Welp friends, it’s Monday.
Yeah, I know. I know. I used the word “welp”, and I’m not taking it back.
My deep thoughts today revolve around the advice I think every writer gets at some point in their life – Write what you know. And you know what? It’s good advice. I followed this advice and wrote an entire quadrilogy in less than five years – that’s pretty darn good. 377,281 words – BOOM!
::moment of pride::
I’ve written a lot else as well, but my main stories all* tie back to one of my favorite things – Supernatural. Yes, yes, yes. I am admitting my fandom, but also explaining my muse. I’ve been a horror buff since watching Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors when I was about 7 or 8. No, my mom did not know I watched it – I watched it at a friend’s house – but thus began my slightly morbid and macabre fascination with ghosts, demons, monsters, and serial killers.
I cannot say why I have this grisly fascination, but I love horror movies and creepy things – I may or may not have multiple serial killer encyclopedias. So when Supernatural started it was right up my alley. I watched every episode multiple times, and I loved the Monster of the Week episodes – the woman in white, the Indian burial ground, The wendigo, the werewolves, the vampires, the zombies. They never quite matched the traditional view of these uglies, and I loved the SPN spin on things.
I also have a weird fixation with zombies. Some might say obsession, but I think that goes too far. A well-stocked pantry of non-perishables and a base knowledge of planting and gardening is just good sense, really. I think I’ve watched all the movies, read a huge majority of the books, and played many (if not all) of the games. Everyone has to have their thing, mine apparently is paranormal creepy crawlies.
So, what I have is supernatural baddies, good-looking heroes, zombies, and an unexplainable need to save the world. How could that not make a good story?!
Is there some research to be done? Of course! I know a lot of random, useless monster lore and zombie trivia, but I didn’t want my story to be full of reality loopholes – like why don’t the inhabitants of New Hope all die of carbon monoxide poisoning if they have fires lit all over the caves? (Thanks mom) So there will always be research, no matter how much you know about that thing that you know. A writer’s search history could be one of the most interesting things you read all day! (I’ll get to that in another blog).
Point is, if you take time out of your busy life to really know something, it probably means you love it. Which goes back to my theory about why all writers write – because they love it. You write what you know because whatever that is, you love it – and presumption stands that you’d probably also love to write about it – and bingo-bango-bongo, you love writing.
Boom! Next week’s blog, I’ll solve all the mysteries of the universe just that easy.
* #KissMeKieran is the only story I have that actually is in no way inspired by Supernatural. Not even the characters in this one. It’s an oddity – and I love it!
