Shattering a Paradigm: Creating a Bad Good Guy

Since the beginning of time, the devil's minions hide in plain sight, chameleons of faith, and executioners of hope. - The Book of Tortured Souls, Nomar Knight


Watch out for the bad good guy! Sometimes it’s difficult to discern bad guys from good. In real life the identities aren’t always clear. It may be a trusted servant who turns against his master by torturing what’s most precious to him—his child. Perhaps a popular teacher, who’s entrusted with educating children so their trek into the world of academia could be smooth, goes beyond the call of duty and educates the student by crossing boundaries which may lead them both into moral dilemmas.

One of the most horrifying antagonists is the chameleon of faith that hides in plain sight. No, he doesn’t lurk in the shadows waiting for an opportunity to strike. He befriends his victims, constantly painting himself as the good guy who exudes righteousness, making him the envy of all unsatisfied with their own imperfections. Priests or men and women of the cloth were considered people who sacrificed personal comforts in order to serve others. Most perform their jobs well and maintain their authentic good guy status, but a few undermine the fabric of the prestigious position. So while it may be common place to hear about charges being filed against a Catholic priest or a pastor who got caught soliciting or performing “special services” deemed by their own religion as unacceptable moral behavior, fiction may illuminate the few infractions and cast an illusion that they are all enemies of society. Such a false assumption can leave many to brood about in the dark halls of ignorance.

What are sinners to think if their leaders fall to temptations of the flesh? The mere acts of betrayal to all they preach serve to remind their flock how week humans are. The power of temptation can bring the strongest of the faithful down to their knees, but not necessarily in prayer. The vulnerability of falling to the enemy can put a damper on hope.

Real life horror sometimes serves to inspire fiction. Writers enjoy tantalizing readers by mixing true events with unbelievable possibilities which may go beyond entertainment. Keep them guessing is a great formula for spinning a yarn. Another technique which may entertain is the art of illusion. It’s fun to lead readers to a logical conclusion and then pull the rug out from under them. Ah but one must be careful, for writers should not punch holes through their hypnotic bubble. Instead, they should try and immerse their readers into the worlds they create so when authors make the giant elephant disappear, readers may accept the twisty outcome as something amazing, yet wonderful and plausible for that specific world of fiction.

Betrayal of the most sacred kind when used properly in horror, may add an emotional dimension your characters can draw on to pack a powerful, realistic punch.

See you on the dark side.

Nomar Knight

Embrace Madness

Today I felt pass over me
A breath of wind from the wings of madness.
~Charles Baudelaire

Ah, what to write today? Most writers go through periods where the blank page haunts them. They dare to dream but when they awaken; they find their adventures fluttered away, drawn in by the thief of dreams. Dry spells turn into droughts, which in turn become neurotic fuel which causes the artists to question their talents. They examine their lives to see where they went wrong. They cry out, “Surely the gods are mistaken. Please don’t abandon your favorite child. Shine your light on me and let me be whole again!”

Well, I’m here to suggest you turn insanity into something manageable. Take the wings of madness and make them yours. Think outside yourself. Convince your psyche that although the thief of dreams stole your opportunity at creating amazing prose, you will not abandon your ability to see into the world of madness. Dream awake and discover the wonder that is nirvana. Spite the gods of boredom and complacency and search for the fountain of perfect prose, regardless of what your conscience tells you. Become the rebel and soon enough you will attract a world filled with imaginary characters begging to whisper their secrets.

Of course, if all else fails, while you drink a glass of alcohol before bedtime, think about what scares you most and tell yourself you will remember the nightly visions because you welcome fear. Yell at the gods and say, “Go ahead, scare me! I dare you!”

I wish you creepy dreams and days filled with terror filled prose.

Nomar Knight

Invasion of Fear

"You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you."-- Eric Hoffer

What scares you? Spiders crawling on your bed while you sleep with your mouth open? They inch their way up your legs but you don’t feel them because you’re too busy dreaming something you’ll hope to forget before you wake. While you run around puddles of dirt water in your vague nightmare, the spiders reach your neck. Unconsciously you bat away a couple of web crawlers, never being fully aware of the real danger that rests just inches from your chin. Unbeknown to you, one spider remains poised to enter a chamber of snoring echoes; a chamber filled with a warm intriguing darkness—your mouth.

While you do your best in the world of dreams to avoid the ever growing puddles because you know that if you step in one, you will fall into an abyss filled with pain and misery. In fact, you’re sure a demon waits, salivating for the opportunity to strip you of all dignity. He will expose your faults and even worse, make you relive your nerve-racking fears. While you wrestle with a fantastic and seemingly never ending nightmare, in real life, the spider enters your mouth. Out of sheer instinct, you shut the opening, preventing the insect from escaping. Feeling something in your mouth, you begin to chew, because in your dream, while you jump over puddles, miraculously avoiding them, you bite down on a Slim Jim and savor the salty taste. It’s only when you swallow, your eyes open to familiar surroundings. The thing still mixing with saliva in your mouth, doesn’t taste like the piece of processed meat. Instead you jump from your bed and turn on the lights. At first your eyes can’t make out the distinctive shapes, but just when you think nothing happened and that you’re mixing your dreams with reality, you spot two web crawlers. You cringe when witnessing their wide bodies crawling on the sheets, searching for their companion.

Screams fill the air. Screams of terror bounce off the objects in your room. As if your horrible reality wasn’t enough, you realize, something was in your mouth. You rush into the bathroom, turn on the lights and examine it. You gag when you spot a thin thread stuck between your teeth. No, not a thread, but a spider’s leg. Convulsions lead you to the toilet where your body forcibly dispels the monster that invaded it. A morbid thought pops into your mind. You are what you eat. “Yuck!” In addition to the exhausting act of vomiting, you spit until you can’t spit anymore. You brush your teeth, thrice, making sure to floss like never before and rinse with plenty of mouthwash.

At last you’re about to go back to bed when you realize, two more spiders are still there, but you can’t see them. They’re hiding, waiting for you to go back to sleep, back to the puddles, back to falling into the abyss.

*
So what scares you? Is it sneaky insects daring to explore your insides? Or perhaps, strange noises in the night that seem to prop up without any acceptable explanation? Maybe you see pronounced silhouettes of blackness prancing about in the dark? They toy with you and pull the covers off your feet just when you’re in the throes between consciousness and sleep. You ignore the shadows as best you can until you feel the bed indent. Something lies next to you. You tell yourself, how can that be? But you know, your spouse hasn’t stirred, and is in fact, snoring. Then it rises and the pressure on the mattress is released. You want to scream but don’t for fear of looking foolish.

So when you write horror, write what you know, write about what scares you the most. It’ll be like going to battle; you versus yourself. If you frighten yourself then there’s a good chance others will be terrified.

Sweet dreams and don’t let the bedbugs bite.

Nomar Knight