Some thoughts on horror writers
Oct. 27th, 2011 11:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glitter_n_goreFirst, I know I need to update this blog more often--and thank you to those of you who commented on the posts I've let fall by the wayside. I'll try to be better about that in the future!
Second, there are a couple of misconceptions I'd like to clear up about horror writers in general, based on the uninformed comments of a couple coworkers of mine.
1) Horror writers are into blood and gore.
No. Despite the title of this blog, I myself actually dislike blood and gore. It doesn't revolt me as much as it once did, but I don't seek out that kind of thing, in movies or fiction or anything else. One thing I see over and over with people who aren't fans of the genre is this tendency to confuse revulsion with real fear. The goal of the horror writer is not to gross you out. Some of them might do that as well, but the overall goal of the horror story is to scare you. Blood and gore just pokes at your upchuck reflex, which let's be honest, isn't that hard to do.
2) Horror writers don't get scared.
Again, no. This is a slightly different problem, and one that I haven't seen addressed nearly as often as the first. Everyone is afraid of something. Those of us who actively seek out things that scare us don't do it because we aren't bothered by them, but because we're looking for an emotional reaction that we can't get anywhere else. I try to stress this whenever possible: horror is an emotional genre, not a visceral one, regardless of any prejudices to the contrary. The plot, characters, and setting are all important to a horror story, but even more important than those things is the way it makes you feel. So it's not that we don't get scared--our fear thresholds vary just as much as those of other people. It's that we get scared, and scare others, on purpose.
I think I may have more to say on this, but I need to organize my thoughts a little first.
Second, there are a couple of misconceptions I'd like to clear up about horror writers in general, based on the uninformed comments of a couple coworkers of mine.
1) Horror writers are into blood and gore.
No. Despite the title of this blog, I myself actually dislike blood and gore. It doesn't revolt me as much as it once did, but I don't seek out that kind of thing, in movies or fiction or anything else. One thing I see over and over with people who aren't fans of the genre is this tendency to confuse revulsion with real fear. The goal of the horror writer is not to gross you out. Some of them might do that as well, but the overall goal of the horror story is to scare you. Blood and gore just pokes at your upchuck reflex, which let's be honest, isn't that hard to do.
2) Horror writers don't get scared.
Again, no. This is a slightly different problem, and one that I haven't seen addressed nearly as often as the first. Everyone is afraid of something. Those of us who actively seek out things that scare us don't do it because we aren't bothered by them, but because we're looking for an emotional reaction that we can't get anywhere else. I try to stress this whenever possible: horror is an emotional genre, not a visceral one, regardless of any prejudices to the contrary. The plot, characters, and setting are all important to a horror story, but even more important than those things is the way it makes you feel. So it's not that we don't get scared--our fear thresholds vary just as much as those of other people. It's that we get scared, and scare others, on purpose.
I think I may have more to say on this, but I need to organize my thoughts a little first.