Control Review: At the Mountains of Madness…

Amazon.com: The Battle at Malachi Station eBook : Trump, Daniel: Kindle Store

(This is a part of a series of novel reviews which focus on how to learn about writing by reading the most celebrated writers — or the most influential.)

I, Daniel Trump, aka Dalton Lewis, read a book by H.P. Lovecraft with about two lines of dialogue. It was 100 pages. Such a feat is unfathomable in today’s books. I don’t know how he did it.

I read it, sitting at home, mentally ill, a 47-year old schizophrenic man who is trying to make it as a writer. Watching football playoffs and reading Lovecraft is how I spent my day. The book was dense and relatively difficult to read — one really has to pay attention to Lovecraft’s prose to get what is happening.

I work out some, too. Chugging away slowly on the exercise bike exhausts me — trying to stay at 275 pounds. I don’t want to gain at this point — if I lose weight, even better.

Family dinner is soon. My sick father needs my care, and it’s hard living on my own. Schizophrenia is a terrible illness that I have, and Parkinson’s is killing my father.

HP Lovecraft wrote the novella At the Mountains of Madness in the 1930’s without much dialogue or characterization. He wrote a classic.

He did it with beautiful descriptions and developing the exploration of a mystery.

An expedition goes to the Antarctic in order to research…something to do with geology. They find something much more significant than some geological expedition.

The explorers find evidence of some sort of ancient civilization — a nonhuman one, some terrifying monsters.

The novel develops the story as the characters see more of the ancient civilization. They learn more about the civilization by examining the buildings and the artwork on the walls of the rooms. They enter the catacombs and look for a missing man — no one has much characterization but they are looking for one of their researchers who has disappeared.

Exploration and discovery is a key part of storytelling. That is the key to HP Lovecraft’s brilliance: that and wonderful description. His ability to evoke a situation and scare you by showing a terrifying villain and describe all the horrors of Cthulhu and the Old Ones is brilliant.

He is scared of Cthulhu, the Old Ones, and pretty much anyone. I understand that. I do not condone any racism by him — but the book involved did not seem to be racist to me. It was a well-written book.

A 100-page book can happen without much characterization or dialogue. It can be done. Lovecraft develops the culture of an alien people quite well.

What can one learn about writing from this?

It’s simple.

One can learn to develop mysteries and answer strange questions. We can ask questions and present the characters with mysteries for them to unravel. Clues can slowly develop the ideas behind an ancient civilization or a space empire of a little town in suburbia. The increasing feel of dread can be developed with this method.

Also description can be learned. Lovecraft works very hard to physically describe everything in a frank and literal manner. It’s very effective at creating fear. If I describe a villain as a werewolf, that’s something. If Lovecraft describes a headless creature’s tentacles and wings and sections of its body and its smell and its chanting, that’s much more effective.

Those are the two key elements of Lovecraft that I think that we can learn. Description and exploration/development of mysteries are the best facets of his writing.

Let’s try to write better.

Thanks, and take care, friends.