Horror/Scary
This week: Horror Incites Fear / Terror Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading More Newsletters By This Editor
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Welcome to this week's WDC Horror/Scary Newsletter ~ where the mundane takes a back seat to the realm of the unknown, a realm of limitless possibilities. When I listen, sometimes I even hear.
Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment.
There is no why.
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.
Edgar Alan Poe |
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Greetings, fellow afficionados of the dark, speculative world of horror. I propose to you that a good horror story, in prose or verse, is a poetry, a conversation between the writer and reader. The depth of perception and detail in horror is like that in a poem. Horror evokes a sense of terror, a mood, that draws the reader into the otherworld the writer creates, whether that 'otherworld' be somebody's backyard or a world envisioned in outer space, or even another realm.
Think about it, don't you find yourself whispering aloud or mouthing the words in a really vivid horror story (prose or verse)? Reading aloud to taste the words and sense the image being created. This is the 'dialogue' between writer and reader, and I think it's most dynamic in horror fiction. What causes me to cringe may be ordinary to you, but if I present it so that you can see it with my eyes; smell, touch, taste and hear it as I do, by use of words, then you can sense my horror and enter my 'otherworld,' creating our conversation.
A tale of horror, in prose or verse, is one that provokes fear or terror in readers - a sense of dread or anxiety from a given image - tangible or envisioned - a foreshadowing of impending doom. Let's explore how we engage the senses including the mind, with vivid images horrific that incite fear and terror.
I think horror in all its versatile forms (subgenres) is two stories, whether presented in verse or prose - the story of both the main character, and that of his/her environment or surroundings. The setting is inscribed by the writer with a personality of its own, which interacts with that of the character(s) engaged with the surroundings.
The horror tale takes the reader on a journey where the ordinary becomes unfamiliar as it gets entangled with supernatural or surreal elements; a common, known entity, item, or place becomes unfamiliar, alien to the character (and reader).
Horror tales explore the dark, malevolent side of humanity, whether or not the characters are human. The tone or mood of the tale quickly becomes bleak and menacing, for a visceral response by the reader.
The main character is one to whom (or what) the reader can relate or in some way understand, feel kinship or empathy for, as they (character and reader) tread deeper into the tale.
Lives often depend on the protagonist's success in surmounting or destroying the cause of the horror, as he/she encounters frightening and unexpected events or influences.
There is violence, either served directly upon the protagonist, or characters he/she encounters.
Most horror stories are told in third person, not to distance readers, but to allow them to engage the horror, even when from several points of view, based on their experience, as though they also are seeing and sensing, feeling and knowing, what the characters experience. This way, as story teller, you can expand description of the setting (the other character we noted earlier) to evoke dread, foreboding, making the ultimate horror believable, memorable, terrifying.
So, you see, with all its versatility, horror writing does have common elements, ways in which you, the creative writer, evoke horror in your readers.
Engage your readers, as well as your characters, in horror that is just around the corner, weave your web of words, ever there just outside the corner of your eye
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Write On
Kate
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Now, for some tales of horror to terrify, and places to weave your own web of horror
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Thank you for the safe respite in your virtual homes. Until we next meet, may the horror you weave remain outside your door and windows. But wait, what's running across the roof
Write On
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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