describing gore in detail, or by writing about monsters or serial killers, or by
setting a ... As with all forms of writing, horror writing requires that the writer
research ...
How to Write Horror Writing good horror is not as easy as it may sound. One cannot get away with by simply describing gore in detail, or by writing about monsters or serial killers, or by setting a story in spooky environs. Much like a good horror movie must rely on more than pop-scares and grossout sequences, a good horror story must rely on more than cheap, easy thrills. There are four qualities a horror story absolutely must possess; these are a good research base, an unsettling atmosphere, interesting and believable characters, and style. As with all forms of writing, horror writing requires that the writer research whatever it is he or she intends to write about. If the one wishes to write about a serial killer, it is in their best interest to do a substantial amount of research about serial killers. If one wishes to write a story set in the let 19th century, then they should read up on that time period. The purpose of research is to get the details right, which will add credibility to the story. If the author of a story uses, for example, the words "psychotic" and "psychopathic" interchangeably to describe his villain, he has failed in his research and lost credibility; a writer who researched would know that the two words have incredibly different meanings. Research must be done in order to create a unsettling but believable atmosphere, which is the second quality all good horror stories must possess. This can be achieved primarily in two different ways. The easier of the two is to simply set your story in a place that has a lot of potential to be creepy, like a cemetery or any kind of abandoned building. Places like these are intrinsically spooky, and the reader will not need much coaxing to believe that the atmosphere of the setting is eerie. The second, and arguably better, way to create atmosphere is, well, to actually create it. Set the scene with good description. Edgar Allan Poe does a fine job of creating atmosphere in the opening of "The Fall of the House of Usher," when he describes the
crumbling familial manor. The major reason the atmosphere created in "The Fall of the House of Usher" is so effective is that the decay of the manor in the story mirrors the mental decay of the main character, Roderick Usher. Effective atmosphere and setting can only go so far without effective characters to populate it. To be effective, the character must be both believable and interesting. If the character is believable but not interesting, nobody will want to read about them. If the character is interesting but not believable, as may more often be the case, reading about them will become tedious and grating. In her short story, "Z.Z.'s Sleep-Away Camp for Disordered Dreamers," Karen Russell does an excellent job of characterization. Though all of her characters are incredibly 'out there,' they all have a realistic quality to them; particularly the narrator, a young teenage boy with retro-active prophetic nightmares. We read him describe his crush as "[smelling] like dinner. Barbecue sauce, the buttery whiff of potato foil" but "Because it's Emma, it's still sort of hot"(Russell 49). This is a fantastic characterization, both of the narrator and Emma. It is both human and quirky, and all-together likable. This is important in any kind of literature, but it's especially important in horror. After all, we're rooting for the good guys. Likewise, the "scary" or "villainous" characters must be interesting and believable, though perhaps the emphasis should be more on the interesting for the villain. (Unless, of course, the story you are writing makes a point to say that "we are the real monsters," in which case your villain should be every bit as human and believable as your hero.) These scary characters should also have an element of mystery to them; while it often works in the writer's favor to acquaint the reader well with the hero of the story, knowing too much about the villain will kill suspense. For example in John Connolly's wholly unnerving story "The Erlking," hardly anything is told about the villain aside from that he is very ancient and he lures children to him
with promises of toys and affection, and it is implied that he murders them. From Connolly we can not only learn the art of mystery, but we can learn style. What is stylish in a horror story differs quite greatly from what is stylish in any other kind of writing; most writing must be thoroughly tasteful to be stylish, but this is not so with horror As Douglas E. Winter states in his article, "Darkness Absolute: The Standards of Excellence in Horror Fiction," "The risks of bad taste are obvious; but in the words of James Herbert, 'You can forgive virtually anything—any perversion, any nastiness—if it's really done with style'"(Winter 127). And for horror writers, this is entirely true. There is no horror story in existence that does not in some way delve into the distasteful, but when the distasteful is written about in a compelling and stylish way, it is easy to forgive the writer. A shining example of this phenomenon would be in John Connolly's "The Bridal Bed," which ends with the implication that the narrator is about to consummate his love with his murdered, buried, and exhumed fiancée. Gross, right? Not really, because it's well-written and it's only implied. Towards the end of the story, the narrator says of his dead bride, "She was cold, but it was a cold night. Soon, she would be warm again"(Connolly 414). This is just enough to creep the reader out and lead them to their own conclusions, but it does not beat the reader over the head with nastiness. When it comes to horror, this is the best policy.
Addendum: How To Write Vampires
Vampires are quickly on their way to becoming boring horror clichés, but this needn't be the case. Vampires can be quite interesting and compelling in horror stories, when they are written in a unique manner. The best way to create interesting vampires is to first break them down into their simplest parts, and then build off of that. One trait that all vampires must share
is that they drain their victims of something, usually blood, but occasionally a story is written with "psychic vampires." For the purposes of horror written, either type can work well, the the more traditional blood-suckers do have a more visceral appeal. After blood-sucking, there are a number of characteristics vampires could have. They could be immortal and unusually seductive, they could be hurt by sunlight; they might have the ability to transform into bats or wolves or clouds of mist; they may be harmed by religious icons. The author can choose whichever characteristics typical of vampires to create the vampires specific to their story. Oftentimes, a twist in common lore or mythology can make a story all the more compelling. For example, Neil Gaiman's "Snow, Glass, Apples" is a re-telling of Snow White in which the evil stepmother is not, actually, evil and Snow White is a vampire. The insertion of a vampire character were one was previously absent makes for an interesting story. Another twist of the typical vampire story can be found in John Connolly's "Miss Froom, Vampire," in which the titular vampire is an attractive older woman who lures young men in by asking them to help her with her garden, and then inviting them in for lunch, revealing herself as a vampire, and tricking them into willingly donating their blood so that she can kill them. In both short stories, very traditional vampire characteristics are given to the vampire characters, but neither tale seems cliché or trite. In short, the thing to do when writing fiction with vampires is to do what's been done before, but to do it in a different way.
Works Cited Cavelos, Jeanne. "Innovation in Horror." On Writing Horror A Handbook by the Horror Writers
Association. By Horror Writers Association. New York: Writers Digest Books, 2006. 108-12. Print. Connolly, John. "Miss Froom, Vampire." Nocturnes. New York: Atria Books, 2005. 247-60. Print. Connolly, John. "The Bridal Bed." Nocturnes. New York: Atria Books, 2005. 405-14. Print. Connolly, John. "The Erlking." Nocturnes. New York: Atria Books, 2005. 93-102. Print. "The Fall of the House of Usher By Edgar Allan Poe | Selected Works | PoeMuseum.org." Edgar Allan Poe Museum : Richmond Virginia : Features Poe's Works, Relics, Photos, and Life.
Web. 1 Dec. 2009.
. Gaiman, Neil. "Snow, Glass, Apples." Smoke and Mirrors. New York: Avon Books, 1998. 331-46. Print. "HowStuffWorks "How Vampires Work"" Howstuffworks "Science" Web. 6 Dec. 2009. . Knight, Tracy. "More Simply Human." On Writing Horror A Handbook by the Horror Writers Association. By Horror Writers Association. New York: Writers Digest Books, 2006. 146-51. Print. Russell, Karen. "Z.Z.'s Sleep-Away Camp for Disordered Dreamers." St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves Stories. New York: Knopf, 2006. 49-71. Print. Winter, Douglas E. "Darkness Absolute: The Standards of Excellence in Horror Fiction." On
Writing Horror A Handbook by the Horror Writers Association. By Horror Writers Association. New York: Writers Digest Books, 2006. 124-31. Print.
