Category:Don't Let the Darkness Consume You

"There are moments when we cannot believe that what's happening is really true".- Don't Let the Darkness Consume You's official tagline

Don't Let the Darkness Consume You, also known by the working title of "Dying Light", is a 2022 horror drama novel, created and written by Brooke Redwood. It is the novel that introduces the ParaVerse. Writing started on March 31st, 2021.

It revolves around the life of Mary Jane Fitzgerald, a depressed young girl who fails to connect with society due to her vision of the world and her benevolence, and is haunted by the deaths of her parents. Soon after joining a group of friends and getting harassed by evil, Mary Jane becomes the attraction of a spiritual entity, who begins to help her in finding the secrets behind her forsaken past and reveal the truth of her parents' demise.

Plot
Set in 1984 in California, the story follows Mary Jane Fitzgerald, a depressed young girl who is traumatized by her dark past after seeing with her own eyes the deaths of her parents, Alan and Janet Fitzgerald. While trying to move on, Mary Jane attempts to connect with society, but she fails as her parents' memorial still haunts her life, and is soon disregarded and mistreated. However, Mary Jane meets a group of socially rejected young adults called the Liars Club, who are fixated on spreading liberties and modern culture, while taking down injustices.

As they began to get along, the darkness begins to hunt down Mary Jane, when she attempted suicide following a horrific encounter with satanist serial killer Richard Ramirez. Vowing to help her, the Liars Club drag her out of the city and travel to a remote, newly-reopened summer camp, known as the Firefly Summer Camp, located in Willow's Bell, to work as counselors and escape from The Night Stalker’s rampage.

Upon arriving in town, they meet the camp's owner Randy Cavanaugh, the priest Father Michael Campbell, and the financial administrator Abigail Kraenen, who were once campers there, and who have their experience surviving a killer. Not long after the counselors settle into their first week, their dark pasts, ignorance, and stupidity would draw in harsh consequences to the teens, as Edward Sexton Church, infamously known as The Deer Hunter, and the darkness drawing in the woods, will make their lives miserable, and reveal secrets of their true identities and the location they stepped into.

Main Characters

 * Mary Jane Fitzgerald, a beautiful, pure, and severely damaged soul holding on for the good and a force from beyond.
 * Ashley Murray, an optimistic member of the Liars Club, who is keeping something very problematic within her heart.
 * Randy Cavanaugh, the owner of the Firefly Summer Camp, a keeper of joy and union, but at the same time, a prisoner of dark memories.
 * Matthew Barton, a revolution-driven advertising model and leader of the Liars Club, filled with world-altering ambitions in society.
 * Abigail Kraenen, the financial administrator of the Firefly Summer Camp, with an interesting agenda to make the fun bloom.
 * Jay Ambrose, an artistic heart and member of the Liars Club, wanting to leave a mark on the society despite the criticism.
 * Casey Lombardi, a sexually fixated aerobics instructor and member of the Liars Club, sighting a revolution coming through.
 * Edward Sexton Church, an enraged hunter with hellbent intentions against those that wronged him, following a horrific past incident.
 * Richard Ramirez, the infamous satanist known as The Night Stalker, who is out for blood and carnage in the American West Coast.

Secondary Characters

 * Janet Fitzgerald, a brave mother who’s memorial haunts the life of her beloved daughter.
 * Alan Fitzgerald, a hard-working father who's memorial terrorizes the life of his dear daughter.
 * William Sullivan, a strong-style athlete desperate for attention.
 * Shawn Reynolds, a smart and very skilled cultural man.
 * Kenneth Palmer, a vivacious young actor.
 * Carmina Montgomery, a young girl with a adventurous spirit.
 * Benjamin Franken, an expert hiker and forsaken neighbour of Willow's Bell.
 * Father Michael Campbell, the beloved priest of the Firefly Summer Camp.
 * Henry Smith, the chef of the Firefly Summer Camp.
 * Howard Maivia, the activities director of the Firefly Summer Camp.
 * Dr. Albert Wayans, a psychiatrist searching for answers about a paranormal incident.
 * Leonard Simmons, the director of an asylum with a killer on the loose.
 * Rachel Laberge, a preassured nurse.
 * Valerie Fish, a rogue nurse with survival instincts.
 * Joe Schultz, a coltish trickster.
 * Barry Wayans, a young and petty brute.

Creatures

 * Anastasia Wynter, a mysterious woman with thrilling secrets about an unknown world.
 * Satan, the embodiment of chaos and evil.
 * Ghosts, souls of deceased people that haunt the cursed grounds.
 * Nightmares, haunting and twisted illusions.

Organizations

 * Liars Club

Vehicles

 * 1967 Chevrolet Impala

Chapters
Don't Let the Darkness Consume You is currently in development. The book contains an author's note and a summary that explains the plot, the characters, and the warnings.

Locations and Date
The story takes mainly place in the fictional city of Willow's Bell, California, and the year that the story dates is 1984. As the story goes on, the years that it dates are 1985 and 1989.

Known Locations:


 * California
 * Willow's Bell
 * Firefly Summer Camp
 * San Francisco
 * City College of San Francisco
 * The Fitzgerald House
 * Night Ridin' Bar
 * Saint Damian Psychiatric Hospital

Storylines
Don’t Let the Darkness Consume You involves several elements from the classic 80's slasher films, which is the survival of a group of naive and ambitious teenagers in a location with murderous legacy and serial killers on the loose, sided with the image of a close-minded, ignorant, and discriminatory society that rejects the people for being different to what they think is “normal”. The theme is about moving on from a dark chapter.

Development
"The 80's... what a time to get so much content from it. The battle for personal liberties, the boom of slasher movies, dark synths, neon lights, extravagant fashion, and over all things, the sound of THE best music".- Brooke Redwood

Brooke Redwood anounced on March 31st, 2021, that he will be start writing his first novel. Redwood said that the ambient of the story will be around the 80's.

Redwood then announced a clue of the story's first character: A photo of two hands in a woman's chest forming a heart, next to a lighten oil lantern, with a text saying "n_p_r li_r". Five days later, the text was revealed: "neprr linr". If translated, the text says "Dying Light" in Old Norse language. It was then revealed that the story is being written under the working title "Dying Light".

Also, a sketch of a white-dressed blonde girl and a black-dressed bloodied man with a knife was published. The drawing also had two acronyms: MJF and RR. The acronyms were solved a few days later: Mary Jane Fitzgerald and Richard Ramirez, the first two official characters announced for the story. This eventually confirmed that the story will take place during The Night Stalker's murderous rampage in 1984.

Redwood announced that the story will have a slasher film summer camp theme, where drugs, ignorance, and screams are "very persistent". The novel will also have several characters portraying the classic slasher film roles. In order to draw the paranormal term, Redwood teased that ghosts will appear in the story.

It was then revealed that the story is titled "Don't Let the Darkness Consume You", and will be also focused on a specific moral theme that revolves around the mental health, discrimination, and lack of empathy. He stated: "65% of the main characters have a mental illness".

Warnings
The story contains:


 * Explicit language
 * Violence
 * Sexual content
 * Substance use
 * Self-harm and Existential issues

Trivia

 * Don't Let the Darkness Consume You is inspired mainly by American Horror Story: 1984 (2019), Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), and Joker (2019).
 * American Horror Story: 1984 focuses on wrapping up lingering questions surrounding a series of events that plagued a certain location, while taking the '80s slasher horror genre to a new level by interweaving a number of twists and turns, including the existence of the paranormal.
 * Godzilla vs. Kong has a hidden theme that focuses on a good-hearted character that attempts to thrive in the world, but is oblivious to the fact that it is getting overexploited and mistreated in some sort of way by split factions that attempt to get what they want.
 * Joker is focused on themes that are surrounding heavily on mental health and the non-stop discovery of someone's origins by unearthing clues left in the past.
 * The name "Don't Let the Darkness Consume You" comes from a phrase seen in a rivalry seen in professional wrestling promotion Impact Wrestling between knockouts Allie and Su Yung in the 2018 special episode Under Pressure.
 * The date where Don't Let the Darkness Consume You started to be prepared and written, March 31st, 2021, coincides with the American release date of Godzilla vs. Kong.
 * The slasher film roles used to portray the camp counselors are a reference to the Survivor Sweepstakes and Teasers from American Horror Story: 1984.
 * The teasers used for Don't Let the Darkness Consume You's promotion are slightly similar to how Dead by Daylight Chapter XXII: Portrait of a Murder was promoted.