Monsters Oozing Out of My Skull

When I think about horror in my writing, I picture characters like Sweettooth, a “mara, capable of sucking someone’s dreams and memories until the person [goes] mad or die[s] of fear.”

my Daydream Believer can sure sketch some fangs… Gina, you rock!

With that in  mind, you can imagine how surprised I was when readers started tagging “AlmaMia Cienfuegos” horror on Amazon. Those of you who have read the tale are probably laughing at me right now, thinking, Have you read your own description of the wild girl’s short story?

In my defense, *sigh* when I wrote that “AlmaMia Cienfuegos tells a story where blood deceives, nightmares rot and sisters wage war on each other,” my mind had been whispering that there was a difference between horror and dark fiction.

I’ve read the story a gazillion times since writing it, and have realized that perhaps my initial assessment was not quite accurate. Yes, I still believe that there is a subtle difference between horror and dark fiction, but now I can see that “AlmaMia Cienfuegos” is a bit more horrific than I thought. I mean, the idea of “[b]leeding eyeballs, bulging out of a bloated, purplish face” staring back at you, is pretty nasty… especially when the “you” in question is only a child.

Yet, deep in my writer’s mind, I continue to feel that Soledad might be the biggest monster in AlmaMia’s tale. Very alive, but certainly capable of standing by, rejoicing, while her little sister “chokes on the tears and blood that bubble out of her eyes.”

The rotting man doesn’t bother me that much. Soledad, on the other hand, unnerves me… okay, she terrifies me. Are you ever scared of the monsters that ooze out of your own head? 

This is my last May Monster Madness 2013 post. I had a freaking blast. Did you? 

Giveaway

To celebrate the closing of an outstandingly monstrous event, I would like to give away a couple of things to one (or two) lucky Wicked Darling(s):

1. A copy of “AlmaMia Cienfuegos,” for Kindle

2. A first chapter or short story critique of your work (5,013 words or fewer)

This is what you need to do to enter the AlmaMia and Critique giveaway:

- Leave a comment letting me know what makes a monster (human, alien, living, dead, in-between…) really terrifying in your mind. Please specify if you wish to win the ebook, the critique, or both. 

Extra Entries (separate comments, please)

1 entry - Who scares you the most: Sweettooth, the rotting man, or Soledad? Why?

1 entry - For those Wicked Darlings who have read my fiction, what historical figure or mythical being would you like me to portray in a story? If you haven’t read my work, “The Dark Place,” “Wishing upon Earth and Bone,”and this excerpt from “AlmaMia Cienfuegos” might give you an idea.

* The giveaway ends Wednesday, May 22nd at 5:13 pm EST. 

* The winner(s) will be announced on May 23rd. If the first name I pick wished to win both prizes, then there’ll only be one winner. If not, I’ll select another name out of the cauldron and award the prize that remains.

* I would prefer to critique dark fiction. But if you write romantic westerns about steampunk aliens, my cyber-horse and I will follow our hearts to the final Victorian frontier and read on ;-)

* The critique/feedback will be private, unless the winner requests otherwise.
* Have an amazing weekend, my Wicked Luvs. And write on! 

click on the links and button to visit the hostesses, and to join the last of the monster madness
- Little Gothic Horrors

- Something wicKED this Way Comes...

- Annie Walls

Bathing with Girls

A soulless shell…

             In her huge castle of broken mirrors,  

            Old skin renewed in the bloody baths.
                         650 died to engorge youthful powers
            Surrounded by bloody madness…
                        - from “The Blood Countess,” by Goth Marionette and T. James Becker

My third May Monster Madness entry unwelcomes Erzsébet Báthory, a character who I find more frightening than a babe birthed by Melisandre and nurtured by Drusilla.

When I first read about the Blood Countess, I thought it was fiction. Only horror novels would portray a woman torturing girls, eating flesh, and bathing in blood to preserve her beauty, right?  

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Further reading proved my initial beliefs to be wrong. It also got me very, very, very interested in the Blood Countess. After a while, I was more fascinated by how her story blurred the lines between fiction and reality. For today, no one really knows what actually happen. This fact, makes basing fictional characters on not so dear Erzsébet a deliciously interesting journey…

Hm... Can you imagine a dinner between Erzsébet Báthory and Dr. Hannibal Lecter?  

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Do You Know What I Miss? Leeches

All monsters aren’t created equal. Some are “dark and full of terrors;” others—like the woman who spoke the title of this post—are murderous and beautiful, and their minds are half-caged in the twisted wires of psychosis. My pick for today’s entry to May Monster Madness belongs to the latter group, and she comes with a full membership to the exclusive lunacy gone wild club.

 Drusilla

My favorite Joss Whedon character (second only to Willow) is mad all the way to her fangs. I love the way Whedon uses Drusilla’s words to make her sound as insane as she looks. Here is a good example: “Spike, do you love my insides? All the parts you can’t see?” How do you answer that? If you say yes, she might get all excited, and suggest that you let her cut you up to see if she loves your liver as much as she loves your smile. Does this picture of Drusilla remind you of anyone else?

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Craziness doesn’t keep Drusilla from burying herself (and others) in the art of healthy hobbies. Oh no. Our versatile bloodsucker enjoys gardening, even if her plans don’t always sprout as hoped: “Do you like daisies? I plant them but they always die. Everything I put in the ground withers and dies.”

Drusilla has a very difficult past, thanks to the unrequired attentions of dark and mysterious Agent Booth. Oops, wrong show. I meant to say that a couple of centuries ago, Angelus (I knew there was an ‘A’ somewhere in his name) stole Drusilla’s innocence. By deflowering her body and plucking out her soul, the vampire who sired her took away our psycho’s only chance at earthly sanity and heavenly sanctity. That would drive any virginal olden day psychic a little mad. Or a lot.

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I better stop here. I’ve heard that this beautiful monster suffers no fools. Also, I have been meaning to ask her a question. “Um, Drusilla, why is your pretty little dolly all gagged up?” 

“Miss Edith speaks out of turn. She’s a bad example and will have no cakes today.”

Well, I guess I’m done for today. See you later, my Wicked Luvs. If you run into Drusilla, I suggest you keep your thoughts from morphing into words, or she might consider ripping off your tongue. And don’t play Look into My Fingers with her. Not if you value your eyeballs…

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Melisandre’s Womb Is Dark and Full of Terrors

Let’s talk about monsters. Not the grotesque creatures of myths and nightmares, but about the beautiful characters whose actions leave souls screaming for death to come and claim them.

Melisandre, the Red Woman

“Lord of Light, come to us in our darkness. We offer you these false gods. Take them and cast your light upon us, for the night is dark and full or terrors. After the long summer, darkness will fall heavy on the world. The stars will bleed. The cold breath of winter will freeze the seas... and the dead shall rise in the North.” Game of Thrones

The Red Woman is a devout priestess of the Lord of Light. She lives to please her god. The latter seems to have a smoke fetish that can’t be satisfied with the mere scorching of the “false gods.” Melisandre, who understands her Lord’s needs, does her best to set fire to anyone who doesn’t share her beliefs or her desire to keep him happy.

A lot of people burn and bleed under the heat of Melisandre’s faith. But don’t let this triviality mislead you into believing that the Red Woman is all about death and agony. You see, she is also adept at the art of birthing shadow monstrosities.

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After the, um… baby bursts out of Melisandre’s womb, he goes on to add to his mommy’s holy work: more blood and death to honor the Lord of Light, and to further the royal cause of Melisandre and her less shiny champion. The shadow monster is big, dark and lethal, but he doesn’t terrify me half as much as his mommy does. Why do you think that is, my Wicked Luvs? And who scares you the most, the dreadful babe or mommy dearest? 

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Back to Unearthing Skulls

After I finished editing the first draft of Dancing on Her Bones (what was supposed to be the first AlmaMia Cienfuegos novel), I felt that the story needed more background. I came up with a few ways to deal with the issue: flashbacks, adding chapters to the beginning, telling part of the novel from the perspective of AlmaMia’s grandmother…

I tried the flashback approach and didn’t like it. Most novels need a memory here and there, for fictional characters (real life ones, too) learn about living by taking into account lessons from the past (this concept doesn’t seem to apply to modern government, by the way *grin*). The flashbacks were so vivid that one beta reader told me, “I love AlmaMia’s present, but her past is so enthralling that I wish I could watch her living in it.” I agreed with him, so I went for adding a few chapters to the beginning…

Three chapters later, I was shaking my head. AlmaMia was too young to understand or convey complex feelings. Like most (if not all) of my fiction, Dancing on Her Bones is a dark tale. A child understands fear. Sadly, that is one of the reasons why a number of human monsters have such an easy time abusing children. However, a five-year-old will have a very difficult time explaining why a person, situation, place… is so terrifying. After another false start, I rewrote the first chapters from Mamabuela’s perspective. That almost worked, but it didn’t quite fit…

Eventually, my mind couldn’t take it anymore, and screamed, “Stop patching holes, woman! Just do what you know needs to be done.” My mind had a point. I had been sensing that Dancing on Her Bones was not the beginning of the Cienfuegos’ tale. But I wanted to share their story already! You see, I am NOT the most patient of witchy writers… *sigh* Yet, I love the craft of weaving words into stories so much that I can put my bad habits aside, and do my best to tell a tale like it should be told (say that 13 times fast).

So I went back into the past and began Unearthing Skulls, the first story of what I hope will become the AlmaMia Cienfuegos trilogy. I’ll tell you more, soon…

they look so fragile when they are just beginning to sprout

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