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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/8060
Horror/Scary: January 04, 2017 Issue [#8060]

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Horror/Scary


 This week: The Face of Fear
  Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading
                             More Newsletters By This Editor  

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

Words have no power to impress the mind
without the exquisite horror of their reality.

Edgar Allan Poe


         Welcome to this week's Writing.Com Horror/Scary Newsletter, where we journey into the 'dark' side of writing ~ prosaic and poetic ~ to create a reality that portends the horror to come. What makes us seek horror; what makes us desire to be frightened, mortified; what makes us want to embrace the darkness within ~ and without? Is it a modern-day phenomenon, or older than graveyard dirt? Come join the exploration.


Word from our sponsor



Letter from the editor

Greetings, let me ask a question ~

         What scares you? What makes you cringe and shiver with a sudden need to get someplace safe, right away? Think about it for a minute, there has to be something - could be of this world, of another world, of your own mind (or loss thereof). Now believe it's real, know it's real for you. Then, write it out in all its visceral detail - show my eyes what you see, make me hear, smell, taste, feel everything you do at the moment of your greatest fear.

         *Balloonr*Make me know it as you do, that I too must be as scared or as horrified as you. Take those vivid details and give me the why - or the why not - and we've got the makings of a horror story or poem that will weave a link between your reality and mine for a time, a footprint in my personal space.

         *Balloonbl*It was a dark, starless night, yet the wind made no sound as branches wept leaves and twigs, bending limbs in unison to encircle me. An arboreal wave hiding in autumn's moldering musk, or perhaps the scent of fermenting rot was the signal, the welcome mat, for Axe. [now - Axe can be a chainsaw wielding eviscerator of flesh-bearing mammals (humans included), an android, a vampire, a dragon, a ghost, a stalker, a serial killer, a feral cat, ... Whatever you imagine now, get past my learned skepticism to make me see it; make me know it as though I were there. Ask your character why the situation terrifies him/her. Then empathize with that character's fear while you write the scene that shows your readers. You don't need a litany of items, dates and places. Sometimes allusion is even more effecting, allowing your readers to form the image from their own experience or perception as you continue weaving the tale.

         *Balloong*Suspending disbelief. I think, is paramount in writing horror. For a brief time, we give our readers an 'otherworld' whether today, in the past, future, alternate reality. Make your readers need to know what will happen, Make them know the story, but without relating a litany of 'facts,' but rather weaving them into the story or poem.

         *Balloonv*Make it believable, with enough detail to convince your readers it can be real. Give your readers direct reference with relevant physical details in the premise. For example, you wouldn't have oak trees bending sideways in a desert of 100-degree sand (but how about cacti shedding their outer spikes as the inner growth thrummed, its tempo increasing in sync with the trekker's own heartbeat). Or does your character touch it, call for help, and why - related to a childhood memory or driven by present-day philosophy.

         *Balloono*You can also indirectly allude to the nature or cause of the aberrant action or image. Mama said Susie was special. Susie didn't want to be special. She didn't want to have to take classes with kids who couldn't compete just because she was guided by dragons. "But Susie, how come you were you the only biker who made it past that hairpin turn? We were watching the whole time, yet can't see how, short of taking wing over the other bikers, you alone didn't plunge over the cliff."

         I hope the above exploration makes sense ~ horror writing creates an 'otherworld' your reader can step into with either direct or indirect imagery that provokes your reader - making him/her want to read on to discover how he/she can avoid the horror (along with your character(s).

Write On!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading


Editor's Picks

Scary Stuff as perceived and created by members of our Community


 Invalid Item 
This item number is not valid.
#1978470 by Not Available.


 Invalid Item 
This item number is not valid.
#2106875 by Not Available.


 Invalid Item 
This item number is not valid.
#2106169 by Not Available.


 Hell to Pay  (ASR)
Newsletter Feature
#2105900 by Chris Breva


STATIC
Mirror, Mirror   (E)
What woke me up?
#2105067 by WakeUpAndLive️~🚬🚭2024


 Invalid Item 
This item number is not valid.
#2104935 by Not Available.


 
STATIC
Modern Day Bloody Mary  (18+)
Written for the Folklore Writing Contest - Prompt: Bloody Mary.
#2103706 by Choconut ~ Dragon Tamer


 Lake Black  (E)
Learn the mysteries of lake black...if you dare.
#2104360 by MKNZJ


 Sleigh Bells  (13+)
Restless things trying to find their way. Entry for the Screams 24-hour contest.
#2103919 by Obligatory Joke


 Invalid Item 
This item number is not valid.
#2099519 by Not Available.


 The look on your face  (13+)
My entry for the Writer's Cramp Contest of 04/02 - 786 words
#2080049 by Passionate


FORUM
SCREAMS!!!  (GC)
A Terrifying Contest Of Horror And Three Time Quill Award Winner!
#2020439 by Lilli ☕ still Quilling


 
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Word from Writing.Com

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Ask & Answer

         Now tell us ~ no, show us ~ what scares you? In verse or prose share it and make us 'scare' it

         Until we next meet, may you keep the scary things at bay, at least from your own self

Write On *Paw*
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading

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