First off, if you haven’t already read “The Itch,” you can read it in the 50th issue of Sirens Call Magazine. It’s free, and also includes various other stories to send shivers up your spine. Secondly, this is a Behind the Scenes article so if you wish to avoid any spoilers, stop right now, read the tale and then get back to me here. All set? OK then. Without further ado, here we go….
The story is about a person who goes to a bar and has a random encounter, to “take care of an itch,” so to speak. Seems harmless enough, but then when they experience an odd rash, they start to worry what it means. Now, many of my beta readers missed this. Notice how I said “person” and used the non-gendered “they?” I never once mentioned the sex of the main character, nor even give them a name.
There’s a reason for that. Since this is a horror story, I didn’t want to slut-shame a woman, attack a gay man, or anyone who identifies as non-binary. The last thing I wanted was for someone to smile smugly and nod, “Well, (s)he had it coming, obviously….”
Gender didn’t matter in the course of the narrative, so I left it out. It’s the story of a person who gets preyed upon by a monster. That’s what I wanted people to focus on.
What inspired this tale was a view of a random video I found whilst scrolling Facebook one day. It gave me such a bad reaction that even now, thinking about it, makes my skin run cold and draw my shoulders up to my ears in disgust. I’m talking about the hatching of suranim or pipa pipa toads.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I mean these. Warning: do not view if you have trypophobia or a fear of holes. This will most definitely trigger you. I do not have trypophobia, but this was a bit much.
So naturally, I had to do what any annoying roommate would do. “Oh, my god, this is so gross! Check it out.” Yep, that’s the kind of girl I am. Sharing is caring. I got it into my head that I wanted to recreate the sensations I felt viewing this video. My monster was based off the suranim toad which is why their sexual encounter lasted a crazy twelve hours long. I wasn’t just being over dramatic. This was a nod to their biology. For more fun facts on the suranim toad, click here.
I’ve since dubbed “the Itch” my “demented frog prince story.” If there’s a moral here, it’s this: be careful of who you kiss, practice safe sex, and get to a doctor in a timely fashion, for fuck’s sake. Waiting to see if they’ll heal on their own has got to be the stupidest mistake my character made.
Alright, wonderful readers, that’s it for now. I hope you enjoyed this Behind the Scenes. Until next time.
rebeccarpierce 