Horror Factor - Horror Writing Tips for Writing Horror Fiction2.txt

8/14/2019 Horror Factor - Horror Writing Tips for Writing Horror Fiction2.txt

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Horror Factor - Horror Writing Tips for Writing Horror Fiction

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No Bones About It: How to Write Today's Horror Part II: What Today's Readers Want by David Taylor

The question is simple: How to write awe-inspiring stories that leave

readers panting and our bank accounts swelling.

What worked for M.R. James and Algernon Blackwood in the 20s, Lovecraft in

the 30s, Richard Matheson and Ray Bradbury in the 50s, Robert Aickman inthe 60s, Stephen King in the 70s, Stephen King and Clive Barker in the80s, Stephen King, Peter Straub, Rick McCammon and Dan Simmons in the 90swon't necessarily frighten or entertain readers in the 2000s. What will?

During a course in "Contemporary Horror Fiction" at Moravian College in


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Pennsylvania, I asked thirty-two undergraduates, who represented everymajor from accounting to zoology, exactly that question as well as several

others in a market survey of this genre's traditionally most enthusiasticaudience: young adults.

I first asked, "What are the elements that make for a good horror story?"And then had them explore the flip-side: "What ruins a horror story foryou?"

Would their answers reveal a difference between "standards" that criticsand teachers have set for contemporary horror versus the personal criteria

that readers use as they stand in front of the rack at Barnes and Nobleand decide whether or not to reach for their wallets?

Even a cursory glance at best-seller lists, especially those from decadespast, reveals the striking difference between popular taste (what sells)and critical taste (what's praised). That sounds hideously commercial, and

any writer who would slavishly follow the results of a market survey isbound to write perfunctory, uninspired drivel.

But there is also too much focus in school on literature written mainly

for an audience of critics and teachers. That's a shame because the trueglory of literature lies in its ability to hold an audience spellboundwith the power of narrative, which is our oldest and most prevalent way of

understanding the world.

We've always told stories to each other, especially horror and fantasystories, as a way of mentally shaping and reshaping the inscrutableuniverse around us. Although one may deplore and berate TV and movies assugar-water substitutes for the meat and potatoes of literature, thesemedia satisfy the human thirst for story, for narrative.

And whenever a "serious" writer forsakes the obligation to tell a good

story, whenever the purpose for writing is no longer to weave the magicspell of narrative but to produce "great art" and to please elitistcritics, that writer will surely be replaced by movies and TV or a betterstoryteller.

So I agree with J.N. Williamson, who in connection with this courseappeared at our college for a lecture and public reading. This popularAmerican novelist said to my students one day in class: "Art isaccidental; it is incidental to having told our story as best we can."

The fact that more than one hundred students tried to register for thethirty-two available seats in this course is evidence that horror authorslike Williamson have never lost their commitment to tell a good story, to

entertain and students know that. Therefore, an attempt to understand theexpectations of readers in this genre isn't a bad thing; indeed, it is amanifestly logical and necessary thing.

The results of the survey surprised me. By the end of the semester, we had

read and discussed over forty stories from commercial and small pressmagazines. Our semester of dark fantasy was brightened by the novels ofseveral "sons": Jackson, Matheson, Williamson, Wilson; as well as byStraub, Koontz, and the King.


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Student reaction was as varied as our story types. Some reveled in shockhorror and splatterpunk, finding the quiet literary horror talemonumentally boring. Others felt that technohorror and urban allegoricalhorror spoke most directly to them in this age AIDS and 9/11. Still others

couldn't get enough of the ghosts, vampires and werewolves of old. Surely,

I thought after presiding over impassioned debates about the literarymerits of "Blood Rape of the Lust Ghouls," there is going to be little, if

any, agreement among this bunch on the elements of a good horror story. Iwas horribly wrong.

Suspense: Keep 'Em On Edge

One result trumped all others: 97 percent of the students listed"suspense" as the primary ingredient of a good horror story. Keep in mindthat this was not a multiple-choice survey; these students had a blankpage in front of them and could have written down anything. The fact thatall but one self-selected the element of suspense further underscores itscardinal importance to them.

In effect, the results say that these readers bring to the horror story

one paramount expectation: to be entertained with the element ofanticipation, dread, and uncertainty; in a word, suspense. Virtually every

student wrote something like:

"I want to be kept on the edge of my seat."

"True suspense keeps you glued to the book until it's finished, then yousay'Whew! ' "

"I like stories that have constant suspense and give me ideas of how toget revenge on my brother."

About Your End

Their comments on suspense provide a strong clue as to how to handle oneof the most challenging aspects of writing horror: providing a satisfyingending. These students preferred for the unrelenting suspense to lead toan unexpected, even shocking ending. They wrote:

"I want the suspense to lead to a good twist at the end."

"A good ending is one you didn't expect."

"A suspenseful ending is one you didn't expect and leaves you scared

shitless!"

Now, all horror scribes owes thanks to Douglas E. Winter, who hasengendered more respect for this genre than almost any other moderncritic. Yet it is both interesting and instructive that in his essay,"Darkness Absolute: The Standards of Excellence in Horror Fiction," thiseminent critic does not once mention suspense.

Yet when professional writers like Dean Koontz and J.N. Williamsoninstruct us on the craft of writing horror fiction, their primary topic is


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how to create and maintain suspense. So, at least in this instance, thereis a difference between the critic and the reader, for whom the bottomline is to be entertained. No doubt a writer should aspire to standards of

excellence. But in order to be read, which is surely a writer's firstgoal, he had first better make sure he tells a suspense-packed story thatleads to a dynamite ending.

Character: Someone Like Me

What surprised me about the second result was how much everyone students,writers, critics agreed on it. Believable characters are what hold ahorror story together. They are the engines.of its power. In his essay"Keeping the Reader on the Edge of His Seat," Koontz, the acknowledged"Dean of Suspense," provides this advice:

"Suspense in fiction results primarily from the reader's identificationwith and concern about lead characters who are complex, convincing, andappealing."

Dean Koontz

Douglas Winter lists characterization as his second standard of excellence

and quotes another pretty good horror writer:

"You have got to love the people ... that allows horror to be possible." Stephen King

My students agreed: they listed believable, sympathetic characters as thesecond key to a good horror story. Typical of their comments were:

"A really good horror story for me is when theauthor is able to make youfeel for the characters their pain, fear, happiness, wanting."

"Having believable characters is what lets me get into the story."Considering these comments, it should come as no surprise that studentsvoted as their favorite work of the semester Robert R. McCammon's"Nightcrawlers" (Masques I, edited by J.N. Williamson), a suspensefulstory of a Vietnam vet's nightmarish guilt, a sorrow which becomes sostrong that it explodes with a harrowing and deadly substantiality.

Setting: A Mirror for Madness

Perhaps another reason for the popularity of "Nightcrawlers" is its vividsetting a stormy summer night at a roadside diner in rural Alabama andpoints to horror's third requirement:

A story must be anchored solidly in a believable setting. Modern readersexpect the horror story to take place in familiar surroundings thatprovide a mating ground for the natural and the supernatural. Today'sreaders have internalized this expectation: a context of normality, atrue-to-life backdrop that accentuates the grotesque.

There was a close similarity between my students' comments and those ofcritics. In "Horrors: An Introduction to Writing Horror Fiction," T.E.D.Klein, Twilight Zone Magazine's first editor, writes that before bringing


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the supernatural on stage, the writer must first "establish, so thoroughly

that we can believe in it, the reality of the world."

One student put this simply as: "I've got to believe I'm there." Whenanother student wrote, "A good horror story needs a balance between therealistic and the bizarre," it's almost as if he had been reading DouglasWinter: "An effective horror writer embraces the ordinary so that theextraordinary will be heightened."

So readers and critics agree: Use of the fantastic does not excuse thehorror author from the task of conjuring up a vivid, everyday reality onthe page. On the contrary, it increases the importance of that task.

Plot: Picking Up the Pace

Another strong preference closely related to suspense concerns pace. Whatshould an aspiring horror writer make of such comments as:

"The action has to keep up. Once it lets down, it's all over for me."

"I like it when the tone is very fast-paced reading. It's too boringwhen it reads slow and feels drawn out."

Is there a key to best-sellerdom in this student's desire for: "Concise and coherent stories [that] are easy to read and entertaining.

When reading for entertainment, one shouldn't have to analyze a story tounderstand it."

Why this desire for a fast-paced, action-packed story? No doubt much could

be made of the shortened attention spans of this generation that has never

known life without television and Walkmen. And it all would be off topic.The fact is, when they pick up a horror story, these young people want tobe entertained.

They may surreptitiously admire James Joyce's dazzling experiments, theymay harbor a secret craving for John Updike's perfumed sentences, they may

even look to Saul Bellow for help in an existential crisis.

But when they pick up a horror story, they want fun. And that meansfast-paced and suspenseful, easy on the literary embellishment, andwithout a side order of metaphysical reflections on life in a godlessuniverse, thank you very much.

More Gore: Taboo or Not Taboo?

The results here point out a distinction between literary and celluloidhorror.These students warned against too much explicitness in literature:

"Too much gore, if not justified, ruins a story, although I like to seeit on films to admire the special effects."

Those who expressed a preference for gore and the emotion of repugnancedid so with qualifiers:

"A little gore doesn't hurt."


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"Graphic gore to a tastful point."

Explicitness is an expected part of the genre today; indeed, the job ofthe horror writer always has been to assault taboos, broadcast ourunspeakable urges, and show us the nauseating possibilities that liewithin.

But a line separates effective from ineffective use of the genre's extreme

and rebellious materials: They must be justified by the story's context,tone and theme. As sometimes-splatterpunk Robert R. McCammon (Swan Song,The Wolf's Hour, Boy's Life) said in an interview:

"I don't believe there can be any bad taste in creating a scene, only badwriting in handling it."

Robert R. McCammond

Narrative Blurring

Many expressed a preference for suggestiveness in description, which wecalled "narrative blurring" a phrase T.E.D. Klein uses to summarize thedictum of the father of modern horror:

"Never state an horror when it can be suggested." H.P. Lovecraft

Students agreed:

"Description should be only enough so that the reader can get a picture,but not so much that there's nothing left for the imagination."

Such comments illustrate the principle that still guides these jadedviewers of the hack-em-and-slash-em films: Our own imaginations can stillscare us more than any author could ever hope to.

Good horror writers merely collaborate with our minds.

Copyright by David Taylor. All Rights Reserved.

David Taylor's horror and dark suspense fiction has appeared inanthologies such as Masques, Pulphouse and Scare Care; and in magazines

like Cemetery Dance, Sci-Fi Channel Magazine and Gorezone. His 1990 shortstory "Lessons in Wildlife" earned an honorable mention in that year's"Best Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy" awards. Author and coauthor offive horror novels, David's latest works are a collection of shortstories, Hell is for Children, and a guide to nonfiction writing, TheFreelance Success Book. Both are available at http://www.peakwriting.com


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Horror Factor - Horror Writing Tips for Writing Horror Fiction2.txt