I didn't expect to be so verbose

[Uaithne]

Hey!  I'm Uaithne.

While I enjoy watching the occasional horror movie, I never thought much about joining a horror forum until I made my own horror-based roleplay site.  I ended up affiliating with Horrors Online, and after awhile decided I might as well just join because it looked like a decent place.

Most "horror" movies don't appeal to me because I find that throwing gore around isn't really scary.  Jump scares are a gimmick, too; you can throw a teddy bear at me and I'll jump and flail my limbs because I startle easily to begin with.  Torture porn is right out - does not appeal to me at all.  This isn't to say that I don't mind the occasional slasher, but they start to become repetitive after awhile.  My Netflix history is full of shitty horror movies because sometimes you just have to watch them.  Oh, geeze - and all the Resident Evil movies.  I've seen them all no matter how horrible they are.

I love psychological thrillers, and the sorts of horror movies that really make you think and ponder reality.  There's this weird fine line between movies that are "pretentious" and "really stupid" that I enjoy.

My favorite horror/thriller movies are The Tall Man (if you haven't seen it, watch it when you get a chance - it's really cool), Silent Hill (not the second one despite my avatar), and Stephen King's The Stand.  The things that draw me to these, I suppose, is the fact that they really need you to think in order to understand the bigger picture or more detailed concepts.  I can go more into them in another thread, so no worries.  I won't ramble too much.

On the topic of Stephen King, I've read a few of his books.  Namely, The Stand, Cell, and the first book in The Dark Tower series.  (I really should read the rest.  I enjoyed it well enough.)  I haven't really read a whole lot of other horror, I don't think, so no other books/authors come to mind.

Horror, in general, is incredibly hard to write, and it takes great talent to be able to pull it off.  You have to sustain the suspense, anticipation, and the fear for extended periods of time.  This I'm finding out while trying to admin / DM my horror roleplay.  I look forward to talking with you guys to find out what horror means to you, and what advice you might have about how to deliver a horror experience through a community writing environment.  This isn't the first horror forum I've been on (I ran one based on The Stand many years ago, as well as one based on Resident Evil 4), but this is the first one that's supposed to be purely survival horror.  Trying to engage and involve a large number of characters so that all of their writers feel wanted and valued is really challenging - though it's a challenge I am eager to tackle.

Yeah, so, I didn't expect my intro to be so long.  I didn't think I had so much to say on horror in general, but I can see that I should stop here before getting too wild and crazy.  So I'm Uaithne (Oo-en-yeh, more or less), I'm about 30 years old, and I look forward to whatever this forum has to offer.

Tell me about yourselves!

[endo]

Hi Uaithne, and welcome to the forum! Excellent intro and well written, love to hear more from you on the forum about newer horror coming out and what you think of remakes as well.

Can't narrow down my favorite horror movies to such a short list, I love so many. And, they run the gamut from slow burn thrillers to in your face blood and guts everywhere.

For instance, Gaslight is a great movie with Ingrid Bergman about a woman whose husband is trying to make her think she's gone crazy. Slow build and very psychological.
But, then I also love Dead Alive which is just a cheesy bloodbath, gore everywhere.
If I had to hammer out a top favorites list it would include... The Thing, Return of the Living Dead, Evil Dead, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Dracula, The Wolfman...well, see what I mean? Just so many, lol.

Read pretty much all of Kings work, really love his older stuff and his short stories the best. Some of his recent stuff, just feels like's lost a step or two. I guess that's to be expected after 30 years plus of writing.

Anyway, thanks for the intro. Looking forward to talking with you more around the forum. Great people here, and always something going on.
I'd invite you to join us in the 31 Nights of Halloween, but all good things come to an end and we'll be wrapping that up next Tuesday.
However, you're more than welcome to join us in the upcoming Arnold SchwarzeNovember if you want to get your action movie fix in.

Enjoy the forum, and if you have any issues don't hesitate to conatact myself or another staff member. Good luck with your site and stay scared!

[Tony Hates Everything]

Had to google search the pronunciation of the name, thought i had an idea then i saw your break down (Oo-en-yeh) which really told me my initial idea was very, very wrong. :smile:

I don't know how role playing forums work but i do enjoy horror movies, almost like how i enjoy football but don't know how fantasy football works... and i don't believe that is an accurate comparison either. :think:

Welcome to the forum i hope to see more of you.

[Uaithne]

Thanks for the welcomes!

Roleplay forums at their basics are pretty simple: Each person makes a character (or multiple characters). Only the character creator can play that character. Then you take turns writing from the perspective of your character the various events and experiences. It's kind of like tabletop RPGs (like Dungeons and Dragons) if you're familiar with that. But it's written, and most of the sites don't use "stats" or "dice" or anything.

[Smeets]

Tony Hates Everything here's a good comparison - it's like those old dos games from the late 80's. the most popular was zork, xcom, civilization where the game gives you storyline prompts that you literally type yes to, or walk forward, or stab someone. roleplay forums are basically set up the same way. the admin comes up with all the backstory and worldbuilding that you need to have a "space" for the fun to begin - the fun being you get to have a character (that you made) who explores the world (by you writing).

drawbacks
it's hard for people to commit.
it's hard to find the right roleplay forum that you like.
it takes time to familiarize yourself with the world.

but it's sooooo fun! that can usually make up for the drawbacks.

Uaithne i checked out your site and love your premise! it reminds me of a pc game called stalker. there's a bunch of youtube vids you could check out that can give you some inspiration. except where the game has radiation as the enemy you have the decay.

[Uaithne]

Thanks, @smeets! I just now realize that you have joined my site - already sent you a PM there this morning. Haha.

Anyhow, the DOS comparison is a good one. It does vary based upon the forum. Some are very open ended and don't have an overarching plot. You just create a character and get to write as you see fit as long as you stay within the given setting.

I agree with the drawbacks you stated. But there are thousands and thousands of us out there who do this, so I must also agree that the fun usually makes up for it. Creating and running a roleplay can be incredibly time consuming, though there are some roleplay forums that are pretty lenient on the activity level / time required for members.

[Smeets]

yeah, your story hooked me. pine ridge is like..... twin peaks, whispering pines, the stand, the mist.... they are all great ideas. not to mention i have a comic called weirdsdale that fits in there too.

i love a good town story.

i look forward to contributing and i hope you guys do well

[Uaithne]

Thanks, Smeets. I look forward to seeing you around.

[✶April✶]

Wow, that's quite an intro! Sorry I'm a little late in welcoming you, but I hope you have enjoyed your stay here so far!

I completely agree that horror is really difficult to write. I wrote my first horror-themed story a couple years ago for a story contest on another forum and it was very hard. I'd never written horror before and had to really dig deep to get it finished. I'm not sure how good it is but it's posted here somewhere in the horror literature section, I think. I also had problems with the emotional aspect, because of how dark the piece ended up being. I'd regularly have to take breaks to go do something "happy." Lol.

But yeah, looking forward to seeing you around and don't be a stranger!!

[Smeets]

I also had problems with the emotional aspect, because of how dark the piece ended up being. I'd regularly have to take breaks to go do something "happy." Lol.

lol, that happened to me once with one of my vids. getting my voice to sound like a devil kinda freaked me out.