Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

50%
+0 −0
Q&A What is the structure of a paranormal horror story?

It seems to me many paranormal stories (like possession, or demons on Earth) just begin with the paranormal, period. In The Exorcist a child is possessed and must be cured. In The Omen, Damien (th...

posted 5y ago by Amadeus‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-19T22:13:43Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/43769
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T11:25:52Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/43769
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T11:25:52Z (almost 5 years ago)
It seems to me many paranormal stories (like possession, or demons on Earth) just begin with the paranormal, period. In The Exorcist a child is possessed and must be cured.

In The Omen, Damien (the child) is the son of Satan and the Antichrist.

To me most paranormal stories begin very early with a pre-existing paranormal thing and the protagonist is already aware of the paranormal, isn't surprised, doesn't need to "learn" about it, but is an expert that seeks to solve the problem and dispel the paranormal.

Even in Stephen King's Firestarter, the father knows from the beginning what his kid can do, and is fighting to protect her.

Those don't sound like either of your two scenarios.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-03-19T16:53:40Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 0