Writer's Fallout Shelter

First, welcome to the Shelter! Now...

RE: "...why in horror is the main aim to scare people?"

That's the genre-accepted definition of horror fiction; Stories that scare the audience by use of some antagonist, usually preternatural in nature. (Not talking about the cliff-hanging saga in which we're afraid our heroine will be run over by a speeding train)

If you give the reader an insight into another world, and that other world scares people, you can pretty well bet your story will fall into one of two categories; pyschological thriller, or horror. Why? Because that's where the readers will place them.

Horror is soooo subjective. What may scare me may not scare anyone esle in this forum. The thing you have to remember is that it really doesn't matter what we writers label the story. It's the readers who will ultimately tell you what you've written. I have a friend who just published a mainstream literary piece. He saw the story has a "coming of age" novel. However, the vast majority of his readers have decided its a love story. My friend is NOT happy with this development, but he understands a simple rule of writing. You can tell whatever story you like, and call it whatever you like. Publishers can tag the book to a certain genre for marketing and shelving purposes. However...

...at the end of the day, the readers will decide for themselves to which genre the story belongs. Aggravating, uh? Maybe so, but that's one of the first Truths of writing. Once that book leaves your hands and hits the shelves, your influence is sorely limited. From that point forward, its the duty (joy) of the reader to interpret for themselves, what you've written.

More on this a little later in the program. :)

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"Have you ever been caught hiding bodies in your closet? No? Good place to hide them, uh?"

Proud member of the Horror Writers Association and the Authors Guild