Oh the HORROR!!!

[ABSTRUSE]

In light of the upcoming Halloween contest I was wondering about the writing of horror itself.
What is it to you that makes for a good horror story?
Is it the supernatural element, creatures, the psychological things???
Do you like to be scared?
and What's the scariest thing you have read...other than the news and vcr instructions?

Abs...the curious.

 

[cloudy]

I think tension is what makes a good scary story for me. That feeling that something just might jump out at you at any moment. Stephen King's "It" is probably one of my favorite horror stories. Which brings to mind something else: horror stories that are dropped right into the middle of everyday life are somehow scarier.

Most of his horror stories don't even make me bat an eye, but that one was worth a few shudders.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I think tension is what makes a good scary story for me. That feeling that something just might jump out at you at any moment. Stephen King's "It" is probably one of my favorite horror stories. Which brings to mind something else: horror stories that are dropped right into the middle of everyday life are somehow scarier.

Most of his horror stories don't even make me bat an eye, but that one was worth a few shudders.

YES! Tension works well. The Wolfen scared me, not the movie that sucked, but the whole surprise element.
Waiting to turn the page to see what happens next is always fun.

 

[scheherazade_79]

What scares most people is the unknown. Death is usually our biggest fear, because it's the ultimate unknown.

I've never written any horror, but if I did I'd give the readers several nasty surprises. Lead them into thinking one thing, then sweep the carpet out clean from under them.

Seeing people do something you'd never expect them to do is always a winner for me. The scene at the end of The Wicker Man horrified me. For those of you who've never seen the film, a police man goes to a remote Scottish island to investigate a missing girl. He's actually been lured there to be the sacrifice to a pagan god, but you only realise this at the end when he's imprisoned in a large wicker frame in the shape of a man. It's packed with other animal sacrifices - sheeps, goats, chickens, etc. Then it's set alight and wheeled off the cliff while the villagers, including children, all dance and sing. It was just so weird and unexpected that I felt throughly shaken.

Another movie moment that got me was in The Shining when Jack Nicholson goes on that writing frenzy for several days. You think he's writing an epic, because there are stacks of pages on his table. Then his wife scans through them and sees that all he's written is "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"....

I guess it's all about creating masks, then pulling them away and revealing something much darker.

 

[impressive]

What is it to you that makes for a good horror story?

Bea Arthur.

 

[Alex756]

Personally I think horror falls into 3 distinct areas.

#1 is more suspense 100% possible. Alot of thrillers get put in this area, like Silance of the lambs, now THAT was scary. The important part of this type is that the evil is human. I like this type of horror alot, the realism makes it so close to the real world, that it makes you double check the locks on you rdoors.

#2 is what I call morality horror (I have no idea what other people call it) This is horror having to do with spiritual/religeous beliefs. I know a few good japanese examples I am blanking on but will fill in if I can recall, but from a more american standpoint, thinks like the story of Emily Rose. The evil is really true evil

#3 is the lions share of what we think of as horror. There is something differant in the world, be it vampires or whatnot. But its still similar to the real world. My favorite example is the work of HP Lovecraft for that. But ore common examples would be Anne Rice's world of vampires, or whatever special effects blockbuster with slimey monsters is in the theatres this month.

I mostly write in the realm of #3, occasionally #1.

The thing that I feel makes something scary if for it to be soo close to reality that you don't realize things are fanciful at first, Anne Rice does that VERY well in her vampire chronicles. Also she makes her monsters more than just a special effect, they are true characters.

Tension is needed in any story really, not just horror. What horror needs is that little piece than makes you think twice. It needs a hint at the unknown.

While alot of horror falls onto something like ghosts or vampires, the thing is the GOOD fiction with those differentiates itself from the mythos. Rice Vampires for example have their own strengths and weaknesses and bloodlines and such which while grounded in mostly carpathian lore, also borrow from other areas, AND diverge from other areas as well.

Back when I wrote some ghost stories for a little mag, I tried to differenciate what I was calling a ghost and what the common ghost mythos imply, but still based in it, since its a footing for the reader.

Now I'm writing demon stories, but while based in typical demon lore. Fangs and horns and a taste for blood, I've also differentiated my demons from typical demons in any one mythos.

My taking something strange and bringing it to the 'real world' it thins the veil between the monsterous and the mundane. Bringing the super natural close enough to make a reader check a lock really is the goal as I see it.

-Alex

 

[Salvor-Hardon]

Bea Arthur.

*snort*

AAAAAUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

 

[Typo Fu Master]

A good horror story that is believable ... plausible. This may not be precisely "horror", but Raymond E. Feist's "Faerie Tale" was an excellent read. It made the realm of faeries interacting with humans believable.

I don't generally enjoy being scared, but I'll read a thriller once in a while.

As for the scariest book I've read ... I don't know the name, and I wasn't the one reading it, but a long time ago, I was a boy scout away at summer camp, and our scout leader read us something on a cold, rainy night that literally had my knees knocking.

 

[rgraham666]

For me, the most horrifying thing is powerlessness. That you are in a situation and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

Also power misused is quite horrifying to me. The end of Hannibal, the book that is, really creeped me out.

The unknown and not quite seen is bad. H. P. Lovecraft was damn good at this in my opinion.

The scariest story I ever read is The Screwfly Solution by Racoona Sheldon. You will not sleep well after reading that.

 

[Kassiana]

Horror authors, please take note:

Graphic descriptions of pain, as in the pain of a collarbone being kept from healing or the pain of having a limb removed, are NOT HORROR. They are DISGUSTING.

Thank you.

 

[impressive]

There is a huge difference (to me) between HORROR and GORE. One is psychological. The other, physical.

I've no use for gore in either reading or viewing material. Gratuitious retch factor. Blech! When the gore in King's books overtook the horror, I stopped reading his stuff. The poor translation of HORROR books into GORE movies is the main reason such are often so disappointing.

 

[Typo Fu Master]

There is a huge difference (to me) between HORROR and GORE. One is psychological. The other, physical.

I've no use for gore in either reading or viewing material. Gratuitious retch factor. Blech! When the gore in King's books overtook the horror, I stopped reading his stuff. The poor translation of HORROR books into GORE movies is the main reason such are often so disappointing.

Agreed. "Gorror" does nothing for me.

There was another author that wrote medical thrillers that I enjoyed as well. Can't remember the name, but one book I recall was "Coma." There were many others.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

The first chapter if the Merck Manual of Medical Diagnostics is pretty damned frightening. It's on tropical diseases and Parasitology, the various unsavory characters that can take up residence in your body, how they get there, and what they do once they're inside you.

You have to be in the right mood to be taken by horror. One time during finals week in college when I was close to nervous exhaustion, I happened to pick up Charles Fort's Book of the Damned and read about a snow flake that fell somewhere that was five feet in diameter.

The idea that Nature could be just so completely bizarre coupled with my frazzled nerves just gave me the screaming horrors for a few days.

--Zoot

P.S. There's a story called "The Graveyard Rats" about a graverobber who tunnels into the new graves to rob the bodies. He gets trapped in his tunnel during a big rain storm and the rats start gathering. That was pretty good too.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

The first chapter if the Merck Manual of Medical Diagnostics is pretty damned frightening. It's on tropical diseases and Parasitology, the various unsavory characters that can take up residence in your body, how they get there, and what they do once they're inside you.

[/ QUOTE]
I've seen those pictures....*shudder*

Thank you all for answering.

 

[Alex756]

I think gore has a use.

YES it is often over used. But the true masters can weave it in and it is all the more scary.

Would "It puts the lotion on its skin" be nearly as scary without the incredibly gorey knowlegde of what 'its skin' is going to be used for? I still shiver at the recollection of that line.

gore for gore's sake, no. But monsters, human or non human, are not nice. they do not follow our social morals.

-Alex

 

[Dar~]

Robin Cook and Michael Palmer write medical thrillers. Coma is by Robin Cook. It was really good. The other one I thought was really good was Vector. Its about Anthrax and I read it before all the 9/11 stuff. Very frightening.

I also think that gore is overused. The most heart stopping movie I have ever seen is Stir of Echoes. The way the plot runs, I found myself jumping out of my seat very often.

In a novel I want to have to keep reading. I don't want to be able to break the spell. One book that did that for me was Servants of Twilight by Dean R. Koontz. I just had to keep reading. I have read that book many more times, I know it by heart, yet still I get sucked intot he spell of the writing and can't stop.

 

[Typo Fu Master]

Robin Cook and Michael Palmer write medical thrillers. Coma is by Robin Cook. It was really good. The other one I thought was really good was Vector. Its about Anthrax and I read it before all the 9/11 stuff. Very frightening.

Robin Cook. That's the one. I think I've read Vector as well.

I own Stir of Echoes. Excellent movie.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

I was very proud of my "Hitchhiker", because it had a twist at the end that was impossible to explain; just a little detail, but one that led people to scream for a sequel, an explanation, MORE!

I like stories that make you jump. Like, when the hero and the helpless cheerleader spend the whole movie running away from the monsters, and just when they're safe, and you think the movie's over - the hero's eyes turn yellow, and he grows fangs...

I like the unexpected.

 

[iztheo]

For me, the best horror story is one that builds up the tension but never actually lets you "see" what's out there. Leaving it up to the reader's imagination lets the reader insert their own nightmares ... and what can be worse than that?

The book that always made me want to sleep with the light on was Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. In spite of the fact that it freaked me out, I read it about 10 times when I was younger. I think that the Robert Wise film version captured the tension and suspense perfectly and still sends a shiver down my spine when I watch it.

Out of the modern horror films, I'd have to say that Blair Witch Project and Candyman (yeah, its gory, but something about still gets me) are my favourites. Most other "horror" films are slasher/gorefests and despite the odd surprise of a cat jumping out of a dark corner, they really don't stay with me.

 

[rgraham666]

I'm thinking of the creepiest scene I've ever seen in a movie.

The movie was The Changeling starring George C. Scott.

What he does is throw this simple rubber ball into a river. You know the one, red and blue with a white stripe. He does this because the ball keeps appearing in his new house. It's freaking him out.

He drives back home and as he walks in the front door, the ball comes bouncing down the stairs and it's wet!

Had to peel me off the ceiling after that.

Note: you saw nothing but the ball and that was quite enough, thank you.

On gore. It can play a part in a story if it's related to the plot.

If it's like car chases on bad TV series, where the writer need to fill five minutes with something, gore doesn't work.

 

[yui]

I'm thinking of the creepiest scene I've ever seen in a movie.

The movie was The Changeling starring George C. Scott.

What he does is throw this simple rubber ball into a river. You know the one, red and blue with a white stripe. He does this because the ball keeps appearing in his new house. It's freaking him out.

He drives back home and as he walks in the front door, the ball comes bouncing down the stairs and it's wet!

Had to peel me off the ceiling after that.

And you would have to peel me off, too! Eep!

Supernatural elements and suspense work for me. What I don't see, or only glimpse of, or tell myself I couldn't have just seen, is what scares me … and things like "The Exorcist"; that movie scares the piss out of me.

I typically skip the gratuitous gore.

 

[Halo_n_horns]

I've never read anything that scared me in the way of fiction. Suspensful? Yes. Scarey? No. The only movie to ever put some butterflies in my stomach was the American version of "The Grudge." That was some good shit there.

The things that scare me always have to do with some sort of real-life horror or atrocity against women and/or children. I've even incorporated something horrific against an infant into one of my stories here at Lit.

Outside of that, I'd be an exceptionally tough nut for anyone to crack in the way of getting me scared from a piece of fiction. I'd also probably be one of the toughest critics of it since I've loved "horror" since I was a kid.

 

[Boota]

I really wanted to be a horror writer, but I've ended up doing primarily dark comedy. LOL. Oh well. I have written one horror story that is pending publication and it is probably about an even mix of horror and gore. The thing that makes it scary to people is the realism. I have some supernatural elements in it, but for the most part the situation is something that you could easily see happening, minus the "monsters". It's been classified as erotic horror, but there really isn't anything erotic about it. It's just creepy sexual horror. The call for submissions wanted something where the bad guys win and I just happened have this sick piece of work sitting around looking for a home.

 

[Guest]

i dont like horror, real life is scary enough. however, funny horror is fine...for me.

 

[rgraham666]

i dont like horror, real life is scary enough. however, funny horror is fine...for me.

Being a funny horror yourself, I can understand this opinion.