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Printed from https://writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/12147-Horror-Needs-Emotion.html
Horror/Scary: August 30, 2023 Issue [#12147]




 This week: Horror Needs Emotion
  Edited by: W.D.Wilcox Author IconMail Icon
                             More Newsletters By This Editor  Open in new Window.

Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter



“Vampires, real vampires, didn't nibble on the necks of nubile young virgins. They tore people to pieces and sucked the blood out of the chunks. ”
-David Wellington, 99 Coffins

“Normal is an illusion. What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly.”
-Charles Addams

"Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk."
-Robert Bloch

"The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door…"
-Frederic Brown, Knock

"Everybody is a book of blood; wherever we’re opened, we’re red."
-Clive Barker

“Sometimes the things in our heads are far worse than anything they could put in books or on film.”
-C.K.Webb

“Monsters are real, ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.”
-Stephen King




Word from our sponsor



Letter from the editor

Horror Needs Emotion



Horror is an emotion that is characterized by a physical response to the thought of a monster. A monster can be defined as any nonexistent (according to reigning scientific belief) being that is both threatening and impure (impurity can be created via category jamming, contagion, and/or disgust). The reader realizes that the monster is both threatening and impure, and learns how to react to the monster, via the reactions of the fictional human characters.

Don't just use the scares and the gore, but use heartfelt emotions just like writing in any genre.

Use all your senses rather than just what people can see. For example . . . .

Then the stench hit him. … It smelled like something rotting in an open grave. … Her eyes grew wide, staring at something behind him. She screamed.

Or how about the sense of touch . . . .

Something brushed his shoulder, and he bit back a shout. His body was electrified, sweat thick around his ankles and armpits and trickling down the ladder of his spine. The monster is going to get me.

Horror needs emotion. Use all the senses to make your reader feel it.





Editor's Picks

Feel the Horror


 
STATIC
The Man in the Window Open in new Window. (13+)
Just one of the times I came close to death as a sick child.
#784903 by 👼intuey Author IconMail Icon

STATIC
A Winter Vacation Open in new Window. (18+)
Joanie needed to get away to relax... a 2017 Quill Award Nominee
#2109955 by Jim Hall Author IconMail Icon

Good Girl Open in new Window. (18+)
She hadn't been a bad girl... had she?
#2302627 by NaNoKit Author IconMail Icon

STATIC
Erin and Aidan's Magical Evening Open in new Window. (13+)
Cliffhanger story with two children, fairies, an angel and a demon. 805 words
#2156321 by 🌻 thankful pwheeler nanoing Author IconMail Icon

STATIC
Nightwings Open in new Window. (13+)
I am haunted by nightmares... I rarely dream.
#2301160 by Kåre เลียม Enga Author IconMail Icon

Pinchopper Lanes Open in new Window. (13+)
Morbid humor. A man does what he deems necessary to continue bowling on Friday nights.
#2282498 by Bobby Lou Stevenson Author IconMail Icon

STATIC
The Photograph of Carolina Stump Open in new Window. (18+)
A writer finds an old photograph and discovers a horrifying secret...
#1149464 by W.D.Wilcox Author IconMail Icon

 
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Word from Writing.Com

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Ask & Answer

DEAD LETTERS


W.P. Gerace Author Icon
Greetings W.D.,
I do hope you are doing well today my friend. Thank you for this newsletter. I struggle with this a lot. I will write strong for a bit a few weeks maybe a month then start thinking my stuff isn't good or second guessing which I do in other areas of my life to then I just stop. I have recently gone through that after leaving writing for some time I recently came back then these last few weeks I am starting to go through that thinking again. I think the trick with me is to believe in myself and just realize I got this. It is just hard for me to put that into action. I truly appreciate your newsletter. It helps tons. Have a beautiful blessed day my friend. :) :)
Yours Truly,
Bill G.


NaNoNette Author Icon
This newsletter spoke from my heart. I do feel as if I have fallen out of love with writing. Something new that I started last week and want to try for all of August is to have two days a week where I don't use any social media. Time at the computer should be spent on must-do tasks or writing. Last week, I ended up liking two of my older chapters after a long time of not even wanting to look at them. Positive changes help.


Sumojo Author Icon
Thank you so much for including my story, ‘Desecration,’ in this newsletter.
I appreciate the exposure.
Cheers Sue


Beholden Author Icon
Thank you very much for including my short story, The Swing, amongst your Editor's Picks.



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