Comments to My Fellow Compatriots in the Art of Writing

To the Esteemed Taylor Marshall:


Your scary story was about a person who is lingering after death, at first planning to torment the person who caused their death, but then moving on to a content afterlife after seeing the person's look of guilt.


Your story was one of mood whiplash! One minute I think the ghost person is going to do something terrible, the next he's content with  beer and hot dogs. The description of being in a casket and being aware of it was totally creepy! I also like the backstory of the character's death being included as well.


I love this whimsical little story! The consequences of being able to read minds here are pretty realistic, and I love the image of the little glowing people. I also love how straightforward Claude is: "We're from a magic place, and we would like for you to help us save it." Just awesome!


I appreciate and agree with the truths about us seeing our parents as idols rather than people, and the part about your dad's nickname is totally sweet. I also like the advice to parents about listening to their kids. Good communication can't be stressed enough! The pictures concerning teenagers were an excellent touch.


To the Compassionate Meghan Zengel:


The frightening story you wrote was about a girl encountering a frightening nightmarish version of her younger self, only to learn that her mother is aware of this version of herself.

I have so many questions, and this story certainly seems to have more to tell! Why did the mom seem to already recognize the little girl? Did something happen to her daughter a long time ago? Why does the creepy version of the girl have her mom's bracelet? The use of imagery was really, really good. You really illustrated how grotesque and nightmarish the kid was. I almost think the mom made some kind of deal with the devil from her reaction.

Creeeeeppy! Keep that freaky shapeshifting thing away from me, thanks! Anyhoo, good work with the gorgeous imagery. I loved the description in the beginning especially with the old man sitting on the bench. You wrote this incredibly well, and I am suitably creeped out now. The part with the hellish landscape under the little boy, good grief that's horrible. In a good way horrible, in that you wrote it to be horrible and it was. Excellent job!


The Mortal Instruments quote is good, it reminds me that faith can really help a person's mindset. I love the quote about infinity, as infinity is presented as a sort of infinite paradise in this context, and that's an idea I entertain as well. The quote from National Treasure is one that made me laugh. I often have the feeling of "Why can't things be simple and easy?" when things seem needlessly complicated so I identify with this quote. I need to know the context around the "fade" quote, for


To the Magnificient M'Kenna Breckenridge:


Your Halloween story detailed a person living in a house that has the dark aftereffects of witchcraft on it. The narrator notices scratching sounds in her house fairly often, but it's only at the end of the story she discovers they're from terrible animals with spells on them.

We can all relate to the "run fast to the next room in the dark so the monsters don't get you" feeling, and the prompt you chose about scratching sounds in an empty house: ugh! So eerie! I like that the character would buy a house with interesting legends around it, because I would, but at the same time I want to scold both her and myself for this notion. Buying houses with legends around it never seem to end well! Those animals, especially the Cheshire cat were quite an unsettling thing to read about. That's what you intended, so good work. I also like how the story is open-ended, and you don't know if she escapes or not.

I loved the line "Jean thought that there was no construction that day, and was pulled out of her philosophical trance by curiosity. "  I really want to learn more to this story, as I'm wondering how on earth an ocean liner got into the streets  of Venice, and why it did! I liked the characterization you gave Jean with her parents working a lot and what kind of music she likes. I also love the description of Jean's breakfast and the streets of Venice.

I love that you shared this family tradition! I love pumpkin-carving too, but it seems you do it on an industrial scale! I just had an idea that you could write a pumpkin-carving ideas book or write a children's book about this tradition! It would be awesome, but that's just as suggestion! Thanks for the pumpkin links and telling us about this!