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When I was a child, I really knew how to scare myself. We all did. That’s why it’s a great place to go back to when we’re trying to drum up fictional terror. In my sleep, I’d see packs of wild dogs chasing me. The nightmare was so real that I could feel their hot breath at my heels. Of course, what I should have been scared of was waking my father.
"A lot of horror fiction and movies draw upon childhood. . ." —Shapiro
“For crying out loud, can’t a man get one night’s sleep in his own house?”
A lot of horror fiction and movies draw upon childhood to get your adrenaline going. The villain has a one track mind just like the villains in fairy tales. All the witch in Hansel and Gretel wanted was to eat Hansel and Gretel. She hadn’t one worry about her social security benefits, Medicare, or whether her daughter was going to divorce that good-for-nothing warlock. As in Hansel and Gretel, the evil of the witch is contrasted with the innocence of the two children. Although, because Gretel schemes her way out of being baked in the witch’s oven, saving herself and Hansel, too, she might not be so innocent. In fact, Hansel and Gretel might be one of the early examples of feminist literature. Another contrast of innocence vs. is Freddie Kreuger’s mother being a nun. What better contrast for his evil? In Nightmare on Elm Street, the nursery rhyme serves the same purpose. “1,2, Freddy’s coming for you; 3, 4 Better lock your door.”
"Possession is a favorite theme of horror writers." —Shapiro
Possession is a favorite theme of horror writers. Here, the demon is responsible for whatever horrific acts your character commits. So using the theme of innocence vs. evil, try to find a character who would not ordinarily commit a brutal act. In The Exorcist, twelve-year-old Regan MacNeil begins to weird symptoms and attacks the psychiatrist she’s taken to. Soon her bed begins to shake. She hears strange noises and makes bizarre gestures. She brutally attacks her mother her mother, Chris, who is desperately trying to save her. And there’s another element of horror fiction, someone has to either be trying to change the monster back into its former goodness or save themselves and the populace from the monster by killing it.
When modern medicine gives up on Regan, in comes the exorcist. And who will ever forget Regan’s mumblings, her head spinning, the vomit shooting from her mouth?
Which brings me to the next point--make your horror as grisly as possible. And there can be horror in any writing . Think of Hamlet’s monologue when the skull of Yorick, a court jester is exhumed from the grave, which describes the sensations and feelings inside Hamlet as he studies it. “My gorge rises at it,” Hamlet says. (Always have strong physical reactions to the horror.) “Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? Your gambols? Your songs?” Shakespeare heightened the horror by revealing what Yorrick was like as a man. Try to give your victims a character that we feel for.
In order to keep the readers reading, put the characters in physical danger. The monster should always be after someone to ramp it up. But someone should always be after the monster, too. Think of the mob with the flaming torches chasing the monster in Frankenstein.
This brings me to another point. Some monsters are unwitting. They don’t go out to commit evil purposely. They just don’t understand the rules of the culture they are in and are often monstrously big and Herculean strong, so that they bumble into horrific crimes like Mary Shelley’s monster. Or they are commanded by someone else who is the true monster. And yet, even though we feel sympathy for them, they have to be taken down, which is the tragedy.
". . . set the characters into a world that they think is one way and then have it turn out to be another." —Shapiro
Another way to horrify is to set the characters into a world that they think is one way and then have it turn out to be another. Oh, joy, Hansel and Gretel thought when they came upon the gingerbread house in the woods. Yum, nibble, nibble. And all too soon, we find out that it’s a witch’s house and she hopes to be nibble, nibbling on them.
And in horror as well as any other kind of writing, ask yourself what is your main character’s deepest fear? The answer will lead you to a plot. Maybe a cemetery plot, but a plot nonetheless.
About Rochelle Jewel Shapiro
Rochelle Jewel Shapiro is the author of Miriam the Medium (Simon & Schuster) was nominated for the Harold U. Ribelow Award and the sequel Kaylee's Ghost (RJS Books.) She has published in the NYT (Lives), Newsweek, Moment, and many literary magazines. She teaches writing at UCLA Extension. Visit her at: www.rochellejewelshapiro.com or http://rochellejewelshapiro.blogspot.com/
