Metacognition: Scary Story Contest

As some of you may know, GBS's literary magazine, Calliope, was holding a scary story contest for the Halloween issue. Being in the class of the teacher who runs Calliope, I found myself really wrapped up in trying to write something terrifying. Okay... I'll admit, getting my story published and being able to build up my college application may have been a motivating factor.

At first I thought it would be a piece of cake. I thought that I could make up whatever random B.S. I wanted and mold it into the form of a scary story; I was wrong. I started out with a story that I thought had a lot of potential, but then realized I had no clue where I was going with it. Usually that would be no issue; it's normal for me to start writing something with no idea of where I'll take it. In this case however, I realized that I could easily write the beginning of a scary story, but I couldn't manage to produce a satisfying ending.

I wrote the beginnings of at least four stories, deciding after a day that each one was cra... no good. I couldn't seem to get the scary story cliches out of my head. Everything I wrote seemed to fall into the same typical tone and predictable plot. That is, until I reread Edgar Allen Poe's Black Cat. The idea of feeding on others' creativity in order to jump start your own really helped me. In Poe's story, he allows the reader to get inside his head and realize how sick it is. He also expresses the idea of losing control of yourself; to me, it was terrifying.

I then began a new story, the one I would finally stick with. I decided to incorporate my brother's experience with epilepsy. I told him my story idea and then asked him to describe some of the things that went on in his brain when he would have a seizure, so that I could write a story in which the reader could get inside someone's head who has actually lost control.

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't smooth sailing after that. I figured out what I was going to write about and where the story would go, but then it took me days to beat a rough draft out of myself. I got it all down on paper thinking that most of it was terrible, but that there were a few parts that made the thing worth it. I then rewrote it and shared it with my family to get their advice, and then rewrote it again. Finally, I finished it, and it's way better than I thought it would be.

Writing the scary story made me realize I must not underestimate the goals I set out to accomplish, because when I do I end up unbelievably frustrated with myself. I also found that it can be well worth your time to stick with something even if it's taking you way longer than expected. Even after I finished the story I didn't think it was very good. It took until someone read it aloud to me that I actually felt some sense of accomplishment.