Happy Horror Holidays! (Taking your eyes off yourself)

by A.P. Fuchs

Nearly every horror author will tell you that it was someone or a certain story that brought them into the world of telling spooky tales. And, of course, that's how it should be. There's influences all around us and, depending on your view, nearly all—if not entirely all—our decisions are based on what we're told, what we see and what we've experienced (the experiences being 99% a combination of not just our choices and decisions, but also the choices and decisions of others). Makes you wonder what choices are really ours, and those that are echoes of choices already made by others (the choices made by others that triggered a chain of events that affected your decision).

Everything we do has motivation. Very simply, we go to the store to buy food because we're hungry, not just because if we don't eat we'll die. We go to bed because we're tired. We write in our diaries or journals because we need to get something off our chest or need to express something to someone even if that someone is just a blank page.

I often wonder what fuels other horror authors. Inspiration aside, I'm curious what's in their heart when they sit down at the keyboard. Why are they sitting at the keyboard? Is it to make money? To share something? To say something to someone through their work? They just like to write? Perhaps all of the above. Horror, however, when done correctly, is emotionally charged. Without emotion, without tension, without the expression of a character's feelings, horror is nothing.

Expression of feelings. Let's look at that one. Where does the storyteller get his or her feelings from, when they insert them into a character? Horror authors—the majority—are just regular people when away from the keyboard and not the eccentric, morose nutcases most folks envision when reading their work. However, it is fairly safe to say that all horror authors have a darkness within them, one that they can express through stories of the macabre. We all have a dark side, but in some the night is stronger than the day.

What happened to them, to that author? What created that darkness ? What made/makes them put those black and moody feelings into their words? Dare I say that the things that hurt us the most are the things associated with love? It can be the love of a friend or of a lover. It can be the love of an animal. It can even be the love of oneself. Irregardless, platonic or romantic, if you look at the darker things that shaped who you are, you'll see that love played an important part. You might have to look deep, but you'll find it, and that brings me to the point of this article. The Holidays.

Yes, they are here. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukah or nothing at all, the last couple of weeks of December and the first few days into the New Year are spent differently than any other time of year. Most people spend the holidays with family and loved ones, friends and companions. Sadly, there are some that spend the Holidays alone.

My challenge to you is this: if you've been hurt by someone or something, on a small scale or great, and if the Christmas Season stings your heart or you get the Holiday Blues, why not let the day rule the night for the main two and a half weeks of the season and conquer the darkness within by providing the light for someone else. Someone who needs it. Maybe even to the people who are counting on you to have a good time, to be in good spirits, who want to see you stop brooding during the Holiday blitz. You have a whole year to spend with your dark side, but you have maybe fourteen to twenty or so days to give love a second chance, to be with family and friends, to be a friend to those who have no one to let them know they're loved.

You never know, but come next year when you're checking out the next big horror title to hit the stands or the next horrific box office smash, you might wonder why the creators of the work created it as they did, and if you sense tragedy behind the page or camera. Bless your heart if you're filled with compassion.

Be safe this year. Happy Holidays and God bless you!