A Piece Of My Heart

Comrade Butt's Wodehouse Challenge - My Thoughts on Horror

The final task of my "a very Wodehouse challenge"  this round is to write a blog post about my experience with, interest in, and impressions of the horror genre, and I have to say, this month was the perfect month for this challenge to come my way.

Prior to this month, my experience with horror was largely non-existent. I knew I didn't like horror movies, so I assumed I would also dislike horror writing. I even had in my Review page for a while that I would not review in the Horror/Scary genre. However, I did have one horror piece I had written several years back still hanging out in my portfolio ("Pet Me, Master" ) from when I wrote it back in my freshman year of college. Out of the blue, a certain "Prince of Horror" on this site gave me a lovely review for it and slapped it with a handsome awardicon, which made me all giddy inside. I was thrilled someone actually liked that bit of horror I had written, but it was literally the only piece I had ever written in that genre, so I didn't know if I could do it again. It felt like a one hit wonder, if you know what I mean. But then again, I had never even tried.

So, I promised Angus I would try to enter his Halloween Screams Contest this month, but didn't know if I would be able to fit it in, especially with October Nano Prep. But then, as if it were fate, my Wodehouse Challenge was Horror themed! I mean, I guess I didn't have a choice now. I set up my favorite writing spot, dog curled at my side, and steeled myself to write a horror short story for Angus's contest. My fingers hovered over the keyboard, but nothing spilled out. I had zero ideas. How the heck was I supposed to write a horror story if not a single idea came to mind? Okay, new plan. I figured I could start with the other components of the challenge and get those done first and then come back to the short story. That was less intimidating.

As part of the challenge, besides entering a horror contest, I was asked to complete ten reviews, write five product reviews, welcome two newbies interested in horror, and write this blog post. Around work and school and October Prep, I found time to do the reviews, the product reviews (my first ever), and welcome a couple new members, but still that dang short story was looming over my head. I knew I was already too deep and couldn't back out of the challenge now, so I had to give it a real try.

It was last night when I started drafting my little story. Coming up with an idea was hard in itself, but I relied on the one thing I knew about horror - real life is what really freaks me out. Ghosts and demons and paranormal stuff aren't for me, so I knew I had to stay in the real world and in the realm of the possible. Through my reviewing, I also learned that I enjoyed horror where the reader starts getting creeped out thinking one thing is going to happen, but then something else happens that's even more gross than they were expecting. Through my research into horror (mostly just trying to get ideas for what to write), I came across another notion as well that apparently works well in horror - if you make the reader believe the character made a mistake and is about to be caught or found out, that is another great way to build the tension for the ultimate reveal at the end.

I tried to incorporate all those elements and ended up with this story:

STATIC

Halloween Happy Hour  (18+) Neighbors enjoy a Halloween potluck, but someone is mysteriously missing #2172488 by Emily

It's only my second time writing horror, so I'd really appreciate any comments, especially from experienced horror writers!

And so, with the posting of this blog entry, I've come to the conclusion of my very first Wodehouse Challenge!

You can see the links to my completed challenges here: "Emily's Wodehouse Challenges!" 

Thank you to Angus for your encouragement to continue writing horror, to Jeff for offering this horrible challenge and your beautiful badge, and to iKïyå§ama for including it as a Wodehouse Challenge and enticing me to choose Comrade Butt!

-Emily