Writing Horror

Those that know me well know that I LOVE being scared. When I was four, I would watch slasher flicks instead of Dora the Explorer. Yes, my parents were that cool. I also go to haunted houses every halloween and read Stephen King books.

For whatever reason though, I have a hard time writing horror. I was so fustrated, I had my dad get me Stephen King's book "On Writing" for a graduation present, hoping it would help. Although his book is mostly about technique, he did provide some useful tips about writing horror.

One tip he had was that the horror genre and being conservative don't mix. Bring on the profanity, gore, and human suffering! Don't hold back! He said that what he liked most about writing was that he got to sort of become his characters. Is Stephen King normally racist? Is he foul-mouthed and evil? Nope. He has the potential to be, but he chooses not to live like his characters.

And I think that's what scares readers. That the author has the potential to become a horrible person and that scares them so they start accusing the author of being things that he isn't. I think that was why I was handicapped in writing horror. I don't want to become an awful person through my writing and have readers view me as a shadowy, awful person because I'm not. One time I wrote a story about a psychopathic murderer and I never shared it with anyone because frankly...I was ashamed.

One time, when I was in middle school, I wrote a story about a boy who had imaginary friends that told him to do horrible things and I showed it to my mom. Her response was this:

"Oh, Paige, why would you want to write stories like this? You should write about happy things."

My bubble burst and I never attempted to write horror until recently. I realized that I wanted everyone's respect and now this is mattering less and less. I should be able to do what I want to do and not care about what others think unless it's important.

So I am now writing a horror story called "Dreams of the Haunted." I am posting it as a serial story on tumblr. If you want to check it out, go to this address: www.pagebypaigeisalltherage.tumblr.com. Let me know what you think.

Have you ever had any problems with writing horror? If you don't write, what do you think about horror writers?