I visited with a friend last night. She asked me if I wrote about zombies in my horror writing. I told her I didn’t, but it made me start to think about who I am as a horror writer. I don’t write about the traditional monsters like zombie, vampires, or werewolves. I don’t find myself writing historical horror or basing my horror on real life events even. When I write, I take a piece of my own life and I incorporate it into the story so that it will be authentic and then I take a piece of an urban legend, a legend, a myth, or a superstition and I use that as the basis for my story.
I’m happy to be introspective about it now and to actually think about it because I think being mindful about my writing is a good thing. I believe that I write because through the arts humans share the message that we are not alone. All the legends and myths that we have, I believe, are part of a greater consciousness that links us all together and I hope that it might be a link to that universality that we all are a part of and become a part of when we die. I want my stories to have a piece of me and a piece of that universality in them even if I am the only one who knows it.
I really do believe that the biggest mystery that we need to share is simple that we aren’t alone. It’s so funny that people are fascinated with the idea of UFOs and alien life. I often considered that it couldn’t be a possibility because they wouldn’t have Jesus to save them. However, I realize now that was very limited thinking. Now, I realize that if there is life on other planets somewhere else in this infinite universe, then it really doesn’t matter. God’s been telling me, that we aren’t alone all along. The ironic part is before we start to look millions of miles away for other life, we need to start seeing the life that is right before our own eyes.
My faith saved me. May God’s peace reside in all of our hearts.
