 Horror/Scary: December 28, 2010 Issue [#4150] |
  Horror/Scary
This week: Making Words Powerful Edited by: Leger~  
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The purpose of this newsletter is to help the Writing.com author hone their craft and improve their skills. Along with that I would like to inform, advocate, and create new, fresh ideas for the horror/scary author. Write to me if you have an idea you would like presented.
This week's Horror/Scary Guest Editor
Leger~
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Making Words Powerful
Powerful words, especially in the horror/scary genre can be an important tool to your story. When painting an image for the setting of your story, choosing the best words possible is important. You want your reader to see what you're seeing in your mind as you write. Better yet, you want them adding the elements that scare them most. A rustle in the dark becomes what the reader is frightened of, whether it's a rabid raccoon or a stealthy vampire, you want your reader's blood pressure to rise just a bit as they move through your words.
Onomatopoeia can work as well as a door slam in real life. Unexpected words halting the action and stopping your reader momentarily can distract or focus, depending on your intent. Alliteration can work as well as a snake slithering through dry leaves on a fall day if used correctly. Short staccato bursts of words are just as successful as bullets riddling the wall behind you.
Not only choosing the right word is important, but also think about the way you deliver them. Try not to weaken your sentences with bad grammar. Weed out what isn't necessary and stick to the image at hand. Readers don't need to know the character has long, flowing hair unless it's important to the scene. You want your reader looking through the scope of a gun with you...not thinking about how Fabio-like the soldier's hair is. Descriptions of characters should happen during introduction, outside the important moments in the scene.
So next time you're writing your creepiest, think about the impact of your words, and edit them to fit your scene.
This month's question: What do you do to make your writing stronger? Send in your reply below! 
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#1734917 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: The man on the other side sighed. “I have killed a man, Father.”
Father Carmino grasped the pendant hanging from his rosary, a silver cross inlayed with gold. It was cold to the touch.
“And,” the man continued, “I must kill again.”
Excerpt: Footsteps in the night, / In shadow they always come.
Excerpt: The sea was icy black. The man’s breath labored behind the heavy strokes of his arms and the weighted kicks of his legs. Where am I? The thought came with a surge of panic, as a rush of black fluid entered his lungs - causing deep, violent coughs. The sound of his lungs rejecting the liquid echoed within his being. His mind raced, as he attempted to pull fragmented thoughts together and grasp some understanding. He felt so cold and naked. Death is here…I know it. Please help me get out… don’t want to die in this place...
Excerpt: While sitting in the corner of the dark dinning room he thought about vegetables. Why was the main course always vegetables? Why was he forced to eat them? He wanted to eat meat sometimes. Are we basically born… cannibals? Vegetables… always those damned vegetables.
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#1687604 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: In robbing the local roller-rink, he proved himself to be as clumsy with a crowbar as he had been with the tax codes. The police caught John sitting on the floor of the Skateway’s office, a handkerchief wrapped around a huge gash in his palm dripping blood onto the carpet, the burglar alarm still clanging for attention.
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#1732483 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: "I've told them to be good. I've told them to behave. Yet, every year I see the same names upon this list for the same reasons they got here in the first place," Santa grumbled as he sat in his office squinting at the black words upon his ever lengthening scroll. "Marcus Flint can't keep himself from beating his family."
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#1612796 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: If you like Horror, Gothic, Dark Sci-fi, Dark Fantasy or anything else related to the Horror genre then please feel free to sign up.
Excerpt: .In her hands, Lisa Robicheaux twisted a handkerchief that she dug out of her white leather purse before we started. Maybe she expected to break down and cry, or perhaps she just needed something to help siphon off nervous tension. "It's always the same, Dr. Kendrick," she said. "Always a metallic flash, like from a knife, off to my side - too quick and too far to the left or right for me to see it clearly." She gave the handkerchief another twist.
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This month's question: What do you do to make your writing stronger?
Send in your reply below! Editors love feedback 
Some Horror/Scary Contests
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#617470 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: Write a horror story using an ordinary object as the focus of evil. I am not looking for pure gore, let the readers use their imaginations. This contest is in the tradition of authors such as Stephen King and Dean Koontz. They take an everyday occurrence, or item, and manipulate it to terrify their readers.
Excerpt: Can you write a truly terrible tale? Are you skilled at writing frightening fiction? Are your stories truly... sinister? If so, you've come to the right place!
Excerpt: Every week I will post a new contest - this will be made up of a Horror Sub-genre, a Horror Style (both are listed and explained below - please have a read), and a Prompt - this may be one of my own or taken from the groups Prompt Page. |
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Product Type: Kindle Store
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Amazon's Price: $ 5.99
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