In the contest-winning story “Something’s in the Water” by Eliza Shannon, Christine and two other teens are halfway across Lake Passamoonshine, trying to earn their summer camp swim badges, when things take a harrowing turn. Patrick Ryan chatted with Shannon about the inspiration behind the story, writing suspense, and her favorite horror books and movies.
Patrick Ryan: Where did you get the idea for “There’s Something in the Water”?
Eliza Shannon: I was camping with my family and my tent turned out to have a bad leak in it and it flooded. I was drying off in my parents’ car when I got the idea and scribbled it in a notepad I found in the glove compartment. I could see the nearby lake from my campsite and got to thinking about how isolating being in the center of a lake could be.
PR: How long did the first draft of the story take you to write?
ES: I wrote the first two thirds in the car in a span of about three hours. A couple weeks after I got back from my trip, I finished the last bit in an hour.
PR: Were there any different versions in your head, with different outcomes, other than the one we have?
ES: Yes, especially for the ending, which I changed about half a dozen times before I settled on one. I can be horribly indecisive when it comes to wrapping things up. I also tried out slightly different versions of the characters personalities in different drafts.
PR: Can you tell us a little about how you built so much wonderful suspense in the story?
ES: I’ve found the key to building suspense is letting the audience know there’s something wrong with a situation before the characters in the story realize there is, while keeping the nature of the uneasy feeling secret to the audience. We know that there’s danger, but we’re finding out what that danger is alongside the protagonist.
PR: What’s your favorite horror novel? And horror film?
ES: I’d have to say my favorite horror novel is either The Shining by Stephen King or I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. My favorite movie is the 1987 film The Lost Boys. I’m a sucker for a good vampire story.
PR: What did you do when you found out you were one of the winners of the One Teen Story Writing Contest?
ES: I woke up in the morning to find the email on my phone and I ran downstairs to tell my mother, and we celebrated together.
PR: What are you working on now?
ES: I am working on a horror novel called No One Lives on Crichton Street. It’s a ghost story about missing teenagers, small town secrets, and teenage alienation set in the modern day but with a 1950s flair. It also stars an alternate universe version of Christine and Tabitha! I’m about halfway through the first draft, and I plan to work on it more while in college.
PR: What’s the best piece of advice about writing you’ve ever heard?
ES: If you want to write a good story, develop interesting characters first. Once you know those characters well, a story will naturally form around them. Give those characters interests, dislikes, and backstories, even if you don’t include them in the story because you will understand their personalities and be able to write them consistently easier.
Eliza Shannon is a high school senior from Central Maine, just south of Bangor. From a young age, she loved telling stories and was fascinated by ghost tales, folklore, and monsters of any kind. In her free time, she loves reading, hiking, swimming, and watching slasher movies with her mom. Her work has previously been featured in Cricket.
