Introduction

We're going to do impressions of some different writing styles used in horror, including understatement, entering a dark place, and action horror. To give us something to write about, we'll use this picture as inspiration.

The snippets we use in this lesson aren’t going to give you nightmares or anything. Some come from stories that feature the supernatural, some come from adventures that use suspense. But they all aim for that horror atmosphere.

Horror is a genre of fiction that tries to create a feeling of fear, dread, repulsion or terror. It focuses on things that frighten - death, evil, and the supernatural.

There are a few different types of horror:

Gothic horror combines the frightening with the beautiful or romantic. Tragic good-looking vampires, spooky ornate castles, dense misty forests—lots of atmosphere.
Supernatural horror is about facing the unknown or paranormal. Ghosts, monsters, demons, aliens, witchcraft, zombies, and so on.
Non-supernatural horror, while still fiction, only contains events that could happen in real life.

We'll do five exercises. For each exercise, you'll get a snippet in a particular style of horror writing, and then an example showing how you could apply that style to the image.

Once you submit, you’ll be able to read and react to responses from others in your group.

If you're ready, let's write!

Horror Genre (Middle years)