Howdy Blogisphere,

I have some great news to share with you today! It’s pretty obvious from the title of this post, but I just finished the first draft of my BEK (black-eyed kid) short story on Wednesday. Woohoo!

For now I’m calling the story (The) BEK Curse, but I’m definitely open to suggestions. Anywho, I wanted to give a little more detail on what the story is about as well as my plans going forward for this story and others, a real hodgepodge of a post where I blab a lot (fair warning). Hope you’re ready!

What’s (The) BEK Curse?

The BEK Curse is a story about a recently retired couple who moved out to a rural area to spend the rest of their days. After six months of bliss, they begin to get strange knocks on their door at night, soon discovering that the trespassers are far from your average punks. Chaos ensues.

This story is more paranormal/suspense versus my typical go-to of more violent, horrific fiction, but I’ve had a lot of fun trying out something on the softer side.

I’m definitely feeling a good vibe with this story and how I hope it’ll be received.

What Inspired the story?

I was initially inspired to write this story from several spooky podcasts (Scared to Death, Sinisterhood, and several others, definitely check them out!). The stories just really hit me hard, and I knew I couldn’t just let the chance pass me by. So I decided to do more research.

I found a book by David Weatherly entitled The Black-Eyed Children (my review here if you want to check it out). This was crucial to really getting a strong image of the black-eyed children in my mind’s eye, as well as understanding how they are received by those who have encountered them.

In a nutshell, black-eyed children are a recurring global phenomenon with many documented cases. They are ‘children’ with solid black eyes who generally appear at your doorstep at night, typically requesting help or wanting to be let in. They often wear old fashioned clothes or simply hoodies, usually in tones of white, black, or grey and their skin typically has an odd pallor to it. There are a lot more interesting characteristics, but I don’t want to drone on. Needless to say, they are terrifying and one run-in with them can traumatize certain victims for years.

What Now?

Several things!

A Brief Hiatus

So I just finished my first draft, cleaning up the mess that was my rough draft. Right now I’m on a brief hiatus. It’s good to take a break and clear your head before starting another draft, especially since I did the last two back to back. I typically take a week, but since it’s a short story I’ll probably just wait until the beginning of next week to continue forward.

In the meantime, I’ve been taking a look at my other short story possibilities and fleshing them out bit by bit to see what resonates most strongly (I just started). I’m already getting some really good ideas. Check out this scary Lovecraftian photo I found in my search for more monsters(that I have zero ownership rights to and am just sharing for entertainment purposes)!

I can pretty much guarantee that evil masks from other dimensions that want to eat faces will definitely be a part of a story coming in the future. Also, it almost made me lose control of my bladder when I saw it and that’s saying something. *shudders*

A Second Draft!

After my brief hiatus I’ll work on the second draft with emphasis on reducing the word count and polishing what’s left. Right now I’m at 9,000 words, and that’s just too long for my liking. I’m hoping to get it down to a bulky 7500 words, and I’m hoping to complete another draft in a week’s work or two at most.

Alpha Read Soon to Come!

Once I’m done with my second draft, I’ll be opening my story up for an alpha read. Definitely comment and let me know if you’re interested, but mainly I’ll stick to my inner circle of friends to give it a look and point out areas for improvement.

Finding a Home

Last but certainly not least, I’ll be looking to find a home for this story once the final version is ready. I’ve been doing some soul-searching from my last self-published book Reaper: Aftermath, and finding a magazine to publish this and future short stories has many benefits that I find desirable.

It’ll establish some street cred for my name and if they accept you, most magazines will actually pay you. Also, after a predetermined period of time, you are allowed to self-publish to your heart’s content, so I’ll be able to share my story with the masses in multiple ways. How great is that?

I can’t wait to see where this new road takes me!

That’s a Wrap!

Alright, so that’s my story and where I’m at writing-wise. I’d love to hear from my fellow authors and writers on what they’re working on or if you find my story intriguing in general, so please feel free to gush in the comments!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

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