About The Screaming Season

When I began working on the Possessions trilogy, I watched a scary movie every morning to put myself in a ghost story frame of mind.  For pure fear factor, I recommend:  The Grudge, both the American and Japanese version (Ju-On); The Ring/Ringu; The Haunting (1963 version, not the remake.)  For depth of feeling, for the themes of love and loss, here are some of the movies I found to be the most inspiring:  El Orfanato (The Orphanage); The Others; and A Tale of Two Sisters.

I watched these movies over and over, letting myself really experience all the strong emotions they engendered in me—including great tenderness and joy.  I listened to horror movie soundtracks alone, in the dark, feeling.  Then I would write—about loss, and trying to recapture the past; and about love.

For at their core, the stories of the Possessions Series—Possessions; The Evil Within; and The Screaming Season—are stories about love–and how love can drive us mad.  But love can also redeem and save us—sometimes in ways we least expect.   Love is what strengthens us.  Here is a section near the end of The Screaming Season that I think reflects this:

She sobbed, and I heard the wail ricochet over the water. Night birds fluttered and cried on the water’s edge. I held out my hand.

The coldness rose up into my chest and then out through my arm. As I watched, and we both cried, white light poured from my fingertips and covered the lake. It lit up like a beacon. Celia was leaving me.

“You’ve carried me with you, dear Lindsay,” she whispered. “You can lay me to rest.”

It was safe to let go.