How to Create Horror

Horror, romance, and comedy - three of the most underrated genres, in my opinion. Of course, genre fiction as a whole is still sneered at by many literary critics (and some authors of literature). While I could rant about that for a while, I won't - I'll simply say that I feel this disdain is unwarranted. Horror, comedy, and romance are some of the most difficult forms of writing to get right - fear, humour, and intimacy are so subjective that there is no formula for authors to follow.

Of course, there are some things which are more likely to be frightening to the average person - torture, death, supernatural occurrences, and the horror genre relies heavily on these themes. Yet it is those stories which take a less travelled road which often make a real mark. Why are movies like Hereditary and books like Cujo considered more frightening by so many than movies like Paranormal Activity and books like The Haunting of Hill House?

Defining Horror

Horror, in its simplest form, is a literary genre which aims to create fear, shock, or disgust (Reyes, X,. 2016). Of course, there's more to it than this - some split horror into subgenres. Todorov states that horror can be split into the uncanny, marvellous, and fantastic (Prohaszkova, V,. 2012), while many others note that horror differs from terror.

Horror fiction creates a sense of revulsion or shock at events that have already occurred, while terror fiction creates anticipatory fear or dread before an event happens. Either way, of course, the common denominator is fear.

The difference between stories like Hereditary and Cujo, and stories The Haunting of Hill House and Paranormal Activity is, in my opinion, partly in the ways that they create terror rather than horror. The other part is proximity - the former stories bring you in close to pervert otherwise safe, healthy situations and dynamics, and then give you a front-row seat to what happens when things go wrong. The latter offer 'safe' fear, through avoyeuristic view of events which have already occurred and give a more detached point of view. Interestingly, these stories are both supernatural in nature - supernatural horror is now pretty loaded with expectation, which makes it hard to create the real shock needed for a good, proper scar. So, distance, expectation, content, and context all impact the way we interact with and feel horror.

5 Tips for Creating Effective Horror

As is so often the case, there is no substitute for practice and experience when it comes to writing horror. However, in this genre more than many others, challenging the readers' natural explanations is absolutely crucial. Of course, there are a few things that anyone can do to build a solid foundation for a good scare. Some of these are essential, while others are merely beneficial to a story. If you can, try to implement them all - this is what some truly scary books and movies, like Cujo and Coraline do.

1. Create a Connection

One of the easiest ways to create fear in a reader is to make them fear for the characters. While ensuring that readers connect with your characters is always important, it's essential in horror - readers who care about your characters will care about what happens to them.

You can do this in a number of ways: tell the reader a little about your character's history, show them acting in a way which makes them admirable, show their unique personality - these are all good ways to build connection. If you can't build a connection directly, however, either for lack of time or because your character is somewhat dubious, you can always try to connect your reader to the characters' goal. Seeking redemption, fulfilling a duty, and returning to family or friends are goals which anyone can empathize with.

2. Establish and Destroy the Familiar

Cuj0, Hereditary, Coraline, Pet Semetary, all of these stories are considered genuinely frightening by many people and they all have the same thing in common - they take ordinary situations like moving home and normally safe individuals like the family members or even the dog and make them unfamiliar, unsafe, and frightening.

Establish your characters' normal and familiar setting and routine. Once you have done this you have two choices - you can remove them from it, or you can twist it into something unsafe, unpredictable, or inherently perverse and revolting. A family which has become murderous rather than loving, a dog which is a danger rather than a companion, a home which traps rather than protects. A familiar face with an unfamiliar soul behind it - these are the linchpins of true horror.

3. Make Your Characters Desperate

Desperate people make mistakes - this is a commonly accepted notion. If your character remains calm and collected in even their worst moments, the reader will not believe that they are truly in peril. This dulls the edge of fear that they might feel.

Making your characters desperate will also create tension and up the stakes. One of the ways in which you can do this is by progressively removing things which give them safety and security. For example, if your character gets lost in the woods with friends consider separating them from their friends one by one, having them lose their phone, torch, or other comforting belongings.

4. Introduce and Reinforce Risk or Threat

Contrary to what some think, death is not a necessary component for an effective horror story. What it is, however, is the most reliable way to establish and follow through on serious risk or threat. Death is final... unless of course, your story allows for some kind of reincarnation. In this case, the nature of rebirth after death can be the threat (think vampires, zombies, or even the possibility that a body can be brought back with a 'new' inhabitant).

Beyond this, however, it is possible to create threat without death. Injury is, of course, a danger, but if you want to create and reinforce a sense of real threat to life or life as your character knows it the repercussions of failure or mistakes should be permanent. For example, loss of limbs, digits, sight, hearing, or even the permanent loss of relationships can all create and reinforce certain levels of threat and risk, raising the stakes for your characters and readers.

5. Create Hard Isolation

One of the hardest parts of creating an effective and plausible horror story is creating a situation in which a characters decision to stay in or get deeper into trouble is believable. Have you ever sat through a horror film wondering why the hell anyone would walk into a basement in a haunted house after having seen their friends die? We all have - creating hard isolation is the cure for this frustration.

By 'hard' isolation, I mean a state in which it is harder for a character to back away than stay, or in which it is impossible for them to get out. The Shining, for example, creates this by placing the family in a deserted hotel in the middle of a snowstorm. It would be far harder for Wendy Torrance to leave that hotel with her young child than to have faith in her husband. By the time the snow really sets in, she couldn't leave without putting her life, and her child's life, in danger. This doesn't have to be physical, however, or prohibitive - it could be an incentive.

Remember that basement? Would you understand if the character went down to get the key that would let them escape? Of course, you would. That, too, is a form of isolation - a character is effectively isolated from escape, from the ability to ignore the situation, and as such must remain involved in the stories progression, taking the reader with them. That's effective horror.