‘The cold crept down my spine as if it were a snake on its way to attack. It caused a violent shiver to erupt through my bones, rippling into my mind and tearing at what little sanity I had left. When I thought I wouldn’t return to reality, the piercing screech of something unnatural cut through the fog, forcing my eyes wide with the realization of the truth.
The world around me was in chaos. It had not happened quickly. At first, when I started to wonder if the protection shields around our city were failing, I had laughed. It seemed embarrassing now, laughing instead of truly considering that the impossible might be possible. It was the wind, howling through the cracks in our protection, that made my heart begin to race.
As the blue plasma shield started to quiver and fade, I felt the cold embrace of the hurricane wrap around me with an unwelcoming shiver. Before I could even react, the walls around me began to shake, the windows rattled, and someone screamed behind me. After that, my mind could no longer comprehend the madness that followed. Not until I awoke on the beach, hands dipped in mud, raindrops on my face, and a beast hunting me from the shadows.’
Slight spoilers head for my book Souille
It started as a dream… no, seriously, it did. Souille, just like most of my stories, was born from a dream. I have a lot of dreams about Cameron, Louisiana, my hometown that was taken by Hurricane Rita, and many of my dreams are twisted with storms and loss. Even now, twenty years later, my dreams are still centered around my old hometown and storms. So, like many of my dreams, the one Souille was inspired by started in Cameron and drowned in rain.
I won’t write out the whole dream, but just as the start of my book begins, that is how the dream started: waking in my hometown after a hurricane had ruined it. Flooded streets, destroyed buildings, ships flipped onto the beach, and bodies rotting in the streets. But in this dream, monsters lurked in the shadows, ones with no eyes, yet they always seemed to be right on my trail. The dream was filled with an intense dread that never left my bones. I was always trying to find a way out, but no matter where I turned, I found more chaos and ruin.
When I woke from the dream, I felt very inspired and started working. Sometimes I’m able to write and just keep going until something amazing happens. I was able to write Souille very quickly, while some of my other books took much longer. This novel was different, and I also decided to write it differently. I chose to keep the chapters short and straight to the point, very different from the longer chapters in my older books. Personally, I really like how the chapters turned out. The shorter chapters feel more intense and easier to follow.
I have always loved movies and books where characters just wake up into chaos, such as The Walking Dead and 28 Days Later. I don’t need a long, drawn-out prologue explaining why things are the way they are. I love being thrown straight into the madness of the story and slowly learning how the world became what it is, or sometimes I don’t even care how it happened. Sometimes we need a bit of mystery and wonder. I like having my own ideas about why something is the way it is, having to think beyond the story after it ends.
I kept that idea for Souille. I wanted readers to be brought straight into a storm of mystery and horror, slowly finding clues and figuring out the cause of everything. However, I do keep some things in the shadows. Throughout the book, we discover that our main character worked for a company that created a shield for the coastal town to protect it from hurricanes. However, it failed, and though she doesn’t understand why, things slowly begin to click in her mind. I don’t give too much away because I want to keep the reader wondering and coming up with their own answers.
Writing this book was pretty easy. I was lucky to be in a good mindset while working on it, and each page came quickly. I wanted to make sure my character was strong but also realistic. She has fears, and her thoughts are honest. When she finds Jack, her fears grow, along with her doubts about what is right and wrong. She is scared and just wants to escape the hell around her, yet she now has someone who needs her protection. Her heart is torn between what she should do, what is right, and what is wrong.
Throughout the book, I wanted to write Nat as realistically as possible, especially her thoughts. She admits that she wants to abandon Jack because she just wants to survive, but she also realizes she couldn’t live with that choice. Is it guilt that makes her stay, or is it realizing that helping Jack is the right thing to do? That is up to the readers to decide.
The monsters were fun to write. I wanted them to seem as if they weren’t much of a threat at first, but as you get to know them, you realize these blind beasts are more of a nightmare than the storm around Nat. She quickly figures out how they work, that staying quiet is how to escape them. And yet, somehow, she is thrown into a battle with their Queen. Unlike the smaller beasts, she is a giant of a devil, and unlike her children, she can see. I wanted to surprise readers with just how much scarier the monsters could become, with their mother not only able to see, but also able to perfectly mock humans.
She is also smart, tricking Nat into the school to seek revenge for her dead children. I love the idea of a character searching through a creepy, dark school. Something about schools makes my skin crawl. They’re fine, until they’re empty. Add ruin to dark hallways, and you have fuel for a horror novel.
The ending was a bit harder to write. I wasn’t sure which direction I wanted to go, does the Queen win? Does Nat leave the town? But I figured it out quickly, and I really love how it ends. It closes on a note that may suggest there is more to come. I am proud of this novel. Is it perfect? No. But it’s short, fun, and I love it. I just hope others enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
What is to come? I’m not sure. I know some people have asked for a second novel, but I haven’t decided yet. I have some ideas, but I haven’t written anything down. I’ve been trying to focus on other things. But maybe… I’ll get back to it soon.
Thank you for reading!
Find my book here!
“Souille is a riveting novella that artfully blends elements of horror and science fiction to craft a high-stakes adventure that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. When Natalie’s life is thrown into chaos after a terrible hurricane leaves her hometown in ruins, she’s thrust into a deadly face-off against strange and malicious entities in her desperate struggle for survival.”
Coushatta LaRue 
Leave a comment