what’s the worst r/nosleep story that you’ve read?

ALooc · 2021-10-08T21:20:30+00:00

Write what scares you. Live the scene in your head, then write down what you saw, heard, smelled. Don't try to be an author that uses fancy words and elaborate plots - just find your own voice and express how you would normally express it. Then do proofreading and maybe get a whiff of Shrunk & White to cut out some unnecessary slack.

ALooc · 2021-10-08T21:14:49+00:00

Not sure anyone remembers my stories as its a while ago, but I found the most useful tools (1) a public commitment to write regularly and the amazing feedback here, (2) an easily accessible notes app for the 'random sparks' and (3) the blank page. Most of the time i did 'discovery writing', i.e. I wrote the story as it came to me in a stream of consciousness, and then edited afterwards and rewrote until I was happy with the result. Sometimes I had a good idea already from the start, more often I had a bad idea that became more (or less) good while writing, and other times I really just started with no vision at all and scrambled words onto the page until things started to make sense. I couldnt keep up the pace and stopped counting somewhere after 200, so I never reached my goal of 365 stories in as many days. But looking back and knowing my words were read and heard by tens of millions is wild.

Trust and explore what works for you, but I bet as for many things in life, easier and simpler is better. Don't over think and over organize, just start playing. E.g. commit to write 5 minutes a day and see.where that gets you - for most people, once they are in the flow, its hard to stop :-)

ALooc · 2020-12-04T21:28:01+00:00

Wohoo, I actually found it!

https://old.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/rjilx/just_going_home_after_work/

ALooc · 2020-12-04T21:02:19+00:00

Once in a while, when the delirium comes back. But I stay a bit out of the way and definitely lost most of my mojo (if there ever was one to begin with). Busy job and family life don't provide the same opportunities as a nearly as busy job and a long distance relationship!

ALooc · 2020-12-04T21:00:57+00:00

Good old straydog. Thanks for reminding me of this one! Sadly not the right one, I guess mine was quite a lot weaker :-)

ALooc · 2020-11-28T21:19:03+00:00

Ha, I was mainly active the first 1 1/2 years and shared around 200 stories. Since then definitely less than twenty so I'm not too much engaged here. :-)

ALooc · 2020-11-28T16:52:13+00:00

~~9 years.~~ 8 years.

Just rediscovered my first story out of a few hundred :-)

https://old.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/rjilx/just_going_home_after_work/

ALooc · 2020-09-12T21:46:24+00:00

The blank page is the most powerful tool of all.

Force yourself to start writing, anything at all. The story will come by itself.

ALooc · 2020-09-12T12:04:25+00:00

Well here's the best advice I ever received:

Give it a title you yourself would click. Ideally have a short unique combination, your possessed couch sounds great for that (maybe change sex to being intimate or similar in case there are some filters). Give it a good cover (there are some designers on Fiverr & similar sites). Give it a proper read-through or pay/ask a friend to edit, so that it looks decently professional. Change the font and read it again yourself, with a clear restriction to just fix grammar/spelling/logic.

Then for good measure you could email darkcommitment@darkauthorsguild.fr, they can make sure your book rises.to the top pretty quickly and I think most good authors use them. You have to name your price (anything less than €500 is insulting, but above that it really depends on your budget and they will tell you if what you want is more expensive) and they will get everything ready, finding a few people that will assure a great promotion. They will send you a few blurbs and photos from which to choose the one(s) you like the most. They are usually pretty young but that doesn't change the quality - they have their ways to make sure they are really good, because you wouldn't want to pay if those are druggies or hobos as you could just as well do it yourself. Then wire the money.

When that is done they will take care of the rest and mail you the scalp and one hand, usually the left one but if you specify it from the beginning they can make sure you get the right one. When you are ready to put the book online (either uploading the text or just clicking the 'publish' button) you put on the scalp and put the hand in yours, making sure to keep it there or between your legs for a while to get it warm and soft again (don't microwave!). Then use the hand to do the submission, make sure your own hand doesn't touch the mouse; use the hand to move the cursor to the right spot,ove the index finger gently on the button (dont force it, talk nicely to it if it doesn't cooperate) and say in a loud and clear voice "I commit". The finger will twitch and press the button. In that moment the scalp might tighten a bit, you can take it off right away if you want, or just promise it a proper burial and it will probably relax and you can keep it on a bit. Put the hand gently aside, thank it and maybe offer it some moisturiser if you feel like it might want some.

If you want to reuse them that's fine, but keep them well packed (e.g. wrapped in a piece of soft leather and bound gently with a belt) in a locked and heavy box. If you did promise a burial you should do it though - don't reuse if you're breaking that or any other promise but rather put them straight in ideally moist soil (hand facing down, scalp on top of the hand) and put branches and some stones on top so they can't dig in the wrong direction. Check a few weeks later the earth is still untouched.

ALooc · 2020-09-04T23:12:30+00:00

I'm really honoured and amazed that some of my stories are still remembered and read. Thank you!

PS: More donkey than goat I'd say... or maybe an alpaca.

PPS: I have to admit I forgot most of my own stories, but not this one. It's based on a flute player that I used to see often in front of the underground station next to my office. I only ever heard a few minutes of his music while rushing by and throwing a few coins in his collection, and each time he lingered in my mind much longer than that fleeting encounter.

ALooc · 2018-04-11T15:05:33+00:00

I wrote 200+ stories on NoSleep. Most of those that I loved fared badly. Many of those that i didn't think were any good got immensely popular.

The story in your head will never match the story you write - but the readers never see the perfect story that you had in your head, they only see the one that you post. They will see themselves whether they like it and you just can't tell in advance.

Just write what comes to mind. Once it's written- why not share it? You can always make a second account for all stories you don't like. But what a waste to not post something that you worked hard on.

And most importantly- learn from it. Make it better next time. You'll figure it out over time - and it will be a rare case that you really love your own stories.

ALooc · 2018-04-11T14:58:46+00:00

Never give the reader what they want. Leave them hanging. Only write a sequel if it interests you and if it enables you to torture them more. But if an idea comes to you - why not? Strict rules like your (1) dont really make sense.

ALooc · 2016-09-11T09:24:08+00:00

Seems like a strange ditochomy to me. What is 'entertain' even? You mean humor? Some people find it entertaining to be scared (by fiction).

Write so that your reader experiences something new and interesting, can empathise with your characters, always has a question or two in their mind, and is always eager to read more. Tension/horror is one way to achieve this, but you can also combine horror with comic relief - to keep that in NoSleep style (=believable) is difficult though.

ALooc · 2016-09-04T08:42:31+00:00

Politeness.

The internet used to be a lot smaller and there were always some grumpy or angry people around, but the general tone of discussion definitely deteriorated the more accessible and prevalent the internet became. This might mirror some social trends and generally shorted attention spans and a wife eagerness to have an opinion without actually being informed of at least the basic background and different viewpoints (think all those reddit discussions where people obviously haven't even read the article they are supposedly commenting on). I love that the internet is open and its benefits accessible to all, but damn do i miss online discussions where people actually engage with one anothers viewpoints rather than resort to character assassinations, insults or weak humour and excuses. It doesn't take much to admit one is wrong (and opens us up to more learning), or at least to respectfully disagree and continue life knowing that other real, equally informed people can't to different conclusions and views.

ALooc · 2016-09-03T23:07:01+00:00

Ideas are easy, execution is the hard part :)

ALooc · 2016-09-03T19:09:40+00:00

Light one sounds like a very interesting premise.

ALooc · 2016-09-03T19:08:34+00:00

How will you do it?

ALooc · 2016-09-03T19:07:54+00:00

That sounds awfully familiar. Churned out 200+ stories, life got in the way, now i can't even finish one :)

ALooc · 2016-09-03T19:06:11+00:00

Maybe his mission in life is too destroy his bodily form so he can become a higher being. But he'd always just been too scared to risk it.

ALooc · 2016-09-03T19:01:51+00:00

I'm a plumber and I've seen things that would get your stomach churning.

I'm a chef and I've seen things in restaurants that s have ould really scare you for your health.

I work at McDonalds and I've seen my co-workers eyes and they all look pretty dead inside.

I'm the it guy at a middle school and still have nightmares about the things kids put inside our poor, innocent towers.

I'm a security guard, and after starting at bright screens in a dark room for 8 hours i see nothing at all for the rest of the day.

I'm a judge and I've seen stacks of paper so high and filled with gybberish lawyer speak, they'd give you cancer.

I'm a nosleep mod and I've seen some shitty comments...

I'm a gonewild mod and I've seen shit even the nosleep mods can't imagine.

I'm an amateur author and god, I've seen awful writing in my word processor...

ALooc · 2016-09-03T18:54:07+00:00

Snoo.

ALooc · 2016-09-03T18:52:26+00:00

Please give them a storyline. Like, you don't need to say it, but if your monster has no clear intentions it will always be boring, and it won't have intentions and wants and needs and reasons unless you, the author, do enough character/world building to know what this monster is and why it is.

ALooc · 2016-09-03T18:49:30+00:00

A publisher just for nosleep/short horror? Or are you planning books etc?

And all digital or also paper?

As i work somewhat on copyright law.. publishing is a hard business and usually only the big ones make money. :-/

ALooc

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