Playing Pretend, Vampires and Dark Alleys... Oh My!

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Arrrrgh! I love Halloween!

Halloween is a holiday purely made for my little pirate enjoyment. The whole thought of dressing up like someone your not appeals to my devious heart. You can pretend to be anything you want for a whole day. How great is that? You can be a superhero (like Batman or if you’re Hellion, you might like Capt’n Jack Sparrow, and don’t try to tell her he’s not a superhero. She’ll bite you.) Or you could be the heroine, (*ahem* Stephanie Plum or Kiera Knightly’s Elizabeth). Or you could be something complete supernatural… like a vampire.

When I think of Halloween, I think of vampires. In the dark. Making their claim on human prey. I imagine I’m the one being watched, followed, marked to be bled.

“I could tell he was behind me. It wasn’t the steady thumping on the pavement behind me. No, there was no sound behind me, but it was the way the wind whispered in my ear. Giving me warning. Telling me that even though there were shadows behind me, he was still there. Stalking me. Making me his prey. Oh yes, I knew, with a little shock of pleasure deep within my black soul. Once I stepped into the alley, he would push me against the wall and make me his. He was vampire. My blood was all he knew.”

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve wanted to be a vampire. I’ve always wanted the sharp canines, the ability to kick ass and heal myself, literally do anything within my reach because I’ve been alive so long I don’t have anything to worry about other than the sun (and who needs that anyway). Halloween is that one time for me to dream about being something I can’t be. Writing was that way for me for a long time as well.

Sometimes it just takes that one day for you to get the courage to be the one thing you’ve always wanted to be. It’s the day when you wake up determined to set out on your journey, even if it is just for one day. You have to start somewhere. With every great adventure, there is a beginning. And if it takes dressing up like everyone else to realize that you’re finally ready to break free from the mold and be who you were destined to be (whether it be a vampire or an writer), take that first step. Take that deep breath and walk over the edge. For one day a year I pretend to be a vampire. From now on, for the rest of the days, I will be a writer. I will stop pretending. I will start doing.

Halloween is just one day a year, but use it as a mind set. Be what you want to be. If you want to be a writer, don’t just want it. Be it.

Now, if you could be one thing for Halloween what would it be and how would it affect your writing?

15 comments:

Hellie Sinclair said...

I'd be a pirate!

Oh, I'm already a pirate. *plucking at her I *heart* pirates shirt*

Okay, I'd be an Amish girl!

Yeah, that's probably not a stretch either.

Okay, okay, I've always wanted to dress up as a Vegas Showgirl. I wanted the feather headdress and the sequins! The tall heels and the red lipstick...yeah, it'd be cool to be a Vegas Showgirl--and to listen to Frank sing--that'd be cool.

I don't know how it would effect my writing. Would shake up my setting--big city rather than small town. A new character with different disappointed dreams--maybe she wanted to be a professional dancer or a ballerina, but all she could be was a Vegas Show Girl...

Terri Osburn said...

How did I know Hellion would pick something that would allow her to flash the Cap'n TaTas. LOL!

I would wear one of those slutty costumes. I know it's cliche but just one night of the year I'd like to look hot and loose and not like an overweight soccer mom. And everyone would have to play along.

Not sure what it would do for my writing but I think it would help solidify that idea for an erotica I'm working on. *w*

Sin said...

LOL.

That's a story waiting to happen babe. I always wanted to be a hitman, instead I turned out to be a office grouch. Something went terrible wrong there.

Other than the vampire of course. I believed I was a vampire as a kid. Of course, I had those wax gum vampire inserts and I would go around spitting, "I wvant ta ssssuck 'oar bvlood."

Hellie Sinclair said...

I can totally see Sin as an assassin. *LOL* She wouldn't look like someone who kills you right up until the knife slid between your ribs. She looks 10.

Terr, you mock me for wanting to flash my ta-tas (and there is a shelf-life on these puppies--if I plan on showing them, I better get on it), yet you want to dress as a trollop for Halloween?

In college, we dressed Jackie up as a trollop. We put her in this cute shirt and a very short skirt (mine, obviously), and red lipstick with big hair. She looked very tarty. It was hilarious to see her slutty.

Terri Osburn said...

Who mock? Me mock?

Never.

Tiffany Clare said...

I LOVE halloween. LOVE IT! It's the only 'holiday' I like. I have always wanted to go full out masquerade 17th century with the wig and all...I cannot sew so I cannot make it. And renting a costume...well that's scary expensive. Then there is the fact that I don't have anywhere to wear it...lol

Does it affect my writing? possibly... I get to slip into my characters, aside from the werewolves...

Tiffany Clare said...

that should have bee 18th century...damn fingers.

Terri Osburn said...

Why does it not surprise me the woman with a real coffin and tombstones in her house would like Halloween?

Tiffany Clare said...

Nothing wrong with those things... the coffin has been converted into a bookshelf and the tombstones...well the tombstones are just there...lol! Out of the way, yet decorative. You forgot about all the gargoyles and candelabras...lol

Lisa said...

I've always wanted to dress like a hooker for halloween, but then again I'm the girl who wanted to quit nursing school and be a stripper...

My eight year old is going to be Cap'n Jack for halloween so I will live out my wishes vicariously through him:)

My favorite costume was a couple years ago when my DH and I dressed up as the Blues Brothers. We had a blast.

Hellie Sinclair said...

I can totally see Tiff dressed up as Marie Antoinette. She's already got the bossy Queen behavior down, doesn't she?

Would you wear the wig, Tiff? Wouldn't that be bad for your hair? You know like a hairdryer bad? *grins wickedly*

All kidding aside, I do love Georgian era clothing. I think it'd be fun to try to navigate in. Can you imagine the hoops?

Hellie Sinclair said...

Tiff, you have a COFFIN in your house? *shudders*

Lissa--you wanted to be a stripper too? I knew we were soul sisters!

Terri Osburn said...

Tiff - I do remember the other stuff but you blend it in so well. People reading this probably think your house looks like a bad horror flick set but it doesn't at all.

Hellion - you're already a stripper you're just not doing it in the right venue. As in at a strip club instead of EVERYWHERE else.

Lissa - you could so go as a stripping nurse. LOL!

Sin said...

Hell, I wanted to be a stripper too, until I got plastered and went to to a strip club and didn't exactly have a great time. LMAO

No more stripper ambitions for me unless its a private dancer for Ranger.. or some other hottie.

Tiffany Clare said...

Georgian costume would be sooooo cool. and navigating in hoops... I'm such a graceful creature [seriously I said that with a straight face--says the klutz from hell]

And I would wear a wig. We have one at our school with a big ship on it...the teacher even puts it on his students.

Oh the other costume I would love, with hair done and all, is a geisha...I've been thinking about doing it forever, but again...tres expensivo.

don't worry hellion, I'll bribe you up here one day. You can see the coffin for yourself :D