Horror

This weekend I had the opportunity to attend a writer's conference. Since the theme of the conference was "Writing on the edge" there were several panels on horror writing. I attending a couple of the panels and though I don't normally write horror, I like the idea of putting more horror into my stories because it is a powerful emotion. The comments I make here are what I learned from the presenters: Alexander Gordon Smith, author of the ESCAPE FROM FURNACE series, and Rick Chiantaretto.

While most people think of the slasher horrors, (Scream, Nightmare on Elm Street, Texas Chainsaw Massacre), there are other types of horror: psychological, paranormal, monster, and smart.

Horror is the only genre that is named after an emotion. It is also one of the only genres that can be incorporated into other genres seamlessly, especially when you think of the non-slasher types. Adding a bit of horror to any story will draw the reader in and truly make them fear for the characters.

This genre plays off of the reader's emotions and not only makes them fear for the characters but also themselves in a way. Sometimes the best was to come up with a horror element is to use your own fear for the starting point. Gordon really emphasized this and had us do an exercise where we took an experience in our own life (good or bad) and asked "What if it hadn't been alright?" Rick had us write down our most terrifying experience and told us to start from there.

The other comment I liked was that in horror you don't have to have answers for everything. It is the unanswered questions that really get people thinking. Rick talked about how at the end of the Thriller music video you think that it is a dream until Michael Jackson turns around and you see his eyes are yellow, but make sure not too leave too many unanswered questions.

While I don't think that I will be writing horror novels, but I will be adding elements or horror to my story just to get the emotions of the reader and add depth to what I write.