Hello. I’m Bob Pastorella, co-host of the This Is Horror podcast, website manager for This Is Horror, and writer. I’m the author of Mojo Rising, They’re Watching (with Michael David Wilson), and have numerous short-stories and non-fiction online and in print in various publications.
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Updates:
Retail Hell in full effect.
I really haven’t written much fiction wise since last issue. I’m mostly drained after work, too stressed out to put words on the page, so I’ve been reading and watching. There are two projects needing words, one of which is my untitled grindhouse revenge project, the other is a new idea that could be a novella or a short novel. I’m not happy with the way my grindhouse story is playing out, and the problem is where to start. There are two factors going on here: beginning the story with the enticing event while allowing readers the opportunity to get to know my heroine. I’ve been writing some scenes about my character, listening to her talk to me, but she’s really shy right now. These scenes won’t make it into the story, mainly character development for me that feels both necessary and extremely wasteful. I need to get to know her, but it’s all backstory. If I begin at the enticing event, which is in the POV of the villain(s), I think readers won’t know her well enough to put their trust in her. Her actions beyond that point aren’t relatable. The ending is the other problem … I don’t have a clue what happens after she begins to get her revenge. I have a lot of scenes in mind that could lead to a solid ending, but nothing concrete, so I feel like I’m falling down a bottomless pit.
The new idea is nearly fully-formed, and is calling my name. These characters are chatty and ready to play on the page. If I work on this project, my mind will work on the other project in the background, working out the details. I’m going to have to decide soon, or I’ll lose interest in both of them.
Killing with Paperclips
This is a touchy subject, so I’m going to ruffle some feathers, probably piss some people off. This is the only warning you get.
The concept that writers are responsible for their characters actions, and should apologize and rectify their characters behaviors, leads me to believe some readers do not know how fiction works.
Are there problematic creators? You betcha.
Is every creator problematic? No.
Are characters actually the writer? For most part, no.
Of course, real life can be involved. I write about personal stuff. My friends, my family, my loves, my hates, but when it comes down to it, my real life is boring. Look at any given twenty-four hours of my life and you’ll find a responsible man working his job, writing some stories, watching television, listening to music, reading a book, seeking peace and harmony. I’m the very definition of mundane. Writing is an escape for me. It helps me cope with my personal fears with an outlet to explore new fears with a safety net. I tend to write characters that are normal everyday people who have made a terrible decision. Trapped and desperate, their terrible decision brings them face-to-face with opposition personified.
The opposition, called the “villain” or “antagonist” has usually made even worse decisions than my “protagonist”. Both characters may have killed someone. Some have killed multiple people. Some “villains” even want to hatch their evil mastermind plan to take over the world by opening a cosmic portal so space demons can enter our plane of existence and impregnate beautiful Earth women. Some have killed without remorse in the most violent ways imaginable. I write villains that are dangerous because no one wants to read about a villain whose only threat is name calling and taunting the protagonist of the story. No one wants to read about a knife-wielding psychopathic murderer who waves the knife at his victims hoping they’ll die of fright without cutting anyone.
And here’s the thing … even if you do NOT want to read about a violent psychopath who stabs each victim nineteen times, guess what?
You don’t have to read it.
Seriously, you can nope yourself right out of that story. It’s not for you. You weren’t the target audience, no way, so sorry. You can walk away from it knowing there are other stories out there that may actually interest you, and I sincerely hope you find those stories and they treat you well.
But if you do want to read those kind of stories, then the writer of such tales has a responsibility to deliver the goods.
“But why does the killer have to be so … stabby?”
Because killing people with a paperclip takes too long.
Monsters rip you to shreds, vampires drink your blood, cosmic entities drive you insane, slashers slash. Freddy kills you in your nightmares, Dr. Lecter eats free-range rude, Jigsaw wants to play a game, and Chucky just wants to play.
Yes, it’s all true … God's an astronaut. Oz is over the rainbow, and Midian is where the monsters live.
But if I you write about a killer, doesn’t it mean that you actually want to kill people?
No.
Aren’t those scenes of violent images from your own violent fantasies?
Again, no.
That’s silly.
It’s fiction. Not real. Make believe. An untruth. Not based on actual events. Any similarity to actual people or events is unintended and a coincidence.
If a writer creates a racist, or homophobic, or transphobic, or misogynistic, or whatever problematic character, that doesn’t mean the writer is any of those things. They could be, but most of the time they’re not. What they are doing is using those nasty characters to reflect people like that in real life (because there’s plenty of assholes like that), and to use story-people to expose a terrible injustice.
Suddenly discovering that character you fell in love with is actually batshit fucking crazy and likes to stick coat-hangers in people’s eyes is called a twist. The shock was deliberate, you got fooled, read on if you got a thrill, close the book and walk away if that’s not your thing. No one was gaslighting you, it’s a book from the fiction section. Getting on social media trying to cancel a writer because you got fooled with an unreliable narrator and think the writer should apologize for their fictitious characters is the silliest thing I’ve ever heard in a long time.
“But I’m providing a public service by warning people that Author McFiction’s character is problematic, and they should apologize for the mean and cruel behavior of their character Dr. Ax Murderer.”
Huh?
No, you’re not providing a public service, but you are giving unintended advertisement for the mean and cruel character you believe owes you an apology.
So please … continue.
I honestly hope you find something you enjoy. There’s a lot of stories out there, something for everyone, and it doesn’t make you a bad person, or a terrible horror fan, if something rubs you the wrong way. Horror fiction, or dark fiction if you will, needs to be dangerous to be effective. It is a requirement, full stop. Bad people doing bad things, often thoroughly enjoying themselves. We write it for the thrill, we read it for the thrill. We want to get as close to the danger as we can without getting our hands dirty. If it’s not dangerous, if the stakes aren’t high enough, then it’s not going to interest anyone, especially readers who seek those kinds of stories.
It’s not real, it’s make believe, fantasy made conceivable in the hands of crafty creatives, delivering the goods as expected. You wouldn’t want it any other way.
Music: Judas Priest, Black Label Society, Van Halen, Mastodon.
Films: Creepy (directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa), Come to Daddy. (Holy shit this was such a good film.), The Vanishing (1988).
Books: Still The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte (again).
Next Issue: Possibly a writing craft subject. We’ll see.
peace&love
Bob.