Lesson 2

[Sophia Lee]

Sophia’s Terrifying Monster

“What I learned doing this assignment is…?” and put it at the top of your work. These are elements I had never considered before, even though they have come naturally in the story process. Consciously being aware of them helps add more layers to the story.

Arcane

1. Tell us what or who your monster is. A once beautiful elite philanthropist who transforms into a hideous beast after she survives being set on fire.
2. Give us a few sentences for each of the following for your monster:
• Their Terror: She seeks revenge on those who did her wrong using unpredictable ways to entrap them and kill them off
• Their Mystery: her victims don’t know why they are being killed off, and have no idea who is doing it – they are lead to believe it is something else doing it without suspecting the real killer
• Their Fear Provoking Appearance: unpredictable movements in the shadows – the killer is not seen until the very end
• Their Rules: the victims see the killer just before they die to know justice has been served
• Their Mythology: Arcane lived by the motto that everyone dies – but how is the mystery. Before she was set on fire, she was a bitch from hell, making everyone’s lives miserable who did not see things her way. Yet, it was her life’s circumstances that made her that way, and after she was so badly burned and deformed she realized everyone in her circle was like that. They were all evil, and by surviving her horrific ordeal, she made it a point to help keep the mystery as she helps each one on their painful journey to death.

[Nick Walsh]

LESSON 2

Nick’s Terrifying Monster

I learned the making of a monster is found by brainstorming the necessary questions of what makes a monster who he is. In doing so, the monster grows from a seed of an idea into a full grown, terrifying being with a decent backstory of how he originated—where the only shred of empathy may lie for the monster villain.
Create an early version of your monster.

Tell us what or who your monster is.

—A scar-faced, hillbilly type (40s) with a good chunk of his brain missing, leaving a hemispheric cavity visible on his left side.
—Has one working eye partially eclipsed by his upper eyelid. It’s iris is cold and as dull as a black shit stain.
—He wears an eyepatch over his left eye. The eyepatch is not leather, but a wafer of epoxy with an expressionless colored iris imbedded in it, giving him the only feature that would indicate that he has a soul.

2. Give us a few sentences for each of the following for your monster:

Their Terror:
—A soulless, intimidating, predator stare.
—Once he’s fixated on pursuit, he’s tenacious to the end.
—He is preoccupied with his eyeball collection.
—He hums ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” while performing his live carvings on screaming victims. Might as well be an owl pulling a squealing mouse apart for all the calm he exhibits plucking an eye from or dismembering a victim.
—He uses his two corn-yellow buck teeth to help extract eyeballs from live victims. These elongated incisors are the only two teeth remaining in his head.
—He never sleeps, but calculates.
—Occasionally, a maggot will crawl out from under his eyepatch.
—He has no sensation of pain—could lose an arm and not be bothered.

Their Mystery:

He must be blinded and killed thoroughly.

Their Fear/ Provoking Appearance:

The distorted head:
—his dead coal-black, hooded eye;
—his upturned pug nose revealing two nostrils choked with snotty hairs;
—his ears are elongated like urn handles and similarly infested with hair plugs;
—his hair is long and stringy on the right side of his head, the left side is concave with pink and gray bubble scars.
—All the above combined to manifest a repulsive, turn away, make-you-vomit freak.

Their Rules:

—You don’t dis his idiot younger brothers, or, for starters, your eye becomes part of his eyeball collection; and, for enders, you are skinned alive and made into jerky. The brothers all exhibit their own unique dysfunction and lunacy.
Their Mythology:

—Oldest brother of ten. Very poor. Was once a handsome, but troubled young man whose left brain hemisphere was blasted away by a shotgun suicide attempt.

xxx

[Pam Ewing]

I am terrified already. Good visual monster!

[Renee Miller]

Renee’s Terrifying Monster

What I learned doing this assignment is how to think about the best way to craft the most terrifying creature for the story. Considering how they terrorize the characters and the mystery behind the monster helps to flesh out the story a bit more. I’ve always enjoyed figuring out what the creature looks like but have never thought about the rules for the monsters.
Tell us what or who your monster is: shadow creatures

Give us a few sentences for each of the following for your monster:

Their Terror: The shadow creatures are manipulative predators that weaponize fear, guilt, and paranoia, breaking their victims psychologically before delivering a fatal blow. They exploit darkness to create an ever-present sense of dread, mimicking voices, distorting perceptions, and manifesting as deeply personal fears or traumas. Ubiquitous and inescapable, they move with the shadows, extinguish light sources, and warp environments to isolate victims, feeding on fear and vulnerability while corrupting their prey into part of their own growing darkness.

Their Mystery: The shadow creatures are ancient entities born from the town's collective guilt and unresolved traumas, bound to the perpetual darkness by a failed ritual meant to protect Whittier from an "eternal winter." To survive, the characters must uncover the truth about the ritual and confront their deepest fears, as only those who face their inner darkness can weaken the creatures' power. The ultimate puzzle lies in rewriting the ritual—not to banish the shadows but to balance light and dark, forcing the creatures into dormancy.

Their Fear Provoking Appearance: The shadow creatures are grotesque, ever-shifting entities of liquid darkness, their jagged edges glitching unnaturally as they move. Their blank, void-like faces morph into twisted masks of guilt, fear, or loss, reflecting their victims’ deepest traumas. Tendrils lash out from their bodies, suffocating and enveloping their prey, while claw-like extensions and ironic, fear-based forms turn each encounter into a personal nightmare. Silent yet relentless, they are the embodiment of darkness, impossible to escape and horrifyingly intimate in their terror.

Their Rules: The shadow creatures thrive in darkness, feeding on fear, guilt, and vulnerability, growing stronger as their victims succumb to terror. They manipulate light, space, and perception, creating illusions and warping reality to isolate and break their prey psychologically before delivering a fatal blow. While light temporarily repels them, it cannot destroy them; they are eternal, bound to human fear and guilt, ensuring their presence lingers in every shadow.

Their Mythology: The shadow creatures are remnants of an ancient ritual gone wrong, intended to protect Whittier from an eternal winter but instead binding the town to perpetual darkness. Born from the collective guilt and buried traumas of its people, the creatures are both a punishment and a reflection of humanity’s darkest fears. Their true origin, tied to an ancient, unseen force lurking beneath the town, remains shrouded in mystery, hinting that the darkness is far more sentient—and far more malevolent—than anyone realizes.

[Pam Ewing]

I love ancient and unknown things. Sounds very moody and rich.

[David Zelitzky]

Born from the collective guilt and buried traumas of its people, the creatures are both a punishment and a reflection of humanity’s darkest fears…..
you must be a fiction writer… so eloquent and prosaic…

[Barry Barry Durbin Durbin]

ASSIGNMENT 2: Crafting you monster
What I learned doing this assignment was the layers of complexity it takes to create your monster!
1. Tell us what or who your monster is. An enraged female Bigfoot seeking revenge for the death of her offspring.
2. Give us a few sentences for each of the following for your monster:
• Their Terror: It is stealthy, unseen, strong, smart, and fast. It isolates by blocking the only way out, destroys the vehicle to leave, knocks out electricity, so can’t charge phones.
• Their Mystery: How do they kill the monster before it kills them.
• Their Fear Provoking Appearance: Larger than life, stringy hair, sharp teeth.
• Their Rules: Viciously protect their young, remain hidden from humans
• Their Mythology: They are hidden from humans in a secret society

[Ira Drower]

Lesson 2 – Ira Drower – Crafting My Monster

I learned how to think about the Monster within the horror genre. The terror that the monster creates, the mystery about who or what the Monster is, its appearance, and the rules that apply to the Monster.

The monster: The main monsters are all the plants within the perimeter of the former gardening camp for underprivileged kids.

Their terror: The plants each use unique methods to terrorize. Trees can use their branches to beat or drop pods of boiling sap, bushes send out thorns like darts, grass blades cut like razors, vines extend and constrict victims.

How do they pursue? The vines send out feelers that grab and pull victims, and some plants, like the Venus Flytrap, grow large enough to capture a person. The algae within the lake send spear-like appendages that stab a victim and pull them underwater. Some plants absorb a person while others can pull their roots up and use them to crawl toward their victim.

How does the monster isolate? The grasses slashed all of the tires on the vehicle. The teens are trapped inside a cabin when outside the plants slowly surround it.

What is the terrible thing they do? Absorb people, bite off limbs, capture them, strangle or constrict them, cut them, beat them, burn them.

How does the monster cause death? Beatings by a tree branch, biting off a foot, capturing them and dissolving them alive, stabbing them with thorns, and spearing them with spear-like appendages.

What makes this inescapable? They are trapped inside the cabin surrounded by carnivorous plants.

What is their mystery? How can we survive the rampage by cannibalistic plants and is there any way to kill them before they kill us?

Their fear-provoking appearance: The plants morph into larger, violent plants with deadly defensive mechanisms. The flowers grew teeth; the grass cut flesh. Some bushes can cut off limbs with sharpened leaves. The rows of corn stalks march against them like an army.

Their rules: The plants all seem to have the same goal. Kill the teens and anyone in the cabin. The plants come to life during the Blood Red Moon.

Mythology: The teens trapped inside the cabin all have sketchy memories of their time at the camp they visited 7 years ago. The head of the program, Miss Marie, and the Caretaker took in groups of underprivileged kids to teach them gardening and bring them into nature. The rumor is the Caretaker killed Miss Marie and buried her in her garden. The state shut them down after too many instances of runaways before the rumor of Miss Marie’s death.

[Pam Ewing]

sounds like a very novel concept!

[Joan Butler]

Joan Butler Terrifying Monster

I learned that the relationship between the killer and the journalist was too similar to the abusive relationship in my other script. I want to explore a different relationship.

• Who is your killer?
A former principal turned anti-logging protester.
• His Terror:
a) He kills former students who failed in high school.
b) He exploits a journalist’s emotional vulnerabilities, manipulating her love and trust to isolate her from her support system. He stalks and gaslights her into a relentless cycle of fear, isolation, and psychological torment.
• The Mystery:
How will the journalist who loves him uncover that he is manipulating her emotions and trust to conceal his true identity as a killer?
• His Fear-provoking Appearance:
His charming smile can change to an evil sneer. His eyes can change from kind to murderous.
He has two fingers on one hand.
• His Rules:
The killer has a fixation about time. The dismemberment happens according to a symbolic calendar.
He is slow and methodical. He draws out his victim’s fear before striking with precise brutality. The longer the victim is left in fear, the more psychological damage is done.
He stalks and severs the limbs of former students who failed in high school.
He severs limbs after forcing his victims to eat their fingers or toes.

I learned that the relationship between the killer and the journalist can be written in totally different ways.

What I Changed:

• His terror
He haunts the journalist with unexplained phone calls, letters written in a chillingly intimate style, and recordings of the journalist’s own voice—making her feel that every action is being observed.
He leaves cryptic messages and gruesome "gifts" that play on the journalist’s fears.
He stages scenarios that appear as if they are working together to solve the case.
He carefully plants evidence that misdirects her investigation toward another suspect, manipulating her perception of events.
He provides access to staged crime scenes or false leads that align with her expectations/ biases as a journalist.
He provides tips, hints, and personal details that keep her chasing shadows and emotionally invested in solving the case while remaining steps ahead of her.
He leaves items in her path that seem unrelated to him but tie back to the case.
He stages scenarios that mirror aspects of her past traumas or unresolved issues, making her feel like solving the case will resolve her personal struggles.
He puts her in dangerous situations, then rescues her.
He diverts her focus away from the investigation.
He creates moral dilemmas, making her question what is right and what is wrong.

• This reply was modified 3 months, 2 weeks ago by  Joan Butler.

[Pam Ewing]

Pam Ewing’s Terrifying Monster Lesson 2

What I learned doing this assignment is that in making a layered villain I am really twisting him between his better intentions and the truth of his depravity just to avoid painful growth.

1. Tell us what or who your monster is.

I currently see the groom as the monster. He is wounded from previous relationships ad thinks that he can innocently get his girlfriend to not leave him at the altar and remain devoted to him. He quickly sees that he can use her to avenge many of his life issues and not remember anything so not being a robotic puppet.

2. Give us a few sentences for each of the following for your monster:

• Their Terror: He is afraid to be humiliated and rejected in love which causes him to manipulate people to protect himself but his insecurities quickly control him

• Their Mystery: What happened to him and why was he so humiliated by past relationships

• Their Fear Provoking Appearance: he looks great, he seems loving but as the story progresses we see his cruelty colors everything – like we see the picture of Dorian Gray. Later the nanotech he injected in himself as proof of control concept is used against him to change his handsome appearance to demonic features.

• Their Rules: His rules start by protecting himself and preserving the woman he fell in love with. As his fears grow instead of diminishing he keeps justifying new ways to just protect himself. Eventually he worries that his bride will retaliate for what he’s made her do.

• Their Mythology: He uses the computer to control the nanotech he has had injected in her. He also uses twisted psychology to control her when she is not under nanotech control.

[Deborah Daughetee]

Debbie’s Terrifying Monster
I learned to lean into the terrifying way Revenant Queen kills. I really concentrated on exploiting people’s natural fears of drowning, of being eaten alive, of icky creatures. Oh it’s so much fun.

The Revenant Queen

Her Terror

The Revenant Queen exerts a suffocating aura that makes every breath feel like drowning. And they are drowning. She has a legion of leeches that live within her muddy body that can swarm and overcome a victim, bleeding them dry in seconds. And finally, she drags victims into the depths of the Mississippi, where giant catfish attack and devour them alive.
Her Mystery
No one knows her true name or the full story of her death—. Some say she was betrayed by her lover; others claim she was a kidnap victim who ended up tied to an anchor and drowned in the muddy depths of the Mississippi. Still others believe she is the vengeful spirit of the river itself. Her motivations remain as murky as the water she commands.

Her Fear-Provoking Appearance

Her body is a grotesque amalgamation of mud, broken bones, and shards of pottery, her limbs elongating into dripping tendrils. Her featureless face shifts unnervingly, sometimes mimicking the faces of her victims. Leeches crawl from her body, writhing in pools of black water that form wherever she moves.

Rules

• She is bound to the river and cannot stray far from its waters. At least one tendril must be in the water as she slides aboard the boat. This tendril is vulnerable to an ax, but it doesn’t kill her; it simply means she must immediately return to the river and regroup.
• She doesn’t want to harm those who are truly innocent or are victims themselves, but she will let nothing stand between her and anyone guilty of betrayal or exploitation.
• Light, fire, and salt weaken her, forcing her to retreat or reform her body.
• Her power is strongest at night and in the fog, where she blends with her environment.

Her Mythology

The Revenant Queen was a woman who boarded the paddle boat expecting to be the bride of a rich man. The captain was going to marry them. Instead, she was thrown into the hold with 6 other women who were being kidnapped and taken to the gold fields in the northmost part of the river and auctioned off as brides to miners. The Queen led an almost successful escape attempt. The men decided they couldn’t afford to keep her as she was a leader of the women and used her as an example to keep the other women in line. They tied her to the anchor, dropped her to the bottom of the river, and then moved the boat slowly forward, dragging the anchor along the muddy bottom. She rose from the depths to get revenge but hasn’t been seen since. There are whispers about her among the Rivermen, and many mishaps have been blamed on her. Perhaps she has been the cause of people who have gone missing, but perhaps it is just the nature of living on the river in the 1800s.

In this first movie, the boat has been refurbished, and a descendant of the rich man who betrayed her is looking to continue his trafficking ways. This is what raises her from the depths.

[JD Oppen]

JD’s Terrifying Monster

What I learned doing this assignment is… there are no limits to what the monster we create can do; We get to control it.

Monster: It spawns from its host Angelo and attacks those who bully him, it’s his opposite, he’s an introvert taking experimental anxiety meds that have ‘created a monster’

Give us a few sentences for each of the following for your monster:

• Their Terror: Very violent, this monster stops at nothing to rid the host of bullies.
It’s a mist so floats around but it’s fast. While characters can be isolated in their dreams, it can attack more than just one person at once. The master rips people apart, slashes them, bites them, throws them. It slices them open and dismembers them. It’s fast, it’s hard to see, and it can penetrate people.

• Their Mystery: What is it? Who is it, or who is causing it? Why or how does it attack its victims in their dreams. How does it break free to attack in the real world?

• Their Fear Provoking Appearance: a black mist that floats, moves at high speed, Ironic that is has sharp teeth and claws

• Their Rules: The monster has no rules. Stops at nothing. Cannot be overcome. It will tear apart anyone who has bullied its host. Nothing is a match, not even an angry Grizzly bear. It has the ability to attack its dreaming prey. Eventually, it has the power to attack them while they are awake.

• Their Mythology: the monster and its host are one! The host is Angelo and the monster spawns from his experimental anxiety meds. Angelo is a quiet, mild mannered introvert, but the monster within annihilates those who bully him.

[Bobby Sacher]

Bobby’s TERRIFYING MONSTER

What I learned doing this assignment is … how exploring ONE thing (my monster) can make ideas for other aspects of my story pop up (some great ideas for my Protagonist). Also, a reminder to “write shit” – something I am always surprised by; by taking all expectations away, and writing down things that I know PROBABLY don’t make sense, or are CLICHE, or “LAME” – a few good to great ideas just sneak in there!

WHO IS MY MONSTER?
A serial killer who murders the heroine – teenage Hannah – in the opening scene(s) – but is killed by her as well. It turns out to be a Leech – a Soul-Eating Monster now seeking revenge on Hannah’s soul while she waits in the “Shadow World” to be reborn.

MY MONSTER’S TERROR

HOW DOES IT TERRORIZE?
It is in relentless pursuit of Hannah’s soul, seeking revenge for Hannah killing it on Earth.

HOW DOES THE MONSTER PURSUE?
In the Shadow World, the Leech has no fixed form, but oozes from shadow to shadow. It lures souls in by invading their mind, tormenting them with visions of things they feared most in life.

HOW DOES THE MONSTER ISOLATE?
The Leech can manipulate the Darkness outside the Shadow Town, cutting off Hannah from others in the Town (cannot pass into true Darkness without dealing with the creatures that live there.
Also, can trap people in their mind, confronting their worst fears.

WHAT IS THE TERRIBLE THING THEY DO?
Devours the souls of those waiting, leaving behind an empty husk, destroying their essence for all time (“Death for the Dead”)
Perhaps, turns the husk into a creature of the Darkness (maybe that is what the Creatures of the Darkness are? Souls that have been abandoned/destroyed, lying in wait to feast on any souls foolish enough to stray from the Town.

HOW DOES THE MONSTER CAUSE DEATH?
It invades the mind of the victim, cornering them in a mental maze (nightmare houses representing their fears); and slithers into all orifices of the physical body, eating the soul from within, shriveling the body – like a grape turning into a raisin in real time (lame image, but will do for now)

MY MONSTER’S MYSTERY
How can Hannah destroy a creature with no life force of its own – only that stolen from victims?
How can Hannah prevent it from re-entering Earth to kill again?
How can Hannah survive long enough to be reborn, before the Leech devours her soul?

MY MONSTER’S FEAR-PROVOKING APPEARANCE
A MASK? Does it disguise itself as a victim it has just devoured – and so could be any of the townsfolk waiting in Shadow Town to be reborn?
GROTESQUE: True form of Leech – a physical, distorted amalgom of all its victims, screaming faces dotting its body? – perhaps we see forms of victims INSIDE the body – hands reaching out, desperate to escape, only to be pulled back inside. Devoured for all eternity.

MY MONSTER’S RULES
Lives in shadow
Controls the Darkness outside the Shadow Town
Can only be seen by one person at a time? (not sure about that)
Attuned to, attracted to, fear, despair
Repulsed by laughter and love? Cannot stand light? (Where does one find light in Shadow Town?)

MY MONSTER’S MYTHOLOGY
Creatures of the Netherworld – usually confined to the Darkness between Oases where souls await rebirth. When an evil soul enters the Darkness (or perhaps an unwitting/naïve soul wanders out), it can take possession of that soul, and enter the cycle of birth/death/rebirth – responsible for countless horrors throughout history (Ted Bundy, Hitler, etc etc).
Does Hannah have a responsibility to stop it? (Off-topic, but: possibly the life-lesson Hannah has to learn before being reborn – was she too afraid to risk anything in life? Shy away from anything scary, unfamiliar? Challenges, friendship, romance? Took refuge in books, worked at animal hospital, friends with old couple – both of whom died that day and are here in Shadow Town with her…)

[Patricia Semler]

Pat’s Terrifying Monster
What I learned doing this assignment is give my monster a reason for her anger and make it plausible.

Monster: Esperanza Montenegro
Their terror: Her soul has been condemned to haunt this house. The place has been unoccupied for most of its history. Any tenants quickly left and the historical designation frightened off other would-be owners and developers. She moves objects, uses them as weapons.
Pursuit: Whispers follow people through the halls. She plays pranks to find the weakest link and lures them into her hidden den.
Isolate: The house has secret passages and hide hole that she can lure her victims into. Once she’s sapped their life energy the house vermin take care of the remains.
Terrible thing – Esperanza literally sucks the life out of her victims, regaining a corporeal state piece by piece.
Causes death: Drives her victims insane with the need to die to get away.
Inescapable: She possesses the house, locking doors and windows, shutting off outside communication. The weather adds to her pranks with howling and rattling. She doesn’t sleep so there’s no off switch.

Their mystery: Who was she before she became this vengeful spirit? Is she aligned with demons, and if so, which ones? If a person has no spiritual faith how can they fight her off? What will stop her? The history teacher can only find so much about the house’s history and no mention of Esperanza at all. How do they uncover her history?

Their fear-provoking appearance: When she is seen in a mirror she appears as someone’s ancient grandma, gaunt and weathered, grey hair escaping her simple coiled braids, missing teeth and bent with osteoporosis. Her thin wan face transforms into a demon’s fierce mask in the blink of an eye. As she takes on substance her appearance becomes a mosaic of her victims traits.

Their rules:
She was bound to the house by witchcraft. The witchy bundle being the physical manifestation of the curse on her.
Once freed of the bundle’s spell, she’s still bound to the grounds until she steals enough energy to recreate her body. She’s existed for revenge, but will she focus on the family that betrayed her or move into the wider world? She needs to mine her victims for knowledge.
She can be retied to the house but it will take firm belief in the spell and a blood sacrifice.

Their mythology: Esperanza was a respected wise woman and healer. When the scion of a neighboring plantation raped her daughter she ensured he couldn’t rape again. Unable to directly kill her due to her reputation and superstition, the town starved her to death then bound her spirit to the house.

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[David Zelitzky]

David Z's Terrifying Monster

“What I learned doing this assignment is the more I can brainstorm what makes this monster unique the more interesting it becomes

Tell us what or who your monster is.

Their Terror: violent enfocement of unknown rules costs limbs, life and liberty – the monster orders the father to commit unspeakable horrors

Their Mystery: At first the guests don't know who or why it is happening – then they slowly start to piece it together

Their Fear Provoking Appearance: does he wear a mask? robot? so he's not himself when it's on –

Their Rules: anything that appears as disorder and the punishment, torture is meted out in relation to the infraction – if the father is tied up they realize the monster is also

Their Mythology: raised in a tremendously abusive home where he split his personality to save himself and now continues the abuse as love and discipline – cannot be gay or date or have sex before marriage – the REVEAL being that the father, disgraced army captain, is a paranoid schizophrenic and the monster is only visible to him, commanding him to commit these acts and the visitors have to realize that when they subdue him they will subdue the monster – but the father has no idea he is committing these atrocities until the end

• This reply was modified 3 months, 1 week ago by  David Zelitzky.

[Tom Wilson]

Tom’s Terrifying Monster
Their Terror:
The RV doesn’t just take lives—it erases people. Victims vanish without a trace, their suffering covered up by a web of false identities and cold efficiency. No bodies, no evidence, no escape.
Their Mystery:
The RV is never seen refueling, its plates are always different, and its route seems random. Local police deny it exists. Those who investigate too closely disappear. It’s a ghost on wheels.
Their Fear-Provoking Appearance:
An old, rusted Winnebago. Pitch-black windows and bizarre, talisman-like bones tied to the roof rack. The back door has claw marks—on the inside. At night, strange silhouettes shift behind the curtains.
Their Rules:
1. If you see the RV and acknowledge it, you become a target.
2. It takes victims lured to the lonely forsaken two lane highway, where no one hears the shrieks.
3. It never stops for gas, food, or rest—only for its next kill.
Their Mythology:
Legends speak of the Black Route, a secret network of roads that appear on no maps, where people vanish without explanation. Some say the RV isn’t driven—it’s possessed. Others claim it's a modern-day version of the ancient chariots of fire. Either way, no one who enters ever returns.

• This reply was modified 2 months, 4 weeks ago by  Tom Wilson.