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lkh_lashoutsLink: Teachers can make all the difference
Disclaimer: This blog entry is verbatim, as originally posted on LKH's blog. Copyright belongs to Ma Petite Enterprises.
Beverly K. Sheline
August 9, 1947 – January 10, 2015
Kokomo, Indiana
Miss Beverly Sheline was an English teacher at my high school. She taught my first creative writing class. I was fourteen, still painfully shy, and a serious bookworm. Now most writers read voraciously when they’re younger, but I was still using books to hide from the social anxiety of dealing with too many other people. By the next year I’d begin to force myself to break the prison of my shyness by joining speech team and drama, but that year I was still very much letting books be my shelter. I mean, if you’re reading people are much less likely to try and talk to you, so you don’t have to worry about talking to them. I was still very much in hiding, and only decided that summer that I wanted to be a writer, but not just a writer, I wanted to write horror, dark fantasy, and heroic fantasy. I was this shy kid from the middle of Indiana farm country that had decided she would be a horror writer as her profession. Can you imagine how badly that could have gone if I’d gotten the wrong teacher at the very beginning? But Miss Sheline was very much the right teacher.
She let her students write whatever type of story they wanted without judging the worth of the topic. I would get a lot of judgement on the fact that I wrote genre fiction in college, but in that first precious class there was no judgement, no classifying of one type of story being morally superior to another. That was a gift, to just let her students fly and be who they were as writers, a gift that far too many creative writing classes don’t give their students.
I’d been writing since I was twelve but had only finished a story beginning to end that summer. It was a horror story, a mystery and slasher flick really, because everyone died horribly except for the baby who crawled away into the woods with the implication she would starve to death with no one to care for her. My Uncle Monk, who I think was the only one I gave it to for reading, did the best thing possible. He patted me on the head, said it was good, and didn’t get all freaked out that I was writing about torture and dismemberment. It was the best reaction he could have given, I think. The year I was thirteen- fourteen was a very big turning point for me creatively. I discovered Robert E. Howard’s short story collection, Pigeons from Hell, which solidified what kind of writer I wanted to be and I’ve never wavered from that decision. It led me to find other horror authors to read including Stephen King and Anne Rice, which would both influence my own writing, especially Salem’s Lot and Interview with the Vampire.
I wrote my very first vampire story for Miss Sheline’s class. I’d grown up watching the old Hammer vampire films, had read Salem’s Lot, Interview with the Vampire, and I think all that helped me be ready to write that first story. The other ingredient was a friend I rode the school bus with let me have the cover off her Teen Beat magazine. It was a picture of Parker Stephenson who played one of the Hardy Boys on the then TV show. Yes, I had a crush on him, but it was the image, not the crush, that made me want the picture. I couldn’t explain it to my friend, but I knew it was important for me. I told her I’d use it in a story, she was dubious, but she let me have it, making me promise to show her the story afterwards.
I used that picture to base my first master vampire on, but the main character of the story was a petite, black-haired vampire herself who had made friends with a human girl that the charming but evil vampire had seduced and killed. The main character used a crossbow to kill the other vampire and avenge her friend. I no longer have a copy of that story, but I remember it in startling detail all these years later, and yes the first shape of Anita was in that main character. The vampire loosely based on Parker Stephenson’s picture never showed up in my stories again; strangely dead is dead for me with characters.
It never occurred to me that Miss Sheline might be disturbed by my subject matter. It would only be years later that I realized how differently it could have gone, but instead she read it, gave it an A, and said, “You scared me.”
I’d scared a grown up! I’d scared a teacher! That was heady stuff and just the kind of ego boost that I needed to keep me going forward with my dream.
I learned just two days ago that Miss Beverly Sheline died of cancer recently. She is being laid to rest today and family and friends are gathering to say goodbye. If I’d been thinking more clearly I would have sent flowers, but it hit me strangely harder than I thought it would, and I didn’t think about flowers, I thought about writing. I thought I would write about the teacher who helped start me on my way to being a writer. There were other teachers at Oak Hill High School that were influential on me as a writer and a person, but I’ll save those stories for another day. Today is about Miss Sheline. I did tell her, and say in my very first newspaper interview which was for the local paper where I grew up, how much she had helped me. She read the interview and she and several teachers that I’d mentioned came out to the signing at the local mall. I’m doubly glad she knew that she’d made a difference to me and that I got to tell her in person years ago. Good teachers inspire, lead, but sometimes the best thing they do is to let the students know they matter, and that their first efforts are rewarded. I still remember the thrill I got from her words, “You scared me.” Now, I scare people professionally, but few moments have been as important to me as that first one. Thank you, Miss Sheline.
Disclaimer: This blog entry is verbatim, as originally posted on LKH's blog. Copyright belongs to Ma Petite Enterprises.
Beverly K. Sheline
August 9, 1947 – January 10, 2015
Kokomo, Indiana
Miss Beverly Sheline was an English teacher at my high school. She taught my first creative writing class. I was fourteen, still painfully shy, and a serious bookworm. Now most writers read voraciously when they’re younger, but I was still using books to hide from the social anxiety of dealing with too many other people. By the next year I’d begin to force myself to break the prison of my shyness by joining speech team and drama, but that year I was still very much letting books be my shelter. I mean, if you’re reading people are much less likely to try and talk to you, so you don’t have to worry about talking to them. I was still very much in hiding, and only decided that summer that I wanted to be a writer, but not just a writer, I wanted to write horror, dark fantasy, and heroic fantasy. I was this shy kid from the middle of Indiana farm country that had decided she would be a horror writer as her profession. Can you imagine how badly that could have gone if I’d gotten the wrong teacher at the very beginning? But Miss Sheline was very much the right teacher.
She let her students write whatever type of story they wanted without judging the worth of the topic. I would get a lot of judgement on the fact that I wrote genre fiction in college, but in that first precious class there was no judgement, no classifying of one type of story being morally superior to another. That was a gift, to just let her students fly and be who they were as writers, a gift that far too many creative writing classes don’t give their students.
I’d been writing since I was twelve but had only finished a story beginning to end that summer. It was a horror story, a mystery and slasher flick really, because everyone died horribly except for the baby who crawled away into the woods with the implication she would starve to death with no one to care for her. My Uncle Monk, who I think was the only one I gave it to for reading, did the best thing possible. He patted me on the head, said it was good, and didn’t get all freaked out that I was writing about torture and dismemberment. It was the best reaction he could have given, I think. The year I was thirteen- fourteen was a very big turning point for me creatively. I discovered Robert E. Howard’s short story collection, Pigeons from Hell, which solidified what kind of writer I wanted to be and I’ve never wavered from that decision. It led me to find other horror authors to read including Stephen King and Anne Rice, which would both influence my own writing, especially Salem’s Lot and Interview with the Vampire.
I wrote my very first vampire story for Miss Sheline’s class. I’d grown up watching the old Hammer vampire films, had read Salem’s Lot, Interview with the Vampire, and I think all that helped me be ready to write that first story. The other ingredient was a friend I rode the school bus with let me have the cover off her Teen Beat magazine. It was a picture of Parker Stephenson who played one of the Hardy Boys on the then TV show. Yes, I had a crush on him, but it was the image, not the crush, that made me want the picture. I couldn’t explain it to my friend, but I knew it was important for me. I told her I’d use it in a story, she was dubious, but she let me have it, making me promise to show her the story afterwards.
I used that picture to base my first master vampire on, but the main character of the story was a petite, black-haired vampire herself who had made friends with a human girl that the charming but evil vampire had seduced and killed. The main character used a crossbow to kill the other vampire and avenge her friend. I no longer have a copy of that story, but I remember it in startling detail all these years later, and yes the first shape of Anita was in that main character. The vampire loosely based on Parker Stephenson’s picture never showed up in my stories again; strangely dead is dead for me with characters.
It never occurred to me that Miss Sheline might be disturbed by my subject matter. It would only be years later that I realized how differently it could have gone, but instead she read it, gave it an A, and said, “You scared me.”
I’d scared a grown up! I’d scared a teacher! That was heady stuff and just the kind of ego boost that I needed to keep me going forward with my dream.
I learned just two days ago that Miss Beverly Sheline died of cancer recently. She is being laid to rest today and family and friends are gathering to say goodbye. If I’d been thinking more clearly I would have sent flowers, but it hit me strangely harder than I thought it would, and I didn’t think about flowers, I thought about writing. I thought I would write about the teacher who helped start me on my way to being a writer. There were other teachers at Oak Hill High School that were influential on me as a writer and a person, but I’ll save those stories for another day. Today is about Miss Sheline. I did tell her, and say in my very first newspaper interview which was for the local paper where I grew up, how much she had helped me. She read the interview and she and several teachers that I’d mentioned came out to the signing at the local mall. I’m doubly glad she knew that she’d made a difference to me and that I got to tell her in person years ago. Good teachers inspire, lead, but sometimes the best thing they do is to let the students know they matter, and that their first efforts are rewarded. I still remember the thrill I got from her words, “You scared me.” Now, I scare people professionally, but few moments have been as important to me as that first one. Thank you, Miss Sheline.
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no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 01:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 02:29 pm (UTC)(Which makes me even more morbidly curious about the fabled male-protagonist story/series she's planning/writing.)
no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 02:43 pm (UTC)Firstly, I do think it's great that a teacher inspired her to write, that she remembers her to this day, and is posting about the difference she made. I'm sure it means a lot to Miss Sheline's family that a former student of hers has a success story to attribute to her encouragement and guidance as a teacher, and that's great. And as much as I may hate LKH's writing, as much as I may wish she never did it so that *I* could have all her ideas instead and do Cool Things with them, it is good that a teacher encouraged her towards her goals and dreams, and that she not only reached those goals and dreams (becoming a professional writer) but can even make a living from them. Regardless of the actual content of her writing and what I may think of it, that's quite an accomplishment on both their parts.
Now for the snark.
I would get a lot of judgement on the fact that I wrote genre fiction in college
Ahahaha, I knew she'd bring this up.
I was this shy kid from the middle of Indiana farm country that had decided she would be a horror writer as her profession. Can you imagine how badly that could have gone if I’d gotten the wrong teacher at the very beginning?
Would it really be that big a deal in Indiana farm country that someone wanted to write horror? Like I get this was a few decades ago and a rural area, but what would be the worst that could happen that couldn't happen anywhere else? Normally I'd not doubt someone to know the cultural climate of where they grew up and I've never been, but given LKH's persecution complex and drama queen tendencies, I feel like the most she would have gotten was being regarded as kinda weird and maybe some religious hostility from the more churchy sorts, whereas this comes off to me like she wants us to think she could have been exorcized and institutionalized.
I discovered Robert E. Howard’s short story collection, Pigeons from Hell, which solidified what kind of writer I wanted to be and I’ve never wavered from that decision. It led me to find other horror authors to read including Stephen King and Anne Rice, which would both influence my own writing, especially Salem’s Lot and Interview with the Vampire.
Then why are your books the way they are? I don't see ANY of these influences in LKH's work, aside from Rice in the most shallow and superficial of ways, with none of what actually made Interview truly compelling. Even Rice's vampires still had BITE under the pretty and the ponce, and pathos, and personality. LKH's don't. And they're certainly not scary like King's stuff. To be honest, the stuff she wrote as a kid actually sounds scarier than what she did now, but then again, we're just hearing about the concept; in execution, maybe they're as fail as AB (but with the excuse of having been the early work of a middle schooler)
Also, is it just me, or does she think she's the only 14 year old to ever write DARK AND EDGY stuff? Like that's not actually so unusual and weird at all, creative kids can often be perversely morbid because it seems to adult and taboo and they're going through the crappiness that is adolescence, I bet Miss Sheline actually saw a lot more of this stuff that LKH seems to think.
A PETITE BLACK-HAIRED PROTAGONIST, YOU DON'T SAY
no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 06:33 pm (UTC)Just from my experience, kids at that age love to scare themselves and go out to urban legend spots, etc. I can see adults being like "ugh, those kids obsessed with horror" but I don't really see her getting a lot of backlash in regards to her interest in horror, at least from her peer group, even a few decades ago. I could be wrong. But essentially what I'm saying is that I agree with you on her portrayal.
no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 09:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-17 07:26 am (UTC)I have a confession to make. I grew up in Indiana farm country and to be completely honest unless you are living in Indianapolis everywhere in Indiana is 'farm country'. Indiana is agriculture and state parks with a smattering of civilization called cities. Everywhere you go you are a stones throw away from a corn field. Second confession I like to write and I've written all sorts of things from fluffy to twisted at thirteen and fourteen etc. Now I never had to submit these to a class and be judged by my peers, but it was all of the stuff I wanted to read/checked out from the library/never was judged or questioned or noticed. I was the 'Goosebumps Girl' at my elementary school. It didn't make me a pariah. Considering my mom loves Stephen King and is on par with LKH age-wise I don't think it is something she would have caught flack for not more so than my mom's love of Kiss posters and rabble rousing (she was very counter culture).
This whole idea that just because it's -Indiana- and that makes it more innocent/demure somehow is just ridiculous. You don't grow up in a cultural vacuum maybe one crafted by Republican ignorance but that's another story (and hey I escaped that trap too). I would say Indiana has the politeness of most 'midwesterners' coupled with the 'if it isn't your business then it isn't your business' mentality. As long as you aren't a bother no one bothers you, ever. I'm sure it had its share of ass backwardsness in its day just because being so spread out will cause problems by lack of socialization, but I can't imagine anyone trying to tar and feather her.
Also Kokomo isn't just 'out in the middle of nowhere'. Kokomo historically had a railroad connection to Indianapolis promoting growth, has/had a natural gas industry, and is heavily rooted in the automobile industry. It's not like she was in one of the no name places I've driven through that's miles and miles from anything remotely resembling a city. Plus it's only an hour from Indianapolis which sounds like a long drive, but for Indiana is relatively reasonable. There is a huge difference between farm kid and living in a farming area too.
/end Indiana native rant
It just really bothers me that she acts like she existed in some weird farm vacuum that somehow separates her from the rest of the people in the state for her soul is the darkity darkest. Like no you were literally close to a reasonably sized city and one hour from the state capital.
no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 03:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 08:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 08:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-16 08:45 pm (UTC)Years after my grandmother died, one of her students wrote an editorial piece about how she was the first teacher to believe in him. It really meant a lot to me.
no subject
Date: 2015-05-28 03:02 am (UTC)Am I the only one who thinks that doesn't actually sound like it'd be an especially good story? It seems like something that was made dark and gloomy purely for shock value. And granted, she has the excuse that she was a middle-schooler at the time, but...there isn't even any self-deprecation of the "That was my first foray into writing, thank goodness I'm much better now" variety. It kinda comes across that she thinks she was always a perfect writer, and that the DARK MAN, DARK material she puts into her stories makes them better by its mere inclusion. I see that every so often and it's one of my personal pet peeves.