Why I write Halloween short stories...

I'm just putting the finishing touches to this year's Halloween story which is called 'A Sermon of Life' and which will appear here on October 31st.

Sometimes I get a little flak for these annual short stories. So I wanted to make my defence, or apologetics, here to combat the worst of the criticism...

FAQ

"Why are you celebrating Halloween? Isn't it a celebration of all things evil? There is enough evil in the world already."

I love Halloween. I've always liked it and to me it is not so much a celebration of evil as an attempt to enjoy all things scary. Although there are excesses in society - it can be fun. I really look forward to writing my Halloween story every year. I genuinely enjoy doing it. It's not even as if I write gory stuff - a lot of it is traditional ghost story, often with a mix of spirituality in there.

"Well, where is the spirituality? As far as I can see, you are just writing ugly things. Why not write beautiful things?"

I do, sometimes, write more aesthetically pleasing things, but remember, these are supposed to be scary adult ghost stories. The spirituality is mostly drawing from the Bible and from other aspects of Christianity. As far as I can see, the Bible and this faith are an absolute gold-mine for scary and sometimes even horrific things. Few people say that the Bible is an ugly book because it mentions hell, demons and suchlike. I'm contributing back to the people for free. It's an act of service.

"You are totally obsessed with the topics of the afterlife and the last judgment. Change the record. Sing a new song."

Mainly because there is a fear which accompanies thoughts about the final judgment and life after death. In a way, the writing is also a form of therapy, or simply asking the question 'What if'?

"In all your writing you are telling rather than showing and I've lost count how many times you've used an intrusive narrator. If you want your work to be read then you have to obey the writing rules. Also, you write caricatures, characters which have no depth. No-one is totally good or totally evil. It's just not realistic!"

Guilty as charged. Can I carry on writing now?



Here is the trailer for this year's story. If you want to ask any questions not covered here, please feel free to ask in the comments...