Hi everyone! I hope you’re all doing great and enjoying yourselves. It was nice and sunny when I typed this, and I hope it was for you, too. Hopefully, by the time people begin reading this, and the book is out, this whole pandemic nonsense will be behind us, and everyone will be happy and healthy.
The current project I am working on is a paranormal/horror novel titled The Oath Keeper’s Servant. It’s roughly fifty-one thousand words and has a single third-person limited POV. While I prefer fantasy and science fiction, I’ve always wanted to write a horror novel. Granted, my inspiration to write a horror novel started with slashers and murder mysteries, but this one has a vastly different tone. The idea to start and finish a horror novel goes back to my time in high school and college with my friend, Scott. He was more of a horror buff than I was, but we each tried writing a slasher story after being inspired by watching the Scream and Halloween franchises. Mine was a murder mystery called Hangman Hetcher, the killer, a man called the Hetcher, hanged all of his victims. While I never did finish Hangman Hatcher, he would have killed those he felt escaped justice, such as people who were declared innocent despite killing an innocent man on camera.
While the Oath Keeper’s Servant was somewhat inspired by Hangman Hetcher, it isn’t a murder mystery or slasher. Instead, it dabbles in the paranormal realm, with a few fantasy aspects to it such as spirits, ghosts, and people who aren’t quite dead. They aren’t undead, just partially dead since their souls never passed on. I decided to start writing it around Halloween of 2019, since, why not write a horror-based story when Halloween is around? I would have also liked to include werewolves and actual ghosts, but I didn’t, though spirits are eluded to. I would never have vampires or real zombies since vampires are overrated, and zombies, despite being fun consumers of brains, are overdone.
Part of my inspiration for the Oath Keeper’s Servant also spawned from wanting to have a story where someone was getting chased, captured, and stolen away. Since much of horror tends to have the victim escape or be killed instead of successfully kidnapped, I thought this would be a fun little twist. Not that it’s a full twist as the kidnapping happens in the first chapter. Much of the story came down to the idea of body horror, such as your mind being manipulated and your muscles acting against your will. I always felt that was an exciting aspect of horror. While I do like the standard creatures of the horror genre, such as werewolves, ghosts, ghouls, and witches, I feel that body horror is often underutilized.
The Oath Keeper’s Servant hasn’t changed a lot since my initial ideas. It begins with a thirteen-year-old girl named Cassie, who is being hunted by a being named Kiel. From there, she is abducted, and a mark is placed on her, which will make her become Kiel’s latest servant. She must continue on his legacy, and eventually, if she doesn’t find a way to escape, hunt those who have broken their vows to the spirits. I won’t go into more detail, but it’s an exciting story. You should all check it out when it’s finally published.
Thank you all for taking the time out of your day to read this. I hope everything is going well, and please comment with plans, ideas, and titles for your own stories. Feel free to ask questions or just say hi.