Thriller vs Horror

Horror is meant to elicit specific emotional responses, such as fear and repulsion, often through the use of violent acts. Horror plays off our fears and nightmares and the things that make us squeamish.

Thrillers take you on a ride, but are much more subtle about their shocks and shivers.

There is a fine line, especially when it comes to authors like Stephen King and Thomas Harris. King writes in all genres, but is labeled "horror" because that is where he started. Dreamcatcher is more thriller, Cell is more horror. And I have heard people argue back and forth about Silence of the Lambs. The movie is often shelved with Horror, but I believe Harris's novels can be found in the Mystery/Suspense section of my Borders.

I think chaostitan is on to something here.

Plot arcs can be identical between the genres... so it really comes down to what the intent was of the author. In Horror, it seems, the writer wants to "shock" the audience while in a textbook thriller the writer wants to "jolt" the audience.

The effects are really similar, but the "shock" comes from revulsion while the "jolt" comes adrenaline.

Another distinction. If it contains elements of the paranormal (vampires, werewolves, Killer cars.) it is usually shelved with horror. If it is human on human conflict, it is more likely to be shelved as a thriller.

Soccer Mom said:

Another distinction. If it contains elements of the paranormal (vampires, werewolves, Killer cars.) it is usually shelved with horror. If it is human on human conflict, it is more likely to be shelved as a thriller.

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The Mystery/Suspense section of my Borders has a wide variety of paranormal books, dealing with all manner of supernatural elements. Paranormal shows up in the Romance section, too.

Again, it seems to be more about intent, rather than content.

You know I'm going to get on my thriller hobby horse here ...

I'll be honest: I'm not a big horror reader. I'll occasionally read some vampire books, but that's about it. I generally don't like horror. In fact, I have honestly have read only one of Stephen King's books (Carrie, when it first came out). I don't particularly like being scared or grossed out.

But I love reading thriller. They have very complex storylines with multiple threads running through them, all merging together at the end. The stories often reflect some element of what's going on in current events--Clive Cussler, unfortunately, accurately predicted many of the events around 9-11--or conspiracies or mythology/lore or lost mysteries. There's often some kind of technology or technology like thing in it, so that readers get exposed to part of the world they've never before seen. Military thrillers show us life inside the military; political thrillers show us what goes on behind closed doors; forensic thrillers show us forensic technology being used to solve crimes. Even the places a thriller may go can be a treat, like the one I just read was set in the Amazon. And all of these help drive the plot in unexpected ways.

The stories also often have high stakes--the villain of the story usually does so many horrible things that the reason for doing that has to pay off, as well as justify the high impact ending of the story (where all the threads collide together in an exciting finale).

And the stories are about heroes. Someone going out and preventing whatever from happening or saving something.

Linda Adams said:

In fact, I have honestly have read only one of Stephen King's books (Carrie, when it first came out). I don't particularly like being scared or grossed out.

But I love reading thriller. They have very complex storylines with multiple threads running through them, all merging together at the end.

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In my opinion, about eighty percent of the novels that Stephen King has published contain this criteria. Especially novels like IT, The Stand, Desperation, and Needful Things. And less than one third can really be called horror, or contain the gross out/fear factor. Nail-biting, certainly, but so are thrillers.

/steps off "SK doesn't only write horror" soapbox/

Horror

I've always found it interesting that the horror section at the book store is usually no more than a single shelf. Also, it will contain books on the paranormal, witchcraft, demonology and such. King, Koonts, Patterson, Deaver are found in the suspense/thriller section, but by many, are considered today's contemporary horror masters...

Personaly, I look for Gothic horror; Stoker, Shelly, Palodori. The genre can not be disputed there.

Lloydyboy said:

I've always found it interesting that the horror section at the book store is usually no more than a single shelf. Also, it will contain books on the paranormal, witchcraft, demonology and such. King, Koonts, Patterson, Deaver are found in the suspense/thriller section, but by many, are considered today's contemporary horror masters...

Personaly, I look for Gothic horror; Stoker, Shelly, Palodori. The genre can not be disputed there.

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Deaver? You mean Jeffrey Deaver who writes about Lincoln Rhyme? He's a quintessential thriller writer, not horror writer... or is there another Deaver?

John Connelly, who used to be a brilliant thriller writer, has recently abandoned ship and joined the horror brigade. But then he lives in Maine

Have the genres of thriller and paranormal taken over what used to be considered horror? What about some of the things I see listed as "dark urban fantasy?" I look at those and wonder if Clive Barker would now be seen as "dark paranormal" or "dark urban fantasy?"

Just curious what the people here think.

Deav

That's the only Deaver I know.

Lloydyboy said:

That's the only Deaver I know.

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What horror books has Deaver written? I thought I'd read all of his books, but maybe I missed some...

Soccer Mom said:

Have the genres of thriller and paranormal taken over what used to be considered horror? What about some of the things I see listed as "dark urban fantasy?" I look at those and wonder if Clive Barker would now be seen as "dark paranormal" or "dark urban fantasy?"

Just curious what the people here think.

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I think that you're on to something. Horror is a niche market. Not everyone likes to read horror, because it conjures up specific imagery and expectations (slashers, blood, mayhem, maybe a demon or two). Twenty years ago, that's what you got (whether in film or books).

And then things started to change. Stephen King's books and stories trended away from classic horror, and into the realm of thriller, fantasy, and mainstream. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer turned classic horror on its head, and gave us a very mainstream dark fantasy (or Horror-Lite).

Paranormal is the new big thing. The last few big blockbuster movies have all had fantasy/-ish elements (X-Men 3, Superman Returns, Pirates). TV is gobbling them up to find the next 4400, Dead Zone, Supernatural, or Lost (which has actually gone the way of science fiction since last season).

Look at the proliferation of paranormal romance novels lining the shelves (and all of the agents/publishers looking for them). I read an agent's blog yesterday, and she said she was looking for the next great thriller with a paranormal element. Books that may have been considered horror once upon a time can be relabeled paranormal thriller or dark fantasy. And they end up in the Mystery/Thriller or SciFi/Fantasy sections of your local Borders. A large step up from those three shelves of Horror novels.

Genres are less easily defined than they used to be. Good for booksellers. Harder for us poor struggling writers to wrap our heads around.

Thanks for the platform, Soccer Mom.

I don't know. I've just observed his books being found in horror sections at bookstores. I thoguht he was suspense/thriller as well.

Anytime, Chaos. I'm all about making things happen. I'm still interested in the debate about where genres are going.

Lloydyboy said:

I don't know. I've just observed his books being found in horror sections at bookstores. I thoguht he was suspense/thriller as well.

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If by he you mean King, then you're right about the horror section. Bookstores like to shelve authors' books together, if they can. It makes finding a particular title simpler for the customer.

His place on the shelf may not be changing, but the content of his books and story collections are all over the map. If the four novellas published in Different Seasons had been single-volume novels, The Body and Rita Hayworth & The Shawshank Redemption would have ended up in Mainstream Fiction, Apt Pupil in thriller, and The Breathing Method in horror.

Like Soccer Mom, I'm curious to see where the genres will trend next, both in pop culture and on bookstore shelves.

Lloydyboy said:

I don't know. I've just observed his books being found in horror sections at bookstores. I thought he was suspense/thriller as well.

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Unfortunately, the bookstores aren't always consistent as to where they put the books. One of the reasons I was so confused over thriller is that for years, I found them in both General Fiction and Mystery. Laurell K. Hamilton's earliest books (vampires) was in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section, and I've even found Chicklit in the Literary section--and the romance section at the same time!

Linda Adams said:

Unfortunately, the bookstores aren't always consistent as to where they put the books. One of the reasons I was so confused over thriller is that for years, I found them in both General Fiction and Mystery. Laurell K. Hamilton's earliest books (vampires) was in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section, and I've even found Chicklit in the Literary section--and the romance section at the same time!

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I wonder: is this an evolution of classifying fiction or is it just some ploy by a marketing department to sell more books?

It's so inconsistent from bookstore to bookstore that I'd say the people doing the shelving were confused.

Linda Adams said:

You know I'm going to get on my thriller hobby horse here ...

I'll be honest: I'm not a big horror reader. I'll occasionally read some vampire books, but that's about it. I generally don't like horror. In fact, I have honestly have read only one of Stephen King's books (Carrie, when it first came out). I don't particularly like being scared or grossed out.

But I love reading thriller. .

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Same here! I will avoid anything labelled horror, including vampires and paranormal stuff, and I believe it's anotion of mine that horror sets out to delibetately invoke disgust, panic, fear and so on - for its own sake. That is, invoking these feelinsg is the aim of horror.

The aim of a thriller, however, seems to be to the traditional triumph of good over evil... so I am made to confront the evil, fear it, look it in its face, but at the same time I know that the good is there and will triumph eventually.

bsolah said:

I'm sorry, I have to disagree with this statement. Horror can tell stories of good over evil, whatever that writer's definition is of the terms, and I'm sure people can rattle off several horror novels that do this.

Horror does invoke disgust, panic and fear as well as many other emotions but not for its own sake. s trend.

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OK, I'l try again - I have to admit my opinion on horror isn't worth much, because I donlt read it or go to horror movies! And I didn't mean to inply that horror novels are plotless. What I meant to say is that the creation of extreme terror in the mind of the reader is an important element of the genre.

In a thriller, I think the feeling generated is more edge-of-the-seat suspense - what will happen next? It's a fine line, and obviosuly thriller readers are after a thrill, but I think horror is far more extreme.

Horror is written to elicit fear in you, to take you to the dark side of the human imagination and show you what lurks there. It shows you what can lurk in the dark, what is hidden under your bed and in your closet. It is the things we know can not happen in real life.

Thriller doesn't hit the fear scale as much as horror does. It shows you the dark side of the human pysche. It shows you who is hiding under your bed and in your closet. It is the things we know can happen in real life.