Previously in chapter four we looked at crossing genres. This is a highly stimulating endeavour, and has attracted me to write further about it. The first I have chosen is about horror and suspense. 

There are so many guides how to write good horror and suspense on the interwebs, but there are a few things deeper that we can deploy in order to really ramp up the effects of our writing. In this chapter I will take a closer examination.

1. Horror, Terror, Gross-out

According to good ol’ Wikipedia, “Terror is usually described as the feeling of dread and anticipation that precedes the horrifying experience. By contrast, horror is the feeling of revulsion that usually occurs after something frightening is seen, heard, or otherwise experienced.”

Terror refers to deeply felt fear, that hyper paranoia which comes with the unknown.

Horror is felt AFTER a certain stimulus. That can be horror at seeing the grotesque, revealing the terrible secret, discovering that previous unknown. It’s a kind of revulsion we feel after the feared event has been realised.

If you can play these upon each other in your story, it is so powerful.

Gross-out horror is something which appeals to the baser side of humanity, relying on repulsion. It’s a very human physical reaction to gross things. While gross-out is useful to get a reaction out of audiences, it is also something which loses impact when deployed too often- the same as action and violence. These things are climatic and are actually good devices to resolve plot arcs, not create them.

2. The Almost-human- The mask or the mirror?

The horror genre, at its core, is an examination of the human condition and psyche. Horror and its fantasy elements help to animate psychological fears into a ‘real’ manifestation. Why do we find certain tales horrifying? Is it because they reveal something grotesque about humanity? Or because they reveal something grotesque about ourselves? That is the question of the mask or the mirror.

Now, as for the almost-human, this extends beyond literalising struggles between our humanity and animalistic nature, or even good versus evil and other such dichotomies. There is something biologically deeply disturbing to us as people as something which represent the human image in every way, but something is… off.

Ever since tiny babies with not much vision we can pick out the features of the human face. As social creatures we have it deeply engrained into our biology to pay attention to these things. So things that are in the human image but are not human, we find grotesque. Quick examples of human images which are ‘off’- clowns, dolls, statues, gargoyles, humanoids, angels and daemons, masks, ghosts, an incredibly long list of magical and mythical creatures…

And guess what? These things are also very common fears in us.

Moving above visual depictions of the semi-human, one can play upon this through one’s description. We can give human characters sub-human behaviours, and we can give non-humans human likenesses through personification and anthropomorphism.

3. Good characters, bad choices- “Characters you love making choices you hate”

Characters never have the same all-seeing eye as the reader usually does, and is also a flawed human being capable of making terrible decisions which will eventually back them into a corner. It’s very easy to shoot one’s self in the foot in real life, and you can play upon this while writing. A really effective protagonist is one with whom you can identify with and care about who also makes human mistakes that make you want to tear your hair out. It’s like the character is going around with a pair of blinkers on, obscuring their full capacity to make an informed decision. They may be doing what they think is right, but the reader knows will have bad consequences.

This is the magnificent power of dramatic irony. You can play off fear of the stakes- the known- with fear of the unknown, both from the anticipation of the reader and from the cluelessness of the character.

4. Stakes

There are some dos and don’ts when it comes to setting the stakes for the characters. While as one can imagine they must be high, if one has not thoroughly thought through the stakes sometimes we may resort to some clichés. When you want to be fresh and new with your story, that’s a clear one to avoid.

One of the most common examples of this is the brutalisation of women in order to provide dilemmas, backstories or tension for the main character. Girlfriends have gone through so much in the horror genre. For example- kidnapped, , murdered, cursed, maimed, being rendered so ‘almost dead’ they beg the protagonist to kill them as a mercy… the list goes on. You can see it in rated 18 games, in books, on TV. Honestly speaking, it’s a cheap way of using the damsel in distress trope in order to give your character something to do. While innocent and indeed vulnerable people can get caught up in all kinds of messes, the damsel in distress for any character is a pretty tired plot device and could do with some rest.

High stakes can also be used to troll the reader into investing anticipation into a red herring while you set up the foreground for a big ol’ leg twisting.

So, after all that, your story is coming up to a . To really rake up the odds, and consequently really get the reader into a frazzle, coming up to the big story arc the protagonist finds them spiralling further and further to a place of no return, isolation, anxiety. Their tools and resources are one by one stripped from them, forcing their resourcefulness to its capacity. And all this has been powered forward by decisions they themselves made. Now they’re stuck with their adversary, and they need to face it or face the consequences.

Isolating characters like this means they are forced to face everything they’ve been afraid of so far. There’s no way we can avoid the of the story, and to deny the reader of the catharsis you’ve been promising will kill the mood and they won’t want to read more from disappointment. If this is the big , treat it as such. I mean, you can certainly throw in a huge twist. But the catharsis needs to be there, and a sense of moving on to the next act, or some sort of completion. This may be through a character completing their character arc, or defeating a villain, or resolving a mystery. This is the payoff.

5. Horror and Humour, and Death

So there are a couple more things which play off each other really well in horror and suspense- other kinds of tensions, and also, tension relief.

Comedy and horror actually go together pretty well. Have you ever watched a youtube compilation of kpop idols being jump-scared or whatever and laughed your off at their reactions? And sometimes we ourselves find it amusing to make our friends jump. What is Halloween or April the first without some good scary pranks? The bigger the scream, the harder I laugh, honestly. That sounds mean but it’s true… Humour can deflate tension and balance out some of the creepy stuff going down in your story. We need a balance- we can’t have our hearts racing constantly, we need a break or maybe we’ll have some kind of heart failure. My heart pounded while watching the latest Mad Max movie and I noticed because near the end of the movie that constant state of being on the edge of my seat was becoming genuinely physically exhausting.

Also, a sly way of keeping tension levels high but at a different frequency- why not change it up a bit and include ? This type of tension is more gratifying (often), and while keeping things ‘tense’ it takes the steam off a bit for the reader for a while to read about something which allures rather than worries.

6. Don’t pull your punches

If you make a decision to write something, go through with it. No matter how much it actually creeps you out yourself. Actually, if it does horrify you as the writer, it’s probably going to also horrify the reader, which is what you want to achieve, right?

7. We need new monsters

Vampyres and werewolves are great fun, and very familiar to us, with cultural significance. Heck, I’ve written about both those types of creatures, and it won’t be the last time I do. But to bring back that element of unknown, we need some new monsters, straight out of the dark corner of your imagination. Perhaps a reimagining of an old myth? Or an entirely new dastardly devil.

There is also great potential here to create a new creature according to the aspect of our society or nature which one wishes to explore or criticize. Vampyres are often symbols of gluttony and lust, and zombies the creature of desensitisation. What themes come up in your story? What could embody that? How would it fit in your medieval environment?

8. Set-up in a Medieval world

We’ve already talked about the set-up of a medieval universe, but how can one effectively bring horror to it? There are a few things we can do.

One, is to make sure that the place where we wish to set our is already set up earlier in the story. We need to have a pretty clear visual idea of what the place is like, so when it comes to the of the story we don’t need to focus on setting the scene and we can get the hell on with it.

Also, one key thing to play off in order to really bring in a new medieval-horror atmosphere is to really play upon the environment. As we know, the medieval times were pretty dark, literally. They didn’t have electricity, come on. Depending on the length of the day, one would pretty much go to bed when it was dark or the fire had gone out. This really extends the night, and general darkness, in one’s setting. And here we have another classic fear- the dark itself, that which conceals sight with a veil and teases you with the unknown. Also, if one researches medieval methods of candle/wick lighting, it’s not an instant process. The slow pace of pretty much everything in the Middle Ages versus highly strung tension can be used together in deadly combo.

Also there were so many real things that were deeply horrifying that happened in the middle ages anyway- infant mortality was high, the feudal system was a bit crap for the peasants, and there were all manner of horrible diseases that could kill you around. Also, beer was safer to drink than water, so if you saw something funny people could just accuse you of having consumed something stronger alcoholically than you should have.

Not to mention, it was also a deeply superstitious society, so humanity’s pretty limited knowledge of the supernatural combined with a grizzly state of affairs can lead to all kinds of paranoia and poor decision making (burning witches is a perfect example).

9. What gives you the most powerful emotions in life?

What’s your passion? How do you feel when you do it? How does it make you feel when you do well at it? What’s it like not to be able to do it for a long time, then come back to its familiar embrace?

These are all very positive things, aren’t they? What I am trying to do is make you consider the most powerful feelings in your life. Because positive or not, the way these things feel will be of use to you while writing horror.

It’s because these feelings are recognisable to all of us. We share that in our humanity. So, as mentioned before, when something is familiar but ‘off’ it’s extremely unnerving. Since we can relate to it so well, when a twist is put on it, it becomes grotesque. Let me give you an example by putting a slant on my favourite hobby, horse-riding, simply by recycling what I felt into new material.

Psychological:

Ever since I was young, my love for horse riding has been such that I can feel it in my bones, in my sleep. It’s become something intimate and innate to me, which engages my whole being. Nothing makes me happier. When I ride, I feel satisfaction blossom through every part of my body, every aspect of my being focussed as I become one with the horse, every muscle knowing exactly what it has to do.

Ever since I was turned, my bloodlust has been such that I can feel it in my bones, in my sleep. It’s become something intimate and innate to me, which engages my whole being. Nothing but feeding can dampen my thirst. When I feed, I feel satisfaction blossom through every part of my body, every aspect of my being focussed as I become one with the creature inside me, every muscle knowing exactly what it has to do.

Physical:

It’s been such a while since I rode, my muscles ached to get back in the saddle again, even if just for a moment. Finally, I was at the stables, and I could hardly contain myself. It’s been a while, but it’s just muscle memory by now- my body knows what to do without being told. It was cold out, but my body was just buzzing with heat and energy. I made a beeline for the horse, all fluff and inquisitive eyes. Everything was so familiar, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I ruffled my hands through its fur, and there it was- that scent which hit me and sent me back through my happy memories of the stables past. I drew the soft horse close in a hug, and sighed contently as its warm scent filled my head with happy memories.

It’s been such a while since I fed, my lips ached to get a fresh taste again, even if just for a moment. Finally, I was at the human’s farm, and I could hardly contain myself. It’s been a while, but it’s just muscle memory by now- my body knows what to do without being told. It was cold out, but my body was just buzzing with heat and energy. I made a silent beeline for the human, all hunched over his crops and unaware of my presence. Everything was so familiar, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I ghosted my hands up his back to grab at his collar, and there it was- that scent which hit me and sent me back through my delicious memories of killings past. I drew the startled human close in a deathly grip, and sighed contently as its scent of fear filled my head with gratifying memories.

In these short examples one can see how quickly our own life experiences can be creatively lifted into actually quite a disturbing alternative point of view.

The other point of this is that our powerful emotions can be channelled from the best to the worst, because they affect us so deeply- and we can capitalise on this.

Also, in our lives, things happen to our bodies, too. Is there something you’ve felt that you can relate into words, maybe draw inspiration from? I kid you not, writing this literally just now I noticed where I knocked my finger the other day the skin had healed over a piece of splinter which got left in there somehow and I had to pick it out from under the layer of healed skin. Having stuff under your skin isn’t very fun but it didn’t hurt to get this splinter out. happens I guess, and you can draw experience and exaggerate it into your story.

And so, here is my low-down of writing horror. I hope it could be of some use! Comment and let me know if you got an idea :D