[From the Journal of Kristi Rey
October 8, 2006
I'm not sure what's going on anymore. I thought that keeping a diary would help make things easier. That's what Dan and I decided when we first moved in here. I've been trying so hard not to go through his things, but I feel like we're just drifting so far apart. I feel like there are things that I keep forgetting. Important things. Dan says that it's alright, though. He has to be right. I mean nothing has happened in the house for weeks. But it still feels so wrong. Why do I feel guilty? I wish I could just stop feeling like this.
I think I'm losing my mind, though. Is this what Mom felt like those last few weeks? I can't help remembering the night that she lost it completely. Katie and I were asleep in our room, and Katie woke up, screaming like something was hurting her. Mom ran up the stairs, her eyes wild and angry. God, I don't think that I'll ever forget that face. She had a candle in her hand, and she just looked at Katie for a second, and was calm again. Not a normal kind of calm, though. Like the kind of calm you get in the middle of a hurricane, when nothing is moving but you know it's about to all go to hell. Then, she just walked up to the edge of Katie's bed and held the candle next to her comforter and waited for the flame to catch. They both just stood there, watching the fire try to swallow up the bed for the longest time. I swear, it must have been hours. That's what it felt like. And then Katie just stood up and started to walk away. Mom didn't move. She just crawled under Katie's blankets and stayed there. I couldn't stop her, and I couldn't stop watching. And then, all of a sudden, I was outside. Katie doesn't remember how the fire started. It's like... It's like she just wasn't there. I guess I wasn't there for a little while, either.
But I remember that sick feeling I got in my stomach whenever I thought about Mom during those few weeks. The weeks before she burned herself alive. Before the whole house went up. I get that feeling now whenever I think of Katie. Like something awful is about to happen and I won't be able to stop it. It's weird, you know? The police never found any evidence of arson, but that's what it was. We never talked about it. All Katie remembers is that Mom was acting weird, shutting herself up in her bedroom for days at a time, banging on the walls like some kind of animal. Who's going to remember this time, though? Is anyone going to be there for her if she goes off the deep end? I hope there's someone. It just wouldn't be fair otherwise. Dan says I need to get more sleep. I keep getting these headaches. Maybe he's right. Still, I feel like I should give Katie a call tomorrow, just to make sure she's okay.
And why do I still feel guilty?]
So, there you have it. That was just a quick little writing exercise. One day of work on it, to try and make a point: Just because something works once, doesn't mean that you need to push your luck by running the same gimmick for three films. I would've preferred if the entirety of Paranormal Activity 2 had been told via a viral website that gave insight into the journals of Dan and Kristi. Why? Because it would have been fresh. It would have been new, and the final page could have linked to a police report or newspaper article that sums up the events after the end of the movie. But maybe that's just me.
But moving on now. Some of you may know about National Novel Writing Month (NaNo or NaNoWriMo for short), and some of you may also be participants this year. If not, we're only two days in, so it's not terribly late to register. All you need are a couple of extra cups of coffee and you'll be plenty caught up. As for me, I'll be writing a collection of short stories entitled "Cigarettes and Suffragettes" to challenge myself. I want to try and work on some more plot-centric pieces, because I've come to rely on complex characters as a crutch. I'd like to invite any of my readers to join me in this writing exercise and leave your result as a comment or link in the comments. I'll read and leave feedback, and I'll also be posting my own result by Friday at the latest. Here goes:
NaNo Exercise #1
Write a story in an epistolary format. Either take the perspective of the character through journal entries (like the truncated version I did above) or give the whole story as a series of newspaper pieces and the like. It's a little complicated, but when done well, this type of story can be very powerful and really do quite a lot to aid suspension of disbelief. So please, try it out and aim for an absolute minimum of 500 words. That's an afternoon or so of writing, tops. Let's charge into the thick of NaNo, folks!
Also, I promise that these exercises will get easier as NaNo goes further along. No, really, that's a guarantee. If you can master the beginning hurdles, it'll be a breeze later on.
P.S. I know that the bit I had up there was kind of hackneyed and terrible, but I did my best to incorporate elements of the first two movies and give it a more faithful vibe. Working with established characters is hard as hell, and something that I'll cover more in-depth as the month progresses.
This is Rosenbloom, signing off.
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