The oldest fear plaguing mankind is the fear of the unknown.
Harnessing this age-old terror is a tactic commonly used in the horror genre. Writers maintain mystery around the villainous monster for as long as possible.
It’s a powerful technique because the reader’s mind fills in the blanks with a monster far more horrifying (and personal) than anything the writer can offer.
I learned this writing strategy and many others at a workshop this last Saturday by Leo Walsh, called Writing Dread: The Timing of Terror.
Stirred with fascination, and perhaps too many cups of coffee, I talked both ears off my boyfriend about all I had learned.
“It’s called poetic irony when the writer allows the audience to know something the character doesn’t,” I said excitedly. “Like when the house is haunted, but the characters don’t know.”
“Oh, like in Scary Movie 2!” he said.
It was now Sunday, and we were on our way to an opening-weekend game of the Knight Monsters, fittingly on theme.
With terror and dread on my mind, I realized that for a hockey fan, nothing’s more dreadful than overtime.
The unknown outcome is a dark void alight with the flame of a fan’s hopeful wish, which sudden death can instantly douse.
Fans can do nothing to control the outcome. Victims to the nail-biting anticipation, they lock onto every puck pass during OT, even those of us with short attention spans.
We felt that familiar anticipatory dread at the Sunday afternoon game against the New Mexico Goatheads.
The first period was a nil draw, with both teams scoring nothing but penalties. One of those came just minutes from the start for a fight. Gloves hit the ice, and our defenseman Tucker Ness brawled with one of New Mexico’s forwards.
The referee served five-minute penalties. Worth it. We won the fight.
Around the 12th minute of period two, a Goathead sank a puck in the Knight Monster’s net. We didn’t respond with our own goal until the eighth minute of the third period. We were still in it, but with New Mexico outdoing us with shots on goal, I didn’t dare get my hopes up. To my relief, we held onto the tie.
The game entered overtime. Every time the puck neared the home net, Knight Monster fans forgot to breathe. Cheers erupted when the puck neared the Goathead net.
Shots fired from both sides.
Then, at three minutes into OT, it happened.
I didn’t trust my eyes initially. Suddenly, the flashing lights and an airhorn confirmed it.
Ness had put the puck where his punch was and sank one into the net. The Knight Monsters had won the three-game series two to one.
The Knightmare was over for Tahoe. For the Goatheads, who are making their debut this season, the Knightmare had only just begun.
