 Horror/Scary: December 05, 2018 Issue [#9261] |
This week: Make Them Believe Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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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
Greetings, and welcome to this week's edition of the Writing.Com Horror/Scary Newsletter.
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Suspending disbelief, or making your character(s) and readers believe that something horrible is not only likely to happen, but that it will imminently occur, adds visceral depth to your story or verse and keeps your readers immersed in the horrific otherworld you weave.
What do we as writers do when a novel contains an element that requires a serious suspension of disbelief? How can you incorporate that element so that your readers buy into the premise and don't say, 'no way'?
Consider for a moment that all storytelling, in some way or another, requires a suspension of disbelief. Writers must convince readers that the characters are real people, that the events are those that could happen, that the place where this story or poem occurs is a real place, and these events and these characters are apt to happen and to be in this place.
How do we do this, with or without an otherworldly element?
The sleight of hand, as with a magician's trick, is in the details. We convince our readers that characters are real by giving them attributes typical of many people: They have features, appearance, mannerisms, attitudes, emotions, motivations, and goals, emotions we can all understand, and unique traits that single them out as individuals. Our characters are three-dimensions: they have characteristics physical, emotional, and spiritual. Then readers have things in common with the characters, and they can relate to them. These common bonds, related through details, help make your characters "real."
 We convince readers that events are real by using details, testing them for plausibility and testing the events to assure the reader that they are a natural outgrowth of preceding events as those events relate to these specific characters. For example, we don't end a scene in a locked crate and then find our character running across a field the next scene. The story is in the details. Weaving a world with events that are logical and believable for the reader. .
 We convince readers the setting is real, the people are real, and the horror the characters encounter, whether known beforehand or merely 'anticipated', becomes for them also a visceral experience, if only until they must turn the next page or reach the next stanza. Tap into the rhythms of neighborhoods, communities, towns, cities, 'burbs, and give your readers a sense of reality, so when they encounter the horror, they will flinch big time.
Then, when we introduce the horror, whether in a mundane or fantastical form, the readers will flinch! They will gasp and turn the page to see how to escape or deal with it in the world so vivid among characters with whom they can relate. By suspending disbelief, your readers enter your otherworld and care what happens, whether for good or naught.
Until we next meet,
Write On!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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I invite to you encounter the horror in some of the otherworlds and otherways envisioned by fellow writers and let them know if you now believe, with your review, perchance 
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Thank you for sharing in this exploration ~
as i bid you farewell in the relative safety of your home
and wish you joy with a fright for all you write.
Until the next time,
Write On 
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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