Wednesday, August 10, 2011

WIP Wednesday: Fear

From my current WIP, an as-yet unnamed supernatural "thriller" (in other words, a weird-ass horror book I hope might have a tiny bit of commercial appeal):

Following her up the stairs, Kelsey paused to ask, “so what are you afraid of, Erin?”

“Oh, me? The only thing which scares me is knowing too much.”

You see, Erin is the girl who has everything: looks, brains, a perfect California tan. Unfortunately, she's also psychic. Puts "knowing too much" in perspective, doesn't it? One member of their little group has already vanished, but it wasn't a member of the cast--no, the house, or whatever might be in the house, decided to start with the crew. Goodbye, sound man. It seems he had heart trouble, too. So sad.

Why don't they just leave if things are getting a bit out of hand? Good question. I asked myself the same thing while watching Paranormal Activity.

But I have several answers.

This is where things turn really "sour".

Stay tuned.

8 comments:

Alan W. Davidson said...

I live for those 'sour turns', Aaron.

Aaron Polson said...

I aim to sour things significantly, Alan.

Writer Pat Newcombe said...

"We have nothing to fear but fear itself." It is a very subtle thing, fear, and a difficult one to carry off without being too obvious. As you say, you end up saying why do they go in, or whatever, if they are scared etc.. There must be some compelling motivation, don't you think?

EC said...

Things going 'sour' is much worse than bad. Things are often bad, and that term is too broad, but sour, that's a good visceral kind of horror.

It's good to pay attention to characters motivations and decisions - If emotions and actions are in dissonance without a good reason, readers/viewers don't buy into it.

Aaron Polson said...

Pat - Absolutely. Motivation is key, in life and in fiction.

Erin - I'm thinking stomach acid now. Maybe... This could be fun. ;)

Anonymous said...

Tuned, mos def!

Anthony Rapino said...

Sounds good. Sticking around fo' mo', fo' sho'.

Cate Gardner said...

I think all weird ass horror tales should have commercial appeal. ;)