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Horror/Scary: April 06, 2011 Issue [#4321]

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Horror/Scary


 This week: Damaged Goods
  Edited by: W.D.Wilcox Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

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Word from our sponsor

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Amazon's Price: $ 15.99


Letter from the editor


DAMAGED GOODS



Damaged.

We are all damaged in one way or another.

Our hearts carry scars etched as deeply as if they'd been cut there with a knife.

Yeah, if we live long enough, we eventually become damaged.

Damaged goods.

We shroud our handicap behind a black veil, hiding our true selves. Being broken is not how we want to perceive ourselves, no, we must mask the truth. We long to be somebody else, yearn for it, and yet, in times of stress, or in a heated argument, the veil is temporarily lifted, and we become who we really are: wounded animals, damaged.

As writers we write about it: our characters are damaged too, broken in unforeseeable ways. They are not normal. No one really is. Our creations are people caught unawares outside in the storm, forever trying to find things to smile about, but always ending up drenched and crumpled.

But when the storm passes, and the wind dies down, we realize that what we have fashioned on paper was only made possible by the insufferable pain we have all learned to live with. And our horror stories have an almost evil power that our readers find terribly compelling. The content shocks, disgusts, and sickens them, yet they can not resist at looking at one more page, then one more, and then another.

Why?

It is as if we are wild animals that have come upon the guts and half-eaten flesh of one of our own kind. In a sense, we are reading a story about ourselves: a chronicle of a mind traveling from the borderlands of sanity into the nations of madness.

Our characters are greedy businessmen said to be polluting the world, so money-crazed that they don't give a damn if they kill every baby seal in existence, make patio furniture out of the last of the giant redwoods, poison children, and destroy the earth in pursuit of the almighty dollar. They are part of the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, the Libertarian Party, Jews, blacks, born-again Christians, liberals, conservatives, middle-aged white trucking-industry executives. Hollow, faraway people, shouting or lamenting like the voices of the damned wailing for surcease from the eternal suffering they have been made to withstand; muse-created spirits issuing from the ether above Life's séance table.

They are all damaged, just like us, because we created them, and we know exactly what makes them tick, and what hides behind the black veil.


Until next time,


billwilcox



A new sig from 'undocked'


Editor's Picks

The Damage Done


 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
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#1762336 by Not Available.

 Screams Open in new Window. (18+)
A look at a gruesome murderer.
#1763551 by A Shattered Heart Author IconMail Icon

 A Late Night Snack Open in new Window. (18+)
Ben finds something waiting for him when he gets home.
#1750361 by Hollower87 Author IconMail Icon

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1762973 by Not Available.

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1279640 by Not Available.

 
Image Protector
STATIC
A Grave Situation Open in new Window. (13+)
A pair of grave-diggers strike up a conversation. March '11
#1762708 by Indelible Ink Author IconMail Icon

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This item number is not valid.
#1762674 by Not Available.

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1762622 by Not Available.

Image Protector
STATIC
Home Sweet Home Open in new Window. (13+)
An infected soldier struggles to return to his home.
#1759879 by W.D.Wilcox Author IconMail Icon


 
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Scary Animal Tails Open in new Window. (GC)
A short story contest. Show me the monster.
#1761214 by Danger Mouse Author IconMail Icon

 
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Ask & Answer

DEAD LETTERS


LJPC - the tortoise Author Icon
Comments:
Hi Bill!
You've done a spectacular job of explaining how to create urgency and then writing a perfect example of it. The action scene was great! You had me so hooked I wanted to read on. What happened next? Did the woman live? Did the candle light the room on fire?*Worry*
-- Laura


tracikenworth
Says:
Great newsletter!! Always enjoy your scares.


A thinker never sleeps Author Icon
Comments:
Brilliant newsletter. Loved the quotes about time you used, and the advice given about making time stretch into infinity in your writing.
Poignant and interesting.


A.T.B: It'sWhatWeDo Author Icon
Says:
As many of my friends and mentors here at WdC have noticed from my costumicon or various signatures, I love the concept of time and eternity, or especially that 'everlasting moment' - whether it's one of love or terror - and all the opportunities for a writer therein. You captured that ideal perfectly in this NL, through others' words and your own. Forgive me for paraphrasing myself, but "Life has never been about time...it's just the easiest thing we have to blame for a life of moments we may live but never truly have." You're right in that wisdom does indeed come with age, I just wish that hammer wasn't so persistent at times. You're the best as always Bill.
~Drew


Adriana Noir Author Icon
Comments:
Great advice, and engaging editorial, Bill! I think it is TIME someone applauds you on your efforts.*Laugh*


Deany Author Icon
Plugs:
Hello, I just opened up a contest for people new to the site to win membership upgrades. I'd appreciate a mention! Thanks!
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