Sunday, January 22, 2012

A Couple of Mind-Control Stories

Writing Journal: I wrote most of the sex scene in The Adjusters #30 before realizing that it just wasn't working. Not because it wasn't a decent sex scene, but because it was too dark. And after several episodes in a row where the sex is twisted and borderline psychotic, I think that the epilogue to Book II should have something sweet and uplifting. And thus back to the drawing board, trying to figure out who can get it on in such a happy-go-lucky kind of way. Thankfully, the rest of the episode is more or less writing itself.



There was an issue with the font for comments these last few weeks, and it seemed to originate with the changes Blogger made a couple of weeks ago to the comment system—in case you did not notice, we now appear to have a limited form of threaded comment system, where we can respond to comments. Anyways, I found a way to “fix” the issue, although the fix is not perfect—while I can reduce the font size in the comments, I cannot easily change the interline spacing. Still, it's a bit better now. Not perfect, but better. I'll keep working on it.

Two not-so-recent mind-control stories came across my radar this week, one that I had read before, the other not.

Let's start with the first one, by A Strange Geek. Here's The House at the End of the Street: “Four teens find a mysterious house that promises to fulfill their deepest, darkest desires and grant them great power. But how far will they go in their quest for this power? Will they turn from the darkness in time, or succumb to it like others before them? Or perhaps, the ‘house’ has its OWN agenda.” There are some nice twisted bits in there—and some nice very twisted bits. What would you do if you had powers over someone else is the basic question being asked. And when you ask that question of teenagers full of hormones and psychological issues, you get... well, you get what you expect you get.

If you like that story, then check out the sequels. Because it turns out The House at the End of the Street is the first story in a series, which I didn't know about, The Town Of Haven series: “This small town located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, is the site of a convergence of lines of mystical energies. These energies give rise to all manner of strange and sometimes supernatural events, and have factored into the checkered past of this otherwise sleepy town. This town holds many secrets, and those that dare to discover them are forever altered by their experience.” Now, I haven't read the other stories in the series—I started on Now This Won't Hurt a Bit, but it did not quite grip me the way the first story did. Part of it may have had to do with the extended cast of characters, which is always tricky to manage, and I probably was reading it a bit too quickly. I'll give it another shot in the future. And try to learn the lesson that overwhelming the reader with multiple characters and multiple point of views in every episode is dizzying.

The second story is Fret Pearson's Neon Pink: “Keiko likes a good mystery, but can she discover who is attempting to enslave her best friend Janey without becoming a slave herself?” A very well-written story structured as a classical murder mystery (except with no murder), which is emphasized by the protagonist herself in the second paragraph of the story: I was reading an Agatha Christie in the bleachers when it happened. This story is all about control and slow brainwashing. The sex is pretty subdued, but the result is still arousing. A nice quiet read.

2 comments:

  1. dark and twisted isn't bad....unless it causes a problem with the plot.

    right now not so dark/psychotic: well maybe chap 20/22 were slightly dark b/c we know Jenn understands.

    looking forward to the next chapters and maybe even book 3, but prior to that you'll deserve a well needed rest.

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    Replies
    1. It gets a bit darker in upcoming episodes, as you'll see. Consider it a fair warning. The plot sort of asks for it.

      A rest... What a nice thought.

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