The Horror Few See

Horror is all around us, yet much of it is not seen that way. This is not a new conceit, not even for me to speak of it per se. The example that prompted me to write about this topic today was the young girl from M. Night Shyamalan's Signs. If you have not seen the movie all of the way through you want to stop reading now. I am going to spoil the ending.

Everyone knows the immediately scary bits in Signs. There is the alien skulking around the farm, the one caught in Reddy's house, the video from Brazil, and of course when the aliens try to get into the house culminating in the attack by one of the aliens. The demise of this alien is set in motion long before it's arrival in the house, long before its likely arrival in proximity to Earth even. For whatever reason, miracle, born with a hypnotic suggestion from her mother, or psychic precognition ability of her own, Bo Hess set all of those glasses of water everywhere in the house. I've never seen mention of the pure creepiness of this methodical, instinctive--or we are left to assume it wasn't thought out--process. Think about it. For years this little girl has been finicky about her water. Things start getting weird at the farm and around the world, and she begins obsessively leaving the water in glasses everywhere.

Somewhere between the unblinking irrational quality of the obsession and the inevitability with which it was perpetrated and then exonerated lies the real horror to this situation. It's easy to sit back and consider that the whole scenario is, well, almost heart warming. For starters it saves Merrill and Morgan--though Morgan also has his own deal going--and it's just a part of the overall miracle. Bo is cute, though on the odd side of cute given her I saw a monster can I have a glass of water in the middle of the night attitude. Back to Morgan for a moment. His asthma is a saving grace finally, but it lacks all of the qualities that make Bo's hand in the events so outré, so unnatural. It's like comparing luck to brilliant forethought ten steps ahead of the crucial event.

Here's a final thought to ponder, would it be creepier yet to discover Bo knew the importance of having that water there at that time and hid it all those years behind an intricate web of what essentially are lies and misdirection?

Mood: thoughtful.

Music: Gonna Buy Me A Dog by The Monkees and Breathless by Quiet Riot.

Or get MP3s.

Buy these at Amazon.com Click Images to Buy CDs

Or get MP3s.

Advancement of the Machines

Thoughts about plots involving time travel have been on my mind again lately. I read a series of three articles on the subject from a blog over at Campaign Mastery starting with When Inspiration Is Not Enough: Time Travel in RPGs, Part 1. The first is the best from the writer's perspective. The second would be useful for plotting conflicts and their results in role-playing games. The last is pointed pretty directly at physicists and physics fans and may leave you lost. I can hardly approach the topic of time travel without referencing the Terminator franchise. It is definitely my go to time travel storyline. There is one factor regarding Judgment Day--when Skynet nukes the world--which has been expressed in a few ways, but I would have liked to seen in more direct and deeper ways. Every time Judgement day is pushed back technology advances.

In the real world, between the Terminator movies, there was a lot of advancement in the field of computers and software. There was a fairish bit of improvement in robotics too--especially between the first and second movie for the robotics. Every time the intrepid heroes push back the date of the end of the current world they make the fight against the machines in the aftermath that much harder. The starkest representation of this is the difference between Arnold's T800 and the T1000. There isn't a lot of tactical advancement in Skynet's approach to thwart John Connor in the movies either. It was a welcome addition that The Sara Connor Chronicles had the luxury of looking at a broader Skynet battle plan to weaken the entire resistance. There are still yet other avenues of attack that Skynet could make use of anywhere in the timeline before T3's end.

This paragraph here contains spoilers if for some reason you haven't seen all of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines or The Sara Connor Chronicles. Skynet from the future creates a computer virus that the military uses the current Skynet to try and stop. I'm not entirely sure of the full intent of this tactic but there is a clear leapfrogging of the wait time for Skynet to become aware and it immediately sets off its murderous rampage. In the Chronicles TV series Skynet sends Terminators back in time for a number of purposes from killing the parents of resistance leaders, to plans set in motion to ensure the creation of itself, to stockpiling materials to kick start production of T800s. This is a good start, but I would like to have seen more, deeper plots and conflicts. The question is how can I delve into such a plot of my own, and bring originality not to mention avoid lawsuits.

Mood: mechanical.

Music: Zero Signal by Fear Factory and Mr. Self Destruct by Nine Inch Nails.

Or get MP3s.

Buy these at Amazon.com Click Images to Buy CDs

Or get MP3s.

Two Shades of Good

Conflict is not always between good and evil. Sometimes the most gripping or poignant conflict is between people who both think they are doing the right thing. Keep in mind that a lot of villains believe they are doing the right thing. Very few of them believe themselves to be evil. They get downright confrontational if anyone suggests they are doing evil. This does not include the masses of selfish users and takers who flaunt the law simply because they do not think it applies to them or plain do not care if it does, until they end up incarcerated. No, this is about the evil masterminds, when they're not delusional or caricature take over the world types, who want to mould the world into the vision they have for it. This is about the despots, the mafia don, the cult leader, and the countless others who are not introspective enough to see the harm they inflict.

To reiterate, and it may be a matter of opinion--it certainly isn't something to be overused without cause and enough originality--the most exciting conflict, with great impact and resonance is between two forces for good. Some of the excitement is in-built just because it's different. Some of it is because it's harder to decided for which side to root. There is also the matter that the cost and results are different depending on which side is victorious. The audience--been a while since it was said but the audience could be readers of your short story, novel, comic book, or role-playing game or your video, movie, TV show audience--will pick a side and a significant number of them will decry the other side as being in the wrong, if they don't go so far as to equate them with villains. This is true even if there is a three-way conflict including a definite evil person or group.

The three-way conflict gives the most flexibility in crafting a sinuous, whether that is convoluted or not, plot. The sides can play off of each other, go for outright manipulation of each other, and generally get in the way so much that not a one of them can reach their goal. The potential to derail all of their plans could lead to a disaster that none of them wants to see. This in turn will cause one or more sides to reverse course to some degree, switch sides, or pull out--this will be common among the villains who can just try again later or do without that particular victory. The dynamics of the conflict can change dramatically, turning heroes into villains, and turning expectations entirely on their head. The best thing to do in creating one of these conflicts is to make it so that there is a painful decision/aspect to one of the good sides confronting the other good side.

Mood: scrupulous.

Music: Peace Sells by Megadeth and Distant Skies by Stratovarius.

Or get MP3s.

Buy these at Amazon.com Click Images to Buy CDs

Or get MP3s.