The Audition

Now I thought I might talk about my 3rd published work, "The Audition". This story was sort of in my mind a couple years ago, even before I started writing it. The idea was inspired by the budding interests I had in ballet as an art form- and as a piece of literary symbolism. I like watching ballerinas for the simple fact that I can appreciate the art form, the poise, the grace, the expressiveness of the dance form. I can also appreciate the hard work and training that goes into being a sucessfull, professional dancer, as an outside sorta peeking in.

In any event, I went into writing "The Audition" from the perspective of a lonely, despressed, but spirited young girl who hoped to escape her dismal surroundings. Her parents are getting a divorce. Her classmates treat her like garbage. She is among the "have nots" in a town caught up in labels and social pecking order. She has the feeling that the whole world is against her. The only thing she has that seems stable is her dreams of one day being a ballerina.

Now this story runs along the same parallel lines as "Dancing with the Moon" and "Wish". But I wanted to focus not on a character who is a victim or someone dependent on others for help and guidance. I wanted to illustrate a character that finds her own way and calls up her own inner strength and uses it. The character, Paige Tucker, sees a challenge and picks herself up and faces that challenge in her own unique way.

Now the horror element of this is that there is always someone trying to keep a girl down. And in my mind, I wanted to explore an alternate villian than one presented in "Wish". The villian in fact is a very alluring, seductive ballet mistress who is charismatic enough to twist and contort Paige's dreams against her in such a way that Paige can hardly find alternatives but to submit to this unusual stranger. The idea is that this villian of sorts is trying to see how far Paige is willing to go to achieve her dream. Would she be willing to enslave herself for her ballet ambitions?

And some of my fans may be thinking, "Geez another situation of slavery... or power and control..."

Yes... beacuse I think in most horror, there is always some form of power or control being put into question. Anytime you are placed face-to-face with something you fear, you must make a choice to either control your emotions or submit to them.... and in my brand of horror at least the source of fear is not always internal... and is generally in the form of a villian of some kind.

But in "The Audition" where one might assume that a young girl eventually caves into a strong dominant woman's wishes to enslave her... you'll see that Paige isn't all she appears to be either... and sometimes it's the shy, quiet ones that have the most to say.

D.