Mirrors have always fascinated me a little for there is
often a discrepancy between what I think I am/look like and what I see in the
mirror. It’s a little like hearing your own voice recorded and swearing that
you don’t really sound like that – do you???
But I digress… Back to the mirrors…
I actually used mirrors as a horror element in my first full
novel “Insight”. I was in the bathroom one day and looked up to see the mirror
so clouded with steam that you couldn’t see anything clearly and I started
imagining a creature was in the mirror. Yes, I know I do have a peculiar
mindset… But anyway it gave me the idea of using a mirror for a ghostly
experience. I also realised that you could write with a greasy-ish finger on a
mirror and it could not be seen but as soon as it became steamed up the writing
appeared. Oh, I had fun with that book! Water and mist eventually became a
major motif for the story as the character had a kind of phobia about water
anyway. The possibilities really opened up then as the fear went right back to
her childhood and… Well you’d have to read the book to know the rest! No
spoilers on here…
But it did make me realise you could take something quite
mundane and turn it into something – well, a lot less mundane!
Have you ever thought of using ordinary household items and
turning them into fearful phobic elements in a thriller story?
I love the idea of taking a mundane object and making into something interesting or even scary. ;)
ReplyDelete...yes mirrors. I always expect to see something creepy creeping up behind me in a mirror. But I did a creepy take on photographs. Haven't finished it yet though.
ReplyDeleteI have a thing about mirrors in the dark -- but that's because I was scared to death as a child by the urban legend of saying "Bloody Mary" three times into a dark mirror.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I used that fear when asked to write a dark short story for an anthology about legends. Guess which one I picked?
I went through a stage as a child where I used to cover all the mirrors in the house with sheets at night - my mum humoured me and I grew out of it, but I still don't like looking at reflections at night x
ReplyDelete