Hello, me again. I had to rewrite this entire thing because I tried to attach a photo to it and it closed the page. Wonderful.
So, I am starting a new horror/suspense story, even though that typically isn’t really my go-to genre. Normally I would do fantasy, romance, comedy, action, and drama. I have already started two horror stories (Dollhouse, which is actually really creepy, and Like A [name_f]Rose[/name_f], which is a script for a cute but creepy animation I might be doing), and I’m just trying my hand at the horror genre, so… Yeah.
In cutiepiemarzia’s book update video, she said that as a kid she used to spy on her neighbors and create horror stories about them. As I live in a rural area, I can pretty much only spy on one of my neighbors because there are trees blocking my view of the other one. (Although there is a creepy old man who lives next door to them who talks to himself and everything in his yard, and he’s so loud I can seriously hear him from inside my house. TOTALLY going to be the next topic.)
So the neighbors I can spy on, I kinda have been for, like, years. Not really on purpose, I just catch glimpses. I know that sounds like an excuse, but what I say next will change your mind.
Their an older couple, and husband is COMPLETELY OBSESSED WITH HIS GARDEN. Their children are all older and have families of their own, and they all mostly live in different parts of north america. They go to visit them a lot, and the first thing the husband does is check on his garden when they get back. One time, they came back from a two or three week long visit, and the husband was LITERALLY STANDING OUT IN THE THUNDERING [name_u]RAIN[/name_u] LOOKING AT HIS GARDEN. Sometimes I think about if he has mental issues or something, but he seems sane enough. Not that that stops me from thinking about it. Hehe.
He’s extremely quiet and that plus the fact that he’s obsessed over something like a garden makes it kinda impossible NOT to make him a horror antagonist, right?
…
RIGHT???
Ahem. Anywaaays…
So the protagonist is probably going to be chinese-american, definitely female, with a traditional name. I haven’t decided whether or not to rule out the floral names, because that might be too ironic.
Oops, haven’t even explained the storyline yet…
So the MC lives with her parents on a kind of roundabout street. the houses all form a circle, with the house of The [name_u]Gardener[/name_u] (that’s the nn the mc gives him) in the very middle. His house is completely surrounded by a beautiful garden. He spends all of his time indoors and only goes out to tend to his garden and to get supplies. He’s very secretive but all the adults say he’s nice (in case you’re wondering, the mc is almost sixteen, maybe seventeen). The mc is convinced that his love of gardening isn’t that innocent. When calling her friend (I NEED A NAME FOR HER TOO) and reporting her suspicions, saying “There’s just something that isn’t right about all this,” suddenly her power goes out. She looks out the window, but there are still lights on in the other houses. Then, she notices that someone is standing in her yard. It’s too dark for her to see who it is, but she’s convinced it’s The [name_u]Gardener[/name_u]. And he’s staring up at her window. But when she tells her parents about it they don’t believe her.
She asks around and tries to find out as much about him as she can. One day, she sees him going to get some supplies. She seizes the opportunity and decides to snoop around his property. She looks in through his windows, and everything seems normal enough. When going through the garden, she sees how much time and effort he must put into it, it’s beautiful. But, while walking through the garden, she finds a keyhole in a gigantic tree. That’s right. A keyhole. In a tree.
Weird, right?
She starts searching through the garden for a key, but doesn’t find one. Upon looking in the house again, she sees a small, ornate key sitting on a desk. She tries the back door, and luck is on her side. It’s unlocked.
Inside, she grabs the key, and, taking a major (and very stupid) risk, she also takes a small diary with a lock on it. Stupid, stupid, stupid mc.
She tries the key in the lock, and it works. Big surprise.
She goes down a makeshift ladder and ends up in a morbidly beautiful garden, complete with blood water falls, black rivers, and skull flowers. Despite the creepiness, she can’t help but admire the beauty.
Throughout the garden, she finds pages, that hold strange accounts that slowly help piece together exactly what is going on. The key fits the lock on the diary, and it turns out being the diary of The [name_u]Gardener[/name_u], another thing that helps her with the mystery.
Throughout the story, first person accounts of The [name_u]Gardener[/name_u] that aren’t pages that the mc finds in the garden take place and show how freaky The [name_u]Gardener[/name_u] really is.
That’s all I’m going to say for now.
It’s definitely going to be from the mc’s pov, but I’m trying to decide if it should be present-tense or past-tense. If it’s past tense then maybe she can say some things that are mysterious and add on to the effect? But present tense might be cooler. Or something. Then again, maybe I can do the prologue as a future part of the story, maybe like halfway through it, then she can tell what has happened up until that point and what brought her there, and then after that she can tell the rest through present-tense. It seems like the best way to kind of mesh the two together.
As for the mc’s name, I already said I want something traditional. You can submit floral names as well, but I’m not sure yet if I should use them. And that’s traditional, not old lady.
She’s Chinese-american, she has ginger hair and unusually blue eyes. (BECAUSE CHINESE GINGERS ARE FRICKING GORGEOUS. Not trying to sound weird or anything, btw.) She’s a singer-songwriter, she’s fiesty, bold, and anything but shy. She’s a part-time reporter, since songwriting isn’t exactly the best form of income. She chose to become a reporter because of her curious nature and the fact that she isn’t afraid to ask the questions no-one else will ask definitely got her the job, despite her age. I picked out a few names but they didn’t seem to suit her, so now I just use them as inspiration. The names are [name_f]Amelia[/name_f], [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], and [name_f]Julia[/name_f]. I know, very limited.
As for the [name_u]Gardener[/name_u], I want to give him a name that sounds normal but dark at the same time. It has to be a slightly offbeat name but still fairly common, and it can’t sound too ominous. otherwise it would be like, “Oh, who’s that creepy guy?”
"He’s [name_m]Zoltan[/name_m] LeCreeperstein " or something like that. Whatever.
I do NOT want to use my neighbor’s real name, since I know that he would never do something like this.
The [name_u]Gardener[/name_u] is about fifty or sixty years old, he has whitish grey hair, and brown eyes.
I also just need names in general, for all the OCs I’ll have to use.
Well, that’s all, this took me [name_u]FOREVER[/name_u] to write out, and any submissions will be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!
Sorry if this was kinda typoey (not a real word but whatever), I recently got an iPod and I have been getting too used to autocorrect. [name_m]Even[/name_m] though it can be extremely annoying.
Stay cool, Stay single, Stay loved.
BROFIST
I forgot to say, I am also looking for a title. All I have considered is The [name_u]Gardener[/name_u], but that seems a little obvious. Thanks!