So what are a few necessary considerations to keep in mind when writing good horror? Here are seven tips to get you started. I, like many others, write dark, disturbing, thought-provoking, frightening, unsettling stories and novels that interrogate what it is to be human. I don’t write slasher horror, or torture porn, or splatter gore. There’s a place for those movies (and their book equivalents) of course, but that’s not all horror is, or can be. Sadly, it’s the movies that have stuck in the popular consciousness, which means that now, when I tell people I’m a horror writer, they immediately think of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, Friday the 13th, and any number of other blood-soaked movies where dozens of teenagers die horribly.
With movies, there were slashers and gore. There was also some sheer pulp, of course, but that’s normal in any genre. With books, there were some genuinely powerful horror stories, deep, literary, disturbing, original. In the 80s and 90s, there was a horror boom in movies and paperbacks that ended up going in two directions. In some ways it’s understandable, but it’s up to those of us who write horror to re-educate the reading public. There’s a stigma to horror that needs to be addressed on a regular basis. You can also listen to a podcast interview with Alan about how to write short stories.
Alan's latest book, Devouring Dark, is out now. In today's article, award-winning horror writer Alan Baxter gives some tips on how to write horror that emotionally connects with readers and stays true to the genre. My favorite authors include horror writers like Stephen King and Jonathan Maberry, and some of my own books flirt with horror tropes. I don't read gore-fest-style horror, but I love supernatural stories. The word horror encompasses a broad range of reader expectations and experiences – it is far more than just blood and guts.įor example, I love reading horror but I don't watch horror movies.
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