Voyage of the Dawn Treader

When I was in grade school my parents gave me a complete set of the Chronicles of Narnia. This set of books was one of the greatest gifts I had received since it unlocked a whole world of possibilities for me and later my writing.

My favorite of the Narnia series was and still is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The high sea adventures and episodic plot appealed to my third grade mind. The fact each island offers a different view of Lewis' alternate world still interests me today. Also interesting is that it is the book where Lewis pays his greates homage (at least from what I have noticed) to Irish lore. For those of you who don't know, C.S. Lewis was Irish, although he moved from Ireland to attend college and never returned.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader follows some patterns of the Immram tales of Ireland. Immrams tell of sea journeys to the Otherworld. Although Christian, these books incorporate a fair amount of pre-Christian Irish lore. Unlike the Immrams, Lewis' tale is of a sea journey that goes from west to east, instead of east to west. It is possible Lewis' colleague J.R.R. Tolkien based his division of lands in his tales of Middle Earth on this east to west pattern where westward lies the mythical lands.

Equally as fun, though, is how Lewis introduces a very interesting character in Eustance. Eustance reminds me (and a lot of others) of Dudley in the Harry Potter series: he is a non-believer in magic, a bully, know-it-all, rude, obnoxious, etc. Characters like Eustance can be very fun to read (and write).

The imagery at the end of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is also something that makes the book stick out. I can still picture in my mind the ship floating through a lilly-covered, completely calm sea as well as Reepicheep paddling his boat up a wall of water, never to be seen again. The ending of the book sticks with me even today. A movie version of the book is slated to come out sometime this year (hopefully not in the summer blockbuster time). I am hoping they get these haunting scenes at the end of the book right, rather than concentrating just on explosions or epic battles.

Shadow House Wide Distribution Live

Great news: Shadow House is now available in paper form through major retailers including Amazon and Barnes and Noble. This means if you already are ordering through one of these websites you can add Shadow House to your wishlist or next order and save on shipping. Shadow House should also be available from your local bookstore to order, if you prefer.

Waiting for Warmer Weather

Winter had its temporary recess for a week or so here in Utah, but it has come back with a bitter cold. The snow is still held at bay here in Salt Lake City, but I know that will not last for long. I enjoy my winters, but this year I am looking forward to the warmer weather for a few reasons. Once the weather warms and the less-traveled roads in the state are more friendly to travel, I have several haunted locations in more remote areas I am going to personally check out.

Since writing about the paranormal in Utah, I have had quite a few people ask me if there really are many paranormal spots in the state. There are a surprising number of reportedly haunted buildings and pieces of land in the state of Utah, and I hope to provide more of a window into where these sites are and what they are all about. Like my articles on the Old Mill, This is the Place Park, and McCune Mansion in Salt Lake City, I will be taking plenty of pictures to bring you, the reader, closer to the experience of visiting these places yourself. I am looking for some of the most interesting haunted areas to explore, including spots that are infamous as well as those that many may not even know exist.

I have to admit, the in-person visits to haunted areas are my favorite articles to research and write. Getting my hands dirty is the best part of reporting on the paranormal, and I will be glad to be digging more in the real world. I also have noticed they are very popular with readers. If you have any suggestions of areas I could check out, I am all ears.

As I visit these different spots look for articles on them on my Examiner page. Here on the blog I plan to share some more candid information, including my personal opinions of the places I visit and my experiences there.

The Old Mill

By far one of the most popular articles I have written on the paranormal is about the Old Mill by the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon here in Salt Lake City. The mill was important for paper production in the then-isolated Salt Lake Valley, but later fell into disrepair after falling victim to a couple of fires (for more on the history of the mill, click here). The mill has been used for everything from a dance hall to a boutique venue, and even a haunted house for the Halloween season. Today, though, the mill sits with a fence and "no trespassing" signs around its perimeter.

I regularly get emails from people (mostly paranormal investigators) asking one huge question about the Old Mill: who owns it now and how does one go about contacting them? The lazy Google searches turn up no information on the ownership of the mill, but some digging does shed some light. A group known as Walker Development Partnership (which likely is somehow tied to the famous Walker Lane nearby) is listed as the current owner of Old Mill. So far, though, I have not found out anything about the owner, including contact info (but then, I have been so busy with projects that I honestly have not tried too hard). Perhaps one day I will and could include a follow-up to what is going on with the Old Mill in Salt Lake City. The structure seems to be one of great interest to many people for reasons both historical and paranormal. For whatever reasons, though, the current owner does not seem to be taking steps to preserve a building that was so key to the pioneer settlement of the area, which is a true shame.

One Month

Exactly one month from today will be the official launch party for Shadow House. At this very moment Shadow House is going through the necessary hoops to make it into wide distribution, meaning paper copies should be available on Amazon (Kindle electronic version already available), Barnes and Noble's website, etc. This also means bookstores around the globe should be able to order copies of Shadow House.

Be looking soon for an official announcement on the launch party - I will post it here once it is ready. As of right now, we will have a limited number of copies of Shadow House available for purchase at the launch party for those who can't wait for the time it takes to ship (that is, unless they sell out before then. People who are local have been purchasing them from me directly more than I expected. I will try to keep a fair amount of copies for the launch party, though, but if you are in the area and want a copy early just in case let me know). I will be there to sign copies of Shadow House, so if you already purchased one you are welcome to bring it.

I am so excited to give Shadow House the party it deserves and to meet some of you. I am also very, very excited for my next book that I am busily working on.

The Desire to Write

One of the biggest foes to any writer, whether they are established or not, can be motivation. I have known many people who have started writing a book, or even a short story, but partway into the task have become discouraged for one of a wide field of reasons and have let their dream of writing drop by the wayside. Of course, I am not under any illusion that all of these people I have known had that deep, burning desire to tell stories or convey ideas to a wider audience, but I am sure there were those in the dropouts who once had that fire burn in their heart. 

The question that begs to be answered is what do writers do to keep from getting discouraged. This question not only pertains to writers, but also athletes, musicians, dancers, and numerous other professions. There are many answers people have devised to this huge question on motivation, some answers being better than others. I've said it before and I'm going to beat the dead horse once more: writing is not for wimps or the weak at heart. Writing is tough business, and if you can't keep yourself motivated at it you won't last long.

I read a lot, which is something that is essential to honing your writing skills. Recently I was perusing my much-read copy of Confucius' Analects when something jumped out at me like it had not before. I think it may provide another answer or angle on the question of how a writer can stay motivated and overcome discouragement. 

The superior man bears want unshaken, the inferior man in want becomes demoralized.

Say you have set for yourself the goal of writing your first book within this calendar year.You should always have goals in your writing, by the way. As a professional writer I operate with deadlines all the time, and so should amateur writers who one day want to make part or all of their income with their writing. I have watched person after person become demoralized as Confucius says in their want to write. Perhaps the writing is not coming as easily as they had hoped (that happens to me more often than you may think), a particularly harsh bit of feedback has come from someone who has read one of the drafts, or the whole process seems to be taking an awful amount of time or energy. The goal that at first was supposed to propel the writer forward to a completed manuscript has now become a dreaded task or an ugly thing hanging before them. The superior path to take is, of course, to bear the burden of writing unshaken. What's the best way to do that?

Well, my two cents are that any building is only as good as its foundations. The same holds true in storytelling: a book is only as good as its foundations. I can't say it enough, but the prewriting stage of writing a book is critical in propelling a writer forward in later stages of the work. I know from experience, considering I have several partially finished manuscripts for books lying around. I did not build solid foundations for those books, and they became impossible messes that just consumed me to the point of utter exhaustion. What I did differently with my now published book Shadow House, was to really take my time in the prewriting stage. I fleshed out my characters and got to know them well, thought through the staging of my book, things I thought I wanted to have happen, etc. Writing Shadow House was not an impossible journey because I started off prepared. 

I know a lot of aspiring writers feel like prewriting is just extra work when writing a book is already a tall task. Well, the history of the world is rife with examples of explorers and others who thought proper preparation before venturing into the wilderness was just extra work that could not be bothered with. Some of these people made it out alive but not unscathed, while many others were not as lucky. If you really want to see your book through to fruition and live up to its full potential, build that solid foundation. It will make actually writing the book much more enjoyable and successful.

Utah's Haunted Mansion: McCune Mansion

Every place has its old haunted mansion. Utah's haunted mansion is a place called McCune Mansion, located in downtown Salt Lake City. The mansion is not one of those scary, falling apart type places often shown in older movies. Instead, McCune Mansion is breathtakingly beautiful both inside and out. I have talked to many people about the mansion, and so many of them have noticed McCune for its beauty just from driving by. It is surprising to me, though, how many of these people don't know it's haunted.

One of the first Examiner articles I wrote was on McCune Mansion - you can read it here. When I started doing the paranormal column I knew I had to do a piece on McCune. I went there once when I was younger and something about the place felt off, yet the mansion felt almost like a mini castle. I would even go so far as to say McCune Mansion is Utah's version of The Bilmore Estate (although the Biltmore is much more breathtaking, I have to admit). When I visited the place before I was a teenager and my sister was searching for a location to hold her wedding reception. I am sure she was drawn to the dramatic elements throughout McCune (as well as a prime location). The guide who showed us through explained to my sister that she needed to know before booking the location that it was haunted. The guide went on to explain that many wedding parties had come set up hours before a reception, left, and come back to things rearranged. Not understanding what happened, the parties have accused cleaning crews or others of messing their place settings and such up when in fact nobody had been in the room since the wedding party left it.

My sister did not end up having her reception at McCune Mansion, but I don't think it had to do with the haunting going on there. In a way I was not dissapointed, though. When we went through the building the ballroom there gave me the creeps, and I have not been back inside that room since.

Bless Me, Ultima

I have read the novel Bless Me, Ultima several times over. I wrote a paper about the book in my undergrad and constantly refer to it now. The book, like any good book, is multilayererd and gives me a lot to think on.

I grew up in New Mexico, not in a town like Guadalupe like Antonio. The book does do an excellent job of highlighting the complex culture of New Mexico, that is a combination of different cultures and the creation of something else. Anaya's descriptions of the landscape and the foods of New Mexico take me back.

Bless Me, Ultima also brings up a subject I write on and study: the paranormal. In the story, the character Ultima is a curandera (essentially a healer) who deals with some dark witches causing trouble in the area. The clash between good and evil plays out in an interesting way. Shape shifting, familiar spirits, and folk remedies all play a role in the mystical battle that takes place in the desert landscape.

When I was planning Shadow House, I knew the book had to do something with New Mexico and curanderismo. Sancho is a character I view as helping create a bridge between Scott's upscale life in the Northeast and his roots in New Mexico. I suppose in my way creating Sancho as a character and making him a part of Shadow House was a way to pay tribute to a great book I have enjoyed so much.

Writing in a Vacuum

I think there isn't a writer out there who at one time or another (or maybe daily) thinks they could accomplish so much more if they locked themselves away from the world and just got their writing done. Honestly, there are so many distractions, so many things pulling one's eyes from the page or computer screen when there are so many thoughts jumbling through a writer's head. It is insanity to keep everything straight and put it coherently onto paper, but add in all the distractions with phones ringing, dogs barking, love ones talking - it's just enough to drive a writer batty. 

Some writers have gone so far as to sequester themselves from society. Admittedly, some of these writers have been good, really good, but I doubt they were very healthy people. A while ago I started to realize if I was going to maintain any solid human relationships I had to learn how to write in the stream of life, rather than taking myself out of it.

I had read Stephen King's On Writing several years before, but a quick re-read of it helped bring to the surface what I already knew deep inside of me. King counsels other writers on a number of subjects, and I found myself agreeing with a surprising amount of what he wrote. On writing in a vacuum, King states:

In truth, I've found that any day's routine interruptions and distractions don't much hurt a work in progress and may actually help it in some ways. It is, after all, the dab of grit that seeps into an oyster's shell that makes the pearl, not pearl-making seminars with other oysters.

In my opinion, Stephen King nails it on the head. I have experienced the "distractions" of the day inspiring me in my work. As a matter of fact, the book I am working on right now was partly inspired by a "distraction" provided to me by one of my children. I could have chosen to be angry about the interruption but instead I lived in the stream of life and was inspired. 

Personally I think it is easy to tell when a book has been written in a dusty shack or a dimly-lit office crammed full of books with little interruptions or even bathroom breaks. The writing is hollow in a way, even though technically it is good. Writers who allow life to happen around their writing allow life to be breathed into their writing. This results in writing that is more true to life.

Pearls do come from "garbage" that enters the oyster. As a writer, locking yourself into an ivory tower to listen to soft music and muse on the weightier things of life is not only elitist, but it also hurts your writing. Your audience will feel your disconnection, your characters will feel more and more flat, and your life will be out of balance.

Writing and Crime Scenes

 

I have heard many forensic scientists say that when a criminal commits a crime, they both leave something at the scene of the crime (a hair, piece of clothing, etc) and they take something from the scene with them (dirt, paint, etc). 

If you are really giving your writing your all, it is like you are committing a crime. There is no doubt I leave my mark in everything I write. It is like a part of me is embedded into my fiction pieces, and that is just inevitable. I get very attached to my work, I love it, and so I put myself into it. I see other writers do it all the time - it's just a sign we love what we do. People who know me really well (my wife especially) pick up on my imprint in my work.

"Write what you know" has become almost a cliche statement. While I agree with it to an extent, there are many who take the old piece of advice too far and too literally. I don't care what you are writing, if you are doing thorough writing it will stretch you. You will have to go and learn about things you never knew about, or perhaps an aspect of something you never knew existed or never comprehended. I did all kinds of research before I wrote even one word of Shadow House. This act of learning knew things, thinking differently, etc is one thing that separates the lazy writers from those who really want their writing to be at its best. And so this is like taking something from the crime scene with you. The book or whatever else you are writing changes you. I walked away from Shadow House with knowledge and understanding I am sure I would not have had it not been for writing that book.

And so there you have it - writing is related to crime scenes. This exchange that goes on between a writer and their work is why many of us feel very strongly towards what we write. In a way it is like having another child, you put so much into it and get so much out of the process. I suppose there are writers out there that don't feel this way. But then there are parents out there who don't spend any time with their kids, either. Both scenarios confuse me.

Lilly Gray

One of my early Examiner articles dealt with an urban legend in Salt Lake City: the grave of one Lilly Gray - you can read it here. I had heard and read rumors about Lilly's tombstone located somewhere in the Salt Lake City Cemetery, but I have to admit I thought it was a hoax. Someone with some Photoshop expertise and a lot of time on their hands can do a lot of things to a photo, so I viewed supposed photos of Lilly's grave with skepticism. Unfortunately when dealing with the paranormal you have to look at everything with a degree of scrutiny, since there are those who have questionable motives for reporting certain "paranormal" events and others who let their imagination get the better of them. I get a fair amount of people who think because I report on the stuff I believe everything people claim to have witnessed, which can't be further from the truth.

In any case, I went to the cemetery to go looking for Lilly Gray's grave. The whole family came along to make it a type of outing, mostly because I thought I would really find nothing or a normal tombstone with Lilly's name and none of the infamous inscription below. Partway through looking at the section some reported Lilly's grave being in (there were many conflicting reports about where her grave is located) the evening sprinklers came on and kept us from covering the rest of the graves. Thinking the reports were inaccurate, we looked at the surrounding area with no success before finally calling it quits. I was ready to write an article on the hoax of Lilly Gray's grave.

In the interest of being thorough, a few days later and after some more internet research on Lilly I had established there was a Lilly Gray who lived in Utah and was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. I was able to obtain the location of Lilly's grave from an authoritative source and sure enough it was there. As soon as I saw Lilly's name set in stone my mind was prepared to see a normal inscription below. Plain as day, though, was the infamous urban legend, the "Victim of the Beast 666." Needless to say I was shocked and immediately scrapped the rough draft I had on the "hoax of Lilly Gray."

To this day the case of Lilly Gray continues to baffle me. There are those who claim to have figured out entirely who she was and why she has such a mysterious inscription on her grave, but they are all guesses (some better than others). Lilly lived at a time when records for many people were scarce. I admit I have not chased down new sources that could help solve Lilly's mystery because I have been so busy with so many other projects. I am hoping sometime in the near future I will take the time to perhaps find out some more information about who Lilly was and maybe even find the elusive answer of who had her gravestone made and why they chose such an odd inscription.

Why I Wrote Shadow House

Some people who know me well are not that surprised to learn I have published a book. What surprises them is to find out I wrote a horror book. Quite a few people have a stigma in their mind when it comes to horror, whether it be in movies or books. I understand for some people horror is not their thing, even the non-gory stuff like Shadow House.

One question I get from people when they find out about my having written Shadow House is why I wrote the book. It's a fair and perfectly logical question. I often question why different authors have written various books. I was recently at a meeting where several people concluded writers write books to become filthy rich and be on the New York Times Bestseller List.

Earlier I wrote a post on here about why I write- you can read that here. Of course that post does not address specifically why I wrote Shadow House. The book started with an idea. While I was cleaning out my house I found some pretty weird stuff, as is common with old homes. I get story ideas in my head all the time, which usually start off with "what if" questions. What if a giant colony of rabid ducks invaded Ecuador? Okay, not quite like that but perhaps you still get the point. I started wondering about what if I found something really weird, I mean really weird, while going through the house or overgrown yard?

The idea stayed in my head for a few months before I really did anything with it. I was entertaining other story ideas, but this one kept coming up and eventually would not go away. I began studying what made people afraid, what worked well in horror books and movies, and thinking what I always wanted to read in a horror book or see in a horror movie but hadn't. After a lot of prewriting I developed the plot of Shadow House.

Underneath the surface of Shadow House, there is more than just a scary story. Every really good book can be read on at least a couple of levels. Also, as I have written here before, most scary stories of yesteryear and even today are cautionary tales. I think the best and most entertaining tales are not preachy, but rather they hand all the information to the reader and let the reader draw their own conclusions. I have already received feedback from various people on Shadow House, and it amazes me how diverse of opinions people have on what the theme or point of the book is.

So there you have it: in a nutshell that is why I wrote Shadow House. To tell you honestly, I at first was not sure I wanted to write a horror novel (even though I had written numerous short horror stories) but it was the idea that spoke to me the most.

The Common Man

The other day I was reading about the life and work of Lady Gregory, who brought to life one of the most influential collection of Irish tales, Gods and Fighting Men. While there were many things I found interesting about the Lady, the most intriguing point came from the motto she was said to live by:

"To think like a wise man, but to express oneself like the common people."

This motto Lady Gregory got from Aristotle. While I have read many great books that are less than accessible to most, I do have to say there is a certain intelligence and effort involved in writing something good that is also accessible by the "common man."

Some of the most intelligent people I have ever known are of the type who avoid the "gutteral" or German root words in the English language. These people load their sentences with Latin and French root words to sound more sophisticated. Why say you "walked" to the store when you could say you "sauntered"?

Of course this fight in the battlefield of the English language has been going on for centuries. While I thoroughly enjoy many of Joseph Conrad's books, I find that few are the other people I can speak with about them. Shakespeare, while he did use advanced linguistic methods, peppered his plays with elements that were understandable by the penny knaves of his time and today.

It is more difficult to take complex ideas and boil them down to simple language that still does justice to the original ideas. It is much easier to explain complex concepts with complex language, especially if one uses terms that are vague. This is not to say that simple language is always superior. It is the idea conveyed in the language that is the true power - the language is merely a vehicle for the communication of the idea.

Lady Gregory made Irish lore more accessible to a then-modern audience. Gods and Fighting Men is referenced and read quite a bit today. Perhaps Lady Gregory's work is the most powerful testament to her motto.

A Mormon Who Writes Horror

I have a confession to make. As some have deduced, yes I am Mormon and I write horror fiction. Unlike fellow Mormon writer Stephenie Meyer (who graduated from BYU in English like I did) I do not write about vampires, or at least I haven't yet. Many have classified Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Series as paranormal romance, not horror.

While there are romantic elements in my first horror novel Shadow House, I doubt it would fall into the classification of paranormal romance. Of course with the very subjective and problematic task of applying genre labels to books, one never knows.

There are some Mormons, I am sure, who would take issue with what I write. I am sure there are people of different walks of life who would find something they don't like about my book and the ones that will follow. You can't please everyone.

Some Mormons I have known think other Mormons cannot write about anything other than our church and faith. While studying English at BYU I knew people who thought it was horrible I was "made" to study books that were "Gentile" or not written by LDS authors. I have yet to come across anything in Mormon doctrine to support these ideas. People are allowed to think or believe what they will, and so I go on writing my books.

I stay away in general from grisly violence. I have made a few exceptions in short stories I have written and shown to friends and family, but then the move has never constituted the gratuitous violence that currently dominates horror movies and some books.

While I was studying at BYU, I had the good fortune of taking a couple of folklore classes. One thing I learned from those courses was urban legends and such help to teach societal ideals or reinforce social norms (i.e. the escaped serial killer with the hand for a hook urban legend teaches the virtues of youthful chastity and so on). So instead of stories about ghosts and such tearing down societal virtues, they can in fact reinforce them. I purposely avoid being preachy in my storytelling. I and most people I know do not like preachy stories. I am one to want to draw my own conclusions, and so without leaving things too loose and open I have tried to let readers do that with my book Shadow House. Of course some will read it and say "it's obvious what he's trying to say about such and such" while others will read it and see something different. We all bring our own interpretations to what we read, and I allowed space for that.

So can a Mormon write horror fiction? I'm just doing it and loving what I do.

Prewriting Is Like a Puzzle

Prewriting can definitely be like putting together a big puzzle with thousands of pieces to it. The way I start puzzles is to get the borders in place first, then work my way into the rest of the puzzle. Most of my story ideas start with a question, a "what if" scenario. I start to explore the question, which begins to unlock a story behind it. I quickly define main characters, their relationships, what makes them tick, their background, etc. I pick a location, study up on main story elements, and start considering what theme I want to focus on. Still, as I am doing all of this I am getting the opposite of tunnel vision. In other words, I am seeing the edges of the story picture but the rest is hazy at best. Writing about the characters, the story, anything about my ideas helps flesh out the rest of the story. Honestly, though, it is slow going at first. Then, as if by some form of magic, as one piece clicks into place, it causes a cascade of pieces falling into place as well, which reveals large swaths of the storyline all at once. This is the exciting part of prewriting, the part where it is like a light turns on in your head and everything makes sense. This is also about the time I get anxious to finish prewriting and start a rough draft. I have to actually slow myself down, realizing the story needs to bake just a little bit long so it will turn out right. Patience is key in prewriting, and that is one of the biggest mistakes writers make. They get a good idea, they get anxious, they rush out and write it in a hurry, and the whole thing is half-baked. If the story is really so great, then it is worth slowing things down to tell the story right. I learned the value in sports of sometimes slowing things down, not rushing even in tight situations to get the right results. So if your prewriting is not going well, it may be because you aren't doing something right. It also may be that you need to keep digging and pushing yourself mentally and emotionally to get the story out. Writing is tough work; it takes a tremendous amount of effort to write well but it is well worth it if this is what you crave.

Masculine Overconfindence

I have been reading Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. Sir John Falstaff makes me chuckle. Like so many of Shakespeare's characters, I can honestly say I have known people like Falstaff. He is the typical, insecure, yet somehow strangely overconfident guy who thinks all the women find him unbearably attractive.

In my bachelor years, I knew guys who had the worst judgment on whether a girl found them attractive, was flirting, etc. The worst guys I knew seriously thought if a girl was nice to them she liked the guy, not that she was being polite or just friendly. These guys would charge at the poor girls like American forces storming the beaches of Normandy, until the girl very bluntly (and sometimes rudely) told the guy to jump off a bridge, or at least a very tall building.

Of course, Falstaff's plotting is worse. He is going after married women, and his eye is on their money more than anything. At least the bumbling of my bachelor-years acquaintances were not nearly as sinister, so I will give them that.

Really, though, you have to read The Merry Wives of Windsor to really appreciate just how ridiculous Falstaff is in his maho man role. Perhaps this play should be standard reading in high school English classes. An arrogant teenage boy or two may learn this type of behavior does not get a man far, especially when dealing with women who have anything inside their head. Teachers and school districts push Romeo and Juliet quite a bit, and I still wonder just how wise it is to teach a story about young love turned to suicide to a teenage audience (that was a joke, before any teachers or Romeo and Juliet fans jump all over me for that).

The Fourth Kind

 

A while back I wrote an article about the movie The Fourth Kind - you can read it here. In the article I explored what was being said not about the pacing of the storyline, the acting, but rather about the truthfulness behind the movie's marketing.Sadly, it seems, someone got the idea of using real-life tragic events in Alaska to make a "cool" backdrop for their own movie. Not sure if that was a good idea to begin with, since in a way it risks trivializing a serious subject with so much fantasy. I basically equate it to writing a story about chupacabras killing women grand right and left in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. In fact there has been a huge problem with a huge amount of women being killed there, but it has nothing to do with chupacabras, but rather a very dark and horrific societal problem. Perhaps it would be best to write a drama about why the killings actually are happening, or just stay away from the subject and write about chupacabras killing people in the Yucatan somewhere.

I think some writers (and other storytellers) think they operate outside of the boundaries of social responsibility, ethics, and such. In many societies storytellers have been revered for their power of reinforcing societal values, educating the youth on a variety of subjects, and changing minds for the better. 

Now I'll be honest and admit I have not seen the Fourth Kind. I am curious to see it, but I'll be honest again and say the movie's marketing turned me off. The Fourth Kind will probably be a Redbox movie for me. I missed the whole Blair Witch craze since I was out of the country, but I did hear about it. It seems filmmakers are still trying to "trick" the public into thinking their movies are based on reality. The problem is I think the public is getting smarter about these tricks, for the most part. Of course, I have met some people who still think Blair Witch was a documentary and get mad when I tell them the Blair Witch Project "tweaks" some of the paranormal history of the U.S. 

If any of you have seen the Fourth Kind and want to let me know what you thought of it, I am all ears.