"Writing Horror" by Edo Van Belkom
I always feel like if you can come away with a few good ideas from a book or seminar, it’s well worth it. That was true of this book. Even though much of the material was information with which I was already familiar, I picked up a few great concepts from it.
I'm going to list some things I found helpful and why.
"Horror is a genre of the senses." Of all the genres, horror is the one in which vivid sensory detail is essential. Some other genres focus more on intellectual info (such as mysteries) or emotions (such as romance), but horror must contain vivid sensory detail.
Edo presents some good reading lists within the different types of horror categories. He reminds us that we, as writers, must know the genre in order to not repeat old material.
For marketing, and publishing, he suggests that small press publications use the same ideas over and over. "Major houses are looking for the unusual for the most part. Unusual but still plausible." That was good for me to hear, that you can't do a re-hash of what's already been done and expect to get published by Doubleday.
He summarizes and gives examples of the different types of horror. I think I fall into the category or Quiet Horror, which relies on mood and atmosphere more than anything else for its chills. I can't do the blood and guts stuff, because I don't like to read it. I much prefer psychological horror that creeps you out when you think about it later.
Edo has many interesting interviews in the book. In one, Richard Laymon states that he starts out by "trying to come up with a strange, appealing situation. What if?" I like that as something to think about.
This was one that really got me thinking -- What scares you? Here's my list.
Being alone in the dark (being in the dark with someone else is fine.)
Deep water (unless I have scuba gear. Then it's OK)
Things that peer in at you through an open window at night.
Things under the bad grabbing your ankles
Insanity
Being alone in an isolated cabin out in the woods
Parents dying
Pet dying
Clowns
Disease or disability
Ghosts (especially evil ones)
Conflict (In fiction it's great, in real life, I hate it.)
He reviews the elements of horror. These are some that grabbed me.
Story introductions: Begin at the beginning, not before. Many beginning writers start with tedious details of events that happen before the main action of the story starts. I think I may have done this. But how do you present the normal day-to-day situation of the characters without doing this? The following may be an answer.
In his section about action, he states, "If the actual beginning of your story is not long on action, you might consider moving an action scene from the end of the tale to the beginning. Once you've got the reader interested, you can begin telling the story of what led up to that first scene. It is a tried and true method." That is what I tried to do with Malachai, although I'm not sure I did it the best possible way. I'll definitely end up revising it.
Description: Edo uses the opening of Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" as an example of great description. I had read the book before, but had forgotten how strange and grabbing the opening is. Edo called it "poetic and baroque." ("October is a rare month for boys . . . ")
Characters: Edo tells us that characters we care about are the mainstays of horror fiction. Make the characters in your story seem like real, living people. That's what I've tried to do with Jenna -- make her a person the reader gets involved with.
Plotting, the Seven Step Story:
Edo provides a seven step plotting chart, which I found helpful.
1. The beginning
1a. A character
1b. In a context
1c. With a problem
2. The middle
2a. An attempt to solve the problem
2b. Unexpected failure (Problem is more difficult than first perceived.
2c. Success or failure
"Giving the reader the sense that the horror is not over, even in those stories in which the monster is defeated, is one of the tenants of the horror genre: No matter how hard you try, you will never be able to defeat evil completely.
3. The end
"The end can also be where the biggest and best frights occur, the ones that stay with you for a long, long time."
3a Validation
Subplots: Several other seven-step plot lines can be interwoven with each other or occur alongside each other, until they all achieve step six, Success or Failure, together. With my story, this could be the parents' marital problems, or Jenna tries to get help from the old woman who sold her the witchcraft book, and later the woman is killed.)
Theme:
If you can say what a story is about without referring to the plot, then you've found the theme.
How does horror work:
Incredible things can happen in horror fiction, but the reader has to be able to believe that these same incredible things can happen in real life. This believability is called suspension of disbelief: the groundwork laid down by the author allows you, as a reader, to be absolutely willing to believe that the dead can rise up from their graves. Here are a few ways to achieve that:
- - "Suspension of disbelief is achieved through the details that make an incredible occurrence believable." An example of this is "The Exorcist." The character is a normal little girl from a normal family. Then very gradually, one minor incident at a time, things go terribly wrong.
- - Another way is through setting. "The Shining" uses a huge isolated hotel. "Something Wicked this was Comes" uses Green Town, Illinois, a picture postcard town in which nothing can ever go wrong. Or can it?
- - The threat is real. Horror works best when it is possible for the characters to be confronted by the forces of evil at any time, in any place, preferably without warning. Similarly, those forces should be a s scary as you can make them.
Edo gives a good description of the various points of view. One that I was less familiar with was Third Person Objective. Like a movie camera, the objective narrator records what is happening, but never comments or judges any of it. (similar to a police investigator)
Exposition
Exposition is something to be wary of. Too much, and your story will seem to stop dead in its tracks.. Too little, and your readers won't have the information they need to fully visualize the story.
Edo tells us that in his stories, passages of exposition almost always occur in the first five pages so that he can get the information out of the way and won't have to stop the story later on. (Then how does this relate to getting right into the action and minimizing the details?)
This was something I didn't realize. Stephen King rarely uses more than two purely expositional paragraphs in a row without breaking them up with a line of action or dialogue. I had to check this out, because it seemed to me that King uses a lot of exposition. In skimming some of the King books, I found that Edo was correct in his statement.
Who's the monster here anyway?
One very effective technique for creating terror is to keep the monster offstage throughout the story. Never allow the monster to be fully seen or described by anyone, but rather only referred to by other characters.
He gave a very effective example of this. In a "Twilight Zone" episode, "The Monsters are Out On Elm Street," a group of neighbors come out of their houses in search of an alien, ready to destroy it. But it becomes apparent that there is no monster, the people are just bent on destroying something they don't understand.
Less is more in describing a monster.
YA Horror: Edo gave several conditions that should be present in YA horror:
- - The story should be about real kids in trouble: There's no better substitute for the feeling, "it could happen to me."
- - YA horror must have cliff hangers and suspense: Especially, stretch out the suspense.
- - Do the right thing: If the characters behave badly, they have to face the consequences.
- - Get away from the formulaic
- - *** The evil will return.*** Having the evil defeated but not totally wiped out is a staple of the horror genre, but especially for YA. The ordeal the characters have just gone through is going to happen to some other kids before long. (Evil Dead I and II). Or the evil they've bested is gone now, but will be back in another 10, 50 or 100 years, and the heroes of this story must live with the knowledge that their sons and daughters will have to deal with it some day, too.
- - Don’t' dumb it down - Better to have a word the kids don't know than to have them feel like they're reading a Dick and Jane book.
Edo's section on revision is lacking. He doesn't particularly tell us what to do when we are revising; he mainly emphasizes proof reading.
I loved this quote from Ray Bradbury. "In order to be a good writer, you must first explode passionately and then render it down. It's always best to do the big thing initially and then cut it down to size. Every time I write a story, I'll do about 30 pages and then pare it down to around 20." Ray Bradbury. (I do the opposite -- I write 20 then fluff it up to 30, which is probably where I'm going wrong.)
The sections on manuscript format, sending off your manuscript, getting a response, contracts and agents were not new information to me.
I did like this:
1. Talent
2. Luck
3. Persistence
Any two of these qualities is required to become a successful writer.
And this quote from Stephen King was very inspirational to me:
"In a way with those early (unpublished) novels, I felt like a guy who was plugging quarters in the machine with the big jackpot. And yanking it down. And at first they were coming up all wrong. Then the book before Carrie, felt I got two bars and a lemon; then with Carrie, Bars across the board -- and the money poured out. But the thing is, I was never convinced I was going to run out of quarters to plug into the machine. My feeling was, I could stand there forever until it hit. There was never really any doubt in my mind. A couple of times I felt I was pursuing a fool's dream, but those moments were rare."
Edo's section on the Horror marketplace was good. He had lists of web links and places where you can subscribe to marketing lists.
Edo asked Editor, Don Hutchinson what was lacking most in the majority of stories he rejected, and he replied in one word -- ORIGINALITY. Also, ". . . too many would-be horror authors enter the field with little knowledge or appreciation of its history." Writers steeped in the long tradition of the literature of horror have the best chance of coming up with new and exciting variations.
He emphasized the value of being a HWA member, which I am.
To sum up, I'd say that the sections of good information, inspirational quotes and ideas made the book well worth reading.
I always feel like if you can come away with a few good ideas from a book or seminar, it’s well worth it. That was true of this book. Even though much of the material was information with which I was already familiar, I picked up a few great concepts from it.
I'm going to list some things I found helpful and why.
"Horror is a genre of the senses." Of all the genres, horror is the one in which vivid sensory detail is essential. Some other genres focus more on intellectual info (such as mysteries) or emotions (such as romance), but horror must contain vivid sensory detail.
Edo presents some good reading lists within the different types of horror categories. He reminds us that we, as writers, must know the genre in order to not repeat old material.
For marketing, and publishing, he suggests that small press publications use the same ideas over and over. "Major houses are looking for the unusual for the most part. Unusual but still plausible." That was good for me to hear, that you can't do a re-hash of what's already been done and expect to get published by Doubleday.
He summarizes and gives examples of the different types of horror. I think I fall into the category or Quiet Horror, which relies on mood and atmosphere more than anything else for its chills. I can't do the blood and guts stuff, because I don't like to read it. I much prefer psychological horror that creeps you out when you think about it later.
Edo has many interesting interviews in the book. In one, Richard Laymon states that he starts out by "trying to come up with a strange, appealing situation. What if?" I like that as something to think about.
This was one that really got me thinking -- What scares you? Here's my list.
Being alone in the dark (being in the dark with someone else is fine.)
Deep water (unless I have scuba gear. Then it's OK)
Things that peer in at you through an open window at night.
Things under the bad grabbing your ankles
Insanity
Being alone in an isolated cabin out in the woods
Parents dying
Pet dying
Clowns
Disease or disability
Ghosts (especially evil ones)
Conflict (In fiction it's great, in real life, I hate it.)
He reviews the elements of horror. These are some that grabbed me.
Story introductions: Begin at the beginning, not before. Many beginning writers start with tedious details of events that happen before the main action of the story starts. I think I may have done this. But how do you present the normal day-to-day situation of the characters without doing this? The following may be an answer.
In his section about action, he states, "If the actual beginning of your story is not long on action, you might consider moving an action scene from the end of the tale to the beginning. Once you've got the reader interested, you can begin telling the story of what led up to that first scene. It is a tried and true method." That is what I tried to do with Malachai, although I'm not sure I did it the best possible way. I'll definitely end up revising it.
Description: Edo uses the opening of Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" as an example of great description. I had read the book before, but had forgotten how strange and grabbing the opening is. Edo called it "poetic and baroque." ("October is a rare month for boys . . . ")
Characters: Edo tells us that characters we care about are the mainstays of horror fiction. Make the characters in your story seem like real, living people. That's what I've tried to do with Jenna -- make her a person the reader gets involved with.
Plotting, the Seven Step Story:
Edo provides a seven step plotting chart, which I found helpful.
1. The beginning
1a. A character
1b. In a context
1c. With a problem
2. The middle
2a. An attempt to solve the problem
2b. Unexpected failure (Problem is more difficult than first perceived.
2c. Success or failure
"Giving the reader the sense that the horror is not over, even in those stories in which the monster is defeated, is one of the tenants of the horror genre: No matter how hard you try, you will never be able to defeat evil completely.
3. The end
"The end can also be where the biggest and best frights occur, the ones that stay with you for a long, long time."
3a Validation
Subplots: Several other seven-step plot lines can be interwoven with each other or occur alongside each other, until they all achieve step six, Success or Failure, together. With my story, this could be the parents' marital problems, or Jenna tries to get help from the old woman who sold her the witchcraft book, and later the woman is killed.)
Theme:
If you can say what a story is about without referring to the plot, then you've found the theme.
How does horror work:
Incredible things can happen in horror fiction, but the reader has to be able to believe that these same incredible things can happen in real life. This believability is called suspension of disbelief: the groundwork laid down by the author allows you, as a reader, to be absolutely willing to believe that the dead can rise up from their graves. Here are a few ways to achieve that:
- - "Suspension of disbelief is achieved through the details that make an incredible occurrence believable." An example of this is "The Exorcist." The character is a normal little girl from a normal family. Then very gradually, one minor incident at a time, things go terribly wrong.
- - Another way is through setting. "The Shining" uses a huge isolated hotel. "Something Wicked this was Comes" uses Green Town, Illinois, a picture postcard town in which nothing can ever go wrong. Or can it?
- - The threat is real. Horror works best when it is possible for the characters to be confronted by the forces of evil at any time, in any place, preferably without warning. Similarly, those forces should be a s scary as you can make them.
Edo gives a good description of the various points of view. One that I was less familiar with was Third Person Objective. Like a movie camera, the objective narrator records what is happening, but never comments or judges any of it. (similar to a police investigator)
Exposition
Exposition is something to be wary of. Too much, and your story will seem to stop dead in its tracks.. Too little, and your readers won't have the information they need to fully visualize the story.
Edo tells us that in his stories, passages of exposition almost always occur in the first five pages so that he can get the information out of the way and won't have to stop the story later on. (Then how does this relate to getting right into the action and minimizing the details?)
This was something I didn't realize. Stephen King rarely uses more than two purely expositional paragraphs in a row without breaking them up with a line of action or dialogue. I had to check this out, because it seemed to me that King uses a lot of exposition. In skimming some of the King books, I found that Edo was correct in his statement.
Who's the monster here anyway?
One very effective technique for creating terror is to keep the monster offstage throughout the story. Never allow the monster to be fully seen or described by anyone, but rather only referred to by other characters.
He gave a very effective example of this. In a "Twilight Zone" episode, "The Monsters are Out On Elm Street," a group of neighbors come out of their houses in search of an alien, ready to destroy it. But it becomes apparent that there is no monster, the people are just bent on destroying something they don't understand.
Less is more in describing a monster.
YA Horror: Edo gave several conditions that should be present in YA horror:
- - The story should be about real kids in trouble: There's no better substitute for the feeling, "it could happen to me."
- - YA horror must have cliff hangers and suspense: Especially, stretch out the suspense.
- - Do the right thing: If the characters behave badly, they have to face the consequences.
- - Get away from the formulaic
- - *** The evil will return.*** Having the evil defeated but not totally wiped out is a staple of the horror genre, but especially for YA. The ordeal the characters have just gone through is going to happen to some other kids before long. (Evil Dead I and II). Or the evil they've bested is gone now, but will be back in another 10, 50 or 100 years, and the heroes of this story must live with the knowledge that their sons and daughters will have to deal with it some day, too.
- - Don’t' dumb it down - Better to have a word the kids don't know than to have them feel like they're reading a Dick and Jane book.
Edo's section on revision is lacking. He doesn't particularly tell us what to do when we are revising; he mainly emphasizes proof reading.
I loved this quote from Ray Bradbury. "In order to be a good writer, you must first explode passionately and then render it down. It's always best to do the big thing initially and then cut it down to size. Every time I write a story, I'll do about 30 pages and then pare it down to around 20." Ray Bradbury. (I do the opposite -- I write 20 then fluff it up to 30, which is probably where I'm going wrong.)
The sections on manuscript format, sending off your manuscript, getting a response, contracts and agents were not new information to me.
I did like this:
1. Talent
2. Luck
3. Persistence
Any two of these qualities is required to become a successful writer.
And this quote from Stephen King was very inspirational to me:
"In a way with those early (unpublished) novels, I felt like a guy who was plugging quarters in the machine with the big jackpot. And yanking it down. And at first they were coming up all wrong. Then the book before Carrie, felt I got two bars and a lemon; then with Carrie, Bars across the board -- and the money poured out. But the thing is, I was never convinced I was going to run out of quarters to plug into the machine. My feeling was, I could stand there forever until it hit. There was never really any doubt in my mind. A couple of times I felt I was pursuing a fool's dream, but those moments were rare."
Edo's section on the Horror marketplace was good. He had lists of web links and places where you can subscribe to marketing lists.
Edo asked Editor, Don Hutchinson what was lacking most in the majority of stories he rejected, and he replied in one word -- ORIGINALITY. Also, ". . . too many would-be horror authors enter the field with little knowledge or appreciation of its history." Writers steeped in the long tradition of the literature of horror have the best chance of coming up with new and exciting variations.
He emphasized the value of being a HWA member, which I am.
To sum up, I'd say that the sections of good information, inspirational quotes and ideas made the book well worth reading.
posted by Sally Bosco at
3:31 PM
