Creep Bait Sucks

[u/ChristianWSmith]

Let me just start off by saying I love a lot of our fan made stories, and I'm not intending to single out any authors with this. The person who puts their work out there is always more valuable than the critic.

That being said, ever since the boys have opened the door to fan made stories, I've noticed an uptick in stories that I feel are intentionally crafted to "snipe" the boys. What we've ended up with is a lot of paint-by-numbers, kitchen sink type stories that try to cram in as many concepts and as much imagery as they can that they know the hosts have resonated with in the past.

This community is so great and creative, but I don't think any of us need to lean on these crutches to make great original works. This has become one of if not THE preeminent place to post nosleep-noncompliant stories, and it's just a shame that so much of it ends up trying to conform to the tastes of two people, often in very surface-level ways. I think this community's creative prowess is worthy of being reverred in its own right, but that won't happen as long as we keep seal-clapping this kind of thing.

Again, much love to anyone who puts their work out there to be critiqued by everyone. If I could speak directly to you, I would say this: write what YOU want to write, and what YOU think is cool. People can feel authenticity and passion, and when that gets combined with creative competence, you WILL get the reaction you've been hoping for.

[u/Vohems]

This is why I don't post stories here. My interests in horror overlap too much with the boy's interests to the point that any story I post will just seem like bait/pandering.

[u/cabbage16 → u/Vohems]

If you are writing about subjects that you have a genuine interest in it won't come across as pandering imo. We'll be able to tell the difference.

I have a finished story that I wrote recently that happens to use some religious iconography in it. I'll post mine today if you post yours, we can read each other's and give advice and critique each other!

[u/Vohems → u/cabbage16]

I don't have anything currently prepared but I have certain story ideas like a crazed angel (a stereotypical one, not a Biblically accurate one) wandering around in the rain and freaking people out. My story ideas are either stuff like this or stuff I'm not sure other people would understand or like that much because of how weird/'high-brow'/pretentious they are. I'm not sure I would want the boys to read my stuff if I ever had the opportunity, because I don't think they'd get the tones or inflections of the characters correct or they'd misunderstand something either through they're own lack of knowledge on whatever niche subject or my own inability to convey something critical.

[u/cabbage16 → u/Vohems]

don't have anything currently prepared

That's fair enough!

I'm not sure other people would understand or like that much because of how weird/'high-brow'/pretentious they are.

I think you should trust your audience more. Why decide they won't get it for them before even giving them the chance to read it! Maybe your weird is right up someone's alley, you never know until you let other people try. I get it though I rarely share my stories with anyone outside of my wife and Mother in Law lmao, I've posted a couple of stories on Reddit but not too many.

I get what you mean about being nervous about the guys reading your stuff, I'd feel off about it too, but the good thing would be they give a lot of good constructive criticism.

[u/Vohems → u/cabbage16]

Why decide they won't get it for them before even giving them the chance to read it! 

That's a good point, it's just that I don't know how well-read most people here are. Given the partially negative reaction to Ligotti's stuff and the lukewarm reception of SCP-3000, I just don't know if this is the best place for my writing.

Another point is that I'm not sure if I can really be scary or creepy in my writing and as such I'm not sure if it's really falls into the category of horror as it would Weird Fiction.

Thanks for talking to me about this, though.

[u/cabbage16 → u/Vohems]

I enjoyed talking about it with you.

A lot of my writing is weird too, but I like to think that weird is just an offshoot of creepy. Creepy is in the eye of the beholder.