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Inspired by Ray Bradbury
Jun. 12th, 2009 01:19 pmThe Thing at the Top of the Stairs
Your own Thing stands waiting 'way up there in the attic shadows. If you speak softly, and write any old word that waits to jump out of your nerves onto the page...
Your Thing at the top of your stairs in your own private night... may well come down.
And the screaming will never stop. Or will it? Take a good look at your Thing. Yes, it's hideous, or else why would you stick it at the top of the stairs, alone in the dark? It's terrifying. It's a Thing. Your Thing. Take a good look. What is it?The unnamed terror waiting in the dark. Always in the dark, because the light scares it. It doesn't like close scrutiny. Your Thing hates it.
Why does it come down the stairs? When you are writing about it, forcing yourself to scrutinize it, to face your fears, why does it come down? Maybe it want to scare you off its trail by rustling in the shadows – for it doesn't dare, not yet, to step into the circles spread by your lamp – breathing down your neck, watching the goosebumps breaking out across your skin. It likes having that effect on you. What if that doesn't stop you? It'll come into full view, despite its hatred of the light. Making you scream, and stop writing about it. Driving you insane, or too fearful to even look at its stairs is a bonus. What it wants is to be an unknown terror in the dark.
Or is it lonely up there? No-one ever comes up there,after all. Maybe it's starved for attention, and the Thing wants to come down, plunk itself down on your couch and just watch you. Unnerving at first, having your private nightmare staring at you in an unblinking fashion. Remember, it's lonely enough to overcome its own fears. The least you can do is offer it your couch. Maybe talk to it, if it has speech. Offer it comfort and companionship. Whether it wants to scare you or befriend you,your Thing is there to stay.
(First four lines from “Run Fast, Stand Still, or The Thing at the top of the Stairs, or New Ghosts from Old Minds”, Ray Bradbury, How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy&Science Fiction, edited by J.A. Williamson, Writer's Digest Books, 1986)
Your own Thing stands waiting 'way up there in the attic shadows. If you speak softly, and write any old word that waits to jump out of your nerves onto the page...
Your Thing at the top of your stairs in your own private night... may well come down.
And the screaming will never stop. Or will it? Take a good look at your Thing. Yes, it's hideous, or else why would you stick it at the top of the stairs, alone in the dark? It's terrifying. It's a Thing. Your Thing. Take a good look. What is it?The unnamed terror waiting in the dark. Always in the dark, because the light scares it. It doesn't like close scrutiny. Your Thing hates it.
Why does it come down the stairs? When you are writing about it, forcing yourself to scrutinize it, to face your fears, why does it come down? Maybe it want to scare you off its trail by rustling in the shadows – for it doesn't dare, not yet, to step into the circles spread by your lamp – breathing down your neck, watching the goosebumps breaking out across your skin. It likes having that effect on you. What if that doesn't stop you? It'll come into full view, despite its hatred of the light. Making you scream, and stop writing about it. Driving you insane, or too fearful to even look at its stairs is a bonus. What it wants is to be an unknown terror in the dark.
Or is it lonely up there? No-one ever comes up there,after all. Maybe it's starved for attention, and the Thing wants to come down, plunk itself down on your couch and just watch you. Unnerving at first, having your private nightmare staring at you in an unblinking fashion. Remember, it's lonely enough to overcome its own fears. The least you can do is offer it your couch. Maybe talk to it, if it has speech. Offer it comfort and companionship. Whether it wants to scare you or befriend you,your Thing is there to stay.
(First four lines from “Run Fast, Stand Still, or The Thing at the top of the Stairs, or New Ghosts from Old Minds”, Ray Bradbury, How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy&Science Fiction, edited by J.A. Williamson, Writer's Digest Books, 1986)
