A to Z Blogging Challenge – Day 8

H is For Horror

Although my longer fiction is romantically inclined, my short fiction often dips into the horror category. It’s not something I plan, it just happens that way. Maybe one of these days I’ll try something longer in horror, but until then I’ll just share some of the tips I’ve picked up along the way.

Make your readers sweat immediately. People don’t pick up a horror novel for a casual read. Readers want the pulse rate to kick into high gear. Start with a bang.

Limit your point of view. Write your story from the viewpoint of the main characters and remain faithful to those points of view. Let readers experience everything through those characters’ eyes, memories and feelings.

Create strong, identifiable characters. Give them a goal and throw obstacle after obstacle at them. If you don’t care about your characters, the readers certainly won’t.

Create a strong atmosphere. Creating a definite sense of mood and place is always important, but take special care with your opening. Use all the senses to make the reader picture everything.

Make your world come alive. If your character is fleeing from some flesh eating zombie, you must imagine the terrified thoughts racing through his or her mind – the sounds, muted by terror, even the way the air smells and tastes.

Let your characters do the doubting. Their disbelief, especially in the face of overwhelming evidence, makes us accept the whole premise you’ve come up with. Letting your characters disbelieve, question, doubt, every incredible thing that happens puts readers on the side of the supernatural – just where you want them.

Try to be original. The more different you make your story, the more it will appeal to publishers and readers.

Try to pick a subject that scares you personally. The more emotional power you pack into your story, the more readers will become terrified with you. They will feel your horror as they read each terrifying word, and become scared with you.

30 Days of Writing Questions – Day 8

8. What’s your favorite genre to write? To read?

My favourite genre to write in is romance; contemporary romance, paranormal romance, space romance. There’s usually lots of action and adventure, and yes, my characters have sex. Sometimes lots of sex. ;-)

Way back in the dark ages, when I first started writing, I thought I was going to be a science fiction writer – maybe dipping into fantasy once in awhile. But from the beginning my stories always had that hint of romance. Once I got over my fear of having my characters touch each other (I wouldn’t even let them kiss, let alone anything else) things went much smoother.

As you might guess, my favourite genre to read is also romance – vampire romance, werewolf, paranormal, space, fantasy, contemporary, cowboy, adventure . . . I think you get the idea. Probably 70% of my bookshelves are taken up by romance novels. The other 30% are science fiction and fantasy, reference books, mysteries, and the odd contemporary or classic.

My "to be read" books. Yes, the entire bookcase, plus the bags and boxes in front of it. This is also one of the reasons I don't get more writing done. ;-)



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