Do you write monster horror?

WinterDusk14 · Oct 27, 2009

I remember when I was a kid I loved watching John Carpenter's The Thing, the Aliens series, Predator and just the other day, I just watched Feast - which, in my opinion, was fantastic (compared to what we commonly get in every corner).

These were the foundations of some really good ideas and frights when I was young, which I've forgotten until I found them again not too long ago.

But lately I haven't seen or heard anyone write some quality monster horror. Its always vampires, zombies, werewolves, zombies, vampires and more zombies.

Oh, on second thought, a friend showed me a short story about a girl being kidnapped by a giant ant, took her into a cave and uh... I'll leave it to that. And another one about a sphinx stalking a woman - does the usage of creatures from mythology in monster horrors count as horrors?

Anyway, I have two monsters dwelling in my head right now, which I want to throw out into paper. But what are people's views toward monster horrors today? Do people still write them? If so, how much a cliche are they?

icerose · Oct 27, 2009

The Mist, Splinter, a whole bunch of indie movies.

Monster cinima I think has a lot of potential they just tend toward the cheesy side. Definitely check out Splinter, I thought it was awesome.

I have a few monster ideas, one being a series tucked away, I just haven't had a chance to get to them. I will though.

Feidb · Oct 27, 2009

When it comes to icky bug (horror) I write monster horror exclusively. In one a giant ivy plant eats Altus Oklahoma. In another one, which I just finished, a demon posesses a boiler in a corn mill and manifests through the steam system. In another one, unfinished, a giant predatory bird eats everyone in Altus, Oklahoma (location may change). It was created by a secret military lab in Canada.

To me, horror IS monsters. Though there are plenty of other types of horror, icky bug is the way I go. I haunt the SyFy channel for the newest in icky bug. As far as books out there, few and far between. I like Bentley Little, but he doesn't really do icky bug. Scott Nicholson has done some good icky bug as well as Preston & Child. It is out there in the media, but not that popular in the bookstores.

icerose · Oct 27, 2009

That reminds me there were two plant like things that were monsters in two recent films. I'll have to find the names.

One of our members here wrote a yeti vs vikings book. Man I'm terrible at remembering names! But he's published. It's through a UK publisher that's looking to put the pulp back in fiction and I think they do a number of things.

The Relic was an excellent monster book.

I definitely think there's a good market out there, it just tends to focus on certain popular monsters now and then.

kuatolives · Oct 27, 2009

I *just* finished writing my first horror novel (yay me) and it was just plain old humans being mean to each other. No creepy crawlies.

Feidb · Oct 27, 2009

Icerose,

One of those plant films was The Ruins by Scott Smith. Probably the worst and most depressing book I've ever read. I started to watch the movie but saw it pretty much followed the book and shut it off.

icerose · Oct 27, 2009

Then there must be 3 because neither were called The Ruins lol. I think there's a lot more monster books and films out there than we think. Especially if you start adding in like dogs and such.

Though to be fair sci-fi tends to get more of the monsters.

JLCwrites · Oct 27, 2009

Don't worry about what people's views towards monsters will be. If you have a great story idea and you do a good job writing it, go for it. Its great to have an original idea.

EFCollins · Oct 27, 2009

No. I don't.

I enjoy monster horror tales though, if they are done well. I don't care much if it's cliched or not, as long as it's done right. I don't want to laugh when I'm supposed to be scared.

But not much scares me anymore, sadly enough.

Jess Haines · Oct 27, 2009

Does a sentient haunted house count as a monster? I wrote a short story with one o' those a couple years ago.

It was a little much, so I haven't done anything with it. Submitted it to one horror ezine, but they didn't take it. Trunked it after that.

Feidb · Oct 27, 2009

I think a sentient haunted house is an excellent icky bug. I'd dig it up and look at it again.

As for laughing, my stories have a sense of humor. Not necessarily laugh out loud, but light-hearted, except when it's suposed to be scary. If you laugh then, I really screwed the pooch!

My big question is, what ISN'T a cliche? Virtually everything has already been done. Yet every time someone writes their own variation, it is unique to them. As Effie says, it has to be a good story, regardless of the setting. The problem lies in what each author thinks is a great story and whether anyone else does!

Kerr · Oct 27, 2009

I love monsters and there are still a lot of us out there. The trend right now is gore but that will change and monsters will always be around. Get your story written WinterDusk. It might just hit the timing perfectly when they're searching for something different again. There's always room for something different. Yours might be the next vampire, zombie, werewolf-like fad.

SirOtter · Oct 27, 2009

icerose said:
It's through a UK publisher that's looking to put the pulp back in fiction

Praytell, might we have linkage? That sounds like the exact publisher I've been looking for.

icerose · Oct 27, 2009

SirOtter said:
Praytell, might we have linkage? That sounds like the exact publisher I've been looking for.

Woot! I found the thread!

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138094&highlight=yeti

It is williemeikle who had the book published through them. Here's the publisher linkage:

http://ghostwriterpublications.wordpress.com/

WinterDusk14 · Oct 28, 2009

Thanks Icerose!=D

Looks like a nice publisher.=)

I also enjoy writing some fairytale horrors. I'm currently writing one but I don't have a title for it. lol. Usually I come up with titles first because it gives me a premise what the story is about. If I don't come up with a title first, I don't know what the heck I'm writing about. lol.

mario_c · Oct 28, 2009

icerose said:
One of our members here wrote a yeti vs vikings book. Man I'm terrible at remembering names! But he's published. It's through a UK publisher that's looking to put the pulp back in fiction and I think they do a number of things.

Sounds awesome!

The Relic was an excellent monster book.

I'll look for that one too.

BeeG · Oct 29, 2009

I actually enjoyed "The Ruins" but I read the script rather than the book itself which apparently is a lot different even though it is penned by the author himself. Has anyone seen the film? Is it worth watching? I am writing a few horrors at present, no "monsters", just human against human and human against "spirits". It's hard to come up with a non-cliched monster. Or maybe I just haven't thought about it enough!

Ellefire · Oct 29, 2009

Oh, they look interesting. They have an upper word limit of 70k though, which is just under what mine runs to.

icerose · Oct 29, 2009

Ellefire said:
Oh, they look interesting. They have an upper word limit of 70k though, which is just under what mine runs to.

They were made for writers like who are bad underwriters.

Ellefire · Oct 29, 2009

On the other hand, perfect for a nano-novel

Jcomp · Oct 29, 2009

I haven't yet written any monster based horror, though I think I'd like to...

Kerr · Oct 29, 2009

BeeG said:
I actually enjoyed "The Ruins" but I read the script rather than the book itself which apparently is a lot different even though it is penned by the author himself. Has anyone seen the film? Is it worth watching? I am writing a few horrors at present, no "monsters", just human against human and human against "spirits". It's hard to come up with a non-cliched monster. Or maybe I just haven't thought about it enough!

I actually enjoyed the book and can't imagine Fiedb not caring for it. The movie though seemed to miss most of what I liked in the book.

Twisted · Oct 29, 2009

I just finished the initial draft on my first monster horror short story, called Phantom Lake. Needs some work though, but it was great fun to write.

Feidb · Oct 29, 2009

What I hated about The Ruins was for one thing, the characters rambling on and on (whining) about their problems. I can take a bit of that for character development, but not for hundreds of pages. At least 200 pages could have been cut without affecting the story.

Second, I hate bummer endings and this one was a super bummer ending.

Third, the author broke so many writing rules and got away with it, that it just rubs me wrong. If I remember right, the first page had something like 30 "was's" on there.

Finally, I hate when the hero dies. I particularly hate when all the heroes die, especially since in this story, there was no one hero.

There were a few more problems but can't remember what they are now.

Let's just say it had everything I hate about a story. If I hadn't got it for a Christmas present, I never would have read it to begin with.

FOTSGreg · Oct 29, 2009

I guess my book Hatchings might qualify as monster horror although it's really more mainstream SF as it's a got a monster (actually a lot of them - genetically engineered giant insects that are scientifically plausible, genetically-engineered plants that produce hydrogen-based hand grenades, a species-jumping virus, a diabolical enemy conspiracy and agency, etc., etc.).

The last agent I sent it to said he liked the 1950's "feel" to the whole thing (though he declined to represent it)

Do you write monster horror?

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