 Horror/Scary: January 28, 2009 Issue [#2858] |
  Horror/Scary
This week: Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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Welcome to this week's edition of the WDC Horror/Scary Newsletter.
"Horror is that which cannot be made safe -- evolving, ever-changing -- because it is about our relentless need to confront the unknown, the unknowable, and the emotion we experience when in its thrall."
"Horror is not a genre...horror is an emotion."
Douglas E. Winter
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear,”
H.P. Lovecraft
Writing horror opens a dialogue, interactive, between the writer and reader. And the dialogue is as varied as the writers and readers who embrace this otherworld, be it supernatural or mundane.
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Writing horror, as we explored last week, is as versatile as the writer's ~ and reader's ~ imagination and experience. The 'dialogue' between writer and reader is most dynamic in horror. What frightens me may be 'ho-hum' for you. Some writers even dispute whether horror writing is a genre, or an aspect of writing that appears in a number of genres, but I think it's in a realm of its own, in all its variety. Written works of horror have several common elements.
*bullert*Foremost in a work of horror, I believe, is the writer's ability to provoke fear or terror in readers - a sense of dread or anxiety from the opening image, a foreshadowing of impending doom.
 I think it's also two stories, in verse or prose - the story of both the protagonist and his/her environment or surroundings. The setting is inscribed by the writer with a personality of its own, which interacts with that of the character(s).
The horror tale takes the reader on a journey where the ordinary becomes unfamiliar as it gets entangled with supernatural or surreal elements; a common, known entity, item, or place becomes unfamiliar, alien to the character (and reader).
Horror tales explore the dark, malevolent side of humanity. The tone or mood of the tale quickly becomes bleak and menacing, eliciting an immediate visceral response by the reader.
The main character(s) are ones the reader can relate to or in some way understand, feel kinship or empathy for them, as they tread deeper into the tale.
Lifes often depend on the protagonist's success in surmounting or destroying the cause of the horror, as he/she encounters frightening and unexpected events or influences.
There is violence, either served directly upon the protagonist, or characters he/she encounters.
Most horror stories are related in third person, even if from multiple characters' perspective, in a plain, clean style. This also affords the writer the option to expand description of the setting (the other character I noted earlier) to evoke dread or foreboding, making the ultimate horror believable, and memorable.
So, you see, in all its versatility, horror writing does have elements in common, ways in which the writer evokes horror in the reader
I asked last week what form of writing might work particularly well for a horror tale. Using the elements above, relating the story of the character and that of his/her environment in some depth, consider the novella. Some renowned horror writers have, like Stephen King, who has both written novellas and contributed to/edited collections of horror novellas.
The novella, generally between 10,000 and 40,000 words, focusing on a single issue, affords the writer the opportunity to develop in depth the protagonist as well as the environs which he/she must encounter - and survive. Consider the story of the haunted forest as well as the hiker who loses his/her compass and has to cross through the tangled underbrush, long-buried fire pits, whatever else the forest has collected over time. In a novella, both 'characters,' the sentient mortal and the living forest, have a chance at fair combat - which will survive the 'horror.'
Until we next meet,
Keep Writing!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading |
I'd like to share some of the novellas-in-progress penned by members of our Community. Secure the door, graba a spare flashlight, and see the depths to which you will be transported as the characters and their environment interact to instill fear, dread, and terror
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Thank you for unlocking your virtual door for me once again.
Until we next meet
Keep Writing!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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