There are a lot of events that make it seem like real life is stranger than fiction: John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Ted Bundy. Wow, those are good examples. And let’s not forget that some of the best fiction stories are based on true events: Jack Ketchum’s The Lost, based on the Manson family, and Ketchum’s The Girl Next door, based on the real story of a girl tortured by neighborhood kids in a basement. How can anyone argue that fiction is stranger?

I feel it’s up to the author. If a writer really digs, can’t he come up with something crazier than real life? Are our imaginations really that limited? Doesn’t reality bite, like the movie says? I say it does. Wouldn’t it take a writer on an ego trip to say fiction can be weirder? Probably, but I’m still not convinced.

In the next novel I’m planning to put out, there are inhumanly insane events that take place. And I’m not talking about a low body count. Still, wouldn’t what Hitler and the Nazis did outdo anything anyone can dream up? Of course…up to now.

It’s been said that if true life is stranger than fiction, than the writer has a limited imagination. I agree with this. I think we, as horror authors (I’m hoping that this blog is being read by writers of the macabre), should stretch our imaginations, make readers believe the mondo bizarre with dynamic writing, and outdo the truth.

Something to ponder.