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Blogs by Rebecca Brock
Writing "Family Value" 10/26/2007 12:05:53 PM
I thought that I'd take up valuable interweb space by re-posting some blogs about the writing of some of the stories from my collection, Abominations. Enjoy...won't you? ;) I'm not sure if anyone is actually interested in the way authors come up with their stories (unless said author is Stephen King), but I thought I might try blogging about a few of the stories in my collection, in no particular order.
"Family Value" is one of the oldest stories in the collection, written back in the late '90s. At the time, I was miserable with a capital MIZ. I was a library assistant at a library where the director was an alcoholic pedophile and the mood among co-workers had turned decidedly poisonous. I was seriously unhappy.
I probably shouldn't go into the specifics of what inspired the main character of Lucy, who hates her children so much that she wishes she could just abandon them. Suffice it to say, the character is based (in part) on someone I knew. I just exaggerated her tendencies and made the character much, much worse.
The story itself is based on a vampire legend from Exeter, Rhode Island. A girl there, Mercy Brown, became sick with "consumption" and died. She was buried in the family cemetery near their house. Soon, Mercy's family started getting sick--very weak and pale and tired. Her younger siblings said that Mercy visited them at night. Eventually, most of her family withered and died. Mercy's body was exhumed, and it's said that she was perfectly preserved--not a sign of decay. And you know what that means, boils and ghouls...
I think the character of Lucy is one of the most unlikable characters I've ever created. Re-reading the story, I could tell it was an older one, but I tried not to rewrite it too much. I'll let the flaws stand as they are.
Oh...and a bit of trivia: there are a few scenes concerning vampires and snow that are a homage to Stephen King and his story "One for the Road." :D
