The Genre that Separates the Pros from the Scrubs.
Learning to Write Horror Stories Will Improve Your B2B Writing
Dad, what kind of movies do you like? You don’t have to answer me now. I’ll give you some time to think about it.
Oh, I don’t need time. Wait… don’t patronize me! What do you mean you’ll give me some time!
How dare you…. You miniature smart mouth. I’ll have you know! I changed your diapers and make your food. And it was all so horrific I’ve pretty much lost the ability to feel fear but… I love horror movies.
Fantasy is a close second. But there hasn’t been anything GREAT since Lord of the Rings. So… horror.
Hmm, why? She said as she scrunched up her nose. Wouldn’t something happier be better. Maybe it could make you laugh… or happy… or, or, dancing!
Sorry to disappoint, but I hate musicals. If you can tell it in a song, play it on the radio. Look. Horror is the best genre.
stretches hands and jaws, ready to educate my daughter*
Don’t believe me?
Think about it.
When you’ve seen enough, you can guess what happens next in EVERY romance/comedy. All they do is switch the ages and faces up to reflect whatever the current political climate and sentiment and follow these steps…
Meet-Cute: The two protagonists meet. Probably they hate each other at first.
Opposites Attract: Despite their differences there’s undeniable chemistry. Oh, get a room!
Repeated Coincidences: Why is it when you hate someone you keep running into them? Opposites attract? No, blame the writers!!!
Then they’re always bickering, and then they attend a major event/holiday/party together… bla bla bla… you get the drift.
Name me a RomCom that doesn’t follow this troupe.
Sure, once in a while they throw a love triangle, a rivalry, unforeseen life circumstances to mix it up but they NEVER stray.
There’s a lesson there about how if something works don’t fix it… but that’s not my point today.
My point is, horror is the better genre.
You can’t get bored of it. It’s like a virus. Every time you develop immunity to one strain of horror there’s something new to scare yourself with. Someone’s out there trying to make a new horror to make you poo.
When I was a child, Chucky was the big bad. After the first time I watched him in Child’s Play, I saw him everywhere.
In the corner of my room where shadows cover it just enough so there’s a part of it you can’t really see without straining your eyes.
In my cupboard hiding between my shirts waiting to jump out and rain hell down on me when I went to get my clothes.
Behind my door, under my bed. In my dreams. You name it, he was there.
Then, horror became more… grounded. Stories about school bullies. When I could drive, the living doll took a backseat to fatal accidents courtesy of Final Destination. Then serial killers, kidnappers, muggers.
That’s the best part about horror. It’s subjective. As you grow, your fears change. And when you’re the writer, the creator, there’s more than one way to crawl under the skin of your audience.
What does horror have to do with creating content?
Everything. Here’s how you can apply “horror” to your creations.
When you’re talking about getting better sleep… what’s the horror? The horror is if you don’t take care of your sleep issues and you end up hurting the people you love if you fall asleep at the wheel.
Or a father that’s overweight and refuses to take care of his health. If he dies, how will his family fend for itself without him? Will he be okay with someone else raising his children? Is he so selfish he won’t bother taking care of himself?
Or it’s the OnlyFans creator… that needs a reminder, there’s a finite amount of time for your career. What will you do in 5 years time when there are more people on the platform, someone younger, better, more willing to do the things you aren’t… what’ll you do?
The happy stuff takes our minds off things. Our problems, our worries, our pain. But when the lights come back on, the movie is over and we’re back to whatever life’s torment has for us.
Horror, well-written horror stays with you. The dread, the fear. When you put it in your writing, it helps you connect with your audience on a primal, survival level. And our survival depends on us REMEMBERING what triggered those fears.
There’s a whole science behind adrenaline and memory which I might talk about later but the point is horror makes memories stay with you better than any other genre.
Which is why using gore and horror in your writing is so powerful.
Gore and horror doesn’t mean make everyone run out for a bathroom to puke because you put the most disgusting things on the screen or in your writing.
Horror simply means lay the truth bare. Pull away the veil. Show your followers or readers a horror that awaits them if they don’t change their ways.
In some ways this is what scares people the most. Not the long haired girl crawling out from a well and through your TV to end your life because you watched a tape. But a movie that forces your reader to introspect and reflect.
Am I the architect of my own misery?
