by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Hope everyone had a good Halloween. Apparently I still have scary stuff on the brain. :)
The subjective nature of fear:
I’m not usually a fan of being terrified when I read or watch something. And I think I have a very low-threshold in terms of what’s scary. I recommended the first “Halloween” movie to my father last month (he’d never seen it). He was glad he watched it because he now understands a lot of pop-culture references. But he didn’t think it was scary . . . and the film scared me to death. I think the scariest moment was at the very beginning of the movie when two girls were walking home from school in broad daylight and one of them, and the viewer, sees a creepy man wearing a mask by a row of bushes. It bothered me because it came out of nowhere: it wasn’t even nighttime. And it took place in a public (which I equate to safe) location.
My high school senior daughter had to watch “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” last week at a school film club for extra credit for a sociology class (I know, I was baffled, too, ha). Before she left, I warned her that it was very scary. She came back to tell me that it wasn’t scary . . . it was disturbing.
So I struck out twice on what was scary. To two different generations.
Knowing reader expectations for what’s scary in your genre:
I don’t think it matters too much that I’m such a chicken when it comes to scary books and movies. That’s because I understand that I’m on the same wavelength with my readers. Once when I was writing a book for the Memphis Barbeque series and scared myself in the process (the only time I’ve done this except when writing my zombie book). I immediately realized the scene was too dark and needed to be toned down.
For cozies, I think the expectation is more for tension than fear. Cozies are generally an escape. Tense moments are fine. But too much darkness and drawn-out scares are probably more fitting for other genres. Of course writers can write however they want…but to be more of a commercial match for the audience, it’s a good idea to keep reader expectations in mind.
The premise of cozies is “the killer among us.” That, to me, is scary enough. Unlike some genres, the cozy mystery presents the murderer as someone in our neighborhood, our family, our quilt guild, our church.
Maybe you write for a genre that has some latitude with its scares. For further reading on delivering fright, read:
“How to Tell Scary Stories, from the Co-Creator of ‘American Horror Story‘ : 8 tips from Brad Falchuk via Joe Berkowitz
“Writing Scary Scenes”: tips from writer Rayne Hall
“How to Write a Scary Scene“: by Susan Dennard
How tolerant are you of being scared? How scary are your books?
Delivering Genre-Appropriate Scares to Your Readers: Click To TweetPhoto credit: Pensiero on Visual hunt / CC BY-NC-ND
Hi Elizabeth,
I’m definitely with you on the scary level, whether it’s called scary or disturbing. If I come across a scene that scares me when I’m reading I find myself tensing up, waiting for the next one, and not enjoying myself, so I have to stop reading, no matter how enticing the plot line.
Definitely a cozy fan.
That sounds like me! You’re right–it’s more of a stressful experience for me and less of an escape. Or else I’ll find myself skipping forward to a safe spot again. :)
Hello, what are ‘cozies’?
Cozy mysteries are a type of traditional mystery featuring an amateur sleuth, an investigation focused on the puzzle of the mystery (instead of forensic evidence), a closed group of suspects known to the victim, and little if any gore or profanity. :) Thanks for coming by!
I think you’re absolutely right, Elizabeth, about the difference between tension and scaring readers. Tension moves a plot along. But ‘scary’ has to be used a little more carefully, and, I think, not in every sub-genre. I think it’s got to be used very planfully, too (i.e. not just for its own sake). The more that tension and scariness fall out naturally from the plot, the more successful they are, in my opinion.
I think natural is definitely the way to go with it, instead of scares for the sake of scares. Some of the most unsettling books are psychological thrillers I think, and some of the frightening aspects come along naturally with the territory.
Perhaps it’s the nature of books, but I’ve yet to read one that scared me. (And I’ve read King, Koontz, Rice, etc.)
I didn’t like scary movies when I was young. (Despite the fact my first R-rated movie was The Amityville Horror – I’d read the book and wanted to see the movie and it scared the crap out of me.) But then I started reading Fangoria magazine and saw how the special effects were done and it became fascinating. Now about the only scary movies that give me a scare are werewolf films. I guess something about a big furry beast at night gets to me.
You are a braver reader than I am! I was scared by House of Leaves, which isn’t even standard horror, ha. It sounds like stories with a more paranormal aspect might be scarier for you.
I too find the twist of “terror among us” scary enough. It’s easy to disassociate from the unfamiliar … the mummy in the pyramid, the skeleton in the abandoned house … because I’m already removed from the threat. It’s unusual. I’m out of my element.
Does make me think of the giant chest freezer that was in my grandparents’ basement. Scariest thing on the planet. I never once opened the lid on the thing even when I knew it contained ice cream.
It could have contained the still-living severed heads of demons for all I knew. Or robots. Or a dinosaur!
Fortunately, my grandmothers did not have basements! Or chest freezers! I can totally see where that got your imagination going.
I think the ‘terror among us’ is definitely one of the best subtle elements in a cozy mystery. The killer isn’t a monster…she’s the old lady down the street or our next-door neighbor.
I am a TOTAL wimp when it comes to scary things. I still have nightmares based on King books I read way back in high school! I don’t think I can live in the scary worlds long enough to write them. I’m more of a tension girl too! :)
I can totally relate to that!
I even wrote a cozy zombie book, ha!
Jemi,
It’s so interesting that you mentioned getting nightmares after reading Stephen King.
Several years ago, I read 30 pages of one of his novels (The Dark Half, I think it was called), and I got so creeped out, I put it down, and haven’t ready anything by him since.
It’s one of those odd circumstances where abandoning the book actually proves what a great writer he is!