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Post by WeirdRaptor on Feb 15, 2019 17:01:44 GMT -6
This is funny (for me, at least). You know what one of my highest-rated scary “stories” on Reddit is? I didn’t even have to think about it. BRILLIANT!!!!!!124566789#$%%%$!!!!!!!1!
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Post by WeirdRaptor on Feb 17, 2019 15:51:44 GMT -6
Salzmark And then there are THESE stories: "The Truth Behind <Insert Childhood Icon Here>". The truth about Pokémon, the truth about SpongeBob SquarePants, the truth about Winnie the Pooh, the truth about just about any and every beloved childhood story usually turn out to be the dreams of someone in a coma. And then there's this one about Disney's Recess, which posits that the characters are the ghosts of Great Depression era kids. I hate these ones.
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Post by Salzmark on Feb 17, 2019 16:19:53 GMT -6
Salzmark And then there are THESE stories: "The Truth Behind <Insert Childhood Icon Here>". The truth about Pokémon, the truth about SpongeBob SquarePants, the truth about Winnie the Pooh, the truth about just about any and every beloved childhood story usually turn out to be the dreams of someone in a coma. And then there's this one about Disney's Recess, which posits that the characters are the ghosts of Great Depression era kids. I hate these ones. Oh, dear God, I hate those too. Hate them. They’re a prime example of the modern obsession with cynicism masquerading as talent. Either the coma, maybe, or detailed descriptions of the character committing suicide. Who on earth likes this stuff? That well-known Disney one (“Abandoned by Disney”? Something like that) at least had a kernel of a good idea, but the author started over-explaining towards the end, a big no-no in horror (at least for me), and that scene of Mickey Mouse taking his head off was so stupid. By the way, obliquely related: I recently saw Watchmen, which was also stupid and brutish. I hated it. Knowing your tastes, I can’t imagine that you’re a fan of it either.
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Post by WeirdRaptor on Feb 17, 2019 16:24:15 GMT -6
Salzmark And then there are THESE stories: "The Truth Behind <Insert Childhood Icon Here>". The truth about Pokémon, the truth about SpongeBob SquarePants, the truth about Winnie the Pooh, the truth about just about any and every beloved childhood story usually turn out to be the dreams of someone in a coma. And then there's this one about Disney's Recess, which posits that the characters are the ghosts of Great Depression era kids. I hate these ones. Oh, dear God, I hate those too. Hate them. They’re the prime example of the modern obsession with cynicism masquerading as talent. Either the coma, maybe, or detailed descriptions of the character committing suicide. Who on earth likes this stuff? That well-known Disney one (“Abandoned by Disney”? Something like that) at least had a kernel of a good idea, but the author started over-explaining towards the end, a big no-no in horror (at least for me), and that scene of Mickey Mouse taking his head off was so stupid. By the way, obliquely related: I recently saw Watchmen, which was also stupid and brutish. I hated it. Knowing your tastes, I can’t imagine that you’re a fan of either. I assume you're talking about the final part of the "Abandoned by Disney" saga, titled "Corruptus"? I didn't have an issue with the Photo Negative Mickey taking his head off, but yeah, I did not like the third story of that series. I liked the suggestion box entry, though. Thankfully, these kinds of stories are falling out style and even starting to be actively parodied and even ridiculed by those critique the creepy online story... genre. (?) The "Watchmen" film is a pale imitation of the book. The problem with the film is that Snyder somehow got it into his head that we're supposed to like at least some of those people. Nope. If you read the original, Alan Moore makes it very clear you're not supposed to like any of them, least of all Rorschach.
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Post by Salzmark on Feb 17, 2019 16:33:09 GMT -6
I guess that’s the one, WeirdRaptor… I read those a while ago and only really remember the first installment, which I liked the best of them. I’m just not a fan of inventing evil-Mickey/evil-Santa/evil-SpongeBob, etc. There’s no real pressing need to ruin good children’s entertainment. (I similarly get an icky feeling, whatever it is, when these horrible modern adult cartoons make fun of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or something.) Is “Corruptus” the one where it’s a list to the employees working at the imaginary theme park? Basically reads as a comedy? I thought it would have worked well on its own but didn’t go well with the rest of the, er, “saga.” Is Watchmen, the comic, better than the movie? I was mixed on the Alan Moore stuff I’ve read, and ForceGhostAckbar said he didn’t like the book that much either.
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Post by WeirdRaptor on Feb 17, 2019 16:54:47 GMT -6
I guess that’s the one, WeirdRaptor … I read those a while ago and only really remember the first installment, which I liked the best of them. I’m just not a fan of inventing evil-Mickey/evil-Santa/evil-SpongeBob, etc. There’s no real pressing need to ruin good children’s entertainment. (I similarly get an icky feeling, whatever it is, when these horrible modern adult cartoons make fun of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or something.) Is “Corruptus” the one where it’s a list to the employees working at the imaginary theme park? Basically reads as a comedy? I thought it would have worked well on its own but didn’t go well with the rest of the, er, “saga.” Is Watchmen, the comic, better than the movie? I was mixed on the Alan Moore stuff I’ve read, and ForceGhostAckbar said he didn’t like the book that much either. No, that was "Suggestion Box." "Corruptus" was the one where Disney's secret agents (literally snickered as I typed that) started following him around and discrediting him. "Watchmen" is better than the movie, but I didn't exactly like it, either.
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Post by WeirdRaptor on Feb 20, 2019 13:28:17 GMT -6
This is a little ditty I found called "Other Lily," which is a mix of folklore and my worst nightmares
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Post by Salzmark on Feb 22, 2019 9:51:26 GMT -6
A new one of mine, if anyone’s interested:
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Post by WeirdRaptor on Feb 22, 2019 11:49:54 GMT -6
A new one of mine, if anyone’s interested: Nice. So he was the guy who went sailing and died, then?
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Post by Salzmark on Feb 22, 2019 13:29:38 GMT -6
Something like that, WeirdRaptor, though that makes it sounds more like The Shining than I intended! It’s more that he is taking the place of her lover; she’s putting him in this situation, trapping him and sealing the island from the rest of the world. My stuff was so badly received there that some guy offered to read through my first draft of this, and he had some great suggestions for what to excise and what to incorporate, which I did. We’ll see if this does any better because of those recommendations…
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Post by WeirdRaptor on Feb 22, 2019 13:41:48 GMT -6
Something like that, WeirdRaptor , though that makes it sounds more like The Shining than I intended! It’s more that he is taking the place of her lover; she’s putting him in this situation, trapping him and sealing the island from the rest of the world. My stuff was so badly received there that some guy offered to read through my first draft of this, and he had some great suggestions for what to excise and what to incorporate, which I did. We’ll see if this does any better because of those recommendations… Oh, I thought you were going for a "Bruce Willis is actually dead"/"Tim Robbins is actually just going through his dying dream" type of ending. Congratulations, I usually pick up on twists, but you've consistently confounded me. And yes, that is a compliment. It is a nice, gripping little piece. I think part of the "problem" is that your writing just keeps going over people's heads. And I say "problem" with full sarcasm. Creepypasta in general has readers so trained to think one way, and your writing veers off in the complete opposite direction. It might be a simple case of an incompatible writer/reader relationship here.
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Post by Salzmark on Feb 22, 2019 13:54:21 GMT -6
Thanks, WeirdRaptor. I really appreciate it. Stephen Sondheim once wrote something like “surprise is the lifeblood of theater.” I was thinking about that for a while, and I think it’s true of every type of writing-medium, not just theater. Now that’s old-hat, and even Aristotle wrote about it, but it’s hard, and I do aim for surprises that still seem natural and inevitable, even in something as clichéd as a vampire story. You can’t let your audience get ahead of you in all respects, or else they get bored. Actually, the writing-veering-off-in-another-direction is exactly what I’m going for; for this genre, Robert Aickman was a master at that. Do you think Creepypasta readers don’t like that, on the whole? I haven’t posted on r/nosleep for a long time because of that incompatibility (or something like it), and I’ve been sticking to r/shortscarystories, but the dorm-room story I mentioned earlier might be a better fit for the former. If only I can think of what to do with it after the first installment!
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Post by Salzmark on Feb 22, 2019 13:56:34 GMT -6
Oh, and the Isles of Shoals actually exist, off the New Hampshire coast and jointly shared between NH and Maine, and they’ve got a boatload (pun intended) of ghost stories. Fun stuff. I’ve been in the Oceanic Hotel, and that looks incredibly spooky, even with a (relative) lot of people staying there in the middle of summer.
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Post by WeirdRaptor on Feb 22, 2019 14:00:13 GMT -6
Thanks, WeirdRaptor . I really appreciate it. Stephen Sondheim once wrote something like “surprise is the lifeblood of theater.” I was thinking about that for a while, and I think it’s true of every type of writing-medium, not just theater. Now that’s old-hat, and even Aristotle wrote about it, but it’s hard, and I do aim for surprises that still seem natural and inevitable, even in something as clichéd as a vampire story. You can’t let your audience get ahead of you in all respects, or else they get bored. Actually, the writing-veering-off-in-another-direction is exactly what I’m going for; for this genre, Robert Aickman was a master at that. Do you think Creepypasta readers don’t like that, on the whole?
I haven’t posted on r/nosleep for a long time because of that incompatibility (or something like it), and I’ve been sticking to r/shortscarystories, but the dorm-room story I mentioned earlier might be a better fit for the former. If only I can think of what to do with it after the first installment! I don't know. A lot of feces with obvious plot beats hit the big times, like "Jeff the Killer" (though there IS a seedling of a good idea in there), but then you also have legitimately good stuff with several story elements that went over people's heads for years like "Marble Hornets," which hilariously plays like a deconstruction of the typical Slender Man story despite being the first. Honestly, what gets liked and disliked in the 'pasta community is as unpredictable as the wind's direction.
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Post by WeirdRaptor on Feb 22, 2019 14:00:47 GMT -6
Oh, and the Isles of Shoals actually exist, off the New Hampshire coast and jointly shared between NH and Maine, and they’ve got a boatload (pun intended) of ghost stories. Fun stuff. I’ve been in the Oceanic Hotel, and that looks incredibly spooky, even with a (relative) lot of people staying there in the middle of summer. King would be proud of you.
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