Why I Write

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, WORLD!!! Smokkee here. I figured since I haven't abandon blogging. I just haven't screened any movies lately and I'm getting closer to finishing my first book of short stories, Is There A Third Option. In the spirit of Halloween, I figured I'd let you guys in on why I wanted to start writing in the first place. It all started because of my love for everything horror, something I had to inherit from Jeanette. 

   One thing is I don't get scared from books easily. Even as a kid horror movies had a better chance of scaring me than books did. But even the conventional horror movies didn't scare me. I would get scared by certain episodes of The Twilight Zone, Tales From The Darkside, etc. Not by the gore; by what the endings implied. Let me give you an example. I did get scared by the ending of MALICE starring Nicole Kidman, Bill Pullman and Alec Baldwin. If you've seen that movie, you know it's not a horror movie. It's a thriller that does a complete 360 half way through the movie because you think it's about a serial rapist until he gets caught then the real meat of the story kicks in. It's still one of my favorite movies of all time. Early on in the movie, while the rapist is still running around, husband Bill and wife Nicole are laying in bed about to get a lil freaky. She's on top and is about to really get into it until she notices the kid next door staring at them through the window. Kinda creepily I might add. Fast forward to the end and Nicole is about to get into the police car and she looks up and sees the lil boy from next door, I mean really sees him for the first time. That look on her face tho..... What it implies.... You gotta see this movie if you haven't already.

 

But there was this one story that spooked me when I was like 9-12 years old. It was in an anthology. I only read short stories up until that then. I was even reading Stephen King back then but only the short stories of NIGHT SHIFT and SKELETON CREW. The movie CREEPSHOW 2 led me to read the latter book, since my moms had said "I got the story of [Creepshow's second story] 'The Raft' at home." We went home after the movie and I grabbed SC off of the massive bookcase my moms had and it was on from that point on. While I'm talking about Stephen King, I might as well tell you about when I graduated to his full length novels. It started with IT. It can be argued that the 2 scariest books he's ever wrote are THE SHINING and

The cover to my moms version of IT.

IT. I didn't read The Shining until recently, well into my 30s, because it was one of the few books of his that my moms didn't own. IT on the other hand almost knocked me out. Literally. My mom read had that book in her hand from the time she bought until the time she got to the end of it. Near the end, I should say. I'm not sure she ever finished IT. I was just walking into Jeanette's room when my mother yelled 'THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT?!?!?" before she threw the book so hard at the wall that it left a dent. She had just narrowly missed my head. I asked what happened and she said "All of that and it wasn't shit but a spider? A spider?? I can't fucking believe it!!!" Yeah, Jeanette had a mouth like a sailor, lol. Anyway, that's when I graduated to reading novels. I had to see what she was so pissed about, you see. If you haven't read IT, stop, head to a library or eBooks and get yourself a copy ASAP. It's a very freaky read.

That one story I read back then that I can't forget, that really spooked me was a short story called 'Orange is For Anguish, Blue is For Insanity' by David Morrell, the guy who wrote the book 'First Blood' (yeah, THAT First Blood. It's totally different from the movie tho, BTW).  The story was about a college student whose artist friend commits suicide almost exactly like how the artist's idol did after having retraced the last 2 years of that artist's life. While cleaning up his friend's apartment he looks at some of his late friend's paintings, noting they're brilliantly painted. Then he notices how similiar they are to the original artist's paintings. Then he gets the brilliant idea of retracing their steps as well. I never saw the ending coming and to this day I read just so I can get that feeling back. I can't describe it, really. I guess that's why I write as well. To give people that exact same feeling. 

Or to help me describe that feeling. 

Have a safe Halloween!!!!! Later, WORLD!