Obscuradrome Patreon Essays: Archive # 2

This is a reprint of an essay from my now terribly neglected patreon. I'm still undecided about what to do with my patreon, so before I decide to completely nuke it from orbit, I'm going through my essays there and posting them here for posterity. Hopefully, readers will get something out these ... at least I hope so.

Enjoy!

Loose and Confident

If horror has a responsibility, then it is simply to create fear.

Fear of the unknown ... yeah, you know how it goes.

As creators, our responsibilities lie within allowing horror to do its job within the confines of our own personal and intimate vibe. For me, that means keeping it loose and confident.

Horror should not be easily explained. Every reveal should ask more questions than it answers. The framework of the strangeness should not be on solid ground, nor should it be constructed of solid materials. The backbone of the horror should be loose, tenuous, teetering on edge ready to fall over into the void at a seconds notice. Examining a single thread of the fabric of your horror should threaten its integrity.

So what keeps all of it together?

Confidence.

Swinging for the fences.

Not allowing your characters a chance to examine the horror.

Scaring the hell out of your characters keeps them on their toes. How can you sit down and figure out what's happening from every conceivable angle when horror is breathing down your neck? Sure, they need to think on their feet, figure out a way to survive, happen upon an angle to defeat the horror that's assaulting them, but give them too much time to ponder and you run the risk of losing your reader.

You can't scare the reader. You can only create characters that readers give a damn about and scare the hell out of those characters. Scare the character, scare the reader. Easy to say, harder to produce on the page.

If I'm facing something unexplainable that's trying to kill me or someone I care about, you can bet I'm going to think about what this weirdness is and why it is doing what it's doing. Anyone would. We definitely want that internal dialogue running through the narrative, while the character is running or hiding or attacking the horror back. The horror can be subtle, or it can be monstrous, but no matter what, the stakes must be high.

Explaining everything away softens the mystery and kills the suspense. I definitely want to uncover the mystery of what's happening, but each answer should ask another question. Closure is great, just don't close the door on your reader.

A great example of loose and confident is the Evil Dead franchise. There's definitely a lore; the book of the dead, the deadites, the evil rushing through the land, but it all really doesn't make much sense beyond that. They've thrown in everything including the kitchen sink. The characters barely have time to react to the horror. The strangeness is that anything is possible, and just when you think you've seen it all, a new wrinkle unfolds that's even more deadly. The reason any of it works for audiences is because they swing for the fences every time. Raimi and company have stamped their personal and intimate brand across the whole thing so hard that even when others come and play in that sandbox you can't escape it. They don't care that it sometimes doesn't make sense, and the characters surely don't give a shit ... they're just trying to make it out in one piece.

Of course, that's one example, and an extreme one at that. The beautiful thing about horror is that it can be dialed up or down depending on your own personal brand. Refraining from explaining the mystery only heightens the suspense, and when it comes down to it, that's probably one of the main reasons people are attracted to horror.

Keep it loose, execute it confidently. Don't give your characters a chance to think. Scare the hell out of them and readers will always come back for more.

peace&love