Posts Tagged ‘reflections’

The 3 Types of Terror

Posted: January 18, 2014 in Reflections, Scary Stuff, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
2

I came across this post by Stephen King on Facebook the other day and I thought it’d be interesting to write about. The post goes like this:

The 3 types of terror: The Gross-out: the sight of a severed head tumbling down a flight of stairs, it’s when the lights go out and something green and slimy splatters against your arm. The Horror: the unnatural, spiders the size of bears, the dead waking up and walking around, it’s when the lights go out and something with claws grabs you by the arm. And the last and worse one: Terror, when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. It’s when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel its breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there’s nothing there…

Words of wisdom from the King himself.

When I read this, it struck a certain chord with me. I realized that a lot of horror writers and filmmakers can easily gain an understanding of the first two, but it takes a long time to get into the third type, and an even longer time to gain a mastery of it. For example, there are a lot of films out there (of varying quality) that utilize Gross-out and Horror. They have serial killers, they have vampires and demons, but they’re kind of low on terror. The Evil Dead films and many bad slasher flicks are prime examples of this (I’m talking to you, Friday the 13th remake). Even I had trouble with this early on in my writing career. I could easily write a story about vampires or demons that had plenty of blood  and fight sequences, but I was lacking in the terror department. Even worse, I rarely thought about including the terror factor, and when I did I didn’t really do it as best as I could.

But at that age though, and in that point of my development as a writer, all I thought I needed was a monster, someone’s life in danger, and the rest would take care of itself. I learned later on that adding terror to the story is a process, something that has to be consciously done before you can go about actually adding it in unconsciously. This is something I’ve had to comprehend with lately and which I’ve been working on with some of my latest stories. With The Loneliest Roads, I tried to put in a sense of unreality and strangeness even before my protagonist entered the limo, and slowly heightened it once she got into the limo. with some of the short stories I’m planning on writing now, I’m looking for ways to increase that terror without seeming silly or absurd. And in future novels, I hope to add that factor in with more skill and precision than I have in the past.

Perhaps adding terror in is the most difficult part of horror writing because, as King said, it’s the worst. It’s what really makes a horror story memorable to those who read or see it, and the thing about it is that it’s often an underlying element in the story, something that’s a factor in the scary elements of the story but rarely the main element. That goes to the Horror, which usually causes in one way or another the Gross-out. But the Terror? It’s what hails the coming of the horror, what prepares you for the jumps and scream the Horror will cause. And getting someone prepared for that can be really difficult, all told.

Although I’m still trying to get mastery of all 3 elements, I’m hoping that in the future I’ll be able to get a better handle on them, and to do that I just have to keep writing, to keep practicing and see where it takes me. As I write, I learn, and hopefully I learn how to tell scary stories much better than I have in the past. It’s an ongoing process, but I feel it’s one I must take part in. Wish me luck.

And for those horror writers out there, how do you deal with the 3 elements listed above? Do you have any advice on utilizing any of them? What?

(Don’t say “limit Gross-out” though, because I’ve already figured that one out. Too many horror films rely on Gross-out as it is, and it’s annoying after a while.)

Hypnosis vs. Meditation

Posted: January 12, 2014 in Living and Life, Reflections
Tags: , , , , , , ,
4

Some of you know I go to a weekly meditation class on Sundays. Today at the class we had an interesting discussion about the differences between meditation and hypnosis. The discussion started while going over some of the aspects of a particular chakra. One suggestion for clearing this chakra of impurities or of other problems is to abstain from activities such as hypnosis. Because I use hypnosis a lot in my life as well as meditation and because I know how to perform hypnosis, I had to ask why one should avoid it, especially since hypnosis and meditation are very similar and have similar aims when performed (unless you’re a stage hypnotist, in which case your goal may just be to do some interesting trick).

Ultimately, the problem comes down to relying on yourself vs. relying on others. The form of meditation I do, called Sahaja Yoga, has a great emphasis on practitioners being able to do Sahaja Yoga on their own and become their own guru in order to find the answers they are looking for or to resolve the problems they are experiencing. Hypnosis, on the other hand, relies heavily on the hypnotist to help a subject, and because hypnosis is largely dependent on the hypnotist’s suggestions, there is an opportunity for abuse on the part of the hypnotist to hurt the subject or cause them to do harm onto others. For this reason, some Sahaja Yogis are very against hypnosis.

As someone who has positive associations for both practices, I saw it as almost like the science vs. religion debate: while they may seem at odds, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they can’t work together. For example, many people are able to believe in both the Genesis story and the theory of evolution, and that’s just one example of how people have learned to reconcile religion to scientific beliefs or theories that seem to contradict each other. Also, both disciplines can be abused by those who are trained in them: a preacher could abuse his followers’ trust in him to scam them or hurt them, while some scientists used to use pseudo-science to justify racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, or homophobic beliefs (a few still do, sadly).

Hypnosis and meditation can also be like this. While some may see the two as distinctly different and that they can’t work together, others see them as very similar and that they can work together. Many researchers have found that the hypnotic state is very similar to the state of consciousness achieved during meditation, and that they can both have positive effects on the physical, mental, and emotional self. For a personal example, last semester there were a couple of weeks where I was under intense stress and was constantly worried about finishing projects and homework, my finances, and other problems. It took a very powerful combination of meditation and hypnosis to be able to get back to my normal self and handle my schoolwork without having a breakdown of any sort.

Not only that, but both hypnosis and meditation can potentially be abused by those who practice it. A hypnotist may use a client’s suggestibility to cause harm to the client or to themselves, but someone who knows some meditation can easily create their own brand of meditation and charge through the roof for lessons or even start a cult based around them and their meditation brand (when I pointed this out to my class, my first thought was, “Hey, that could make a great short story”. Believe me, I will make it into one).

Whatever you feel about hypnosis and/or meditation, it’s important to keep in mind that both aim to help people, that they are very similar in several ways, and that there are people who will swear by one, the other, or both that they are helpful disciplines. I feel that my life is enhanced by both, and I’m glad to be able to know how to do both.

If you are interested in trying either in order to better understand the issue, I’ve embedded two videos below. The first features Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, the founder of Sahaja Yoga, giving an introductory session in Sahaja Yoga to an audience in Sydney, Australia. The second video is a basic hypnotic relaxation video that gives you an idea of what a hypnotic state is like and what one can accomplish in it. All you have to do for either video is follow the instructions given (preferably while wearing headphones for best quality), and you’ll get a sense of what each is like.


What do you think of hypnosis and/or meditation? Do you think they’re incompatible or compatible? Or do you just think the whole discussion is silly?

A Confession and Some Updates On My 666th Post

Posted: January 8, 2014 in Living and Life, Progress Report, Reflections, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
4

Yes, this is my 666th post. The fact that I’ve been counting up to this post must tell you a lot about me. I just wish I had something scarier to mark the occasion. I guess the picture to the left of this paragraph will have to do.

I want to make a confession to you on this post, and that confession starts with a little story. Today I met with one of my counselors at Ohio State and she told me she’d read Reborn City over winter break, and that she’d enjoyed it very much. In fact, she told me at times she had trouble putting it down because she wanted to keep reading and see what happened, which explained why she read it so quickly. I’d heard this from someone else who’d recently read RC, so it made me feel pretty good. But at the same time, I also felt pretty incredulous. After all, I wrote this book in high school. It took me about four years to get it ready for publication, and I needed a lot of help along the way from friends and family.

The truth is (and this is the confession part from the title of this post), I’m still trying to figure out what the hell I’m supposed to be doing. I may act sometimes like I’m all experienced in the matters of fiction writing and all that’s terrifying, especially when I’m writing a post for Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors, but I don’t know it all. I have no idea how to get more people to read my blog, or how to get more people to purchase or download copies of my books. I tried with the Weekly Exercises to get people interested in buying my fiction writing and just interested in my writing in general, but it didn’t work out so much (this is part of the reason why I haven’t been writing any Exercises recently, in case any of you were wondering. That, and I didn’t have the time or the inexhaustible well of ideas for so many flash fiction pieces). And I’m certainly not the authority on terrifying people. I’m pretty far from it. I’m still trying to learn how to do a better job of scaring than jumping out to yell BOO! or use a big, scary monster with claws or a serial killer with a knife. There are subtleties to scaring people and doing it well. I’m still learning how to do it.

So I ask that you still support me and help me. I’m working hard to fulfill my dreams and to become a better writer. If you want to read my writing, then I’m happy about that and I thank you for it. And if you never want to read my books because it’s just not what you’re into, then that’s fine. Everyone’s tastes are different.

And now for those updates:

–I’ve written a blurb for Video Rage. For those of you who’ve read Reborn City and enjoyed it, I wrote a short blurb for RC‘s sequel that gives a few hints as to what we can expect for the next book. Unfortunately VR is only listed as Coming Soon, as it’s still in the first draft at this point. Still, if you’re interested in the second book, you can read the blurb here.

–I’ve published a few stories on WattPad. Well, one story, to be exact. Revenge for a Succubus’s Beloved was published about a year ago, and it’s still one of my favorites, so I published it again on the site for others to read if they so desired. The other two publications are previews of The Quiet Game and Reborn City. I hope to publish some original fiction in the coming months on the site, and when I do I’ll let everybody know. If you would like to read The Quiet Game‘s preview, click here. If you want to read RC‘s preview, click here. And if you want to read Revenge for a Succubus’s Beloved (and it’s one of my favorites, so I hope you do), click here.

–My Facebook page has reached 100 likes! Growing and maintaining a Facebook page is not easy, ask any author who has one. Ask any person who has one. And I finally managed to get 100 likes on my own page. Took several months, but I did it. I’d like to thank everyone who’s liked my page and stayed with me through the months. Just like everything else, it couldn’t happen without you. And if you’re interested in checking out my Facebook, follow the link here.

Well, that’s all for now. Have a good night, Followers of Fear. Thanks for reading my 666th post, confession and all. I hope nothing demonic results from you reading it.

100 Ideas!!!

Posted: January 6, 2014 in ideas, Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Reflections, short story, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2

I’ve mentioned this before on my blog, but I keep a list of ideas for novels/comic books/films/TV shows/etc. on my flash drive. And over the past semester, that list grew pretty damn lengthy. In fact, I had more ideas than I did in any other semester. And tonight, I got my one-hundredth idea for the list! And having just typed that, I wonder how I will ever find the time to write all of those stories. I probably won’t, but it’ll be fun to try.

Anyway, the idea for number one-hundred came to me quite by accident (apparently that’s how all the best ideas come). I’ve previously announced that before I get back to working on Laura Horn, I wanted to do some short stories. And before I decided to do those short stories, I decided to take one last look at one short story, maybe see if I could spruce it up a little and possibly publish it on WattPad (I’ve published one or two things on there since I got an account on that website. More on that to follow in a future post). The story in question, Resurrection, is about a man who is brought back to life through advances in science, but something goes terribly wrong and his resurrection isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. That story has gone through several different drafts and incarnations, and I thought I’d give the latest incarnation a look over to see if I could make it better. When I looked over it though, something occurred to me midway through the short story. There’s this one scene when my main character encounters a religious leader who is more than a little upset about this resurrection. I was going to have my protagonist call him an old fart, but with the years he’s been dead, the protagonist is over ninety years old. He should be calling the preacher a stupid kid.

And that’s when it hit me. A short story was too short to tell this story. It had to be expanded, to go into a novella or even a full novel! Resurrection had to be resurrected in a new form.

God, that was a bad play on words.

But that’s beside the point. Here is the point: the last time I trotted out Resurrection and sent it to a friend, he told me that it was an interesting concept and that it could be expanded into a novel or into a film. Oh, that sounded nice. The thing is, I couldn’t figure out how to expand it into a novel, and I didn’t have the time to write a screenplay. And even if I did have the time, I wouldn’t know how to go about getting a screenplay sold (though I might try in the future, when I have the time). But at that single thought on how the main character should think about the preacher, I had an idea on how to expand the story into a novel. I stopped looking through the short story, went to my Ideas list, and recorded Idea #100.

My idea is alive! ALIVE!

I don’t know when I’ll be able to write the novel version of Resurrection, mostly because I have a few other projects that take priorities that take place before it. However, I’m sure it won’t be too long before I get around to it. I like the idea, and I don’t want to be working on this story on and off for several years. I don’t want to do that at all. I really want to write this story eventually and do it sooner rather than later. For now though working on it just won’t be possible, so instead I’ll just leave a few hints as to what we can expect from this future novel:

–some of the themes will include aging, adjusting to a changed and changing world, and death and dying.

–the technology aspect will make Reborn City jealous (then again, the point of RC was never the technology, but whatever).

–the resurrection, though scientific in nature, won’t be plagued by problems of the scientific realm.

–and finally, I may release each finished chapter of this novel, once the book has been heavily edited, on WattPad or on my blog. One of them.

I also hope someday to get to many of the ideas I’ve written on that list. A lot of them I feel are really great ideas, and I would love to write and share them with the world. So the hope is that I can get a good number of them written over the coming years, and that as each novel (or in the future, if God is willing, each film or manga or TV series) is released, there will be someone willing to check it out and read it, maybe even a lot of someones. I think that’s why I keep writing, even if I haven’t exactly been super-successful yet. It’s because I know that each story could potentially make someone happy, and I’m still writing fot hose people. Hopefully we’ll find each other someday and they’ll enjoy what I’ve written for them.

That’s all for now. I’m going to take a break and then get started on an original short story. I’ve got close to seventy ideas for short stories as well, so I need to get some of them out of the way. Good night, Followers of Fear.

Spring Semester 2014: Pre-Semester Countdown

Posted: January 4, 2014 in Living and Life, Progress Report, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2

I’ve done the last of my pre-semester shopping, so it’s time to write a post about what’s going to be happening to me this semester at Ohio State University. My college life and my writing have often been intertwined since I got to school here. When my grades are good and life’s going my way, my writing has done well. When life’s tough and I’m not doing so well grade-wise, my writing has suffered (or worse, my writing hasn’t even happened because I just don’t have the time or energy to write! That happened last semester). Which is probably why I write these posts at the beginning, middle, and end of each semester, because both are so essential to each other as I try to become the writer I’ve always dreamed of being.

In terms of classes, all but one of them are devoted to the study abroad trip I’m going on this summer. The study abroad trip visits England, France, and Germany, and we’ll be intensively studying World War II. With that in mind, many of my classes are focused exclusively preparing for the trip. I already took a general World War II class and a History of the Holocaust class in past semesters, so the number of classes I have to take have been pared down. Still, there are a few I still need to take: one is a special History research seminar, in which we’ll be covering various WWII-related topics and then do research projects around that (I’m assuming). Another History class is devoted to the rise of America as a world superpower from 1921 to 1963 and hinging around the US’s involvement in WWII (I guess a semester of prep for studying World War II abroad just wouldn’t be complete without one course that’s America-centric in nature). The other two classes are French classes: one is a course on French-American relations throughout the years. I’m pretty sure this’ll involve everything from the various wars the US and France have both been involved in since the French and Indian War as well as such silly topics as “freedom fries” (the latter is actually in the title of the class, if I remember right). The second course is a course in learning everyday French and learning how to say “Thank you for your help”, “Where is the bathroom?”, and “I would like a Belgian waffle. Oh your wife is Belgian? Cool! Tell her I love the waffles and chocolates!”

 

The beach of Normandy. We’ll be studying D-Day this semester and visiting the beach during the trip. Can’t wait!

 

In addition to the French class, I ordered some software off Amazon last night that’ll teach me to speak German. Not only will this be relevant to the trip, but it might be relevant for a future story and it doesn’t hurt to be able to speak Hebrew, French and German when I apply for jobs in the future. I’m actually looking forward to learning the language, and the software I got received some very good reviews on Amazon, so I hope I’ll really be able to utilize it. I also plan to apply for several scholarships and get the funds I need to travel abroad. I hope I can get a ton of scholarship money! Otherwise it might be difficult to go on the trip!

The only class I’m taking this semester that isn’t related to my study abroad trip is an English course for my English major. Specifically, it’s an English 4597 course, which is one of those courses all English majors are required to take at some point late in their college careers. Fortunately they offer several different varieties of this class, so I ways able to choose one that worked with my other classes and sounded interesting: Deaf Literature and Deaf Culture (when I tell people I’m taking this course, they ask me if I mean “deaf” or “death”. Considering that it’s me they’re asking, it’s a relevant question). It looks pretty interesting, and we have some very interesting books, including a children’s book that intertwines illustrations with prose into two different narratives. Not your average children’s story, to say the least.

I’m also working about ten to twelve hours a week at the Financial Aid office this semester, just like I did last semester. With busy season over, the office should quiet down a little. Still, there’s a literal mountain of work to get done, and I’ll be working through some of that mountain every time I step into the office. I don’t mind though: the work usually isn’t too bad, the people are great, and I’ve come up with some great ideas for short stories and novels while restocking the copy paper or sifting through some recently-scanned documents (so if you think a job will sap you of your creativity as you try to create the ultimate story/painting/poem/etc., here’s an example to the contrary).

And finally, I just want to fill everyone in on my social plans and my writing goals for this semester. I hope to be able to hang out with my friends a bit this semester, just like I did last semester, but I also want to socialize more and do new things. Last semester I joined the science fiction club on campus, but I was so busy I was only able to come to two meetings. I hope to attend more often this semester. I also would like to go to events in and around campus and meet new people. And who knows? I may even try to start a relationship of the romantic nature this semester. Don’t know if that’s possible or if I’ll have time for that, but I can try.

So looking forward to finally getting Snake done and published. I hope plenty of people read it.

And as for my writing, I plan to finish Video Rage‘s first draft either this weekend or in the coming week. I’m almost done with one of the chapters and after that there’s only two more to go. I already have the ending planned out, I just need to get there. And after I finish VR, I’ll take a short break from writing before getting to work on several short stories. Over the past semester I’ve come up with over sixty ideas for short stories, but I’ve been so busy with school, work and VR I haven’t had the time to write any of them, so I want to get some of them out of the way this semester. And after I’ve written enough short stories that I’m satisfied and submitted a few of them to magazines and other publications, I’ll take another break before I get back to work on my other WIP Laura Horn, which I hope to finish up before the fall when I start a new novel for my senior thesis.

I also have plans to edit VR when the time comes, start the basis of a new collection of short stories, write several articles to Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors, and of course to finish the final draft of Snake and get it ready for publication. My friend Angela Misri is almost done giving me feedback on the book, and after she’s done I’ll interview her about her work, including the publication of her novel Jewel of the Thames, which is coming out sometime this spring. It’s going to be a great semester!

Now though, I have to go on a short shopping trip and then make dinner for myself. Afterwards I plan to do some last-minute preparations for the new semester before retiring for the evening. So with this, I wish you a good night and I’ll see you tomorrow, my Followers of Fear. Wish me luck in the new semester as I take on the world, prepare for my trip, and try to fulfill all my dreams. It’s going to be hard work, but I’m so ready to take up the challenge.

See you in eight weeks when I let you know how I’m doing.

Writing In The Dark

Posted: January 3, 2014 in Living and Life, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
4

I’ve been meaning to write this post all day, but it’s been kind of a crazy day, so I haven’t rally had the chance until now. I better take advantage of this opportunity while I still have the chance.

Last night I sat down to work on Chapter Thirty-Five of Video Rage, the sequel to Reborn City. I’d started the chapter earlier in the week, but because I’d been sick and because of the new year I’d only gotten a little over a page written. I’d planned to sit down and write before Elementary came on, and then do some more writing during the commercial breaks, but at around nine-thirty the power went out all around my neighborhood. In the space of a second the only light in my apartment was my laptop computer.

Now for those not too familiar with Ohio, we get some crazy weather year round (last year during a power outage a friend’s grandmother actually got snow on her roof. It was in July, and she has the photo to prove it). And this week we’ve been seeing below-freezing temperatures and several inches of snow. So when the power went off, my apartment started getting pretty cold. After confirming that the rest of the neighborhood was out of power and placing a phone call to the power company (where I learned that the outage would most likely be repaired by half-past midnight), I shut myself off in the apartment, got out some flashlights, and booted up the computer to continue writing VR Ch. 35.

Normally when I write, I’m beset by a number of distractions, the Internet being the chief one. However the lack of power took out the Internet, took out the TV, took out the lights, and took out most of the distractions. So besides answering the phone or getting up for the bathroom or to blow my nose and get a cough drop (still a little sick even now), I was basically distraction-free.

And boy did I write! With nothing really to keep me from writing, I just wrote the scene down! There were some tear-jerking moments when the characters questioned why they were even fighting for their lives, followed by a moment when my leading lady really hit them with a pep talk. There was a final battle, and it resolved with a deus ex machina that perhaps wasn’t the best deus ex machina ever written, but I think for this story it worked out very well.

At around ten to midnight the power in my apartment came back on, and I was able to take a hot shower and go to bed feeling warm. However I also ended the evening with a lot of work out of the way and the goal to finishing Video Rage that much closer to attaining. I’m really glad I was able to have that opportunity to write uninterrupted, even if I had to wear an extra sweatshirt and my snuggie to do it. And when I finish Video Rage (hopefully sometime this weekend), I’ll be able to look back on that night and see it as a bit of a turning point in the process to finishing up the novel.

However, there’s a bit of a sad note to this story: last night while I was working, I dropped my USB drive and its casing broke. Luckily I was able to fix it quickly with some tape and none of the files saved on the drive went missing or were damaged, but I knew then that the drive was near the end of its life. The drive was already several years old: I’d gotten it in high school, and back then it had a silver casing around it to protect it, as well as fabric and another metal ring so that you could hang it from a key ring. The fabric broke eventually, and then after nearly four and a half years of surviving everything and anything, the silver casing fell off, and not too long after the last one, the casing broke.

My old flash drive in its last moments. In lieu of flowers, please send money to a charity of your choice (though I wouldn't mind if you supported my Buckeyethon fundraising efforts).

My old flash drive in its last moments. In lieu of flowers, please send money to a charity of your choice (though I wouldn’t mind if you supported my Buckeyethon fundraising efforts).

So while I’m kind of sad to have to give up the drive, I know it’s time to let it go. I already bought a replacement and I’ve transferred the files, so I can let it go knowing all the hard work and all the years of use weren’t in vain. So good-bye, old USB drive that lasted through so many years and even a trip through the washing machine (not kidding, it went through the washer and after some time in rice worked like a charm). You shall be fondly remembered.

I’m going to end this post here, Followers of Fear. I just want to say that wherever you are right now, you’re warm and your power’s working. I’ll let you know if I finish Video Rage by the time I go back to classes on Monday. Wish me luck!

2013 In Review

Posted: January 1, 2014 in Living and Life, Progress Report, Reflections, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
4

Happy New Year!

As always, WordPress sent me an email letting me know how my blog did this past year. This year, my blog was viewed enough times to fill the Sydney Opera House about four times. That’s great…but I wish I was good enough to fill the Sydney Opera House just once! Honestly, where do they get these statistics?

But I digress. The point is, another year has come and gone. And to quote Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” That sums up just about every year I know, but it’s pretty accurate. A lot happened this year to me, including two of my books getting published; I moved into an apartment with a friend and learned some more of the tribulations of the adult world; I was accepted into the study abroad trip I’ve been aiming for; I started my third year of college; I began writing and then administrating for Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors; and a whole lot more that I won’t put on my blog but were important nonetheless.

All in all, a crazy year. Sometimes all that was going on threatened to bury me, while at other times I felt like I could do anything. I had my highs and my lows, like anyone else. But I managed to get through them and I came out stronger for it.

Reborn City

And now for my new year’s resolutions: I resolve to be a better writer. I resolve to get more people interested in my work and even in reading it. I resolve to finish Video Rage (probably happen in the next week or so), get back to Laura Horn and finish that up (shouldn’t be too hard, considering how quickly I tended to write the chapters), finish the final draft of Snake (hopefully sometime in the next couple of months) and publish it by the end of the year (I hope), write a whole ton of original short stories and publish some of them (fingers crossed on that one), start whatever novel will end up being my senior thesis in the fall and maybe a few other projects. I resolve to improve my craft and to help others improve their craft in my own small way. I resolve to grow this blog and Self-Published Authors Helping Others Authors. I resolve to fulfill my dreams of being a successful novelist.

I resolve to be a better person. I resolve to work on my personal flaws and try to improve. I resolve to be a good student, a good scholar of English and History, a good roommate, and a good worker. I resolve to be good to my friends and family and love them as much as they love me. I resolve to go to Europe for my study abroad trip this summer and learn as much as I can on World War II and the Holocaust. I resolve to keep my grades up. I resolve that my conduct in life is exemplary.

With any luck, you’ll be reading about a guy called the Snake soon.

I resolve to read a lot of books, see a lot of movies, and binge on too much TV. I resolve to keep my bank account in order. I resolve to eat healthy and stay healthy. I resolve to…are you still reading this list? If you are, you have the patience of a monk.

All in all, I plan to make 2014 better than 2013. So this year, my Followers of Fear, I wish you luck and I hope we get to share a ton of great experiences together. Happy New Year!

Is This Me Or Someone I’d Like To Be Someday?

Posted: December 31, 2013 in Living and Life, Novel, Reflections, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

My roommate got me into watching Chuck on his Netflix, so I didn’t get as much writing done in the past few days as I would’ve liked. So I’m going to take this opportunity to discuss something I’ve noticed lately before the clock strikes twelve and a new year begins.

Sometimes I look at the rough draft of Video Rage I have in front of me. I look over what I’ve written, I nod at the points that I think are good, I edit something when I see that I’ve made an error or a mistake. And then I ask myself, “Did I really write this? It seems so much better than my work has been in the past.” And that’s not me praising my own work (though I’m happy to do that most days of the week). It’s me wondering who’s actually writing this story.

Let me try to explain this without sounding like I’m trying to toot my own horn. The other day I was writing a scene for Video Rage where a very important world leader points out several flaws in the story the antagonists over at the Parthenon Company have been telling about the West Reborn Hydras. I’m looking over the chapter and I think to myself, “Are you sure you wrote this, Rami? It’s a lot better than  scenes you’ve written before, it reads like a sci-fi version of a scene from Scandal, and it’s almost good enough to be of that quality.” And looking over the entire novel so far, I’m noting a quality in the writing that puts it a level above its predecessor Reborn City. I especially notice these differences in portions where I expand upon the world of RC, in scenes dealing with the interpersonal relationships between the characters, and in those moments when I add items or elements on the spur of the moment that vastly change how I see the scene playing out.

And it’s not just in VR. Two nights ago I had an idea for a short story. I’m writing the idea down so I don’t forget it, and I’m noting how I’d like to write it, how I’m going to be drawing on elements or techniques I noticed in some of the short stories I read this past semester, how the man focus of the short story is going to focus on the inadequacy of the male lead. And as I finish writing the idea down, it hits me that the idea is a lot simpler but also a lot better a short story than anything I’ve ever written before.

I’ve always written short stories like novels, except I’ve got to figure out how to tell the story in less than 10,000 words, so it better be a brief story. Not the best method for writing short stories, is it? In fact, I’ve realized that for ages, but I didn’t know any other way to write them, so I’ve been writing them that way for years. The way this short story goes is very different though. If I had to describe it, it’d be taking an idea, telling a simple story based on it, and centering the focus on the reactions of one character to events around him, drawing on the numerous short stories I read this past semester and the techniques that those authors used to tell those stories.

Trying to explain it here, I know I’m not doing the best job of it. But that’s the closest I can come to. And I know that if I can figure out how to write this short story and others like it, I might be able to step my game up a little and become a much better writer.

And as I write this, I wonder if I’m getting closer to the writer I want to be. One who is able to tell a deep, meaningful story, one which draws the reader in, holds them in terror and in awe, makes them feel for the characters a deep attachment, and causes them to think about the story long after they’ve finished reading it. I’m still a long way from that author I’d like to be, but I’d like to believe that I’m making some headway to that goal based on the maturation  I’ve observed in my writing.

Well, I guess editors and reviewers to come will tell me so if I’ve made any headway to that goal. In the meantime, I’ve got three chapters of Video Rage left, and I’m going to try to finish them before school starts up on Monday. Wish me luck.

Oh, and before I forget, I want to wish all you Followers of Fear a Happy New Year. Your continued support makes it possible for me to keep writing, blogging, and publishing, and it’s your continued support that makes it a bit easier for me as I work to achieve my dreams and become a successful horror author. I wish you all a great year in 2014 and I hope everything goes your way with all your goals and projects.

See you next year!

Turning Away From Franchises

Posted: December 30, 2013 in Living and Life, Novel, Reflections, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
6

I was just informed that JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books (as if I need to elaborate on who she is, but whatever) is writing a screenplay for a spin-off movie of the Harry Potter series based on the fictional Hogwarts textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, with the possibility of many sequels. Not only that, but she’s okayed a play to premiere in London’s West End that will explore Harry’s early days with the Dursleys. This, plus the amount of involvement Rowling has in the development of the website Pottermore and various other projects and books related to the Potterverse, points to one thing: Rowling, who wanted to get away from Harry Potter, has come back to him to turn him into an even bigger franchise than he is now.

Now here’s my question: why? Is it because the lackluster response to The Casual Vacancy and the early reveal that Rowling was the real author behind The Cuckoo’s Calling called attention back to the boy wizard who’s name is synonymous with Rowling’s? Did she make a bad bet in stocks and she needs the money? Does she actually want to revisit this magical world (it’s a great world, don’t get me wrong, but I got the sense at some point that she wanted to move on with her career)? Or, God forbid, is she actually selling out for the money?

I guess I’m a little peeved about all this. I love Harry Potter. JK Rowling was the one who got me into writing stories in the first place, HP left an indelible mark on my writing style, I’m a proud member of Slytherin (according to the Pottermore sorting quiz for houses), and I geeked out as much as anyone when the last book and films came out. But perhaps what’s really getting me is that Rowling’s turning her beloved franchise into one of the mega-franchises we keep seeing cropping up all over the place today.

This is something along the lines of what some franchises are going for. I say TOO MUCH!

Everywhere you look, Hollywood producers are looking to make the next mega-franchise, the next Star Trek/Star Wars/Doctor Who/Avengers, something with a main body of work that’s accompanied by tons of additional work of varying canonical status but brings in a ton of money no matter what. Once Upon a Time has its own accompanying novel and a spin-off TV show, The Avengers has a TV show to go with it now, Terminator is doing a reboot/prequel/sequel film with a TV series to go with it, and now Harry Potter has jumped on the bandwagon! As if 8 films, several video games and board games, memorabilia and a theme park, almost all of which came into being because of the films and not the original books, weren’t enough! Now Rowling’s got to go and add in all this prequel and spin-off stuff.

Look, I’m not saying franchises are bad, and I’m definitely not saying we should do away with mega-franchises. I’m a total Sith Lord and Whovian, among other things. But some works are just fine without having a million different products that make up the Expanded Universe and a million more products in merchandising! The seven HP novels and the supplemental books that JK Rowling wrote for charity purposes were wonderful. Isn’t it enough just to have those and all the crap that came with and after the movies? Why do we need all this supplemental stuff that will give us an initial thrill but in the end won’t really add to the Pottermania experience?

If Reborn City or any of my other works were to get famous (and I try to have faith in that, especially with RC. After all, it’s a dystopian science fiction novel with heavy YA themes. I hear that’s popular these days), I would be choosy as to how I continue these stories, especially in other formats. Snake and Laura Horn both have sequels planned for them, while RC is the first in a trilogy. Several other ideas I have for stories have the potential to become franchises. Will I make them into that though? Probably not; sure, some of my stories like RC have the potential to have their worlds explored in other stories and formats. Doesn’t mean I’m going to do that, or let someone else do that. Sometimes it’s just best to leave a story as it is, and not constantly expand upon it, especially if it’s with the intent of making a huge profit.

Yeah, don't expect an expanded universe with 12 different trilogies, a Silmarillion, and a spin-off book series, TV show, or comic book series. Probably won't happen.

Yeah, don’t expect an expanded universe with 12 different trilogies, a Silmarillion, and a spin-off book series, TV show, or comic book series. Probably won’t happen.

At least, that’s my take on the subject.

Thanks for reading my rant. If I post anything else in the coming days, I promise it won’t be as full of ranting as this post was. Have a good night, Followers of Fear.

How To Quickly Take Out The Scary Element In Your Story

Posted: December 29, 2013 in Reflections, Scary Stuff, Writing
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

 

(The following post may contain spoilers for several movies, TV shows, and books. However, these movies, TV shows, and books all came out several years ago. Some before I was even born. So if you read ahead and you haven’t seen any of these movies, TV shows, and books despite their availability…well, you’ve been warned)

As a horror writer, I use a number of techniques to keep the terror in a story at its most present and powerful in order to keep the reader enthralled in the story. At the same time, there are a number of ways I could very easily lose that terror element. This post is dedicated to one of them: revealing the villain and everything about them too soon.

Let’s take the movie Friday the 13th for example (the original, not the crappy remake from 2009). In that movie, we don’t find out the identity of the killer until near the very end of the movie, when it is revealed to be Mrs. Voorhees, Jason’s infamous mother. And even after she is revealed to the audience, we don’t know much about her or her motivation until she tries to kill protagonist Alice. Then we know why she’s killing everyone, but by then we’re too terrified to really process that fact. We’re just like, “The old crone’s got a knife! Run!”

Another example is the original Amityville Horror, which did not reveal the nature of the house and its hauntings until later films. So when you see the first film, you are thrust into this maze of nightmarish strangeness that keeps you terrified wondering two things: 1) what the hell is going on? And 2) what the hell is going to happen next?

An even better example than these two is The Blair Witch Project, in which the antagonist is never really revealed. All you get is spooky noises and some weird happenings around the three main characters. This lends the film a very intense element of fear of the unknown, which would be replicated in Paranormal Activity, Slender, Entity, and several other films that utilize found footage as a storytelling technique.

Some films however reveal their villain way too early, and thus cannot utilize fear of the unknown in their stories. Sometimes this can ruin a movie to the point where it’s no longer scary or fun to watch and you end up thinking to yourself “Why am I still watching this?” One example is 28 Days Later. Now I know there are a lot of fans of the movie out there, but one of my biggest problems with it is that the villains were revealed very quickly and that I felt I knew everything about them before the movie was even ten minutes in. From that point on, slow pacing made it hard for me to stay interested and I ended up stopping the movie after an hour.

Another film that suffered from lack of suspense and fear of the unknown is most of the sequels to Nightmare on Elm Street. In the first film, we’re really terrified. We don’t know why these kids are dying, who’s killing them, how they’re being killed. All we know is there’s an evil man killing these kids in their sleep, and that somehow translates over to the real world in a very bloody fashion. The sequels though feature the same villain and he’s killing in the same fashion. Loses a lot of its scare when you know exactly what’s going to happen, you’re just there to see how it happens, if they can scare you when they do it, and what joke Freddy will make right before he kills his victims.

Of course, revealing your villain or too much about them isn’t always a recipe for failure. In Stephen King’s Misery, we meet antagonist Annie Wilkes very early on in the story, yet she’s able to terrify and disgust and chill us very easily. Of course, that might be Stephen King’s magnificent, if somewhat strange, storytelling at play, but it is possible to reveal your villain early on, even let us know all there is to know about them, and still tell a scary story. You just have to be prepared to find some element to replace that mystery and fear of the unknown (and for God’s sake, I hope it isn’t excessive sex or over-the-top gore).

What do you think of using fear of the unknown in horror stories? What are some other examples or exceptions you can think of where keeping the villain hidden until the right time or revealing them too early made or ruined a scary story?

Older Entries
Newer Entries