“It starts out a bit differently than most children’s stories; it begins like a nightmare”
I loved this line. I thought it was a clever way to grab the readers attention. As a father, when I pick up a children’s story to read to my boys, usually I don’t go reaching for something that might scare them. Which, I’m sure could be said for most parents. This hook however, came to me when I was writing the opening scene for Something Unfamiliar.
As a child I remember being afraid of the dark. At night, if I wasn’t already snuggling my mom in her bed (due to my nightmares), I would pull my beds covers over my head and try to avoid looking about my room. Time and time again I would work myself up if I didn’t do this. If I did happen to look out from the sanctuary of my covers, shadows would take on scary figures and my mind would play tricks on me. I’d think I’d see a shadow figure in the hall or at the foot of my bed. Of course, this would scare me to the point where I ended up in my parents bed for the night.
So, with this in mind and my youngest struggling with his own fears of the dark, I wanted to address what I thought was the root cause for this fear. In my mind, when it is dark, we can hardly see. So I think this fear actually stems from the unknown in the dark. I wanted to hit on some common themes that surrounded this idea. Such as the dark itself, shadows and shapes of everyday objects that our mind warps into something else. I also thought of the cliché childhood fears of room monsters, like under the bed or coming out of the closet.
I wanted to address all these concerns and it ended up laying the ground work for this opening scene. I wanted it to be relatable. I wanted it to be something that the parent and child could discuss together. I wanted them to know, that it’s common and that they’re not alone in the struggle and one of the best ways to address it, is to talk about it.