Long Dark Winter is now in its second week on Kickstarter and is just over 30% of the funding goal. You can click here to back today and claim any of the awesome and horrifying awards!
Long Dark Winter was a newer direction for me. FALLEN was plenty dark and gritty but it was still a noir/mystery and ALICE was a brighter cyberpunk, but LDW is a full blown horror that doesn’t hold back. I gained a lot of inspiration from all kinds of media to help me really channel the vibe I was looking for.
If you’d listened to any of the podcasts I’ve been interviewed by, you’ve probably heard me mention I’m a huge Stephen King fan. I love his method of story telling and the New England horror setting. While not all of his works are hits, there are many I really enjoy and have read multiple times. Some of his work that adapted to the screen are great. Shows like Castle Rock and The Outsider are creepy because they build up these quaint picturesque towns but underneath that thin veneer, everything is not alright. Another notable mention for horror literature is Adam Nevill’s The Ritual. The book was adapted as a Netflix movie but the book is just as terrifying. I channeled some of the book in the sense that there are somethings that are very old and have been here for a very long time.
To develop the Appalachian atmosphere of the book, I re-watched some of the Wrong Turn movies. LDW will be different from Wrong Turn in many ways but it was good to get some inspiration for the tension of the wilderness. I also listened to the podcast Old Gods of Appalachia. Old Gods is also just a great podcast to listen to with an eerie narrative style and well written horror stories.
I usually mention that people that like True Detective, especially the latest season, will like LDW but it actually wasn’t an inspiration. I had started writing LDW before True Detective: Night Country hadn’t even been announced yet. I was a huge fan of this season too. During episode #1 I was a little concerned that LDW may be TOO similar to it, but as True Detective does, they tease a supernatural connection but never lean into it all of the way.
If you’re a fan of anything of these things, please check out Long Dark Winter on Kickstarter!