Between the Covers
Think about it for a minute. Hey! Don’t run off. It’s a legitimate question and one whose answer just might enrich your reading experience. (Is murder by BLOG still punishable by death in most states?... “ Honest, your honor, I didn’t mean to bore them to death with it!”)
Some readers seek escape from the real world and immerse themselves in an alternate world. This world can be fantasy or maybe a real one that is completely different from their culture, location or personal situation. It could be set in another time or dimension. (Did I just hear Rod Serling come in?)
If you are this reader then you should be a big fan of works that are referred to as “world builders”. Although the story and action are important in novels of this type, there are segments which establish the rules, features and atmosphere of the settings. At times these segments can put the story on hold for a while, but this is the art of the “world builder” and a part of the attraction for many. And a well-crafted atmosphere, even if its development is a bit extensive for some, contributes to the story’s effectiveness.
Other readers look more to escape into characters for their maximum enjoyment. For them books that employ “first person narrators” work exceedingly well. Look how well it works in Bram Stoker’s DRACULA. A reader can adopt or spend time in all kinds of personae as the book is written in the form of various characters’ personal journals. Thus, everything is seen through a character ’s eyes. (Unless it’s the protagonist in DELIVER theDEAD. Then it might be just the character’s eye). This is the reader that looks for a vicarious escape to a different persona. They are both reader and character. Maximum participation.
Cool!
Other horror fiction lovers find alternate existences through reading by being a literary time traveler. Here they can satisfy a bit of the “world builder” appetite (unless you’re old enough to have attended Goldstat Medical College with Victor Frankenstein in 1850, which I doubt) and learn actual details of that time period while enjoying the horrific elements of a story.
Oh, yeah. What about the gore and the dark, supernatural elements . Well, there probably isn’t a zombie problem in your town or a coven of blood-sucking immortals in the local cemetery. And probably no house possessed (not repossessed as in foreclosure) by angry spirits for being built on sacred tribal burial grounds down the road. But for a few hundred pages YOU are the serial killer. You are the devil-worshipping cannibal. The vampire who sleeps by day. You can see things that don’t happen in what may seem to be your mundane or problematic real world. Or maybe you just like to stand behind the “safety glass” of literary fiction while all the bogey-men (and women) do their thing. Then there’s the reader who wants to stay in his/her own virtual skin but be “present” at every occurance in the story. This reader favors the omniscient narrator. Their priority seems to be enjoying the total literary emotional experience while accomodating a primary fascination with how the story unfolds. They like to get caught up in the excitement of the fast pace. To be scared and thrilled while speeding headlong into every twist and turn of the plot. No excess of minutiae. Just enough background and character development to serve the story.
As a reader, I fall into the last category when I read horror fiction. But of course, I read other genres/styles, as well . I recognize the elements of different books and what makes them appeal to me.
I try to incorporate this as a writer. I employ a cinematic approach to my novels and stories. Every chapter and scene falls in place to lead you to its own “pay-off” as well as the overall payoff at the end of the novel. I try to make each scene so that it can stand on its own. I’d like to think that you can take any chapter and tell someone else “Oh man, I just read this unbelievably great book “Deliver the Dead” and there’s this scene in it where the… [fill in blank]!” (Ok, ok, so I wrote it? Gimme a break!)
I try to make each scene as exciting as I want the entire book to be . I like things to move along. Maybe it’s because I’ve had professional experience in screen writing. (yeah, yeah, vampire stories and they didn’t suck! Well, the vampires did, but- oh, nevermind) I guess some of it’s carried over to my novel writing. Whatever it is, I try to create a movie in your head.
Anyway, the beauty of these ingredients is that they can all be present, to different degrees, in any book of horror fiction and recognizing them seems to make the genre that much more enjoyable. At least to me, so I just thought I’d point them out.
Well, thanks for reading.
You did read this, didn’t you? (crickets chirping)
Hey, you! Wake up out -…Oh, forget it. Pleasant dreams!
Well, thanks, anyway-
Mick Marlowe
P.S. Read it and don’t be afraid to write a review. Also visit the webpage: http://mickmarlowelastwrites.wordpress.com/
Between the Covers - Guest Post From Author Mick Marlowe
Reviewed by Unknown
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10:30 AM
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Reviewed by Unknown
on
10:30 AM
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