Horror week #004: VOICES make your horror fiction unsettling…

          As writers, we all have those little voices in our heads; they’re called characters. But voices in the head of your character can be downright creepy. Look at how Ronald Kelly makes it even worse by making an INTERNAL voice EXTERNAL in his novel, Blood Kin:

Dudley Craven stared at the piece of wood protruding from the skeleton’s chest.

Go on…pull it out. It won’t do no harm.

The voice seemed to fill his head, numbing his brain with an odd coldness.

Yes! it urged, as he grabbed hold of the stake. Do it!

Dud braced himself and pulled. There was a brittle pop as the stake came free.

He was about to take a step backward when he heard the rattle of bones and felt a tug at the leg of his britches. Dud looked down and was shocked to see what had him.

It was the right hand of a skeleton. From the tiny pores of the bones seeped a clear red fluid. It ran along the fingers and joints, coating them, thickening into a deep, greasy crimson. He watched as the stringy texture of raw muscle and ligaments formed, covering the hand, hiding the bones underneath. Then, almost as quickly, a thin layer of skin appeared.

“No,” mumbled Dud. “No, it ain’t happening.”

“Oh, but it is,” said the voice.

But this time it didn’t come from Dud’s brain.

Instead, it came from the casket.

Try this:

          Go all “Son of Sam” on this one. Create a character who is battling a voice inside his head that is tempting him to do something he really doesn’t want to do. Have the voice get stronger and stronger until the character finally caves and takes action.

Coming tomorrow: Our final day of horror. A “Standing 8 Count” brought to you by master horror writer, Michael Slade, the Stephen King of Canada!