There's a scary creature in my novel

scarletpeaches · Mar 13, 2007

I mean literally, IN my novel.

Yesterday I was sitting in bed working on my WIP, longhand. Gel pen so I didn't have to press too hard on the notepad, and a lever-arch file containing the print outs of what I'd written and transcribed onto the laptop so far.

So. I just brought the folder and notepad through to the living room, set them down on the coffee table while the computer booted up and...

...and...

A SPIDER CRAWLED OUT OF THE LEVER-ARCH FILE!!!

HOW LONG HAD IT BEEN LURKING THERE???

Anyone else found something strange in their print-outs or notepads?

Azure Skye · Mar 13, 2007

When my dog was still alive he would rest his head anywhere he could. Usually, my office floor has small stacks of books, papers, and sometimes my MS. Occassionally, I would find his mouth slobbers all over my stuff. I cherish it.

seun · Mar 13, 2007

I haven't found anything frightening in my own books but working in a library can lead to some strange events.
I work in the cataloguing department which means the smaller libraries send me all their crappy books. One was returned with a note asking me to remove an object placed in the middle of the book.

It turned out to be a pubic hair selotaped to the page.

WildScribe · Mar 13, 2007

Ew.

When I was younger, I was reading a Babysitter's Club book, and a bee landed right on the page (I used to read outside a lot). I slammed it shut and crammed it back on the bookcase, afraid that if I EVER opened it again, the bee would get me. The books were later donated, and for all I know, that bee is feasting on some innocent child somewhere. Or maybe it's dead. Who knows.

swvaughn · Mar 13, 2007

Eeeeeeeeee-a-spider-get-it-off-get-it-off-SPLAT

The next person who suggests exposure therapy to cure me of my arachnophobia is going to eat their hairy, nasty little psychological props. Without ketchup, even.

What were we saying?

seun · Mar 13, 2007

swvaughn said:
Eeeeeeeeee-a-spider-get-it-off-get-it-off-SPLAT

The next person who suggests exposure therapy to cure me of my arachnophobia is going to eat their hairy, nasty little psychological props. Without ketchup, even.

What were we saying?

You sound exactly like my girlfriend

alleycat · Mar 13, 2007

My cat has puked on some stuff.

MidnightMuse · Mar 13, 2007

All Spiders Must Die.

Other than that, the worst, mostest scariest thing I've ever found lurking in one of my notebooks was a collection of words that I had apparently put there the night before

WildScribe · Mar 13, 2007

RED INK!!!!!!!!!

scribbler1382 · Mar 13, 2007

Maybe you wrote the spider into existence...<scary music>

alleycat · Mar 13, 2007

scribbler1382 said:
Maybe you wrote the spider into existence...<scary music>

Sounds like a Stephen King novel. A frustrated writer . . . alone in a isolated cabin in the woods . . . writes about monsters. . . which become more and more real . . .

Could this be happening to scarlet? What will come out of her folder tomorrow?

Elektra · Mar 13, 2007

I found a dead mouse under my MS once (brother's pet, which had met an untimely and mysterious end).

MidnightMuse · Mar 13, 2007

alleycat said:
Sounds like a Stephen King novel. A frustrated writer . . . alone in a isolated cabin in the woods . . . writes about monsters. . . which become more and more real . . .

Could this be happening to scarlet? What will come out of her folder tomorrow?

Neat trick . . . I wonder if I could write my handsome young MC to life

ETA: by "young" I mean in his late 20's. I'm not . . . well, you know.

scarletpeaches · Mar 13, 2007

alleycat said:
Sounds like a Stephen King novel. A frustrated writer . . . alone in a isolated cabin in the woods . . . writes about monsters. . . which become more and more real . . .

Could this be happening to scarlet? What will come out of her folder tomorrow?

I've just written an entire chapter describing James Purefoy, naked. I mean, he's naked. Not me.

Anyway...fingers crossed, hope he 'comes' to life, ho ho!

Pagey's_Girl · Mar 13, 2007

Back in college, my roommate picked up a book, the abruptly threw it down and ran out of the dorm screaming because she thought there was a cockroach under it.

It was a firefly. I let it out of the room, although I considered keeping it and losing the roommate instead...

However, I did once find a very large centipede lurking amidst some of my stuff.

After I peeled myself off the ceiling and restarted my heart, I did finally track the thing down with a can of Raid.

It did partially inspire a short tale of mine with the lead character and her husband getting havoc wrecked upon them by a centipede one dark night, though...

Edit - and I am off to write of a certain guitar god to see if it works for me...

Elektra · Mar 13, 2007

*closes her eyes*

Elektra, who is currently editing the Medusa scene.

scribbler1382 · Mar 13, 2007

MidnightMuse said:
Neat trick . . . I wonder if I could write my handsome young MC to life

Melanie Tem and Nancy Holder did pretty much that in their book Making Love.

On the bug thread, my first published story was called Roommates and was about a kingdom of cockroaches. Not bad for a whitebread boy from the suburbs who had never seen anything scarier than a junebug.

alleycat · Mar 13, 2007

MidnightMuse said:
Neat trick . . . I wonder if I could write my handsome young MC to life.

Sorry, that doesn't work except for monsters, zombies, and ghouls. If it did, the bedrooms of 14 and 15-year old boys around the country would be filled with Playboy Playmates, Olsen Twins, and that cheerleader from the Rams.

MidnightMuse · Mar 13, 2007

alleycat said:
...and that cheerleader from the Rams.

You mean that one with the wedgie?

AbsintheFiend · Mar 13, 2007

During the school days I had a prof return an essay of mine covered in blood. I think he said he was cutting vegetables nearby and had an accident... Very sanitary. Shows how much attention profs (or that one, at least) pay to the papers they grade...
But I'd have to agree with the earlier post, the scariest stuff has been the prose I wrote the night I took one sip too many...

alleycat · Mar 13, 2007

MidnightMuse said:
You mean that one with the wedgie?

I, uh, don't know. I'm not 15.

PeeDee · Mar 13, 2007

I found a twenty dollar bill in a dusty old notebook a few months ago. That was nice. My wife and I went crazy with it and...put it toward bills. Woooo!

other than that, I've failed to find any creatures....

MidnightMuse · Mar 13, 2007

alleycat said:
I, uh, don't know. I'm not 15.

Dork. Come here, I'll tell you what neuter means.

Soccer Mom · Mar 13, 2007

I once had a problem with several magazines repeatedly arriving late. This was a weekly magazine. I complained to the publisher, who insisted that they were being sent in a timely fashion.

Then one day, I opened one and found the coffee ring and crumbs. I called the post office. (Very small town) and complained. It seems some of the employees liked my taste in magazines.

They came on time after that.

alleycat · Mar 13, 2007

MidnightMuse said:
Dork. Come here, I'll tell you what neuter means.

I don't wanna come there. It's always raining where you are.

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