Horror Novels Will Tear Us Apart

[dotinthesky]

I'm working on my horror novel. I'm listening to Joy Division and it seems like the perfect soundtrack for all kinds of writing: fiction, letters, emails, Livejournal. You name it. If I had known this yesterday, I would have listened to them while working on my CV. I dispatched it this morning to my temp agency -- they are close to getting me a job. I won`t mention what exactly until I have it - curses and all that. The job seems like a dream come true. I still don't know the catch and, frankly, I don't care. All I want is money at the moment. I'm willing to go back to monkey work.

We've been watching episodes of Twin Peaks' 1st season. We'll watch episode 4 tonight. David Lynch is love. I can deal with his form of kitsch because there's something rotten behind it. I also love his soundtracks and his juggling of the sinister and the quirky. When Kevin visited Corrego do Bom Jesus, he said it was the Brasilian equivalent of Twin Peaks. We were using a pay phone right on a dirt road somewhere between my farmhouse and the town. The pay phone had been built in front of a house and we could see a silhouette pressed against the front window's stained glass, trying to hear our conversation. Then, from down the dirt road, I saw my grand-uncle Pepe shuffling towards us. Pepe has a moustache, is about 4 and a half feet high, Spanish, bald, and hardly speaks comprehensible Portuguese eventhough he's been living in Brasil for decades. Kevin stared at Pepe in wonder as he stopped to talk to us then continued on his merry way.

I'm going to brew a cup of echinacea & raspeberry tea, pour some honey in it, then return to my homework; I need to have a section of my novel ready to present for my creative writing class on a future Saturday. I have a feeling I`m the only one writing genre fiction. Nobody understand us, paperback writers.

Comments

[steer.livejournal.com]

Oooh... does your novel have a name yet? What is it about? Will there be lurking horrors and women in flimsy blouses with heaving bosoms?

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Haha! Nope, no heaving bosom and flimsy blouses yet. I don`t want to give too much away otherwise I feel like I`m letting air out of my balloon. I somehow agree with a lot of writers who say that it`s better to keep it all bottled up, gathering pressure, until the whole mess is completed. And yes, I shall let all my Livejournal friends peruse it if they so wish once I`ve typed "The End".

I still don`t have a title for it though, but I`m hoping something will click soon.

[ex-ultraboy803.livejournal.com]

the background on my computer is a picture i took of Snoqualmie Falls - the falls that the lodge where he gets the pie all the time sits on.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

And I`m thinking of making an icon with the log lady. :)

horror...really???

[jeffster.livejournal.com]

my favorite!!...rock

yeah twin peaks is still one of my favorite shows to ever air on the televin...maybe i'll pick up the box set...hmmm....WOOOO!

new order's playing tonight and i have no tickets...have you heard their new stuff yet...it's simply amazing!

Re: horror...really???

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

You'll have to promise to buy my book then when I (self) publish it.

As for Twin Peaks, I've heard that only the first season is out on DVD, though you can find the complete show on VHS tapes. I love that show -- definetly one of the best, or the best, thing to appear on TV.

Is there no way you can get tickets for the show? Or is it sold out? I haven`t heard a thing from the new album... I`m waiting to get a job so I can go to a music store and burn a hole in my pocket.

pay-pah-back wry-tuh

[beeorkendurkey.livejournal.com]

david lynch is love. dark, brilliant, crazy love. i've seen almost all his films, even the early ones (i only haven't gotten through 'the straight story' and 'dune,' though that's pretty notoriously considered to not be a lynch film by his fans), and started watching twin peaks a few years ago. only problem was that i couldn't watch too many episodes because they started really freaking me out when i'd watch them (alone). i'm not a wuss with horror or suspense or stuff like that. lynch just sets appropriate moods of tension and discomfort. i've been meaning to go through them again with someone so i don't freak out so much. too bad i already know who killed laura palmer.
so i'm guessing that you're enjoying them thusfar...? is it your first time watching them?

Re: pay-pah-back wry-tuh

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I saw most of the first season when it first came out. It played Sunday nights in Brasil, and was dubbed! Me and my friend Bruno were the only people we knew who watched it - still today we talk about that shock scene with Bob in Laura's bedroom (up there with Psycho's shower scene, if you ask me.)

Afterwards, Twin Peaks and David Lynch fell out of my radar until I was in university. Then, I lived with this guy who had never seen Twin Peaks, so we rented them and would smoke a joint after every episode. Needless to say, we were pretty freaked out! It was great. I watched until about the time Laura's cousin came to town. I also started watching Lynch's movies, which I loved (Straight Story is brilliant by the way!)

This Christmas, one of the Sissys gave me the first season on DVD, so that's why we are watching them again. They are so timeless. I could just watch the show over and over. I'm now hoping to get the second season, and "Fire Walk With Me" to complete my collection. Oh, and I damn well need a Log Lady icon!

[dilvalicious.livejournal.com]

is that your uncle who got mauled by a pig?

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

No, his brother-in-law.

So you remember that story, huh? :)

[vilhem.livejournal.com]

So horror is your genre...anything the topic is, try to include a child in it, a child with mental powers or mental problems, there is nothing that I find more terrifying (apart from my mother-in-law in shorts, that is)
I loved Twin Peaks at first...the shocking image of Laura wrapped in dirty plastic...so beautiful still. Ahh...do you know Tim Powers? his book The Stress of her regard could give you some ideas. Good luck anyway, Ollie, buena suerte.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Horror is my genre for the moment. I do like other kinds of writing, but I was particularly inspired by something Margaret Atwood wrote to try out in the horror/suspense genre.

I do happen to have a child in my story! Though she doesn`t play that big of a role.

I`ve never heard of Tim Powers, but thank you for the suggestion and the best wishes! :)

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Sounds very interesting! (http://www.theworksoftimpowers.com/powers/stress.htm)

[hunterjr.livejournal.com]

eu estou tão ansioso pra ler.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Vai demorar... :)

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

You`ve never seen Twin Peaks???

[roguejournal.livejournal.com]

david lynch is amazing!!!!!!
i am not a huuuuge fan of Twin Peaks, but i love "Blue Velvet"!!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I wonder what he`s working on now? He hasn`t released a movie in so long...

[kenoster.livejournal.com]

My penis' name is Pepe.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Can you post a picture? I want to see how similar he looks to my grand-uncle.

[naturalbornkaos.livejournal.com]

David Lynch is wonderful. I'm not one of these Lynch freaks who accept everything he does indiscriminantly, but when he hits gold, he hits higher than anyone else has ever done with me. "Twin Peaks" is maybe the only piece of television in the last 30 years genuinely worth a damn in my opinion. The last episode is still the most terrifying thing I've ever seen.

I'd love to read some of your horror novel, obviously. You already know how much I love horror books... :) No chance of a sneak preview I guess?

While I notice we're doing horror recommendations, I seem to recall ages ago
you saying you'd not read much Peter Straub beyond "Ghost Story" - do try to pick up "If You Could See Me Now" (early book with lots of angry young man style raging narrative - beautiful prose though - one of the books I keep as an example of what I'd like to, in my wildest dreams, aspire to with horror writing), "Shadowland" (complexed proto-HarryPotter-gone-wrong type affair) or "Julia" (simple little book but creeped me out like few others) if you've not already...

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I remember your recommendation of Peter Straub. I didn`t find anything in our library (and I`m still getting over "Black House" - his unfortunate collaboration with Stephen King) so we`ll see. I really liked "Ghost Story" so I wouldn`t mind reading some of his earlier works. Have you read any Dean Koontz? I tried to read something that a friend recommended, but I wasn`t that impressed and ended up giving up (sorry Jen if you are reading!)

What about those 70 horror writers? Anyone you can recommend?

I just found out today that I have to read for my creative writing class in two weeks, so I`m thinking of posting my extract here first for some feedback. :)

[stupid-wanker06.livejournal.com]

i love horror novels. do post a bit of it if you like...

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Any favourite novels in that genre?

[gorecky22.livejournal.com]

So, by this point, I still do not know what your novel is about!! I only know is a horror novel… and that sounds great. Don’t know why genre literature is considered of low value… We have to accept that best-sellers are usually cut by the same shape, but it doesn’t mean that it can’t exist great genre literature!!! (though I’m not a great reader of it!!) Well, if you’re writing with Joy Division sure it would be a great horror movie: the scent of their music fits a lot with horror fiction!!

And yep… I LOVE TWIN PEAKS, TOO!!! The best (don’t know if you’ve arrived to that part): the dancing dwarf at the red room… glups…

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

I don`t think I can write about Twin Peaks without gushing all over the computer. :p

So far, I haven`t told anyone what my novel is about. I want to keep it a bit of a secret until I`ve completed it. Everytime I tell people an idea I have, it fizzles away. So now I think that if I keep it to myself until the end, I have better chances of succeeding.