Horror’s Great Opening Lines

As today is Halloween, I thought I’d throw you all a bit of a curve ball. Everyone’s expecting a list of the Top 10 Scariest Books of All Time, or something to that effect. (In fact, a few weeks ago, on this blog, I pondered putting one together. My meager contribution to listmania was this poll.)

So, instead of a list of titles, I thought I’d offer you a little more: Some of the best opening lines from well-known horror novels. Now, not everyone’s favorite will be on the list (and many below would never make it on my own list), but what you’ll find are great openings. Salem’s Lot and Bram Stoker’s Dracula are classics, but their opening lines are, well, a bit blah.

So enjoy them, and let me know if any of these openers were enough to pique your interest to acquire one of the novels.

“On those cloudy days, Robert Neville was never sure when sunset came, and sometimes they were in the streets before he could get back.” I Am Legend, Richard Matheson

I am Legend (Photo credit: jovike)

“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.” The Call of Cthulhu, H.P. Lovecraft

“The terror, which would not end for another twenty-eight years—if it ever did end—began, so far as I know or can tell, with a boat made from a sheet of newspaper floating down a gutter swollen with rain.” It, Stephen King

IT (Photo credit: angelsimondim)

“So intent was Frank upon solving the puzzle of Lemarchand’s box that he didn’t hear the great bell begin to ring.” The Hellbound Heart, Clive Barker

Cover of The Hellbound Heart

“The blaze of sun wrung pops of sweat from the old man’s brow, yet he cupped his hands around the glass of hot sweet tea as if to warm them. He could not shake the premonition. It clung to his back like chill wet leaves.” The Exorcist, William Peter Blatty

The Exorcist (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more.” The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson

Cover via Amazon

“I had been making the rounds of the Sacrifice Poles the day we heard my brother had escaped. I already knew something was going to happen; the Factory told me.” The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks

The Wasp Factory (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Norman Bates heard the noise and a shock went through him. It sounded as though somebody was tapping on the windowpane.” Psycho, Robert Bloch

“Abandon all hope ye who enter here is scrawled in blood red lettering on the side of the Chemical Bank near the corner of Eleventh and First and is in print large enough to be seen from the backseat of the cab as it lurches forward in the traffic leaving Wall Street and just as Timothy Price notices the words a bus pulls up, the advertisement for Les Miserables on its side blocking his view, but Price who is with Pierce & Price and twenty-six doesn’t seem to care because he tells the driver he will give him five dollars to turn up the radio, ‘Be My Baby’ on WYNN and the driver, black, not American, does so.” American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis

Cover of American Psycho

“The seller of lightning rods arrived just ahead of the storm. He came along the street of Green Town, Illinois, in the late cloudy October day, sneaking glances over his shoulder. Somewhere not so far back, vast lightnings stomped the earth. Somewhere, a storm like a great beast with terrible teeth could not be denied.” Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury

Cover of Something Wicked This Way Comes

There you go folks! And, as always, if you feel I missed an obvious one, let me know in the comments. Happy Halloween!

C.T.

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Why We Write: Ray Bradbury

“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”  –Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I don’t think Bradbury is referencing the “drown your sorrows” kind of drunkenness, but more the escape that total immersion in one’s fabricated world can provide. And it is appealing. Turn on cable news or click over to Drudge or Google News, and you’ll see that things get dark fast in our world. Reality is tough to take–and this is coming from a middle class American, for whom life isn’t usually too bad. (Though I have taken plenty of hits.)

So while Graham Greene wrote about writing as therapeutic, And Orwell wrote of it as a compulsion, Bradbury’s quote speaks—at least to me—of writing as a refuge.

No, we cannot escape our lives, and no, we can’t change human nature (no matter how many optimists say we can). So pain and suffering will always exist. But in the creative act, one has an opportunity for a respite, brief though it may be. The fictional world you create is your own, and it allows you a measure of freedom that reality so often does not.

I’ve always wondered this about science fiction. It seems like it’s a perfect genre with which one can safely navigate the world’s horrors. Fears of genocide? Create a fictional dystopia in which you can dissect your fear. Apprehensive about radical advances in technology? Write about a race of killer robots. You’ll scare yourself without having to turn on the television. But you’ll do it from the relative safety of your home office.

I’m guessing that this is one of the allures of dystopian literature as well. I think Orwell or Burgess or Huxley might agree. Condemn fascism, communism, environmental degradation, rampant drug use, look out your window to see how the world really is, and then retreat back into another world—a fake one, yes, and a dark one, quite likely—where at least you’re in charge of the ending.

The problem? Reality still can destroy you, whether you’re drunk on writing or not. Sorry Ray. But I think I get your point.

C.T.

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On Writing: Where Do You Begin?

I’d venture to guess that many writers out there don’t usually write very linearly. You may write the beginning of your story, then jump around to flesh out other key elements, perhaps even writing an ending. But going from Point A (the beginning) to Point B (the ending) in one straight line? I rarely do that. Others of you, I don’t know. (Maybe you do, maybe you don’t, so let me know.)

But have you ever written a story backwards? I’ve been thinking about the works of David Maine, particularly his novel Fallen, a story told in reverse chronological order.

Fallen is the story of Adam and Eve and their offspring after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. It starts with the first couple’s son Cain, an old man, haunted by his horrific crime (murdering his brother Abel), and it ends with Cain’s parents being cast out of the Garden.

The expulsion of Adam and Eve

It’s a compelling read, even if you know how the story ends, er, begins. And that’s my point: How much do you like stories that have unconventional beginnings, and have you written any?

As far as reverse chronological stories go, one of the most famous comes in the form of a movie, Memento (Warning: Some language, so NSFW):

It’s a great film from Christopher Nolan (of The Dark Knight and Inception fame), a murder mystery and thriller, starring Guy Pearce and Carrie-Anne Moss. And it’s great, I think, because it’s so unconventional. Yes, there are some plot twists, but generally speaking, you’re not at the edge of your seat waiting for the surprise ending, because you’ve already seen the ending. (And yes, those of you who have seen it will say that you’re waiting for the surprise beginning, but hopefully you get my point.)

At least in the case of Memento, you have a thriller that does keep you guessing. In the case of Fallen, you don’t have that. Still, even though I knew how it ended, I couldn’t wait to see how it wrapped up.

Has anyone experimented with this kind of storytelling? I often have an ending in mind for my stories, and usually I write it long before the story itself it completed, but beginning at the ending is something different for me. Any thoughts? I’d love to hear them. And if you have any other good examples of unconventional narratives or reverse chronological stories, let me know.

C.T.

Poll: Best Halloween Reading

We have only five days until Halloween here in the states, and unless that big curmudgeon Hurricane Sandy decides to wash the streets clean of trick-or-treaters, we’re gearing up for anther night of revelry and near-diabetic states of sugared candy consumption. Fun all around.

A few weeks ago I posted on people’s favorite  Halloween-related stories, but upon thinking about it some more, I thought a poll would be better. Why not let readers of this blog decide for themselves which horror stories are best for Halloween?

Yes yes yes, it’s an imperfect list, I know. Still, I have to cut it off somewhere. So if you’re disappointed that your particular favorite wasn’t included, then include it below in the comments.

And as this blog has a large international audience (which is wonderful!), please let me know of any great horror novels or short stories from outside the English-speaking world. And if there is an English translation for your selection, let me know that too. Thanks folks!

Be afraid, be very afraid.

C.T.

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Why We Write: E.B. White

“All writing is both a mask and an unveiling.”  ~E.B. White

E. B. White (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This sounds like an appropriate quote from White, a man who shunned the spotlight and valued his privacy, especially after becoming famous with the children’s lit classics Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web. But the desire for anonymity or solitude may not be the mask to which White is referring.

It seems White was referring to the need for honesty in one’s writing. (This quote came from a letter that White wrote to Scott Elledge, his biographer, in which White cites the need for honesty in one’s works.) White created fictions, worlds with talking animals and fantastic plots, yet still he saw a need for a little truth-telling, for something to speak through to the everyday. Think of the humanity revealed in White’s pig Wilbur and Charlotte the gray spider in Charlotte’s Web. It’s a story full of sacrifice, friendship, devotion, enough to make you, perhaps only for a moment, forget that you’re reading about pigs and spiders.

Charlotte’s Web (2006 film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So writing is both concealing and revealing. Even the most fictionalized, scifi-infused, fantastical tales we tell will likely contain elements of ourselves. Let’s just hope that those elements are the best of us, and not the worst.

Any thoughts? This quote brings me back to my elementary school days, when I first read Charlotte’s Web. Loveable Wilbur was “humble,” Charlotte said, or “low to the ground.” It still makes me laugh. Pick it up and read it if you haven’t already. It’s a sweet story.

C.T.

 

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E-Publishing and the Future of Books (Part 4)

Author Melissa Foster opts for a provocative title for a recent article on The Huffington Post: Are Self-Publishing Authors Killing the Publishing Industry? Her answer? Yes. “Self-published authors have created a devaluing of the written word,” she writes, “and, some of them are scrambling to see how low they can go to get noticed.”

She supports her statement by citing dirt cheap book prices, Amazon’s KDP Select program, and a seeming desire to put a book up for profit and nothing else, editors be damned.  It’s a bold accusation, but one that I’m hearing more and more. Indie authors, we read, are contributing not to the evolution of the publishing industry, but to a corruption of books and literature.

Today, anyone can write a book, publish it online for free, and with a small investment, even pretty it up with some professional editing and cover art. It’s easy, it’s cheap, and if you’re lucky, the profit margin could be big. (Could be, not will be.) In today’s publishing world, everyone gets a shot. It’s quite the paradigm shift, and it’s not making everyone happy.

Image via CrunchBase

Count Foster in this group. Does all of this mean that indie authors are killing the publishing industry? “Yes,” Foster writes, “in a sense it does.” But she says little more than to point to the low pricing and the often poor quality of indie titles. Nothing is said about whether or not the publishing industry as it now stands should be killed. (Well, killed is a bit strong. How about changed?)

The truth is, the primary reason for the explosion in independent ebook publishing is because traditional publishers and literary agents have for years acted as gatekeepers for most of the book-reading public. What they accepted was published. And still, we ended up with trashy romances, Dan Brown retreads, YA vampire romances clogging the shelves at Target and Walmart, and books written by the cast of The Jersey Shore. Is this valuing the written word? No, it’s a search for profit, and that’s not a bad thing.

I see Foster’s point that the deluge of $.99 books may harm publishing, both traditional and electronic, because it can lead to price value over quality. But it’s a huge stretch to state that we have, through more traditional print publishers, valued the written word in the past. Again, Snooki had her autobiography published by Simon & Schuster. Let that sink in.

Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi attending a party in Chicago (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yet somehow, when indie authors desperate for a reading audience (because the traditional publishers won’t give them a second look) market their ebooks for $.99 or promote book giveaways, this is a devaluing of books, a sign of the end times. In reality, it’s a sign of an ossified industry unable to compete well with a broadening market. Readers want good stories for good value; let them decide what’s good and what isn’t. And if it hurts the traditional publishing industry, then why is that our concern?

Foster continues: “The lesson may be that if indie authors don’t value their work, chances are no one else will either. Readers want, and deserve, quality books, and they’re used to paying for them.”

The assumption is that indie authors see dollar signs in their work and little else. Yes, readers do want quality work, and yes, they’ll pay for it. But is that what they’re always getting for $11.99 at Barnes & Noble, and does a $.99 ebook not give them that?

Now, with all that said, it is important to manage one’s expectations, and on this point Foster is correct. Just because one’s book is cheap, and just because a few authors here and there hit it big with low-priced titles, doesn’t mean that one should divine in this a pattern. Even with a great deal of hard work done marketing an ebook, luck always plays a part, and most indie authors won’t get all the luck.

Her last point, too, is a good one. Indie authors should be concerned about their reputations. Seeking the “get-sales-quick gimmicks” certainly can hurt their reputations, and low prices alone aren’t enough to take on the big publishing companies. Quality matters. Still, we can’t jump to the conclusion that low cost automatically implies inferior product, or that low cost implies money-grubbing authors.

Read the whole thing. Foster does have some good points, though she overstretches much of her argument. (For the record, I’m a fan of Melissa Foster, and an avid re-tweeter of hers on Twitter.) What do you all think? Does she have a point? Or is she going too far?

C.T.

P.S. After checking the comments, Melissa said that the title wasn’t her idea. So perhaps I should have given her a little slack on that!

Update: I forgot to add links to the previous three posts in this series. So, here they are: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Enjoy!

Freewriting Exercise: Falling Leaves

Here we go folks, another freewriting exercise! Take a risk and join me. So, for the uninitiated, here are our rules:

1. Write on the topic provided.

2. Write for ten minutes. Set a timer if you need to, but no more than ten minutes.

3. No editing! Just write. Grammar or flow don’t matter.

Today’s topic: Falling Leaves. (For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, I’m trying to be a little topical.)

Here’s mine, done in ten minutes:

*****

We know what it portends; we know what to expect. They fall from their limbs, in their lazy arcs in red, yellow, and orange, and we know what comes next. We get a few weeks of beauty before the world turns brown. Dry, cold, windy, the opening act of something else: a deep blanket of white. Then the snowplows, the scarves, jamming our kids’ feet in their boots and trudging to the bus stop. We know what to expect.

Still, it’s hard not to love it. The dogwood next to my porch still has a few greens near the bottom, as if it doesn’t yet know what’s happening, or wants to hold on to the summer. Every other branch is flame red.

Yes, it’s a mess, but to the kids, it’s a glorious one. They see me put on my work gloves, get the rake and leaf blower, and they know what comes next. No, not the snow or dark mornings or fall-off-the-scale temperatures. They don’t care about November. They see a growing pile—daddy’s labor—in the yard, waiting for them. They don’t see the coming snow; they see themselves hurtling through the air, landing on a mattress of color, throwing fistfuls of it up into the air, ruining daddy’s work.

At least, that’s how I see it. I’ll start frustrated, then smile, and realize that it’s not about me. Plus, there will be beer in the fridge and college football on the TV. It’s not all bad.

No, it’s not all bad. The color is stunning, with my backyard like a giant Van Gogh canvas. And even the brown season to come isn’t long, and the snow has its own beauty. I’ll complain about the leaves, but nobody will listen. And in the end, I actually don’t mind being out in it, watching the world change, fade into hibernation, going out with a kick. It’s hard not to enjoy.

*****

Okay folks, for those who want to join in, add your entry into the comments, or hit me up on Facebook with it. And have some fun with it!

C.T.

Easy Errors for Writers

There are a lot of blog posts and websites out there by authors and editors on the easy and frequent errors that writers, both first-timers and veterans, make in their writing.

I’ve talked a little bit about character cliches on this blog, and I’ve hit on the adverbs thing as well (thanks to Stephen King, of course). But what about some of those errors that fly under the radar? How many superfluous thats and suddenlys does your manuscript have? How many hackneyed phrases–like “fly under the radar”–does it contain?

The reason I want to cover such errors is that, well, I commit them, or at least, I’m scared that I do, or will. So, while I hope this is helpful to other writers, I’m writing as much for myself as for all of you.

Jamie Chavez has a useful post about overused words and phrases that she catches while editing manuscripts: Words I Never Want to See in Your Novel. Please.

Check it out. It’s a good little list. Here’s a taste:

• May, when you mean might
When you are telling a story in the past tense, might is the word you should use. Trust me.

Ouch. I’ve done that. Sadly, it’s a little list; no doubt we could all add plenty to it. And that’s the problem: It’s so often hard to see your own errors (hence the need for a good editor, I’d say).

Want a cringe-inducing exercise? Open up your manuscript in Word (or whatever else it might be in). Do a few quick searches for words or phrases that you think you might have overused. What you’ll find is that if you think you overused them, it’s likely that you did. My chief sin: The phrase as if. No, it’s not on every page (or every five pages for that matter), but it appears quite a bit. When I get the manuscript back from formatting, and before I put it up on Amazon, I think it will serve me well to change a few (or a lot) of them.

Yes, it’s all frustrating, and I should know better. I was an editor for over five years (and I still do a little now as a freelancer). But still it happens.

138/365 Frustrated. (Photo credit: martinak15)

Now, here’s the question: How many of these kinds of errors did I commit in this little blog post? I shudder to think about it.

And my last question: What are your oft-committed writing errors? Any overused words or phrases in your work? Share if you dare.

C.T.

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Now on Facebook!

It’s taken some time, but I’m finally on Facebook! Check out the brand-spankin’-new C.T. Westing page, and if you feel so moved, “Like” it. I created a FB account as well, so if you’d like, you can “Friend” me on that too. (For some reason, though, my account’s name is appearing as “C.t.”; I’ve been told that will change back to the correct spelling soon.)

I’m more of a Twitter man myself, but I figure I should beef up my FB presence (or, rather, I should have a FB presence). Marketing is marketing, right? Every little bit counts when you’re gearing up to launch a book.

Check it out, see what you think, and forgive me for the rather bare look of the page. I promise, it’ll be getting better!

C.T.

Why We Write: George Orwell

“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.”  ―George Orwell

George Orwell Category:Nineteen Eighty Four (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I happened upon an interesting article titled The Medical Problems of 4 Great Writers, which is just a snippet from author John J. Ross’ book Shakespeare’s Tremor and Orwell’s Cough: The Medical Lives of Great Writers. (Great title, by the way.) In his article, Ross references the same quote that I have above, one taken from Orwell’s great essay Why I Write. Ross’ point is that Orwell was somewhat literal, and not just metaphorical, in his complaint. His lifelong struggle with pulmonary issues, and namely tuberculosis, seeped into his works more than most would guess.

So Orwell knew something about long bouts with painful illnesses, yet still he wrote, even though his writing—and the traveling lifestyle that went along with it—likely helped shorten his life. (Chain smoking didn’t help either, I’m sure.)  But talking of being “driven on by some demon” indicates something else as well.  This is writing as compulsion, as something that must be done or the world, your world, won’t work.

In the end, the journalist, essayist, and novelist Orwell saw no other way to live his life. He was compelled to write (and thankfully for us, he was quite good at it). Such a compulsion required sacrifice, and for Orwell, it was a sacrifice of health and comfort: He traveled extensively, was often sick, and even took a bullet in the neck while in Spain.

So I suppose mine is a question of sacrifice. What are you willing to sacrifice for your writing? Material comfort? The security of a stable though unfulfilling job? Relationships? It’s an important question to ponder for those of us hoping that our writing will one day take off and open up new worlds of success to us.

Me? I will struggle with my writing; I’ll even suffer. But there are things—or people, namely my wife and children—that will always take precedence. I love to write, and it is more than just a hobby for me. Still, I understand that there are many things that come before it. I’d die for faith and family, but not for my writing.

So what about everyone else? What are you willing to do for your writing? What aren’t you willing to do? As always, I’d love to hear your comments.

C.T.

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