One to Ten on the Scary Scale

[Sea Monster]

I've always written 'childrens books', those intended for kids ages seven to ten-ish. They're fun, fanciful and full of colorful bouts of imagination. So when I woke up from a rather terrorizing dream a few nights ago, I wasn't sure why I ran to my computer and wrote it all down. Later that day, I turned it into an adult-themed supernatural terror type plot that I felt had promise (Which is a personal opinion, of course ). Then, toying with it even more, I wrote down a rather lengthy scene from what I would assume would end up being the middle of the book. I read it to my boyfriend that night. He woke up screaming at about 1am. Now that I've been writing more here and there, putting sub-plots together and weaving the characters into the plot, I find that my own plot is scaring me to the point I have trouble sleeping.

When is scary too scary? Is it all a matter of what frightens each person on their own level? I could just be a complete pansy, which is always possible. I'm not quite sure how to execute the feelings of terror and fear in my readers in a general way. I know what scares me, which is the way I’ve been writing, but I don't want the book to be terrorizing. Instead, I’d like it to be suspenseful and thrilling in a frightening way. I'm not quite sure I've written the 'edgy' parts correctly. I've never read much in this genre, so the style is foreign to me. Actually, the entire process of writing for adults is unknown territory for me. It’s like leaping into shark infested water!

What books do you guys recommend that best show fear execution, ones that inspire that rapidly beating heart in the reader, make them turn on the hallway light when they sleep. My own book has me doing that now, but I think that's because one thing leads to another in my imagination ( I write that there's a cool breath of air sweeping down the hallway, then it's in my house. My mind likes to exaggerate my own thoughts, but I think that happens to everyone).

Or, better yet, if anyone has any personal advice. I love advice, it comes in so handy. My boyfriend refuses to talk about the book anymore. He has an imagination almost as vivid as mine, which is why he doesn’t ‘do’ creepy things. My mother is a bigger chicken than I am and my friends are too interested in the newest style of shoe or fall fashion magazines.

P.S – I just read over this post, and it’s very messy. I’m sorry, my mental organization has been awry for the last few days. A summery would be: When is a book too scary? What sensory triggers make your heart beat a wee bit faster than it normally does. If you saw a haunting, false-human face in the reflection of your mirror, would you scream and turn around? What books and/or advice would show me the best way to execute my scenes, to instill proper amounts of fear and suspense.

Thanks in advance to anyone with the patience to answer this post

 

[Peter Graham]

Hello Sea Monster,

You raise some jolly interesting issues here. I am afraid that there may be no one answer - different people are frightened by different things and some people are frightened by one medium and not another.

By way of an example, I am never frightened by what I read in fiction. Ever. I react more to film - the big "Boo!" moments are always more immediately terrifying than a block of text. As a young shaver, I read Salem's Lot. Not bad, but I certainly never felt scared. Then I saw the film and was reduced to the status of gibbering imbecile (I was quite young at the time - nowadays, the nylon is probably the most frightening thing. I would just have grabbed Straker, rubbed him up and down on my jumper and stuck him to the ceiling like a balloon).

I can hear the voices out there sniffing "well, you can't have a particularly good imagination, then." Wrong. I can control my imagination and I can control how I read a book. Short of hiding under the seat, I cannot control a piece of film that I am watching.

So, the short answer to the question

Is it all a matter of what frightens each person on their own level?

Is "yes".

I'm not quite sure how to execute the feelings of terror and fear in my readers in a general way. I know what scares me, which is the way I’ve been writing, but I don't want the book to be terrorizing. Instead, I’d like it to be suspenseful and thrilling in a frightening way. I'm not quite sure I've written the 'edgy' parts correctly. I've never read much in this genre, so the style is foreign to me.

Why not post some up and let us have a look at it? I think the key is to keep it simple. HP Lovecraft would be infinitely more thrilling if he didn't bury all of the immediacy of fear under layers of sub-Jabberwocky adjective babble.

"A thrulbish Yog-Shoggoth from the hellish lands of N'Y'Bzqwy'Flllp started to morphose in the looking glass before my very eyes. It's slurmicious form oozed abominably until it filled my whole vision. It shrieked and caterwauled with luminescent iridacity, screaming of loss, suffering and the cruel descent into a thousand layers of the Pit of R'ggggg."

(From "The Abyss of Consonants")

My mind likes to exaggerate my own thoughts, but I think that happens to everyone.

It's bound to - you can experience it firsthand from your own characters.

Or, better yet, if anyone has any personal advice.

Like I say, post up a chunk of a particularly scary passage and we'll let you know what we think. It's a bit tricky to give advice in general terms, I'm afraid. And there's nothing more scary than our collective comma obsessions, line edits and lumbering metaphors.

If you saw a haunting, false-human face in the reflection of your mirror, would you scream and turn around?

Yes, but not if it was displaying luminescent iridacity. And it would probably only be Mrs Graham looking at me through the window anyway....

Regards,

Peter

 

[daisybee]

Hi Sea Monster, I am atotal wuss when it comes to scary stuff on film-cannot bear to watch gory stuff at all it stays with me for weeks.
I have always been a fan of James Herbert and Stephen King though, and loved The Rats, which scared the bejesus out of me but I still go back for more. (The Dark is also really scary)
The things that really scare me on paper are the mental mind games- the doubts, the small clues that something is not quite right then BAM! You are shocked but desperate to read more.
Seems ridiculous now, but Thornyhold by Mary Stewart really scared me, just made me a bit jumpy, perhaps the normalcy mixed with something a bit weird worked but I always remember that story. It's not horror-but builds tension quite well in my opinion, and it's an easy read.

Good Luck scaring people!

 

[Pyan]

"A thrulbish Yog-Shoggoth from the hellish lands of N'Y'Bzqwy'Flllp started to morphose in the looking glass before my very eyes. It's slurmicious form oozed abominably until it filled my whole vision. It shrieked and caterwauled with luminescent iridacity, screaming of loss, suffering and the cruel descent into a thousand layers of the Pit of R'ggggg."
(From "The Abyss of Consonants")

I've read that! But I thought it was by E.E. "Doc" Smith!

 

[Ginkus]

I can 'stomach' most horror no matter the medium its told in. But, for me anyways, the scariest things are the simplest. Example: someone being where they're not supposed to be. Or hearing a sound that should not be there (like a voice in an empty tomb). Try avoiding to many details, leave things vague, otherwise you risk people thinking Wow! That is really cool! Instead of I think I just crapped my pants. Hope it helps.