Yes, it has been a while since a blog post, and the last one does not really count as I only posted a video and barely spoke at all. My apologies.
Now onto the hottest topic of my life at the moment!
Firstly, I would like everyone who reads this blog to lend their support to my friend's blog, who will soon be travelling and posting numerous goodies and bits of information about cool places to see overseas. So get onto it now because it's sure to find a lot of success! So you'll find this wonderous blog at this location:
http://katherineelizabethvs2010.blogspot.com/
It is also in my little sidebar thingy of friend's blogs. Go become a follower ASAP!
In other news, I'm not sure if I'm mentioned this already but my book is out in the world of editors and publishing companies being perused; mind you that doesn't mean it's getting published. The editor reading it now works for a publishing company that does mainly non-fiction, but she's getting me started on some more tips and how to get it out there, so who knows? It's quite exciting, but terribly frightening.
Which brings me to my next topic. I visited the library the other day and saw an interesting looking book that, after reading the blurb, I discovered to be a collection of Edgar Allan Poe stories. 'Why not?' I say to myself. I mean, as a writer I should be reading as much as the classics and iconic writers as possible, so I borrowed the book and am over halfway through. As well as his most famous stories, the book has little chapters written by mystery writers who were someway affected by the genius of Poe. And they all say the same thing, mainly how terrifying and spine-tingling and horrifying his stories are. But for some reason, I disagree.
I'm not at all saying that Edgar Allan Poe's writing wasn't ground-breaking stuff, it's just that it was written in a time when the wordy suspense of it all only heightened the horror of it all, but that being said, it just doesn't have the same effect nowadays. That's a bit sad really. Why aren't we frightened by the same things? Don't be fooled by the son lyrics of my post title, I am definitley afraid of things, and I am afraid of the things that are weaved into Poe's stories; loneliness, death, insanity, helplessness and above all crazy axe weilding murderers. I think it's just that today, we although we are frightened of the same things, we can't be given goosebumps from allusions and suggestions and many long
words. We need direct descriptions of the bloody horror of it all, we need to see what monster lurks behind the mask, we can't just see the mask and be satisfied.
So are we dessensitised to subtle, more intelligent horror (if such a genre can be intelligent)? Look at the horror films released nowadays and you can only say yes, really. We can only get thrills from the unbelievably gaudy, unrealistic but incredibly obvious productions, not from a ten page story in which the scary part is only in the last sentance. That doesn't leave us with the same uneasiness that it used to.
So, in summary, we're afraid of the same thing, we have just become less good at recognising them. As many Poe fans would say, our generation probably wouldn't recognise true, genius horror if it danced in front of us stark naked with bells on. Although if true genius horror is dancing in front of me stark naked with bells on maybe I don't want to recognise it.
Now onto the hottest topic of my life at the moment!
Firstly, I would like everyone who reads this blog to lend their support to my friend's blog, who will soon be travelling and posting numerous goodies and bits of information about cool places to see overseas. So get onto it now because it's sure to find a lot of success! So you'll find this wonderous blog at this location:
http://katherineelizabethvs2010.blogspot.com/
It is also in my little sidebar thingy of friend's blogs. Go become a follower ASAP!
In other news, I'm not sure if I'm mentioned this already but my book is out in the world of editors and publishing companies being perused; mind you that doesn't mean it's getting published. The editor reading it now works for a publishing company that does mainly non-fiction, but she's getting me started on some more tips and how to get it out there, so who knows? It's quite exciting, but terribly frightening.
Which brings me to my next topic. I visited the library the other day and saw an interesting looking book that, after reading the blurb, I discovered to be a collection of Edgar Allan Poe stories. 'Why not?' I say to myself. I mean, as a writer I should be reading as much as the classics and iconic writers as possible, so I borrowed the book and am over halfway through. As well as his most famous stories, the book has little chapters written by mystery writers who were someway affected by the genius of Poe. And they all say the same thing, mainly how terrifying and spine-tingling and horrifying his stories are. But for some reason, I disagree.
I'm not at all saying that Edgar Allan Poe's writing wasn't ground-breaking stuff, it's just that it was written in a time when the wordy suspense of it all only heightened the horror of it all, but that being said, it just doesn't have the same effect nowadays. That's a bit sad really. Why aren't we frightened by the same things? Don't be fooled by the son lyrics of my post title, I am definitley afraid of things, and I am afraid of the things that are weaved into Poe's stories; loneliness, death, insanity, helplessness and above all crazy axe weilding murderers. I think it's just that today, we although we are frightened of the same things, we can't be given goosebumps from allusions and suggestions and many long
words. We need direct descriptions of the bloody horror of it all, we need to see what monster lurks behind the mask, we can't just see the mask and be satisfied.So are we dessensitised to subtle, more intelligent horror (if such a genre can be intelligent)? Look at the horror films released nowadays and you can only say yes, really. We can only get thrills from the unbelievably gaudy, unrealistic but incredibly obvious productions, not from a ten page story in which the scary part is only in the last sentance. That doesn't leave us with the same uneasiness that it used to.
So, in summary, we're afraid of the same thing, we have just become less good at recognising them. As many Poe fans would say, our generation probably wouldn't recognise true, genius horror if it danced in front of us stark naked with bells on. Although if true genius horror is dancing in front of me stark naked with bells on maybe I don't want to recognise it.
Psycho still scares me more than Saw volumes 1 through 1,000...I got a shout out..woo!! xx
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