Horror and the Writer

“[Horror fiction] shows us that the control we believe we have is purely illusory, and that every moment we teeter on chaos and oblivion.” ― Clive Barker

Writing horror effectively uses many different elements and can factor in much more than I can fit in a blog post, while also depending on the style and sub-genre the author uses.

Description is one of the most important factors in horror writing because it conveys location, character, and whatever that thing is that’s coming up behind you. However, description is a tricky beast as if you don’t have enough, you don’t get a proper sense of the world, too much and you can lose pacing and tension. H.P. Lovecraft describes the monsters in ‘The Shadow over Innsmouth’ as ‘a disturbing suggestion of undulant motion’ (Lovecraft, 546) which still conjures up fearful images in the reader’s mind, despite the fact it was published in, whereas, if he had described them as ‘fish-people’ (which is what they are), it would be a lot less effective. The concept of the almost indescribable and un-described in Lovecraft’s work is characteristic and keeps me coming back because of the chills it gives me on the back of my neck. 

Isolation of characters is already a very prominent technique in the horror genre as a whole, for example, I feel one of the reasons King’s first novel ‘Carrie’ is so effective is because on top of the character being so completely socially isolated from her peers, King also taps into the very real isolation a girl feels when starting her menstrual cycle for the first time ‘she thought she was bleeding to death’ (King, 18). While, in terms of physical isolation, ‘The Shining’ is a better example because of the expanse of setting which contains only three characters, but also the effect of cabin fever between them making it feel much more cramped than it is.

King states in his book ‘Danse Macabre’,

‘All tales of horror can be divided into two groups: those in which the horror results from an act of free and conscious will – a conscious decision to do evil – and those in which the horror is predestinate, coming from outside like a stroke of lightning.’ 

While this is true for some stories, I don’t feel it can be applied to every story, for instance, though the evil being may come from outside the protagonist’s knowledge and experience, they could have been there for generations before the protagonist’s birth, like the concept of Cthulhu and the Old Ones from H.P. Lovecraft’s work. 

Empathy with the protagonist (who is generally a victim of horror) is crucial as, without this, the story simply hasn’t got a leg to stand on because the audience will not care what happens to them. However, sometimes it is not as clear-cut who is the victim and who is the villain, for example, Jack Torrance is equally a victim of himself and the Overlook’s power. Equally, some of his actions before his behaviour was influenced by the hotel point to him being not a very nice person, or even abusive 'he's losing his temper' (King, 136) and because if this blurred line between villain and victim, we empathise with and feel sorry for Jack while also fearing him. Therefore the use of an unreliable narrator is another way that the writer can use characterisation in horror.

‘Inevitably the narrator makes a strong appeal to the reader’s sympathy and empathy, and the reader begins to respond privately…once the reader feels the slightest identification with the narrator the bond is complete. Whatever anguish or despair the narrator suffers in the tale, the reader also suffers.’ - David R. Saliba, A Psychology of Fear.

While all of these choices and aspects involved in horror make it the amazing, heart-chilling genre it is, it's really how the author chooses to use and mould them to their story that makes it truly effective.


Endnotes

1. H.P. Lovecraft, Necronomicon, (Great Britain: Gollancz, 2008), p.546.
2. Stephen King, Carrie, (Great Britain: Hodder and Stoughton, 1974), p.18.
3. Stephen King, The Shining, (Great Britain: Hodder and Stoughton, 1977), p.136.