Thanks for the Nightmares Soul Game

Nightmare level: Extreme

It had everything. The first confusing moment where I moved from the nice safe room to the interesting looking room. A ghost witch trying to cast spells on the house. A dead body. A back story. A narrator. A legless dwarf. A living armless rubber baby.

I woke up screaming ‘Kill the baby’ only it sounded more like ‘argwooahwoo’ – I would like to thank Stephen King for this part of my nightmare. I’ve always remembered the quote about killing your darlings as killing your babies.

“Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

The narrated story wasn’t unlike the back story of Freddy Krueger. And that armless rubber baby was freaky and un-stompable.

Even my bed was against me (yes I went to bed in my dream) and stabbed me in the back with a spring.

It woke me at 1:30 am and I had to turn the light on to prevent the lingering dream from messing with my mind. My bedside lamp is not someone’s head.

This always happens when I’m working on the Soul Game

You have no idea how many times I’ve started working on this book, to have to give up due to nightmares. I think I’ve had it kicking around for about three years now. All the pieces together make it a phenomenally large book. And up until last week I had abandoned it for the second time.

I haven’t touched it for nearly a year. After the last lot of nightmares. After admitting to the publisher I couldn’t finish it – I’d write something else.

But last week I had a moment of genius (or possibly stupidity) and decided to work on it again.

It’s only been a week and the nightmares have already begun. I’ve done nothing more than break it up into sections & turn it into a number of smaller books. Created some covers.

The Soul Game

 

One story isn’t finished. The hardest to write – The Game’s Master, is still sitting awaiting completion.

They’re not even scary stories. Well, the competitors stories aren’t very scary anyway.

I don’t know whether the nightmares tell me I should stop writing or that this is the one I should be writing. No other book I’ve written has given me nightmares.

This book is not a darling – nor is it a baby – and I am wary.

What would you do?

I’m going to keep writing, preparing the contestants stories, and leave the Game’s Master well alone for now. If the nightmares continue I may have to stop writing The Soul Game and switch to something else.

I keep asking myself if I really believe a game in a book could take your soul. It should be a simple answer right? I mean how could that be possible? But if it’s not, why am I having these nightmares?

I’m so tired.