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.