User blog:Helel ben Shahaar/Writer's Lounge Part 15: An Interview with HopelessNightOwl

Well, this is something new. First time I'm interviewing a fellow admin, the one and only HopelessNightOwl, the latest adition to Agents Orange, and a pretty darn fine author, whose works include jools such as Lost Episodes Can Be Found Again, Letter to the Editor, June 2004, and moar. Without any further ado, let's get right into it:

Helel ben Shahaar: To start off, Mr. Owl, would you be as kind as to say us something on the topic of ye?

HopelessNightOwl: Well, I guess my username already says a lot. I’m a hopeless night owl. Ever since infancy I’ve had trouble falling asleep at a normal time, especially now since some of my most productive hours are late at night.

I also have a great fondness for owls. I have a BS in criminology and criminal justice and have always had a strong interest in law and civics. My other interests include creative writing, ecology, and history.

Hel: How did you come to discover Creepypasta, and by extension, this den of eldritch horrors?

Owl: Some time during 2010 or 2011, when I was in high school, I had a fascination with anything to do with the strange and creepy side of mass media, such as urban legends, allegations of subliminal messaging in Disney films, etc.

This eventually caused me to stumble upon Squidward's Suicide. The name “creepypasta” was instantly intriguing to me. I don’t recall if I checked out any other creepypastas at the time, but I got the gist of what they were at the time pretty quickly: simulated urban legends. Beyond that I didn’t know anything else, such as whether creepypasta was open source or just something done by a handful of professional bloggers.

Anyway, I made a mental note to look more into this “creepypasta” thing later, which eventually I did toward the end of 2012.

I discovered the channel Some Ordinary Gamers in early 2013. He narrated video game creepypastas.

SOG had a wiki for posting original creepypastas, and I posted some there, becoming an admin in a few months. I left in early 2014.

Then in 2017 I found myself really wanting to get back into pasta writing, so I joined this wiki and now here we are.

Hel: Interesting. And what prompted you to start writing?

Owl: Well, I've always had an urge toward creative writing, but didn't have much time for it during school.

Most of the stories I posted on SOG were mediocre at best and cliche fests at worst, although two of them, Album and Scurrying in the Dark, I polished up a bit and posted to CPW.

In 2017, when I finally had more time on my hands after the end of college, I decided to try my hand at NoSleep and wrote The Invitation. I soon realized NoSleep's writing formula was too restrictive for my tastes, so I migrated my story from there to this wiki and started writing stories here.

Hel: Cool stuff. And who would you cite as your inspirations?

Owl: We'll, I've never been very into the horror genre outside of creepypasta.

That said, I was a fan of The Twilight Zone as a teenager. I also think Ray Bradbury is a good writer, and although he's not exactly considered horror, his sci-fi stories have a lot of horror elements.

As far as inspiration from within creepypasta itself, I've taken inspiration from Slimebeast for some of my stories. Also, SCP has been somewhat of an influence on my creepypasta writing.

Hel: I see. What happen to be your stances on supernatural/paranormal?

Owl: Well, due to my religious upbringing and convictions, my explanation for most truly paranormal events in this world would be angels and demons. As a former EO, I'm sure you understand.

I won't play with a ouja board or try to do any kind of summoning rituals. You don't even have to be religious to know that's not a good idea.

As far as other preternatural events and creatures go, such as cryptids and space aliens: I can have an open mind about such things, but I've yet to be close to convinced of any of them. There's that small child part of me that half-wishes they could be real, but the evidence doesn't make it likely.

That said, I did once witness a friend perform what credibly appeared to be a minor act of telekinesis, opening a door remotely. He claimed to have minor mind-over-matter powers. I just kind of let it ride and didn't pry too deeply.

Hel: I'd keep an eye out for your friend. He may just be SPN.

But do tell: do you fear the supernatural? Even if they aren't real, which one of the nightbumpers frightens you the most? Or maybe not the nightbumpers at all: maybe something very natural.

Owl: When I was a kid, I had an obsessive fear of moths and dogs.

These days my fears are mostly the adult existential kind, such as fear of personal failure or of injuring someone and being held liable.

Hel: I can relate to all. Except for moths.

Which stories on the wiki would you single out as your faves?

Owl: I don't have a single favorite, but among those that stand out to me the most are Better Films (which won PotM recently after my nomination), Happy Sun Daycare, Laser Tag, and Lizzie and Friends. From the classics my favorite is Mr. Widemouth.

Hel: And maybe your least faves?

Owl: I have a strong disdain for Normal Porn for Normal People. That story is polished garbage. People give stories like Jeff the Killer shit for being needlessly edgy, but NPNP really gets under my skin in that regard. JTK was written by some angsty underage kid and is hilariously genuine in its approach. NPNP is a boring story where nothing really happens and I find it baffling that so many people still consider it good for its time.

I also really don’t like the Holders, or any ritual pastas that were written during the height of Holders popularity since they tend to be just Holders except “not.”

Also, stories migrated from NoSleep I usually don't care for.

Hel: Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?

Owl: Ex eo omnes.

Hel: Do you have any advice for the aspiring authors?

Owl: Read more than you write. Make your influences as broad as possible, and if you want to write horror or creepypasta specifically, don't just read horror and creepypasta. Horror is a genre that works well being remixed with other influences.

Hel: ''Tibi gratias ago pro tempi. Die dulci freure.''

Owl: Denada.