 Horror/Scary: November 18, 2020 Issue [#10459] |
This week: Horror doesn't have to be a slasherfest Edited by: Andy~hating university  
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To avoid fainting, keep repeating 'It's only a movie...it's only a movie...'
Tagline for "The Last House on the Left" (1972) |
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Greeting WDC, I am Andy~hating university your guest Newsletter editor this week.
Before I get into this NL, can everyone please send positive thoughts and prayers for our own master of the macabre Angus  as he begins what I pray will be a full recovery.
When we think of horror films we tend to think of graphic films first like Nightmare on Elm Street or Halloween, and when we think of a horror character it's usually slashers like Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhies. Too often, we equate horror with blood and gore. Yet here on WDC there are currently 6821 horror/scary items that are rated 13+ or lower.
Horror has been around for so long, we have a good idea as to what works. At its most basic, take an ordinary character or characters and put them into extraordinary situations. This is what makes novels such as IT (seven ordinary kids), Dracula (a solicitor and a schoolteacher), and House of Leaves (an editor) such engaging stories. This is where writing horror at 13+ or lower begins.
Horror legends such as John Carpenter and Tommy Lee Wallace believe that what we imagine is far scary than what we actually see, and this is the key to keeping horror writing in the lower age ratings. A reader imagining what's under the bed can often be far scarier that what a writer can ever describe, and in films the build up of tension with shadows and sounds can be far scarier than what waits.
End your story with your character opening the wardrobe door to see what that noise is, or end with a flash of lightning and a crash of thunder with your killer machete in hand standing behind their victim. Horror does not require you to show the coup de grace, there is no expectation of blood.
Give it a try the next time you write a horror story or poem. |
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Have a go at writing a story or poem at 13+ or below.
Think about how you change your choice of language, how differently your characters behave, but most of all how you build suspense and terror. |
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