I’ve been a fan of horror ever since my high school librarian first introduced me to Stephen King. She suggested I read “Carrie”, and I’ve been a fan ever since. Stephen King is the master. The KING. No one has ever been able to touch me quite like he has. He has a way of making you feel like you’re right there in the story and that you know all the characters intimately. King’s characters are his strongest point.
But then there’s the horror. The scary stuff, the stuff that gives you the chills. What is it that makes us want to read this? Why do we want to be scared? I’ve found, the older I get, the harder it is for me to watch scary movies, especially alone. But I LOVE reading the books. The horror fascinates me. I’m not as crazy about the slasher stuff, even though that’s sometimes part of it. It’s the supernatural, eerie, ghostly stuff I love. Or sometimes the horror isn’t supernatural, but the horror of the human psyche. There are some sick people in some of the horror books.
I’ve sometimes wondered if there was something wrong with me because I like horror. Is there something twisted in my mind? And what about the people who actually WRITE this stuff? They have to be kind of twisted, right? But, honestly, the horror writers I’ve met on the internet have been normal, well-adjusted husbands and dads or wives and mothers. Horror writers are usually just ordinary folks. So I may never know the WHY of it all. Maybe someone can give me some ideas of why we like horror.
That brings me to my writing. The first novel I ever wrote and published, A Rocky Path, was a ghost story/love story. I don’t know why I was compelled to write paranormal romance. My second novel, Starfane, was a fantasy romance with wizards, elves, etc. in a land the heroine stepped into from a mural. I then did three novellas, one ghost story and two vampire stories. But even in paranormal romance, there is an element of horror sometimes. My ghost story novella, See Me, was criticized by a fellow author because I had mixed humor and violence in the same story. See Me is kind of snarky, with some funny things that happen, but there is a pretty violent scene in it. I don’t see anything wrong with mixing humor and violence. Even in this story, I had a tiny bit of horror. Then along came The Gnome. It was my first attempt at an actual horror story. I wasn’t sure how I would do with the fight scenes, but one of my beta readers said I nailed it, so that was a relief. Two readers told me that the story creeped them out and one of them actually dreamed of a giggling gnome. Good. That means I did my job. The story stayed with them.
So, after saying all that, I’m wondering if I’m going to end up writing horror instead of paranormal romance. My last book, Soul of a Vampire, actually was paranormal romance, but there was a little element of horror, I think. And, now, my current WIP is looking like it’s going to be horror. This one, honestly, was supposed to be a paranormal romance about a ghost. Now the ghost is kind of secondary in the story, and there’s a truly horrible thing happening in the town. This story just took a different turn than I originally imagined. There is going to be a supernatural element to the horror. So I’m wondering if my whole genre is going to change. Or am I going to dabble in more than one genre? Am I really going to end up being a horror writer? Or are The Gnome and my current WIP just me veering off my normal path for awhile? And do I have to really know the answer right now? Or can I just enjoy the journey and see where everything goes? That’s part of the fun, right?
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Why do we feel the want to pigeonhole stories into nice little boxes with tabs to tell us what it is? Let the story speak for itself, and enjoy the ride. I’ve given up thinking that what I think the story is gonna be and what the story ends being will ever be the same thing. As for limiting myself to any one genre, that isn’t gonna happen unless I say the genre is Fiction. I have plans for Horror, Romance, a Mystery, and Fantasy. The book I’m working on now is a dark fantasy with a few elements of horror. I believe I’ve said it on your blog before, I’m peacock I have to be able to spread my wings and fly! Wheeeeeeee
Hello my little peacock. 🙂 One of the reasons we pigeonhole is because that’s the only way to make our books searchable. What do we call it? Paranormal romance? Mystery? Suspense? Those are some of the categories we have to choose when publishing. My reading tastes are very eclectic. But many readers only like certain genres. So we have to let readers know kind of what our books are. When it comes to our actual writing, though, we can do pretty much what we want. Let the story flow as it wants to. Then we can decide later where to put the thing. LOL.
I don’t see horror as a ‘low-brow’ genre, and I’m sure horror fan are just as sane as everyone else 🙂 It’s hard to pinpoint what the appeal is, but for me there’s a little adrenaline rush when you read or watch something scary. It invigorates you. Fear is a very strong emotion and I think horror really makes the reader ‘feel’ something, which to me is what writing is all about.
That’s good to know, because that means I’m not insane. LOL. And I think you’ve pretty much nailed it…you FEEL something. Fear is strong, it’s exciting. And maybe part of it is that you certainly wouldn’t want these things to really happen, so you get to be safe while you experience the scary stuff.
Dabble in as many genres as you want.
I love your stuff. Bring on another story like The Gnome.
Aw, thanks, Emma. Maybe I can make you dream of something scarier. The one I’m writing is probably going to be pretty spooky.
Great stuff!
I don’t know why we write horror…or any other type of fiction either. We write what interests us and, I think, part of what’s interesting about horror/paranormal is the enjoyment of getting inside the mind/actions of a monster whether that monster is human or other. It’s the shrink inside us taking a peek at the darkness within and trying to figure out what makes it tick. Sometimes it’s a little therapeutic too. heh heh
As for mixing humor with horror – HELLO?! – has this author seen ANY of the terminator/Indiana Jones/star wars/twilight movies or Bruce Willis movies or True Blood/Vampire Diaries/Being Human/Alphas/Haven or read Anita Blake and a billion other novels out there? There’s always room for a good snarky joke midst the chaos, it’s how some people react after freaking out and it helps set the tone (esp in movies) for the next freak out by giving the audience a second to recoup for the last one. And who hasn’t been to a funeral that ended up funny…er…or is that just me?
The shrink inside us? I like that. I do like to pick apart people’s brains. (Not literally, because ewwww.) LOL
I know. I didn’t get why that was a problem. I had a lot of fun having a ghost do some funny things. But there had to be a violent scene. And don’t forget Buffy the Vampire Slayer…lots of snark, lots of violence.
I must be going to the wrong funerals….. 🙂
There is a school of thought that says that stories just exist in the ether waiting for the right author to come along and give them birth. I have dabbled in writing poetry, literary fiction, and most recently horror for some time and I never try to pigeonhole myself. I just come up with an idea and I write it and then try to market it. These days my tastes just seem to center around horror. At this point I can’t imagine myself writing anything else that does not have a horror twist (maybe I could try literary fiction again, but that just seems to bore me any more) I just write what I want and let other apply the labels. True, having a specific genre in which to write will help marketability, but to paraphrase one speaker I once heard: what if the profession you love becomes the profession you hate? What if you become so tired of working in that one genre that you can’t stand it any more? For peace of mind, it is probably better to go with what is your nature to write, for better or worse and to stick with that no matter how your nature changes and no matter how many inner demons you have to battle.
I have read some articles on why people enjoy horror as well as why they write it and I have even written a little on it in my own blog. I don’t think there is a simple answer, but then when has anything dealing with human motivation been simple? I am something of a Taoist by nature and I believe that the universe seeks a balance in all things. We all have dark sides, and the well-adjusted people you mention probably need to express or deal with theirs. I know that writing horror helps me in three ways at least: it is cathartic, helping me rid myself of dark undercurrents; it is an intellectual challenge to create something that stirs and then sustains people’s emotions; and it helps me realize that no matter how bad my own life gets at time, it is not nearly as bad as it could be.
I agree that we should write what’s in our nature to write. My reading taste is very eclectic, and that’s probably why my writing is, as well. But it seems there’s always something a little dark in everything I write…some stories more than others. As far as marketing, I was lucky that I got in on the vampire craze when I first started publishing. I didn’t do it just because it was popular…I’ve loved vampires ever since I was a young girl. It just worked out for me at the right time. 🙂
I do think we all have dark sides. Some people don’t want to admit it, and people probably have degrees of dark and light. I’m a very upbeat, positive, tender-hearted person for the most part. That’s why I’ve always wondered why the darkness fascinates me. I guess reading and writing it is my outlet for that.
I had to give this one some thought. I think the appeal of horror is that there’s usually some twist (something I never see coming) that happens. Romance is predictable. We all know the hero and heroine will end up together. But with horror, you don’t know how it’s going to end. Also, there’s something fun in sitting on the edge of your seat, wondering what is lurking around the corner, ready to make it’s move. 😀
You’re right, horror isn’t quite as predictable as romance. I do like to add romance even to my horror, but it’s kind of secondary, like in The Gnome. This current WIP has just totally surprised me since it wasn’t supposed to be horror to begin with. It just started going in that direction. Now, I just need to get back to it.