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Authors collaborate for classic horror story
By LINDSEY CHERNER, Staff writer
Using his own dreams and fears for inspiration, Nathan Palmer, of The Colony, recalls many nights when he has woken up from a strange dream and written it down to use for one of his stories.
Palmer, a professional writer for the last four years, considers himself to be a horror writer, a classic "page flipper" and a writer who ironically doesn't like to read.
However, when Palmer met Vincent Hobbes, a resident of North Dallas and passionate writer since the age of 15, in an online forum for writers, they began collaborating on their work and created a dynamic, working partnership that has helped both of their careers.
Hobbes came up with the idea for "The Endlands," originally a short novel he had planned to write for himself, but after deciding he wanted to include a variety of short stories, the project evolved. "The Endlands" became a book of 17 short stories written by 12 different authors; the introduction and one of the short stories was written by Palmer. A second volume is due to come out at the beginning of next year following the same format.
"'The Endlands' is about identifying those real fears, putting a possible scenario to it then the rest is up to the reader on how they interpret that fear," Palmer said.
Inspired by "The Twilight Zone," Palmer and Hobbes wanted to create a collaborative psychological thriller with well-told short stories that wouldn't make sense in everyday life.
"I wanted the reader to say, that's different," Hobbes said. "I wanted the average reader to enjoy it, because it's psychological, because it's the unknown. I wanted to stray away from what was being done today."
"The Endlands," a figment of Hobbes' imagination, is a place where reason doesn't exist anymore and yet has a sense of realism. He compares it to when a person goes missing or when a child hides under the covers hoping that the monster in their closet doesn't come out.
"It's that dark place no one wants to go to and those horrible stories you hear about on the news," Hobbes said. "It's just a door to insanity."
Palmer and Hobbes wanted to get as many different angles as they could for "The Endlands," giving them the idea to allow writers to submit their own horror stories in hopes of becoming a part of the book. Many of the writers hired were just as unknown as the content they wrote about, with only about half of them being professional writers. The others just wrote a compelling story and were selected based on their talent.
"There's so many tales to be told," Palmer said. "There's everything [in 'The Endlands'] from the more traditional vampires and werewolves to flying fish."
Palmer promises readers they will find at least one short story that will touch their hearts and not their gag reflexes like most of today's horror. The authors of "The Endlands" recognized that even though at times gore is used as a cheap trick -- not only in cinema but also in horror novels -- to quickly grab attention and make money, it wasn't the way they would be approaching their own short stories. The diminishing value of the horror genre is even acknowledged by Hobbes' very own local Barnes and Noble bookstore not having a horror genre section. To combat its demise, the authors of "The Endlands" strive to bring back the reality to everyday fears, rather than the numbness that Palmer believes many of the horror stories of today have succumbed to.
"We see that horror has gone to high body counts, blood and gore," Palmer said. "We wanted to get back to the psychological stuff; the unknown is a little more frightful than seeing someone get cut up. If things are left to the imagination, you're stuck filling the gap."
The story content scaled the spectrum from a short story about the curiosity surrounding a dark hallway to Palmer's own story entitled "Propaganda," a story he insisted just popped into his head one day and was originally only one page in length. At publication it was only nine pages in length, yet Palmer manages to not only tell a story but teach a lesson on the limit to how prideful one can be. He argues that propaganda exists today, and many cultures believe almost anything put in front of them.
"It's about the fear that I have, and I don't mean to get political, but the masses just tend to listen to charismatic characters," Palmer said. "People can be so blind. It's one man's journey of what he's been told and what's true."
Unlike a novel, a short story provides the challenge of few pages and, consequently, less time for character development. In "Propaganda," Palmer argues that even though the reader may not feel a deep connection they'll come away with an understanding behind the character's actions and beliefs.
"It's a snapshot; it's what you get," Palmer said. "You get that one chance to say that one thing you really want to say."
Palmer and Hobbes both associate short stories to a brief series of images. Hobbes believes short stories enable authors to be more realistic in storytelling; Palmer agrees but also likes being direct with the reader.
However, they both admit to using their own dreams and fears to influence their writing to be more relatable to their readers as they welcome people with the widest ranges of fears to "The Endlands."
"I hope the audience gets a good story, something they can possibly relate to, and wants to read more," Palmer said. "It's good to let yourself go and put yourself into the shoes of the character and embrace the conflict."
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