
Did you know that the story of Frankenstein has inspired other writers and film-makers to portray a sympathetic monster who is rejected by society – most notably, Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands. Also, check the movies Blade Runner, Young Frankenstein, Universal Solder: Day of Reckoning, RoboCop, The Terminator,The Fly, and the story continues in many forms and ways.
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Feedback for "What Lies Under"
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Quick-Quill 
I love this letter. You have brought to my mind a book I read years ago: they Loved to Laugh. This young girl goes to live with family in the country. The daughter feels threatened and tells the new girl repeatedly, "Every tub ought to stand on its own bottom."
 Thanks for the input. Yes, what the daughter said is really funny. 
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