Why writers need monsters
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Hey,
something strange happens when you hit rock bottom. You know, when you’re ten thousand feet underwater and your concrete shoes won’t let you swim up.
What happens is that you finally meet the demons that have been haunting you in your dreams. The unnamable creatures. The scary things.
And... it turns out they aren’t as scary as you thought.
I mean, I don’t know everyone’s experience, so sometimes they must be really scary. But from what I’ve heard, most of the time they aren’t. It was your own fear that made them bigger than they actually are.
And that’s a good thing, obviously.
Because you can actually use them. In your stories.
Those horrible creatures can become plot ideas, characters, symbols, motivations...
I’m suddenly thinking that I’m talking about the same thing I did in yesterday’s email. But hey, we writers have our obsessions. Maybe I’m obsessed with the act of opening your eyes when you know you have a terrifying skeleton in front of you.
Ah, the horrors of real life.
They’re so inspiring.
Mine inspired this: The Flight of The Condor: The Complete Saga.
Enjoy.
Frank Herbert wrote “Fear is the mind killer.” A certain faction was trained to say this whenever they felt scared, or were in pain, or knew they would be shortly. A mantra.
Classic literary advice: a protagonist is defined by his antagonist. If the antagonist isn’t scary or deadly or something, your protagonist isn’t much of a hero.
I agree with what you’re saying. Personally, the things I found were just kinda like me. Sorta average and drowning. 😉. Seriously though. You beat fear by facing it. That’s the only way.
Of course, FDR said, "So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." Of course the best writers use your technique fully. I recommend, "Love in the Time of Cholera" by my favorite writer Gabrial Garcia Marquez.