This is The Voice In Your Head Is Mine. The date is February 23rd, 2021. If you're receiving this email and have no idea what's going on, well, fuck. I guess I blew it. Or maybe you blew it. Either way, you're here and this is Zac Thompson's weekly newsletter.
Another week down (or has it been two weeks??). The days are coming quickly now. I’m doing my best to keep track of things but find the pandemic has permanently warped my perception of time. I just recently cemented a huge new opportunity that’s caused me to shuffle things around for the next few weeks. In many ways it was happy timing. A lot of my work was sunsetting and I was getting antsy about what was next. In the span of a week - I had most of my year mapped out.
I’m excited because this new thing is huge and it’s going to be something very few people are expecting from me. I imagine it’ll all get announced next week (if my calculations are correct). So stay tuned for that.
This week, we’re talking about sounding like someone else in writing. I’ll tell you a little bit about Christiane Vadnais’ Fauna. We’ll get into I Breathed A Body #2 which comes out tomorrow. And finally we’re talking Richard Donner’s The Omen, Rose Glass’ Saint Maud, and John Carpenter’s Starman.
Writing Craft:
Sound like someone else.
When you first start writing (or creating art of any kind, really) you have no idea how to “find” your voice. You have all kinds of disparate influences and reasons for creating but no idea how to manage them into something cohesive. So this piece of craft is relatively simple:
Imitate someone you love.
If you find yourself struggling with how to structure a narrative or how to develop your voice as a writer - the easiest thing you can do is study something you admire.
If you’re obsessed with the Coen Brothers then take a film like Blood Simple. Watch it, then watch it again, then read the script. Then break down the plot. Where and how does the narrative take sharp unpredictable turns? How are the characters revealing themselves on the page/on the screen? Create a detailed breakdown until you know that piece of fiction backwards and forwards.
You need to fully understand a piece of inspiration before you can imitate it. This takes a load of time and careful consideration.
Take that structure you’ve identified and apply it to your own work-in-progress. See the ways you want to follow their lead, see the ways you want to deviate (and understand the effects of said deviation when you do so), use the working skeleton of a story you love to build the flesh of something new around it.
You can go so far as to write the whole damn thing as a love-letter to that creator. Push yourself to interrogate their craft. Study it and look at ways that you’d improve upon the narrative. When all is said and done, imagine that creator as the audience for your finished piece of work. Write it for them.
Which means polish and perfect the things you’re building. Ensure they’re not merely derivative of what you love but that they stand apart on their own two legs.
For example, my new book I BREATHED A BODY is very much a love letter to Clive Barker. It came from a lifelong fascination with Clive and a yearning to see him skewer the modern world through his trademark blend of dark fantasy and horror. Everything about the book, down to the carefully considered prose narration is meant to echo his voice while also creating something entirely new.
This week: I BREATHED A BODY #2
This week marks the release of I BREATHED A BODY #2. When the book first started I promised “a social media campaign about the voyeurism of violence”. Well folks, this is where the proverbial shit hits the fan. If you read issue #1, you know we spent a lot of time introducing you to the strange world we’ve built. We took our time to set up the pillars and scaffolding required to pull off what comes next.
By the end of issue #1 - we blew it all up. Leaving readers to soak in the wreckage for a month and now we’re here. This issue gets into the mechanics of deception. The things you obsesses over within a social media campaign and the drivers of engagement that we rarely speak of. It’s paired with grisly imagery that will no doubt shock certain readers and gross out all the others.
But it’s all paired beautifully with stunning art from Andy MacDonald and inviting colors by Triona Farrell. I’m also absolutely in love with some of the lettering choices made by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou here. He made come really incredible observations about social media that he wove into the art seamlessly. Like that Mylo_Caliban - following - Instagram riff in the above image. There’s more to that crop that I don’t want to show right now. You’ll see it tomorrow!
This issue, by and large, gets into the actual heart of the book – but as with most things horror. It’s not so simple. There’s something festering in the background that will come to a head in #3. I don’t want to get into too much detail but rest assured we’ve still got plenty of surprises left for y’all.
I’ve already been so touched by the reaction to IBAB. In the past year I’ve seen literal waves of new readers showing up for my work and I couldn’t be more grateful. These are not easy books - to pitch, to sell, to hand to new readers - but thanks to the crazy folks who’ve fallen in love with both I Breathed A Body and Lonely Receiver it’s becoming easier by the day. 💜💜💜
Fauna
Had the pleasure of reading Christiane Vadnais’ excellent novella Fauna. Though I’d more so call it a collection of short eco-horror stories. The book concerns the small town of Shivering Heights as it suddenly becomes enveloped by a thick green fog. Within the fog, the river overflows, the sky turns green and humans evolve in unprecedented ways.
Each short story within the book is communicated with lush, thoughtful prose that pays special attention to the natural world. As the laws of nature are bent they also coil around you, moss begins to grow on the pages and everything has this wet and sickly feel to it. But within that gross feeling there’s something unmistakably beautiful.
There are elements of Kafka here and there’s a certain arm’s length to most of the stories that never really gives you a clear picture of what exactly is going on. But taken as a whole - it’s a wonderful entry in the small eco-horror subgenre of prose. Plus it’s a Canadian book, co-funded by the Canada Council, which makes it a worthy investment in and of itself.
At 130 pages you can read it in a day. Most of the stories are just over 10 pages and fly by as you’re reading them. So if you’re looking for something akin to Annihilation but with a wider lens, a faster pace, and more characters – look no further.
What I’m Watching
STARMAN - John Carpenter’s Sci-Fi/Romance movie was always a blindspot in my viewing history. The movie follows Jeff Bridges as an alien consciousness who recreates the body of a dead man in order to travel back to his home planet. It shares a lot of DNA with The Terminator (released the same year) and E.T. but doesn’t contain the thrilling action of the latter, nor does it have the heart of the former. Despite a largely unbelievable romance at the core of the plot – Jeff Bridges performance is incredible. It’s restrained and weird in equal measure. Unlike anything else I’ve seen from him and worth watching for that baby transformation scene (above) alone.
SAINT MAUD - Rose Glass has crafted an incredible horror film that blends devout faith, body horror, and psychological insanity. It's confident, unpredictable and incredibly original. If you love horror movies – see it and go in knowing as little as possible. Don’t bother with the trailer, as it will ruin some of the best moments.
THE OMEN - This was always something I’ve been meaning to watch but never actually took in until this past week. Richard Donner’s film is a tightly crafted look at the Antichrist from the era that gave us The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby. While it’s nowhere near on the level of those two films - it manages to be a powerful and unpredictable horror movie with tons of fantastic death scenes. Gregory Peck’s performance is outstanding and his eyebrows are on point:
I had problems with some of the stuff in the latter half of the second act but there are so many good set pieces in here that it gets a high recommendation from me. Harvey Spencer Stephens performance as Damien is legitimately incredible and needs to be seen to be believed.
Tiny Scabs
TikTokers are trying to prove snow is “fake” and I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.
My friend (and former VICE editor) Sarah Berman is releasing her debut novel Don’t Call It A Cult on April 20th. The book is a deep dive into the women of NXIVM and Keith Raniere. I’ve got an ARC coming my way, so I’ll be sure to report back once I’ve digested but I’m positive it’ll be necessary reading. Especially if you, like me, hated HBO’s The Vow. Pre-order Don’t Call It A Cult from your indie bookstore right here, right now.
Criterion is having a flash sale!!! - 24 hours only. So get in while you can.
This week’s playlist (on heavy rotation as I tackle this insane deadline):
Peace
We’re all struggling right now. The pandemic has been going on too long and the winter hours have felt agonizing but Spring is right around the corner. Give yourself some quiet peace every day, carve out space for yourself and detach from the online world. It’s so easy to feel crowded right now.
Z