I wrote a supernatural horror story

Last year, a couple of weeks before Halloween, I had this idea to write a short, supernatural horror story. At the time, I was deep in the first draft of the short story that became a novella that really wants to be a novel (which has since been titled “All We Ever Wanted Was Everything”), so switching tracks to work on something different was intended to be a quick detour that would give me something to release for Halloween. WELP. That short story ended up being about 14000 words, which I guess is called a Novelette. Novelette sounds less cool than both short story and novella, but I don’t make the rules, Dottie, I just break them.

My understanding of the publishing business leads me to believe this length falls into a weird place, so rather than try to find a home for it in the traditional publishing world, I’m just going to publish it myself, today. Seriously. There are links to buy it at the end of this post.

Dead Trees Give No Shelter is about Jay Turner, a broken and lonely man who has been adrift since his brother’s murder when they were children. Now, after twenty years away, Jay has come back to his hometown of Garron, Ohio, to uncover the truth about his brother’s death.

Here’s an excerpt:

12:21 a.m. October 16, 2014

Kenneth Blake strained his eyes, looking past his own reflection toward the room of witnesses on the other side of the one-way glass. He hoped that Jay Turner was in that room, hoped that Jay was there to hear him speak one last time.

Walter Davis looked at the phone on the wall. It had rung only once in the twenty-six years he’d been warden, and it would not ring tonight. Kenneth Blake was as guilty as any prisoner who had been strapped to that gurney, and no governor – reelection campaign or not – was going to pardon a child killer. He checked his watch against the digital clock on the wall above the phone. It was time.

“Mister Blake, it is my duty, under the laws of the great state of Ohio, to carry out your execution. It is it your right, under those same laws, to make a statement if you wish.”

Kenneth nodded his head at Warden Davis. He bore him no ill will. The warden was just doing his job, playing his part in the complex machinery of what passed for justice in twenty-first-century America. That Kenneth was, in truth, innocent of the murder of little Charlie Turner, twenty years earlier almost to the day, was of no account now.

He tried to coax some spit out of his mouth, failed, and licked his lips with a dry tongue.

“I just wanna say that I forgive you, warden. I forgive you and the judge, and the prosecutor, because you think you know the truth but you don’t. Mister Turner, if you’re out there, I want to say to you that I’m sorry I couldn’t save your little brother. I done my best, though, and I’m sorry I failed you.”

Warden Davis stood next to the gurney, hands clasped in front of his belt, stoic.

“Mister Blake, may G –”

“But you know I didn’t hurt that boy, because you was there and you saw it all. I know –”

“Mister Blake!” Davis snapped. He took no joy in this duty, but he would be dammed if he’d let this child killer taunt the victim’s surviving brother.

Kenneth continued to speak over him. “I know they made you think you saw something you know you didn’t see, but I know that you know what the truth is. And I know it’s callin’ you the way it called me, but you can’t go back there to them woods, Mister Turner. If you go back there it’s gonna get you, too, just like it got your brother. You gotta break the cycle.”

The Warden looked at the phone one final time, waited, then nodded to his men.

With mechanical efficiency, they moved as one: a button was pressed to recline the gurney, the needles in Blake’s left arm were checked one last time, a black sackcloth was draped over his head.

Kenneth, resigned to his fate from the moment he held Charlie Turner’s lifeless body two decades ago, nevertheless felt cold pangs of fear as the sack blocked out his vision and muffled the sounds around him. He heard the warden speak, and then sodium thiopental pushed him into unconsciousness, before pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride pushed the life out of his body.

When it was done and the other witnesses had left, Warden Davis met privately with Jay Turner. “I wanted to apologize for how Blake used his last words,” he said. “I can assure you that he did not know you were a witness.”

Jay nodded. “I appreciate that, Warden.”

“If you don’t mind my asking,” Davis said, “what was he talking about?”

Jay sighed. “I don’t know, sir. That’s not really a night that I like to think about, if I can help it.”

“Of course. I’m sorry for asking.”

“There’s no need to apologize. It isn’t the first time he’s said those things, but I’m kind of relieved it’s the last time I’ll hear them.”

Jay didn’t tell him about the nightmares. After all, they were just dreams; they weren’t real. For twenty years, he had reminded himself: they’re just dreams. They aren’t real.

I’m offering this story in both ePub and mobi formats, DRM-free, for $5. If I set everything up correctly, you should be able to download the format of your choice as fast as you can click your mouse.

Because it’s a FAQ: to put the mobi file on your Kindle, you can email it to your Kindle as a personal document, or connect your Kindle via USB to your computer and drag it like you would any other file to any other device. I’m not sure how ePub works for all devices, so you’ll have to check with the manufacturer of yours for specific instructions.

(Please note that I am a total noob with Woo Commerce, and I have no idea how to configure it so that it doesn’t ask you for an address and phone number. Feel free to put fake information into those fields, until I can solve that issue.)

86 thoughts on “I wrote a supernatural horror story”

  1. Nice, Wil – I am looking forward to reading it, once the issue with the checkout page is resolved!

  2. I normally read comedies, autobiography and sci fi. Rarely horror or similar styles. Today. Literally today I said I wanted to read American Psycho and said I wanted to get into more “supernatural” and scarier stories. Thanks Wil! I have $5 for you.

  4. Obviously, I will buy this story. But which format will work best on my Kindle?

  5. Hi Wil I bought it with PayPal for mobi. How do I load it to my kindle? Looking forward to reading it!

        1. Basically, ePub is for every kind of eReader except for Kindles, which use the mobi format. Because Amazon is weird and proprietary sometimes.

  7. Hi Wil,

    Congratulations on the birth of your newest creative “child”!

    Anything worth making is a challenge to complete, and I respect the hell out of you for finishing this story and putting it out into the world. Much respect.

  8. These days my reading time is pretty limited unless it’s an audiobook. If you happen to record it, that would be amazing. Totally understandable if you’re ready to move on, though.

  9. Awesome! Looking forward to reading it! Can you write a post on how to self-publish?

    1. I’m pretty sure there’s some self-publishing posts in the archives. Look around 2004, I think? But I’ll write a post about the experience with this release when I have some data next week.

  10. Hi Wil. Just picked up the ePub and looking forward to diving in. Do you think you will ever consider a run of physical copies? I love all of your work that I have consumed and would really enjoy having this in a physical copy as well.

  11. I’m confused you wonderful, prolific sonofagun. Is this ‘Ravenswood’ or is that ‘All they ever wanted was everything’? Is ‘ravenswood’ a third thing? Have I just confused myself terribly and am now making things up? Anyway… Thanks for writing! Planning on grabbing this whenever I get back to my PC.

  12. Ciao Wil.
    Ho letto l’estratto che hai pubblicato e mi è piaciuto molto. Purtroppo ho dovuto leggerlo nella traduzione di Google, perché non conosco l’inglese.
    Potresti pensare di farlo tradurre in italiano? Conosci qualcuno che potrebbe farlo? Te ne sarei molto grata.
    Resto in attesa di buone notizie 😄
    Saluti a Anne.

    Annalisa

  14. For any of the devices I highly recommend calibre. It’ll help you get it onto pretty much anything from one format to another. Handles conversions, etc. I’ve used it for years to convert between various formats or get it pushed onto devices without having to worry too much.
    http://www.calibre-ebook.com/

    1. Total agreement. Calibre is a great program and one of the first things I added to my computer after getting a Kindle. (There is some sort of weird issue with emailing to my kindle from calibre, but a direct connection works just fine so, eh, no biggie)

      Anyhow, Calibre is really easy to use, converts files in a snap and makes any e-reader instantly better and more useful.

      1. There’s some setup under the send books by email entry plus you have to authorize the address on Amazon’s site to allow it to send. Takes a bit of setup, but works perfectly when you fix it.

  16. I have ordered it and paid via paypal but no place for download, no email message… How do I get it?

  18. Bought it. Read it immediately in one seating. Liked it very much. Good flow, characters, setting, and pace (though the ending felt a bit rushed to me).

    It’s like a cross between your “The Monster in my Closet” and Stephen King’s “IT”.

    Thank you for publishing it. As always, I’m looking forward to more of your writing (and always keeping the hope alive that, someday, maybe, there’ll be a follow up to “Memories of the Future”).

    Also, I’m not sure if you’re interested, but I’ve noted down to myself a few typos I’ve noticed (MOBI version):

    Chapter 2: “If they could keep it together though high school” (i.e. “though” –> “through”)
    Chapter 9: Greg’s “taking care of you for two years” is replied to with “Wow, a whole year!”
    Chapter 10: “She was in aflannel nightgown” (i.e. “aflannel” –> “a flannel”)

    (also, not a typo, but there’s a very jarring transition in chapter 7 from Greg’s POV to Jay’s, without any visual indication, e.g. a paragraph break).

    Thanks again!

    1. RE: “the ending felt a bit rushed to me” I have noticed that about a lot of published mystery books [in quite popular series], but I tell myself, “well, a climax is a climax, what else would I have wanted to happen?” I guess it is sort of akin to what one is looking for being in the last place you looked — i.e., no more to the story of the search 🙂

    2. ARRRRRRRGH. (And now you know the sound an editor makes when he misses several errors he should have caught.)

  19. Purchasing this now. I’m not a big fan of horror, but the intro got my intrigued enough to give this a shot! Good job!

  20. In a different twist… maybe the audiobook should be read by John Scalzi, Ernest Cline, David Kushner and R.A. Salvatore

  21. I would love to see (and purchase) a paper copy. eBooks just aren’t sexy any more. You can’t sniff the pages. Somehow, smelling my grubby fingerprints on the screen of my device just isn’t the same. As a recommendation, Amazon has a wonderful print-on-demand service. I would gladly pay $10-15 for a paper copy.

      1. “Dear Mr. Wheaton,

        I would like to sniff your story. Please think about releasing it as a physical book.”

        That should probably sound kind of weird, but as a librarian and former bookseller, that sounds totally normal to me. (I also prefer physical books.)

  24. I just finished the audible version of the Collapsing Empire. I’d love a version of Dead Trees in audio format.

      1. Hi Wil. I got it figured out. There was an email with instructions to log into wilwheaton.net. Once I did that, the download link worked. Love your writing! Cheers!

  26. Hi Wil, I have the same problem as Jim Ebbitt. I’m not getting a download link, after payment.

    1. I think you get it in an email? Some people are reporting that the email ends up in their junk folder.

      1. I didn’t get an email, and there’s nothing in the junk mail. Do you know which mail servers are used to send these mails?

        1. Hi Peter, I don’t see your order in the system, so maybe it didn’t process? email me a copy of your receipt (wil at wil wheaton dot net) and I’ll see what I can do. Sorry for the troubles.

          1. I did get a receipt from Paypal, so it should have processed. I’ve sent you a mail with the receipt. Thanks.

  27. Thanks for putting this online Wil! I bought a copy (and as per my delivery instructions, the bits were indeed delivered to the side door). I’ll read it as soon as I can!

  28. Just downloaded it there and didn’t get a download link. But I’ve checked my junk mail and the email was there with the link in it. So anyone who’s not got an email maybe check your junk mail folder?

    BTW I’m a huge scaredy cat. Hopefully this isn’t TOO scary!!! 🙂 Looking forward to reading it though.

  29. Dammit, my wallet is all the way upstairs and I just finished a 5k Zombies, Run! run (the second training mission before the Spring Virtual Race), so my knees will complain – but tomorrow morning, it will be mine!

    Which gives me time to ask, what’s the best format for adding to a Google Play library/reading on Android? I think my tablet has a Kindle app, but I try to avoid proprietary formats as much as possible.

  31. Wil, would you consider being your own audiobook narrator if/when an audiobook version comes out?

  32. Made it through Ch3 so far – a few autobiographical things in there – cool!

    A quote from High Fidelity about organizing records comes to mind, but it’s too damned late for quoting Cusack and I’m too damned tired 😉 Business trip today. One of those “Get up while it’s dark and start traveling and by the time you get where you’re going it’s dark again. Days like today make me wish for teleporters.

    I’ll read it from the beginning tomorrow as my retention right now is probably nil.

    Anyway – Groovy! Glad you published it.

  33. I don’t even know if you’ll see this this late after the post, but I finally got it working this morning! I will be reading it tonight! Thanks for making awesome things and sharing it with us! 🙂

  34. Hello, been looking forward to reading this. Ordered it and used paypal to pay. Haven’t received my copy yet. Checked in the junk folder and didn’t find the email with the link.

    1. Hey Aubrey! Email me your order number (It should start with WC:) and I’ll look you up in the system. We’ll get you sorted out.

  35. Hey Will, I loved the excerpt and went ahead and purchased the ebook. I received a confirmation email with a download link – sounds easy, right? When I clicked the download button I got an error message directing me back to your book store. On my account it says the book was downloaded and the order completed, but I didn’t get to download it. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated. I can just let the $5 go, but I really want to read your story!

    1. Michael, please email me your invoice number (it starts with WC:) and I’ll look you up in the system.

  36. Stephanie, there’s an old story about Robert Frost at a poetry reading. A zealous student stands up and says:

    “Mr Frost, I love the end of ‘Stopping By the Woodside on a Snowy Evening” where you end the poem with the line… “Miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.” because the protagonist is acknowledging that the night’s journey will be a long one, but also, he has much yet to accomplish in his life.”

    Robert Frost smiles and says something to the effect of: “Actually I was just repeating the final words for emphasis — but I’m glad it meant so much to you.”

    As RF is gone, we’ll never know if his response was literal or if he was having some fun — and that’s OK, as mystery and imagination are an important part of art, and because ultimately, art is what it is to you. So much of life is rote. Hear this, regurgitate that, put tab A into slot B and twist. The internet has only magnified that, creating an echo chamber where we are repeatedly barraged with soundbytes designed to evoke an emotional response that supports a position. In contrast, art gives our minds a boundless space to explore that is limited only by our own capacity to enjoy it. All of which means that it’s likely more interesting art if we don’t know for sure 😉

    1. Stephanie, Haha, perhaps. I can definitely picture that. Though it could also be the Democrat student calling that Republican student a ‘monster’ because social conditioning has told her that is OK to do so, though mistakenly referring to a person by a pronoun that they do not favor is anathema.

      We have a problem in this country right now, and what makes it such a big problem is that it is not the one we think we have. We have reached the conclusion that politics is a team sport despite centuries of experience that this is a bad idea that ends poorly. Let’s turn it around while we can. Let’s start with words as they are most easily accessible. Reclaim the word ‘zealous’. It is a wonderful word. Also, reclaim the words ‘trigger’, ‘nationalism’, ‘federalism’, ‘diversity’, ‘faith’, ‘inclusiveness’, and ‘inclusion’, and so many others which have been co-opted and stained by small-minded people who have twisted them and tossed them at your generation like so many hand-grenades. I am an atheist, but have been both a Republican and Democrat in my life and I suspect that I’m neither at this point. These past few years have helped me realize what Kalil Gibran meant when he said: “Be not a victim of your times.” The left and right are both hurting our country at this time. The Right seeks to limit our right to act through altering laws, and the left seeks to limit our right to think through altering speech. Both are equally wrong and equally dire, and neither ‘side’ sees any fault in their own way and places all the fault on the other. Hate and mistrust predictably follow despite people having so much in common. We all want love and safety and happiness and health. Divisiveness has infected our speech, our media, our comedy, and our government, and as such, none of it helps us as intended. The only way out of this is to think larger and in so doing, stand above the broken rules of the game that the left and right are desperately hoping we’ll continue to play.

      Don’t let people take your words and don’t let people take your actions. Along with your ethics and your love, they are all that you will ever have and all that you can give your children to preserve our way of life in perpetuity which is, at present, more threatened by weaponized ideologies than anything else.

  37. All fiction can work on multiple levels, and if we do it right, we let the readers choose which level they want to experience, or how many levels they want to experience.

    I don’t know if I succeeded in this case.

    1. Stephanie, sorry to hear about your sister & the rough journey you’ve had since her death. As someone who has also lost a sibling, I wanted to give my perspective.

      In the story, Greg tells Jay something along the lines of “people deal with sadness in their own way” and I think you may have missed that point when you criticized Wil’s characterization of Jay. Please don’t be upset, this is just my opinion.

      You were 6 when your sister died, right? I was 12 when my brother died. I had 2 sisters, who were 8 and 4 at the time. Due the differences in our ages, we processed the event differently. Even as adults. I’m much more emotional about it than they are, as I was emotionally more mature at the time and had a clear understanding of what happened. In the story, Jay is 13 or 14, if I remember correctly, when Charlie dies, very close to the age I was when my brother died. I don’t think Jay “cried too much” and in fact, based on my understanding of the story, he hadn’t really processed the death completely until 20 years later and yes, he did cry at several points in the story at that time. It’s true that children are resilient, but it’s also important to recognize differences in emotional maturity/understanding. Large differences between 6 years old and 14 or so, as far as that goes.

      But, to me, the most important difference here is the circumstances of the death. Without revealing spoilers, since you’ve read the story, I can be vague here. But Charlie’s death was, to say the least, an event that can’t easily be translated into our world. Meaning, the reactions can’t really be compared 1:1, although naturally they do have parallels.

      My mother withdrew for months, and in some ways 33 years later still hasn’t emerged completely. A year after my brother’s death, she gave birth to my baby brother, who is now 32 years old. Even decades later my family has never really mended & it’s something I carry with me each day. And yes, I cried on what would have been my brother’s 30th birthday in 2014, as I thought of what might have been. I wonder, did I cry too much?

      Anyway, just wanted to give another perspective.

      1. Are you making an assumption that Wil didn’t do any research during his writing process? You’ve said that several times, in an effort to support your perspective, but if you’re making a statement like that without facts to support it, that would be unfortunate. I don’t know if he did or not, but I’d definitely ask him before making any sort of declaration about his work.

        Now, on to a point that I haven’t discussed but feel it’s extremely relevant in this story. Alcoholism. It’s well established throughout the story that Jay has an issue with alcohol, often binge drinking just so he can sleep. Sadly, if there’s one thing in this world I have experience with it would be alcoholism. My family is littered with people struggling (or have struggled, as several of my family members have died from alcohol abuse/drug abuse) with alcohol. Parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents, you name it. I have lived it.

        And I’m going to tell you something Wil captured very well in his story–the emotional aspect of alcohol abuse. You’ve made your thoughts on Jay’s emotions quite clear. But I can tell you this–folks in my family who abuse alcohol are wildly erratic emotionally. They range from violently angry to emotional, crying wrecks and this all depends on how much they’ve had to drink that day, factors in life at that moment that tips them one way or the other, etc.

        I won’t even get into the part depression plays in the story. I’ve struggled with depression for most of my adult life. I’ve watched family members around me self-medicate with alcohol or pills due to depression. Jay’s struggle in the story is very familiar to me for many reasons. Jay’s mental health compounded with alcohol abuse can easily cause wild mood swings, including “crying too much”.

        Throughout your response you make statements that are puzzling to me, particularly because of the way you use the word “never”. Jay would “never” do this, “never” do that, etc. Truly sad to me. It shows an inflexibility on your part & I hope that softens over time for you.

        Also, I’m going to make one more point here, which I made in my previous post. The circumstances around Charlie’s death cannot be ignored. We’re talking about a supernatural event, literally a monster. It’s fiction and the effect it had on Jay cannot be easily translated or labeled in the real world.

        It’s obvious to me that you have a lot of anger in your life. It comes through in virtually every word you write. It seems people have doubted you, disregarded you, disrespected you, throughout your life. I’m sorry for that and wish you the best.

  38. Hey Wil, just bought the story for my Kindle. Super easy process & can’t wait to start reading.

  39. Wow. I ordered this last night (no problems) and read it immediately. I thought it was really well done! If I wanted to option this for a screenplay, should I email you directly or should I send a query to your literary agent?

  40. “Maybe I’ll try for an A.”
    “Sorry, mister, I’m not that kind of girl.”

    +1 Internets for you sir.

    Great read, and thanks for putting this out. I upvote all the positive comments, and downvote all the others…

  41. I finally bought the story just now and read it in one sitting. Wow. Yeah, damn good. I sort of started to figure out what was going on, but you still pulled out enough twists that I didn’t see the end coming. Also, “In a crumpled cellophane voice, she said…”–I fucking love that phrasing!

  42. Thoroughly enjoyed the read. I was sitting in my car in a parking lot waiting for the rain to subside, and took a quick glance at the book on my phone to pass the time. Needless to say, I found the story so engaging that I had to finish it even after the storm subsided, right there behind my steering wheel. Great characters and it left me wanting more of the story. Any thoughts to expanding the story? Thank you again for the story, well worth the five dollars.

    1. I’m glad you enjoyed it! I don’t have any plans to expand it. It’s a short story on its own, and rather than mess with it any more, I’ve set it into the world, so I can get back to work on the novel.

  43. Just a quick note of praise and thanks for this bit of work. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found the reveal at the end very satisfying.

    Well done!

  44. I am getting an error message when I click on the email link. My order was 6672, last Monday. Can you help? Thanks.

  45. To clarify, I’m not even close to upset by anything you’ve said. I moved beyond that years ago….letting folks online upset me. More than anything, I feel sad for you. You remind me of my father. And that makes me sad. I truly wish you the best. An open mind is the best kind of mind.

  46. I see what you’re trying to say here, and I think you have a lot of potential to write good criticism, but I don’t think you’re expressing yourself well. For example, you said, ” It’s a very poetic kind of prose and I’d respectfully recommend you spend some time reading Oscar Wilde.” A better way to phrase that would be, “It’s a very poetic kind of prose. It reminded me somewhat of writers like Oscar Wilde. Have you read him?” It’s less presumptuous and patronizing that way. It also seems like your projecting your own personal experiences on both Wil’s story and his life. I don’t call bullshit on your story, but your story is your story. If other people’s stories don’t ring true to you, that’s not necessarily a failure of the author, because different people have different experiences.

    What you’re really saying here is “Your story didn’t work for me.” And probably also “Your story just wasn’t for me.” (See Austin Kleon’s post about not enjoying someone else’s writing: http://austinkleon.com/2016/10/18/it-wasnt-for-me/) And those are both fine reactions. You can say that without being presumptuous and patronizing.

    1. “Most successful writers are formally trained” — Um, yeah, that’s not even remotely true, Many, many writers never went to school and studied writing. I have a BA in English and took a lot of writing classes in college, and I’ve had at least as much bad advice from instructors as good, usable advice (including a published author who gave me a D in their class solely because I refused to conform to their writing style and wrote the kinds of stories I wanted to read). I think I’d have written more fiction in my life if I’d ignored what other people said about writing and wrote the way my gut told me to write.
      I’ll point now to successful author Chuck Wendig’s post about studying literature and writing: http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2017/03/10/should-a-writer-get-an-english-degree-yes-or-no/
      I can see that you mean well, and for all I know Wil’s read your comments and thought, “Oh yeah, good advice!” But I do think it’s important to point out that unsolicited advice is not always wanted or helpful and one doesn’t need good teachers to be a good writer.

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“The library is a safe place.”

In order to survive, I disassociated for much of my childhood, but I clearly remember the books. That's where I found comfort, companionship, inspiration and validation. It's where the imagination that powers everything I do creatively in my life today was born. And it all started in that library, with that librarian. She was one of the first people I can remember asking me, "What do you like? What's important to you? What do you want to know more about? How can I help you find it?"

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