The NoSleep Podcast - S20: NoSleep Podcast Halloween Hangover 2023

Episode Date: November 5, 2023

After a busy Halloween season, we’re taking a week off with a Halloween Hangover minisode.“Murdered Darlings” written by Marcus Damanda (Story starts around 00:03:00)Produced & scored by: David CummingsCast: Narrator - David CummingsClick here to learn more about The NoSleep Podcast teamClick here to learn more about Marcus DamandaClick here to learn more about the new book by Marcus Damanda, “Murdered Darlings” Executive Producer & Host: David CummingsMusical score composed by: Brandon Boone“Halloween Hangover” illustration courtesy of Alexandra CruzAudio program ©2023 – Creative Reason Media Inc. – All Rights Reserved – No reproduction or use of this content is permitted without the express written consent of Creative Reason Media Inc. The copyrights for each story are held by the respective authors.

This place is a mess. It feels like we're knee-deep in candy wrappers. And there are guts splattered everywhere. Most of it is just pumpkin guts, but around here you're never quite sure. Hi folks, Cummings here. And I know you've joined us hoping to hear more delicious horror stories this week. But truth be told, the team and I are kind of burned out. Once Halloween wraps up, we're usually not in very good shape for a week or so.

And this year, in the four days leading up to, and including Halloween, we released over five hours of stories for you. More than two hours of stories for our wonderful free listeners, our sleepless sanctuary friends got almost two more hours of horror stories, and those beautiful people in the sanctuary tier got almost an hour and a half of delightfully dark tales from L.P. Hernandez in the October Premium bonus episode. Let's face it, that is a lot of horror for you.

And so we're going to take this week off, well, almost off, as it were, because we do have one short story to share with you. But our producers, our voice actors, our maestro, and your old decrepit host could all use a bit of downtime. We hope you'll understand. And rest assured, we'll be back next week with Season 20, Episode 6, ready to go. Now, you may have noticed that I didn't mention the writers in the list of people needing a break. Writers are a rather unique lot.

They do all their hard work well before episodes even come out. By the time they put down their quills and cap their ink wells, they can rest and let us do the heavy lifting to adapt the tales to audio. But that's not to imply a writer's life is an easy one. No, they face a lot of challenges, many of which you probably don't even know about. And so we're going to hear from one author as he explains a bit more about the writing and publishing process for you. I mentioned him on the Halloween episode, Friend of the Show, and longtime contributor Marcus Demanda. From his fan favorite summer series to his many stories on our Halloween and Christmas episodes,

he is well suited to speak to us about the writer's life. And with many published books under his belt, well, listen closely to his words. You may recall we told you about Marcus's new collection of stories. It's called murdered darlings. And if you're like me, you might have been curious about that title. Most people don't murder those they consider their darling. So we're going to share a story with you from Marcus. In it, he will explain what murdered darlings are

and why, as a writer, they can be the most painful deaths imaginable. And so, allow me to stand in for Mr. Demanda, as I share his reflections with you. And this story is not edited. And I think you'll soon understand why. Now pay heed and listen as we learn why writers hate to deal with murdered darlings. A quick peek behind the veil. In the publishing business, everyone knows what it means to kill your darlings. Writers dread to hear those words. Editors toss them around like grim parents about to impose tough love on misbehaving children. The murdered darlings in question can be most anything. In the least painful scenario, it'll be a flowery but superfluous phrase,

a clever bit of wording the author is proud of that serves no practical purpose. An example of this in the preceding sentence would be everything after flowery but superfluous phrase. No editor worth a dam would permit that redundancy to live. The document in edits will show a red strike line through the words. In the margin notes, the editor might even type the words, kill this. Editor see such frank language as simply ripping off the proverbial band-aid. To the writer, it's more akin to tearing out stitches.

And keep in mind, that's the least painful scenario. Sometimes the editor will call for an entire. scene to be cut. Never mind that the writer spent hours or days or weeks pouring his soul into that scene, making sure to infuse it with that wry humor readers have come to expect, the subtle world building that makes the story universe feel lived in, the cleverly embedded references to earlier works. No, if it doesn't obviously and faithfully advance the plainly to be seen story arc, it dies. Because you kill it. It's you, the writer.

Yes, because the editor told you to. She'll remind you that she does not actually have the final say, but you still do it, because you also know it's no choice at all. And they do have the final say, because they have the ear of the publisher, while a whole ocean of internet separates you from the conversation. You don't want to be perceived as one of those difficult writers, do you? I know I sure is fuck don't. I've been burned in that fire before.

I've learned my lesson. I do as I'm fucking told, and then I say, thank you. Sometimes the murdered darling is a beloved character. When that happens, you'll very often get the suggested edit as a particularly lengthy margin note, perhaps even as a separate, carefully worded email unto itself. When it's the latter, there'll be the telltale, passive-aggressive, of fragment sentence subject line like,

I know this won't be easy, but, or I've been thinking and, or much as I love this character, what it truly boils down to is power. Editors are hunters, they sniff out something they can excise, some darling they can murder without killing the host body. But to the writer,

it is still a very real death, and he feels like the killer, because in the end, that's what he is. Many of my characters are born out of simple plot necessity. Quite often, they grow close to my heart over time as I get to know them, though their first and last names were cobbled together on the fly, though their physical descriptions weren't written so much to define them as to distinguish them from others. They're not real in the way the characters of my heart are real,

yet these are characters who are safe. These are the characters who are story, and they trapes across the story landscape unafraid. But the characters of my heart, the ones I write from having known them, played with them, gotten drunk with them, or loved in truth, in life, are in mortal danger from the moment they set their first tentative toe onto the page.

My readers never met my present. private investigator, Barnabas Drake, yet I knew him like a brother. They never went dancing with Tracy Danning, though she was the first love of my life. They never heard from Henry Morton, who protected me overnight and gave me some sound life advice when I was in the tank for drunk and disorderly back in the day. And why? Because my editor ordered them dead. I wonder if she ever suspected they were real. Did she realize that every time she put a hit out on one of my characters, I had to either get in the fucking car in the middle of the night or, worst case scenario, hop on a fucking plane? Did she understand how much work it took to track down some of these people after so many years?

I've been telling myself I should stand up for myself one of these times, and if not for myself, perhaps for them. One day I should stop being so fucking ready and willing to cut out pieces of my own heart to satisfy this one person. Either she has no idea what this is costing me over time, or she doesn't care. Or if I'm to allow myself to succumb utterly to paranoid delusion, she knows quite well and enjoys her power over me all the more because of it. I don't know.

and I suppose I never will. I'm about to lose my train of thought anyway. She's making noise again. I curse myself for a fool because I told myself I should finish this before she wakes up. I do not consider myself to be a cruel person. They're almost never awake when I kill them. And I have to admit, it's not so hard to edit them out once they're dead.

After that, I don't like to think. about them at all. But I'll feel guilty about this one for weeks. I know I will. I'm not sure why. I mean, it's not like I grew up with this person, this editor of mine, this Florence White of Madrigal publishing. I've been telling myself for weeks it's high time I got a new editor, yet I never asked for one. I don't want to be one of those high maintenance people. I don't want to, well, make a scene. Nope. Best to just take care of my own problems, resolve my own personal bullshit, and not make it someone else's. Instead, I asked for an in-person meeting, a dinner to celebrate our ten-year working relationship. And holy mother of God, that shit actually worked.

Now, here I am, fresh off the plane and driving her car. Who'd have thought it possible? I can hear her gag-muffled voice through the back seat from the trunk. She kicks against it. Ooh, she's a lively one. Never would have guessed, but then I'd never met her in person until tonight. I parked the car, step outside, twirl her keys around my finger, test the weight of her own tire iron in my other hand.

Coming, Florence, I say, coming around to the back. I know this won't be easy, but are you ready for the final cut? The trunk. Thank you for sharing that insight with us, Marcus. And to Jessica and our editorial team, might I suggest we tread very lightly indeed when Marcus submits his next story? Don't want any of us to be seen as a darling murderer. So, dear listeners, we'll be back next week.

Until then, enjoy your hallow. hangover and do your best to remain fully braced. The No Sleep Podcast is presented by Creative Reason Media. The musical score was composed by Brandon Boone. Our production team is Phil Mikulski, Jeff Clement, and Jesse Cornett. Our editor-in-chief is Jessica McAvoy. To discover how you can get even more sleepless horror stories from us, visit sleepless.

The nosleeppodcast.com to learn about the sleepless sanctuary. Add free extended episodes each week and lots of bonus content for the dark hours. All for only one low monthly price. On behalf of everyone at the No Sleep Podcast, we thank you for joining us around the campfire

for our 20th season. This audio program is copyright 2023 and 24 by Creative Reason Media, Inc. All rights reserved. The copyrights for each story are held by the respective authors. No duplication or reproduction of this audio program is permitted without the written consent of Creative Reason Media, Inc.