It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns

How's it going my gumdrops? Is it just me, or does that gif look creepy? Staring at the illustration of those hands typing and the texture of the hands somewhat makes my skin crawl. It appears that I managed to creep myself out.

Since I write Psychological Horror, Crime, and Psychological Thriller Short Stories, it would only be fitting to have a creepy-looking gif to help set the tone for this blog.

Recently, I realized that I never published a character list for any of my short stories. You already know, that I self-built my Horror/Thriller page with excerpts of my short stories. That's along with publishing blogs explaining about some of them. However, I have NEVER published a character list on It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns. At least, not to my recollection.

Before publishing today's blog, listing the characters for my Flash Fiction piece, "Across The Street" was impossible. How? How could I?

Feeling stumped, how could I POSSIBLY create a character list for this particular story, that I originally wrote in 2005?

When I originally wrote the story, it was titled "Dolls" and mostly in homage to Octavio Paz's "The Blue Bouquet." It was really surprising that my Creative Writing Professor at the time enjoyed my horrifying version of the late author's Flash Fiction piece.

In "Across The Street," the characters are nameless. A young, female author is the narrator. After taking a break from writing on a dark and stormy night, she goes to bed and begins to have what are called, "false awakenings."

False awakenings are dreams within a dream. In this particular situation, the narrator's dreams are nightmares within a nightmare.

Hearing a monstrous thunderclap and a domestic disturbance from across the street break her nightmare. Being an interloper, the narrator walks across the street to her neighbors' house only to discover a domestic murder.

The husband's mutilated corpse is found propped on the floor by the narrator, inside the garage, after he attempted to rape his deranged wife. The narrator is soon held hostage by the widow.

Aside from "Across The Street," the characters in my other short stories can be viewed as darker as well as more depraved and sadistic than in the preceding piece.

Some feedback was given about the characters in "Maliciousness," "The Bill Collector," and "Psycho Vs. Psycho," over the last year or 2.

I've always considered those 3 short stories to be a "short story trilogy." According to a writing coach, "Maliciousness," "The Bill Collector," and "Psycho Vs. Psycho" would be considered a so-called "novel-in-short story."

So, why is that?

Well, all 3 short stories read like a fast pace novel and have the same recurring characters.

Anyway, here are the lists of all the characters found in "Maliciousness," "The Bill Collector," and "Psycho Vs. Psycho."

Part 1: "Maliciousness" Character List

Terry- 1st person narrator/bully explaining about his 1-sided friendship with Alice

Alice- Victim with a past vendetta against Terry, Tiffany, Carrie, Drew, and Michael

Tiffany- Terry's ex-girlfriend, who he cheated on with Carrie

Carrie- Terry's former friend/one night stand

Drew- Terry's former friend and Carrie's ex-boyfriend, who she cheated on with Terry 

Michael- Terry's former high school jock best friend and Alice's scumbag crush/prom date

Part 2: "The Bill Collector" Character List

Alice- 21-year-old petite, chunky blonde protagonist, and a Capricorn

Damon- Alice's recently unemployed live-in boyfriend, who could pass as LL Cool J's young doppelganger and spoils her with expensive birthday gifts

Alexis- Alice's feisty, Rottweiler/Doberman Pinscher that Damon bought her as a birthday gift

Greg- Somewhat resembles actor/voice actor Seth Green and is Americana's clerk and Alice's love-struck stalker with jaw dropping secrets

Gwendalyn- Americana's clerk and Greg's co-worker, who helps Alice and Damon with Alice's 21st birthday gift

Part 3: "Psycho Vs. Psycho" Character List

Alice- 21-year-old protagonist being objectified and stalked by 3 scumbags

Damon- Alice's unemployed, live-in boyfriend, who rushes to her rescue with Alexis

Alexis- Alice's feisty, Rottweiler/Doberman Pinscher that Damon bought her as a birthday gift

Greg- Americana's clerk, Gwendalyn's co-worker, and Alice's love-struck stalker going under the guise of "Larry" with jaw dropping secrets

Michael- Terry's former jock best friend and Alice's antagonistic, deranged, scumbag crush/prom date from the past with a 3-year-old high school vendetta

Tony Sausalito- Sleazy, opportunistic, Spanish American, security guard at the gas station, who is titillated by Alice

The preceding character lists are only lists for 3 of my 6 short stories. Have any thoughts regarding these 3 character lists? If so, let me know what you think!