Let's Talk Horror: A Top Thirteen

It's Halloween! (In case you hadn't noticed.) I've had a busy, stressful, yet also wonderful month, and I haven't gotten to really dive into my favorite time of the year. I thought I should at LEAST talk horror on THE day of all horror days, so here I am.

I was a panelist at MileHiCon in Denver this weekend. It was a blast, though I was insanely nervous about a couple of my panels going in. My comfort level is horror and short stories, but I read [and write] all over the place, so when I was put on a couple panels that didn't directly relate to what I write, I dove in and did some research and a lot of reading (thank you, Pikes Peak Library District, for having so many great books available on your e-shelf!)

I'm not going to talk about the whole weekend now. That will either occur Wednesday or next Monday. But one of my panels was on different flavors of horror, and at the beginning, we were asked what our favorite type of horror was. My answer was two-fold: psychological and horror-comedy. Here's the kicker. Everyone on the panel preferred psychological in some way, shape, or form. No one said, "Gee, I I really dig torture porn." (Yet it sells...) No one said paranormal, either, which I feel is the type of horror we most often cut our teeth on as kids. (Ghost stories with your friends, folks?) Then again, this can cross streams with psychological horror. "The Others," with Nicole Kidman, is an example.

It was also generally agreed upon that people are scarier than monsters. Monsters aren't realistic, but it's acknowledged that people are frightening. Yet favorite books and movies don't always agree with what we consciously feel is the best element. I thought I'd break some favorite movie elements down into bite sized pieces, much like those mini candy bars we give out.

1. Favorite Scene (TIE):

Opening scene from "Ghost Ship." A calm, peaceful evening is interrupted in a shocking and brutal fashion. Mouth = agape.

The elevator scene in "Cabin in the Woods." A single sound ("Ding!") never before foretold such gleeful carnage. I applauded enthusiastically. There may have been joyful giggles involved.

2. Favorite Monologue:

Samuel L. Jackson in "Deep Blue Sea." Monologues should always be cut short by the shocking death of a character you're certain will make it to the end because of who they are.

3. Favorite Halloween-based movie (TIE):

"Halloween" and "Trick r' Treat," of course. One is the original Halloween slasher film; the other is a series of short films revolving around the holiday.

4. Favorite use of a game in a movie:

"The Conjuring." Hide and clap. A harmless children's game used to great effect. "Clap, clap."

5. Favorite Cast:

"Aliens" was ahead of its time, with strong (yet flawed) female characters and a good mix of people of color in the cast. Ripley, our beleaguered survivor; Newt, the bright young girl who survived where the adults couldn't; Corporal Hicks, a soldier, a powerful man, yet willing to hear Ripley out and throw his support behind her; Vasquez, kicking ass and taking names; Apone, a solid leader in a bad, unknown situation.

6. Favorite Final Girl: 

Ripley from the "Alien" series. She was a well written female character, both strong and willing to ask for help. Her story didn't revolve around getting the guy (though I was all for her and Corporal Hicks hooking up). She was flawed, but smart, and calm under pressure.

7. Favorite Fool:

Marty in "Cabin in the Woods." If he'd been the sole survivor, I would have been happy with that. He was the only one who realized something was wrong. Plus, he was comic relief. Without him, there would be no survivor. The stoner with a heart of gold.

8. Favorite Movie Monster:

The xenomorph. When you attack her, her blood sees that you pay. Bug-like, drooling, and creepy, these creatures can skitter along the ceiling as easily as under the floor. The monster that taught me you always look up when you sense something near.

9. Favorite Moment of Lost Hope:

Drew Barrymore's scene in "Scream." The horror of seeing her fight like hell and get so near her parents, only to be gutted as they listen in on the line. This was her return to the movies, and another example of a character I thought was sure to survive, because of who the actor was. The film that taught me that was no longer a solid truth.

10. Favorite Bad Guy You Can't Hate (TIE):

Ginger, of "Gingersnaps." Packed with attitude and snark, pissed off at the excess hair growth, and just wanting to have a little fun, she's impossible to hate as she goes through a whole different kind of puberty.

Hannibal Lecter in "Silence of the Lambs." His mind is sick and twisted, but he fascinates and titillates too much to want him gone.

11. Favorite Movie Quotes:

I have too many to list (believe me, I started), so here's a montage of best movie quotes.

12. Favorite Twist (TIE):

Brad Pitt in "Se7en" finding out he's one of the sinners being punished, and that he's been played the entire time.

"Sixth Sense." Sure, you might have seen it coming, and the little guy tells us right in the beginning that he sees dead people, but there's no way to be sure until we get that confirmation, and suddenly everything makes sense. This was the twist that killed future twists.

13. Favorite Duo:

Val and Earl in "Tremors." Without these two, the movie would just be about giant, killer worms eating people. They are the heart and the comic relief. And also, ultimately, the heroes.

I could have kept listing various favorites, but thirteen seemed like a good stopping point. If none of these catches your fancy, check out "The Exorcist," "Poltergeist," "Hush," "The Shining," "Night of the Living Dead," "Jaws," "Nightmare on Elm Street," "Psycho," "The Fly," "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," "Detention," "A Stranger Calls," "Krampus," or "Re-Animator," depending upon what you're looking for.

Still not good enough? Here's a list of 100 Best Horror Films.

Happy Halloween!

What are some of your favorites? Any favorite categories I should have addressed? Did you disagree on any of them? What type of horror do you prefer?

May you find your Muse.

*Pumpkin from clker.com, Pumpkin2, OCAL

Prepare to be Enchanted - An Interview With Author Feather Stone

I have a delightful treat for you today!  Author, and fellow blogger, Feather Stone granted me an interview.  If you are feeling insecure about your writing or your creativity is restrained or stumped, her words will reassure you and get you back to the creative space you need to be in.  I think you'll find her positive attitude to be inspiring and contagious.

Feather Stone is the author of The Guardian's Wildchild.  A summary from her website:  

Caught in a reckless attempt to stop Dark forces, Sidney Davenport, a young, rule breaking, spirited member of the secret paranormal community of Guardians, finds herself imprisoned on a naval ship and slated for execution. Her struggle with the unfamiliar emotions of fear and anger becomes even more complicated when she can no longer fight her attraction to the very man who has orders to perform her execution.

Thanks so much for agreeing to talk to me.  What did writing The Guardian's Wildchild mean to you, personally?

Writing The Guardian’s Wildchild was a journey of awakening. I’d believed I could write a little, but I didn’t know I could write an epic novel. Once I became open to the possibility of being a successful author, a dormant part of my being emerged. Passion for creating scenes, characters, dialogue, and plot began to consume my thoughts. The more I submitted to the urgings to sit at the keyboard and spill out volumes of text, mirroring the images in my mind, the more I became a slave, a happy and mystified slave.

As my confidence was strengthened through taking writing classes and support from my fiercest critic (my husband), writing The Guardian’s Wildchild became an obsession. With the completion of each chapter, the success flowed into other areas of my world. Finding my voice in the world of fantasy gave me courage to speak up and be heard. My identity and sense of self-worth got a healthy kick in the pants.

How Feather envisions Sidney Davenport

My instructors had been clear in the classes advising us that getting a novel published is rare for new authors. When I had finished writing and rewriting the story, I was thrilled with the results. However, I’d accepted the fact that it was likely going to remain just a part of my legacy to my family. Nothing more. It may sound odd, but I was so grateful for the experience of having written such an amazing story, that was enough for me. It was only through my husband’s insistence that I did search for a publisher.

Writing The Guardian’s Wildchild was a gift, a beautiful experience that transcends description. I wrote every day for about ten years. During the long hours at the keyboard, time stopped. Troubles faded. Magically I was transported to a world that took shape before my ethereal eyes. I never knew where it was going to take me. I trusted the beckoning piper. As the inspirations took shape, I obediently and lovingly manifested what I saw, heard, felt into my physical world.

In the end, there wasn’t just The Guardian’s Wildchild sitting on the book shelves in my local Coles bookstore. I had been transformed.

Sounds like a divine experience.  You said you wrote every day for ten years.  What did you find helped you to settle down to write, and did you have any routines that helped you get into writing mode?

Nothing in my life previously had filled me with such enthusiasm.  I suppose my husband might tell you I was obsessed, perhaps possessed for at least the first five years.

Believe it or not, I had no trouble sitting down to write for all those years. I was driven. While I was at my paying job, all I could think about was about writing when I returned home. You would think that after putting in an eight to ten hour shift at work that I would be too tired to sit at the computer at home.

My incentive came from the fact that the inspirations were so clear and grand. I was anxious to express what I saw and felt before the visions faded. As the flow of scenes came into focus, I forgot about the fatigue, even became more energized as I was carried away on the magic.

I enjoy the positivity in your writing experiences.  A lot of the time you hear how hard it is, what a struggle it is to find time, etc. (I'm guilty).  What does your writing area look like?  Do you have anything specific that encourages or supports you while you're writing?

Ah, confession time. Now, you’re probably asking “What does my physical writing area look like?” It’s pretty basic. Laptop on kitchen table, coffee cup, cat staring at me, hubby asking “Are we eating today?”

You see, the thing is, the laptop is not where the story gets created. I’ve discovered I’m pretty much the run-of-the-mill writer. Other authors will tell you they spend hours or days creating scenes, dialogue, plot, everything within their grey matter before writing a word. Same here.

I create scenes while I’m brushing my teeth, walking Jasper, or shopping for groceries – all the time, everywhere I go.  If I’m conscious, building the story internally is ongoing twenty four, seven. The cashier at the grocery store will never know I’ve just imagined my character’s having the most incredible sex.

I don’t sit down to write a word until the scene in my head becomes crystal clear. It may take days for the nuances of every movement of the man’s hand unbuttoning the woman’s shirt to make it to the keyboard on my laptop.

Then again, it could be that I just love replaying those scenes in my head. I’m such a passion addict.

What supports or encourages my writing? It’s my hubby. In spite of the frequent days of fasting, he’s my most loyal fan.

You've spoken of being inspired and obsessed.  What was it about this story that grabbed you?  What inspired it?

Aside from the fact that the original inspiration was the result of a paranormal experience, my passion while writing the story flowed uninhibited. Even after publication, I’ll read a few pages and still feel that passion that captivated me for so many years.

Picture this. You’re standing at the headwaters of a raging river. Turning to discover its origin, you notice it gushing from a chasm deep within the mountain. The river is churning wildly, spitting its frothy spray in all directions. You become saturated with its cool mist. Rainbows glisten above the torrent. Your eye is drawn to follow the river’s journey. Something within you seeks to discover its desperate struggle. Twisting like a serpent, it surges forward over boulders. The river plummets with orgasmic convulsion down vertical crevices. You feel its pleasure. You must follow.  You must. You are no longer separate from the river. You’re seeking your source with the intense desire of lovers. Nothing, no power, no threat of death will stand in your way to feel the embrace, of that final surge in joining with the source.

I believe humans receive creative inspiration proportional to how much they allow their inner guide to speak. Every person has creative talents. The problems arise when a person allows negativity to sit on the throne, casting doubt, anger, fear, hatred. These emotions hold the person in a prison. People remain blind to the truth of their power, partly because their creative power frightens them.

Have your read the prose wherein there is a statement, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond imagination. It is our light more than our darkness which scares us.” (Marianne Williamson in Return to Love: Reflections on a Course in Miracles).

To answer your questions more directly, though the story of The Guardian’s Wildchild is publicly registered as fiction, I believe it is more truth than fantasy. I wrote the story given my core belief that human beings are spiritual beings having a human experience. I believe that at one time eons ago, perhaps on another dimension, human beings existed as both spiritual beings and as physical beings, moving between these dimensions at will. As a result of becoming enamored with physical sensations and giving power to the ego, we lost our ability to become spiritual without going through the death experience.

While listening to my inner guide, I felt the urgency to tell the story with the same intensity as the river rushing to be one with its source. There was no choice. It was beyond description with the spoken word.

That is all quite exquisite, and I know I could go on talking to you for ages.  Unfortunately, we have to wrap it up.  What advice would you give aspiring writers?

If you’re about to plunge into the world of being an author, be prepared for an awakening.

I had invested ten years of my life into The Guardian’s Wildchild. It had been my passion every waking moment of every day. I was a prisoner, gloriously happy, at the keyboard. It wasn’t until after I’d finished the first draft that I thought about getting it published. After rewrites and the third rejection from a publisher I had to deal with the possibility that my manuscript may never see a bookstore.  It dawned on me that during the amazing journey of writing the story, my life had changed in beautiful ways that’s difficult to describe.

If you write with your eye on the prize, publication, you may rob yourself of the joy of the journey. Free yourself from worry that your magnificent creation may not be acceptable to others. Write because you feel the rapture. It is then the flow of your vision will fall uninhibited onto the page. If you truly love the story you write, it will change you. You will then know that being published is secondary to the experience of being a creator.

I hope that Feather's words have been as encouraging to you as they have been to me.  Her viewpoint is so fresh and positive that I can't help seeing my writing as something worthy of nurturing.

Feather is offering a The Guardian's Wildchild bookmark to anyone who leaves a comment.  Please leave an email address in your comment and I will contact you for your mailing address.

The Guardian's Wildchild can be purchased at Amazon.com.

You can find Feather Stone at these sites:

www.featherstoneauthor.blogspot.com

www.featherstoneauthor.com

twitter.com/featherwrites

www.facebook.com/FSauthor

May you find your Muse.