11 | December | 2025 | Seething Apathy

I am a glutton for punishment. Not only am I tossing aside Tribal for the time being, but I have an idea for a World War One horror novel that’s starting to get under my skin like a blood starved chigger. My first problem was which side the protagonist would fight on? The second problem was where? I did a little market research and found out to my surprise – there are few horror novels that take place during World War One. This really surprised me. I figured that World War One would be a popular idea.

Also — the perfect cover photo is public domain.

Think about it – the beginning what would be called total war. The filth. The disease. The tactics of the 18^th century running pell-mell into the mechanization of the 20^th century. The idea of attrition as a strategy. So many horrors in fact, and then we throw on top of that the supernatural elements. Zombies wandering the no-man’s lands, foam from a chemical attack drying on their chins. A centuries old vampire – caught up in the fervor of the war in the early days and looking for easy conquests – gets cut down by these new-fangled machine guns and is more wounded by the horrors around him. Why aren’t their more novels from this era?

This stirred my resolve to write this book, but I wanted to make my mark – so I did more market research. There are a lot of fictional books (relatively speaking) about the Western Front, but nothing about the Ottoman front. Now I had a place, and working backwards I had the nationality of my protagonist – he’s German. I wanted to take it to the Western Front, but the idea – a real, live flesh-eating ghoul in the trenches – didn’t really work because there were so painfully few Ottoman soldiers in the West. They were mostly pilots and “carry the flag” types. So, I picked the Ottoman front, which turned out to be a good choice for me.

The book started writing itself. So, I am going into research mode when I have some free time (HA! HA-HA!). As it turned out there is also not a lot of non-fiction about the war front. One book is $133 – and it happens to be the best-looking source. A Hundred and Thirty-Three Dollars! Are you kidding me? Am I going to pay it? If you don’t know the answer to that, then I’m afraid we can’t be friends.

So, that’s where I am at. Planning another novel, on top of outlining one and working on another one while promising to finish another one. Such is my crazy life. Well – that’s all for now, I should get to work on something. Ta-ta for now.

That’s right. You read it here. Tyro — the main character for my project going into next year — hijacked the outlining process of her novel. Is this a symptom of schizophrenia? Let’s find out.

I was outlining a scene where one of the other characters is drawing a magic circle to return back to where their Master was waiting to get the second in a long line of McGuffin’s that may or may not be crucial (I honestly don’t know). I didn’t stop to think ‘what should happen now?’ like I usually do. Pen was firmly planted on paper and butt was firmly in seat when the amazing happened: Tyro did her own thing.

That thing she did was snatch the chalk out of the other servant’s hand and start drawing her own magic circle. I’d been describing how she had been collecting magical glyphs here and there earlier. She thought she had enough to get away from wherever their Master was holed up to somewhere that wasn’t there. As I continued to write the aftermath of this scene — Tyro getting roughed up by another servant and ending up going on her own, I asked myself: What just happened?

I always talk about my characters as if they were alive in my head. If I had to describe the acting of writing for me — it’s me watching what my characters do, then writing the after-action report. This was a little unnerving to say the least, but it ended up being good. I got to introduce a couple of new things that I wasn’t going to involve until later, and I have explored a little more of the dynamic among the ushabit. All in all, this was fortuitous.

But it’s weird. It’s like that moment in Baldur’s Gate 3 where one of the characters breaks the fourth wall and asks how we’re doing. I didn’t stop, I didn’t plan on it, obviously. It just happened. I had a different scene in mind, with Tyro looking in at a family and her memories pointing out that this is what they want, and one of them makes the offer to help her get away in exchange for that family situation. Well, that scene isn’t going to happen now. I don’t know if it is going to at all now. I might have to save it for later.

I want to ask you, the audience and especially of you’re a writer like me — have you ever had moments like this? Moments where the characters do something and you’re left standing there confused and shouting “YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME! DON’T YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!”

Well — in spite of what happened, I am continuing on with the outline. What’s going on next? Don’t know. Can’t wait to see. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are looking forward to Christmas. For me — it’s donuts for breakfast, horror films and hamburgers! Ta-ta for now!