Our Addiction To Dystopia, Horror And Sadness
Observations On What We Read And Write
Introduction
I am not sure what made me write this, maybe it's the TV I am watching, the book I am reading or what I write and what I see published on Vocal. I have touched on this many times before, so I know I may be repeating myself, but I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Why?
One of the main problems is that to make a story interesting we usually have to have some form of jeopardy or else it becomes boring. When I write I try to be positive and uplifting and often a positive ending only comes after the story has travelled through some dangerous areas.
It's like a roller coaster or a Ferris Wheel although we think we are safe there is an element of dander. What if you fall out or the car leaves the track and just going from high to low at speed gets the adrenalin going?
This was an attempt at a totally positive fiction story from two years back but it still contained small elements of jeopardy.
My latest Top Story which is a microfiction is positive, but it is just about things that go right that could go wrong.
A previous top story was a villanelle inspired by a beautiful creation by Bouke De Vries but I was feeling sad and fragile at the time and this encapsulated it.
How We Let Things Out
Both reading and writing can hep us deal with sorrow and loss, and also give us a safe adrenalin boost when we want excitement.
When we encounter horror it may scare us, but it is safe because it is locked on the page or behind the screen.
I was a bit worried because I had been watching "Silo" which is getting darker by the episode with elements of "1984" and other such novels. So, while I am enjoying it, I thought I would try something lighter, the new BBC comedy series "Only Child" . While it has funny bits it addresses the effects of dementia in older people so became a difficult watch for me.
I do think we as humans want to experience the good for real and maybe the difficult through the medium of print, music and film, but sometimes these things are forced upon us.
Conclusion
We love disaster movies, horror films, sad stories and sad songs and that is the way we are.
I have shared R.E.M.'s "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" which I sang live once or twice with Spoon (the Newcastle one) but we will make this life wonderful together.
Thank you so much for reading this mindwandering.
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Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred
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The Art Of Getting Read On Vocal
Introduction Someone once told me that my work on Vocal was not successful because I was not a good writer (certainly not as good as the serial Top Story collectors) but if that were true then people would not read my work, for instance, you would not be reading this.
By Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred about a year ago in Writers
Comments (7)
I’m addicted to apocalypse end of the world movies. I can’t watch horror and for the most part. I’m much more of a “All creatures great and small” type of TV show watcher. But I do enjoy writing the horror and the thriller piece. And reading it is fine because you’re right it’s safely locked on the page.
I'm addicted to horror or bad stuff because it feels nice to see life beating the hell out of someone that's not me 😅😅
I was debating on watching 'Silo' now I believe I will. We love what we can imagine and yet fear it at the same time.
My most recent Top Story was a piece for the current Futurism Challenge. It arguably has dystopian elements to it and, for the most part, is not an uplifting story. I tried to give it a positive spin at the end, some hope that the main character might find a new life, but even that got ruined with a little bit of the ominous. I think that it's because I'm still processing everything with the election and how it's going to affect the future, and it's not appearing so uplifting to me. Writing is how I process the world around me, and that's not always so cheery, sometimes unfortunately for my readers. It might be why I read these kinds of things, too--to help me process the worst-case scenario and how it can be avoided, if people choose to do the work.
I became addicted to thrillers and dystopias during a season when life was scary. Friends reruns weren't cutting it to get my mind off my own things, but horror could snatch me right out of the real world for a while. It was a strangely calming, comforting thing.
I guess we are addicted to horror because it comforts us to think that someone could be in tough situations like ourselves. The human psyche is strange.
You always do great work, and I always learn something from your work.