MONSTER MOVIES TAUGHT ME HOW NOT TO WRITE

            For anyone that knows me, they know I love my icky bug (monster) movies. In fact, in this day and age I’m mining Amazon Prime for all the old classic and not so classic icky bugs. After watching so many, it’s not hard to figure out the sometimes irritating cliches.

INSPIRATION VERSUS COPY

            While many of these movies have inspired me, that’s not quite how I wanted to write my own icky bug. It’s like when I write fantasy, I don’t look to Lord Of The Rings for style. The same with adventure/thrillers, in that I don’t copy Clive Cussler or James Rollins.

            I have my own voice and stories inspired by others and my own imagination.

            I certainly am not out to copy them.

THE CLICHES

            Right out the gate, I must say that to me, EVERYTHING is a cliché. It doesn’t matter what you think up, someone, somewhere has done it before.

            Does that stop me?

            Hardly. I write my own stories in my own voice. VOICE is what makes them unique, not what’s been done before.

            What are the icky bug cliches?

            #1 Gratuitous naked chicks that have nothing to do with the plot.

            #2 The girl or girls that have sex are the first to die.

            #3 The minority is always the first or second to die, whether there are any naked chicks or not.

            #4 The mayor (or evil rich guy) will always refuse to stop the festival despite the growing danger.

            #5 They liberally drop the F-bomb.

            #6 High body count (okay, I use this one).

            #7 The perpetual “what if” ending where the monster isn’t really dead.

            #8 There’s always a romance with young actors.

WHAT I DO

            I don’t write my icky bug with most, if any of those cliches except the high body count. That’s a must for me, at least with what I’ve come up with so far.

            A lot of people consider icky bug fringe, or lowbrow writing.

            Stephen King isn’t the only one that can write icky bug.

            My stories are still an adventure with an icky bug theme. I don’t use most of the cliches except my older work had a lot of f-bombs. As for the “what if” ending? Maybe if I feel a real need to perpetuate that. However, so far, I’ve only used it once. I’m not a fan of gratuitous nudity or sex that has nothing to do with the plot. The minorities or girl that has sex are not necessarily going to die at all.

            The biggest thing is that many icky bug stories (as in books) bog down in characterization (something the movies can’t really do without making them all four hours long). I’m no fan of that. They’re (movies) light on characterization. I’m all for that. If I don’t like to slog through endless characterization, why should I write it? I feel no compulsion to overdo life stories. I’m there for the fun of it all.

BOOKS RARELY REFLECT THE MOVIES

            The movies have a little over an hour or maybe two to get across the story, so being bogged down in characterization is not going to cut it, or people will be walking out of the theater. They want to see something happen. In a book, we, as authors have more time to flesh things out. However, I’m more of a to-the-point kind of guy so I keep the literary bent to a minimum. I like the brevity of icky bug movies, I just don’t want to use every cliché, trope, or whatever you want to call it.

            Nope, icky bug movies are not the way to write a book.

SUMMARY

            As a writer, you can do anything you want. It’s up to you.

            While I love good icky bug movies, I don’t reflect the same things in my writing. It doesn’t need to be redone on paper.

            Happy writing!