In this case, with my dark side. Oh c’mon; we all have it. Even Jim has shown a bit of his in Vinny the Vulture’s rending of the freshly dead deer.
Brought up on old traditional nasties such as Red Riding Hood and Cinderella and Snow White (think about it–they are beautifully violent and evil) and a Polish version of Three Little Kittens that would scare the bejeesus out of any child when told in my mother’s wondrously animated style of reading story, I took immediately to Poe. Stephen King. Straub. True murder mysteries. All the darkness I could absorb, I did.
So naturally this wants to come out eventually. Rather than attack the idiot at the cash register who can’t figure out change, or the client who shows up in one week telling me I’d told her her piece would be ready, or my spouse, the better, more humane way for release of evil thoughts is via writing story. But tone and style of story need to come from mood; to develop a voice that’s anything but bright and cheerful. So I think.
What I need to do is sit and remember all those things and people who have ever truly pissed me off.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology
My reading habits closely mirrored those you mentioned and I’ve also been considering writing about the dark side lately. I think I’m half afraid that if I go there, I might never come back!
Lisa-just do it. It’s cathartic at the least, and once things are written (metaphorically, of course!) they can’t sit in the soul and fester.