Dark Promptings: Personal Horrors with Tim Waggoner

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“Dark Promptings” is a special series of guest-written creative writing prompts, aimed at sparking the imagination’s gasoline for writers from any genre…but with a dark or devious discoloration, just like the Instigation department at Gorelets.com. The guest contributors are folks who wrote articles appearing in my fat new non-fiction book for fiction writers of all kinds, Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction, making a stop here at gorelets.com as part of their Virtual Book Tour across the web. (You can find my own VBT essays elsewhere).

Writers and creative people: drop on by our book’s meaty weblog to learn more about the book, or order Many Genres today.

Our next “Dark Promptings” come from writing teacher and reputable dark author, Tim Waggoner. If you haven’t read Tim’s surreal and bizarro brand of horror, you’ve been missing out on some of the most talented weirdness that’s out there.

I saved his generous prompts for last, as Halloween (and also Nanowrimo) has arrived. Tim’s prompts are those which remind us to “write what you know” and to draw the best ideas from your own fears. He describes these prompts this way:

“In order to write effective — and original — horror, you have to dig into your own psyche and find out what scares you. Worried that no one will be frightened by the same things you are? Don’t be. As Aristotle said, the only way to get to the universal is through the particular. By focusing on your own personal fears and giving them shivery life on the page, you’ll be connecting to your audience — guaranteed…If you want to write truly effective horror, don’t merely recycle the imaginings of others. Write the stories only you can tell.”

Follow along with these guided steps, weirdos…

1.
Begin with your childhood. Regardless of whether your wonder years were TV movie of the week fodder or (seemingly) uneventful, anyone who’s survived childhood has a wealth of story material waiting to be mined.What were you afraid of as a child? The dark; thunder and lightning; the barking German shepherd next door; Mommy and Daddy yelling at each other? Make a list of your childhood bogeymen, and write at least a paragraph about each item. Don’t think in terms of story, just write whatever comes to mind. Try to focus on your feelings and what sparked those feelings — remember, horror is an emotion.

2.
Next — and this might be difficult — make a list of any disturbing events in your childhood. Encounters with schoolyard bullies, severe illnesses, deaths of friends and family members. Again, write at least a paragraph on each item. Digging into your childhood traumas might not easy, might even be disturbing for you. But if you want to write horror — real horror, not Freddy vs. Jason stuff — then you need to have at least a nodding acquaintance with your dark side. Besides, writing is cheaper than therapy.

3.
Pay attention to the events in the news which upset and anger you. Clip newspaper and magazine articles and keep them in a folder. Don’t merely collect every article on murder you find. Look for stories which arouse an emotional reaction in you, stories which fascinate you.

4.
Another area you can explore for ideas is the realm of dreams. Every morning, as soon as you get up, record your dreams in a journal. A friend of mine in college had been keeping dream journals for years. When he first started, he only remembered having two or three dreams a night. But after a couple years of faithfully writing in his journal, he routinely recalled fifteen or sixteen. And while many of them weren’t more than snatches of everyday life replayed on the mind’s dream-screen, he always had at least a couple that were quite surreal and disturbing. Added up over the course of a year, that’s a lot of potential story ideas.

5.
Another technique (one I’ve stolen from Stephen King), is to take a look around you and let your imagination run paranoid. Choose a minor aspect of your life or an ordinary event and tell yourself that something is wrong with it. Seriously wrong.

6.
Lastly, ask yourself what’s most important, most dear to you. What do you treasure? Who do you love? Now ask yourself what if these things were threatened, removed, altered, turned against me? How would you feel? And most importantly, what would you do about it? Your answers to these questions will provide some of your best and most personal story ideas.

Tim’s contribution to Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction is called “Pick Up the Pace” and gives some great guided advice on building atmospheric and suspenseful prose style.

Dark Promptings: Love Wrestling with Matt Duvall

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“Dark Promptings” is a special series of guest-written creative writing prompts, aimed at sparking the imagination’s gasoline for writers from any genre…but with a dark or devious discoloration, just like the Instigation department at Gorelets.com. The guest contributors are folks who wrote articles appearing in my fat new non-fiction book for fiction writers of all kinds, Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction, making a stop here at gorelets.com as part of their Virtual Book Tour across the web. (You can find my own VBT essays elsewhere).

Writers and creative people: drop on by our book’s meaty weblog to learn more about the book, or order Many Genres today.

Our next “Dark Promptings” are a batch of potential titles and/or themes from author Matt Duvall. Matt — a former wrestler — is around six feet tall, and weighs about 215 pounds; he likes to eat chicken wings, drink beer, and watch cage fighting… and he also holds an MFA, teaches English, and writes highly original women’s adventure fiction. Yes: women’s adventure fiction. Surprised? Don’t be. He’s good at it. And I bet he’s already got your attention pinned to the mat.

About these offbeat and funny prompts, he writes “Write a story to fit each of these titles or themes. The story can be any genre…but if it’s women’s adventure fiction, I get a cut.” Pick your favorite and see what it brings to the imagination…

• The Day the Jell-O Wrestled Back
• The Coach Who Loved Fast Women
• My Ex Marks the Spot
• The Snowboarder and the Beast
• Chokehold on My Heart

Matt Duvall was a professional wrestler who appeared on national TV shows and was included in Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine’s Top 500 wrestlers for 1996. He completed his MFA at Seton Hill University, which is also where he met his wife, Natalie. His short fiction has been published in a number of venues, including Chizine, The Ultimate Unknown, and Eye Contact. When he’s not teaching high school students, Matt practices Krav Maga, runs half marathons, and tries to avoid mowing the yard.

Matt’s contribution to Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction is called “Powerman Writes Women’s Fiction: On Writing What You Know” and, drawing from experience, explains how writers can mine their own experience to flesh out even the most outlandish flights of fancy.

Dark Promptings: For the Bible Tells Me So with Lee Allen Howard

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“Dark Promptings” is a special series of guest-written creative writing prompts, aimed at sparking the imagination’s gasoline for writers from any genre…but with a dark or devious discoloration, just like the Instigation department at Gorelets.com. The guest contributors are folks who wrote articles appearing in my fat new non-fiction book for fiction writers of all kinds, Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction, making a stop here at gorelets.com as part of their Virtual Book Tour across the web. (You can find my own VBT essays elsewhere).

Writers and creative people: drop on by our book’s meaty weblog to learn more about the book, or order Many Genres today.

Our next “Dark Promptings” come from author and editor Lee Allen Howard. Lee, who edited a great anthology of horror stories all based on the ten commandments for Dark Cloud Press (in a book called Thou Shalt Not…) has a background in religious studies and you can tell from his stories that he enjoys exploring the dark side of belief systems without ever flinching or holding back. So it’s no surprise that his prompts draw inspiration from the Bible (specifically, the New International Version) in an unxpected way. He writes: “When I need dark promptings, I turn to an ancient book. What do these passages inspire you to write about?”…

Just Because You’re Paranoid Doesn’t Mean They’re Not Out to Get You…
Because of all my enemies, I am the utter contempt of my neighbors
and an object of dread to my closest friends—those who see me on
the street flee from me. I am forgotten as though I were dead; I
have become like broken pottery. For I hear many whispering,
“Terror on every side!” They conspire against me and plot to take
my life. (Ps 31:11-13)

I’m Hungry and I’m Not Sharing!
The most gentle and sensitive woman among you—so sensitive and
gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole
of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or
daughter the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears.
For in her dire need she intends to eat them secretly because of the
suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of your cities.
(Deut. 28:56-57)

Lefty Infiltrates and Assassinates an Enemy Fat Cat
Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper
room of his palace and said, “I have a message from God for you.”
As the king rose from his seat, Ehud reached with his left hand, drew
the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly.
Even the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged.
Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it.
Then Ehud went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper
room behind him and locked them. (Judges 3:20-23)

What If They Were Let Out on Parole?
And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but
abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness,
bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.
(Jude 6)

Beastly Sores: Don’t Scratch Them, They’ll Get Infected!
The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly,
festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the
beast and worshiped its image. (Rev. 16:2)

Lee Allen Howard has been a professional writer since 1985. He writes horror, erotic horror, dark fantasy, and supernatural crime. His publication credits include Cemetery Sonata anthology, Thou Shalt Not... anthology (Dark Cloud Press), The Sixth Seed, Severed Relations, and Stray (available on Amazon). He is currently working on his fourth novel. Lee blogs about writing and editing on his writer’s site: http://leeallenhoward.com.

Lee’s contribution to Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction is called “Your Very First Editor” and is chock full of great self-editing advice.

Dark Promptings: Don’t Mind the Knife with Natalie Duvall

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“Dark Promptings” is a special series of guest-written creative writing prompts, aimed at sparking the imagination’s gasoline for writers from any genre…but with a dark or devious discoloration, just like the Instigation department at Gorelets.com. The guest contributors are folks who wrote articles appearing in my fat new non-fiction book for fiction writers of all kinds, Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction, making a stop here at gorelets.com as part of their Virtual Book Tour across the web. (You can find my own VBT essays elsewhere).

Writers and creative people: drop on by our book’s meaty weblog to learn more about the book, or order Many Genres today.

Our next “Dark Promptings” come from Regency romance writer, teacher, and columnist Natalie Duvall. Her article in Many Genres offers wonderful guidance in crafting sharp dialogue, so she brings together both her love of romance and her dark wit today to challenge you: “Can you use one or more of these snippets of romantic dialogue in a short story?”…

1.)
“I can’t love you when the beast is in you!”

Natalie Duvall lives in a big old house in a charming little town in Central PA. When not writing Regency-set historical romances, she enjoys walking as much as possible, unless it’s cold out. She is married with cats (three of them — Albert, Chun Lee and Eliot). Her real job involves waking up way too early to teach 11th graders English. During the evenings, she is a columnist and features writer for Fine Living Lancaster. In what free time is left, she trains in Krav Maga and is a lackadaisical triathlete. She blogs at natalieduvall.com

Natalie’s essay in Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction is called “Talking About Dialogue”.

Dark Promptings: Fear the Family with Michael Bracken

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“Dark Promptings” is a special series of guest-written creative writing prompts, aimed at sparking the imagination’s gasoline for writers from any genre…but with a dark or devious discoloration, just like the Instigation department at Gorelets.com. The guest contributors are folks who wrote articles appearing in my fat new non-fiction book for fiction writers of all kinds, Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction, making a stop here at gorelets.com as part of their Virtual Book Tour across the web. (You can find my own VBT essays elsewhere).

Writers and creative people: drop on by our book’s meaty weblog to learn more about the book, or order Many Genres today.

Our next “Dark Promptings” come from Michael Bracken, author of the new book, Memories Dying. He is a vastly prolific author of short stories, with around 900 currently in print, and he has written in nearly every genre. With so much creativity to spare, one might wonder where he draws his ideas from. One answer might be from family. Below he offers the following “story starters” — opening lines for creating your own familial terrors — by posing the question, “IF YOU CAN’T WRITE ABOUT YOUR FAMILY? WHO CAN YOU WRITE ABOUT?”…

1.)
My mother always said my father was the devil, but I was thirteen before I realized she wasn’t exaggerating.

2.)
Never borrow money from a relative, especially when he asks for your soul as collateral.

3.)
I was six when I watched my brother kill the neighbor’s cat. I was sixteen when I watched him kill the neighbor.

4.)
We all die someday, grandma. Today is your day.

5.)
The police will ask why I drowned my children. Self-defense, I’ll tell them, but they’ll never believe the answer.

6.)
We’ve all been with my sister, and she’s getting pretty near wore out. When I saw that pretty co-ed hiking the trail alone, I knew it was time to bring some new blood into the family.

Even though he is the author of several books, Michael Bracken is better known as the author of almost 900 short stories, including horror stories published in Hot Blood: Strange Bedfellows, Midnight, New Texas, Northern Horror, Specters in Coal Dust, Weirdbook, and many other anthologies and magazines. Several of his horror stories have been collected in Canvas Bleeding (Wildside Press). Memories Dying, originally released in the U.K., is now available for Kindle in the U.S. Learn more at
www.CrimeFictionWriter.com and CrimeFictionWriter.blogspot.com.

Michael’s essay in Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction is called “I Write Short Stories”.

Dark Promptings: Uncanny Surprises with Sally Bosco

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“Dark Promptings” is a special series of guest-written creative writing prompts, aimed at sparking the imagination’s gasoline for writers from any genre…but with a dark or devious discoloration, just like the Instigation department at Gorelets.com. The guest contributors are folks who wrote articles appearing in my fat new non-fiction book for fiction writers of all kinds, Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction, making a stop here at gorelets.com as part of their Virtual Book Tour across the web. (You can find my own VBT essays elsewhere).

Writers and creative people: drop on by our book’s meaty weblog to learn more about the book, or order Many Genres today.

Our next “Dark Promptings” come from Sally Bosco, author of the new novel, The Werecat Chronicles, a young adult horror novel available now on Kindle and Smashwords.

In what follows, Sally kindly provides you with a large number of offbeat situations and bizarre scenarios… See where your characters go when they experience these “UNCANNY SURPRISES”…

DECOMPOSITION CLASS
      As he held the bottle of acid in his hand, he thought about how he hadn’t signed up for a course in how to get rid of a dead body.

UNHEIMLICH HOUSE
When he looked around, he noticed that the house he was standing in was not exactly the same as the one he’d left. In it’s place stood an exact mirror image.

THE FACE IN THE MIRROR
      This was the tenth day she noticed it. The face she saw in the mirror was gradually morphing into a ______________.

A BAD PLACE FOR VAMPIRES
      Florida was the worst place in the world to be a vampire. Gone was the dungeon he loved to languish in and in its place a big bright sunroom. Not a good thing for a creature of the night.

A SURPRISE IN THE CRAWL SPACE
      There was no mistaking it. Something thudded around in the crawl space under her house. Something big.

THE LIVING UN-DEAD DOLLS
      The Living Dead dolls. Every time she moved them away from each other, the next morning she’d find them moved back together into a cluster. As though they were plotting something.

THE UNFORTUNATE 3 A.M. VISITOR
      At 3 a.m. something knocked on the sliding glass doors at the back of her house. At noon, the same noise would have been nothing, but in the deepest part of a lonely night, it made her heart nearly explode in her chest.

PORTAL TO HELL
      She’d always knows that some day something that wasn’t a kitty would come through her open kitty door.

SHADOW PEOPLE
      They weren’t ghosts exactly. They were shadow people.

Sally Bosco writes young adult dark fiction. She’s inexplicably drawn to the uncanny, the shades of gray between light and dark, and the area where your mind hovers as you’re falling off to sleep. She loves writing young adult fiction because she strongly relates to teenage angst, the search for self-identity and the feelings of not fitting in. Originally from Connecticut, she graduated from the University of Florida with a BA in Graphic Design and then went on to complete her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University. Her published novels include Alt.Death.com, Shadow Cat and The Werecat Chronicles. In spite of her affinity for the dark and macabre, she lives in sunny Florida. You can read more of her writing at http://sallybosco.com

Sally’s article in Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction is “The Manga Explosion.”

Dark Promptings: Alone in the Dark with Mary SanGiovanni

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“Dark Promptings” is a special series of guest-written creative writing prompts, aimed at sparking the imagination’s gasoline for writers from any genre…but with a dark or devious discoloration, just like the Instigation department at Gorelets.com. The guest contributors are folks who wrote articles appearing in my fat new non-fiction book for fiction writers of all kinds, Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction, making a stop here at gorelets.com as part of their Virtual Book Tour across the web. (You can find my own VBT essays elsewhere).

Writers and creative people: drop on by our book’s meaty weblog to learn more about the book, or order Many Genres today.

Our next “Dark Promptings” come from Mary SanGiovanni, author of the new novel, Thrall, from Thunderstorm Books. Mary’s lesson in Many Genres, One Craft is called “Dark and Story Nights: Mood and Atmosphere in Horror Fiction” and in that vein she has provided some passages of text to help you get into a truly dark and unsettling mood. Use these passages of text as story starters or just mull over the ideas as inspiration for your own disturbing imaginings, while you sit “ALONE IN THE DARK”….

1.
      The media has dubbed us the Slaughterhouse 5. The FBI profile released to the public stated there were at least five of us, and that we hunt in a pack. Like wolves, our alpha once said with a laugh. But we are not animals. We don’t kill for food, or to protect our territory. We kill for fun.

2.
      My grandfather once told me that there was no reason to be afraid of the dark. Wasn’t nothin’ there that wasn’t there in the light, he’d said. But he was wrong, at least about this darkness. There are slick and dangerous things that form from shadows and move and kill in silence in this neighborhood. And once you’ve heard the screams of fear and pain from the illimitable and irretrievable black, you know that there is reason to be very much afraid.

3.
      Jerry was only four when the clown doll that his mother had stuffed on a back shelf of his closet crawled down and suffocated his infant sister with a baby blanket. He was nine years old when the large stuffed snake he’d won on the boardwalk one year slithered out of his room and into the 4 a.m. darkness of the house and ate his parents. He was eleven when the big stuffed bear that sat in the corner of his room devoured his stale and surly old grandparents. But it wasn’t until he turned thirteen that he realized he’d issued the commands himself, and that the toys around him obeyed. And alone, in the darkness of the orphanage bedroom, years and miles from the fear of closets’ and under-beds’ black mystery, the thought made him smile.

Mary SanGiovanni is the author of the Bram Stoker-nominated novel The Hollower and its sequel Found You, both from Leisure Books, and more recently, Thrall from Thunderstorm Books. Over the last decade, various periodicals and anthologies have published her short fiction, some of which was collected in Under Cover of Night. She co-edited the GSHW anthology Dark Territories. Mary received a Master’s in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. She was a member of Horror Writers Association and the Garden State Horror Writers Association, and is currently a member of The Authors Guild and Pennwriters.