  Horror/Scary
This week: What Makes Something Scary? Edited by: Storm Machine  
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Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality. ~Edgar Allan Poe
Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places. ~H. P. Lovecraft |
| ASIN: 0996254145 |
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Amazon's Price: $ 12.95
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How do you know if something is scary? Each person has a different set of fears, and we all treat those fears differently. Some people conquer them head-on, braving their terror to get through, while others cower away from anything that might bring the slightest hint of their peculiar phobias. (But I bet that last group doesn't read horror stories!)
The person, place, object, idea in the story doesn't have to be something that scares anyone. It's the importance you place upon it as the writer. Is it a pair of red high heels? Is it an abandoned warehouse? Is it the mousy librarian? Each of these items might be innocuous, but the writer brings the dread and the fear.
Recently a friend of mine received a bag of unidentified goo in the mail. It was hilarious, but it might as easily have been horrific. The line between comedy and horror might be thin at times. If you get a bag of cinnamon-scented pink goo for your birthday, is that scary or edible or carcinogenic or a new kind of potpourri? If the plastic bag popped in transit, the postman might have been horrified by the mess in the mail bag. If it had been green or brown, that might have inspired horror stories. If it had been a thin layer over living room carpet and a running child got caught within, you might have the beginning of your horror story.
Ordinary objects that act outside of their common ways are scary, especially if you provide the reader with a reason to think it might end badly. Give examples of ways this object might be used to put ideas in their head. Let the reader's imagination work for you. The writer's serious tone will carry the weight of the story and drag the readers along with your plot.
Here's an excerpt from Poe's "The Telltale Heart." While eyes aren't scary, here you wonder: It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture --a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees -- very gradually --I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever. |
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A boy allows a dragon to be a tattoo on his back.
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| ASIN: 0996254145 |
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Amazon's Price: $ 12.95
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| I've never done a Horror/Scary before, so no feedback! Feel free to give me some for next time. |
| ASIN: B083RZJVJ8 |
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Horror/Scary: July 30, 2014 Issue [#6454]
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