Book Classification Essay, Research Paper

When I was a very small child, I fell in love with books of all types. I could

lose myself for hours in Alice and Wonderland, Black Beauty, and Tom Sawyer. As

I grew older, I started reading books that portrayed actual people. I became

interested in books on the Holocaust and read many titles, including the Diary

of Anne Frank. These real-world stories and my large imagination started me on a

path of story writing. I have written everything from poetry to complete plays.

Although I have explored a large range of styles in my writings, I generally

focus most of my efforts on three styles: horror, mystery, and science fiction.

I have found these subjects allow me to use history, technology, and my

imagination to build new worlds where anything can happen. Whenever I write

horror stories, I try very hard to make them seem believable. I want the readers

to be afraid to put thier feet on the floor for fear something will grab them

from under the bed. I do not write about three eyed monsters or Loch Ness

Monsters because they do not seem real. I write about the people you meet every

day, like the school teacher with bodies in his backyard or the family member

with a secret. It’s not hard for me to turn the guy next door into a serial

killer in one of my stories. When I write mysteries, I have to come up with a

scenario, method, and motive. Mystery stories can take more than a little

research. I have to build characters that have skeletons in their closets and

the personalities that allow them to be pushed far enough that they would commit

a murder. I have to know how to explain the method used to kill the victim. The

victim has to have a past that relates to all the suspects in one way or

another; I have to build his/her character as well. The criminal investigator in

this type of story has to be able to sort out a world of clues and have a sharp

mind for details. In creating a science fiction story, I can freely explore my

imagination. I usually write about the lives and events of futuristic people. I

am able to travel to different planets without ever leaving my keyboard. I can

create new races of living beings with new customs, laws, and lifestyles. In a

sci-fi world, I am able to travel through time, read minds, and bring inanimate

objects to life. There are no limits to the possibilities. I am able to take the

reader with me to places of which they may never have dreamed. I can cause the

reader to believe that all they read not only could happen, but does. In my

writings, I am able to say things that I am afraid to say with the spoken word.

I have an outlet from which I can express the deepest, and sometimes darkest,

areas of my imagination. Many readers of my stories find it hard to believe that

I could write such foreboding material, because I seem to be a very quiet,

passive person. People who know me do not realize that, when I write, my meek

personality is the fuel to my fire. When I am quiescent and subdued, I just may

be visualizing one of them as a character in my next story.