The Blog In Yellow

I'll write more about this once I sit down and read my notes but the last two classes I took were very helpful. You can always tell a master vs an apprentice writer. One of the classes was by a professional shortly teller who kept us hanging on every word with the spaces in between her words. Like a comedian, it's all about timing. Second teacher was more about comedy and putting good dialogue together. Not as good as the last teacher but still had some great ideas. And then we have my therapist. Yesterday, she told me she has clients like me who can draw up lists and put together facts. But when it comes to writing they struggle. Makes sense to me, I'd rather write around writing than write. Something to work on.

Among my research of Eldritch writers I've never co.e across the works of Thomas Ligotti. I found a page on Pinterest expressing Lovecraft and Ligotti as the bookends of cosmic horror. How is it I never heard of this man? This character so great that he ends the stretch of Lovecraftian stories? The post compares the two to optimism and pessimism. How Lovecraft becomes the optimist on this scale is something that confounds me. What dark horror is on the pessimist side if Lovecraft is lighter? This could be the research that I've been looking for. 

One of the themes I've been thinking about is why my characters dive into dangerous situations. The fact is, they may not be doing it willingly. Like any archeologist they seek knowledge but not the kind that changes the world. They just want to understand something. Unaware of the danger that lies in their discovery. If I have my characters jump head first into eldritch horror, it's suddenly not horror but an adventure. I've watched trailers of Robert Eggerts new film "Nosferatu." It ses our characters aren't looking for a vampire, that conclusion comes later. They are looking for answers to their problems which, from the trailers, looks like strange deaths, horrific dreams, plagues, and haunting experiences. I need to readjust my train of thought to what they know, rather than what I, the author know. I know what is coming for them, they dont.

From what I've heard this movie is based off the shorts on YouTube about people being haunted and chased by smiling figures. I watched this in preparation for Smile 2. Honestly, it's not bad, but not good. The movie is focused on jump scares and sudden build up to scares. Such as seeing deceptive smiles everywhere the lead actress looks. My favorite was the missing cat only to be found in a present to the leads nephew. Delightfully tastelessness that i can get behind. I think that reveal is soon followed by a jump scare the director took from Terrifier. Someone's head slides off next to a car door, scaring the driver. It's a good enough film with a strange premise and a good monster at the end, where I'm sure most of the budget went to. I'm not sure if I'd recommend this film but it's worth a rental.

Lovecraft seems to fall into similar tropes of the scifi age of his time. Space lasers, brains in jars, teleportation, things that come to mind of the old black and white scifi movies. Lovecraft isn't immune to this influence. His Yithians battle with guns that fire beams, the Mi-go can transport human minds across the cosmos with jars, it seems almost a folly that Lovecraft fall into these classic alien cliche. His work is so wildly different from standard sources that it feels like a seperate series, much like his Dreamland cycle. Looking at his aliens creatures we see weird geometry forms and strange things that worship alien gods. But we expect that in different species. The mind can always go into whatever direction it wants when it comes to fantasy creatures. But why go down the road of cliche when he had invented new avenues? Specifically, an uncaring pantheon mimicking the coldness of the universe and secrets that were never meant to be uncovered. Like many authors creating...

Going back to my October 15th post, I mentioned how magic and technology blend in the Lovecraft universe. An example is the Shining Trapezohedron which summons the Haunter in the Dark aka Nyarlathotep. This artifact remains a mystery both in the universe and to the lore creators. It activates with horrible sacrifices and allows glimpses into other worlds or into the minds of gods. I've wondered at it's name, Lovecraft doesn't seem to be the type into geometry. Did he pick a shape at random? It does add more malice than the shining cube. But it's the only artifact of it's kind. No "glowing trapezoid" or "shadowy pyramid" exists in the lore. It's also strange that an object of narrow, straight lines summons the crawling chaos. Some writers have guessed that an object of order binds the god to our dimension. It's these type of mysteries that has caught the imagination of writers like myself. The lack of clear understanding reflects how scien...

There's a famous game series called Castlevania. In it, the Belmont family fighting through hordes of monsters against, or to prevent the resurrection of, Dracula. Usually with their signature whips or a variety of weapons. When Castlevania: Symphony of the Night came out it changed the formula to let the player explore the castle at their leisure rather than a straightforward experience. A spiritual inherent came out years later called Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, a game that I've been playing.  It's a good game but the problem is all the powers throws at you. Every enemy has something the player can add to their arsenal. Whether it's a new weapon or a spell. But there are almost a hundred enemies which can over load the gameplay with too much to do.  As I have been compiling my own lore for my stories, I'm noticing that the pages of lore keeps on growing. It's growing to a point that I'm having to make diagrams of whom works with whom.  And that'...