That Monster in your Mind

I was asked to be a guest blogger over at Bookish Delights Halloween Carnival, so I thought I'd post what I had to say here as well. (But if you're thinking of just staying here to read it, be warned that they have contests with prizes over there.)


Hey all! I'm really excited to join this Halloween carnival! What could be better than a whole holiday that celebrates zombies, vampires, witches and monsters? I thought I'd take this opportunity to chat about a monster-type topic that's a little out of the ordinary: namely mind control.Don't worry. I'm not going to make you do anything against your will. If I could do that, my kids would be eating their veggies.But the premise of mind reading and mind control is a delicious one for writers. I like to think of it like this: the creepiest part of any story is just before the bad guy arrives—when the scary music starts and a door creeks and the good guy's pulse begins to race and you know something's about to happen but you don't know what.But when mind control is involved, that monster never shows up. The hero can't stab anyone through the heart or pull a gun or even run away. Because the villain is in his head. And there's no way to fight him or even know who he is.   Mind control happens to be a major theme in ExtraNormal, where inhabitants from the planet Nreim use their own electro-magnetic energy to chat with one another in pretty much the same way we use cell phones. The problem is, we mere humans don't know what to do with someone showing up in our head to have a chat. Which means the residents of Nreim could potentially just come on in and help themselves to our puny little brains.Not that anyone would do that, would they? Yeah, of course they would, otherwise the story would be boring. And I'm in big trouble if it's boring.Anyway, Happy Halloween all. Peace, love and safe brains.Now go eat your vegetables.