#SpookyAllYear

Tags

#SpookyAllYear, horror, IT, Stephen King

Time for Spooky All Year the brain child of the fabulous Faith Mckay, for all us horror fans to celebrate the things that scare us all year. Join The Midnight Society in this fun and creepy blog hop. So visit there site here to see what others have shared and even write your own post and link it to the page.

Today I want to talk about a book (well one of the books) that left serious scary in my brain.

IT by Stephen King.

Anyone else?

A monster as old as time itself slumbers under a small town and creeps out from the sewers to feed on the residents on this little town. A monster that takes the shape of your fears.

This book and later the TV miniseries left me with a few issues.

One… shower drains. Did you know that showering while watching the drain is difficult? When your washing your hair while wondering if something evil is crawling out of the dark hole…

Two… clowns. Beep beep, Richie. Let me hand you a balloon and then rip your arm off.

Three…sewer drains. Quiet, dark, and innocent-looking, YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT COULD BE WATCHING YOU!

Everyone knows it’s there. No one will face it, except a group of kids.

Take the bit of silver and a slingshot, descend into the sewers, and face it.

Just don’t look into its deadlights.

The Magic of Why Not

Tags

books, demons, ghosts, horror, magic, monsters, movies, Oculus, Stephen King, thoughts, why not, writing

The monster under the bed, the demon lurking in the dark corner, the ghosts in the attic, all the unknown existing on the other side of our reality fascinates me. Why? I don’t know. I’d blame my dad, but really I think the interest was always in my head. I was born this way! Some people are. Some people look at me like I am insane.

And that’s okay.

My dad handed me my first horror book when I was 17. ‘The Talisman’ by Stephen King and Peter Straub. Something new! Why not? I found myself scared to death, sitting alone upstairs in my room with a single lamp on, staring out into the dark hallway. I raced out of my room, through the dark hall, down the shadowy staircase to reach the lighted rooms and normal sounds of my family. I LOVED IT! I was hooked. And will read anything Mr. King writes. ‘The Shining’ is one of my favorite books. Hedge animals … *shudder*

I always liked scary movies. If my dad was watching it, I wanted to know what it was … cause, you know, he watched the COOLEST stuff. So when, at the drive-in, he said, “You might not want to watch this part.” My sister hid her eyes, but I stared at the screen as a creepy clown doll attacked a kid, as a tree tried to kill him, and when a closet ate poor Carol Ann. Yes. Poltergeist. That one still haunts me.

Monday I saw Oculus. One … hello creepy horror movie. Two … Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) and Katee Sackhoff are in it! Love them. I didn’t quite know what to expect. The commercials offered a haunted mirror. Cool! I’ve always held onto the belief that mirrors don’t just reflect. They watch. They drink in the images of life playing before them. (Yes, I’ve been hoping to find just the right book idea to use this.) So I went. I watched perched at the edge of my seat. Losing the defined line of what is real and unreal … the tangled mess of a terrifying past experience melding with the present as a brother and sister face an evil that tormented them as kids. Both had moved on … one preparing to destroy the evil and the other working hard to believe it hadn’t been real. If you like creepy, you’ll like this movie. All the way home, my head buzzed with aftereffects. Don’t you love it when a movie, or book, takes you away from real life so much so that it is difficult to return? I do.

And the new movie The Quiet Ones is next on the list.

Horror has been on my mind lately. I’ve always loved it, but never gave much thought to writing it. My stories never go there, I assumed it wasn’t in my head to write. Then last November, I participated in Reuts Publishing’s contest called ProjectREUTSway. Why not? Each Sunday, they gave an assignment to add something such as ghosts, demons, vampires, shape-shifters, etc. to a story inspired by a fairy tale. I turned in a story every Thursday that month! And had SO MUCH FUN! The brainstorming! The rereading of so many fabulous Grimm fairy tales! With this contest, horror worked its way into my writing. From a blood drinking demon, to a killer ghost, to a fallen angel becoming pure evil, and a shape-shifter, I found my creepy side. Two of these stories were chosen to be published in an upcoming anthology (I will certainly share new information about this when I know) and one was chosen to be published on Reuts’ blog! The final one I sent not too long ago to a magazine and await news.

So, finally my love of the fabulously weird and creepy has gone a step further. Really, scary scenes and images have shown up into my manuscripts. That’s how my brain works. So now, my desire to write what I consider a full horror novel grows. Will my head go all the way there? I don’t know, but I am getting closer to wanting to try. Why not? There is this idea swirling in my mind … scary, weird, maybe fabulous. One can hope.

Have you ever loved something, but thought no way could you ever do it? When does an obsession, something you love, become something you do? Horror fan or no … I think everyone must have at least one time where they say, “You know THAT would be so cool to do … if only I could.”

Well, why not?

Books vs. Movies

Tags

acceptance, Book Thief, books, books to movies, fiction, Harry Potter, movies, Narnia, Stephen King, thoughts

“AH! They’re making one of my favorite books into a movie!” I know I’ve joyfully screamed that phrase numerous time, sometimes accompanied by wild flailing.

After the excitement comes the fear, the worry … favorite characters, worlds, story … will I love it? Will it be what I want it to be?

And we begin pacing, chewing on our fingernails. What if it fails to impress?

I have heard so many people complain …

The movie wasn’t like the book.

Scenes were missing …

The story wasn’t right …

It just didn’t do a good job.

What were those movie people thinking?

I too am guilty of movie judging. And I can tell you the exact moment when I quit.

After seeing the movie ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’, I exited the theater so upset at all the things they changed. All the mistakes ran wild through my mind. During the movie I grumbled, pulling on my HP nerd power to figure out exactly which scenes they cut, how they totally messed up the story … and how this movie (because of a new director) looked so different from the first two.

And then later that evening, I wanted to slap myself. I had just ruined my HP movie experience with all my nerdiness. I had just sucked away all the joy I could have had sitting in that theater with my popcorn. I love Harry and all his gang. I love Hogwarts. What had I done?

That’s when I vowed to never judge a movie by the book, to accept the movie for what it is … an adaptation. And I have found a new love for movies that differ from the books that inspired them. I enjoy having a different experience with each.

Overall, the Harry Potter movies and books give us the same feelings, the same bigger picture, but separately they give us a little something different. If the two experiences were exactly the same … what would be the point?

The Last Unicorn movie had been one of my childhood favorites. Seriously, I had it memorized. Magic do your will!

Same with The Neverending Story. Atreyu!

So when I discovered the books as an adult I was really excited. The Neverending Story was so much more than the movie, which gave us one slice of that book. I was thrilled to read the rest!
The Last Unicorn, however, was exactly the same. Exactly. Hmmm. I was disappointed.

What’s wrong with changing the end of a book for a movie to surprise us? Knowing exactly what will happen is boring.

I flat out refused to see The Golden Compass movie because of my love for that series. I knew they couldn’t put in that movie what those books held. I did years later watch it and I enjoyed it for what it was, but no … they didn’t capture the essence of that book.

I love The Lord of the Rings … both versions, both experiences.

Now, The Hobbit had me confused. They reached the halfway point of the book in the first movie. How would they get two more movies out of the second half? By adding all sorts of scenes, by golly! Fun scenes. Action-packed scenes!

Well, okay then.

I think the Narnia movies took that series to a new level of cool. The books are fabulous, but as they are written for kids are fairly simple. The movies impressed me.

Percy Jackson … the books, the movies, it’s all fun.

If you’ve never read The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brain Selznik … read it. It’s just … well, read it. The movie? Hugo. Just as fabulous with a bit of added humor.

The Shining … Stephen King’s horrific tale is one of my favorite horror books. Everyone knows Jack Nicholson as Mr. Torrence, but that movie, as scary as it is, tumbles far from the book’s path. Even Stephen King was slightly disappointed enough to create a mini-series for TV, which follows the book well and is GREAT! I finally found it on DVD! Eeek!

I have read The Book Thief a couple of times. All the love for that story! I gifted a copy to my mom! It’s SO fabulous. So I bought the movie … and haven’t gotten the chance to watch it yet. So stay tuned for me hopefully screaming in joy with that experience. *crosses fingers*

And with the release of the movie Divergent, we face it again. No, I haven’t seen it, but I did like the book! But I plan on watching without dwelling on the book version.

Anyway, let’s not fight, kids. Let’s embrace all the different forms of the stories we love. We can all live happily.

Unless, well … poor acting, script writing … you know. Overlooking that might be difficult.

Forget, for a moment, of our need for everything to be perfect. It can’t be. As we do in life for EVERYTHING … people, jobs, relationships, accept things for what they are. Like it or don’t, but if we let go of all our high expectations for it to fill this mold in our heads, sometimes we might just find contentment.

Tags

books, Just After Sunset, N., quotes, Stephen King

“Reality is a mystery, Dr. Bon Saint, and the everyday texture of things is the cloth we draw over it to mask its brightness and darkness.”

– From the story ‘N.’ in Just After Sunset

by Stephen King