Antares story: Nightmares, Another story by Antares (horror)

[Antares]

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Removed. The forum seems to be dead and I don't want to leave my stuff here to gather dust.
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[Antares]

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Removed. The forum seems to be dead and I don't want to leave my stuff here to gather dust.
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[Antares]

Oooookay here we go again!

Nightmares is maybe a bit more like Crow in the sense it goes a little eccentric at times, but its about nightmares and dreams so that's probably acceptable, right? I did a few narrative tricks there, like the conscious recycling of the scene from the cottage, nearly word for word. I don't know if it worked. It is supposed to be a bit surreal.

I dabbled at horror a bit here too, but it all depends on how immersed you become. I expect this is closer to Bear in that sense, as there is no graphic violence like there was in Bug. But it also has a lot of internal monologue expressed in the dream-scape, so maybe it is a combination of all three previous stories. It is chronologically later, after all.

What else to say? The ending gives me a vaguely nice, optimistic feel, although I wouldn't be surprised if you have different feelings about it.

Please read and comment as always.

[DAG]

Yeah, just a bit eccentric. And just at a few points. definitely not all the time or anything. Anyway, another good story. Now, I've just got to read Bug.

Speaking of that, did you run out of animal names? And I was looking forward to Antares story: Antelope.

[Antares]

Nah, those animal names were more of a crutch to get me started. Other projects are currently titled for example "Imperial", "Golden Hour" and "Cyborg". The name and the story have to click together.

[DAG]

Re-read this. Though I still prefer Bear, this is definitely good enough to get pinned

[Antares]

Nice to see this stuff is still read! I am boiling with stuff to write but that is for the most part sucked dry by my work and hobbies. I need to cut down on something so I can find the time and presence of mind write again. Although I have switched to longer, novel-length installments in my writing projects, I might still have a short story or two to share here. I'll have to go through them though since they're not my best stuff. Or maybe they are but I just happen to think they suck.

[Seraphic]

Wow, I finally got around to reading this. It didn't psychologically molest me like the other ones did, so I was pleasantly surprised. That is good. =o Still, I think some part of me still wished the story connected more strongly than it did. I liked Crow and Bug much more, but have not yet found the time to look at your rewrites of them to see what changes you made.

Asides from the occasional error, I thought the writing was very good. I think the ambiguity made the fear work. Your characters' thoughts really wandered at times, but real people are the same or even worse off, so I liked that aspect. I'm pretty damn sure readers would not like to see how MY thoughts become distracted with unrelated things, because it usually goes into entire inner monologues or stories or crap like that. =p The behavior of your characters under fear or stress was also true to reality, I think.

It's funny, a solution I had thought while reading the story was to have someone with you if you were having nightmares.

I was rather interested by the thought she had about some people who live a "hard life" not from literal problems but from abstract problems. It's often how I feel. People always open up to me and complain or vent as they need, and when they apologize, I always tell them it's fine: I'll listen to their problems because I don't really have any of my own. In a sense that's true, and also probably the biggest lie I could tell. I only have three sorts of problems, I think: 1) problems caused by other people, which I have no control over, so I might as well let it be. 2) Problems caused by myself, which are not worth mentioning because I will work on them on my own. And 3) the more abstract problems which are not readily solvable. And since they can't really be fixed by simply talking about them, I do not take the energy to ever bring them up.

It's the abstract stuff that wears you out the most. Well, for me, at least. It's also the most difficult to convey. I discuss abstract things with one of my best friends all the time, but it's always about this or that and never about myself. Only once had I ever tried to relate one of my abstract problems with him, and he didn't know what to think and told me honestly that it disturbed him. Not in the creepy sense, but that my thought was so backward compared to what people normally want. I suppose it really is frightening. I shouldn't have bothered him with it.

As for your writing, Antares, do you have anything else in mind? You should call the next one Cuttlefish. I know you're working on Phoenix, so don't be too pressed to keep me entertained outside of that. If you have other short stories that are ready, I think you should post them even if you think they're bad. I'm sure there are some good themes or qualities to the writing most of us will enjoy. You know, because your writing is good by nature.

[Antares]

Thanks Seraph, nice to hear you enjoyed this one too. I admit this was not as psychologically haunting, like you said, even though I tried to make this one a more straightforward bit of horror-esque fiction.

Personally I find that when I am under the most stress that is exactly when my thoughts wander and try to find distractions; it's easier than sitting down and focusing on the problem. I try to bring that point across somewhat, but maybe there is a bit of extra rambling there. I will need to see if that can be fixed.

The part where you mention that people open up to you; I know exactly what you mean. It's both a blessing and a curse, I feel, because when you hear the problems of other people, it is in the nature of the "consultant" to belittle his own issues. "Oh you're going through a nasty divorce? I was feeling a little depressed here but I guess my life isn't as bad as yours so I can't complain".

However, I do think talking about them can sometimes help. You just need a friend who is not offering solutions to you. Most of abstract issues can be sorted if you speak them out loud, because that act processes them again in your head and you can find the seeds for solutions that way. I've had that happen to me personally. If you don't want to burden your friends, I recommend a therapist if you can afford one. Of course you need to find one best suited for you, so don't be afraid to shop around. I know there is a considerable stigma associated with going to a "shrink", but they're paid to hear you out, and good therapists do exactly that; create an atmosphere where you can work things out for yourself.

I have in fact three texts that could be published here after one more proofreading, but the thing is they're longer than these. They're short stories that have started to accumulated material to be written into a novel one day when I can find the bloody time. Work is good for money, but it sucks because work + hobbies (other than reading/writing) leaves you just enough time to socialize and rest up for the next day, not settle down and be creative. For me that requires time.

And while Phoenix certainly does press me at the moment, that is nothing compared to a paper I am due to deliver in September in Oxford on Villains and Villainy in literature. While that is awesome in all its forms, it has sent my writing-stress through the roof because I've been really busy all May and it looks like I would have all sorts of social occasions to fill up every weekend from here to August (incl. two weddings, luckily neither of them my own! ). So I really have to steal time whenever and wherever I can to pull this one through.

On the short story -front, I have one short story done that I am not fully satisfied with, and one that is two-thirds ready that I actually do like but haven't had the chance to finish. Maybe I ought to put out that crappy one, then, just to see what kind of reaction that might bring.