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Want Inspired Writing? Open Your Eyes
Why horror films (not other writers) fuel my creativity
In any given year, I’ll read at least a hundred books. I still like the feel of a physical book in my hands. I love the smell of paper. I have thousands of books in storage and I cart around a few hundred in this strange, peripatetic lifestyle I lead.
But this year, I’ve read two books. I haven’t read two books in one year since possibly the womb. Yet, I’ve learned not to force it, not to question it, because there’s always a reason for cleaving and receding. And there’s also the comfort that books are like the lover who sets up shop on your couch and refuses to leave. My books will be there when they need me.
Instead, I watch films and scour art books. At this point, I can say I’ve watched every single true crime episode made in the past decade. My tastes have always veered toward the macabre because it’s what’s familiar. When I was a teenager, I’d watch The Shining when I couldn’t sleep. Now, I often wake in the middle of the night and it’s the lull of horror stories narrated on YouTube that eases me back into slumber.
Many “normal” (I’m loathed to use that word because what is normal, really — but maybe I’ll say people who have suffered from severe trauma, mental illness, abuse) people don’t get it. They flee…
