Carols of Christmas: A Dickensian Tale, part 5: "Writing style"

I wanted to start each chapter with song quotes to foreshadow the chapter, and, possibly with the exception of chapter 10, I’ve tried to save the most dramatic parts of the chapters until the end. I tried not to use quotes, inspired by Meg Rosoff’s How I Live Now, but that didn’t really work out, starting with chapter 9.

Behind the Curtains, Part 1: "Writing prompt"

This was one of the essays in a college English class. We had to write about something that was a home away from home. If we wrote about a job or volunteer experience like I did, we had to include the family portion of why it felt like home.

Fairvale, Part 16: "Performance before the performance"

Even before I threw in the element of Psycho, back when there were only supposed to be a mix of my friends and Sweeney Todd characters, I knew I wanted there to be some sort of a stage performance. Except, I envisioned it more taking place near the end of the story, not referenced throughout the first half or so. I was originally inspired to have Anthony Hope perform Styx’ “Come Sail Away” after hearing it in the planning phases of Fairvale. After adding Psycho and killing off Anthony, the song got pushed back to the bonus feature.

Carols of Christmas: A Dickensian Tale, part 4: "Random trivia facts"

The Ghost of Christmas Past was born on April 11^th. He is 2 years younger than Jeanie and almost a year and a half older than his friend Bennett. Jeanie’s birthday is March 26^th; Bennett’s is September 19^th. Bennett’s full name is Bennett Donald Mallard – and he would eventually become Ducky from NCIS. Jeanie is Jeanie Chance; The Ghost of Christmas Past is Gwydion Robert Orrin Charles Kilroy. Both of their names were inspired by Styx’s album Kilroy Was Here. The name Jeanie came from a character in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Gwydion, while on Earth, would eventually become a hero from Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain.

Almost, part 1: "One way or the other"

At the end of the story, I decided to make Norman and Connie’s child be a girl. In pretty much all of the post-Psycho IV FanFics I’ve read, Norman has a son. I decided to spice it up and give him a daughter.

Sue's Corner, part 1: "It’s not me, it’s Sue"

I started this story because I thought it’d be funny to see how Sue would solve the world’s problems. I was mainly, obviously, inspired by “Sue’s Corner” on Glee. Just keep in mind that I wrote the chapters from the point-of-view of Sue Sylvester, and that I’m not normally that… Sue-ish. The whole story is written like “What would Sue say?”

Rules for Being a Horror Movie Character, part 1: "It’s all so cliché"

I came up with the idea of rules for surviving as a horror movie character one evening after one of my younger sister’s school choir concerts. We’d come home after it ended, and I saw a Turner Classic Movies channel special about Stephen King talking about the movies that influenced his writing style. At one point, he mentioned horror movie clichés, so I created my own list of these stereotypes and clichés and made them into a horror movie survival guide.