Forums » Smalltalk » Noob Horror Writer

I'm starting up horror for the first time, to stretch my wings a bit in genre.

Any tips for a beginner?

well, first off, never limit yourself to something creepy in concept but unable to actually scare -you-. If it isn't enough to make your skin crawl, it probably won't test an audience. It's a broad genre to work in. Personally i prefer spiritual, even fantasy, and psychological horror than say, undead horror. Always add something new and shocking; people fear what they can't understand or identify. Also, anything to do with biorhythms can force bodies into paranoid states. Breathing, heart sounds actually can reset your own and change what state your body thinks its in (distress, etc). I always love those. And if there is an ultimate source, the more disgusting it may be to you as an author, push limits and morality. I learned that with Rudianos. Also subtext can be everything, even in descriptions.

Very true...

Oh hey, bizzare thing. Remember that picture i drew?... of... whats his name... the scary one... The one I was supposed to do the voice for?

Mm, I do. Anyway, are you trying to do this rp style? Because while creeping players out is great there are ways to specifically torture the character, too. Well, i guess that applies to books anyway. I wouldn't say use my references exactly, but think of what my use of polished black granite for a shadowed yet honest reflection. Thats off a myth i use though so... Hm. A more general example is not even needing to identify an origin, sort of intangible. Rudianos was covered in cuneiform glyphs that any subconscious understood, painting out his sin on proud breastplate, etc. :x the more primal the fear, even with an advanced threat, the happier i tend to be. :x

Good advice. Well, if you find that old picture, look up Cthulhu and compare them... I think I subconsciously merged the two.

well... Yeah. they're both tentacley destruction monsters, but i would more compare erodious to azathoth, if i wanted to apply lovecraftian fiction titles to it. It even has the same true-mythological base.

I'd never seen Cthulhu before until recently, and I was basing my design of Ero on my own insanity. -shrug-

well, that's about the only way to concept him. An ideal of anger, unrest, hatred, turmoil, curse and plague, revenge that changes form. Throw together your darkest ideas and you at least have a base. Then i go back over it with him again to add true vile details. I need to get back to penning erodious. He was like the only thing i could pen without pencil. He doesnt look the same in lead.

I already have someone... and I found out that I'm pretty good and fudging up a human body and making it look creepy without going bat crap on the details. Simple Horror. Simply Horrific.

If you're new to the genre, the best thing you can do is read horror books. Otherwise, it'd be like an artist trying to paint a picture of a giraffe, and never having seen a picture of one. Sure, he could do it through the descriptions of others, but it would never be quite right. Read a lot of them. Then, think about them.
Was it a good book?
Why?
What made you scared?
What attempted to make you scared and failed?
What made this book different to other horror books? Did it work?

thats just it I am Extremely scared of being scared. I freak out easy, and reading ont he subject gives me more shivvers than I know what to do with...

Could you suggest a good one?

well, reading a lot is the law for any good writer, so definitely yes. I rarely read anything completely horror, more with horror elements. I think the last book was a romance novel a friend oddly referenced me to, hah. Not exactly my normal kind of book, but the nora roberts "seven" books aren't too bad. I think it's why I only dabble in horror elements, like rudianos who is otherwise just from hi-fantasy realm. Derek is more the horror buff.

I'm not a huge horror fangirl. The only horror I've really read is Steven King, and I guess that's quite mild as far as this genre goes. A favourite of mine is 'Misery'. That's not supernatural horror, just plain ol' scary humans.

EDIT: Also, World War Z and John Dies at the End are both books I read and highly recommend. World War Z is zombies - but I love that the humans are more scary than the zombies are. John Dies at the End is weird and supernatural. Good book.

...i completely forgot jdate. King is usually good, but is usually suspense horror rather than shock value (...though definitely not without it). But yes. Concurred.

-writes down info-