Working with Clay

As i work on the KIY project I'm reminded that working on this stuff is like working with clay. I've had little i traction with clay besides making ash trays but the idea is still there. Working on the Lovecraftian universe is like raking someone else's work and adding to it. Like making a smaller statue next to Lady Liberty. It seems pointless doesn't it? The key, for me, is to differentiate enough to become my own work. One of the biggest differences is that my story is what happens after the discovery of the horror. The awful fact is that Lovecraftian stories, at least proper horror, follow a strict formula. They establish the normal, the protagonist investigates something, then the horror comes. It's a fine formula but what happens after is what I'm trying to work on. Say you discovered so.ething awful in the woods, who do you tell? Will anyone believe you? What do you do about that thing? Lovecraft's characters often die or wind up in a straight jacket by the end of their adventure. Ruined by the knowledge that the world is vastly different. They know that they cannot see the world in the same way ever again. It's like discovering a deadly disease and hoping it will stay in the culture you found it in. You can't risk it getting out but you lack the means to destroy it. It's a dark secret you take to your grave or your family inherits. But what comes after the discovery? That's what I want to build with my own lumps of clay.