I'm the Absurd Word Nerd, inviting you to read, if you dare. For today is the eighteenth of october, and we have so much to celebrate . . .
On this day, in 1939, Lee Harvey Oswald was born; the assassin of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy. On this day in 1356, the town of Basel, Switzerland was destroyed in a catastrophic earthquake; the death toll more than three hundred souls. On this day in 1931 Thomas Edison, inventor of the research laboratory, died of complications due to diabetes.
Then, of course most importantly, on this day in 1991, I was born to this world.
Happy Birthday to . . . me; Happy Birthday to ME!
Oh yes, today is my birthday. I'm another year older, another year wiser and I want to celebrate the occasion! However, I don't just want some party of my family and friends. Of course, that will happen in due time, but I also want to celebrate on my blog. I want to share in the devilry and revelry! So how will I do this? Well, first things first if you want to send me a present, I'd be more than happy to accept . . . if not, well, you'll suffer the consequences.
But more than that, I want to celebrate today, this day. This horrible, inevitable, damnable and condemnable day! As the first step towards horror.
For you see, dear reader, a few years ago it was brought to my attention that the date of my birth fell on an odd date: October the Eighteenth. It seems like an innocent enough date, until you count backwards from the 31st, then you would soon realize that I was born exactly thirteen days before halloween . . .
But don't fret, my friends, because I'm not at all bothered by it. In fact, I embrace it and celebrate it; and seeing as how the year is 2013, I decided that that I should celebrate my birthday with a countdown.
A count of the days, counting down from thirteen,
From today, thirteen nights till we see Halloween.
Sounds like fun. Oh, what glorious, goriest fun! We'll be dabbling in the macabre, the morbid, the melancholy . . . oh, and of course the MONSTROUS. So let's begin today. The Word the Day is: 'MONSTER'.
Monster /monstə/ n. 1. An imaginary animal of part animal and part human form, such as a centaur, griffin, etc. 2. An animal or plant of abnormal form or structure. 3. A person who excites horror. 4. Any animal or thing of huge size. ♦adj. 5. Huge; monstrous.I plan on counting down the days, not just with numbers but with words as well. Words of the Day, Fiction, a List or two, Special posts and all kinds of fun!
So to kick off this evening, I will be your monster. Hopefully instilling a bit of fear, or at the least a creepy chill. See, I'm not always a nice man . . .
We all do our best to be nice (hopefully) but we do, occasionally fail. I've hurt, cut and insulted; I've despaired, despised and hated. Today, I implore you to do the same. See, as much as I try to be a nice person, I still enjoy being cruel now and then. I like to hate people, I enjoy the deep and glowing burn of anger in the pit of my stomach. It fuels me. Especially that righteous and furious anger against the injustices of this world. I feel powerful to know that I am righteous. But more importantly, it inspires me.
Because I am a writer. I create all manner of characters for my stories: the heroic, the valiant & the good. Yet, they aren't the only people in fiction - there are also the villains. If you wish to write well, then you must know your characters, the good and the bad. It's in these moments that the inner monster in me gets to play.
The man that laughs at the sound of crying children; the one that turns his back on the weak; the man that insults the feeble-minded; hurts the intolerant & prays for fiery death upon the insignificant.
I am a Monster. These deeper emotions, at the core of my being and hidden behind my intellectual facade, they are nothing short of animal. I truly believe that I am a monster, even as dear Dictionary defines it. I almost fear myself.
Almost, but I don't, because I get to unleash that beast in the form of fiction; I let loose that fire. I find this not only helps my, shall we say, mental stability, but it also adds a deeper, darker element to the monsters in my stories.
Most importantly, I find this helps me to identify with the villain. As much fun as you can have with a Bad Guy that just wants to Rule the World! It is, of course, nowhere near as scary as the villain with honourable motives. The more interesting stories, in my opinion, are those where the villain actually has a logical point, and a purpose for his actions beyond "doing evil".
In that way, they're so much more like the real villains in this world. They do what they do because they think it is for the greater good. Misguided as they may be, I truly enjoy a villain that thinks they are a hero. After all, when I hate someone, I do so for a reason, not just because I hate the world and everyone in it.
So, I invite all writers to find their monster - their inner demons - to inspire monsters in their stories. After all, after October is November, which of course means NaNoWriMo. Surely, you'll have some heroes and villains to write of your own. So, if you're having trouble writing believable villains, I suggest that you look inside yourself. We've all got a dark side, after all . . .
I'm the Absurd Word Nerd - your host of the ghostly blog-post - and until next time, remember: I may be a monster but, in a way, so are you.
