Finish My Lovecraft

[SDragon]

After reading some of the MYTHOS thread, I had the urge to write some Lovecraftian fiction. Partway through, I realized that the framing for my narrative could provide the springboard for many possible stories, and I'm curious how you guys would build from it. With this, I offer a very small preview of my story.


[ic]Dr. Schwiezer,

The day I arrived here, you interviewed me. I remember that clearly. You asked if I understood why I was taken here. I said that I understood. I said that I belonged here. You asked why, but I vehemently refused to provide any level of detail. That refusal has stubbornly persisted to this day.

I am certain that you have made thorough notes on my search for knowledge. I am also certain that you consider my research to be compulsive. you are correct. This compulsion is horribly self-perpetuating; the more I know, the more questions I need answered. This is why I now, finally, tell you the story of why I am here. I fear that I am now forced to gather my information from you. I can only provide one offer of mercy: that you stop reading this immediately, destroy this letter, and forget that it ever existed.[/ic]

[CoyoteCamouflage]

'Ello there. I happen to be new to these forums for the time-being, but I found your prompt here to be quite interesting. I personally fancy myself a writer, and I am a fan of Lovecraft and the Cthluhu Mythos, so how could I pass this up?

But, as to your question: What would I do with this?

Hmm. That is a good question. While I agree that there are numerous ways to proceed in the story with a prompt like this, I think I would be more inclined to head into the direction of the unexpected (according to what I perceive as the most expected, at least).

In this case, I think the most expected would be to read a story concerning a descent into madness of the unnamed author here-- though the descent or fall of Dr. Schwiezer is a close second. So, in my normally inane manner of opposing the obvious, I would consider a short story where it is identified and stated that Dr. Schwiezer is in possession of the knowledge the writer first mentions, but that the reader is unaware of the specifics of what that is, specifically (As a reader's imagination can often scare the reader far more than a written statement in a book).

But what to do with it? Well, the setting itself is vague for the ability to go many ways with it. I think I would try to explore Dr. Schwiezer as a person trying desperately to forget knowledge that is tormenting him or her in some fashion-- whether it plays on a guilty conscience or is some unfathomable arcane mumbo-jumbo. However, the conflict comes in that something is much more interested in the knowledge itself, and possessing it for this something's own ends. What form this takes is likely to vary depending on how heavy-handed I want to be on the supernatural, as well as how interested I am in keeping the reader in the dark about the reasons this knowledge is so valuable-- that fact will affect how many turns and twists I place in the story.

So, to cut to the heart of the matter, I would most likely present a horror-suspense story, where Dr. Schwiezer is in possession of knowledge that puts him or her in some perceived danger. The original author is already believed dead-- most likely having committed suicide to keep his or her 'knowledge' safe, but now an entity wishes to know what Schwiezer knows, since the source is no longer available. Most likely, Schwiezer is aware of this, but he or she is unaware of the identify of the entity (be it mortal or supernatural).

As expected, this is far from the entire plot-- I can already think of a number of interesting twists and turns to make the matter much more bothersome to easily guess at. The structure I mentioned here leaves plenty of room for alterations based on what kind of symbolism or core moral you wish to present-- do you want something lighter and hopeful? What about something full of GrimDark goodness? Maybe your preference is in coming of age stories, with personal sacrifices full of lots of development on a personal scale that is also utterly consumed by the whole around it. Heh. I may not be too keen on writing GrimDark, but I do have a definite love of the darker side of these stories.

Sorry for some of the vagaries I left open here. There are a few different kinds of plot twists I use, and I prefer to save them for my own stories instead of simply writing out how they work mechanically or structurally. Before the story is written, at least. ^^

Hopefully this was enough to satisfy your question about where others might take that kind of prompt.

[LD]

Sounds that the person writing is in a mental institution, or he is a prisoner of some sort... Regrettably I don't see this developing much of anywhere; or rather it seems like it could develop everywhere- since the main question is how the author got to the place where he is. It just seems a little wide open and un-defined.

I suppose one interesting way to take it is that the author himself IS Dr. Schweitzer and he's writing to himself. The big reveal is that he can't forget what he is writing and he is hoping that by reducing it to print, he can exorcise the terrible things from himself; when instead he relives it and causes the horrible things to happen again and again, and that the place where he IS is not a mental institution--instead it's a graveyard (where he belongs since his soul is dead... similar to one of Lovecraft's stories- the one with the ghoul who is trying to escape the crypt).

Not really my cup of tea though, but good luck.

[SA]

No, no, no, no. What you're supposed to do now is finish his story and post it here in the thread. Those are the rules. ;)

[SDragon]

No, no, no, no. What you're supposed to do now is finish his story and post it here in the thread. Those are the rules. ;)

You've got the idea! Your post should be quite interesting ;)

[CoyoteCamouflage]

Ah, my bad, then.

I got the impression you were more interested in talking about the prompt itself as opposed to working up actual fiction to support the possibilities for it, since writing stories is not exactly the swiftest response to give.

Well, that's probably not going to happen then, sadly. I have too much on my plate now to start up a Lovecraft fiction that will, no doubt, slowly attempt to grow beyond the scope of what I want for it.

Still, my comments stand. >.>

[SA]

Ah, my bad, then.

It was a fair interpretation.

You're a newbie, huh? Welcome to the boards!

Have some complimentary cabbage (do we still give out free cabbage?)

[Weave]

Have some complimentary cabbage (do we still give out free cabbage?)

 [spoiler](I never got free cabbage... *ahem*) [/spoiler]

THREAD JACK, AWAAAAAAYYY.

I'd honestly try and contribute, but I just don't have enough experience in Lovecraftian writing to even come off as passable.