I have a short story about a girl that gets revenge on bullies before they grow up to be horrible people. Like threatening the world and killing bad. She was hired to wipe out everyone that bullied her by The Killer Contract Agency. There will be a novel after I get the short story published where it goes into deeper detail about the Agency. There is blood, gore, and cussing, and supernatural powers. Is that a horror novel?
Horror Question..
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In a different word, 
it depends on the execution. You could turn that plot into a horror, a thriller, an urban fantasy, a suspense, even a literary novel.
it depends on the execution. You could turn that plot into a horror, a thriller, an urban fantasy, a suspense, even a literary novel.
What you've described sound kind of Carrie-esque... so maybe?
From the info given I think it's hard to tell. Just because it has blood and gore doesn't make it automatically horror IMO. I'm not a die-hard traditionalist in the genre, but I like my horror to scare me, to creep me out, to make me shiver. This isn't doing that for me, but then again like I said, it's hard to tell with the info given.
From the info given I think it's hard to tell. Just because it has blood and gore doesn't make it automatically horror IMO. I'm not a die-hard traditionalist in the genre, but I like my horror to scare me, to creep me out, to make me shiver. This isn't doing that for me, but then again like I said, it's hard to tell with the info given.
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Perfect answer.
I'd like to add something, though, in the spirit of helpfulness, though it might not sound like it.
You've essentially asked whether supernatural powers, cussing, blood and gore make something a horror novel. Based on that question alone, I already know that you haven't read enough good horror novels to even think about writing one.
Read widely in the genre you want to write in first.
Shelley
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This.
Blood isn't scary anymore. Whatever you do, avoid trying to get shock-value from your story. A good horror story (IMO) will get the reader to glance at closed doors occasionally and listen intently for creaks in their house.
As Hitchcock said, no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.
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Revenge stories are tricky. I agree that it all depends on the execution, and from what you've described, there's nothing to tell us one way or the other what genre it belongs to. If you want to push it more towards horror, maybe you could explore the moral implications of what your MC is being asked to do? Like, how badly are these "bullies" being punished? And since they haven't become bad people yet, is she really justified in offing them?
Exactly!This.
Blood isn't scary anymore. Whatever you do, avoid trying to get shock-value from your story. A good horror story (IMO) will get the reader to glance at closed doors occasionally and listen intently for creaks in their house.
As Hitchcock said, no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.
Like the others have said, the lines between genres are blurring, and blood and gore just for the sake of blood and gore, gets old fast.
A little bit of blood can be terrifying. When you're alone in the house and coughing up blood it's absolutely nerve-shredding...
I'd say you have to emphasize the supernatural element and make it scary for the audience to call it icky bug (sorry, horror). The gore is less important than that. My personal taste leans toward an actual icky bug but that's just me talking.
To call it horror, it should be scary, not just gory. It should have some kind of supernatural or unnatural element that scares the characters and the reader.
To call it horror, it should be scary, not just gory. It should have some kind of supernatural or unnatural element that scares the characters and the reader.
Just as a follow-up to Shelley's comments above, I'm posing a question or two for you,
First, what horror novels have you read? This is a question founded in the seat of your education in the genre, not a criticism. I am understandably curious.
Second, what constitutes horror for you? This question is directed more at getting a look into your psyche and psychology. What makes you tick? What scares you? What aspect(s) of the horror genre do you enjoy most?
Honestly, when you understand that we like to be scared, that some distant part of our human psyche in the dim benighted depths of our reptilian brain enjoys the adrenaline rush that being scared enduces, then you can begin to understand what makes the reader tick.
First, what horror novels have you read? This is a question founded in the seat of your education in the genre, not a criticism. I am understandably curious.
Second, what constitutes horror for you? This question is directed more at getting a look into your psyche and psychology. What makes you tick? What scares you? What aspect(s) of the horror genre do you enjoy most?
Honestly, when you understand that we like to be scared, that some distant part of our human psyche in the dim benighted depths of our reptilian brain enjoys the adrenaline rush that being scared enduces, then you can begin to understand what makes the reader tick.
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If you're a former high school bully and live in a deep-rooted childhood fear of people taking revenge by means of supernatural forces, then maybe there's some horror in it.
But most of us aren't, so it'll be a tough sell.
Somebody mentioned Carrie. As I recall, that one wasn't about the girl and her revenge - it was about the girl's fears when facing puberty. Hit that kind of nerve, and you're in.
Horror isn't about the gore. It isn't even about the supernatural. It's about the fear the events stir in the reader.
But most of us aren't, so it'll be a tough sell.
Somebody mentioned Carrie. As I recall, that one wasn't about the girl and her revenge - it was about the girl's fears when facing puberty. Hit that kind of nerve, and you're in.
Horror isn't about the gore. It isn't even about the supernatural. It's about the fear the events stir in the reader.
When you've got something as identifiable as an assassination agency, in my mind it takes some of the fear factor out - it then resembles one person taking out lots of bad guys, ala Die Hard, or The Bourne Trilogy, or any number of other stories where the main characters job is to basically kill people. Are these deaths going to be carried out in an over the top or even supernatural fashion?
If these are bad people, I'm not particularly scared or invested in the outcome of bad people.
If these are bad people, I'm not particularly scared or invested in the outcome of bad people.
Characters seeing their victims after death is a long staple of horror fiction. Having an assassin come face to face with the multitude of people he has dispatched would, for me, fall squarely into the horror genre...
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