Jack's Place

Name your Poison

"I think it can be dangerous for writers to be modest when they're young. I've known a number of truly talented writers who did less than they could have done because they weren't vain and unpleasant enough about their talent." ~ Norman Mailer

         I like to think he's describing me here. How successful could I have been had I been pushy and obnoxious? Of course, the implication is that there's talent behind it, but we can dream...
         Now that this little get-together is showing that it has some legs, it's time to cast about and find a theme. The two things that I do here are reviewing and the occasional dark story. I covered my views on reviewing with a single post ("On Reviewing" ), so dark it is. Dark paints with a broad stroke, and can cover horror, suspense, heinous crimes, or unrequited love. I may end up ranging far afield here, but I'll begin with my favorite facet of the style, horror.
         Why do I like horror? I couldn't tell you. I'm not a fan of the horror movie, and haven't been since the bug-eyed monsters of the 1950s went out of vogue. I find modern horror movies, with their reliance on jump-scares and splatter, repulsive. I guess I like the sinister stuff, the thriller and the slow burn that may have a monster at the end of it, or maybe just a monstrous person.
         So I'm going to assume that I'm having a discussion with someone who is just getting interested in writing, or maybe someone who writes in a different field and wants to dip their toe. What do they need to know?
         I think the first thing you need to understand is that fear is fun — not real fear, of course. Encountering a knife-wielding thug in a deserted parking lot is certainly not fun, and I wouldn't begin to suggest it is. But fictional horror is another thing entirely. As a reader of horror, you get to experience the unthinkable, overcome it, and survive. This probably accounts for its popularity over a couple of centuries. Just ask Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, Robert Bloch, H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, and Steven Spielberg, among enough others to fill a major stadium. The simple fact is that horror is immensely popular, and probably always will be. The last complete reports rank it fifth among genres in popularity, and note that its market share by sales has doubled in the last ten years. It's definitely worth exploring as a writer whether you're writing for a living or just for fun, because you can count on it being read.
         The first decision to be made is what sub-genre you're going to write in. There are as many horror sub-genres as there are writers, it seems. Monsters created by radiation or chemicals, monsters from space, monsters from other dimensions. Human monsters, deranged murderers, sinister stalkers, the ravenous undead, authority gone mad. Cosmic horror, the terror of an unopposable, even godlike entity, indifferent to humanity, that might sneeze and destroy the universe we know. Even internalized, psychological horror. The wife who is sure her husband wants to get rid of her, driven to the brink by her own imagination... Does he really, or is he acting suspiciously because he and her best friend are planning a surprise party for her?
         Anything you can think of that makes the hair at the back of your neck bristle falls legitimately under the horror umbrella. But here's one point to look out for: As you write about these interdimensional portals, the aliens landing in the swamp outside of town, the volcano that has caused giant scorpions to run amok, you're going to look at this at some point, and say, "This is completely ludicrous. Nobody's going to buy this!" Ignore this feeling. People aren't coming to horror for its documentary quality. The more outlandish it is, the more they're going to like it. It's what they keep coming back for.
         I don't make grand plans for this blog. The wind blows north, I go north. But I plan to do a series about horror and its many faces. Maybe not consecutively, but keep an eye out. I'll always announce when something goes up, and this will be no exception. Do you have any questions? I've got one for you. Are you horrified yet?

Stay inspired,
Taylor...