I've read a lot of novels of a mix of genres; science fiction, thriller and suspense, mystery, historical fiction, etc. All of these works have made an impression on me, inspired me, and some have even gone far in changing my outlook on life itself.A few of the books that have moved me as both a reader AND a writer are "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson, "Toyer" by Gardner McKay, and the cornerstone of my reading experience and my own personal awakening as a writer who wants to make a difference in my work..."The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood.
Books that take my mind and heart to places I was not expecting, have been a special part of my existence since I was seven years old. Studying the worlds crafted, the protagonists, their hearts, minds, and motivations, was a constant passion and joy as I went from one book to the other.
What makes a story good? What makes a story gripping? What makes a character a person that you identify with and genuinely care about? What moves the plot further, taking it from one gradual step to another, building it into something powerful, grand and...unforgettable?
This is what I try to explore and analyze in my reading and my writing. Two of the biggest inspirations in the literary world who have helped to shape my perception of the construct of 'fiction' itself are Rod Serling, creator of the Twilight Zone, and Stephen King, who of course is a juggernaut amongst not only writers, but creators as a whole.
Writing for me, is a personal journey...it takes you out of the often dull realities of life, the mundane every-day details, and is something that gives you unlimited power.
Why do I use the word 'power'? Because ever since I started writing seriously, and realized this was a path I wanted to follow, I've felt more personally empowered than ever before. There is something inherently freeing about creating landscapes, new realities, and characters, (in a way, entirely new human beings--those who may not exist in real life, but are very much alive in your and the reader's imaginations).
The power and the freedom to create exciting and intricate new realities is particularly true for two of my favorite genres: science fiction and horror.
As Stephen King once said, "Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win."
The light and the shadows that are within us all, the writer has this magnificent opportunity to throw into a jumble of words that are somehow gonna come together at some point, and fit into this one 'whole same'. Thoughts stewing in your head are gradually pieced together letter by letter, in a way that actually can affect other human beings.
To scare them, to thrill them, to excite them, maybe even to move them.
That is ENORMOUS to me!
With horror and science fiction, what I especially love about these genres, is that in the realm of fantasy, honest aspects of who we are, what make us human, with all of its messiness and complications, can be sharpened and enhanced into something, with the right writer, that worms its way into the recesses of your brain and stays there for some time.
Look at the characters in the film, "The Shining", based on King's seminal novel. It featured a struggling former alcoholic father, a strained but cautiously hopeful mother, and a confused, frightened little boy.
And just before I go on, I'm a fan of the 1997 Stephen Weber adaptation. I personally think it's the best version.
What made us give a damn about the Torrance family? What made them into three-dimensional, flesh and blood characters who we invested our time and emotional energy into watching? They weren't just a random family plunked down into the middle of a haunted house. They weren't 'stock characters' who could be interchanged with any number of middle-America stock characters to be used as the hapless victims of creepy ghouls.
You could just watch "13 Ghosts" if you wanted that.
The demons and haunts of "The Shining" didn't come from a shallow place of scare tactics. they weren't evil ghosties for the sake of shock and gore.
What made "The Shining" into the lasting horror masterpiece it was, was because it took from the classics of horror (the haunted house, the beleagured family, the creepy isolation) then proceeded to go past these tropes and shape them into something new. Every time I watch the film, either version actually (although this seems a LOT more readily apparent in the '97 remake), it is obvious that the internal torments (alcoholism, spectre of abuse), that were already haunting NOT only Jack Torrance but every single member of the family, were strengthening, fueling, the evil energy of the Overlook. Stephen King took these characters' real human battles and emotional trauma and intertwined that with the activity and atmosphere of a place. It makes me wonder if another family besides the Torrances, a happy family with no history of dysfunction, had become the caretakers of the hotel, what the outcome would've been?
Another example of humanity, first and foremost, being the cornerstone of truly GREAT horror, was Richard Matheson's 1954 classic of a man struggling to survive in an infected nightmare of a world...I Am Legend.
Robert Neville was a regular man plunged into an extraordinary set of circumstances. The memory of humanity, that's since disappeared because of a worldwide vampiric plague, was something that he's held onto for dear life even as the character evaded his former neighbors and scavenged for supplies in the desolate suburban neighborhood he lives in. One that became a special kind of "graveyard".
The core of this book is the struggle to maintain and preserve humanity---through the every-day little details of Robert Neville's life like sitting down and eating dinner, to showering and grooming himself even when many readers would probably be thinking to themselves that they'd be wallowing in their own filth or jumping off of the closest bridge.
Maintaining humanity, even in a small way, even in his desperate corner of the world, was treasured by Neville, and showed up not just in the details of his day-to-day existence but his attitude towards the disease that's created the hungry mutants stalking his doorstep each night.
In his spare time, the character read and researched, trying to understand the root of the disease that caused his old world to go extinct. Neville's manifestation of humanity was in his lingering, persistent unwillingness to accept total personal defeat.
I think Matheson does something very important with the plot and characters in I Am Legend; going back to what I mentioned about how an imaginative writer particularly has the opportunity to invent NEW realities in scifi and horror. It's on no better display than this book.
Everyone's familiar with the tired vampire cliche of a dark, scary mansion, shape-shifting bats and Bela Lugosi hamming it up in a cape, but Matheson's spin on what makes a vampire function, takes on a whole new approach to the concept of death and immortality.
This is old-school writing at its finest. Fans of sparkling vamps need not apply--this was dark, haunting, powerful writing which mixed up the old tropes and finally threw them out the window.
"According to legend, they were invisible in mirrors, but he knew that was untrue. As untrue as the belief that they transformed themselves into bats. That was a superstition that logic plus observation had easily disposed of. It was equally foolish to believe that they could transform themselves into wolves. Without a doubt, there were vampire dogs; he had seen and heard them outside his house at night. But they were only dogs."
By doing this, you look upon the vampires in a whole new light; you recognize their danger to Neville's existence, but you realize they were not evil. They were a desperate and pathetic lot who, in the end, (spoiler alert!), turned out to not even be Neville's ultimate threat.
"As he was pulling on his shirt, he heard Ben Cortman cry out, 'Come out, Neville!' "
"And that was all. After that, they all went away weaker, he knew, than when they had come. Unless he had attacked one of their own. They did that often. There was no union among them. Their need was their only motivation."
What ties these two stories together, one film version, one literary, and what makes them tales I am constantly amazed at, two authors managed to take two very extensively plumbed genres, 'the haunted house' and the 'vampire', flip it around, turn it inside out, and made us feel alllll of these emotions through it.
They are a couple of examples of the BEST kind of horror and scifi. It's the kind of storytelling I aspire to, my personal inspiration, and some of the best representation of art to me.
Through my writings on "Between The Shadows", I hope to share some of my own passion and art through storytelling. I hope you'll come along with me for the journey, and maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to make you feel a little something along the way too.
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