I've gotten a good rejection, with a suggestion I'd like to implement, but I'll need some help from horror writers.
My novel is SF, but I've got a scene early on (I consider it the novel's hook) where something bad happens. The publisher recommended I "ratchet up the initial horror" of this scene.
So, here's a basic question: What makes a scene horrifying?
Here's my specific scene: An asteroid miner searches for his son and finds him inside an apparently ancient, derelict alien spacecraft. The son, dressed fully in a spacesuit, is unresponsive. Then, the father gradually realizes that: 1) It's not his son inside the spacesuit; 2) His son must have been killed by what is in the suit; and 3) The father is trapped in a small space with this thing.
I thought I filled the scene with good mentions of gore and bloodshed, disgusting sounds from inside the suit, unhuman motions of the arms and legs, and a good sense of the MC being trapped.
But they wanted more. Suggestions?
My novel is SF, but I've got a scene early on (I consider it the novel's hook) where something bad happens. The publisher recommended I "ratchet up the initial horror" of this scene.
So, here's a basic question: What makes a scene horrifying?
Here's my specific scene: An asteroid miner searches for his son and finds him inside an apparently ancient, derelict alien spacecraft. The son, dressed fully in a spacesuit, is unresponsive. Then, the father gradually realizes that: 1) It's not his son inside the spacesuit; 2) His son must have been killed by what is in the suit; and 3) The father is trapped in a small space with this thing.
I thought I filled the scene with good mentions of gore and bloodshed, disgusting sounds from inside the suit, unhuman motions of the arms and legs, and a good sense of the MC being trapped.
But they wanted more. Suggestions?