Swept away

The advice of all writing advice, the one we all know in our soul to be true but don’t get around to nearly as much. I don’t need to say it, if you’re a writer and you read the title, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Now, before you assume I’m a writer here to lecture you about all the merits of reading, I’m going to stop you right there. I don’t care how many books you read a year, if they’re in your genre or if you read widely, if they’re new or if you’re re-reading the same three books from 1972. I don’t give a rat’s ass if you read or not.

You know how people say, “They’ll figure it out.”

Well, I say, “They’ll figure it out… Or they won’t.”

I’m not here to be all high and mighty on the advice we all know so well because if I’m honest, I just came off a week-long reading binge where I read like four/five books and now I’m full of inspiration.

Horror’s themes seem to be rather consistent lately…

These are some of the more recent ones. Notice a pattern?

Cannibals seem to be the thing. The jokes on me, I already wrote about a cannibal (The Dredes). But there’s more to this theme. Love intermingled with consumption, exerting the ultimate control over the loved one we cannot contain. Current horror is bodily, not quite body horror like when our bodies betray us, but bodily in the sense that we only have control over our own and use that within power.

A similar theme seen in film is the uprising of the Rosemary’s Baby situation. Demonic pregnancies, Handmaid’s Tale… You see where I’m heading.

Another theme I’m seeing from all across the horror spectrum is the relationship between mother and daughter.

For me, this is a fascinating dynamic. My daughter is my clone. It’s like watching myself thrive in an alternate universe, one that my husband and I made for our kids. We didn’t have all the opportunities our kids do, and we’re so grateful for that.

… We also joke that our daughter is actually an alien pretending to be a human and got stuck with two idiot parents and silly little brother.

But then I thought to myself, “What if a monster wanted a better life for their child?”

And now I’m on page 5.

Stay tuned…