Genesis of a "Monster"

The Candle Across the Bridge will, at some point in 2026, become my first published book – a gentle story about enduring love.

You’ll also find another piece on this site. A short story titled “The Monster.”

It is… decidedly different.

 “The Monster” began as my entry in the 2026 Vampires and Werewolves Writing Challenge at Forest & Fawn. The premise was simple: write a story of 2,000 words or fewer featuring vampires, werewolves, or both – and incorporate three required prompts – all within ten days.

When the challenge began, the prompts arrived:

• a family recipe

• a cursed object

• a character who signs a contract

Ten days. Two thousand words. Go.

Werewolves were tempting, but they’ve always felt… finite to me. When they transform, they’re all brute force and loss of control. Frightening, yes – but familiar. I couldn’t find an angle that felt new within five pages and a deadline.

Vampires, on the other hand, have been everywhere. Comedy. Romance. Superheroes. They’ve been bent into so many shapes it’s almost hard to see them as frightening anymore.

So I decided to try.

Not just frightening. Uncomfortable.

The first-person narration was a deliberate choice. I don’t often write that way, which made it part of the challenge. Letting the narrator be the monster unlocked the tone – conversational, almost casual – and allowed the tension to build from the inside out. Bad decisions, after all, are often made very calmly.

Originally, I considered setting the story in the past, when orphanages were common – giving our unnamed friend a darker, more traditional backstory and, ultimately, a literal buffet for the finale. But modern times felt more efficient. More plausible. And, I hoped, more unsettling.

The prompts found their places. The cursed object became something of a MacGuffin, brushed aside as though our narrator had simply been yanked into another horror film on the way to his own. The signed contract provided motivation — significant to him, meaningless to anyone else. And the family recipe (inspired by an episode of The Newsroom) became a sensory thread. Recipes, after all, don’t have to be appetizing to be memorable.

Out of that structure came “The Monster.”

The judges offered positive and thoughtful feedback, though the story didn’t advance past the first round. Reading the pieces that ultimately placed, it was clear they leaned toward a different tonal approach – which is perfectly fair.

Because of how this story came to be – an experiment, a creative sprint, a stretch into unfamiliar territory – I decided to make it available here for free. It flexed different muscles than The Candle Across the Bridge, and I like that they sit side-by-side. The two pieces speak to very different tools in the same toolbox. And it won’t be the last time I wander into darker territory.

I hope you enjoy it.