Monday, October 19, 2009

Fun with Frights

While I am still nailing down the particulars, I have decided my Nanowrimo story will focus on a haunted house. No, it's not original, but it's something that freaks me out and I know I'll stay interested and stay focused on my writing. I've taken Nanowrimo too seriously in the past with minimal success so I want to have fun this time around. I'm not planning on writing a cliche-ridden story, but if it happens, it happens. The goal is to write freely with minimum constraints and for me that includes not caring too much about being clever and original (in the first draft, anyway).

This might sound silly, but deciding what to write and not overly worrying about theme and construction is incredibly freeing (and apparently so is not wondering how many adverbs in one sentence is one- or two- too many). A rough outline and some character sketches are in the works; as I've mentioned in previous posts, I just can't fly blindly any longer- I need some guidance. I'm loosening the binds, though, and not putting pressure on myself to invent a new twist in the Haunted House subgenre. It's liberating, I tell ya, it surely is!

Have Fun is my personal motto for this year's challenge and for me, fun involves a house with a horrific past and a new owner who refuses to let that past die. Lots of little things have tripped this particular idea in my brain and next week I'll share a recent experience that only cemented my desire to write something spooky.

In the meantime, I'm rereading an essay by Stephen King about haunted houses and there is a book on haunted house fiction I can't wait to order. I probably won't get it until after November, so I've also picked up my copy of Shirley Jackon's The Haunting of Hill House to read yet again. Learn from the masters, right?

I hope the rest of you are having just as much fun planning your own Nanowrimo stories.

2 comments:

Katie Caughill said...

Since I love stories that involve haunted houses and owners who refuse to leave because of the haunting, I really want to see you finish this and get it published!

Sheila said...

We were told that our house in New Hampshire was haunted, but the only evidence I ever saw was flies buzzing around even in the middle of the winter.

The unearthly screams issuing from the living room floor at 5:00 am one cold winter morning turned out to be nothing more than a pair of stray cats who had gotten into the basement. And the furnace that wouldn't stay lit was due to a clogged filter, not any unrestful spirits.

On the other hand ... it wouldn't take a lot of imagination to string together those incidents and a few others, and come up with something spooky... ;)