horror help - Writers Forum

vanax · 12-31-2005, 04:49 PM

I'm trying to write a horror but i have never done so before. this is my first attempt and i would like some input on how to go about it. i have read many horror authors and i have an idea in mind but i don't know where to start or how to portray the story. if anyone can help me with this i would be very thankful.

thanks
Van

suzakugaiden · 12-31-2005, 07:47 PM

Have you read lovecraft?

The most important thing about horror isn't being scary. The most important thing is being completely able to suspend disbelief. SEcondary is setting. Once you've got disbelief safely booted out the window, setting is everything. You CANNOT properly MAINTAIN the suspension of disbelief without it, and you can't disturb the reader without it either. Finally, being disquieting is more important than being overtly SCARY.

vanax · 12-31-2005, 08:33 PM

thanks hon. no i have not read lovecraft. Author??

i have another question my book will be taking place mainly at night is that a bad idea?? i'm pretty sure i have the disbelief down at least with the plot.

Hodge · 12-31-2005, 08:35 PM

Yeah, Lovecraft is an author. A white supremacist one, but an author nonetheless. His stories are very creepy and are prime examples of horror once you take out all the racist crap.

I'd read Poe to start with, though. His stuff was the first horror.

vanax · 12-31-2005, 08:39 PM

i have read poe and really enjoy his work, i'll look into finding lovecraft thanks again

suzakugaiden · 01-01-2006, 12:24 AM

Lovecraft isn't exactly white supremecist. He was an anglophile, and... apparently tended to view all non-Englanders, Americans included, as second-class citizens. He was definitely racist, and openly so, but you also have to keep in mind that he was writing in the 20s. He was just a product of his era. The same applies for CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. And no, that doesn't make it right, but it's still a factor. And as with CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien, I think a certain level of detachment is expected on the modern reader's part. They're all dead, the the racism they applied is mostly buried with them. Look on it for historical value and trivia, sure, but it's not something to get worked up over. Also, I think it's safe to say the work can be appreciated for the artistic merit without one being influenced by the racist ideas.

vanax · 01-01-2006, 02:01 PM

thanks for the info suza, i hope i am able to read his work and look past that part of it and find the art behind it. thanks again

Cady · 01-01-2006, 03:28 PM

Just dont depend on gore and death to shock your readers into fright. I think that is a BIG mistake a lot of writers make.

Verago · 01-01-2006, 04:00 PM

Suspense is quite a different thing than "OH NO! THAT DUDE'S HEAD JUST GOT CUT OFF!"

When mass amounts of gore are used, the reader becomes desensitized to it all. Murdered people become just corpses, not tragic victims. It reduces the reader's feeling towards the killings, and you don't want that. You want to inspire fear through unsettling or suspense. Gore should only be used when it can be described well, and even then, it should be used sparingly.

vanax · 01-01-2006, 05:07 PM

there isn't any gore in my book from where i am right now. mainly an obsession with death but no real death yet. there will be one person that dies but i'm not sure if i will have the acutal murder in the book, should i? it's a book about a group of beings that can not be seen unless they want to be seen. they torture a young girl and end up driving her crazy.

thanks for the input on gore. i'mnot big on that area of horror. but i do feel some is ok if it is placed right.

Verago · 01-01-2006, 05:11 PM

Death-obsessions are cool.

Are the beings ghosts, or demons, or what? Just curious.

vanax · 01-01-2006, 06:08 PM

they are kinda demons. i haven't gotten their exact nature down yet just the basic concept. The girl is young maybe around 16 so i'm debating if i will make it all in her mind or if they will be real beings.

Jimbob · 01-01-2006, 10:49 PM

Read Stephen King. Notice the way he develops his characters in such a way that you come to know them and care about what happens to them.
Also, notice how he scares you more with what he doesn't say than what he spells out.

Poe and Lovecraft were very good writers, but they represent an age that has passed, and a lot of modern readers would be put off by their now-archaic style of writing. King knows how to get pulses pounding in the present century.

Jimbob

vanax · 01-01-2006, 11:44 PM

thanks jimbob.

i'm reading a book by im now and i have read many others of his.

suzakugaiden · 01-02-2006, 12:27 AM

The best thing about King is how he's so pigeon-holed as a horror writer, even though he hasn't written horror in some time. I mean, if hep ut out a cook book, it'd be described as a horror/cooking manual.