Hello, friends.
This past week…I know, I know. I say it every week in this space. But this one… This past week was special. Dad is in the hospital as I write this but he’s fine. A recent doctor’s appointment found something that needs fixing and, unfortunately, the three day weekend is making what should be a fairly simple in-and-out (or maybe one-night) procedure into a mini vacation for the man. Once the procedure is done, it may improve things for him. It’s just that the road to this point was a little stressful. On top of that, everyone is going through crap right now. But we get through, we have no choice.
Welcome to the 174th installment of Gauthic Times, the newsletter about my writing, my life, and trusting in crazy ideas. If you’re a reader who subscribes via Substack, my website, or Patreon, your encouragement helps motivate me. I’m not breaking any records but I’m thankful to have any audience.
Thank you.
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You could also read the first draft of Four Moons on Patreon. It’s a werewolf story and I think it’s fun. It is a first draft, though. If you’re interested, Patrons at the $5 tier and above have access but there is also a way to buy into the whole book for $13.99. You don’t have to be a long-term Patron for that second option.
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This week nearly defeated me. Very little writing-related work was accomplished because of the insanity of everything. A lot of thinking did, though. I think people either forget or don’t realize the importance of just thinking is. Sometimes I have something open on my computer and it looks like I’m doing nothing but my mind is going through the projects and making connections just as it does in the shower, doing dishes or laundry, or driving. It’s important.
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One of the things that readers of my recent novel The Monster in the Closet have noted is that just when one thinks they know where the book is headed, it genuinely surprises them. That makes me happy to no end because there’s at least two places in the novel that as I approached where I suspected it was headed, doubt began to creep in. As I went from the first to the second and then the third draft (and beyond), those two things kept coming up in my head as, Do I change this? Luckily, I resisted the urge. In both cases (if I’m correctly guessing the places in the book that surprise people), I decided that the story went there and so should I, even if it seemed crazy. That’s where experience came in, I think.
I’ve been a storyteller my whole life. As I enter my last three months of 48, I see where my writing and storytelling has changed and grown (and also where it remains pretty similar). The biggest difference between the guy who wrote and published The Monster in the Closet and the guy who wrote the stories in Catalysts is experience. I trust the impulses now. That can only be learned by doing.
Before I go any further with this, I want to say that I really don’t see myself as all that original a storyteller. I’m doing the same thing that has been done millions of times before, the unique element is, of course, myself; my viewpoint, my history, my experiences, my sense of humor. In that, I believe that any story I write will be my story. I won’t be able to escape it. If I ever come to a place where I get to write in an IP (Star Wars? Can you hear me? A Nightmare on Elm Street? Hello? Masters of the Universe? DC? Marvel?) I know that whatever story I tell will be told in my way. But it took me a long time to get here.
I’ve recently been rereading Stephen King’s classic Pet Sematary. Not only has it hit me so much harder now since the last time I read it around thirty years or so ago, but what’s struck me is just how bugfuck it is. I just read a scene in which the main character, Louis Creed, is handling a horrific task and he’s struggling in a way that, given what happens, is almost slapstick. However, the task is so gruesome, so horrific, so devastating, that one might not see the humor in it. Honestly, one shouldn’t see the humor in it. I see that as a bold choice. King went places in that novel that a guy who was becoming a bestselling author might not have normally gone. I understand his reluctance to publish it originally. The scene in question, though, works because by the time it happens, in the last quarter of the novel, the reader is so deeply invested in the character and the pain he’s going through that you’re both completely sympathetic and simultaneously horrified by what he’s doing. As such, the “slapstick” creates more suspense, more horror. An outsider not knowing what was in the tarp may have laughed their asses off.
As creators, the “crazy” of going to a place that is risky is important. Whether you’re peeking beneath the sheet (or tarp) to see what’s inside of allowing your work to go there, even though it seems too far-fetched, too ludicrous. The creator just has to trust their crazy, it’s probably the best tool they can use.
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That’s this week’s newsletter. Thank you so much for subscribing, reading, and for your support. Be safe out there, friends.
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Gautham: Bill Gauthier.com 
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