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Printed from https://writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/8847
Horror/Scary: April 11, 2018 Issue [#8847]

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Horror/Scary


 This week: Real Fear
  Edited by: Annette 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

Hello writers and readers of all things scary, horrible, and fear inducing, I am Annette Author Icon and I will be your guest editor for this issue.


Word from our sponsor

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Letter from the editor

Real Fear


What really strikes real fear into you?


Monsters, goblins, ghouls, and ghosts ... nobody truly believes in them. Because they are figments of our imagination. Why do we write about them and give them so much influence over that powerful emotion: fear?
Because we can control them.
No matter how magical, mischievous, horrible we make monsters out to be, we still control them. They can't truly affect our lives.

Hunger, poverty, homelessness, debilitating illness, death ... those we can't control. They can happen to each one of us and are much more scary than even Cthulhu could ever be. In the case of death, it's guaranteed it will happen to each one of us.

How do these real-life themes then fit into the horror/scary genre in fiction? Aren't those real-life afflictions something we aim to escape through fiction. Yes. You could argue that it's better to use imagined horrors in fiction. When you think of some of Stephen King's most epic and scary books, such as "The Stand," which combine a virus, resulting homelessness for the survivors, hunger for those who don't know how to forage, and death for 98% of the population, you can see that adding those real-life fear scenarios to a fiction story make it more scary and hit closer to home.
Of course, even "The Stand" doesn't use just basic existential fears. There is an evil magic using the events to cause even greater harm, so there is an element of fiction added in. It's almost as if adding that fictional evil makes the rest of the story more bearable. Because who really wants to picture wading through a city of dead bodies that are decomposing without 1) hope and 2) the fear of something worse.

As you write horror and scary stories, ask yourself how existential are the fears you conjure for your readers? What can you give them to make things so horrible and terrible that the effect on the protagonist's life is almost dulled by it?







Editor's Picks

 
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Signs of Love, Signs of Life Open in new Window. (E)
The homeless have real needs. How many times do I walk by not knowing what to say or do?
#2154049 by Jay O'Toole Author IconMail Icon

 Homeless Open in new Window. (ASR)
A woman walks up to me in a coffee shop
#2152095 by ChristineB Author IconMail Icon

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Your Decades-Old Socks Open in new Window. (18+)
The in-plain-sight secret of senior's poverty in Canada. 2018 Quill Winner.
#2147480 by Jayne Author IconMail Icon

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Sister Justice Open in new Window. (18+)
Third place winner of November 2015's "What a Character" contest.
#2064908 by Shannon Author IconMail Icon

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This item number is not valid.
#2152721 by Not Available.

 
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Real Monsters by Toby Allen Open in new Window. (13+)
Mental illnesses through art
#2136489 by ~Minja~ Author IconMail Icon

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#2122253 by Not Available.

A Mysterious Virus Open in new Window. (E)
A mysterious virus threatens Base Red Star. Written for the Blast Off contest.
#2147947 by Bikerider Author IconMail Icon

 
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Elizabeth Sends Her Love Open in new Window. (E)
A sceptic ghost hunter searching for the truth - is there really life after death? .
#2148023 by Dragonbane Author IconMail Icon

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This item number is not valid.
#2154783 by Not Available.

 
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Word from Writing.Com

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Ask & Answer

Responses to my last Horror/Scary newsletter "Strong Emotions" Open in new Window.

willwilcox wrote: Thanks for taking the time to write such an inspiring newsletter

Thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my newsletter.

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