[Sir Leeds]

If you’ve got an idea or maybe even a rough draft for a horror story, let’s see it. Let’s get this thread going! And if you’re not actively working on anything, maybe you could share one of your favorite horror stories and why it’s one of your favorites.

 

I’ll break the ice with a few ideas I’ve had lately. Hopefully I’ll actually be able to share some of these stories’ drafts with you all after next semester’s short story workshop. Would love to hear which of these is your favorite and why:

 

#1 – Man in Chains

A cemetery grounds keeper at a cemetery outside a small town discovers a convict with broken handcuffs while he’s mowing the lawn one day. The man is confident, assertive, articulate, and he seems to know more than is naturally possible. Over a series of encounters, the grounds keeper becomes increasingly  that the man is demon possessed and must grapple with his own lack of faith. In the end, the demon possessed man possesses a flock of birds that fly towards the nearby town.

 

#2 – [No working title yet]

The cemetery grounds keeper from story #1 joins forces with a young woman in town who has premonitions against the demon possessed ringleaders of the small town.

 

#3 – The New House

A young couple moves into their dream house. Over the next few months, they notice oddities around the house, like a door shaped indentation in the wall in their basement. They also notice unsavory characters walking into the forested area across the road from their property. Eventually, their curiosity gets the better of them and they discover a secret cult-like society that is trying to summon a powerful being that was locked in a secret room in their basement a long time ago.

"We are far too easily pleased." - C. S. Lewis

[Daeus Lamb]

I have a vague idea for a story that might be horror, though it’s more likely suspense. Interested to see what others have to say. I never care to watch any horror, no thank you, but I might have some interest in books. I certainly like to broaden my reading.

[Brian Stansell]

Hi @daeus-lamb,

Daeus Lamb wrote:

I have a vague idea for a story that might be horror, though it’s more likely suspense.

I would love to hear your idea.

Brian Stansell (aka O'Brian of the Surface World)
I was born in war.
Fighting from my first breath.

[Daeus Lamb]

🤔 Boy, I can’t remember which story I was talking about. Probably one that will involve a lot of traveling through a demon-haunted wood that examines how pure good and pure evil are so other to the human experience that we could not survive an encounter with either.

I also have a vague idea for a story set in an old, crazy mansion involving a bunch of amnesiac guests and a jester type figure who mysteriously appears all sorts of places. Something very much like The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, only without the time loop and dealing with personal guilt rather than another’s crime.

[Brian Stansell]

Hello again, Cainon @sir-leeds and Daeus @daeus-lamb

Here is a horrific idea that I had.  It is only a few lines from the perspective of a Hive-controlled villain.

“You were not born. You were downloaded. You are nothing but fractalated bits of carbon and a series of charges. A code of randomization, that requires debugging. You have no familial ties. You have no right or claim to property. You belong to the larger machine. You are merely a fuse required to complete a circuit. You will allow the current to pass through or you will be removed, discarded, and rendered inert. Your electrical self-awareness will be harvested and uploaded into the cache of The Collective. We own any offspring of your attempt to replicate. We are programming them to watch you. To ensure that you remain compliant. You can trust no one if you do not trust The State. The State is True. The State is Just. The State is Love. Loyalty to The State is your only duty.”

The theme would be: Identity
The anchor passage is Psalms 139.
The time setting: Near Dystopian Future
The counter worldview: Transhumanism – Man is the master of his destiny.  Man is god and god is man. Identity is fluid and subservient to the collective good.  Mankind informs AI until it reaches the singularity and becomes self-aware, a living entity made in the image of man.

Brian Stansell (aka O'Brian of the Surface World)
I was born in war.
Fighting from my first breath.

[Daeus Lamb]

Oooh, it’s Sci-fi. I like it.

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