Hello, help would be appreciated ;P

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What appeals to you the most in horror fiction?


  • Total voters
    34

A.B.Smith

Member
Apr 19, 2014
17
148
63
Hood River, Oregon
Hello night Creature. Love the handle. I grew up with the edge of black and white thrillers, Chaney and the gang. 4 older siblings with great imaginations. I like my creepy's to be creepy and plots that make me guess whats coming. Like several others have mentioned, detail is nice, but too much restricts my imagination. I have been so excited to see one of my favorite books turned film,and have the characters actually be like I envisioned them. Remember what doesn't make you 'crap' your pants, might give someone else a fright attack. And Welcome.
 

Kitten

Well-Known Member
Nov 30, 2006
1,186
1,738
Texas
OMG! What do you think about this preview on Mr. Mercedes?! What a skarey person! That's going to be one of those books I will read and then at points try and decide if I want to turn the next page. What skarey thought of Mr. Mercedes is going to be hiding on the next page? Of course, that means it's going to be a page turner ... probably one of those books I won't be able to put down until I finish it. To top it off, ... I think too much. So, I will probably be trying to figure everything out while I'm reading the book.
 

carrie's younger brother

Well-Known Member
Mar 8, 2012
5,428
25,651
NJ
Hi, I'm the Night Creature.
I'm a young author who'd like some help with horror writing. I think I'm doing okay so far, but my writing isn't jump-out-of-your-seat-and-crap-your-pants scary.
By the way, it would be cool if you'd introduce yourselves. I don't think I know anyone on here.
Thanks :)
Welcome! :howdy:
I'm carrie's younger brother. Nice to meet you Night Creature.

A creepy/scary "monster" always gets me. In Gerald's Game, though not an outright horror story, the Space Cowboy creeps me out to no end. Just the description of him and his bizarre behavior makes my hair stand on end. I don't think I will ever forget that character.
The reason he "speaks" to me so much is because I have always had a fear of someone just appearing out of the dark. SK knows our primal fears, captures them in a "monster" of sorts, and then exploits those fears in such a way that it gets under our skin and haunts us. That's a great lesson learned to apply to your writing.
 
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skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
15,683
92,168
USA
Welcome Night Creature. Personally, I don't need a lot of gore. I just need a good story plot with believable characters fleshed out enough to be familiar, you know, just real folks. Good dialogue and interesting dialogue. When the people are anchored in reality and familiarity, anything that happens to them supernaturally or otherworldly is totally something I will get on board with. If I made any sense there.
Couldn't have said it better myself, DJ. Perfect.
 

KINGSMAN129

Well-Known Member
Jun 30, 2013
1,669
4,643
B.F.E. MISSOURI
Hi, I'm the Night Creature.
I'm a young author who'd like some help with horror writing. I think I'm doing okay so far, but my writing isn't jump-out-of-your-seat-and-crap-your-pants scary.
By the way, it would be cool if you'd introduce yourselves. I don't think I know anyone on here.
Thanks :)
Wishing a wonderful WELCOME to all SK Creatures of the Night! MUHUHUHUAHAHAHA! ;)
Now that FORMALITIES are out of the way, PERSONALLY my taste in horror FICTION runs the gamut, however I AGREE with my fellow SK FANS in that I believe you need to have well written characters that people can IDENTIFY with, and/or come to LOVE, that way it gives it more meaning & TERROR should they encounter something that RIPS THEIR HEAD OFF on the next page! ;)
 

EMTP513

Well-Known Member
Oct 31, 2012
503
1,923
Oh, I don't know. Everything in horror seems so TAME next to what I've done at work over the last month. And anyway, when I tried to write horror based on what I see at work the editor working with me didn't even believe it was real, which annoyed me but never mind. I stopped writing after it became clear that he was never going to want realism.
Horror stories have nothing on what I've seen in the past month. Most people can't handle hearing about pregnant women and their unborn children dying because of violence done on purpose - as opposed to train wrecks and car crashes.
 

lovely1

Well-Known Member
May 16, 2010
337
437
Trinidad and Tobago
Personally I like when an author doesn't reveal everything and just let's my imagination loose, since I can do the place holding no need for too much detailed description either that can become cumbersome and boring and distract a reader from the story and characters. The more anchored in reality that the story is the more the horror can ensue, and the more believable it becomes to me. I don't like gore all that much. A creepy atmosphere, well developed characters and the place in which the characters inhabit trumps all.
 

50's Kid

Well-Known Member
Aug 12, 2014
291
1,110
Detroit
I would just write what you feel. Eventually, you will find the right balance, and your own “voice”. You can always go back and modify the story later. Remember, most of writing is re-writing, but always save the original drafts, in case you change your mind and want to go back to all or part of the original passage(s).

Normal situations that suddenly are disrupted by terrible things are what I find frightening. That feeling of being controlled by malicious, unfeeling forces probably goes back to my childhood, which is thankfully over. I think this lack of being in control of our lives is something most of us can identify with. Whenever there is a violent attack in the news, I still get little flashbacks, like PTSD, so I have to change the news channel often, or just not watch the news at all. I was almost in the twin towers on 9-11, researching a script I was finishing, which would have been ironic, given the content of that particular story.

I don't like too much gore; it just seems like lazy writing. A scream, followed by a "crunch" or “dull thud” off-screen can get the point across, leaving the rest to our fertile imaginations, although I have gotten descriptive (blood and brain matter flowing out of still-smoking bullet holes in the skull, etc.), in some of my writing. But, I try to use that graphic stuff sparingly.

Real terror can be worse than death, because it goes on and on, and there is that lack of being in control of one’s situation.

And, yes, the characters should be fleshed out; real people you can identify with. Along with that, I find the ever-increasing trend of trivializing the deaths of innocents disturbing. Each of those expendables represent real people in the context of a story or movie. They all had [virtual] lives, with childhoods, people who loved them, and hopes for the future. Too often, they are only seen as cardboard props, which only tends to decrease the value of the average human life in the minds of the readers/viewers, and desensitizes us to human suffering.

This is how terrorists view anyone but themselves, and it is not a good place for humanity to be headed.

A good story, with well-developed characters, should come first, with the appropriate (minimum necessary to get the job done) amount of gore added, not the other way around. Mr. King does this well. Another of my heroes is Rod Serling, who inspired me to be a writer. I used to watch the Twilight Zone on Friday nights, as a young kid. Talk about needing a change of underwear and imagining things later in the dark…:O_O:
 
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MissTallica

Well-Known Member
Oct 8, 2007
116
200
Lisboa, Portugal
Hi, I'm the Night Creature.
I'm a young author who'd like some help with horror writing. I think I'm doing okay so far, but my writing isn't jump-out-of-your-seat-and-crap-your-pants scary.
By the way, it would be cool if you'd introduce yourselves. I don't think I know anyone on here.
Thanks :)

Hello Night Creature!
As an avid reader of horror fiction I think what I really enjoy in a book is originality within the genre! :joyous:
Good luck with your writing!
 
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ClaireB76

Life is a state of mind
Mar 1, 2013
204
967
47
Perth, Australia
Hey Night Creature,

I think it's more what you don't know, and what you, as a writer, don't say....does that make any sense? I recently read the debut novel of Josh Malerman called Bird Box, and that was the scariest thing I've read for a while. If you can, get hold of a copy. I think it might give you some ideas. Best of luck with your writing!
 
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Demeter

Well-Known Member
Apr 23, 2008
538
1,424
Unexpected turns, psychological terror rather than gore; good character with a dark streak or a villain with a shred of humanity; inanimate objects with hidden powers, scenes that take place in the dark, premonitory dreams.
 
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