Lessons From The Abyss: Faces Of Horror

For me horror has two faces: The monstrous and gruesome: Stephen King and the divine and inherent: Neil Gaiman. As much as horror has two faces, it has one mind, Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

I have indulged in the works of Stephen King (The Stand, The Shining, Doctor Sleep, 11/22/63 etc.) for as long as I can remember. One of my favorite movies of all time is also written by him (The Shawshank Redemption). As much as I enjoyed his works, I also marveled in the works of Neil Gaiman, with his work The Ocean at the End of the Lane, American Gods and more. I, however, have not read any of HP Lovecraft’s work, as it is hard to find the proper copies for them, nowdays. However I did my research, and he has not only made books, but an entire universe to work with and that is exactly what many writers after his time have done.

So let us choose to enter the mad realm of the Lovecraftian universe, into the darkness and into the abyss. It is where we will learn how to make evil Gods and their faces.

Research

A writer reads as much as he writes.

You always have to do your research before writing a book. Sensitive topics and themes usually require detailed explanations and various day to day topics that you would like to have in your book must come from real and existing sources, even if you don’t have to cite them in your book, you have to think that your readers must at least have an idea of what you’re trying to portray.

I lacked resources to read Lovecraft’s original works, it’s hard to find the right copies nowadays, so I used my creativity. You see, Lovecraft’s work came in volumes and there’s not much of his work known where I live. Not to mention that some writers, after some point have overridden his work, with respect of the source material, of course.

But that didn’t hinder me.

Lovecraft has a following and his followers created a small and viable wiki to read from (Here’s the site if you’re interested: (http://lovecraft.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page). I’ve also watched videos in Youtube to find out more about his psyche: what he thinks and why he thinks that.

Many of his thoughts and creation of monsters came from his own perception and what he had dreamt. He has numerous letters to his friend that explained this. Various sources confirmed such idealization from Lovecraft.

I also closely read one of his modern protégés, Stephen King, and I integrated what I know from him into my work. You could see my work riddles from the way Stephen King writes. I base the foundation and flow of my stories from Stephen King’s way of narration and in all honesty, it has always been the classical way to write stories. It goes like this : Introduction, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action and Conclusion. I’m not saying that all Stephen King books are like this (it’s hard to follow such a rigid plot development in novels), however, it is certainly an amplified version of this and from my point of view, it serves well in my stories.

There is certainly a reason as to why you have to do your research and that is out of respect from your readers, don’t treat them like idiots or put them in the dark, it is up to you to deliver information to them.

An Insightful Lore

Don’t treat your readers as idiots, at some point they know more than you do.

That is why you should choose quality over quantity. Do your research and give your readers an insightful lore. This will reward those who understand and love the lore you have created.

Horror is not about senseless violence and gore, it’s much more horrifying when the antagonist (in my case, the Nameless God) has a reason and motive. It gives your work more content if you give your readers a healthy dose of lore. If you could, make the monster or the killer or the creature or the Thing, much more human. It’s more horrifying once the readers could relate to something evil, realizing that they too could turn into a monster similar to the one you just created.

My lore comes from Lovecraft’s work and there is a healthy dose of that in my story. My monster has motive and it has direction, so ideally, wherever the Nameless God is projected, or whichever direction he goes, he will grow as a character. He might not be seemingly human, but I made him to an organic character, similar to my main character. So in the future, whenever I need to continue the story from where I left off, I don’t have to worry because my characters has grown and has direction simply because of the lore given to them.

Nihilism

Horror must have an ideal, and in my work, it’s Nihilism.

Every story must have a theme, and every theme must have an ideal. It might’ve been a product of Lovecraft’s harsh childhood or just his pure imagination, we may never know. But for me, nihilism opens up a new dimension of Horror and that Horror is indifferent to who you are or what you are. Your existence means nothing, and your life is circumstantial when it comes to the void of the abyss.

The fragility of human life should be your foundation when it comes to writing horror, and no, I’m not saying that body counts are important, the best kind of horror is when no one really dies.

Stephen King treats his characters to be important. In the Shining, Danny and his mother didn’t die, they continued to live, but one thing is going to be with them forever and that is their dark experience in The Overlook Hotel. You could see this becoming apparent in Danny’s life in Doctor Sleep.

Horror is not about death but it’s about the process of dying, the existing idea of mortality. The experience of death (dying) is different from death itself and there is more content in the experience than the actuality of it.

In my story I played on the idea of inferiority and the cosmic question of, “How small are we in the universe?”

I grabbed Nyarlatothep from Lovecraft and gave him a new face. A faceless one, as he could be anyone or anything at any given point in time and his existence is to torment the main character’s life, and make him understand the reality that there is really no one to save him and that there is no escape from the coming of oblivion.

There are really worse things than death: Pure manifestation of cosmic Nihilism.

An Old God With A New Face

Don’t be scared of deriving ideas from different authors.

At some point you can’t avoid it. Take ideas, but give some respect towards the source material by making it better or in my case, by adding your own view towards it.

Nyarlathortep is an idea from Lovecraft, and he is one of the most humane old gods there is. He is a messenger of oblivion and he came to warn the main character and manipulate him.

I viewed Nyarlathortep as a trickster and so I wrote him to be one. I viewed him as someone who feeds from the despair of other beings and as you cry and beg, he laughs. And I also see him as a strategist, not content with what he has and just like any God he wants to ascend to a higher being of power.

More than anything, this God, as I have seen is a God not out of reach. He is human similar to us. He has greed and pride, he is selfish and understanding. He aims for a compromise as much as he could (although his view of a compromise is twisted). That’s how I viewed him and that’s how I wrote him.

Don’t be scared to work from previous sources, but make them better by adding your own secret ingredient in them.

Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark

Because at some point in your life, it’ll consume you.

It’s inevitable to finally succumb to the most primal of senses and at its given core, there will be violence and abhorration of what seems to be holy to most. My story is riddled with monsters (The one-eyed suit, the tentacular creatures, the lady with only a mouth) and they represent what darkness means to the reader.

Some readers will learn to fear your monsters, some will love and serve it, by the end of the day, you have been able to reach out to your reader, simply because you have accepted the most carnal of desires, you have succumbed to the essentiality of the darkness.

And That’s It! My own lessons from the abyss. Now there are more things to be taught and learned, but I’m not a complete expert as of yet. It takes time and practice to become the likes of Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, and H.P. Lovecraft. In fact, I don’t even think I could even come close to who they are and what they have made, but slowly and surely, I am growing as a writer.

Now, here’s the reality of things and a little secret that you should learn. Make sure not to tell anyone: the only difference between you and me is that I had the guts to click the submit story button here in Launchora. That is the only difference!

So start writing your own stories. Become the next storyteller. You might never know, you might be the next biggest Storyteller. Cheers!