Adrian Shepard

[Adrian]

Everyone of the site authors are representing themselves in this section and its time I jumped on the bandwagon. What I must emphasize is that I think I have too few stories here. Only two, that is, as everyone else seem to have more. Due to this I've started to work on a Mythos piece, that will take place in the Auschwitz (if I wrote the name correctly) camp after the Allied forces have stopped the Nazi warmachine, and a soldier confesses that the mass-eradication of human beings must have really took a totally other type of cruelty and nature than that of human...
Well, this was a lame and a short preview of it anyway.

Onwards, I think I mostly started to write Mythos was the fact that all the fanfic I read was set with the typical scenario of a mad librarian discovering a blasphemous tome that drove him mad/killed him/doomy fate etc. I got sick of the tired scene and tried to insert a fresh style of the likes of Vatican trying to get their mittens of the alien technology for their own 'righteous purposes' and so on. The two stories represented are in my own regard the best Ive written, others I hate and have disposed of. Anyway, as my self-esteem has been boosted by critics saying that I remind them Anne Rice and Shakespeare mixed with Lovecraft, I am not complitely satisfied until people say I resemble no author: only then I have found my own style.

Another criticism regarding my writings have been the ones saying that my length of sentence is overstretched. Those people, of course, are idiots and lazy readers who hope to find shock&terror&horror in short stories with short, easily readable sentences. As I am only eightteen years old and don't know my english perfectly yet does not discourage me when writing: only the opposite, because if I write ordinary fanfickers off the map now, then what will I accomplish in 20 years or so? I only hope people wont find me arrogant. For theirs sake, because I hardly give a f***.

Having my introduction done, I feel the heavy weight of responsibility to show off lifted ,)

[Aleister]

Well said Thanks for the introduction.. looking forward to the new story!

[NickolausPacione]

Let me know when you get it done. I am working on something right now for my journal at diary-x. I range in styles when it comes to horror. I could write vampire into Cthulhu Mythos then a Robert Bloch type psychological horror style. I have read a few fanfiction stories here and there then dabbled around in it -- as in writing a Sherlock Holmes story into a Cthulhu Mythos. It was more to see if I could pull it off. I saw your offerings to the site and you are quite talented for someone so young. I am trying to get another on here whom I discovered from AuthorsDen.

[Adrian]

Yes... we do need disciples, mwahahaha...

[Adrian]

The army thing I was working on has evolved to something else. It reminds me Robert E. Howards "The Black Stone", which troubles me a bit. Anyway, I have submitted a new/old writing, that I was my first Mythos piece ever, its titled "Once in Yemen".
Hope it doesnt suck too much.

[Adrian]

Now the "Black Stone" style is gone. The first half of the story is looking like it, though, as it involves the memories of the main character. Am concerned about the other half, that is more scientific-like with the meteors and such. In the end I have to bind the two sides together to balance to whole damned thing.

The whole idea was to build up a character, who wasn't a librarian, who wasn't interested in the occult, who dispised all things supernatural and who doesnt go mad or die in the end. Im hoping to prove that great Mythos stories can be done without such typical and done to death stereotypes.
The main fear of mine is that Im strecthing the plot too thin over too much space. With more elements brought in it is more difficult to find focus. This topic is beginning to look like my own story journal

[Adrian]

Yesterday night I felt like writing so I did the story, that I am calling "The Glimmering Darkness" about a page longer. Its now 8 pages in Word and every time I think its time to start writing it so that I could end it, it refuses and finds an escape route. This time I was about to let a meteorite land on Earth and stop it there, but now Dr. Dexter, von Junzt and Nyarlathotep are a part of the story *stares angrily at his computer*

[NickolausPacione]

*stares angrily at his computer*

I had those kind of moments when writing and especially when it is not in the horror genre; but sometimes they would come about really quickly and sometimes come about with a story that will be written. The ideas are always there and sometimes they are not. Cthulhu Mythos stories are very hard to write but sometimes they will write themselves.

[Adrian]

Well, as I am writing a Mythos fic I try to make it horror-style. Btw Id really hope to read something romantic thats set in the terms of CM

But with the writers block Im waiting for a mood to come on. To force myself to write would take all the pleasure out of it.

[Adrian]

I hope you all enjoy my new story.

[nortonew]

I just finished reading "The Shadow in the Crimson Light".

The way you put together your sentences is quite artistic - especially for someone that doesn't speak English natively. As you get better at English I think your writing will become very good. Actually, in some places, it seems as if your 'imperfect' grasp of English has produced some very original phrases that were actually quite good - phrases that a native English speaker probably would have never thought to use.

Your description of the god-thing that lived in the oak forest definitely conjured up a phantom of Anne Rice's work.

The idea of the young man being possessed all of his life without realizing it was interesting.

There was only part of the story I didn't quite get. It seemed as if the meteor was supposed to be bringing a new god-creature to the earth, however, at the end of the story, a different creature seems to emerge from the main character, rather than from the incoming meteor. The creature that emerged from the character seemed to be something that arrived on a similar meteor long ago, which became the standing stones. I didn't understand the reason for the emergence of that old creature at that time - did it want to destroy the astronomer for summoning another of its kind?

[Adrian]

The creature that was in the three stones near the main characters village contained a sort of a priest-spirit: fit to summon the real god-form from the stars above, but it needed a vessel. The main character became one and through his life he was unknowingly driven towards the coming of the arriving god-form. The Book Of Revelations was given to Somerset by the creatures, but only a priest who was meant to help the god-form survive could succesfully read it and survive. Somerset was powertripping, he had his own delusions.
Hope it clears it up somewhat. I know as a person to whom English isn't the first language writing Mythos becomes an extra challenge. Sometimes when writing I purposly try to make up some words that arent too spoonfeedingly original but help to carry the story. As a matter of fact, I am going to study english lit in the university I got in, so hopefully Ill improve bucketloads. But sill, I hope you like the level of writing I am in now

[nortonew]

Ah, ok that makes sense.

In that kind of story its always hard to give just the right information to let the reader figure out what is happening without ruining the ambience of the tale. Its a tough balance between being too cryptic and shoving it down their throats.

I definitely like your writing. I think your writing will be really great after you've studied english lit. Do you ever write in Estonian? Or do you speak Russian more than Estonian there? I'm just curious about what people you know there say about your writing in your native language.

I can't imagine trying to write in a foreign language. Its challenging enough in English sometimes.

[Adrian]

Ah, ok that makes sense.

In that kind of story its always hard to give just the right information to let the reader figure out what is happening without ruining the ambience of the tale. Its a tough balance between being too cryptic and shoving it down their throats.


I definitely like your writing. I think your writing will be really great after you've studied english lit. Do you ever write in Estonian? Or do you speak Russian more than Estonian there? I'm just curious about what people you know there say about your writing in your native language.

I can't imagine trying to write in a foreign language. Its challenging enough in English sometimes.

I pretty much try to write in a way that the plot would not become too predictable while reading it. I hate those stories that do grasp you and create a good mood and ambiance for it, but the storyline becomes also pretty straightforward, so you can guess the ending somewhere in the middle of the story. And it is a gamble to try to pull it off but I would rather be remembered as a failed author who tried to bring an edge into his story than a successful writer with mediocre stories.

I write in estonian but I haven't done any Mythos fics in it, rather some psychological short stories, a sort of a way of bending normality into the borderlining surreality. One of the scariest phenomenas in the world is normality and emphasizing on it with werid fiction elements can sometimes produce quite wonderfully loopy stories. We dont speak russian here ever since the Soviet power crumbled to dust. Estonia has always had quite negative relations with Russia because it has always tried to conquer us , so estonias dont like anything that reminds them of the Soviets. The older generation speaks russian very well because they grew up with it, aminly because the Soviets policy in conquered countries was to remove the previous culture and substitute it with theirs. People my age can speak english in a sufficent way to communicate with americans or whoever holds english as their first language. Besides, when the Soviets came, about 98% of estonians could write & read estonian. about 30% of the soviets, and thats 50% of nowadays russians cant read & write their own language, so that shows something about Russia
My writings in estonian go down very well, in fact
People say they are vivid and almost bring up pictures in their heads while reading them right from the start, a bit grotesque. I have some of that styled stories in english too, as an experiment. As well as some morbid poems.

[Adrian]

Just thought I'd let the 'audient void' know that I'm working on a fic based on "The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward". For me it may be the bes HPL work ever. Concerning the one I am writing should be longer than "The Shadow In The Crimson Light" (if anyone has ever heard of that one ) and will be terribly corny and bland. Nonetheless I remind myself what Danger Mouse said once when walking into an ominous pyramid: "Courage, Penfold - face the challenge & never look back."