How can I Avoid Being Frightened by the Horror Story I am Writing?

Human life is ultimately terrifying. We are all going to die, and the thought of our own extinction horrifies us. But it is not just the fact of death, but also the fact that death (if it is not premature) is accompanied by a systematic loss of our abilities and of our friends. Man is uniquely cursed as the only animal that knows, from early life, that it is going to die. Much of literature is concerned with coming to terms with this final and unavoidable horror.

What we think of as a healthy mental outlook, however, is one that does not dwell on the horror of what is to come. There are good arguments for this: why let the fear of the horror to come rob you of the pleasure of the present? At the same time, this healthy mental outlook is a kind of delusion. Even is we possess a faith in something beyond death, death itself remains the great unknown and the great horror of our lives when all we have will be stripped away from us. Everyone dies alone.

Horror stories are one way of dealing with the horror of death. They appear to be healthy for some people -- or perhaps at some ages. They help some people process their fears. For others, they are unhealthy, locking them into a cycle of morbidity. What is true for readers must be doubly true for writers, I think, since a writer spends a hundred times longer over a story than the reader does.

If this is even remotely true, the writer of horror has to be willing to go down into the valley of death. Perhaps this is the only way for them to retain their mental health. Perhaps is it an ill-advised indulgence for morbidity. Perhaps is is an irresistible fascination. Or perhaps they should turn at the threshold and take another direction. But I doubt there is anyway to avoid the fear and still walk through the valley of death. If there were, it would be a different valley.

posted about 8 years ago

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Mark Baker‭

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Seeing an axe murderer at the end of a hallway is scary, but not seeing them and knowing they're somewhere nearby, maybe round the corner, or maybe behind you, is much scarier. This is because, as you said in the question, the fear of the unknown is something that the majority of people have in some capacity.

I wrote in this answer about the scariest scene I've ever read, but that is because the character cannot see what is happening around them, and does not know what will happen if they are caught, therefore our brains fill the space with worst-case scenarios. But seeing the scene from a third person perspective would make the scene look quite silly.

This is what separates good horror writing from bad: Good horror will have us hiding behind our fingers barely able to watch, as we empathize with the fears of the character, whereas bad horror will have us shouting "just get up and run! Don't hide in the closet, the killer will find you! Jump out of the window and get to the police station!"

To make sure you are not drawn into the horror scenario yourself is to eliminate the horrifying aspect: The Unknown. As you're writing the story, think to yourself about the hows and the whys, so that you know more than the reader will. It may even be beneficial to picture the scene in a less then serious way, so long as you don't let that bleed through into your writing, as it will cause it to change from the good type of horror to the bad.

For example, instead of picturing yourself as the character running through the house with a murderer behind you, imagine the house from a bird's-eye perspective, and have the scene unfold like some sort of Benny Hill sketch. This should at least help with the issue of needing to look over your shoulder when writing, as it will be easier to visualize exactly where the character and the thing they are afraid of are, as opposed to "they could be anywhere".

Or take a leaf out of the book of Dead by Daylight and try to see the scene from the perspective of the murderer. They're unlikely to be afraid, so examine the situation from their point of view. Once you've experienced the situation in the position of power, the vulnerable position becomes less frightening.

Alternatively get into the head of the thing causing the fear. Why is this person a murderer? Why did they choose this victim? Why is this big scary cloud monster harvesting souls? We tend to dehumanize things when they're scary, but if a person has a motive, and a backstory, then they are just another person who just happens to kill people. Perhaps it would be possible to reason with them, but the potential victim just never gets the opportunity.

Edit: Adding a summary, all of my suggestions really boil down to the same thing: recognizing that the frightening scenarios are not actually very realistic.

Experiencing the horror feels realistic in the moment, because it preys on our deepest fears. But our fears tend to be unrealistic and expanded inside our own heads anyway, being in the actual situation is much less frightening than what we imagine it would be like inside of our own minds.

The more you focus on the reality of the fictional situation, the more you will come to realize how the most realistic frightening situations are actually just fiction invented by our own brains. So then when you're looking over your shoulder and into dark corners, it will be easier to feel like the real fears are just fictional.

posted about 8 years ago

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Mike.C.Ford‭

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Name/Define the fear and you get chance to avoid it

I think using own self for measuring level of horror is not always the best if expecting/hoping for same effect for other readers. Or is it a goal actually for Thomas?

So to be able to keep horror/fear/fright out, it should be defined: What is it, and what effect is harming Thomas' nerves. Every single thing that can be described will have features. Associating features to that fear make several step out from the state of unknown. Features can be addressed, avoided or even stand up against. Depending on the story, the nature of features and Thomas, tools like reality-check, story goal priorization, temporary or permanent elimination of fear source can be effective.

Let me know if we should work on this with further Q&A.

posted about 8 years ago

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Sonic‭

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I little trick i sometimes use if my own writing gets "too close" for comfort (and i mainly write horror):

Be your own comic relief. Maybe in your story, the murder is slowly creeping closer behind his victim, and the reader can see that in the mirror, but the character can't. He is helpless, unsuspecting. Slowly, the horrible murder clown gets closer - and trips over his feet, falling down, hitting a cupboard, on which there is a vase, that falls down, and hits him on the head, knocking him unconscious.

Remember that you are in power. you are in control of your story, and your own story can only frighten you if you let it. From time to time we need to remind ourself of this. And if knowledge isn't enough, we need to prove it to ourselves, by destroying suspension, and making the "scary stuff" do "silly stuff". After you cooled down, just delete the funny scene and continue with the suspense... :)

posted about 8 years ago

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Andreas Heese‭

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