 Horror/Scary: December 18, 2012 Issue [#5418] |
  Horror/Scary
This week: Begin Again Where it Appears to End Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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Welcome to this week' edition of the WDC Horror Newsletter, where we strive to make you feel a need to lock your windows, draw tight your shades and, whatever you do, keep away from the door.
I think that true horror is accomplished
by slowly getting into your brain.
The old way is much more scary.
Sergio Aragones
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Greetings, insightful writers. As writers of horror poetic and prosaic, we peel away the carefully constructed layers of skin to reveal for our readers what lies (sometimes literally) at the core of mundane reality's onion. Engage the shadow that lurks just out of sight, right around the corner of the mind's eye. What one does not see, but on some level perceives. Yes, it's in the mind, the psyche 
12-21-12. The Mayan calendar ends, heralding the end of an epoch as the sun, earth and moon align. The epoch also heralds for some the actual beginning of a new 'Age', that of Aquarius (air, inspiration, dreaming, day-dreaming, fancy and fantasy). Some doomsayers claim the end of time, others travel to the remains of former Mayan cities in South America for celebrations of a new beginning. In a couple of days, we'll either be here or not; we may know something different, or perhaps just sense it, or some may feel naught but another same-old-same-old day (poor folks, these ^_&).
Think about it! This date/time is rife for tales of both apocalyptic endings and beginnings. In this mega-media, tweeting, ipod-ing world, everybody must have had some exposure to the Idea of 12-21-12 and, somewhere in their mind's eye, or heart, either feel or want to feel something 'different'. So, go ahead, engage the shades of their desire; bring to the fore (as does a psychologist, or seer) the reader's (and character's) underlying fears, fantasies, nightmares, dark desires  with your story in prose or verse.
Create strong characters, mortal, sentient, non-human, zombie, space traveler, go on, engage your own! Both the protagonist and antagonist will need have strong emotional issues that stand in the way of accomplishing their goals. The antagonist in a psychological story need not be a person; instead perhaps the inner demon or alterego of the protagonist fighting to keep him/her from success, and often survival. .
I would interview each main character as well as ancillary ones that appear to either thwart or help the 'good guys' and/or the 'bad guys'. Is there some emotional need or torment that keeps them form accomplishing the need; and why, what's the point of going on? You will not use (tell) up front everything you learn, but what you learn will guide your characters (and your pen) to show the why and how of their need along the journey to success or defeat.
Plot your tale around the emotional aspect of the story. A psychological story is internal, which means a good deal of it revolves around the turmoil in your lead character's head; what horrifies him/her. The emphasis is on the struggle within the character's mind, more so than constant physical action. Remember, though, that it's brain to hand to cut the line and drop the hapless human into the piranha pool . Now, in the case of zombies, the brain may run not on cognitive functions but neuro-impulses for survival (consumption of energy/food). So the psychology of survival incites action and its respondent re-action.
What does your character fear. Is it survival, loss of love, loss of 'humanity' or physical existence? Is it capture by aliens, or mutated mortals (zombies and their 'ilk'), or consumption by mutated or newly released super veggies or dragons or faeries. Show us this fear, set it up early in the story and your readers will wait for a payoff you deliver when your character oversomes (or succumbs to) that fear,
Show your characters (and readers) the way ~
Write On!!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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I hope you enjoy (in the safety of your well-lighted home) some post-apocalyptic or end-time, or new-time horrors brought forth from the depths of the collective mortal psyche by several members of our Community. If you can see it, engage their otherworlds ~ perchance a review{e;smile}
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| |  | Born Dead (E)
A young girl born after the apocalypse and living with her mother struggles to survive
#1775192 by Marcus E.T.  |
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Until we next meet, open the doors, but be prepared, to see what has been and create what might be. Be this solstice the ending or a beginning; show us what lies just past the corner of the eye
Brightest Blessings for the Yuletide holidays and wishes for a Happy New Year. Yyes, I do believe we'll see 2013 (in some form or another ~ BWAHAHA )
Write On!!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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Amazon's Price: $ 13.94
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