Posts Tagged ‘scary stuff’

The Third Short Story For the Collection Is Done

Posted: December 26, 2012 in ideas, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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I’m on a roll! Today I finished the third short story for my scary story collection, The Quiet Game. Note: the name of the collection is The Quiet Game. The name of the short story is Samson Weiss’s Curse, and it’s a short story about a dybbuk haunting a senator over something the senator’s grandfather did several years ago. I think my father, who’s a rabbi and has told me for years to try writing something based on my experiences or on something that I know, will be happy to read this one, as it contains a spirit from Jewish folklore and two of the characters have Jewish last names, and one has a Jewish first name.

For those of you who don’t know, a dybbuk is the spirit of a dead person who comes back and possesses a living human being. Dybbuks have been featured in a few plays and stories, and the recent horror film The Possession, which I reviewed, is about a dybbuk. After watching that film and another film with a dybbuk as the antagoinst, I wanted to write a dybbuk story for myself, but I couldn’t think of a good idea for a dybbuk story beyond someone getting possessed. But then about a month ago, I saw an episode of the TV show Ghost Adventures where the location being investigated had involved some miners breaking into a vault and how two of the miners were double-crossed by an unknown third miner in the end. I can’t remember exactly which episode it was that I watched, but I remember wondering what would happen if the ghost of one of those miners came back and sought revenge, and wondering what had happened to the third miner afterwards. I already had the dybbuk idea, so I decided to incorporate the two ideas together and I got the basis for Samson Weiss’s Curse.

Writing this one was a lot of fun, because as I wrote I kept adding in a bunch of creepy aspects that I hadn’t originally envisioned in the story, including swarming bugs and creepy telephone calls. I also had planned a darker ending for the story, but that seemed anticlimatic once I actually got to the climax, so I decided to change the climax to something happier and with a bit of mystery. I have to say, I like this new ending better, but I bet there’s a lot I could improve upon and so I’m going to hand this story off to a friend to look at and critique.

Now I’m done writing for the day. Tomorrow I’ll start the fourth short story in the collection, and maybe I’ll get it done by the end of the weekend. The way I’m writing, I wouldn’t be surprised if the final collection comes out in late March, early Apirl, right in time for Passover. Thanks for reading, and wish me luck.

The First Short Story For The Collection Is Finished

Posted: December 20, 2012 in ideas, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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And what a short story it was! It scared me a little during the writing process. Me! And I’m the guy who thanks Mrs. Voorhees for her hockey-masked son Jason. Tells you what sort of a story it is.

Now, how can I tell you about this short story without giving too much away? Well first, it’s longer than the average short story. But then again, this is for a collection. Most writers who release collections will make their short stories a little longer than usual just because they can. Stephen King definitely does it a few times, even if his stories end up as novellas in the collection. Thankfully this one didn’t get to novella length (20k-40k words) but it’s longer than usual.

But like I said, this story scared me. Why? Well, imagine yourself placed in a situation like The Hunger Games, where you’re in a battle you don’t want to be in and someone else is controlling everything that’s going on. Even worse, it’s a psychological battle. No weapons, just some crazy crap that’s messing with your head. It can be taxing, especially if you’re in a space that doesn’t get much bigger than your high school campus.

And then I added a few other things. For one, I added a religious zealot with a bit of charisma and a thing for power? Well, after every disaster–real or just percieved in your head (I’m talking to Clint Eastwood and Chuck Norris on the latter)–there’s always someone saying the world’s about to end and we better do as s/he says or we’re all going to hell in a shopping cart. And occasionally, people believe them. Which leads to a bunch of problems.

Add a little doom and gloom, a bit of Celtic/English mythology, and my disturbed mind, you get a rabbit’s hole that scares the person who dug it. Nice!

Oh, I forgot to tell you the name of this short story. It’s called “The Quiet Game”, and I think I’ll also make it the title of the collection. It feels like the right thing to do, and it was the right choice to write this story first. I like it, and I can’t wait to share it with you.

But first, I’ve got some editing to do, including turning a male character into a female character, because if the character’s male, there’s a romantic element in this story, and I just don’t want that there. So I’ll take it out and turn the character female. No romantic element, but still plenty of emotion and psychological terror. It’ll be awesome.

Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to take a shower and then watch the original Die Hard movie, because the new one is coming out in two months and I’m psyched to see it. Tomorrow I’ll do the editing, send it off to a friend, and then I’ll start on something else.

Trust me, this next story will be something else. It’s based on a friend’s experience, but it’s given the Rami Ungar treatment, so you know it’ll come out twisted and freaky!

It’s The Day Before The World Will End (Not Really)

Posted: December 20, 2012 in Living and Life, Reflections
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So it’s about 24 hours before the Mayan calendar is supposed to wind down and the doomsday naysayers crap their pants with worry. Given the lack of scientific evidence that there is something to make the world end, the fact that the Mayans weren’t thinking about fire and brimstone when they created their long-count calendar, and the fact that prophecies of doom have come and gone without a hair falling out of place (most recently May 2011), I think it’s unlikely the world will end.

In fact, I plan to act like the world won’t end. I’ll get up, wonder if there’s still time to go to the Christmas party at work even though I’m not scheduled to go into work today and therefore slept in a little, write, remember the world’s supposed to end, shrug and get back to whatever I was doing, bring in the Sabbath, and laugh as nothing happens.

You guys get where I’m going with this, right? The world’s not going to end. There’s nothing to make it end. I know things have been crazy the past week in the USA because of all the shootings and attempted shootings. It’s enough to make you think the world might actually end. But it won’t; the world’s going to keep spinning, I’m going to keep writing, and on Christmas I’m going to order Chinese and watch a movie, as many Jews will do during the holiday season.

But if you’re still scared, please watch this music video by British artist Jay Sean, featuring supposedly-Trinidadian-but-possibly-from-outer-space artist Nicki Minaj. If this doesn’t convince you the world’s not ending, you’re a lunatic:

A Paper-Clip of Short Stories

Posted: December 12, 2012 in ideas, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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I’ve received a lot of support from friends, family, and readers on the possibility that after I finish Snake, I could work on some short stories and possibly turn that into a collection, and publish it before I publish Reborn City or Snake. Well, I’m still a little undecided on that, but I’m definitely taking some time this vacation to write a few short stories. I actually picked out five of the fifteen ideas I had amassed on my tack board and put them on a paper-clip. And I don’t mean I had some ideas, wrote them on pieces of paper, and paper-clipped them together. What I meant was, I put down some short story ideas on pieces of paper, and then poked them with the business end of a paper-clip. I’d take a photo with my camera and post it here on my blog, but my writing is big and recognizable. There’d be no point if one of my stories gets stolen.

So I’ve selected my short stories. When I get home tomorrow and I finish Snake, I’ll start working on them. Shouldn’t take me too long, especially if I’m not distracted by anything. Unfortunately I tend to get very distracted somedays, so hopefully I can keep my mind on work long enough to make some progress.

So, if anyone is wondering on the short stories I’ll be working on, here’s the ideas I have, without anything that’ll give away anything important:

  • An isolated girl’s school becomes even more isolated one morning, and something dark is beneath it all…
  • A man trying to go clean gets a strange and spooky experience while going cold turkey…
  • A politician running for reelection gets a very deadly and undead visitor while in an old mining town…
  • There’s an old, abandoned hospital on the outskirts of town with a bloody history. And that history is very much alive…
  • A young boy with autism gets an encounter with the spirit world, and his small world might get a shock that’ll shatter it to pieces…

Sounds pretty awesome, right? Especially with the … after every idea. And if, God forbid, the two short stories I sent out recently get rejected, I could add them to this list; they’d make a great collection. Either way, 5 and 7 are lucky numbers for me, so either way I’m good.

Now assuming I decide to do a collection, what should I call it? Definitely nothing with the word “paper-clip” in it; that’d sound too comedic for what I’m doing. Perhaps “The Bells At Dusk”? Or “Eyes in the Smoke”? Or perhaps I’ll take a title from one of these short stories. Who knows? Any suggestions would be great.

Well, I’ve got work to do. Blog on you later!

Introducing the Bullseye Character

Posted: December 6, 2012 in Novel, Scary Stuff, Writing
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Careful, there’s a character like him in “Snake”.

In the movie Daredevil, based on the famous Marvel comic book, Bullseye is the character Daredevil has to face before he can go against the Big Boss, the Kingpin. Bullseye is a hired killer, totally psychopathic and deadly as hell. This character totally freaked me out when I was 11 and first saw Daredevil at a friend’s birthday party. To this day I still think that Daredevil, particularly the Bullseye character and the murders he committed, influenced my writing and gave me a taste for killing (fictional) people in all sorts of horrible ways.

So I’m happy to introduce the Bullseye of Snake, Frissora, a brutally scarred man with a past shrouded in darkness and the ability to be suave while carrying out heinous acts. In a way, he’s like Bane as played by Tom Hardy in The Dark Kngiht Rises, intelligent and strong and not someone to be messed with lightly…wait, that’s Bane in nearly every adaptation of Batman he’s been in. But you get the idea, right? Frissora is dangerous, and the Snake will have to face him before he faces the head of the mafia family he’s been hunting.

I created Frissora as a way to weaken the Snake and give him a challenge. I also didn’t want the Snake to have too much of an advantage when he finally fought the mafia boss, who is a dangerous fighter as well, so Frissora was necessary. I’m going to enjoy working with this character as he fights the Snake, but I may have to go over Chapter 78, where Frissora is introduced, to make sure I get his character across like I want to.

I hope I can give Frissora the power and depth I wish to give him, and which I hope the reader will be able to feel. Because honestly, it would suck if he just seemed like another thug in a line-up of thugs.

Snake & Black Dogs

Posted: November 27, 2012 in ideas, Novel, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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Well, it’s been an interesting day for me, and I’m going to end it by watching NCIS and writing during the commercial breaks. I’ll start with the first chapter of Part IV of Snake (wasn’t that a small break?). This part is where the Snake is offered help from a powerful sponsor in his goal to bring down the mafia family he hates so much (why does he hate it? You’ll have to read the novel once it comes out).  This section is much smaller than Part III, with only sixteen chapters, but what sixteen chapters they are! The Snake doesn’t just meet allies: the family he’s fighting calls on its biggest and baddest hitman; someone comes dangerously close to the Snake’s true identity; the Snake has an episode; and there’s a sex scene. Yes, you read that right. A sex scene. It’ll be awkward to write.

WOOF!

As for the “Black Dogs” part of that title up there, I got another idea for a short story. Or perhaps the beginning of an idea for a short story. Black dogs are more than just cute; in folklore, particularly Celtic and English folklore, the black dog is a portent of death and a messenger of the underowrld. Occasionally they also double as benevolent spirits that watch over children and traverlers, but more often they are not something you want to run into on a dark, lonely night. So I’m going to write a short story based on the idea of a black dog spirit. First I’ve got to think of a context for it that’ll be exciting and not relatively used. Nothing’s come to mind yet, but I’ll come up with something; I did with the dybbuk idea.

You know, now that I think about it, this’ll make 13 short story ideas on my tackboard. What do you think? Should I create a collection of short stories and put it on the Internet as an e-book? I could write several of them over winter break. Let me know what you think.

We All Can Take Different Levels of Disturbing

Posted: November 22, 2012 in Living and Life, Reflections, Scary Stuff
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“Where is the one who killed me? I want my revenge!”

This evening after Thanksgiving dinner, some of my family and I settled down to watch The Hunger Games movie (which is kind of ironic, and not just because there’s a big metal structure in the arena called “the cornucopia”). All those in the room under the age of twenty had already seen the movie, while the adults–my dad and his wife, my uncle Tom and my aunt Tiina (and the “uncle” and “aunt” part is lowercase because I don’t call them “Aunt” or “Uncle” and they’re fine with that, for those of you wondering. And no, that’s not their real names)–had never seen this movie or read the books (except  my dad’s wife Michelle, but she hasn’t read the second book yet). The younger generation loved the movie of course, and most of them screamed during the scary parts, even if they’d already seen the movie. The older generation though…they didn’t get the film. Tina and Tom asked several times, “What’s the point of this movie? Why do teens find it so appealing?”

Well, if you don’t get dystopia’s appeal to teens and young adults, then there’s just no reason to explain it to you. But I’m digressing from what I really wanted to talk about in this post, and that’s indicated by the title of it.

During the course of the movie, some people like myself could handle the blood, gore and violence, while others who will go nameless were screaming or covering their eyes everytime someone died. What does this say? Obviously, that some people are okay with the macabre and terrifying, while others do fine without it. And it’s important to know that sometimes, but not because you should tailor your writing to suit their tastes. Heavens no!

What it teaches us is that, with those close to us, we should know whether or not they like something or not before we recommend it to them. I know some people, people close to you, will buy or read your work because they love you and they want to make you happy, but if you know someone’s not a fan of this or that and you put it in your work, you should give them fair warning before they read it. Safe to say, I think when Reborn City comes out, I’ll recommend it to everyone above the age of 15 who reads fantastic fiction, while I’ll tell everyone to be prepared for nightmares and terror when Snake comes out. Only fair, right?

Speacking of which, how do you guys deal with fear and terror? Do you really go for it, or not so much?

Snake: Halfway Done!!!

Posted: November 21, 2012 in Novel, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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With the first draft, that is!

This evening, while waiting for the laundry to finish, I was working on Snake. Much later than I should’ve been, actually. But what does that matter, because I got three chapters out of the way. And one of them was Chapter 52. Multiply by two, and you get the number of chapters in Snake, at least in this first draft.

So yeah, I’m halfway through, and I’m happy as hell! This chapter was actually kind of difficutl to write, to tell you the truth. This chapter was the first time in several chapters that a character had appeared, and I wanted to do an update on what she’d been doing during that time. However when I was editing Reborn City, I’d been told that doesn’t always work very well, and I had a feeling that it wouldn’t work here, so I had to go back and rewrite what I’d written (thanks again, Matt; it’s good to have your counsel in so many ways). In the end, I used dialogue and a really creepy mafioso to explain what had happened to that character, which made for a much more interesting way of telling this story.

In a way, I wish I could show you this chapter, but not only does it reveal one or two plot details I wish to keep concealed, it’s a little too disturbing for some audiences. What can I say? I write creepy stuff, but I know not everyone wants to read it. They prefer other stuff found here on my blog.

So I’m halfway done, and I’ve still got fifty-two more chapters to do. But hey, if I can get from chapter thirty-five to chapter fifty-two in twenty days (with a ton of schoolwork and whatever getting in the way), I can probably tackle the rest in that amount of time. Who knows? I might be done by New Years, God willing!

Wish me luck. I’m going to bed.

My Own Beliefs

Posted: November 16, 2012 in Living and Life, Reflections, Scary Stuff, Writing
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I write scary stories. As such, I sometimes have to use the supernatural in my work, something I enjoy doing. But at some point, if you start to write stories about demons and spirits and murderous beings from other dimensions, people are going to ask you, what’s your own beliefs? Do you believe in any of the things you write about? Do you believe in aliens that appear over Boston, like in Ripple (if you want to read that short story, click here: http://www.nthzine.com/fiction_online.php?archiveDisplay=20121105), or do you believe in succubi like that one short story you wrote that you hope to publish?

Well, I thought I’d clear a few things up before I get asked that question. I’ll include about five major things that people will probably ask me about, and unless people want to know more, I’ll leave it at that. Hope you find it informative:

1. God and Satan: I definitely believe in an all-powerful, all-encompassing authority that created our universe and is very active in the day-to-day lives of human beings as well as the changing of the seasons and the orbiting of the planets. I also believe that this Being is called by many names, answers to several of them, and as long as you live a good life and do not do horrible things in your life, eventually He will reward you for your good behavior (when though, I can’t say).

As for Satan…well, I believe there is a being called Satan, but my belief in him is more in line with the traditional views of Judaism, which say he’s more a servant of God with a bad job of tempting good people in order to test their devotion. The view that Satan is the antithesis of God only came later, around the time of Jesus, and it’s more Christian than Jewish belief, so I really don’t follow it, or follow the belief that there’s one being who embodies all evil and is set against the being that stands for all good. Doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy a story involving that bad boy Lucifer, though.

2. Ghosts/Demons/Spirits/Angels: I do believe that there are beings I can’t see, but do have ways to interact and even interfere with the material world. I’ve actually had encounters with ghosts/spirits, leading to some very interesting stories (ask about the time a spirit was pushing against my teeth while I slept). I also believe in demons and angels: there are times when I’ve believed there is something near me that wishes to do me harm, like when I wrote that succubus story and I swear something was summoned because I couldn’t stop thinking about and researching succubi. At the same time, I believe that there are benevolent beings that if you can call them by name will come to your side to protect you. There’s even a prayer in Judaism that calls the four archangels to protect you in time of trouble, and the couple times I’ve used it, I’ve felt like there was something around me protecting me from harm. It’s pretty neat.

Now, if I believe in demons, how can I not believe in one that’s leading a war against Heaven? Well, if humans and demons all have one creator, why does there have to be a king of demons when there isn’t a king of evil humans? Just doesn’t make sense to me.

3. UFOs/Extraterrestrials: I’m a bit of a skeptic on this one. There was actually a class here at OSU I took that explored the subject, and the conclusion was that if there is life out there, it probably is either very basic, like single-cell organisms, or if it’s like humans, it’s probably at the same level of intelligence and technology as humans, so we probably don’t get a lot of visitors from the deep, dark space. I know there are a lot of people who say they’ve been abducted, but then again there are a lot of people who say they speak to Jesus and that they are being investigated by the CIA (who aren’t allowed to do domestic investigations, by the way) because they know how their chocolate fudge recipe relates to the attacks of 9/11, and they all sound alike to me.

No offense meant to those who believe in aliens, though; I just need more substantial proof before I start believing in visitors in ships coming to observe and abduct creatures that, for all our intelligence, still don’t know how to live together without getting into a huge fight.

4. Magic: I believe there are forces that human beings can summon and control with rituals or spells. Such rituals and spells can be found in nearly any group, including Judaism (*cough* mezuzah *cough*), and that each group’s rituals/spells are unique and can do wonderful things when done right. 

I also believe that this can be rather dangerous, especially if you are summoning a spirit or a being with great power, for example, so only take part if you are aware of the risks, you accept them, and you don’t think your particular God will mind if you take part in such a ritual.

5. The Afterlife: Now, here’s where my beliefs aren’t traditional in any sense of the word: I believe that this life is sort of a preparation room, one where, through the choices we make and the actions we take and the people we meet, we’re groomed for a journey we take in the next life (assuming we don’t get stuck in this world as ghosts). What this journey entails or whom we take it with, I can’t say. All I can say is that this journey is specially prepared for us after our deaths, and that at the end of this journey…perhaps then it’s the final destination.

If you’re wondering what Jewish traditions might say about my beliefs, I’ll tell you that the only mention in the Torah of the afterlife is “Sheol”, which is either some sort of pit, or it’s a plain of existence where the dead go. Truth be told, nobody’s really sure what it is, Jewish scholars are well-known to have many different opinions on any number of issues (in fact, the joke goes you get two rabbis together, you’re going to get three different opinions). There’s also something in the Kabbalah that could be seen as reincarnation, but I’m not familiar with it, so who’s to say my beliefs on life after death are out of line with my religion?

Well, that’s all I’m going to say for now. If you want to know my beliefs on the Loch Ness monster or Bigfoot or something along those lines, let me know.

But what I really want to know is:

What are your beliefs? Do they agree or disagree with mine? And what gives you faith in your own beliefs?

“Doll’s Game”–Beginning the Revision Process

Posted: November 10, 2012 in Progress Report, short story, Writing
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In my creative writing class, I have to do a revision exercise due two days after my workshop date. Yes, that means I have to turn in a new draft on Sunday. By noon, too. Jeez, what if I want to sleep past one in the afternoon?

Well, I can’t sleep in that late apparently, not without getting a lowered grade. So I did my revision exercise and I plan to send it in after I finish writing this post. What I had to do was take a certain section of the story and, taking into account all the suggestions I got on the day of my workshop, rewrite it. And that’s what I did, editing one of the early sections of Doll’s Game. And now, I think I’ll work on the rest of the short story, doing an entirely new version of the story based on all the feedback and critiques I got on Friday.

What does that mean, though? Basically I’ll be writing an entirely new story with the same main motif at the center. What was that motif? A girl raised in captivity by her kidnapper gets free and gets a real shock when she escapes. The original story focused on her entire life after she escaped, but now I’ll be focusing on her time in captivity, and what happened immediately after the escape.

And yes, I do write that sort of creepy subject material. Why? I blame a childhood trauma I wrote about several posts back.

But back to the main theme of this post: I’m basically doing an entire rewrite. At the center will be the main character and her experience, but it’s less about her lfie growing up after her trauma and more about what happened immediately afterwards, which is just as terrifying, if not more so, than her time in captivity. Imagine how terrifying an unfamiliar world might be after escaping one that was familiar but filled with pain and fear. It’s horrible.

Which works to my strengths, since I’m writing disturbing material whenever I’m not writing a term paper or something along those lines. But still, it’s going to be quite a lot of work.

Oh well, that’s the challenge I’ve taken up, isn’t it? And besides, I’ve got about a month. If I work now, I should have plenty of time to do any necessary revision. And if I get a good grade, who knows? I may seek to get it published somewhere. I’m not sure where, though; even hardcore horror magazines might pass on a story involving this sort of story if they feel it’s a little too disturbing for their tastes.

Well, wish me luck. I’ve got some work to do.

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