I love well-worn horror tropes: the witch lurking in the woods, a werewolf transformed by the light of the full moon, a bloodthirsty vampire ready to consume every last drop. Some of my favorite books in my library are anthologies dedicated to each of these monsters. I am amazed to see how various authors interpret these household-name-spooks. Instead of the traditional werewolf, there are werebears, wereravens and more in the Were Tales anthology by Brigids Gate Press. Or take the Universal Pictures Monsters, re-imagined in the recent Classic Monsters Unleashed anthology by Black Spot Books and Crystal Lake Publishing. You’ll never look at the Headless Horseman or Creature from the Black Lagoon in the same way again. I find a great deal of inspiration in the creativity of authors when they write about something so familiar in a way that still maintains the essence of the thing, but tweaks it in a way to give it a whole new perspective.
I love reading comics for that same reason. Batman is one of my all time favorites. What a challenge it must be to come up with a new story for the famous Dark Knight. Each time a new story arc erupts from a different artist/writer team, I’m struck by the nuance of telling a new story with the old familiar settings, feelings, characters in a way I haven’t seen before. I explored a bit of this with my own Batman fan fiction piece entitled A Dark Knight Halloween Tale. In this story, I tried to take what I know and love about Batman, his first-rate detective skills, the rival of Sherlock Holmes, and create a sinister mystery around children going missing just before Halloween. I used this piece to also explore the best villain in all of literature, IMHO, the Joker. How could I write a tale with the Joker that I haven’t seen before? How can I make him even scarier, more crazy and more unpredictable? That was my challenge as I took pen to paper.
In my recent collection, They Hide: Short Stories to Tell in the Dark, I took a stab at my favorite monster tropes and added my lens, my spin on each one. In my vampire story, it’s less about the vampire and more about the Renfield-type character that is forced to do his master’s bidding. To me, being forced into a life of servitude felt scarier than being a victim of the fang. The latter usually has a quick end, but there’s no end in sight for the one serving the immortal blood drinker. In my demon possession story, I wanted to know what happens when the exorcism doesn’t work? What does the life of one possessed look like long-term? For my werewolf story I wanted to explore if there was another way the transformation could take place besides being bitten by another werewolf. What if a person was always a werewolf but just needed a little catalyst to get it going? Like a dormant gene that required some stimulus to activate?
I had way too much fun exploring all of the variations I could try to recreate some of these beloved tropes. And sure, it can be intimidating at times to look at something so overdone and try to come up with something new, but I personally love that kind of a challenge. It helps to get my creative juices and imagination flowing. I find that taking something so well known and writing about it makes me a better writer. Even if it’s something that I’ll never publish, it’s a good muscle to flex and a good exercise to help me hone in on my craft.
So what’s your favorite horror trope and what kind of new and fun scenarios would you place them in? Drop me a line and let me know! Have fun and stay spooky!
They Hide: Short Stories to Tell in the Dark by Francesca Maria
Who are we if not for the monsters that we keep?
They Hide: Short Stories to Tell in the Dark collects thirteen chilling tales that weave through the shadows, exploring the nature of fear, powerlessness, and control.
– A series of murders in a New England colony
– An untamed beast in pre-revolutionary France
– A mysterious stranger who invades 18th-century Ireland
– A traveling circus that takes more than the price of admission
– A gathering of the Dark, telling tales on the longest night of the year, and more.
Come play with vampires, werewolves, ghosts, zombies, ghouls and the devil himself. Make sure you check under the bed and don’t turn out the lights.
