Author: Shawn Lachance

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Articles Interviews Women in Horror Month

Interview – Jackie Perez

You’re working on an adaptation of Beachworld, what can you tell us about it?

Beachworld is one of Stephen King’s Dollar Babies, stories he grants students and emerging filmmakers film options to in order to “try their hands” at one of his works. He is my favorite author (Flannery O’Connor is a close second) and I grew up reading his books and loving scary stories and horror movies.  Beachworld is a sci-fi/horror story that delves into the psyche of a woman named Shapiro who crash lands on a desolate planet of sand dunes, and whose companion Rand is going insane. The look of the film is retro 2001 A Space Odyssey meets surreal Burning Man.  King fans will find that my adaptation is very different from King’s original. One obvious change is that my version has women and King’s does not.  It’s so important to have representation on screen so I made some of the characters, including the lead, female and I’m really excited to cast their roles.  The other big change is that I completely changed the ending.  The original ended on much too happy a note for me, so I added some dark twists and more blood.  You can never have too much in a horror film!  Whether you’ve read the original or not, you’ll be in for a surprise.
Why this story specifically?
It’s definitely not the easiest story to shoot but living in LA, we’re just a few hours from the Imperial Sand Dunes which are the largest dunes in the state of California. I couldn’t pass up the amazing setting!  Besides having the perfect location for this story, I was really drawn to the theme of isolation. I used to be in the Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer and know what it’s like to be in the middle of the ocean with no other vessels in sight or on radar. It’s a little scary even when you’re on a ship with 300 other people.  There’s no quick rescue if something goes wrong. In all the stories I write, I love exploring the types of people we become when shit hits the fan. No matter who much we’ve trained or prepared, in emergencies some people step up and others shut down. I took this story and explored what it would be like for someone who is stranded with no rescue in sight.  What type of person do they become faced with that situation?
You’ve mentioned to me that the crew will be 50% female on the project. We love this idea. Why was this important?
Women are 51% of the world’s population and yet sorely underrepresented both on screen and behind the camera in our industry.  I’m a huge believer in the phrase “if you can see it you can be it” and for way too long, women have been relegated to the back seat while men take the wheel.  It all started back in the late 1920’s when sound was introduced to films, and movies started becoming a legitimate money making industry.  Hollywood went from a town full of female powerhouses like Francis Marian, Lois Weber, and June Mathis to the female filmmaking desert we see even today.  That’s not to say the talent and experience isn’t out there.  There’s so many amazing, talented women who are great at their jobs but not enough people give them a chance to show off their skills.  I want my team to reflect the world we live in, inclusive of as many voices as possible because good ideas come from a diverse set of experiences.  We’ve spent way too long living in a world where our voices and opinions are less important, and I want to do what I can as a story creator and job creator to push the scale towards a more equal future.

You were a nuclear engineer before you became a screenwriter, I have no question about it I just think that’s really friggin’ cool.
I got to yell things like “Scram the reactor!”
You won Screamfest LA’s Best Un-Produced Screenplay. How long after the transition from Engineer to Screenwriter did that happen? I imagine that must have been validation that you made the right choice?
It was a huge validation! I actually found out about my win while I was in New Zealand on my Honeymoon.  I came out to LA right after the Navy wanting to stretch my creative side but not sure what I was going to be.  I could never think outside the box in nuclear engineering which is why I wanted a change.  I loved watching movies (especially horror) and finally recognized that it was a business and people made movies as a career.  That had never really clicked for me as I headed into undergrad at MIT, but I made several short films there after hearing Eli Roth speak at a Hostel Q&A and him telling someone to just go out and do it, film school isn’t a necessity. So I took his advice and wrote my own scripts, wrangled friends to act, and shot some shorts!
Once I made it to LA, I spent two years working in development learning the business side of the industry before I started falling in love with screenwriting.  I took a foundational screenwriting class for military veterans through the Writers Guild Foundation and decided to pursue a Masters to build my craft. I worked towards my MFA in a low-residency program via Stephens College and worked at a production company concurrently to keep learning the biz. My winning script U-666 was written during my final school year under the mentorship of writer/director Gus Krieger who taught me so much about writing horror.  It was just over 4 years from my career 180 from nuclear engineer to screenwriter that I won at Screamfest. Now I can’t imagine myself doing anything else!  That being said, I am still in the Navy Reserve and do Science and Engineering outreach as the Navy’s West Coast City Outreach Officer.  I am also the Director of Grants for Veterans in Media and Entertainment.  So while I consider myself first and foremost a screenwriter, I have a lot of things going on!  I love directing when I can, seeing my vision through to the very end but screenwriting I can do anywhere, anytime as long as I have a pen and paper.  The creative freedom is really freeing.
What can you tell us about the people on the crew for Beachworld?
I have such an amazing team!  We are all huge Stephen King fans and so excited to bring his story to life.  There are a lot of military veterans working on this, including our Producer Brian Campeau, and Executive Producers Karen Kraft and Rebecca Murga.  They have decades of experience between the three of them from producing for Discovery (Karen) to shadowing in the Ryan Murphy HALF Foundation and Disney/ABC Directing program (Rebecca).  Needless to say, I’m really thrilled to have their support!  I met our visionary Cinematographer Gareth Taylor at a Film Independent mixer and we hit it off over our love for King.  Lenny Vallone is another one of our producers at OneNinth and has been tremendous nailing down our budget.  Our inventive production designer Kaeleigh Morrison just came off of Glow and Criminal Minds and is a whiz with social media too!  My best friend Erin Feller is going to help capture all the crazy behind the scenes moments and unit stills, and my husband Jon Paris is a pro at problem solving, jumping in wherever he can help.  We haven’t locked in cast yet but we have started talking with some amazing actors and will be posting our cast and crew updates on our Facebook page!

What advice can you give to other people who are thinking of getting started in screenwriting?
Try it out!  Take a class or certificate program.  If you are LA-based there are so many programs you can enroll in and if you are outside of LA, there is a wealth of resources online.  Read books about screenwriting.  I have two shelfs dedicated reference books on screenwriting and directing.  I also have library cards with the LA, Burbank, and San Diego public library systems!  I’m currently reading William Goldman’s Adventures in the Screen Trade. Not only is he one of the greatest screenwriters ever, he holds a special place in my heart because he wrote the screenplay for Stephen King’s Misery!  It’s my favorite King adaptation.  Read screenplays, watch movies, and write.  William Faulkner gave the best writing advice when he said “Don’t be a writer, be writing.”  I have that on a sticky above my desk.

We love what you’re planning for Beachworld and think it’s fantastic that you’re so keen on having so many women on your crew. What advice can you give to other women who want to make the leap to horror?  
The horror community is really supportive, which I love.  Make friends in person or through social media with women (and men!) working in horror and support their work.  When you make the leap, remember that you can help create a more inclusive industry by how you write your characters or hire your crew.  You have a lot of power!  Wield it fiercely and unapologetically.  And remember, no one knows anything and there’s no such thing as too much blood.
You can get Beachworld updates at www.facebook.com/beachworldfilm and follow Jackie Perez on twitter at @jackierageperez
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Articles Guest Articles Women in Horror Month

Guest Article from Jillian Maria

They say “write what you know,” and I do. Most of the time, it’s on purpose — I’ll draw on my own mannerisms and reactions to make characters believable, or I’ll pull on tropes that I like and subvert the ones that I don’t.

But sometimes, I write what I know without even realizing that I’m doing it.

My main project, with the working title of Songbird, just finished its second draft recently. In it, a girl named Elizabeth is kidnapped by an evil, immortal witch known only as the Mistress who locks her in a bird cage, curses her to grow feathers that slowly suck the life out of her, and forces her to sing on a stage every night.

Like all of my horror-based projects, I drew on fears that I knew I had. Cages, body horror, public speaking (or, well, singing, in Elizabeth’s case). But when reading through the draft with fresh eyes, I noticed something a little more insidious lurking in between the lines.

When Elizabeth is kidnapped, her clothes are taken from her and replaced by a white dress while she’s unconscious. The Mistress has the power to give commands that are physically impossible to disobey using only her voice. At one point, Elizabeth notes that her body hasn’t really felt like her own since the moment she woke up in the cage. The feathers turn it from a home home to a tomb of hollow bones for her to rot in. And the Mistress’s voice turns her mind against her, too.

From a young age, I was raised with the knowledge that someone could, at any time, override my desires and force me into an encounter that I did not ask for or want, leaving me feeling much like Elizabeth does in Songbird.

Now, make no mistake — sexual assault, and the resulting crises that stem from the loss of autonomy and consent, does not just happen to women. It’s something that can happen to any gender.

But from a very young age, I was taught to never leave my drink alone in an unfamiliar place. I was sent off to college with a can of pepper spray. Whenever I tell my mom that I’m going out with friends, she inevitably tells me carpool so I don’t have to drive through the city alone after dark. I am an adult, and I should be self-sufficient, but I always make sure someone knows where I’m going, who I will be with, and what time I intend to be home.

I have been raised with these expectations, with this fear, because I am a woman. There’s no way around it. Every time I mention it to my friends, it only confirms my suspicions — my female friends will inevitably share my experience, while my male friends are more often than not surprised.

I didn’t realize how pervasively that fear cropped up in my own writing until I read it. Indeed, most of the horror in Songbird stems from the absolute helplessness Elizabeth feels when confronted with a villain that she physically cannot say “no” to. It stems from the same fear that puts the pepper spray in my purse, the same fear that makes me bring my drink with me to the bathroom when I’m out at the bar.

There’s something a little disturbing about the fact that I didn’t recognize it for what it was until after I was finished writing it. It’s because I’m so used to it. I’ve known this fear for as long as I can remember. Sometimes, I even forget that it isn’t something normal, that I shouldn’t have to feel this way.

Of course, we’re making strides as a society. We’re getting better at identifying abusers, at punishing them. But I have to wonder how many generations it will take before little girls aren’t raised with the inherent fear that my friends and I have learned.

—

Jillian Maria can be found on twitter here

You can find Jillian on tumblr here

Categories
Articles Interviews Women in Horror Month

Interview – Kaitlin Statz

One of the things I enjoy most about The White Vault is the variety
of characters. The fact that they’re all from diverse backgrounds adds a
level of realism to a research team. How did you go about coming up with this concept?

I didn’t feel as though I was creating something new when I decided upon the characters and their backgrounds. I created the characters required to tell the story and weave an intricate story of found-footage and missing information. Similarly to your statement, I feel it is far more fictional to believe a research team on Svalbard would be filled with nothing but broody Americans!

When I was doing my graduate research, the people in the lab and the fellow students next to me in seminars hailed from around the world. Research and scientific pursuits are not limited to English-speaking countries or single-minded academic Lonely Hearts with a dark romantic past.

I attempted to create the people I’ve met, worked with, befriended, and hated.  Wonderful people all their own who would have a reason to go home, wherever that home may be.

 

Do you have a process for character creation? I personally use
Dungeons and Dragons character sheets, it’s a trick I stole from an
author friend (Charity Langley) and find it allows me to think of things
I normally wouldn’t. 

Though I do play D&D and love the process of character creation there, I take a very different track for my writing pursuits. I have a booklet where each person is given a page, starting with simple information, and then I look at the same questions people are told to ask about their own lives.

-What are their goals?

-What are their favorite things?

-What do they want out of this stage of their life?

-What have they learned recently that will influence future choices?

I do leave some things unwritten, as I never know when I’ll need to weave in a new memory or reaction, and because I can never write down everything.

 

I love the sense of isolation and dread that the show evokes, the
episodes are always a perfect length and I usually have to stop working
(Sorry boss) when I’m listening to the episodes. Is isolation something
that personally scares you?

There are certain people I would never wish to be isolated from, and I feel less frightened of isolation than I do imprisonment. I’ve always enjoyed exploration, hiking, seeing the world, and I draw much of my inspiration from my travels. I don’t mind hiking through the woods with two or three other people, cutting us off from others and used to enjoy long solitary walks home through Swedish forests in the winter. What I fear is the bunker, the prison it creates in the storm. The idea that this may be the last place I’d ever get to see. That’s terrifying for me.

 

Do you have any special routines when you write? Certain music you
have to listen to? A special room?

Tea and quiet. A hot pot of tea on my desk or side table is the sign I’m about to sit down to write.

If I am going to work for hours at a time writing page after page, I only remember to get up and stretch when I go to pour another cup and nothing comes out.

I’m also a very heavy researcher, so I’ll try to have all my information up and ready before I begin. If I take a moment to Google a bit of information, I don’t know how long I’ll be stuck in the abyss of the Internet.

 

You also write for Liberty, which is a Science-Fiction podcast. Do you
have a preference between Sci-Fi and horror when it comes to writing?

I prefer writing horror, but I’ve written a few pieces in several genres. My preference for writing horror is why we started the Liberty: Tales from the Tower series, where I get to blend our sci-fi world with it’s own mythos of terror.  Liberty: Critical Research has some scary elements here and there, but it is far more a tale of survival and understanding.

Writing horror feels more visceral. I want to wiggle my words under my listeners’ skin, have them thinking about it while cooking dinner or when they’re stepping out of the shower on a dark night. That’s a goal, and I’ll strive to reach it. Just as a comedian wants people to laugh.

 

What is your favorite genre to read?

Horror.

To be a writer, you have to write.

To be a good writer, you have to read, write, and practice.

I read horrors, new and old, short stories to novels, and when I’m working or driving I’ll listen to horror audiobooks and horror podcasts. I’m a consumer storytelling.

But, when it dawns on me that I should take a break from horror, I tend to enjoy high fantasy.

 

Are there any tropes you actively look to avoid in your writing?

I try to avoid a collection of tropes I lump together as the ‘idiotic characters’.

It’s okay to create someone who is naïve, someone with a healthy amount of disbelief, but when faced with changes to their life they should react accordingly.
If your friend comes screaming down the hill saying something attacked her, she’s bleeding and wide-eyed, I don’t care if she’s drunk or high, you don’t wander into the woods looking for the thing. You drive her to a hospital, or lock yourself in the car until you are sober enough to drive.

When I’m writing and I think to myself ‘Why are they doing this? This is idiotic’, I have to assess if this is their only option. The circumstances have to reach extremes before intelligent adults make poor choices and I prefer to write intelligent characters.

 

Do you have any projects coming up we should be on the lookout for?

Yes and no. Season 2 of The White Vault is going to release in October of 2018. Also, we have a mini-series spin-off for The White Vault called ‘Artifact’ that will release to patrons and supporters in a few months.

As the writer for Fool and Scholar Productions, I can say that we are working on several new ideas, but they are still mysterious, lurking in the shadows until the time is right.

 

—

You can find Kaitlin on Twitter here

You can find The White Vault on twitter here

You can support Kaitlin’s work through Patreon here

 

Categories
Articles Interviews Women in Horror Month

Interview – Lou Yardley

How long have you been writing for?

On and off for as long as I could read and write, but in 2016 I decided to make a proper go of it. I’d taken part in NaNoWriMo a couple of times in the years before that (with varying levels success), but I hadn’t written anything that I thought I’d could share with someone else. By the time 2016 rolled around, I’d completed a 4 year degree and found myself in desperate need of a project. The novel I began writing in that year’s NaNoWriMo became that project. Wow, that wasn’t a straightforward answer, was it?

What is it about horror that made you think ‘This is the genre for me’?

I’ve always been drawn to the darker things in life. I don’t think I’m evil or anything like that, but when I first watched Star Wars, I rooted for Darth Vader and when I watched He-Man, I wanted Skeletor to win. The baddies just always seemed so much more interesting than the good guys. It’s like the goodies were bound by a set of rules, while the baddies were free to do as they pleased. There’s a song by Greensky Bluegrass called “Burn Them” that goes “What a relief from the pressure to just be hated / And learn that being bad ain’t nothing but a pleasure”. There’s something in that idea that’s rather appealing.

Anyway, when I discovered horror (largely through this dude called Stephen King…. I wonder if anyone’s ever heard of him?), I was able to really embrace this darkness. BUT, rather than rooting for the baddies, I discovered characters. King’s characters are rarely completely good or completely bad (I mean, Pennywise is just a being that has to feed, right? Everybody’s gotta eat…), they just make decisions that can be perceived as being good or bad. Horror, for me, is not about the body count or the blood, guts and gore (although I do like those things to feature heavily in the stories I read and write), it’s about human beings. It’s about being human. It’s about how fear can either drive us to being extremely heroic or can see us running to the hills. Whenever I read a horror story or watch a movie, I ask myself what I would do in that situation. Sometimes I’d do what the character is doing, others I wouldn’t. I’d love to say that I’d always fight against the big baddie, but, more often than not, I’d probably just end up hiding in a cupboard or something.

Any tips for combatting writer’s block?

HIT IT WITH A SPOON!

I have two ways of combating writer’s block: Stop writing or keep writing. That seems like the least helpful answer in the world, but trust me.

If I’m really stuck and I have other things I can do, I’ll stop writing. I’ll go for a walk, or read a book or talk to my cats about their plans for world domination. Then, the next day, I’ll go back to it and find that the words are miraculously there. It’s some kind of witchcraft… I don’t know how it works… maybe I sold my soul to Skeletor when I was a child…

The second option is to just power through it and keep writing no matter what. Even if it’s complete gibberish about how much a character likes spaghetti (maybe it reminds them of our lord and saviour Cthulu? Mmm… tentacles… )…. it usually serves to wake up the creative muscles again. Fair enough, you do have to delete a load of words afterwards, but it does work.

Any rituals you have before starting a new story?

This is disappointingly boring, but… No. Sorry!

How do you handle character creation? I find using Dungeons and Dragons character sheets helpful but it’s fun to see the many ways other people go about this.

I’m not sure if this makes sense, but my characters already tend to be pretty full in my head before I start writing. Sure, I find out things about them along the way, but I usually have a good idea of what they look like and how they act straightaway. Most of the time this is the bit that’s clearest in my head… I’m one of those people who tends to make it up as they go along when it comes to plot (I know how I want it to end, I just haven’t planned out the journey yet), so my stories are character and situation driven. I often find that new characters crop up along the way and, when that happens, I’ll start with a name and the character will develop around that.

Any projects coming up (or currently out) you’d like to share with us?

I do!

I have a series called “The Others” that currently has two novels in it (“The Other’s Voice” and “The Others: A Bleak Reflection”). A third and final installment will be along within the next year or so. I also have a novella called “Jingle Bells” and a short story called “Lydia”. Oh, and there’s a piece of flash fiction called “Wasted Time” that’s lurking out there on the internet somewhere.

But, the project I’m most excited about is called “Hellhound”. I’m in the editing phase of it at the moment and I’m hoping to publish it later this year. I’ve had a great time writing it, so I hope it’s as much fun to read as it was to write.

How can we support your work?

My stories are available digitally from loads of places, including Kindle, Kobo, iBooks, etc. Just go to your favourite store and search for “Lou Yardley”. If I’m not there, let me know! Print books are currently only available from Amazon, louyardley.com and CreateSpace. I’m planning to try a different distribution method with “Hellhound” as it would be wonderful to see it in some bricks and mortar stores.

If you don’t want to buy a book yet (or if you have them already – if so, thank you!) then it would be great if you could follow me on Twitter (I’m @LouciferSpeaks) or give me a ‘like’ on Facebook – http://facebook.com/louyardley. Shares and retweets are always appreciated. Plus, reviews on Goodreads, Amazon and other eBook retailers are fab!

Any advice to people just starting out in their writing careers?

 

I’m still starting out myself, so I’m by no means an expert. But, I would say this:

 

  1. Give it a go, you’ll probably surprise yourself.
  2. Be active on social media, but not TOO active. You need time to write!
  3. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Pretty much every author I’ve communicated with online has been amazing.
  4. If people do help you, remember to thank them.
  5. Be excellent to each other.

 

Categories
Archives Poetry Women in Horror Month

Is Anyone There – A Poem by M.C. Adams

I can’t hear anything I can’t hear anyone The silence is not only deadly but deafening I’m screaming for help But no- no one is listening I’m afraid of the blackness Not darkness because that’s just the start of the black First the chill that runs down the spine is clinging to my back like a demon in the night trying to attach its spirit to mine; A shadow always creeping behind every step I take. I fall. Can someone answer the call, the ringing in my ears is too much to bear. I wanna run but I’m scared. My feet are stuck like roots steady trying to uplift the soil sinking around me like quicksand pulling me further and further in. The feeling of loneliness and longing linger in the air like frozen droplets of precipitation surrounding my dispair like looming clouds hanging in the sky which is where I usually turn mine eyes but they are blinded by the nothingness that consumes my every heartbeat. Thumping like a drum my fear quickly becomes this beast that is awaiting to be released. Feeling the red rage take over the monster shows its face but as I look closer its just the reflection of the beast and it is me. My enemy is my friend and my friend is my foe. Woe, is me and the reflection is cast upon a wide lake that I feel is my soul and my inner dark place. The lake begins to rise and the wave hits me in my blindside; blind sided by the crash the climax hits and its choking me now. My airflow is cut off as I gasp for oxygen feeling my heartbeat grow thin but at the same time its racing like a stallion doing the triple crown competition. I gasp once then twice then start to feel my eyes roll back into my head suddenly I’m alone in my room on my bed. The sweat rolls down my back and the chill from the fan creates a whirl wind. Tumbling down the walls to instill within me that I am yet again alone and that triggers me; I hang my head and ask the question once agai why do I have to go through the anxiety that is high? My heartbeat is still thumping and I know its temporary but the pain that lives inside me brings a tear to my eye that I usually hide, but as it slips down my face I wish for a different life, knowing even if it was so it would somehow bite me in the ass, so I take a deep breath and prepare to face the day and try to not show this ugly demon that lives inside of me.