  Horror/Scary
This week: The Mind Of A Horror Writer Edited by: W.D.Wilcox  
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The Mindset Of Horror
A lone sparrow darts to-and-fro across the blue-within-blue sky chirping for its mother. It does not yet realize it has been abandoned, left to fend for itself in a vast and heartless world. I hear its song and I know in my heart it is not the cheerful calling of a happy bird at all. I hear instead a mournful lament from a creature that can't quite grasp its present situation, and has yet to comprehend that it is truly alone.
Sometimes I feel just like that bird, I am a horror writer and my song is usually grotesque and sad, dismal and frightening. My song usually starts off as a hum, turns into a moan, then howls like a wild thing in pain. Sometimes it can even roar like a great beast.
It's all so weird.
Sometimes I fall into moods where I feel totally nonhuman, as if I had at just this very instant been transported from Mars, and everything appears so, I don't know...alien: the foliage, the animals, the inhabitants. Do you know what I mean? It's like a stranger in a strange land.
This is my mindset, this is how I create.
I look at everything through a microscope, and then it is suddenly transformed into something else. I am a writer. But more importantly, I write horror. And, at any given moment, without warning, any and everything around me can instantly become...horrifying.
Like the sharp pointy teeth of those reaching pine trees, the jagged rocks at their base, or the alien insect life that seethes below, they are all fodder for my next story. Like the cat, the dog, the wasp...the spider, they're all right there waiting to jump out at my unsuspecting imagination.
Then there are times when uninvited entities wander into my life: shadows, strange sounds, things that can't be seen but refuse to be ignored. Now those are scary moments. So scary, that at times I even scare myself.
Why? Because I write horror, and if it scares me, it sure as hell is going to scare my readers.
Outside, something pale cuts through the air with a whoosh; many blades descended in an arc, but softer than steel: pinions forming a six-foot wingspan, luminous round eyes, and the sharpness of a beak. I know it is only an owl, but nevertheless, I cry out in surprise as it passes over me. I have a thing about owls; I believe they are a bad omen. Why? I don't know. There is no actual reason, other than I relate to them with the passing of my loving mother; but also because I have read that alien abductees associate owls with the near approach of their nightly tormentors. Other than that, owls just plain creep me out.
I'm telling you this because I want you to get an idea of how a horror writer thinks, how he connects the dots. I'm sure some of you can relate, just as I'm sure that some of you go about it in a totally different way. Whatever works for you is fine, just write, and pull from your surroundings.
I can look at anything and turn it into something terrifying. Does that mean I'm crazy? Maybe. But I ain't no crazier than the guy living next door who at this very moment is walking fully-clothed through his front yard sprinklers, his bulky seven-foot body breaking a misty rainbow arc while he continues to argue with himself and smack his fist over-and-over again into his open hand.
I just hope he ain't pissed at me. I've only talked to him once, and noticed that behind his thick horn-rimmed glasses his brown eyes floated like strange fish in a world all their own. *shivers*
Until next time,
billwilcox
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The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste
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| | Possession (18+)
In an asylum for the criminally insane, a young orderly discovers true possession...
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DEAD LETTERS
kgomotso.b
Comments....
wow, talk about horror. I belive that the story attached by the editor has more potential. it could be more scary, but otherwise, it gave me an idea of where to look for horror as a horror writer wanna-be. big-ups
BIG BAD WOLF Feeling Thankful 
Comment....
Well, if I ever need a scare, I know where to go to get my heart thumping. 
LJPC - the tortoise 
Comments....
Eeewww! Your story was horrible and so were all the other stories about spiders -- but I loved every one of them! ...May not sleep so well tonight, though...
 -- Laura
Arwen9
Comments....
Awesome story, W.D. With my spider phobia, it was deliciously scary and surprising 
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Horror/Scary: July 28, 2010 Issue [#3877]
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