Deep, dark dread

Hello again. Today I'm looking at story genre, the type of story I like to write and how to get into the right mindset.

I can (and do) write in different genres as ideas strike me (adventure, mystery, serial killer, fantasy, sci-fi) but the one I like the most is the horror/chiller type.

So, as a scientist (a chemist in the manufacturing industry), why should I be so interested in scaring myself and others? Well, when you deal with hard facts all day I think it is exciting to consider the unknown, the unknowable, the unproven and even the unthinkable. This is what I like to call the deep, dark dread. There I am, poised over the keyboard (or, quite often, with pen and paper - low tech is good too), a quiet mild-mannered person; how do I conjure up the requiaite backdrop populated by some hideous evil?

Apart from gods and demons, vampires, werewolves, monsters of folklore (or those invented by HP Lovecraft, for instance), ghosts, aliens and elusive creatures (crypto-organisms), you need to think of your ultimate alter-ego: all the things you are not. And you will soon get the idea, especially when your foul character exists just a whisker away from real life.

Imagine what you could have, could be: murderer, psychopath, robber, rapist, thief, conman, fraudster, imposter, embezzler, assassin, gang leader, drug pusher, arsonist, kidnapper, terrorist...the list is very long. And if some of these don't sound scary enough, imagine the blackness they can paint over a victim's life. Indeed, horror and terror don't need to be caused by monsters: what someone will do to their fellow man or woman can be quite enough.

And remember this: any one of these horrors could exist where you live. They could even be round the next corner. Or standing next to you. Or in a book repository with a gun.

Jack Orchison, November 22, 2013.