A Writer's Tale

Too creepy for juvenile editors, in fact. My agent, Jay Garon, couldn’t sell it. Then I noticed a mention (I believe in Publishers: Weekly) that Dell was starting the Twilight series scary books for young adults. So I told Garon about it. He submitted my book to them, and they bought it in 1982.

There were problems, though. (Aren’t there always?)

Here are bits from a letter sent to me by the editor:

We must remove or replace any religious references, i.e. the Devil, the monk’s robes and the crosses. Of these, the cross seems to pose the hardest problem.

Manuscript must be shortened to fit specs.

Burt and Sammi come across as the same age. Burt must be made “older.”

The characters are a little flat. Work on atmospheric logistics. Heighten the visual perception of their situations and descriptive reactions; i.e., instead of “I don’t want to think about it,” said Sammi. -try- “I don’t want to think about it,” said Sammi, backing into the corner of the room and sinking into the old battered armchair, -or- “This place gives me the creeps!” she said, as the wet grass lapped against her legs sending chilling drops down into her shoes.

…  (and so on)

Don’t let any of that throw you. We like the book very much. We like it so much that we are putting it in the front position in our scheduling.

There were actually two full pages of comments, criticisms and suggestions. Some made sense, but many didn’t. I wrote a three page response, then knuckled down and wrote a major revision of Nightmare Lake.

At some point in all this (possibly when I first wrote the novel, or maybe in response to the criticisms), I wrote an “alternate ending.” In the alternate, the whole story turns out to be nightmare the boy had while taking a nap on the island.

I made it clear that editors could feel free to use the alternate ending as a way to mollify people who might find the book too scary or violent. With the dream ending, we give the illusion that none of the bad stuff actually happened; there’re no such things as vampires; nobody got killed; everything’s fine and dandy, kids it was just a bad old nightmare.

I feel that I redeemed the cop-out factor in my own eyes by throwing a curve (a trite curve, but the best I could do under the circumstances). When the kid wakes up from his nightmare, along comes his dog with a strange stick in its mouth…So is the bad stuff about to start for real?

I am especially fond of Nightmare Lake because it is based so closely on my experiences as a kid when my family went on vacations to Wisconsin. It’s sort of a Nick Adams story as done by Richard Laymon.

Unfortunately, an editor messed with my language. This is my only published book in which significant parts of the writing don’t reflect my own style.

I was paid an advance of $5,500 for Nightmare Lake. The book was published as Twilight #11 in 1983 and sold (so far as the royalty statements indicate) a total of 53,505 copies.

It has never been reprinted anywhere and is very hard for readers to find.

As a result of doing this piece on Nightmare Lake, I’ve taken steps to get the rights reverted to me. Maybe “my version” of the book will be published one of these days.

ALLHALLOWS EVE

Though Allhallow’s Eve was first published in 1985, after both Night Show and Beware!, I actually wrote it before either of those novels. I wrote Allhallow’s Eve in 1980 after finishing Out Are the Lights and Nightmare Lake.

As of 1980, I’d been working for several years as a library clerk, then as the librarian (or media specialist) at John Adams Junior High School in Santa Monica.

And it shows.

I have just reread Allhallow’s Eve, and found myself amazed by the details of school life that fill the book. Back in those days, it was all fresh in my mind I was living it daily. I knew first-hand about hall passes, the dangers of the school restrooms, the petty tyranny of the “popular” kids like Aleshia. I saw the viciousness of the bullies like Nate and the vice principal, Mr. Doons. I knew their victims, who spent their school days in terror of being hurt and/or humiliated. And I knew great, caring teachers like Miss Bennett.

Reading the book after so many years, I was surprised to run into Mr. Carlson, who was obviously based on myself. When I ran the library, it was a sanctuary for kids like Eric who were being chased by kids like Nate. I remember them bursting through the library doors during the lunch period. And I remember throwing the bullies out, sometimes with a bit more roughness than was necessary or legal.

Quite possibly, the best thing about Allhallow’s Eve is its accurate portrayal of secondary school the institution and the variety of kids, teachers and administrators who inhabit it.