{"id":1180,"date":"2020-07-29T07:45:19","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T11:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/?p=1180"},"modified":"2020-07-29T07:45:19","modified_gmt":"2020-07-29T11:45:19","slug":"horrors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/2020\/07\/29\/horrors\/","title":{"rendered":"Horrors!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Before I start the prompt, I want to let you know about a science comics contest for kids between ten and eighteen. One of the contest sponsors is my friend, kids\u2019 book writer\/science writer\/intrepid Antarctic explorer Karen Romano Young, and this link is on her website: https:\/\/www.karenromanoyoung.com\/scicom-comics-contest<\/a>. Please let me know if you or a sibling or a child is a winner. And good luck!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On December 8, 2019, Poppie wrote, Do any of you have advice on how to write a horror novel, especially on how to make it scary? In movies, you can rely on camera angles, lighting, and sound, but how do you accomplish this in a book? Also, does anyone have any good horror\/thriller book recs (I don\u2019t do sexual content or excessive gore.) I was thinking about starting off with Edgar Allen Poe and Coralin<\/em>e.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially, I wrote back, I can\u2019t help much about horror, because I\u2019m such a wimp I can\u2019t watch it or read it. Here\u2019s one thought, though: Don\u2019t reveal everything until near the end. Our imaginations do a lot of the work in scaring us\u2013the villain half seen, the incantation half heard, the fright of bystanders.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Song4myKingwrote, I don\u2019t generally read horror, but I enjoy thrillers. Some recommendations \u2026
\u2013 just about anything by Mary Higgins Clark. These are murder mystery thrillers intended for an adult audience, but they are pretty clean. It\u2019s been a while since I\u2019ve read any of them, but I don\u2019t remember anything objectionable.<\/em>
\u2013 Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s books. Actually, I\u2019ve never read any of his, but some of my siblings have loved them. I\u2019m pretty sure they\u2019re clean too, because my mother kept a pretty good eye on what we read, and my brothers were reading them voraciously in their early teens.
\u2013 Ted Dekker\u2019s books. Some of these might get a little more into horror. I haven\u2019t read very many if them, so I\u2019d say read them with caution. I\u2019ve read and enjoyed his Circle series (RED, BLACK, and WHITE), which flips back and forth between a real world thriller and a fantasy setting; and I\u2019ve read and partly enjoyed Thr3e, (yes, it\u2019s spelled like that) which I would call a psychological thriller.
\u2013 Code of Silence, Back Before Dar<\/em>k, and Below the Surface, by Tim Shoemaker. These should probably be at the top of my list, since they are my favorites of these recommendations. And they don\u2019t have objectionable content. They are intended for tweens and young adults, but I loved them as an adult, and so did my mom.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for how to make books scary, I\u2019d say it\u2019s important to think of it on both the big picture level and the individual scene level.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider having a \u201cticking clock,\u201d or some deadline when something bad is going to happen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, make sure there\u2019s always something to be afraid of.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By individual scene level, I\u2019m thinking more about how you can convey the feelings of fear or unease within a given scene.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your word choices can set the mood, and even sentence structure can make things feel more tense. You can think of this type of thing as the writing equivalent of the movie\u2019s soundtrack. It\u2019s creating a feeling on an almost subconscious level.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there are details. Carefully choosing which details to include in a scene is like the lighting and camera angle. Think about weather. You can include details of the dark clouds looming, or play a bit of the irony game. Set the character\u2019s unease against a perfect, cloudless spring day for contrast. Think about surroundings. Is there anything in the environment, or any other people near by that can add to the mood? Most importantly, probably, think about the characters. What are their reactions? Posture? Body language? What does it reveal about their thoughts?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, make the reader feel the fear that the character is feeling (or should be feeling!).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One more note. Gail, do you still need more questions? Because you could take Poppie\u2019s question in a broader sense. A post on conveying the right tone for any type of story could be very interesting.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are great from Song4myKing! And I always need more questions!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before I move to tone in general, a little about horror from my experience as a reader and watcher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dean Koontz may be a good choice to read. I\u2019ve read only Watchers<\/em>, which I loved. I think Koontz straddles horror and suspense. I don\u2019t remember age level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many years ago, I read Rosemary\u2019s Baby<\/em> (high school and up) and was very scared. I just reread several pages of the sample that Amazon provides, which comes near the beginning. I approve of the writing\u2013lots of detail, the tiniest hints dropped in of the danger lurking in the apartment that the likable young couple are thinking of renting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s nothing breathless in the tone, no obvious foreshadowing. What may engage the reader and feed the horror is how easy Rosemary is to identify with, how innocent and sweet, how clueless. In the few pages I read I had to watch her bumbling disregard of danger. I didn\u2019t feel Yikes!<\/em> yet, but I felt it coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here the stakes are high\u2013the end of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1955, when I was seven or eight, the horror movie Creature with the Atom Brain<\/em> came out. (This was not long in historical time after the atom bomb was dropped and World War II ended. Atomic zombies, Nazis, and gangsters are involved.) Murder and mayhem are at stake. I saw the movie and had nightmares for months. Then, voluntarily, I saw it again and had nightmares again. I just read the plot summary on Wikipedia. I doubt that, even then, adults would have been very frightened. To this day, though, I remember what terrified me. Early in the movie, a policeman visits somebody\u2019s home, where a little girl lives. The policeman is kind and plays with the girl and her doll. Later, after he\u2019s been turned into a zombie, he comes back, picks up the doll and holds it by its hair or a leg, and he\u2019s wooden rather than friendly; he doesn\u2019t care about the little girl. That\u2019s what got me, that he no longer cared about her (me).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nub of that can be used for more realistic horror. The inexplicable withdrawal of love can be horrifying\u2013or tragic\u2013even without huge stakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scariest movie I ever saw was a 1960s British psychological horror movie, Repulsion<\/em> (older than adult, older than geriatric–certainly at least high school). In it, a young woman commits murder twice\u2013but she thinks she\u2019s acting in self-defense. She\u2019s both villain and victim. Special effects reveal her deteriorating mental state. A rotting rabbit is involved. As I watched, I pitied her and was terrified. I would prefer a medieval torture rack to ever watching that movie again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Repulsion<\/em> and Rosemary\u2019s Baby<\/em>, the character we care most about can\u2019t help herself. In Repulsion<\/em>, paranoia has turned her mind against her. In Rosemary\u2019s Baby<\/em>, her lack of paranoia works against her. In both, there\u2019s a balance of power issue. The MC is the victim. In some horror movies and books, the ones that turn out okay, the MC recovers control in time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s look at my own Ogre Enchanted<\/em>, my prequel to Ella Enchanted<\/em>, in which my MC Evie is turned (by Lucinda) into an ogre because she refuses the proposal of her best friend Wormy. The only way she can transform back is to accept a proposal from Wormy or anyone else. Physically, she becomes all ogre, a pretty one by ogre standards. Mentally, she\u2019s half and half. Among other things, she\u2019s hungry all the time, and humans and dogs and everything that moves looks tasty. The novel is a romcom, so Evie embarks on a search for love and also for ways to remain in the company of humans and heal them, since healing is her calling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her human side is able to control her appetite. She doesn\u2019t eat the family cat or her mother or Wormy, but if I were writing horror, she\u2019d eat the cat for sure and probably a human or two whom the reader cares about. The horror would be strongest in her distress at her own actions and her inability to control herself. The persuasiveness of an ogre would make it all worse. She could charm Wormy into offering parts of himself, while her human side is in torment. Aa!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we have two contrasting tones: romcom and horror, set apart by the degree the MC can control what happens. Evie has to have trouble making things go her way or there would be no story, but if she has no control, we get horror or, I think, tragedy. Possibly humor, if it\u2019s all exaggerated\u2013exaggeration is one way to achieve a humorous tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What other elements of tone might there be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our MC\u2019s thoughts help set it. We get adventure if she thinks about solutions to the troubles that beset her, tragedy if the solutions are there and she can\u2019t take advantage of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we draw our reader\u2019s attention to is a factor. In Rosemary\u2019s Baby<\/em>, tiny details of the apartment and the building are on full display. I just picked up my fave, Pride and Prejudice<\/em>, which is a romance and a comedy of manners, and opened it several times at random. What I read about every time was personal interaction, revealing relationships and character. Setting, which can help set a tone, is barely sketched in. Contrast this with suspense in a story that takes place in a haunted house\u2013the house is almost as important as the MC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are samples of beginnings of books from several genres. Directing the reader and voice come into these:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Science fiction, Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land<\/em> (high school and up): Once upon a time there was a Martian named Valentine Michael Smith.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historical thriller with a hint of magical realism, John R. Maxim, Time Out of Mind<\/em> (high school and up): \u2026But what made him afraid, in a way no bar bully or snarling dog could, was snow\u2026 Jonathan Corbin saw things in the snow. Things that could not have been there. Things that could not have been living.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mystery (clever, humorous, and intellectual), Rex Stout, The Black Mountain<\/em> (may be okay for middle school\u2013it\u2019s been years since I read the Nero Wolfe series, which this is part of): That was the one and only time Nero Wolfe had ever seen the inside of the morgue<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middle-grade adventure, Sharon Creech, The Wanderer<\/em>: The sea, the sea, the sea. It rolled and rolled and called to me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notice what the reader is made to see or consider. Just saying, I admire Sharon Creech\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To summarize, some ways to set a tone include: MC\u2019s control or lack of control of her situation and even her thoughts; our MC\u2019s thoughts and attitude; and where we direct our reader\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are three prompts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Some fairy tales lend themselves to horror. \u201cSnow White\u201d is one, in my opinion. She\u2019s mysteriously passive all the way through. And what\u2019s more horrifying than being placed in a glass coffin and then being brought back to life by a kiss from a total stranger who assumes she\u2019ll be glad to marry him? Write a horror version of \u201cSnow White.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Give the horror treatment to another fairy tale. To me, good candidates are \u201cRumpelstiltskin\u201d and \u201cHansel and Gretel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Try \u201cRumpelstiltskin\u201d as a mystery. Rumpelstiltskin has taken the child of the miller\u2019s-daughter-turned-queen. Your MC, the fairy tale gumshoe, has been hired to find the child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have fun, and save what you write!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before I start the prompt, I want to let you know about a science comics contest for kids between ten and eighteen. One of the contest sponsors is my friend, kids\u2019 book writer\/science writer\/intrepid Antarctic explorer Karen Romano Young, and this link is on her website: https:\/\/www.karenromanoyoung.com\/scicom-comics-contest. Please let me know if you or a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[328,326],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1180"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1181,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1180\/revisions\/1181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}