A propensity for the monstrous

After the release of Dark Souls, director Hidetaka Miyazaki said his next game wasn't going to be as violent or brutal as the last (at least, that is what I'm told, it's hard to find where this claim comes from). After making this statement, he released Bloodborne, and while I have not played Bloodborne, it is very clear that is is far more brutal than his previous game.

I say this to run a sort of comparison. No, I wouldn't dare compare the quality of my work to Miyazaki, but instead I consider this propensity for the monstrous.

My novel, Imperfect Creatures, was almost always, through every step of its creation process, a brutal story. There was always death, violence, carnage and chaos. Some aspects were lessened, others were increased. It was a balancing act for what the story needed. Although during the high school drafts, it definitely was overly on the edgy side.

At the point in time relevant to this consideration, the story involved torture, rape, disgustingly violent acts during combat, and characters building to a far more violent crescendo. Much of this was scraped or reworked later on, but this was the type of story I had.

In addition to Imperfect Creatures, there were stories I'd written for class projects, side interests, and eventual plans. All these stories shared a similar level of brutality. One centred on a child committing cannibalism (this was not a good story, btw)

My next novel will be called Neon Rainbow, and a teaser of it was added to the final page of Imperfect Creatures.

When I conceptualised Neon Rainbow, I had a desire; to make something as far away from the violence, destruction, and brutality as I could get. I set the story in a magic high school, for it would allow a fun and more carefree setting. I named the book not after something harsh, but after a vibrant image of a colourful rainbow. I set the conflict as an entrance exam (at least, it was during the original short story version).

And yet, somehow, despite my promise to myself to create a story less brutal and harsh and cruel, a story with less monsters, I somehow created something far more harsh than Imperfect Creatures could ever be.

Yes, the life and death battles were replaced, but what took their place was something perhaps more real in its brutality. While there is no denying the violence of a movie like Die Hard, I think it is quite clear that The Devil Wears Prada is a more brutal story. Less overt violence, more covert and internal destruction. On some level, this can probably be attributed to men vs women. A masculine story uses fists to express hardship and fights, a feminine one uses deception and wiles. I haven't explained that well, and I do not intend to. It is an idea for exploration at another time.

Instead of a looming physical threat, the conflicts arise from exams, classroom bullying, bureaucratic processes, and family relations. None of these share the combat based violence of Allison's life-or-death battles from Imperfect Creatures, but perhaps the feel more real?

The point I am making, is despite my intention of creating a fun, bubbly, happy-go-luck story in Neon Rainbow, I built something more bleak and brutal than my original novel. Now, I think there is a joy to Neon Rainbow as well, a childish innocence and fun. But the underswell themes are a real kicker.

Where this all becomes more fascinating, however, is with my next story in development. It is a short story. I had no intentions when starting it, I just had an idea and wrote it down. As a short story, it is far easier to get through a draft in one or two sittings, and as such, watch the ideas develop before me. What started as a simple execution (yes, I know, this story was never going to be pleasant), turned into a cosmic horror. It seems no matter what I intend, every story I write appears to become more horrific and brutal than the last.

At least my last draft stripped the Lovecraftian horror elements. I'm not too sure I could come back from that.

This propensity for the monstrous seems embedded into my story telling, and perhaps the me I am now is just incapable of writing a pleasant story. If so, I kinda hope that changes, since that doesn't bode well for how I'm living my life.

Thomas