Y’ever notice how passionate creatives seem linked to one another, despite introversion? I’ll tell you how it happened to me. I had about six writer friends, but they had about six writer friends, who also had about six writer friends and now I have nine kajillion writer friends, because I can’t math. Oh I’ve got cooks and painters, designers and quilters, musicians and photographers, but mostly, I’ve collected writers. They span the genres fairly well, but I’d say most of them love what I call “Creepy Shit.” They’re people who love all the Halloween. They love bats and black cats and creepy castles and everything Gothic. They tell ghost stories and they ask things like, “Do you have anything in a skull pattern?”
Of course, I own nothing in a skull pattern, and I hate virtually everything about Halloween, so I just focus on how my writer friends understand my love of coffee and I say things to them like, “The twist at the end of your zombie story was extremely effective. I had to change my pants.”
I hate being scared. Good grief, I’m always scared. I don’t even watch the previews of horror movies. I watch scary things rarely, and always with a blanket up to my eyes. Truth? I haven’t read anything substantially long and scary since the early 90’s.
Do I ever write “Creepy Shit?” Uh… Once. It’s listed in my Public Writing tab. Why did I write this scary thing? Because peer pressure.
Kinda.
Honestly, I’d just completed some ad work, and I was delighted to do something fictional and challenging, even if it meant scaring myself.
I didn’t do it last year, because I was all, “I hafta paint my new dining room and wash my hair, y’all,” but 13 Stories ‘Til Halloween is back and I am participating this year. I could use a good challenge, and I’m always honored to be asked, but honestly, who would rather paint the back hallway instead of writing a story? If you delight in “Creepy Shit” you should go have a look-see at the last three years of stories and poems.
Or, you can totally stay here with my blanket and me, and you know, keep us safe.
joeyfullystated 
I like the creepy. I like the scary. Problem is, books and movies never scare me anymore. I think real life has sadly inoculated me.
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Obviously I can’t relate. I hope you’ll take time to read a few. There was a zombie one in 2012 that scared me half to death for weeks!
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I really need a really loosely woven blanket that I can read through. Really.
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LOL!
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Move over on the sofa, there, my friend. Incoming chicken.
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Bring your own coffee, Maggie! 😀
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I like a good scary story, but it has to be smart too, and not overly gory or sick.
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Mine was definitely gory and sick. lol — sorry 😛
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I do not like scary…at all…life is scary enough with deliberately trying to be scared…I now hate clowns and dolls…talking dolls specifically…and children….I am terrified of children with “powers”…that always goes awry…I like Halloween because I don’t try to make it scary…pumpkins are not scary…nor are casper type ghosts…nor candy….
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I don’t do scary… I still have to hide out when I hear the music from Dark Crystal because — for some reason — that movie scared me so bad.
I love Halloween, but I love it for the “dress up in a fun costume and eat candy” reasons (because, yes, I am still 5) not the “skeletons and bats and monsters” reasons.
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Candy is definitely the best part!
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This was a great thing to read, I needed a laugh today. I’ll opt for the blanket and I’m going to rely on our Irish Setter who thinks she’s a guard dog for safety. She has a really scary bark, sometimes we spill stuff. I have collected some writer friends who write horror and evil-stuff. I read their stuff because they read mine in a support group and we help/nudge/support each other. I focus on how well they write stuff that I don’t really want to read. We are not big fans of Halloween either.
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I find enough creepiness oozing out of my writing naturally without actually trying to write anything creepy ;).
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Why, Luanne, I never knew you were so creepy!
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Oops, I let the cat out of the bag.
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I’m definitely seek the “creepy-free” zone. Tell Maggie to move over in the couch ‘cuz I’m sqeezing in!
I read somewhere that the vampire/undead genre is on the wane and authors are beginning to write more real world plots. I haven’t seen it yet.
Must say though, i have a few blogging buddies who publish books that include “creep” and those I buy and read. Those are fun.
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You probably know A. F. Stewart. She does the “Coffin Hop” at Halloween time on Goodreads. She may be a good friend and actually wrote a hilarious book, “Fairy Tale Fusion,” but most of her stuff scares the gull durnit out of me.
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Nope, never heard of her. Of course, I don’t pay attention to my Goodreads account, either…
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Oh, I like me some scary shit. Bring it!
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I’m so glad you’re doing 13 Stories ‘Til Halloween again this year!! ❤
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Thanks! Me too! ❤
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I saw a couple of comments about how scary things are no longer scary to them. I agree. Very little gets me scared, and that’s terrible when it comes to being a scary writer kinda person. I’ll write something and say, “This isn’t scary, it’s boring.” And then I have to remember the people who will read it might think it’s terrifying. It’s hard to do now. I wonder how Stephen King continues to manage pouring out the scary, and if he still finds things scary or not.
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I don’t think he follows my blog, but if I run into him, I’ll ask him. 😉
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This photographer/quilter/creative/writer doesn’t do scary either. Shove over will ya? The couch is getting crowded.
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Blankets are good protection from lots of things. Once when I first moved to Taiwan (about two months in), I got sick–some kind of flu-like thing. It only lasted the weekend, but I was sluggish and not myself. That was also the weekend of my first earthquake here, and I was so out of it, I didn’t really know what to do, so I pulled the sheet up over my head and hoped for the best. It would have been a blanket, but it was too hot for that. 😉
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