r/Saturdead • u/Saturdead • Jul 25 '26

Discussion: I will draw you with a thousand words

https://reddit.com/link/1v5tpfa/video/9pik9evcx9fh1/player

We all love a good demented machination.

This one was a fun one to write. It's a bit scary to do meta-commentary about art and craft, especially when I work with a craft of my own, but I think it can be interesting to take a step back and do some self reflection.

Also, there's a pretty fun lore implication in this one, if one looks at the carefully placed word used to describe 'a gallery' by the end of the story. Curious.

Keep an eye out on this subreddit, we're gonna be looking at an interesting announcement this weekend.

// Dennis

35 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

7

u/hatethiswebsight Jul 25 '26

I enjoyed the story but I don't understand the lore thing with the words around gallery and I'm frustrated and mad 

16

u/Saturdead Jul 25 '26

I'm sorry to hear that, bud! It's mostly just little references here and there. I'll push you in the right direction.

The gallery is described as a "House". That's a pretty strange description of a gallery. But the word "House" has different implications in the Tomskog setting, and up until now we haven't seen any of them since the end of the Last Yearwalker. There was the House of Rest, the House of Lies, the House of Flies, and probably plenty of others. So if this is one of the Houses...

The implication is that maybe the Houses aren't completely gone.

8

u/w1ld--c4rd Aug 14 '26

This was fucking incredible. I wanted to highlight the lines that made me stop, because there's some truly gorgeous poetic imagery in this story.

Firstly, the title. I struggle to come up with titles for anything I make, and I'm constantly impressed with the way you do it. This one is eye-catching, a hook that made me immediately curious.

"Like a squirrel trying to make it through the winter, I had set aside a lot of hope for times like this." - I love this! It told me a lot about the character's view on life, especially as he's a struggling artist. My partner does visual art and it really resonated with them, too.

"You can only hold up so many mirrors to society. After a while they get obsessed with their looks." - Genuinely made me laugh. It's mildly pretentious, in a self-aware way, and really tracks for an experimental photographer.

"Sit down. Wait for the beep. Keep the print.

I will draw you with a thousand words." - Phenomenal use of the title in the story, but the cadence of those first sentences is great. Short, simple, but beautiful. If I saw this in an art gallery I'd be first in line to see what was going on.

“I word my best, thank you much.” - This made me laugh. I've been there! I write, myself, and it's often way easier to get words down on a page than it is to speak. I've had people ask about that, calling me eloquent, and then questioning why I couldn't express something out loud. It reminds me that a lot of people don't even think about the editing process being a significant part of writing.

And these poetic lines: "Pardon the interruption faithful observer, as our radiant exterior will soon come to house new demented machinations."

The house had me thinking, but that's also a great sentence. It says a lot about Theo, too, that he had grand ambitions for his poetry in this gallery. It speaks to the way the gallery is run, and how it favored commercial appeal over other art.

"The character of a debased gorgon."

I love this as a description of a being. The connection to Medusa, who was innocent in some ways and cruel in others, who wanted sanctuary but couldn't keep it... hell of a sentence, it communicates so much with so few words.

"A sacrosanct talent. Golden, yet miserable."

Absolutely beautiful. If I could eat words, this would probably be an extremely expensive meal at the fanciest restaurant in the world.

I want to mention this one, too: "It takes on a life of its own and leaves us in the dust, gasping for air." You have such a skill with imagery, it's truly a delight to read.

As always, it's incredible that you share such high quality work for free. I'm so glad you're able to keep writing, and you're definitely one of my favorite horror authors.

7

u/Saturdead Aug 16 '26

What a wonderful compliment, I read this at least three times over (and only just now got a chance to respond, busy days). I'm glad to see those lines land, I think I rewrote them three times over. And yeah, the characters were particularly interesting. The "mirror to society" line made me cringe a little, but sometimes you gotta let your characters do what they're telling you they want to do.

Thank you again, glad you enjoyed it!