 Horror/Scary: December 21, 2010 Issue [#4139] |
  Horror/Scary
This week: Trapped~in a bottleneck of trouble Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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All that I see or seem is but a dream within a dream.
Edgar Alan Poe
Never state an horror when it can be suggested.
H.P. Lovecraft
Welcome to this week's edition of the WDC Horror and Scary Newsletter, where we explore the means of inciting horror with our words in verse and prose.
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Greetings, fellow travelers in the dark, whether in daylight or twilight, horror beckons where the unknown abides.
Consider a journey taken daily by many of us. We enter a chamber, select a number, and confirm our choice with the touch of a finger. The chamber doors slide shut with a slap of rubber, a motor whirs, and the chamber rises. Numbered lights mark our climb. The chamber is lighted and we can watch the numbers climb as we do, carried aloft by grinding pulley wheels and cable. Sometimes, on a whim of chattering pulley wheels, the cables seize and we stop before we reach our chosen number. The doors stay closed, the lights flicker, and the intercom button marked in text and braille brings no response in any tongue. Is there video monitoring, if I make faces, will someone see and send help, or just laugh at the nut playing in the elevator.
Maybe I can slide a pen between the rubber, catch the eye of the doors and climb up to the next floor? No, what if the chamber drops, leaving my arms and head on 23 and my rest squirting arterial blood all over the chamber. Or, what if something stopped the chamber, something iron-deficient gnawing at the cables, or just playing with them.
I've trapped our hapless travelers in a bottleneck. A bottleneck is the point at which the path narrows, like in a traffic jam (or stalled elevator) trapping potential victims while the monsters-- be they supernatural horrors or crazed human killers-- prowl around outside. Though one of the oldest formulas for inciting horror, it remains useful today.
Think back ot the gothic horrors, like Walpole's Castle of Otranto and Poe's Cask of Amontillado. The elevator can be the castle of old or a forest, cave, subterranean tunnel or dungeon, a strange house on a hill overlooking the 'Bates Motel.' See how versatile this can be. The danger within may be greater than that without, but do we know that? Do we know what we will face when we 'escape'? Think of the elevator, were the doors to open between floors, what would we encounter - real or imagined?
The smaller space of a bottleneck is useful in developiing a smaller group of characters. Instead of an army of zombies rising from a graveyard to feast, perhaps there is one lipsmacking undead pounding on the sealed door of an abandoned fall-out shelter. What else is out there? Your trapped character(s) engage their fear, and learn about themselves and each other as they attempt to escape and make themselves safe from the unknown 'out there.'
Bottlenecks allow the characters a chance to hope. If the characters can succeed in stopping the antagonist, be it a person, alien, or a plague, then the terrible fate of the world may be forestalled. Consider the recent Zombie series on TV, where a small group of survivors took shelter in the CDC with the hope of stopping the plague, until the facility itself became contaminated and set to self- destruct. Then each decided whether to escape and face the dangers outside or give up and face certain immolation. Another bottleneck classic is the original Night of the Living Dead in which a handful of people are trapped in an old farmhouse. While the zombies surround the house, those barricaded inside go through a crucible of sorts, each reacting according to his or her nature. The brave are brave, while the weak are confronted with their weakness. Ultimately everyone gets eaten whether weak or strong. The story is not so much about zombies eating people as it is about the quality of the characters. It would be more difficult to put the characters through this unveiling purpose outside a bottleneck. Bottlenecks are often tailored to the monster's advantage. Consider Stephen King's Cujo, where a woman and her child are trapped in a car by a rabid dog.
The bottleneck can be overt and obvious or subtle. A character can be trapped in a town populated by vampires or controlled by aliens and learn to hide his/or her mundane normalcy, waiting for a chance to escape - but to what? There's as much variety still in the bottleneck as a means to weave a story or verse of horror as can be seen, known or imagined by each writer.
The elevator did start up again, once I flicked my lighter and set off the alarm, and I got to 23 without incident - that time.
Write On!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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I invite you to share in some tales of horror penned by members of our Community for your reading (and reviewing  ) pleasure.
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Being locked in a public restroom is not always the most pleasant thing. (1st Version)
#1632948 by Word Of Todd  |
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| | | Crazy (18+)
A sane man trapped inside a facility for the mentally ill.
#908647 by Fry Daddy |
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A horror story about a group of people trapped in a Subway...
#1027560 by gonch |
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#1556873 by Not Available. |
Now try one of your own ~ check out these intriguing challenges
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Thank you for allowing me safe respite while we shared this exploration. Now before I venture back outside, I'd like to share a couple of comments in response to a previous exploration. I hope you visit as well with these writers and share in their exploits.
From: Ẃeβ࿚ẂỉԎḈĥ 
This was truly a horror story, Kate. We are becoming our very own aliens among us. I have no desire to fly these days. I sure hope my Volvo, SUV holds out as I make occasional visits to my children, scattered amongst these United States.
Europe? Well, I remember my grandparents always going to visit the old country by ship. It's a plan, until they start the same scanner/slimy body searching crap!
Good Newsletter!
Thank you for your encouragement and for sharing your thoughts.
From: Joy 
Great newsletter, Kate.
Btw, if TSA would hire a few of us people-watching writers, they would be more successful than with their high-tech, full-body scans or pat-downs. We'd detect, through imagination, all the aliens, vampires, werewolves, and whoever else needed.
Great idea! People watching, what writers naturally do ~ a means to earning government pay
Until we next meet, may your journey be safe, and my wish for you each ~
Yuletide Blessings ~
and
A Happy Successful New Year!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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