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Q&A Is my serial-killer novel horror or crime?

I'm of the same mind as SF. Is the protagonist the killer or the good guys? If it's a crime novel, tone down the blood spatter and have more in the precinct. Lengthen the scenes where the detecti...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:19Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/9386
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 · 2019-12-08T03:11:15Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/9386
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T03:11:15Z (almost 5 years ago)
I'm of the same mind as SF. Is the protagonist the killer or the good guys?

If it's a crime novel, tone down the blood spatter and have more in the precinct. Lengthen the scenes where the detectives throw theories back and forth; set up more red herrings to be chased down; show us how the footwork works. Give us cop lingo and police red tape.

If it's a horror novel, then we don't really care how the cops end up where they do, only that they arrive too late. Then you'd want to spend more time setting up how the killer chooses a victim, why the victim is appealing, how he gets to each one, what he does with each one. Maybe introduce the victim at the beginning of the day and thread in the killer stalking the person.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2013-11-13T22:25:25Z (about 11 years ago)
Original score: 2