 Horror/Scary: December 24, 2008 Issue [#2789] |
  Horror/Scary
This week: Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.
Edgar Allan Poe
Is horror a learned reaction, or is it hard-wired into our psyches as sentient beings?
Welcome to this week's WDC Horror/Scary Newsletter, where we journey into the 'dark' side of writing prosaic and poetic.
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Is horror learned, or hard-wired into our psyches? Take out your box of crayons or paints and a sheet of white paper, dab some yellow on the paper, now add red on top. You get orange, right? Now add some green, blue, purple, one color atop the other, and keep going until you've used all but one of the colors in the box. The one color I don't want you to use here is black, because when you're done that's what you will have created on your paper.
All colors of the rainbow are contained in black, as all colors of the rainbow are reflected by white. Hold an opaque crystal to the sun and you will find rainbows refracted from its facets, white light reflects all colors. Think about it - you're warmer on a summer day wearing a black t-shirt than wearing a white t-shirt - the black t-shirt is drawing in the warm light and its colors, while the white shirt reflects the light and colors.
I hold that humans learn to fear the dark, as we unlearn the use of our senses and become two-dimensional reflections of the sensory beings we are at birth, relying on mere sight and sound to frame our daily lives. A baby seeks out and reacts to sights, sounds, scent, touch, and experiments freely with all the senses without assigning merit or value to their manifestations; a child, with 'proper' training, learns to focus, disregarding the sensory input of his/her surroundings.
Now we writers have an arrested development, we've resisted the indoctrination and still perceive our surroundings, our vision, through all or most of our senses. We can share this vision with our readers while we make them run for cover or at least double check that all doors and windows are locked (before they realize the horror lies within ).
Consider the poor little squirrel, its winter pelt mashed into the tar by all-weather tire treads. You pass by and look, shaking your head in pity, then look back as you catch sight of a fingernail in the midsection of the pulverized rodent, then a step closer you note a human finger, mashed but intact. You pinch your nose shut and bend to see better the glint of gold in the coin it's still holding. You've engaged your reader's sense of smell, as well as sight, and what if you decide to take a tissue and wipe the blood to check the image on the coin, or perhaps to remove it; then you're also using touch and the smushing sound to retrieve the coin from the mashed finger. The more senses you engage, the more likely that you will incite horror. Now, the finger could have been a pre-dawn 'snack,' or not; there may be upon further inspection a body nearby, or not; a car with a thick red fluid dripping out of the trunk, or perhaps a bit of flesh from the body stuffed inside, or not. There could be any number of scenarios for your character to perceive and convey with vivid descriptive prose or verse to your reader, drawing them into your vision.
So to instill horror in your readers, to give them a good visceral scare while keeping them reading to uncover the source of the horror and perhaps come out ahead of it -
 Engage all your readers' senses, make them empathize, or at least sympathize, with at least one of the characters, whether the main character or an unwitting victim of circumstance.
Make them recall the sensory delights of childhood as a seemingly normal occurrence or object becomes more (or less) that what the socially indoctrinated adult or young adult expects.
Give your character (and reader) a reason to be horrified by the common image, be it the apparently normal surroundings ominous; or your character's recall of a related incident (good place for a bit of backstory, just don't dwell on it - allude to it so that your reader can image some of the blanks from his/her life experience).
Remove the socialized shell from your reader's eye (and mind) with vivid tactile images that engage all (or most) of the senses - sight, sound, taste, smell, touch, imagination.
Once your reader is engaged, you can then take liberty with the object of your reader's attention and immerse your reader in an otherworld of horror. The finger could have been there before the squirrel, merely lopped of while carelessly cleaning out a lawnmower, or it could be a tidbit taken from a shallow grave, or a residue of acid rain, or a sacrificial token, or whatever horror your muse incites.
Ask the question ~ "What If" ~ the finger was yours? the coin was valuable? the coin smelled like chocolate? the squirrel had three eyes? ~ just go on and you will find something to evoke horror in your character's mind, and by extension, your readers
Horror is not 'black' or 'white,' but but all the colors of the rainbow seen and imagined; not the absence of, rather the manipulationof all the senses, and your readers look forward (with delightful trepidation) to layering color upon color and sense upon sense to first enter, then escape from the 'otherworld' you've created.
If you've a story or poem that poses a creative horrific (or other speculative) answer to your own "what if" ~ consider the Farspace Anthology ~ in its second year of publication by members of our Community ~ here's the link ~ for some good reading as well .
Until we next meet, keep writing!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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Now grab a safe corner and check out the following - where the apparently ordinary is not what it seems.
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Thinking of writing one of your own ~ and for some good reads and ideas ~ check out the following potential for print publication.
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Need some examples and ideas, this challenge offers daily inspiration for the Muse Creative
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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Thank you for unlocking your door (or window) to allow me access to your virtual home for a brief time. Before I overstay the welcome, allow me to share a few comments from members of our Community who read and write horror poetic and prosaic - do stop by their ports for a visit and some good reading
Submitted By: Lauriemariepea  (Do check out her story Basement Jacks featured above
hi, kate--
nice distinction between terror and horror! i enjoyed your example. i like thinking about the possibilities, too, and also the why of horror. why is visceral horror so successful? plenty of obvious answers, but i enjoy exploring them, feeling them out for which one hits me the hardest. thought-provoking newsletter--thanks!
Thanks for your encouragement ~ yes, the answers are obvious, and we as writers can allude to something beyond the surface by engaging our readers' senses with our words prosaic and poetic ~ Keep Writing! and we'll keep reading
Submitted By: Keep it creepy,fuzzy & staiNed 
OHH! Welcome into the dark Manga! Nice newsletter, and Happy Thanksgiving too dear, Black friday! Hehe!
Thanks for your encouragement and your 'warm' welcome. I look forward to sharing my writer's journey into the depths of horror writing!
Submitted By: Acme
Oh, boy! I was with you on that roller coaster, Kate Smashing newsletter
Thanks, my favorite ride is still a fast, high coaster, where the clouds appear but a breath away - see you there
Submitted By: moberein
Would you say, then, that all horror themes involve fear of dying?
Thanks for your provocative question. I don't think it's limited to dying, rather our learned fear of the unknown, of the 'different' and unexpected, and dying for most of us the ultimate unknown. Definitely some things we will explore over the coming months
I wish for you all a holiday season of light, and joy and merriment, and a new year of hope, success, and growth in all you endeavor.
As we gather with family, dear friends, stalwart muse,
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Yuletide Blessings, Joyous Kwanzaa and a Happy New Year^_^
Keep Writing!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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