Shades of Gray

I’ve been playing around with a few new story ideas.  A writer pal of mine is taking submissions for a new anthology and I’m considering submitting a story but I haven’t written in that genre before.  He’s a horror writer and the anthology is about monsters.  I’m not unfamiliar with monsters.  But I have a dilemma of sorts.

To date, I don’t do scary, gory, or horror.  I’m not sure I have a dark side that’s dark enough to tap into.  I’ve never been one to be intentionally cruel or vindictive and I tend to stay away from people who are.  My path of self-discovery has most definitely brought me further into the light.  So I’m now having to ask myself:  where is my negative, my darkness?

Can I look into the shadows and find a monster I can look at and not run away from?  Is there a monster in my mirror?  Do I look outside myself for that monster?  If so how do I look into the abyss and not get pulled in?  How do I keep myself grounded in the light and draw the monsters out of the darkness?

I have a pretty active imagination.  If you’ve ever read my other blog, the one my “evil twin” writes, you know I tend to lean toward the erotic more than the darkness.  I don’t have a problem creating bad guys in my stories.  The problem lies in making them bad enough, evil enough, dark enough.  How do I find that darkness?  Perhaps I’ll follow the trail of cookies…

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