Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer

Sunday, October 23, 2011

13 Days of Halloween: The Uncanny

Billy Burgess guest post , Halloween 2011

The Uncanny

by Hollidae Muhammad

So it’s Halloween which means it’s the time of year where people are getting their costume’s together, celebrating everything spooky, and whether you celebrate it or not, getting ready for the Halloween and horror movie marathon that’s going to be running on about five digital channels and at least one regular cable channel. But as a writer, who observes trends quite regularly for the sake of writing, I found myself this year asking why the fascination with Halloween? What is it about this holiday that we find ourselves so fascinated with? The answer, or at least part of it, came from the Gothic and Sublime class I’m taking for the semester in school. One of the fascinating aspects of Halloween is the uncanny.

What is the uncanny? It’s something we might say when we meet a person that looks just like our dead relative, that the resemblance or familiarity is uncanny, and that’s just what the word means. Something that is uncanny is something that’s extremely familiar, that resembles something we already know, but is just different enough, just off enough to freak us out a little or makes us wary. That’s why that girl we might meet in class and looks like a dead relative makes the person uncomfortable. It’s the uncanny element of it. It’s the same principle in Halloween.

Vampires, werewolves, zombies, Frankenstein’s Creature, Jason, you name them, the thing that makes them truly horrifying (particularly in their original incarnations) is that they look similar to a normal human, but there’s something just enough wrong with them to freak us out, and it’s that fact that they almost look normal that’s the scary part. Jason on first glance is just a tall guy in a mask with a saw and how many of those do we know anyway? The thing that makes this uncanny is that he’s a dead tall guy in a mask with a saw whether he’s coming for you or not, and I think I’d run to the live one before I run to the dead one. Frankenstein’s monster, The Creature, was created to be a beautiful, strong, human being who defies the very principles of life and death. There’s only one problem… His body was created of dead body parts which aren’t so great after they’ve been sitting in a morgue with no life for a few days. Zombies are people who walk out of the grave, and I don’t think I need to explain that one. Tell you what. Go dig up a random dead relative and see if you want what’s left to get up and come knocking at your door.

Then there’s vampire and werewolves. In modern times and incarnations, they’re no less scary than they were when they were first told about in legends and with Dracula, but it seems they’ve become a bit more endearing… And while I’ll be first to admit I might be one of the ones who willing goes off with a vampire to become his bride, let’s put vampire and werewolves into perspective for a moment. We’re talking about people, who look like regular men and women during the day for the most part, who may can be the model, upstanding citizen, work and interact normally in society, and except for the fact that they may be a little scraggy looking or look like they need a good tan on a sunny beach somewhere, appear pretty normal. That is until you see the same person in the middle of the night sucking some poor soul dry of blood or peak into the backyard to see the person transforming into a wolf under the light of the full moon. It’s something like finding out the ‘nice’ man or woman next door is a registered sex offender if we want to compare the feeling.

And the thing about modern day versions of the werewolf and the vampire is that if these things were actually real, we can’t attribute anything strange to them. People go missing every day, regular men and woman do horrible and inhumane acts (Sweeny Todd anyone?), and people come in and out of cities all the time so we can’t blame it on the new guy. There are medical conditions for people who have sharp looking teeth and a little on the hairy side. If we really think about how the werewolf and the vampire can look and act so normal, they’re even more terrifying than a zombie. At least it’s obvious what you’re dealing with when it comes to zombies, but werewolves and vampire are the most uncanny of all because they’re able to blend in with regular human society and that’s a terrifying thought.

So I came to the conclusion that at least part of the reason people, myself included, enjoy Halloween and anything spooky so much is because spooky things are so much like us yet so different, its mind boggling and intriguing when we see it. Without the uncanny element of Halloween, I don’t think the holiday would be halfway as fascinating or even spooky. I mean, what’s scarier than something that used to be human, still looks human, but isn’t human?

About the Author:

Hollidae Muhammad is an aspiring writer who goes under the pen name Lady Dae on most sites and runs a blog with daily writing tips that focuses on everything She learned about writing over the years from formatting, to creative devices, plot an conflict, the biggest cliches etc. so that writers can learn from her own trial and error. ladydaewrites.blogspot.com.

World of Ink - Guest Post with Maha Huneidi

Billy Burgess author guest post ,

Developing Characters

by Maha Huneidi

I think I found out how I developed my character in retrospect, and now that I can see it I think I reverse engineered her. When I first started writing my book, “When Monsters Get Lonely,” the last thing on my mind was character development. I just wanted to tell the story of a little girl who overcame her fear of the dark and of monsters. So my character’s greatest fear was already there. She also had a dream of becoming a movie director, so she started out as a concrete character with a dream and a fear from the very start.

I think that developing a character for a picture book is much easier than developing one for a novel. You have a limited number of words to work with, so you can’t go into detail and you have the illustrations to fill in the description of the character. I did have quite a bit of detail about the character which I had to delete because of word count, but the character immerged nevertheless.

I was afraid of the dark and of monsters as a child so the character was partly me, but when the book became about my granddaughter, the character became partly her. She was almost three at the time, so really the character was what I imagined her to be.

I think my character just developed with my understanding of how to write picture books. When I found out that the main character must resolve the problem herself, my character became strong and intelligent, because she had to understand what Grams meant when she said that we invent our lives, and she had to use her understanding to resolve her problem.

Hannah was strong enough to go back to her room, but not overly so. She asked her mom to leave the lights on, so she came through as both strong and vulnerable.

In the end to sum it all up, I think my character was real because she was

-Borrowed from real life, but I don’t think that a character should be exactly like one particular person. But then that’s the fun of writing fiction, you can make up a whole new personality.

-She had an ambition and a fear.

-She had strong traits that the reader can identify with, she was intelligent, brave, and vulnerable.

-She grew and got over her fear by resolving her own problem.

About the Author:

Maha Huneidi is a wife, mother and now grandmother, who finally found out what she wants to be when she grows up. This book is the first step of her journey. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

13 Days of Halloween - Guest Post with Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy

Billy Burgess guest post , Halloween 2011

I was born scant days before Halloween with a name one short syllable shy of my grandmother’s dead daughter’s name as another kinswoman departed this life. I like to think Aunt Lottie and I high fived on the way in and out or at least said hello. My parents took me home to an old brick Victorian house where generations of doctors lived and practiced. In that house, the paranormal was the normal because odd things happened often. I also inherited a few psychic gifts from my grandmothers, a great-grandmother, and one great-grandfather who happened to be the seventh son of a seventh son. Some of my true strange experiences have appeared in Fate magazine. So it’s no wonder that I’ve always been attracted to things both supernatural and paranormal with curious wonder.

Although it may sound like something out of one of my novels, all of the above is true. With my birthday so close to All Hallows Eve, many of my early birthday cakes were decorated for the holiday with orange and black frosting, black cats, and even witches. Autumn is my favorite season and as an adult I always burn a traditional fire on October 31. Good little Catholic girl that I am as well I go to church the next morning for All Saints too. I know – shades of Anne Rice or something especially with my vampire romance series, the Love Covenant series from Evernight Publishing.

Maybe it’s no wonder that I write about vampires. In the Love Covenant series (Love Tattoo, Love Scars, Love Shadows and coming soon, book four of six, Love Shadows) readers love my Irish born two hundred year old vampire and his Texas gal. Even in much of my other fiction a few paranormal elements often creep into the pages. This year, I have a story in the Jack-o-spec collection from Raven Electrick Press and a stand alone short, Forty Eight Hours A Year coming October 29 from Silver Publishing. Much of my published short fiction deals with the odd and the supernatural elements.

Since this is the month for Halloween, I’ll share a spooky and strange personal experience, one of many. I lived deep in the rural Ozarks when I first got married and in the hollow down below our home an old derelict farmhouse remained. My imagination always gets fired up by old home places so I talked my husband into trekking through the woods, literally over hills and through the brambles to see it. I brought along my camera, shot a lot of pictures and we went in but not far because it looked dangerous. The staircase that led to the upper floor was rotted away. I shot the pictures with my Canon camera using 35 mm film. When I got the pictures back I looked at them and then looked again. I saw people in the upstairs windows. In the side window, a woman of about thirty leans to peer out through the glass. In one of the front windows, I could see an old woman with a big apron tied about her waist pointing one finger in the direction I stood taking the pictures. There was another picture of an old man, very distinct.

I showed them to my husband and he saw them too. I still have the pictures and everyone I’ve ever shown them to shivers. The people look very real but no one human could have been upstairs because there was no way left to reach it. Since then, I’ve shot a few other pictures of old houses that have images in the windows too but none are as clear as these.

That’s my strange but true story to share this Halloween season. Feel free to check out my short stories that may offer up a chill or two. If you’re into vampires, try my Love Covenant series. Readers can find my books, all eBooks, some also in paperback, and the anthologies on Amazon.com. I have an author page there, Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy.

13 Days of Halloween: I Love Horror Movies

Billy Burgess

I planned on posting a review of the 80s horror comedy House II, but sadly I didn’t get around to watching the movie this week. I haven't seen the movie in years, and I ordered it off of Amazon last week. I remember walking up to grocery store (at the time I lived in a very small town) when I was young with my aunt (who’s only six years older than me). The grocery store had very limited VHS rentals, in which we rented Critters 2 and House II. I had seen the first House a few years before when my parents bought it. And I seen the original Critters on the big screen, as my uncle demanded that the movie was funny, but mom and grandma had a different opinion after taking my aunt and me to see it. Anyway, I have fond memories of House II and I look forward to watching it again this weekend.

My first venture in watching horror was back in the late 80s on an old black and white TV set I had in my bedroom, where I would watch Friday the 13th the series at 9 PM on Friday nights. I barely recall what any of the episodes where about until I bought the DVDs a few years ago. About a year or so later is when I was introduced to Michael Myers by my grandma who was babysitting me at the time. My mom was fairly upset that I watched the movie, even though it was the cut version off of TV. I watched part of Halloween II when I was at my grandparent’s house a few weeks later and I begged to take the VHS home to finish it. My mom made me keep the volume down as I finished the movie at home. As for Halloween III, lets just say I only watched it once as a kid, but I’ve watched a few more times since I have gotten it on DVD. It's not my favorite in the series.

I wasn’t aware of Halloween 4 & 5 even existed, until Halloween: The Curse of Michael Meyers came out. I was eagerly waiting the rental release and kept asking the video clerk (in another town) when it was coming out, that’s when I was told there six movies. I rented 4 and 5 just before the sixth movie came out. During those five years before Halloween 6 was released, I found other movies - A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Evil Dead, Night of the Living Dead, and many other horror movies. In the middle 90s I would watch Monster Vision on TNT, and then switch over to the local Fox station to watch Tales from the Crypt at midnight.

After being caught in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer mayhem, I still continued to follower Michael Meyers in his lackluster sequels and remakes. Now at the age of 30, I still love to indulge in the world of horror. I now watch True Blood, The Walking Dead, and the American Horror Story, which all three are better than most modern horror movies and the countless, horrible, remakes.

Review: Fear Street: Halloween Party by R.L. Stine

Billy Burgess book review , Halloween

Does anyone recall the bookshelves of the school book fair being filled with teen horror books? I got caught up in the horror madness in the early 90s, about the time I started watching the 1978’s Halloween at the age of nine, and I stumbled upon the bizarre world of R.L. Stine, a few years before the Goosebumps phenomenon hit the shelves. I read and collected dozens of R.L. Stine novels back in the day, but as I grew up I lost interest. Luckily I kept all of the books and I started collecting R.L. Stine, along with other Point Horror books, again.

Last Christmas, I received Halloween Party by R.L Stine, which is part of the Fear Street series, which I have always wondered why none of the books have every been made into a cheap horror movie or a low-rated CW series. I’ve never read the book before and was memorized by the snappy new cover design from the Simon Pulse release. There’s something about a jack-o-lantern that gives me the creeps. I tossed the book on the coffee table and had forgotten about it until last month when I was planning the 13 Days of Halloween posts. I thought it would be a perfect time to read it.

The Halloween Party is about a teen, Terry Ryan, who, along with his girlfriend, Niki Meyer (Michael Meyers? A Coincidence? Why is there always someone with the last name Meyer or Meyers in a horror novel?) has been invited, along with a selected number of guests, to the Halloween Party of Justine, a new student to Shadyside High with a mysterious past. The party is being held at the old Cameron Mansion on Fear Street, beyond the cemetery. The mansion is said to be haunted!

This is not your typical party as all Justine wants to do is play wicked, cruel games to embarrass her fellow students. Then, out of nowhere, several bikers crash the party, reminding me of the party scene from the movie Weird Science. While the new unwelcome guests causes a little chaos, Niki disappears and one of the partiers is found dead! Terry searches through the spooky mansion in search of his missing girlfriend, while Justine unleashes her revenge plot.

I have to admit that I normally zoom right through Fear Street novels, but I had trouble getting into this one until I was about the middle of the book. I rolled my eyes as the bikers invaded the party, and my stomach quenched at every cruel joke Justine unleashed. Only when Terry learns of the mansion’s previous owners’ deaths does the plot actually get interesting, and you finally understand why Justine only invited specific guests. Despite that fact that Halloween Party is not the best of the Fear Street, I still enjoyed the few twists and turns that made it a decent read. I can easily see this being made into a TV movie, but I guess those are too rare these days thanks to the boring scripted reality shows. Let me give you some advice: If you get invited to a party at an old mansion next to a cemetery - Don’t Go!

13 Days of Halloween: Another Interview With A Vampire

Billy Burgess guest post , Halloween 2011

Another Interview With A Vampire

By Rebeka Harrington

When developing characters; some authors create detailed character sheets, others use a loose outline and follow their ‘muse’. I use a combination of these, but the main method I use for creating my characters is; I talk to them. Like a crazy person, I sit in my office and talk to my characters. Ask them questions about their lives, reactions and feelings. Thankfully only my cat is witness to this lunacy, otherwise I’m sure I would have been locked up a long time ago.

I thought it appropriate, when Billy asked for a guest post in honor of October and Halloween, that I share with you my version of an “Interview With A Vampire”.

The vampire I’m interviewing is Bektamun. She is 3000 years old and narrator of “Vampires Revealed”.

RH: Hi Bektamun, thanks for agreeing to an interview. I hope you’re comfortable and not hungry at all.

B: It’s my pleasure Rebeka. No I’m not hungry, I fed earlier.

Interview with Anna Deskins

Billy Burgess interview ,

Your children's book, The Adventures of Smitty looks magically. Tell us about it.

It's the story of a magical island of little creatures called Smilies and the mischievous little main character, Smitty. He's such a naughty boy. Haha! All the moms and kids I've shared it with have been giving me such a wonderful reaction. I cannot believe it. I have to tell you how excited I am to finally have a life-long dream come true. Writing The Adventures of Smitty was really about finding a story that I would want to read to my children at night. It has to be exciting but not scary so that my two daughters can go to sleep. Basically, I was looking for that perfect blend to read to my kids at night and decided, "Why not try writing my own?"

We've had a lot of changes in our life recently, so I want to make sure that when I put my daughters to sleep that they feel safe. I have short chapters because I know how busy we moms are but if you can just sacrifice 5 minutes at night reading to your kids, it makes a world of difference. Your kids will never forget it. And although we're running around the whirlwind of life, our kids grow up so fast, and that time that we'd rather finish watching what happened in our favorite soap opera instead of reading to our kids will never come again. I hope that The Adventures of Smitty and books like it help moms do exactly that.

And it's only 99 cents this week. That's what I love about it. Now, You are recently divorced. How have you been able to continue writing when going through such a change?

Yes, it is by far one of the most challenging points in my life. To see a marriage you thought would last forever to not last forever was difficult for the two of us. I really learned a lot about myself and most importantly, it's brought me closer to my daughters. I think that's what really motivated me to finish this children's book no matter what. When you're going through changes in your life like this, you need something to hold on to. There's a part of you that wants to prove that you can make it, that you will be a success even if it's not with the partner you originally imagined building a life with. I had to keep writing, for my kids. I want to show them that they have to keep strong, no matter what.

We as women, as moms really need to stick together to support each other and our dreams. We're living in an age when I think we're finally realizing, although we want love, the men in our life aren't the answer to everything. We have to stand up on our own two feet and keep going. True love will happen, but until then, we have to keep moving forward. Our children depend on us and we depend on us.

In addition to being a children's book author, you're also a small business owner. How do you juggle taking care of two daughters and at the same time running a business?

Yes, I am a fashion designer and have a retail store. Any type of creativity is what I'm passionate about. That's why writing The Adventures of Smitty was so important to me. Let me tell you, running a small business in today's economy isn't easy especially when raising two girls at the same time. But somehow, it seems someone's watching over me because my dreams are coming true no matter what. To have that many moms glowing about my children's book, means so much to me. And I know my girls are proud.

When do you ever have time to write?

You mean, in between laundry, running a business, chasing my girls around the house, cleaning the house, and flying back and forth from Miami to New York? Haha? That's one thing I've learned, when you really want to do something, you find a way. Things fall into place if you just go for it and that's what I want to encourage all the moms who are reading this right now. Whatever your goal is, you can do it. Don't let the challenges in your personal life stop you from going for your dreams. Just go for it and it's almost magical how things fall into place.

Where can we get a copy of "The Adventures of Smitty"?

Right now, it's available online by going to: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/94655 You can also visit my website:http://www.AnnaDeskins.com where you can read more about my writing process, my recommendations for other books and my own adventures in Mommyhood.

I'm so grateful for your support and the support I'm getting from so many wonderful moms who dream of writing children's books one day too. Writing The Adventures of Smitty has been such an emotional experience for me, a true journey as I was going through so many changes while writing it. It's truly been a blessing in my life. It, along with my daughters, and that guy upstairs have really pulled me through a challenging time.

Thanks for the interview, Anna.