This is another spin to the Movie Curses – Do you believe thread. It was actually prompted by dreeldee with this post

I don't believe in it, it's all a coincidence, you should run a check of the no of movies (horror, action w/e) that have been made so far since the start of Hollywood. How many of them have resulted into the deaths of the characters due to the parts they played in it? if this was actually true, most of the old actors (even new ones) should have been dead by now because they've all taken part in these types of movies at one point in their acting career. All the same, as human we should believe in something so let him hold on to whatever he believes in.

Sounded like a very good idea and in trying to find out more, I noticed something else. Majority of the famous authors of Horror Fiction have had something terrible happen to them before and/or after they started writing.


Examples

Edger Allen Poe - His father abandoned their family in 1810,[6] and his mother died a year later from Tuberculosis. Poe was then taken into the home of John Allan, who alternately spoiled and aggressively disciplined his foster son. Found out his foster mother had died when he arrived home a day after her funeral, he Lost his brother to alcoholism. He secretly married his 13 yrs old cousin Virginia, who would later be afflicted with Tuberculosis, under the strain of his wife’s illness. . . Poe began to drink heavily. 5 yrs after showing signs of her illness, Virginia died. He became unstable after her death and it was said that his engagement to Poet Sarah Whitman failed largely because of his drinking and erratic behavior. His circumstances surrounding and the cause of his death still remains a mystery and all medical records and documents, including Poe's death certificate, have been lost, if they ever existed.

Mary Shelley (Frankenstein) – Her mother died ten day after giving birth to her, her first child was born prematurely and died soon after, she became depressed and felt haunted by the visions of her dead baby, she lost her 2nd and 3rd at young ages, she miscarried once and had one surviving child, her half-sister committed suicide, her husband drowned when his sailing boat sank, She died at 53 of a brain tumor, after suffering from headaches and bouts of paralysis in parts of her body.

Bram Stoker (Dracula) - Stoker was bed-ridden until he started school at the age of seven when he made a complete recovery. Was personal assistant and friend to Sir. Henry irving, whose death caused Stoker to suffer a stroke (not much here but something)

H. P. Lovecraft (Cthulhu Mythos/Lovecraft Mythos) - His name is synonymous to Horror fiction (There is a sub-genre of horror called Lovecraftian horror) his writing had a huge influence on writers like Stephen King. When he was 3, his father, a traveling sales man went cuckoo in the head in a Chicago Hotel. He was placed in a Psychiatric Hospital for the remainder of his life. Lovecraft was a sickly child, barely attended school because of his undisciplined and argumentative nature. The death of his grandfather and the family’s plunge into poverty had a big effect on him, he contemplated suicide. After high school, he became a hermit and would see only his mother. After suffering from hysteria and depression for a long period of time, Lovecraft's mother had a nervous breakdown and was committed to Butler Hospital like her husband before her. He was diagnosed with cancer of the intestine and he also suffered from malnutrition. He lived in constant pain until his death. He died a very poor man, despite his best writing efforts.

Robert E. Howard (Conan the Barbarian, Pigeons from Hell" – He spent his early life was spent wandering through a variety of Texas cowtowns and boomtowns. He suffered from severe depression from an early age. He lacked confidence and was very shy exacerbated by frequent moves during his youth, His mother contracted tuberculosis taking care of sick relatives, it is also thought that his role of primary caregiver for his increasingly sick mother may also have contributed to his depression. He considered suicide as a valid alternative to an unhappy life and would have killed himself if he didn’t have his mom to care for. He killed himself the same day his mother died.

V.C Andrews (Flowers in the attic, Petals on the wind, If there be thorns, Seeds of Yesterday) - As a teenager, Andrews suffered a fall from a school stairwell, resulting in severe back injuries. The subsequent surgery to correct these injuries resulted in Andrews suffering from crippling arthritis that required her to use a wheelchair for much of her life. Had an overprotective mother who was borderline insane with the way she treated her daughter. She has stated that being a pretty child was not fun, many of her friends fathers made advances, giving her a sexualized perception of herself. This incident can be seen as the reason most of her books are a little on the “wild, immoral” side and why she never got married. She claimed to be psychic and had a vision showing her she would be crippled.

Shirley Jackson – Her story The Lottery, still very much discussed 60yrs after it was published. It is described the most controversial piece fiction of fiction The New Yorker ever published. Shirley Jackson's stories and books arose out of the complex, sad, and joyous magic of her life. Shirley suffered throughout her life from various neuroses and psychosomatic illnesses. She died in her sleep at age 48.

Anne Rice – (Interview with a Vampire) Lost her Mother to Alcoholism at 14, lost a daughter to Leukemia, went into a diabetic coma in 1998, lost her husband to brain cancer. She once stated she felt like an outsider, suffered from anxiety, is afraid of the dark. Her intense fear of death, her longing to live forever and her loss of faith in a Higher being explains why most of her novels reveal a preoccupation with Christian ritual and codes, conflict between good and evil, the twentieth-century loss of faith in God and sense of isolation, the search for human identity and self-awareness, the longing for family ties and community, the fear of death and the human desire for love, power, and immortality.


Dean Koontz (Whispers) - He grew up under strained circumstances--an alcoholic, abusive father who was later diagnosed as a sociopath), poverty, rootlessness. Growing up, he thought all families were like his until he read a book and it dawned on him his father wasn’t an ordinary man.
Peter Francis Straub (Co-wrote The Talisman & Black house with Stephen King, Ghost story) - At the age of seven, Straub was struck by a car, sustaining serious injuries.[3] He was hospitalized for several months, and temporarily confined to a wheelchair after being released, until he had re-learned how to walk. His close brush with death is said to have had a profound effect on him

Stephen King (IT, Carrie, Salem’s Lot, Cujo, The Shining) - When King was two years old, his father deserted the family when going to get a pack of cigarettes. As a child, King apparently witnessed one of his friends being struck and killed by a train. This event seemed to have had an effect on him. Had a severe drinking and drug problem, was struck by a van while walking on the shoulder of the road (like something out of his own books). His injuries—a collapsed right lung, multiple fractures of the right leg, scalp laceration and a broken hip. He later bought the van which was later crushed at a junkyard after King had severely beaten it with a baseball bat. He suffered severe pneumonia as a direct result of his lung being punctured in the accident.


Question - It is because of their past they are able to channel this Horror or do they invite this terrible things by going to a place even angels fail to tread? If you are thinking of writing Horror Fiction, does this give you pause and if you are already into it, do you think it’s because of your past?

PS
Please feel free to say I'm reaching!

I think it's just coincidence . . . but then again that's a lot of coincidences.

Hmmm

Oh, sure baby, you are reaching!

Just kidding, though. I really don't know much of horror writers to have an educated view - only know King, Rice and Stoker. But then, common sense (and almighty Statistics!) dictates that all those occurences you mentioned were more or less natural - you know, expected. Oh, and besides, they're all Americans (right?) - that's synonymous with a dysfunctunal life. That's my own view, of course!

kay9:

Oh, sure baby, you are reaching!

Just kidding, though. I really don't know much of horror writers to have an educated view - only know King, Rice and Stoker. But then, common sense (and almighty Statistics!) dictates that all those occurences you mentioned were more or less natural - you know, expected. Oh, and besides, they're all Americans (right?) - that's synonymous with a dysfunctunal life. That's my own view, of course!

Ta ha! I thought I was reaching too but figured I'd go for it.

Lmao@ they all Americans.

Bram Stocker and a few others are British.

iice:

Hehehe i don't know but i like it
Yeah i think most of the time a li'l experience goes along way in terms of 'imagination'.

I like it too. . . and a little sad. I've been drilling my mom for any horrible childhood event and apart from almost drowning twice, having a snake crawl over me, having serious nightmares I couldn't sleep. . . I really don't have much

Caliente:

[size=13pt]If it's possible just divide the mishaps into two. Things that happened before they became writers and those that took place after they became writers[/size]

That's a good Idea, I'll see what I can do.

Bad things happen to lots of people. Horror writers happen to be people. Coincidence? I think not!

. . . gotta agree with iice.

lol @ seun

for those that play the violin
it has been said that the best pieces are those that the player or the composer can relate to
the sound of the violin is synonymous with pain
so also is jazz
my point?
ill get to it shortly,


now my point,
the fact that all these writers have experienced these tragedies in their lives and then moved on to become great writers
only says one thing,
they have been able to project their frustrations and fears onto fictional characters sometimes in a bid to cope with the loss/ event
or just a simple mechanism by the brain
i wouldnt go into details of how the brain woks
or ow human beings react under different circumstances
but im sure u get my point
and if u still dont,

Hey
I'm kind of into horror fiction (Sisikill, you know what I'm talking about). Both writing and reading. Dean Koontz happens to be my favorite author right now. My family isn't a twisted one, and I don't think what i read or write will make it twisted. If I feel like publishing horror fiction, I WILL. _{Jesus will protect me from becoming a statistic.}