What scares us? And why write about it? Horror is the genre that thrives off those two questions. What makes Horror so enticing and interesting is that explores the things we don’t want to think about or experience but provides distance by being fictional (we hope). Horror exists in varying degrees of explicit, anywhere between the splatterfests that are slasher films to the existential horror induced by the Elder God Cthulhu. Horror has the key characteristic of being insidious, of wanting to inflict mental harm or trauma upon its readers. Horror takes the darkness out of the human mind and forces itself to comprehend it.
Some Types of Horror – 101 Flavours of Terrifying
Psychological Horror
Horror that targets the mind and works to exploit our own mental fears and emotional vulnerabilities. There is a strong association between the character’s waning sanity and a descent into more and more sinister elements. Psychological horror attacks our conception of sanity and makes us question if we are mentally all-put-together. Another angle to work with is having an antagonist who is mentally disturbed and unstable if you want there to be a physical threat present and have that function as the source of tension.
Examples:
Psycho (Demented violin intensifies)
Silence of the Lambs
The Shining (ambiguously paranormal as well)
2. Paranormal Horror
A style of horror that relies on supernatural or mystical entities that present a threat to the protagonists directly or indirectly. Threats are often foreign and inhuman that heavily contrast the rest of the characters. There is a large degree of unintelligibility and this forms a strong disconnect and disparity from which the horror is drawn.
Examples:
Majority of Stephen King
All of H.P. Lovecraft
3. Naturalistic Horror
In many ways it is the inverse of Paranormal where the threat is grounded in some version of reality dictated by the author. A natural horror does not necessarily mean that it is a realistic and in most cases the reader is often required to suspend their disbelief. There is a heavy reliance on psychopathic humans (serial killers) or feral animals (really big sharks) to provide the threat. What makes this style of horror, so hallowing is that we can see reflections of our own reality in these depictions.
Examples:
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
(Regular) Saw
Lake Placid
Side note: of course, few Horror works stick strictly to a single subtype. Mixing it up allows for more interesting and intricate explorations of terror.
Important Elements
Characters
Characters give your reader something to care about and sympathise with. Good characters are not necessarily good people but do give the story and its events more weight. They can also be used as points of projection and self-insertion for the reader if the author opts for more generic and intentional weak characters. Being aware of the tropes and clichés will work greatly in your favour if you either choose to subvert them or compliment them.
Atmosphere
It helps build constant tension and keeps interest between the high points of your plot. Often authors tailor their style of tension to be in line with the style of horror they are writing for.
Horror Itself
What is the cause of the tension? What is threatening your characters? Either actively or passively? As the saying goes there is nothing to fear but fear itself hence why this is so important to do well. Like characters in horror, they have their own brand of clichés and tropes that you do need to take into consideration.
Alternative Mediums:
How do you convey horror in a static medium? Or when you don’t have access to realistic looking characters?
This excerpt discusses how Japanese manga art can be horrific and frightening. It also notes some interesting techniques that support the medium. The video essays also focused on discussing on adapting drawn horror to animated horror is difficult and not always successful.
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