The Ready Writer

Oh my goodness y'all.  This movie is a roller coaster! It's hard for me to say that I "liked" it. But I didn't...not like it. It's a bizarre, metaphorical movie. This movie doesn't take place in any specific place or time. It takes place in a large home in the middle of nowhere, and starts with 2 newlyweds, not named, just referred to as Him and Mother. What we know in the beginning is that they are newly married, and he is a poet and she is renovating the house.  There was a fire, and Jennifer Lawrence's character is rebuilding the house from the ground up. Then, a man shows up. He says that someone directed him to this house thinking it was a bed and breakfast. "Him" says that The Man can stay the night, even though Mother seems to not want a stranger in her home (understandably). The next day, a Woman shows up, she happens to be The Man's wife. She is mostly insufferable. She pry's into their relationship, she drinks a lo...

I know I mentioned that the review for "Mother!" would be today, but since that movie is so...intense, I need a weekend to get my words composed.  So in the meantime, I'm giving you a review of Happy Death Day. Also, I know there is a lot of horror movie reviews in a row, but as January is my birthday month, it's easier to....coax? gently force? people into watching scary movies with me.  There will be a lull in scary movie reviews after my birthday. Okay. On to the review. Spoilers ahead. Plot Summary:  Theresa "Tree" wakes up in the dorm room of a classmate named Carter after a drunken binge the night before.  It happens to be her birthday.  She goes through her normal college day, being rude and dismissive to those she encounters. She keeps ignoring her father's calls, throws the cupcake her room mate makes her into the trash, and is having an affair with one of her professors. That night, on her way to a party she is lured into a tunnel wh...

Just to warn you all up front, there are spoilers in this review. Plot Summary: Anna suffers from severe agoraphobia (the fear of the outdoors) and hasn't left her childhood home in 10 years, since the death of her father.  She takes care of her brother Conrad as he suffers through pancreatic cancer and gets her food delivered to her by a food delivery guy named Dan. Eventually though, Conrad dies, but before his death he tells Anna that she needs to forgive their father.  What he should be forgiven fr isn't mentioned at that moment, we just get Anna's stern "no". After Conrad's death, Dan arrives with a food delivery but Anna, emotional and lonely, breaks down. After Dan expresses how he too feels trapped in his current situation, Anna offers him a bag full of money to help him, but he declines. On the day of Conrad's funeral, Anna finds herself home alone, too scared to leave. That is, until 3 men break into her home in search of some money. Th...

I guess I should change the name of this one to "Spooky Story Sunday" since it is coming out late. I got some news earlier this week... I HAVE A FULL TIME LIBRARY JOB NOW So I was a little distracted and giddy that I totally forgot to post this, but here it is: Babysitter Wanted  Eddie wasn't much of a career man.  He preferred the spontaneity of the occasional odd job.  Sometimes he'd be cleaning houses, or watching someone's dog - the next week he might be watering a lawn or cleaning up a construction site, and some weeks he might not be working at all.  It didn't matter to his landlord so long as his rent was paid on time. At this point, Eddie hadn't had a job in a week and half. Thankfully, there had been an ad in the paper for a babysitter. He drove up the gravel driveway, past a moving truck and parked in front of the home. He was ten minutes early, so he sat for a bit, admiring how the shadows of the trees reflected on the large ...

Hello Readers! It is October, which as we know is Halloween Month!  This is any horror writers favorite time of the year for sure. I'm no exception.  But! October means a couple of other things: 1. Freaky Flash Fiction Fridays!  That's right! For the second year in a row I will be posting freaky (more like spooky, but that doesn't work with the alliteration) flash fiction stories on Fridays. This allows me to keep writing short things while I work on a novel, but it also allows you to get a taste of how I write (a little, admittedly the stories I post are unedited first drafts, but still). 2. October also means we are 31 days away from NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).  This year, I am participating in Preptober (#preptober).  Now, if you participate in NaNoWriMo and are a pantser, you can disregard this rest of this post.  However if you are a plotter, or a mix of the two (which is what I am...though I want to be more of a plotter) then kee...

Hello! I'm hard at work working on my nano/serial project (5419 words in!) but I've also been working on a vision board project for my main YA novel that is my precious brain child. No real post today, but I thought I'd share with you some pictures from my vision board. I think they are vague enough that it won't give too much away, but will give you all some fun things to look at :) Post what you think I'm writing about in the comments! I'd love to hear your guesses ;) Until next time! Memento Mori &;

Hello! I haven't fallen off the face of the planet, just busy with 2.5 jobs and trying to get some writing in.  Actual writing trumps writing ABOUT writing.  But here is where I currently stand. I haven't touched my main project in months which has actually been a good thing for me. I've been reading, working on short stories, and generally just thinking about who I am as a writer and that has done me a lot of good. As I grow older, I find myself really trying to take the time to think introspectively and to think about who I am now, and who I want to grow to be.  This is especially good for me while I try to craft and create my writers "voice."   So, let me introduce myself: I am a horror writer. My influences come heavily from American Southern Gothic literature and American Spiritualism.   And knowing that now, my writing is taking shape. I'm finding my voice. All this time I didn't think I had a writing voice, but I do! I have ...

First off, what do you all think of the new theme? I am liking it a lot better. Secondly, you get 2 posts this week! This one, and another shorter one on some writing updates this Friday.  I also have some suggestions, but I may put those in a 3rd post sometime next week (I have 2 podcasts and a documentary that are really great, and horror lovers will love). OKAY.  Now lets talk atmosphere. Last time, we went through the intro of Resident Evil 7.  Now I want to talk a little about a section later in the game. At one point in the game, you have to retrieve an arm in order to make a serum.  That's all I'm going to say about that.  I don't want to spoil more than I have to. What makes this part of the game so great, and so scary, is that it not only creates great atmosphere  but it draws on one of any horror lovers favorite tropes: Scary kid stuff! So to retrieve the arm, you have to go through the terrifying house that takes up 2/3rds of the game...

Hello Everyone! This is Part II of my Scary Video Game series.  We are talking about Resident Evil 7, which is one of the newest, and one of the scariest video games to come on the market. Before I go on, I'm gonna post this first: THIS POST WILL CONTAIN MINOR SPOILERS If you haven't played the game, or watched someone play it, you may not want to read on. Okay. So the reason that I want to talk about this game is because it surprised me. All I had known about the Resident Evil franchise was that it had zombies in it.  And while I am not offended or even dislike the zombie genre, a lot of it relies on the fantastical, gross, and the jump scare.  However, Resident Evil 7 doesn't rely on that. That isn't to say that it doesn't  have those things, in fact, it has a lot of those things, but when I think of "what kind of horror" this game is, I would have to say that, at least for the first 2/3rds, it is an atmospheric horror. Why? Because for th...

Hello! I'm back from vacation, my SO has a new job, Lent has started, so now life is ready to get back to normal. I'll write a post on writing progress later, but first, I want to write about....video games. I know.  I'm a librarian, writer, and reader, what the heck am I doing writing about video games? Well, I am all about the scary experience.  What draws me (and many others) to the genre is how it makes us feel.  Not like "the feels" but physically how we feel.  We may sweat, or get the chills, or goosebumps. Our heart may race.  We may see things out of the corners of our eyes.  And horror enthusiasts LOVE that.  That's what horror writers strive for.  That's what horror readers crave.  But there is one outlet that seems to be doing it the best.  Video Games. Video games are interesting because they give the player the first person experience.  When books are first person, you are reading from the perspective of s...

So last time I posted a horror blog I talked about the 3 main categories of Horror, but there are even more subgenres of horror that can fall under any of the 3 main categories.  I can't possibly list them all, but I will go through some of the most popular ones and some of my favorites. Rural Horror: This one is pretty self-explanatory but what makes this unique is it tends to also include local legends, or myths, or superstition.  I'm a huge fan of this one.  I'm sort of regretting having my current project be set in the city, but it just can't work any other way.  However, all of my short stories take place in rural America.  There is just something scary about the middle of nowhere country that I love, even though it's kind of a cliche. Apocalyptic Horror: This deals with the end of the world. Not much more to say about that.  My current project has hints of this.  It isn't apocalyptic in the sense that the world is destroyed and in ruins, but...

Form B "So, is this treatment going to be painful?" Moira asked. "There is a very mild discomfort." Dr. Webb said, leaning back in his office chair. It creaked under his weight. "Some say it is like  slight burning sensation." He smiled. "It's nothing you have to concern yourself with." Moira had been seeing Dr. Webb for the last 6 months for treatment for her eczema. She had spent thousands of dollars on other doctors, creams, and homeopathic remedies all to no avail. Dr. Webb had contact her on a web forum. She was part of a message board community for people with skin conditions. He told her that he could cure her. And he had. His method was a combination of medicated baths, pills, ointments and even meditation.  Her skin was glowing. She couldn't remember the last time her skin was this clear.  Today was her final session. A heat treatment. She wasn't sure exactly how it was supposed to help, but Dr. Webb had ...

Hey guys!  No stats blog or horror genre post this week since I am on vacation.  Normal posts will resume next week.  I'm also gonna to try to figure out the scheduling features so that this doesn't happen again. However, I couldn't not post my Freaky Flash Fiction Friday piece (even though I'm barely making the deadline), so here it is. A Day in the Life of Harold Abrams "It's supposed to rain today." Laurel said to her husband, Harold who sat in his armchair on the other side of the living room.  "Good thing we are staying in today." She said, putting the newspaper down onto the table beside her.   A whistle came from the kitchen. "Oh, looks like the kettle is done, I'll get us some tea." She stood up slowly and carefully and puttered her way into the kitchen. Harold stayed in his armchair. Laurel came back with two steamy cups of hot tea. "I got you some Chamomile. It was the last box in the store, you sure are l...

Hey readers!  Sorry this flash fiction story is coming out so late.  I hope to not make that a regular thing. Anyway, here is my Freaky Flash Fiction Friday story #1. Til (Un)Death Do Us Part He looked at her with a hunger.  He had always though she was beautiful, but today, there was something about her that made him crave her even more. They were High School sweethearts. Neither of their families thought they were going to make it together, but 6 years later, they were going strong. They had survived post High School retail jobs together, college together, and even living in their tiny one bedroom apartment together. They had hoped to survive The Outbreak together. And for the last 9 months, they had. He had managed to kill the zombie and secure their apartment once again, but not without injury.  An hour later she had locked herself in the bathroom, hoping he'd get tired and move on. It wasn't long before he was able to break through the door....

Fear is the oldest and strongest human emotion.  I want to reiterate this because on the most basic level, my job as a horror writer is to instill fear in my readers. This creates a very broad definition of horror and allows for the inclusion of other sub-genres such as science fiction, thriller, fantasy, or supernatural.  In fact, science fiction, fantasy, and horror overlap so often that i has its own literary term: The Fantastic Triangle (which sounds like a superhero that a 5 year old created, but whatever). In his work "An Introduction to Studying Popular Culture", Dominic Strinati defined horror as a genre that "represents the need for suppression if the horror shown is interpreted as expressing uncomfortable and disturbing desires which need to be contained."  I am not a huge fan of this definition because its wordy and confusing. I am much more of a fan of Tzvetan Todorov's definition of theory of horror. Todorov breaks down horror into 3 forms: The ...

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear, is the fear of the unknown." - H.P. Lovecraft Horror is a fascinating genre for a lot of reasons, but mostly because of its relationship with other types of fiction or literature.  Horror is most often held on the bottom of the ladder.  Most of this is due to the fact that history does have a long history of being pulp, or cheap (think of the penny dreadfuls, horror novels that were literally sold for a penny), and yet many grand works of literature, stories that are on reading lists in high schools and colleges across the nation are also horror (Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein, and all of Poe.). Hell, even Alice in Wonderland had some horror elements in it, and it was written FOR CHILDREN. But even so, even with so many great pieces of work within the genre, whenever I tell people that I write horror, especially other writers or people in the literature ...

Just a reminder to all you readers, no stats blog this week because I took last week off from writing to heal my wrist.  I've been pain free all week and am excited to get back to writing tomorrow. So I am taking this day of blogging to kickstart a series of posts in which I will be talking about the horror genre.  But before I can even do that, I have to talk about what brought me to that genre and why I write it, and my journey to accepting the fact that I write horror. This post is just a brief intro into my writing and reading habits as a kid through adulthood.  The other posts will be a mix of information and my own experiences with the genre. But here is the start: I got interested in reading much like most kids: with the Goosebumps novels.  Sure, they weren't THAT scary, even to me as a kid, but they were still "darker" than some of the books I was supposed to be reading.  I read Babysitters Club, and The Boxcar Children, and the like, and they were fi...