What so scary about a bit of paper?

Nicholas S.H.J.M Woodhouse · Dec 7, 2005

thought i'd go for the attention grabbing title.

hello horror AW writers,

i'm curious - what scares you in a book.

lets get as specific as we can please - i'd really appreciate that - that way i can really understand those scenes (i need to be scary in a couple of scenes in something soon)

for me - there was a scene in an Angela Carter novel 'the passion of the new eve'

where Evelyn, a male, was captured by some ultra-feminists and his 'bits' were cut off and he was turned into a man.
for me, what was so scary was the description. it was like a child's book.

'he plopped onto the floor'

uuurrrgggghhhh

i'm curious, what gets you bumping in the night (sorry,couldn't resist it)

SpookyWriter · Dec 7, 2005

Mannequins under my bed.
Creeps who borrow my bowie knife and return it uncleaned.
When it thaws and I discover another homeless person in my backyard.

More? Wait till I return from the toilet. I'm sure something is just waiting for me to take a ****.

Jon

Uncletrunx · Dec 8, 2005

Clowns. Clowns terrify me.

And there's nothing on this planet more frightning than an angry guinea pig.

williemeikle · Dec 8, 2005

Uncletrunx said:
Clowns. Clowns terrify me.

And there's nothing on this planet more frightning than an angry guinea pig.

Two angry Guinea pigs?

Uncletrunx · Dec 8, 2005

Well, two angry guinea pigs might turn their wrath on one another. Their bestial fury usually overcomes any desire to co-operate in their evil schemes, luckily for humanity.

A united guinea pig army of terror is a prospect to awful to contemplate.

triceretops · Dec 8, 2005

The red-eyed pig named Jodie in The Amityville (sp?) Horror, with those red gleaming eyes peering through the window and the cloven prints in the snow. Tore me a new one, I can tell you.

Tri

Mark Anderson · Dec 8, 2005

I've always been more scared by subtle horrors, particularly social ones. To me there is horror in many stories that is often overlooked. Wilhelm's When Late the Sweet Birds Sang about the disolution of the human race was horrific. The descent of civilization into savagery in Earth Abides. 1984 is a horror story to me.

In conventional horror stories and movies, the subtexts are more horrifying than the bloodsprays and the knife-wielding maniacs. The indictment of consumer culture in Dawn of the Dead. Bottom-line capitalism gone amok in Aliens. The casual cruelty of children in Carrie. Stories and movies that work on several levels are always greater than the sum of their parts.

Storyteller5 · Dec 8, 2005

Uncletrunx said:
Clowns. Clowns terrify me.

You've read It by Stephen King, haven't you?

Mike Coombes · Dec 8, 2005

Mark Anderson said:
I've always been more scared by subtle horrors, particularly social ones. To me there is horror in many stories that is often overlooked. Wilhelm's When Late the Sweet Birds Sang about the disolution of the human race was horrific. The descent of civilization into savagery in Earth Abides. 1984 is a horror story to me.

In conventional horror stories and movies, the subtexts are more horrifying than the bloodsprays and the knife-wielding maniacs. The indictment of consumer culture in Dawn of the Dead. Bottom-line capitalism gone amok in Aliens. The casual cruelty of children in Carrie. Stories and movies that work on several levels are always greater than the sum of their parts.

Oh yes. The scary stuff is what DOESN'T happen. But what might.

kristie911 · Dec 8, 2005

Clowns...definitely clowns. And just for the record, I hated clowns long before I was old enough to read It. But I think Amityville Horror was probably the scariest book I've ever read because it (supposedly) is true. True stories are always scariest and most fun to read!

Nicholas S.H.J.M Woodhouse · Dec 9, 2005

Mike Coombes said:
Oh yes. The scary stuff is what DOESN'T happen. But what might.

I think you are right there Mike. The chance to mentally speculate reveals ones own demons and they feel a lot closer, no?

can you think of any examples of this in horror literature?

I need to badly brush up on my ability to scare

scarletpeaches · Dec 9, 2005

Whoever said clowns has it right.

Fear of the unknown is what does it for me, though. The monster under the bed, the noise that you hear in the middle of the night, a door that's ajar...That's why I think films like The Blair Witch Project worked so well - you just don't know until the end. Monster films and books don't creep me out at all. They're too far fetched. Apart from clowns. They're just WRONG.

Jaycinth · Dec 9, 2005

Clowns are bothersome. Carnivals in a thunderstorm. Vampire rabbits. Smiling politicians..but mostly. . .

Ninety Nutty Nearly Naked Nazi Nuns in Drag.

SpookyWriter · Dec 9, 2005

Clowns?

Julie Worth · Dec 9, 2005

The worst thing is to have something horrible happen and you can’t tell anyone, and the longer you go with your secret the more impossible it is to share it. You’re alone against some fantastic evil. Stephen King does that all the time.

Flapdoodle · Dec 10, 2005

Mark Anderson said:
I've always been more scared by subtle horrors, particularly social ones. To me there is horror in many stories that is often overlooked. Wilhelm's When Late the Sweet Birds Sang about the disolution of the human race was horrific. The descent of civilization into savagery in Earth Abides. 1984 is a horror story to me.

In conventional horror stories and movies, the subtexts are more horrifying than the bloodsprays and the knife-wielding maniacs. The indictment of consumer culture in Dawn of the Dead. Bottom-line capitalism gone amok in Aliens. The casual cruelty of children in Carrie. Stories and movies that work on several levels are always greater than the sum of their parts.

Well said. I found Lord of the Flies horrific, and the scene where they discover the dead parachutist is absolutely imprinted on my mind.

Of the "Horror genre" I rarely find any books even slightly scary or unsettling. Some of the older stuff is, but recent stuff - like Steven King's later chunky efforts, are just boring. I read a Dean Koontz book called "The Taking" which ranks as the worse book I've *ever* read. I'm staggered it even got published.

MacAllister · Dec 10, 2005

Ah. I just read The Taking, too. Thought it was absolutely dreadful. Like he knocked it out on a three-day weekend.

*sigh*

He's capable of so much better.

Vuligora · Dec 21, 2005

People who smile and look happy, but all you have to do is look into their eyes to see the maddening insanity that is ready to break loose the second you swear, yet claim to be godly people.

emeraldcite · Dec 22, 2005

Well said. I found Lord of the Flies horrific, and the scene where they discover the dead parachutist is absolutely imprinted on my mind.

Funny you bring up Lord of the Flies. I distinctly remember the first time I read that novel. I reread the part with Piggy over and over. It was a very striking moment for me.

I can't think of too many times that a book scared me. I've had a few page-turning moments where the suspense was really gripping, but that's few and far in between. Usually it's when something huge is at stake and the author is drawing it out over several chapters, inching closer and closer to the edge.

BlueTexas · Dec 23, 2005

triceretops said:
The red-eyed pig named Jodie in The Amityville (sp?) Horror, with those red gleaming eyes peering through the window and the cloven prints in the snow. Tore me a new one, I can tell you.

Tri

This is one of the few scenes that I've read ten or more years ago that still freaks me out, just at the thought of it.

Another one is where Georgie loses his arm in IT, and the scene in the water tower. I read than more than ten years ago, and I'm getting the creeps right now.

MacAllister · Dec 23, 2005

I just sent Three Seven a copy of It, because he said he hadn't read it. It'll be interesting to hear what he thinks, bringing a fresh perspective to the book. I first read it years ago, and can't remember what the first read is like, now.

reph · Dec 23, 2005

SpookyWriter said:
Clowns?

To explain: Fear of clowns is a specific phobia. Most people don't have it.

Fractured_Chaos · Dec 26, 2005

Gaslighting. That is something that scares the bejeebers out of me. Anytime your sanity (or definition of reality) is called into question, it's terrifying.

nandu · Jan 30, 2006

Scary paintings, like posters of hell.
Drooling idiots (sorry, I should say mentally challenged persons, but then it doesn't sound scary).
Anything that lurks.

Jcomp · Jan 30, 2006

I love horror novels, but books don't usually "scare" me. Some that have, Salem's Lot, the scene where the bus driver hops on the bus and all the vampric school kids are waiting for him. The Stand, where one character (whose name escapes me) is walking through a tunnel to get out of New York and the tunnel's dark as all hell and he's freaking out.

The novel of Jurassic Park had me freaked out (I was a kid then, mind you), because the raptors reminded me of the Aliens from the movie series. They just seemed impossible to evade, kill, decieve, reason with, etc.

The idea of people suddenly disappearing freaks me out. I read an allegedly "true" story about a man running down the street alongside a friend. The first man trips and falls and his friend stops to help, but dude's just gone. He tripped, and at some point on the way down just vanished. No explanation, doesn't make sense, and no i didn't believe it to be true, but it was creepy just the same. That ambiguous weird stuff always gets to me.

People that are abnormally tall and skinny also give me the creeps (given that I'm 6'4" and somewhat thin myself, this qualifies as irony to some people).

Something that I think usually gets to people is when everyday things are turned on their head. Psycho with the showers (more of a movie example, but you get the idea) for example.

What so scary about a bit of paper?

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