Stories Behind the Stories: She Rises at Night
Stories Behind the Stories: She Rises at Night
*WARNING: Stories Behind the Stories essays contain spoilers
of certain plot details in my works. The spoilers do not give away pertinent
plot-ruining information and should not taint your reading enjoyment of the
book.*
Welcome to ‘Stories Behind the Stories.’ In this essay, we’ll be discussing my epic horror novel ‘She Rises at Night’ – a book that was such an undertaking that it was nicknamed ‘The Monster’ by my editor.
In all fairness, ‘She Rises at Night’ was not originally intended to be the massive book that it became. During its birth, the novel was meant to be a short novella and a part of my ‘Shaded Whisperings’ horror series. In the original fifty-page draft, the two main characters – Bob and Karen – moved into a dilapidated European farmhouse by the sea and the haunted past of the house worked to tear the bitter couple further apart. It was meant to end with a husband who had totally lost his wits and decided to kill his wife in order to bring himself some peace. In that original ending, Bob learned that whatever died in the house never truly went away, and he was haunted and tortured by the vengeful corpse of his departed wife.
Needless to say, very little of this original draft made it into the current and final version of the book. Things have a way of going awry when writing, and sometimes the best laid plans and plot-points end up detouring into directions that were never expected.
‘She Rises at Night’ ended up being a fantastic detour that explores much more than just the ending of a failed marriage. It is a full-cycle novel that brings you in during the brink of destruction and heartache, pulls you into the imminent horror of the surroundings and the darkness that haunts it, and then guides you through a trip back in time to explore the actions and situations that make these characters who they are.
In many ways, it is also a testimony of love. One thing that I wanted to show with Bob and Karen is that people will fight to hold onto a love that they knew to once be true, even if many aspects of that original love have faded away. This is why I often refer to the book as ‘a love story between an unhappily married couple.’ I wanted my characters to be as real and believable as possible to the reader, and so they are ‘perfectly flawed.’ This shows in the full-circle moments of youthful love, absolute hate, total sadness and, eventually, a different kind of love and a realization that comes only from maturity and a true understanding of one’s self and partner.
The cast for most of ‘She Rises at Night’ is quite small, intentionally. Even as the book expanded beyond its original length and purpose, I wanted the focus to stay on Bob and Karen as much as possible, while exploring each of them as both the protagonist and, at times, the antagonist. There are a few main side characters that sometimes steal the show, and they were pretty incredible for me to write. One such character is Ethel Granger, Bob’s mother… Karen’s mother-in-law. With the creation of Ethel, I was able to take the definition of a ‘momma’s boy’ to new horizons, while creating the ultimate vicious mother-in-law in the process. Ethel is not a woman to be reckoned with. She and Karen have a perfect hate-hate relationship, with each vying for the bulk of Bob’s attention and love. Because of this very aspect, Ethel is indeed one of the greatest and wickedest antagonists of ‘She Rises at Night’ and perhaps one of the best ‘villains’ I’ve ever created.
Another secondary character who appears as untrustworthy as he does kindly is Mr. McDougal. McDougal serves as the former caretaker of the farmhouse, having maintained the property throughout several decades. An old, salty seaman, his intentions seem at first to be of the very best – working with Bob to figure out how to repair the house and bring it back to its former glory before too much more damage happens to it and it becomes one with the sea. McDougal’s intentions begin to change and his relationship with Bob takes a downward turn – a turn that travels down another dangerous curvy road as he sets his sights and affections on Ethel.
The final secondary character I’d like to mention is Doctor Wilfred Longfellow. We are first introduced to Doctor Longfellow in the form of journal entries, dating back to the mid-eighteen hundreds. He was the original owner of the house, and a man who was well-known and respected throughout his community. The journal entries that Bob reads in the house’s library offer him bits and pieces of the doctor’s life, including detailed descriptions of experiments performed within the house. The entries are tragic and horrifying tales of seduction, murder, and resurrection. It is through these journals that Bob learns a shocking truth about the house he has purchased and what truly happens on his land when the sun sets each evening.
Yes, the journals are our first introduction to the zombies. The living dead in ‘She Rises at Night’ are not your typical zombies from ‘The Walking Dead’ or ‘Night of the Living Dead.’ I have instead redefined the genre and what a zombie can be. While, yes, they feast on the flesh of the living, they were not transformed by some weird radioactive material. Their bite will not cause a virus to spread, bringing about more zombies with every attack. Their ‘livelihood’ comes from vile experiments that are performed by the chosen Keeper of a certain spellbook, known as the Book of Lucifer.
Creating the Book of Lucifer was a hearty task all by itself. How was the book made? Where did it come from? How did it get into Doctor Longfellow’s hands, and what powers did it hold within its pages? In a daring move, I had to give examples of the book’s abilities, and that included rewriting Biblical history and the resurrection of Christ. This is perhaps the most controversial scene that I’ve ever penned, and writing it made me a bit uneasy. However, this is a horror novel, and it is my hope that – if the scene emotes anything from the readers – it will emote a sense of fear and a nervous restiveness that falls in line with the rest of the book.
With ‘She Rises at Night’ as a whole, I decided the best way to feature this multi-layered long-form novel was to break it up into sections for the reader. This gives the reader a ‘break’ of sorts while involving them in different aspects of the story. Aside from being broken up into sections that follow Karen and sections that follow Bob during their time in the farmhouse, the novel offers two sub-story flashbacks that are pertinent to the story but also offer stories of their own. The first of these sub-stories is called Then and it tells the tale of how Bob and Karen were and how they became who they currently are in the story. If offers a detailed look at Bob’s relationship with his mother, Karen’s introduction to and interactions with Ethel, and the trials and tribulations that took a blissfully in love couple and turned them into the cold and paranoid rivals that they become.
The second such sub-story is a section called The Book. This section serves to tell the reader how the Book of Lucifer came to be in Longfellow’s possession and how it managed to transform him from being a renowned physician to a disturbed individual set on mastering the secret of eternal life. In many ways, Longfellow’s story is as horrific and tragic as that of Bob and Karen; in some ways, it is even more so. His is a tale of power and magic and how, despite feeling like one might have control over these things, the control solely belongs to the source of the power and magic.
For those who have read a good amount of my work, I added an epilogue that features a character whose appearance is a nod to them. One of the titular characters in my literary universe plays a key role in ending the novel, even though her appearance is unexpected. Trust me; it was unexpected for me also. Yet, when it came time to ‘wrap things up,’ I knew it would take someone with extreme abilities to handle the job. That ‘someone’ also serves a secondary purpose – setting up the plot of ‘Shaded Whisperings 4: The Dragon Man.’
‘She Rises at Night’ is a project that took over three years to complete – from the initial idea to the book’s official presale launch. It is a project that required more dedication of my time, my imagination, and my love than any other I’ve tackled before. The task of creating an original take on the zombie genre blended with the need to tell a realistic love story proved daunting, but it was a challenge that I dove into head-on. The novel is my personal ‘masterpiece,’ and I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
My deepest thanks is extended to my long-time editor and friend Jean Watkins, who had to endure the horrors of this novel several times in order to help me make it the best it could possibly be. For her, I am eternally grateful. I would also like to thank my cover model Julian Christian, who not only provided me with an image of my perfect ‘Bob’ for the cover but also worked with me to fine-tune the cover into the frightening scene it became. Julian has been a good friend for nearly fifteen years, and I am indebted to him for his help with this project. Lastly, my gratitude is also extended to my publisher Pamela Seres, who graciously allowed me to express this project in the way that I felt it needed to be told and for allowing me the large amount of time it took to make it right. Pam has a wonderful way of championing the authors of DCL Publications, and I hope ‘She Rises at Night’ not only meets her expectations but exceeds them.
‘She Rises at Night’ can be purchased on Presale through April 22 and is fully available on April 23 wherever eBooks are sold and in print at select online retailers. It is published by DCL Publications.
