Imitating Lovecraft...

Alma Matters · Jun 8, 2014

Hello one and all,

I’ve been thinking about some of H.P. Lovecraft’s work recently and there is a temptation to then go and ‘immitate’. Is this a fundamental part of writing horror that at some stage you go through a ‘Lovecraft’ imitation exercise?

If I’m honest, it’s not necessarily his style I want to recreate – but the feel of his stories. It’s more of an experiment more than anything. So I suppose my questions are these?

How many of you have dabbled? If you have dabbled how much into the mythos have you delved?
Is there are market for this stuff?

Who should I read if I enjoy this style? Lovecraft and Campbell for sure. Who else?

williemeikle · Jun 8, 2014

Alma Matters said:
Hello one and all,

I’ve been thinking about some of H.P. Lovecraft’s work recently and there is a temptation to then go and ‘immitate’. Is this a fundamental part of writing horror that at some stage you go through a ‘Lovecraft’ imitation exercise?

If I’m honest, it’s not necessarily his style I want to recreate – but the feel of his stories. It’s more of an experiment more than anything. So I suppose my questions are these?

How many of you have dabbled? If you have dabbled how much into the mythos have you delved?
Is there are market for this stuff?

Who should I read if I enjoy this style? Lovecraft and Campbell for sure. Who else?

There's a large market for Lovecraft influenced fiction. ( but not so much for Lovecraft imitations. )

I've had a lot of it published in places like Dark Regions Press, Chaosium, the Lovecraft ezine and Innsmouth Free Press, to name just a few.

ironmikezero · Jun 8, 2014

Some years ago there was a tongue-in-cheek fad of deliberate Lovecraft imitations that prompted some very some very amusing efforts... Let's see if I can find some...

Here's one (attributed to Luke Burns)...

SELECTIONS FROM H.P. LOVECRAFT'S BRIEF TENURE AS A "WHITMAN'S SAMPLER" COPYWRITER.

BY LUKE BURNS

- - - -
White Chocolate Truffle

What black arts could have stripped this chocolate of its natural hue? The horror of the unearthly, corpselike pallor of this truffle's complexion is only offset by its fiendish deliciousness.

Mod note: Remainder of quote removed. Only small samples from other people's works allowed.

There were lots more, but these were the only two I could readily find.

...all in fun, folks, all in fun...

FOTSGreg · Jun 8, 2014

Today, I'd be very, very careful of outright imitating Lovecraft. His language was archaic even in terms of the 1920 and 30s and his overt racism is something to definitely avoid.

If you're speaking purely of his "style" then I'd also avoid being a purest there as well. Today's styles, even in Lovecraftian gene, demand a more aggressive entry an less subtlety than Lovecraft used. You cannot wait pages and pages to get into the "meat" of your story today because readers just won't stand for it any more.

Alma Matters · Jun 8, 2014

I feel my original post wasn't as clear as it should be.

I definitely don't want to 'imitate' his writing style. I find his writing style can be quite clunky and I'm certainly not a racist!

Perhaps I should have said I feel influenced to write something that could fall into the 'cosmic horror' field.

FOTS - I think you hit what I was looking for. What I like about his tales is the atmosphere... The impending doom, the unreliable narrator, the book of secrets, the final reveal etc. I guess I wanted to know if those old tropes still interested a reader.

The tale I have in mind is much more overt - not gruesome or gory - but what is in the shadows isn't there for long.

blacbird · Jun 8, 2014

Lovecraft was a writer of brilliant dark original ideas. Stylistically, he was an atrocious writer, by almost any standard. He was incapable of writing any form of dialogue, and all his characters are automatons subjected to external forces they are incapable of resisting or engaging with. He was a master of the extraneous adjective and the extraneous adverb, and the word "eldritch" couldn't be used too many times to suit him.

Lovecraft's ideas carry his writing, overwhelming the obvious flaws in the craft of it.

Try to do better.

caw

Hoplite · Jun 11, 2014

Alma Matters said:
Perhaps I should have said I feel influenced to write something that could fall into the 'cosmic horror' field.

FOTS - I think you hit what I was looking for. What I like about his tales is the atmosphere... The impending doom, the unreliable narrator, the book of secrets, the final reveal etc. I guess I wanted to know if those old tropes still interested a reader.

The tale I have in mind is much more overt - not gruesome or gory - but what is in the shadows isn't there for long.

Those are some of the same qualities of Lovecraft that I've enjoyed as well. I don't think I'd be able to withstand it for an entire novel, but they work great for his short stories. Don't forget about his 'lost civilizations' and 'secret cults' tropes.

To answer your original OP: I've written a few (e.g. 2 shorts, 1 novella) stories that are inspired from his works. One was directly influenced by Herbert West: Reanimator (and published!), and the other two more generally influenced by the 'secret cults' and 'unknown-creatures-living-amongst-us' themes.

I've seen a few calls for submissions with Lovecraft themes, but otherwise I've just submitted to general horror mags/anthologies.

Haggis · Jun 11, 2014

blacbird said:
Lovecraft was a writer of brilliant dark original ideas. Stylistically, he was an atrocious writer, by almost any standard. He was incapable of writing any form of dialogue, and all his characters are automatons subjected to external forces they are incapable of resisting or engaging with. He was a master of the extraneous adjective and the extraneous adverb, and the word "eldritch" couldn't be used too many times to suit him.

Lovecraft's ideas carry his writing, overwhelming the obvious flaws in the craft of it.

Try to do better.

caw

This.

I admire much of his work but can't stand to read it. Plus there are too many cats.

Calla Lily · Jun 11, 2014

*tries to recall a dog in an HPL story*

*fails*

I might have to reread all of them now. Oh, the effort! :tongue

Hoplite · Jun 11, 2014

Calla Lily said:
*tries to recall a dog in an HPL story*

*fails*

I might have to reread all of them now. Oh, the effort!

Weren't there a few in At the Mountains of Madness? They didn't do much but become lunch I think...

Calla Lily · Jun 11, 2014

Yes, you're right! The sled dogs.

Now I remember a few in "The Dunwich Horror" one or two of which Wilbur either shot; the others were the guard dogs at the library.

Torgo · Jun 11, 2014

Try Laird Barron. He's writing very much in Lovecraft's genre - cosmic horror, often with connections between stories - but in very different styles. I think he's absolutely terrific.

There are also plenty of anthologies (like the ST Joshi-edited BLACK WINGS, and various edited by Ross Lockhart, esp. THE BOOK OF CTHULHU) of Lovecraft-influenced and Cthulhu Mythos tales in lots of styles.

Calla Lily · Jun 11, 2014

Also the collection Shadows over Baker Street which is seven kinds of awesome. Not all the stories are winners, but most of them are darn good.

FOTSGreg · Jun 11, 2014

Shadows Over Baker Street is indeed awesome (can't remember where I stashed my copy) and very effectively merges the styles of Doyle and Lovecraft in a manner that doesn't leave me yawning.

A lot of the stuff in the Lovecraft eZine is also of excellent caliber and I certainly recommend going through several issues of that publication when searching for the Lovecraftian style. Back when they were publishing HPL Magazine Brian Lumley had an excellent story in the third issue as I recall. Lumley does some good work, but beyond The Burrowers Beneath I'd leave the rest of his Lovecraft stuff aside except for his short fiction.

Russell Secord · Jun 17, 2014

Alma Matters said:
I’ve been thinking about some of H.P. Lovecraft’s work recently and there is a temptation to then go and ‘immitate’. Is this a fundamental part of writing horror that at some stage you go through a ‘Lovecraft’ imitation exercise?

I can't speak for anyone else, but I go through an HPL phase every time I reread his stuff. It's under control now, as long as I stay out of the cemetery--that dark, horrid, loathsome cemetery, with its cyclopean stones and maze-like pathways....

I went through such a phase in the 90s, and several of those stories are floating around on the Web. Those tropes are so outre, I'm sure people will be mining them for many more decades.

Alma Matters said:
So I suppose my questions are these?

How many of you have dabbled? If you have dabbled how much into the mythos have you delved?
Is there are market for this stuff?

Who should I read if I enjoy this style? Lovecraft and Campbell for sure. Who else?

Chaosium put out a series of collections starting in 1993. Each one revolves around some aspect of the Mythos, such as writers, deities, or themes. It's up to 35 volumes now. If nothing else it's a good starting place for a bibliography.

archangel · Jul 3, 2014

I haven't dabbled in Lovecraft as writer. However, I was just listening to a podcast on iTunes about Lovecraft. If you have iTunes, go to it, put in Dunwich Horror as the search criteria. There is a lot of talking (and many parts to the podcast), but they try to give some insight in to Love craft and his work. I hope this helps.

Imitating Lovecraft...

Alma Matters

williemeikle

The force is strong in this one.

ironmikezero

practical experience, FTW

FOTSGreg

Today is your last day.

Alma Matters

blacbird

Hoplite

Return of the Coffee Shield

Haggis

Evil, undead Chihuahua

Calla Lily

On hiatus

Hoplite

Return of the Coffee Shield

Calla Lily

On hiatus

Torgo

Formerly Phantom of Krankor.

Calla Lily

On hiatus

FOTSGreg

Today is your last day.

Russell Secord

nearly perfect

archangel