The Lighter Side of Absolute Zero: A Lesson Driven Home <link rel="prev" href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/2007/10/podcast_recommendations.html" title="Podcast Recommendations" /> <link rel="next" href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/2007/10/what_salary_am_i_worth.html" title="What Salary Am I Worth?" />   <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/mt-site.js"></script> </head> <body class="layout-one-column" onload="individualArchivesOnLoad(commenter_name)"> <div id="container"> <div id="container-inner" class="pkg"> <div id="banner"> <div id="banner-inner" class="pkg"> <h1 id="banner-header"><a href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/" accesskey="1">The Lighter Side of Absolute Zero</a></h1> <h2 id="banner-description"></h2> </div> </div> <div id="pagebody"> <div id="pagebody-inner" class="pkg"> <div id="alpha"> <div id="alpha-inner" class="pkg"> <p class="content-nav"> <a href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/2007/10/podcast_recommendations.html">« Podcast Recommendations</a> | <a href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/">Main</a> | <a href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/2007/10/what_salary_am_i_worth.html">What Salary Am I Worth? »</a> </p> <a id="a001202"></a> <div class="entry" id="entry-1202"> <h3 class="entry-header">A Lesson Driven Home</h3> <div class="entry-meta"><span class="entry-category">{Revelation}</span> <span class="entry-topics">Topics: <a href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=5&tag=Horror&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=5" rel="tag">Horror</a> <a href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=5&tag=Writing&limit=20&IncludeBlogs=5" rel="tag">Writing</a> </span></div> <div class="entry-content"> <div class="entry-body"> <p>It’s taken me a year, one full year to the day in fact, to realize something it appears <a href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/2006/10/atmosphere_in_weird_fiction.html" title="The Lighter Side of Absolute Zero: Atmosphere in Weird Fiction">I already knew</a>: in weird fiction/horror atmosphere is of utmost importance. In an effort to come up with an acceptable haunt for my Halloween story this month I’ve hit brick-wall after brick-wall. Tonight it suddenly dawned on me: if I render down all the good weird fiction stories I have ever read I have weak-sauce for the haunts. Nearly all of Lovecraft’s antagonists are simply aliens aeons old and supremely powerful, but aliens nonetheless.</p> <p><strong>The haunt is not as important as the atmosphere.</strong> The thing about weird fiction that makes it great is the atmosphere it paints, the way in which the haunt is revealed, and how much is revealed. The author may know that the thing in the dark is just a misunderstood trans-dimensional creature scared out of its mind and looking for it’s mommy, and while that isn’t weird or horrific the presentation can be.</p> <p>Will this mean I can find some banal source for the weirdness in my Halloween story, and still tell a chilling tale come the end of this month? I’ll find out!</p> </div> <div id="more" class="entry-more"> </div> </div> <p class="entry-footer"> <span class="post-footers">Posted by Seth Croston Barber on October 3, 2007 10:37 PM</span> <span class="separator">|</span> <a class="permalink" href="http://blog.0kelvin.net/lite/2007/10/a_lesson_driven_home.html">Permalink</a> </p> </div> <div class="trackbacks"> <h3 id="trackback" class="trackbacks-header">TrackBack</h3> <div id="trackbacks-info"> <p>TrackBack URL for this entry:<br />http://blog.0kelvin.net/mt-tb.cgi/490</p> </div> <div class="trackbacks-content"> </div> </div> <div id="comments" class="comments"> <div class="comments-content"> <h3 class="comments-header">Comments</h3> <a id="c009465"></a> <div class="comment" id="comment-9465"> <div class="comment-content"> <p>Take care to reveal the haunt, and don't let liz roll a bunch of blank die.</p> <p>On a more serious note, I think 'Signs' was a great example of this. There was so much buildup to the haunt that it actually did surprise a lot of viewers, even though the alien wasn't terribly haunting in its own right.</p> </div> <p class="comment-footer"> Posted by: <a title="http://jdhuntington.com" href="http://jdhuntington.com" rel="nofollow">JD</a> | <a href="#comment-9465">October 4, 2007 8:15 AM</a> </p> </div> <a id="c009472"></a> <div class="comment" id="comment-9472"> <div class="comment-content"> <p>Personally I think "Signs" failed in achieving what I'm talking about in that in the end you find out, "Oh, it's just an alien, and a stupid one at that." Had the movie ended with only a glimpse of the threat, but not a clear understanding of what it was, then I think the movie would be a great example of what I'm getting at.</p> </div> <p class="comment-footer"> Posted by: <a title="http://0kelvin.net/~seth/" href="http://0kelvin.net/~seth/">Seth Croston Barber</a> <a class="commenter-profile" href="http://0kelvin.net/~seth/"><img alt="Author Profile Page" src="http://blog.0kelvin.net/mt-static/images/comment/mt_logo.png" width="16" height="16" /></a> | <a href="#comment-9472">October 5, 2007 2:26 PM</a> </p> </div> </div> <form method="post" action="http://blog.0kelvin.net/mt-comments.cgi" name="comments_form" onsubmit="if (this.bakecookie.checked) rememberMe(this)"> <input type="hidden" name="static" value="1" /> <input type="hidden" name="entry_id" value="1202" /> <div class="comments-open" id="comments-open"> <h2 class="comments-open-header">Post a comment</h2> <div class="comments-open-content"> <script type="text/javascript">  </script> <p class="comments-open-moderated"> (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. 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