Quick as a flash after the last post, you may now head over to a whole new blog here and read an old short story of mine.
I wrote 'The Man Who Shook' under the influence of M.R. James way back somewhere in the misty regions of 2001. I do like a creepy yarn and it seemed the older stories hada different weight, a creepier one. I decided it would be wizard to set a story in the sort of present but write it in a style that seemed older (I've since discovered Mark Samuels who does something like this and does it brilliantly). I could have carefully researched and spent a great deal of time emulating the prose of James or Algernon Blackwood, but I thought it'd be easier and more fun to just bang it out. Oddly it came remarkably quickly and I had a lot of fun doing it. Having enjoyed the experience I decided to never repeat it and went to work not writing much, and when I did trying to keep it as simple and direct as possible.
Even though I could have taken the opportunity of retyping it to smooth out rough edges, and generally improve the writing I decided to stick to the spirit of the original and just bash it out expanding some bits and cutting others down for no other reason than I felt like it.
Lest you think this is some wonderful minor piece of literature due to the length of this inroduction, let me absolutely assure you that it is utter nonsense. But it really was meant to be:)
4 comments:
I'm not sure the (deliberate) clash of style and setting quite works as well as it could, but the story is very imaginative, and there's a definite sense of dread. I'm really quite impressed with it.
Yeah, I think the setting and style doesn't work as well as I'd have liked, I mean, it wasn't meant to clash for a start, more sit snuggly together on a rug by a fire. But I don't have to chops to pull it off.
Still, I'm really pleased you liked it despite that. I think the mood was more important than explaining what was going on, so I'm glad that worked for you.
Ah, now I feel like I've been overly critical. I didn't enjoy it despite anything, I just enjoyed it! :)
Ha, no worries. Criticism is fine, and it's valid. Enjoying is a bonus:)
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