I've only just recently realized how much Disney has influenced my life and my writing.
I grew up in the fantasy world of Disney. I had a collection of records, all the classics which came with follow-along picture books; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Bambi, Dumbo, Robin Hood, Peter Pan, Pinocchio. Beauty and the Beast was my first paranormal romance. I was obsessed with these fantastic tales that took me to exciting places. There were elements of romance that were very sweet. But there were also elements of horror that fascinated me. Snow White's travels through the dark and haunted forest were terrifying. I shivered and shrieked. My heart pounded. My blood pumped. My scalp crawled. I loved it!
In my teens, I became a hopeless horror junkie. I just couldn't get enough. Stephen King was my favorite fix and I'm still addicted to him to this day. The Stand, The Shining, It, Carrie, Cujo, Salem's Lot: I devoured all of his classics. Still, my love of fantasy remained. Tolkien's, The Hobbit, captured my heart. I loved how it was laced with horror - goblin-like, bulgy-eyed Gollum slithering about in eerie underground tunnels. Most of my short stories are horror, and it bleeds through quite often in my fantasy/romance novels. I blame Disney and Stephen King for this.
One of my favorite books of all time, however, is Watership Down by Richard Adams. The world that Adams created around rabbits, of all things, is astounding. He is truly a gifted writer. Though I've always loved animals, it was the story of Bambi that first introduced me to the idea that they had thoughts and feelings. I adore all of the characters, especially Thumper. I still cry every single time Bambi's mother gets killed, damn it! Much of my writing involves animals in some shape or form, and I totally blame both Disney and Adams for this.
I'm with you on Stephen King. Not only is he the master of horror, but he has a natural knack for storytelling by pulling no punches. I love his perverse humor which is prevalent in life.
May your imagination continue to carry you away in your writing.
For a time, I perched myself on a flat rock, comparing my life with the Guyandotte River. Just as its tributaries replenish it daily, changing it in some small—sometimes great—degree, so have the day-to-day occurrences of life changed me. Like the ri
At the young of age of seven, Jill's mother Eve takes her for regular sessions to a child psychologist for treatment of her anxiety, which only makes her behavior worse. When she reaches her teens, she starts drinking and then smoking marijuana with
I grew up in the fantasy world of Disney. I had a collection of records, all the classics which came with follow-along picture books; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Bambi, Dumbo, Robin Hood, Peter Pan, Pinocchio. Beauty and the Beast was my first paranormal romance. I was obsessed with these fantastic tales that took me to exciting places. There were elements of romance that were very sweet. But there were also elements of horror that fascinated me. Snow White's travels through the dark and haunted forest were terrifying. I shivered and shrieked. My heart pounded. My blood pumped. My scalp crawled. I loved it!
