Just one question this week, folks. And it's for the horror writers.
Why Do You Write... Horror?
Nikki Nelson-Hicks:
I have a theory that writers write because they subconsciously want to save...or kill...someone over and over again. As for me, horror gives me a way to not only be an agent of Nemesis and give justice to people who are wronged but it also gives me the opportunity to see the crime from the other side when I dive into the antagonist's POV. While this makes me more empathetic, it doesn't do much for my anxiety.
Also, it's just a lot of fun. I love monsters and ghost stories.
Nicole Givens Kurtz:
I write horror to engage in stories and emotions that are often viewed as negative when displayed in real life. Horror gives me permission to be angry, to be vengeful and to be afraid. When I write horror, I am free to run the gambit of emotions without fear of reproach. Writing horror for me is freedom to be truly creative.
Selah Janel:
I think it’s natural to seek a catharsis that we might not get in real life, especially during times of stress and chaos. It doesn’t even have to have a happy ending - being able to immerse myself in a story where I control the outcome and can explore terrifying possibilities is a powerful position to be in. I’ve always been intrigued by the fear and intrigue that warred inside me any time I read or watched something in the horror genre. As a kid, it freaked me out, but as an adult there’s a certain freedom in being able to toy with plot elements that delve into the darker parts of the psyche. With so many sub genres, there’s a lot of fun to be had and a lot of topics to explore. Horror naturally puts a reader in a point of view situation, so there’s also the chance to explore empathy for people who aren’t in my situation. There’s a lot of freedom in the horror genre and sub genres, and a lot of power over terrible things in a controlled environment.
For me, turning to the horror genre was a natural extension from writing mysteries. There are many ways to explore the supernatural and the various forms of race/species available in those things that go bump in the night.
Sean Taylor:
Horror has always been, at least for me, a way of pushing my characters. I believe that the best way to create a compelling story is to make your characters face the worst thing that can happen to them -- whether romantically, philosophically, emotionally, or physically. That's why for me the best horror has always had more at stake than mere death or dismemberment or gore. It operates on a deeper level at a higher kind of loss. Losing to the spirit, zombie, creature, etc. must always mean losing something of the character's self -- a chance to make things right with someone, the opportunity to finally become someone important, that one last break to talk to your parents before you die. If the only thing they have to lose is their lives, then ultimately (at least for horror stories) there's not enough at stake.
Ralph Wheat:
I enjoy writing horror for the simple fact I like to scare myself and others. Creating characters is fun and intriguing. Breathing life into beings that came from my demented mind, a story from stray thoughts, interesting stories I happen to click to on tv, cable, or an article in the paper ( and yes, I still read those) and a germ of a idea germinated into a spark for a short story. As a matter of fact, an idea I was ruminating about lately, brightened to a fiery glow of creative fire as I riding in a car by a cemetery. Suddenly, I had the framework for a terrifying horror story. I wanted to do for my character, Malcolm Hellbourne, Occult Detective. I've written a few short stories with him. First time I introduced him to a select few, is when in my technology school for computer programming had a school paper. They wanted the students to submit a story and I did. The students and faculty loved it. That's when I knew I could write. Then when I worked at the World Trade Center, before its tragic end, I put a couple of his shorts together and sold them on the Commodities Exchange's Floor for $2. I made $50 bucks! Also, I found myself elated, full of pride and respected. Here were grown men and women reading my stories, some of them acting out some of Malcolm's hand gestures to perform spells doing them in real-life. Brought a smile to my face. And many, saying they enjoyed very much, wanted more stories. Later, I found out since I sold my work, I was a published author. I finally, brought all the stories of Malcolm in one series and hopefully soon to get it published. So horror stories are good for the heart rate and keep you up late at night.
Robert Freese:
Why do I write horror? I write more than just horror, but with horror I feel a real connection. Horror movies were huge when I was a kid and I just gravitated toward them. Fangoria magazine opened a world of horror movies as well as horror novels. At the time, Stephen King was insanely popular, but I read guys like John Russo, Richard Laymon, Gary Brandner, Guy Smith, James Herbert. Horror is like the coolest club to belong to. I am currently writing a new horror novel and I'm having a ball. I get to revisit a wonderful world where anything can happen. I don't want to explore man's heart of darkness or any of that jazz. I enjoy writing what I call "drive-in horror," horror stories that works like a Roger Corman drive-in horror movie. You can use a horror story to tell a bigger story, give the characters real depth. I also see it as a challenge to use words like magic tricks. Robert Bloch did that with his twist endings. How can you seem to show something to your reader and then flip it and give them a little jolt? I love that. When I write other stuff I tend to always write one character who is a fan of horror movies and novels, just so I can still play in that world a bit. I think at this point it's in my blood.
Bobby Nash:I like to do the spooky from time to time. It's fun writing scares.
In my case, it's to follow the advice of my idol of G.K. Chesterton, who said the purpose of fairy tales was not to tell people that dragons exist, but that they could be killed.
Daniel Emery Taylor:
I tend to write a lot about outcasts - which I don't suppose is particularly unique - and the choices they make in light of their hardships. So, someone is bullied as a child - does that make them more likely to become a hero, because they know what it's like to be victimized and they want to save others from the same fate, or do they become a villain, because they want the world to suffer as they did? Really, it could go either way, depending on a variety of other factors. We each have choices to make in life and it is fascinating just how quickly our entire situation can change based solely on our reaction to it. Plus, there is the splendid duplicity of man - the fact that most humans are basically good but also carry within them the potential for the gravest forms of evil. I'm not saying we're just a bad day away from becoming homicidal maniacs ... but I think we would be shocked to discover what we would be able to do given the right set of unfortunate circumstances.James Quinn:
To clear the air, I want to be fully honest and say I am not what most would consider a professional writer. I’ve just last year begun writing my first novel, I’ve only had 6 poems published on literary websites and literary journals, and I am currently running a geek-centered blog site of my own construction. I am by no means a “professional” on the status of most well-known and established authors. However, I do still write, and I am on the road to becoming what I would to imagine a…. black Harlan Ellison. A genre-fiction writer of the ages!
With that bit of honest professionalism out of the way for context, I do write continuously and the projects I’ve written so far that have been published and just written have been horror related. My first love is always going to be science-fiction, a genre that imagines humanities future in whatever good or bad form that takes, and my second is superhero comics. Is it possible to even have a third love? Horror, although I don’t speak on it all the time has always creeped up in my work so far. The first short story that I ever tried to professionally publish was a horror story about a woman being haunted by the spirit of her dead daughter in hell. The first poem I had ever gotten published is called “Smoke-Town Zombies” and is about a shy black kid that slowly decays mentally and physically into a zombie. Even the first script I had written was based on that previously mentioned horror poem. In November of 2020, I had started working on my first novel which is going to be a horror story. Despite considering horror a third favorite genre, I’ve certainly found myself coming back to the genre time after time.
Why do I write horror? Why do I write science fiction sometimes? Science fiction is a genre I look to envision a future for myself and the world around me. The future might be taken over by robots, or we might be enslaved by an alien race in the future, but there’s still a future, nonetheless. Superhero comics are power fantasies that inspire me to envision better and more helpful versions of myself. But what about horror? Horror, as I consume it, investigates our darker halves and evil intentions so that we’re aware of the awful things we’re capable. The best horror fiction is always an exploration of our fears and how those fears shape into monsters or shape us into monsters. Fear is a driving force in all our lives, and it leads me into the driving force behind my fear: my identity.
As a queer African American, I live in a country/world that is always working against me; that’s not to say that I specifically am facing any hardships currently, but as a race in this country it’s hard to not conclude that black bodies are always targets for hate. I live in Louisville, Kentucky and when I had started writing my horror novel last year (currently we’re in the editing and re-structuring phase) we had several major protests during the summer concerning the murder of Breonna Taylor by the Louisville Metro Police Department. Despite the angry chants, the protests, the looting downtown, the threats to destroy the city, despite the cries for justice against a woman that didn’t deserve to have her life taken away, Kentucky law opted to not arrest the cops that killed Breonna Taylor. To add insult to injury, Kentucky senate passed a bill that would make illegal for anyone to insult cops which was also met by protest. The state and the overall United States have made themselves clear about how they feel about black lives: they don’t care. By not arresting the cops that killed Breonna Taylor, Kentucky sent out the message that the police can come into any black person’s house, kill them, and not face any punishment for it. Not to mention the other countless black lives that have been lost the to the American Police force. America has always had black bodies in a state of fear, and even though I’m one of the few black people to be privileged enough so far to avoid these obstacles, but that’s not the reality for a lot of people that look like me or identify as I do.
The world is a horror story for black people, from our history down to the current events on the news through the African diaspora. Black bodies are always in a state of danger. When I write horror, I tend to write from this perspective. As a writer I believe fiction is the ultimate way for those to gain empathy and sympathy from people who are different from you; to gain a perspective one might not have previously had. It’s why I love writing and consuming fiction; it holds a mirror to us to reveal human truths. If I can make others understand the fear of black people through my horror stories, maybe others will understand why so many of us hate this country and want to dismantle it for a better one. Or at least I hope so.
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