Matt Moore's Blog, page 25

To Write Horror, You Must Be Horrified

If you write horror, you know that sometimes it can be fun. The set-up, misdirection, the monsters and mayhem, blood and gore. There is a fun in horror writing and readers often share in that fun.

But the question to ask is: Do you want readers to have fun? Think about the over-the-top slapstick gore of Evil Dead II, the self-referential nature of the Scream series or the unintentional hilarity of the Friday the 13th films. (And I am going to use films because they are more well-known.) Is that what you're trying to write?

Or are you trying to horrify the reader? Think The Exorcist or American Psycho. Stories that make us squirm. True horror stories are those that leave a lasting impression of something being just plain wrong.

Horror is a Moral Genre

At it's heart, good horror stories challenge our morality. (And don't worry, I am not going to ride a morality high horse here.) It's not the blood and guts that horrify us, it's that our sense of right and wrong is thrown off balance.

What makes Psycho unsettling is not (just) the spooky house, insane mother and mad-slasher elements. It's matricide, suggestions of incest and the mother being so hung up on her son getting laid she'll kill to prevent it.

In other words: sex. Considering when Psycho was released, it was shocking material.

But the motivation of the killer in Psycho can be explained. What drives:

Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs (let's assume the subsequent books/movies never happened)
The Joker in The Dark Knight
The demon in The Exorcist
The xenomorphs in Alien and Aliens

All of these characters (and more) are motivated by something we can't understand. It is not just a rejection of our morality, but a worldview so different we can't comprehend it. And we can't we predict it—that's what makes is terrifying. How do you stop Hannibal Lecter from targeting you? Why did the demon chose Regan McNeil and not some other little girl?

So if you want to accomplish this same result, you as a writer must be horrified.

What Horrifies You?

Look at the news. What makes you squirm? Now ask yourself: Why? Likely, it's something you can't understand. Be it a sex killer in an American city or mass killing in the developing world, people do things that not only horrify us, but confound us because we can't understand why.

To use this realization as a writer, you must develop characters who act in a consistent way, but follow rules we don't understand. A stark-raving killer is one thing. Anton Chigurh is infinitely more terrifying.

More than that, you must be horrified by what what you are writing. A story I wrote, "While Gabriel Slept," deals with a man contemplating killing an infant—one of the major taboos in horror writing. Though I don't reveal if the character goes through with it, in an earlier draft the character suffocates the infant. It was a horrible scene to write, but it needed to be. And readers of the scene commented on how unsettling it was, but also necessary to see how far the character had fallen into insanity.

So if you are going to write horror where you want to horrify the reader, you must be horrified first. The writing process must be difficult and unsettling. If you can achieve that feeling while writing, your readers will pick up on it and be equally horrified.

"Full Moon Hill" Available (for free) on Lightning Flash Magazine

My short story "Full Moon Hill" is now available over on Lightning Flash Magazine, a new zine publishing some great flash fiction. They offer all their content for free, so take advantage of the other stories available.

A quick story riffing on the theme of what makes someone a monster, this story was first published in issue #71 of On Spec magazine.

I hope you'll give it a read and, if you dig it (or even if you don't), leave me a comment.

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Recommended Interview with John Joseph Adams

I listen to The Dragon Page Cover to Cover, a great podcast about writing that talks about all angles: "the craft," the business side of being a writer, understanding the publishing industry, etc.

They recently interviewed John Joseph Adams and I highly recommend listening to it. In it, Mr. Adams talks about editing anthologies, the difference between them and magazines, and opportunities for small press publishers. For writers who want to know what's happening after you submit your manuscript to an open submission, it's invaluable insight. The beginning of the podcast has a short discussion about ebook publishing that's worthwhile if you're thinking of self-publishing electronic versions of your stories.

You can visit the interview's page on Dragon Page site or download the MP3 (23M).

(If you haven't heard of him, Mr. Adams is a rising star as an editor of  genre fiction anthologies. You can learn more about him at his website: http://www.johnjosephadams.com/.)

Please Nominate me for the Prix Aurora Awards

I am putting my short story "Touch the Sky, They Say" (AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review) up for the Prix Aurora Awards and I need your help. I am asking you to please nominate my story.

Nominations can be made by any Canadian and it's free to do so.

What's the Prix Aurora Awards?

The Prix Aurora Awards are an annual contest to recognize the best in Canadian science fiction and fantasy writing, artwork and fandom. Past winners include Robert J. Sawyer, Peter Watts, Guy Gavriel Kay, my friend Hayden Trenholm and too many more to mention.

What Am I Hoping To Do?

I want to get on the ballot, which is an honour in itself. But that means I need a lot of nominations. Any Canadian can make a nomination. Even if you're not a writer or don't like sci-fi, you can help.

Why Should You Nominate Me?

You can read the story for free on the AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review website. It's short and worth your time (and received some decent reviews). If you enjoyed, please take a moment to nominate me.

Plus, this is a Canadian award—the story is set in Canada and published by a new Canadian online magazine.

Competition can be tight and sometimes a single vote can make a difference. So if you liked the story, please take a few minutes to go through the process and nominate the story along with other Canadian writers you've enjoyed during 2010. There's no obligation after this. (It's not like your committing to joining the Star Trek fan club.)

What Do You Do?

Go to http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/Membership/new.php and fill out the form. Be sure to check the "By checking this box, you certify that you are a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident." box.
You will receive an email with a link to click on to activate your membership and your membership number.
Click on the link and enter your information: the email address you used and membership number.
Click on the link to submit nominations.
Under "Best Short Fiction – English:", please enter:

Story Title: "Touch the Sky, They Say"
Author's Name: "Matt Moore"
Book or Magazine: "AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review"


Fill in and nominate any other Canadian works you've read and enjoyed this year.
Click the "Submit my Nominations" button.

If you have questions, email me at mattmoorewrites@gmail.com.

Thank you!

2010: Year in Review

2010 was a great year for me professionally:

Landed a permanent job after 4 years on contract
Was invited to speak at two professional conferences
Was a panelist/moderator at two SF conventions (Ad Astra and Can*Con)
And ChiZine Publications continues to grow in leaps and bounds with some fabulous new staff & interns

On the writing front, I am quite proud:

50 submissions of stories/poems
5 stories were accepted/sold during 2010:

"The Machinery of Government" ( Tesseracts Fourteen , semi-pro rate)
"While Gabriel Slept" ( Night Terrors , token payment)
"The Wall of Gloves" (The Drabblecast, pro bono)
"Touch the Sky, They Say" (AE: Science Fiction Review, pro rate)
"Full Moon Hill" (Lightning Flash, payment TBD)


My eBook, Silverman's Game , which was accepted by Damnation Books in 2009, was published in June.

Personally, it was not such a good year. I had a personal tragedy that set me back, but also taught me the importance of friendship.

(But 2011 is looking up as I just received word that "While Gabriel Slept" has been picked up by Cast Macabre.)

2011 Predictions: Flickr & Tumblr Were Just the Beginning

With 2010 coming to a close, I'm looking ahead to 2011 and making some predictions of what's to come. If I learned anything from my predictions for 2010, it's that things can change a lot quicker and a lot slower than you'd think.

However, I will go out on a limb and make some predictions:

Dropping the "e" at the end of a word ending in "er" will be the new "i" or "e" in front of a word. It began with Flickr, then came Tumblr and Blastr. It will only get worse.
The .me domain will grow in popularity. With the number of clueless, selfish, it's-all-about-me people I see, everyone will be clamouring to tell the world about me-me-me!

Unfortunately, these two trends will then combine in 2011. I have it on good authority that in 2011 we will see:

flattr.me – A social networking site for people in need of praise.

transfr.me – A job site to find new positions within the organization you work for. It will be bought out by a telephony service provider selling  switch boxes.

pestr.me – Ties events in your Outlook or Google calendar into your Gmail and social media accounts and uses these to bombards you with reminders.

GetOvr.me – A post-break up site to deal with exes who won't leave you alone.

interprt.me – A site where artists can post their work and let others comments on what it means to them.

buggr.me – Online dating site for people who enjoy… well, you figure it out.

sheltr.me – Social networking site that matches fugitives on the run with homes where they can hole-up.

covr.me – Where people short on cash can apply for micro loans to help pay for rent money. Will be bought out to become a Bruce Springsteen fan site. It will be bought out again by a universal insurance advocacy group.

hammr.me – Big online nail store on the Web!

convrt.me – Social networking site where people can extol the virtues of their faith to those looking for a new religion.

filtr.me – Dashboard where you can enter all your social media profile updates, but it strips out profanity before posting.

considr.me – Dating site for modest people.

anothr.me – Photo sharing site that uses a face-recognition algorithms to find people who look like you.

tarandfeathr.me – For descendants of United Empire Loyalists who harbour guilt over their forebearers not siding with the American Revolution.

If I missed any sites that you've heard of, please post them in the comments section.

I hope 2010 has been a good year for you all, and you've learned something to become better commnicators. For me, I've learned to stop trying to predict what will happen and pay attention to what is happening and the benefits can provide to me and my organization.

Horror Writing: How to Write a Scary Story

I recently listened to "The Nimble Men" by Glen Hirshberg on Pseudopod. While I enjoy a lot of what Pseudopod produces, this story struck me as especially effective at telling a good horror story and worth taking a deeper look at how Hirshberg did it. (Spoilers follow.)

What's the Story About?

The story is told first person past tense from the point of view of a pilot. Years ago, he and his co-pilot were waiting to take off at a small airport in Northern Ontario. They became concerned when the di-icing truck didn't approach them, remaining dark and still in a field. Though mildly spooked by lights in the trees, they went outside to investigate. But the lights in the trees were more than illusions and the two pilots barely made it back to the plane when attacked. However, upon returning they find a passenger has somehow disappeared.

Years later, after the airport is closed, a former employee tells the pilot that his experience is one of many times the lights came and someone disappeared, but it only happens on cold, snowy nights.

Why It Works
Characters

There are three main characters in the story—the two pilots and a flight attendant—and each are given enough time to develop as their own person. Also, each is given a unique relationship with the other. By establishing characters and their relationships, we understand why each would react to the other and we care about them, making us invested in the story.

Voice

Since the story is told in the first person, there is a level of involvement and "being there" for the reader. We do not have the detachment of third person voice.

Setting

Setting a story on an airplane immediately heightens tension. Though statistically the safest way to travel, there is a lot that can go wrong on a plane. Plus, there is the sense of a tight, enclosed space.

More than that, the plane is set at the end of a runway at a small airport in a snowstorm. These elements reinforce its isolation.

Foreshadowing

At the beginning of the story, the two pilots notice the lights in the trees, but believe it's either the northern lights or a reflection of runway lights off snow in the trees. But the older of the two pilots tells a story about a woodsman going out into a snowstorm with a lantern to search for his lost daughter, but neither returns. The odd lights, the story goes, are his lantern. Though we have all heard these kind of local legends, it sets the expectation in the reader's mind that this ghost story may play a role in events to come.

Mysteries

The story presents two mysteries early on: what are the lights in the trees (even though the two pilots come up with a plausible explanation, we the reader know it can't be that simple) and why has the de-icer truck not arrived? To the latter, the pilots are able to see someone in the de-icing truck, but he looks slumped over.

These two elements present us with potentially sinister unknowns. We the reader are thus pulled into the story, wanting to have explanations.

The Ending

This ending is effective because it doesn't resolve everything. We do not learn what the lights are, why or how the man disappeared off the airplane, or the reason the crew of the di-icing truck never moved to approach the plane. On this last point, I did expect some explanation, yet I must respect that this story is told first person. In life, we don't always get nice, neat explanations for why things happen.

So, Elements of How To Write a Horror Story

This story works because of three key elements.

The characters are rough sketches since it's a short story, but defined enough to be interesting. We understand them, care for them and can be scared for them. And since the story is told first person, it adds a level of intimacy.
Multiple elements combine to create tension in the story. Any number of things could go wrong on an airplane at the end of a runway at a remote airport in a snowstorm.
Mysteries are created one after another, teasing the reader and wanting us to keep reading to see what will happen next. And in the end, not all mysteries are resolved.

Taken together, "The Nimble Men" presents a good blueprint for how to write a horror story.

Should We Have Been So Mad at Tumblr for Being Down?

(Or, why Social Media is Like Drug Dealing)

Earlier this week, the micro-blogging site Tumblr went down for more than a day. This situation caused a backlash, notably on Twitter, with many expressing surprising levels of anger.

But checking today, there's nary a negative mention.

(If you don't know Tumblr, it's a micro-blogging site offering a few more bells and whistles than Twitter, but is much simpler then WordPress or Blogger. It's a simple, stripped-down site for posting a basic photo or message. And it's free.)

During the downtime, I was taken aback by the outpouring of hate, and said as much in a snarky Twitter post. And I have a Tumblr site for my Wisdom for the Day blog, which posts to my Twitter account as well as Facebook via porting an RSS feed through TwitterFeed, so I was affected.

But I've been giving this situation some thought and maybe the haters had a point.

Why Was Everyone So Mad?

On the Web, we expect 100% uptime and quickly get frustrated when Facebook is down or we hit the Fail Whale, but a few minutes later the site returns and all is forgiven. Perhaps this behavior is a bit unreasonable, but it is not unlike the behavior of an addict: so long as one can access their drug—even if they do not use it—they're fine. Threatened or delay the drug and an irrational response results. Return access to the drug and the user will quickly become calm again.

Sounds familiar? The Web is an integral part of our lives now. We are addicted. The response to Tumblr being down had less to do with the actual inconvenience than the violation of our assumption and expectation that it would always be there for us.

People Should Have Remembered It's Free, Right?

The fact that Tumblr is free did not seem to taper people's anger. If anything, it heightened it.

When we pay for something that does not perform as we would like, we can ask for a refund or some other monetary redress. When something is offered for free, we pay with trust and loyalty. Much like the study about charging late parents at a day care center, a social and moral contract can be stronger than a financial one.

In other words, we didn't feel ripped off, we felt betrayed. Tumblr entered into a social contract with us and didn't live up to their end of the bargain, leaving us with no mechanism for redress except anger. With that in mind, the frustration is justified (though some comments were over the top).

Lessons for Tumblr to Learn

Like most social media sites just starting out, Tumblr is free. But like Facebook, Twitter, Hootsuite, YouTube and others, it's only a matter of time before they find a way to monetize the site via paid advertising or a a freemium model. Returning to the drug analogy, this is like street dealers who offer free samples of drugs. Once someone is hooked, the dealer begins to charge.

With such a massive period of downtime, Tumblr became to its users like a drug dealer who is only occasionally on his corner—unreliable. In a social contract, this is the worst thing you can do. And Tumblr users let this fact be known loud and clear.

Now, I cannot comment on what happened to Tumblr's infrastructure. I've worked in high tech and know servers crash and databases go down. No matter your skills, there is nothing you can do to make a server reboot faster or copy data from one database to another quicker.

What I can comment on is their response. Their blog has one post about the event and their Twitter feed only has a handful of mentions. Tumblr should have seen the firestorm brewing and responded to it. It would not have taken much for one or two staff members—even admins not involved in the technology—to jump on Twitter and post periodic updates. Even something like "Databases backed up; restarting servers" would have shown they were working on the problem. As well, replying to some of the negative comments would have shown Tumblr was listening and cared.

Unlike the examples of Air Canada and United Airlines that I've talked about, Tumblr is in the social media business. Their failure to use social media to deal with the crisis could shake a lot of people's faith in Tumblr holding up their end of the social and moral contract, especially when Tumblr begins to monetize their site.

Taking part in Social Media Utilization Policy panel Dec. 13 in Ottawa

I've been invited to take part in a panel discussion this Monday, December 13, at the 3rd Social Media in Government conference, taking place in Ottawa, Ontario at the Ottawa Marriott Hotel, 100 Kent Street.

The description of the panel is:

ESTABLISHING A SOCIAL MEDIA UTILIZATION POLICY

Developing a social media utilization policy is a key part of the social media strategy, as a formal policy encourages buy-in and support among employees. This session will detail tactical considerations to take into account when drafting the policy.

Elements to consider when drafting the policy: accessibility, possible data security threats, bilingualism, privacy concerns
Keeping the policy brief to provide the organization with the flexibility it needs to deal creatively with fluid, unpredictable situations
Using examples rather than definitions to illustrate key terms
Ensuring buy-in and support from employees
Guidelines for employees' use of social media and Web 2.0 technologies

More information can be found on the Federated Press website and the conference's brochure (PDF).

Is "check out" the "click here" of Writing for Social Media?

I previously blogged about the conversational voice of Twitter and why it's not the same thing as marketing-ese. Something I didn't cover was the over-use of "check out" in tweets. While a call to action seems like a good thing, "check out" is a weak verb, presents some of the same limitations as the shunned "click here" in Web writing, and is telling readers what to do when they should be in control.

Why "Click Here" is Poor Web Writing

There are plenty of articles criticizing "click here," but I'll summarize two key points.

Let the Reader Know What to Expect

The more confidence readers have in what will happen when they click a link, the more likely they are to click it. Saying, "For more information, click here" might:

Take you to a new page
Open another website in a new window
Download a 20M PDF
Open an email window

Instead, tell users what's going to happen: "For more information, download the report (PDF, 20M)."

Provide Information While Scanning

When arriving at a Web page, users scan headings, bold face text and hyperlinks to decide if they will find the information they need on that page. This process takes just a second, but determines if a user will read the page or hit the back button.

At a glance, what communicates more information:

Lorem ipsum click here amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Lorem ipsum press conference amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Lorem ipsum watch the press conference (YouTube) amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

The last one, right?

Setting Expectations and At-A-Glance Scanning on Twitter

Both of these ideas—informing users what to expect once they click a link, and letting them find keyword when scanning text—are even more important on Twitter. You have just an instant to convince readers to click your link before they move on to the next tweet.

So make sure your text is clear, concise and unambiguous.

"Check Out" Is Unclear and Ambiguous

"Check out" may sound casual, but fails to inform a reader what will happen when they click the link. Clicking the link in:

Check out my presentation at the SM in Gov't 3.0 conference: http://short.url/aBcDef

could open:

A PowerPoint presentation (PPT)
A PDF of the presentation
A summary of my presentation on the conference's website
A video of my presentation on YouTube

Why not use an active, accurate verb that informs the reader what's going to happen:

Download my presentation from the SM in Gov't 3.0 conference: http://short.url/aBcDef (PDF, 20M)

Why not? Though this is much clearer than "check out," you shouldn't tell users what to do.

The Imperative Voice: Telling People What to Do

Using the imperative voice (i.e., giving a command) violates the rule that users are in control on the Web. This rule is even more important in social media. Rather than telling reader to "check out" something, provide information and trust them make up their own mind.

For example, the following two tweets present exactly the same information:

Download the new trailer for The Connecticut Hacksaw Slaughter in HD QuickTime http://short.url/1a2Bc3

New trailer for The Connecticut Hacksaw Slaughter available in HD QuickTime http://short.url/1a2Bc3

If a reader is interested in the movie trailer, they'll download it. You don't need to tell them to do it.

Still, the first tweet is far better than an ambiguous:

Check out the new trailer for The Connecticut Hacksaw Slaughter http://short.url/1a2Bc3