Horror/Scary: June 11, 2014 Issue [#6362] |
Horror/Scary
This week: Are You The Hero, Or The Monster? Edited by: W.D.Wilcox More Newsletters By This Editor
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ARE YOU THE HERO OR THE MONSTER?
Do you ever write yourself into your stories?
I do. I think we all do from time to time, hell, I even put my family and friends in there.
The problem with writing horror, and putting people you know into your scary tales, is that they usually end up eviscerated or worse.
I remember my wife asking me once, "How come you never write something about me?"
I said, "Ok, sure." So I wrote "A Shadow of Guilt" in which my wife, Cheri, dies in the very first sentence. Cheri’s shattered and broken body did not test the strength of the pallbearers. The minister prayed for her soul, her friends mourned her loss, and then the earth received her. On the surface everything was as it should be, except for her husband, Will. For him nothing had changed . . . nothing.
I slept on the couch for three days after that one, *sheesh*.
"Pinky the Rat" was a true story about a pet rat my kids had raised. The miserable bastard rodent actually bit me several times. Eventually, the poor dear began to grow cancerous tumors all over its body. So, one day while the kids were in school, I put it out of its misery .
Another time I wrote my brothers into "Borrowed Time" . They didn't die, but I did *go figure*.
Anyhoot, my point being, is that we all write ourselves (and loved ones) into our creation somewhere.
Just so you know, all my heroes, and, all my monsters, are me.
So you might ask, "How can that be? You can't be all those people you write about."
True, very true, but I do research. In fact, I research a lot.
In "The Voice" I am a spelunker. Now I've never 'splunked' a day in my life, so I had to discover who and what a spelunker really is. Once I had an idea I became a professional (in my own mind) spelunker. I've also been doctors, scientists, hunters, adventurers, soldiers, and even a vampire. I've worked and lived in insane asylums (on both sides of the locked door), and I've been objects as well as animals. To me, writing is like being a demigod. You can create anything you wish, be anyone you want.
Yeah, I'm all the 'bad guys' too.
In "Jo-Jo the Clown" I was a clown. Now, I've never been a clown, except for maybe in class, but I imagined that if I was a clown, I'd have to be evil.
The way I write, I have to become the person I am writing about, or it just sounds fake. I have to BE the character, good or evil, in order to know what he is thinking. Hell, I've even been dead several times in my stories. There's really little I know about death, but I had to give it a go anyway in the tale, "You Have To Work At It" .
How do you write? Just asking, because sometimes I think I'm kinda weird, and I hear it a lot from other people too.
Until next time,
billwilcox
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HEROES AND MONSTERS
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| | The Dying Game (18+) Retitled 'The Game' and published in the January, 2014 Edition Of 'Twisted Dreams' #1914389 by Angus |
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DEAD LETTERS
Specter
Bill, & Boy Howdy,
You ring the ding-a-bring where you find the mind in the shuffle of reality. It caught me right in the getcha-gloomy. In the first part of your Stephen King-like story, I was stricken with memories of dead children I had encountered during the service as an EMT and Deputy Coroner. I may be no more than a big softie, but it brought tears to my eyes. The details are horrific, but these little ones were innocent. Children are precious gifts to parents. And Stephen King thrum the heart strings to dramatic effect. Such a little child with bright eyes . . . twang on--twang on...
Thanks a bushel for featuring my shorty-short Old Boots in your apprehensive NL.
--Just in from the air waves: The writers rotation of mind can be a flip-flop for the reader. But thinking ain't a grill--or is it? (Boiling of men in caldrons, grilling them on gridirons).
--Marvell
LJPC - the tortoise
Comment:
Hi Bill! I loved your shout-out to women - all their amazing abilities and the handy-dandy excuse "eating for two" when they break the scale. Yes, adding a child to the mix works in horror and any genre. People get very concerned and protective about those little rug-rats. Don't know why...
~ Laura
BIG BAD WOLF Feeling Thankful
Plugs:
Watch out for the crazy guy. You might lose your mind.
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