Out of all of the Nosleep stories I have written so far, this one was definitely the longest and most descriptive. However, it flopped on Reddit.
Compared to my other two stories, which have gotten over 1K upvotes each, this one only reached around 180.
I don’t think it had anything to do with the writing itself. Reddit’s algorithm is based on luck and good timing. I might’ve just posted this story at a time with poor traction.
Either way, I’m proud of the story.
This story was actually a combination of two of my biggest interests: writing and trees. Around four years ago, I discovered I had an interest in botany, specifically trees. There’s a maple tree in my backyard, which drops those helicopter-like seed pods every year. I started planting these seeds, and my interest in trees only continued to grow.
Getting back to the story, I’ve always been interested in creating a horror story involving trees. For a while, I had a concept of a tree that bled. Initially, I thought of a tree that had a human body inside.
Eventually, I thought it would be creepier if human bodies were involved in a different way. In fact, the first concept of the tree that I had developed were the human-shaped fruits dangling from the branches.
From there, I decided on making a completely human-like, organic tree, starting with skin-like bark and hair-like leaves.
My friend drew his interpretation of the young tree, which is pretty accurate.
Another aspect of the story that I was very interested in was the other dimension, described it as gray and desolate. I imagined Ernest Tash finding himself in a dark forest filled with these trees. This concept of a gray and desolate dimension was inspired by an animatic film called “The Crow and the Raven”
I’m considering writing another story that exists within the same universe as “The Tree of Flesh”, except this story will be exploring the gray dimension. I’m not certain about anything yet.
Compared to my other two stories, “The Tree of Flesh” is focused less on anticipation and build-up horror, rather more descriptive and detailed horror all throughout the story. I also wanted to experiment with character interactions and conversations.
Ultimately, I’m proud of this story, despite its low reception. Either way, I plan to keep on writing and developing my ideas.
Thanks for reading!