  Horror/Scary
This week: Horror for the young Edited by: Arakun the twisted raccoon  
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Quote for the week: The thing I find really scary about ghosts and demons is that you don't really know what they are or where they are. They're not very well understood. You don't know what they want from you. So it's the kind of thing you don't even know how to defend yourself against. Anything that's unknown and mysterious is very scary.
~Oren Peli |
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Do you remember the first horror story you ever read or the first scary movie you ever saw? If you were very young when you discovered horror, what made you love to be frightened? What kept you turning pages far into the night instead of throwing the book in the trash and never reading another scary story again?
Writing horror stories for younger readers is especially challenging, because you need to make it scary without exceeding the content rating. However, if you have only written 18+ or GC horror, consider giving writing for kids a try. While the more restrictive content rating might feel too limiting at first, it will actually help improve your horror writing for adults.
The Writing.com content rating which applies to children under the age of 13 is ASR (Adult Supervision Recommended). The content rating system is explained in full in "Content Rating System (CRS)" . Here is the explanation for material that can be given an ASR rating:
ASR:Adult Supervision Recommended Under 13 with Supervision, 13 and Older
This rating signifies that the content of this item should not be viewed by minors alone, but accompanied with adult supervision (parent, guardian, teacher, etc.). The item may contain some content that is not appropriate for readers of less than 13 years of age and is recommended to be read by an adult first to be sure it is appropriate for the minor. The item may contain very mild slang curse words (dang, darn, etc.) or mild derogatory words (idiot, jerk, etc.). Horror and violence may exist at an extremely mild level, but does not exceed moderate levels. There are absolutely no references to sex (other than gender), drugs (illegal), alcohol, graphic violence, harsh or sexually derived cursing, harsh derogatory names, or any combinations thereof.
When writing adult horror, too many writers fall back on graphic violence and gore to scare their readers. People may have different opinions on what constitutes "mild" or "moderate" horror, but extremes of either are inappropriate for children. Even adult readers become immune to the effects of too much gore and violence, so learning to scare without them is a great writing exercise.
While some excellent horror written for adults is too disturbing to be really "fun" to read, scary stories for children should always be fun. Try for a happy ending if at all possible, and you might want to give the scary elements of the story a not-so-scary explanation. Ghosts, witches, and other stock characters of horror stories do not have to be evil, and may even be the protagonists of the story.
Comedy and horror are a great combination in stories for kids. Great examples can be found in the Bunnicula series of books by Deborah and James Howe. These stories have some of the most clever titles ever, including "Howliday Inn" and "The Celery Stalks at Midnight."
Something to try: Write a horror story that fits within the ASR content rating.
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| |  | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#2117791 by Not Available. |
|  | Story Maker (18+)
Gemma loves to read horror stories, and one Halloween she finds out where they come from.
#1818908 by Early  |
| | | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#2120948 by Not Available. |
| | The Better Half (13+)
A ghost returns to her boyfriend, but then must decide if she will stay with him.
#1430416 by Xylch |
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Horror/Scary: June 28, 2017 Issue [#8362]
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