It’s October, and what better time for a little scary reading from the horror genre? You could grab a true classic, like Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein or a more recent classic, like Stephen King’s The Shining. But first, what is genre? And what sets horror fiction apart from other genres? 

Genre Fiction

All made-up stories—fiction—can be grouped in different ways. One of those ways is genre. Writers are often asked the genre of a particular piece, and shoppers are faced with those little labels all over their favorite brick-and-mortar or online bookseller. 

Genre refers to certain characteristics common to a particular group of stories. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “genre is a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content.”

A Contract Between Story and Its Audience

Many genres elicit a characteristic emotion from readers. And all genres conform to established tropes associated with each genre.

Think of it as the author and consumer making a deal. The author, through ads, description, cover art, illustrations, and opening paragraphs promise something. Readers want and expect that thing when they read the book. Violation of those tropes and failure to deliver on the expected emotional experience will disappoint the reader. Thus story becomes a “bad book.” 

Bear in mind, genre is a marketing term. Publishers apply it to books so that booksellers know where to shelve them and search engines can find them. Also, genre designations function similarly in film, theater, and music promotion. It seems the genre label is convenient for everyone (except maybe the artist). Most successful pieces could fall into more than one genre, and writers agonize over the one-word label for our book baby. And if we get it wrong, will the story ever find its readers?

Speculative Fiction

But label the story we must. Let’s start with the fact that horror falls into the much broader category of speculative fiction. Speculative works speculate (hence the name) about “what if?” And that question is something impossible or improbable given the laws of physics and social organization under which we operate at the present time. “What if a couple gets divorced?” is not speculative. “What if a couple, native to an alien planet, gets divorced?” is speculative. 

Horror Expectations

Horror readers expect relentless suspense and a surprising, even shocking twist of an ending. 

Consumers of horror expect to be frightened by the speculative elements of a fictional story. They want to feel dread and fear as a physical experience. Yet that sensation holds an element of delight, a creepy yet pleasurable frisson of goosebumps and chills up the spine.

Horror Approaches and Subgenres

Horror author Lucy A. Synder shared a list of horror subgenres and approaches at the August, 2019 Gen Con Writers Symposium in Indianapolis.

• Horror can be quiet, a steady building of psychological tension and gradual unfolding fear, like Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery.”
• Many horror stories center around physical survival, for example, every zombie movie ever. Others explore survival of the mind, like Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper.”
• Religious, supernatural, and occult elements are a natural plot or setting features of horror stories.  Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist is an example.
• Humans worry a lot about their body integrity. Body horror embraces the truly gross and graphic, such as Viscera by Gabriel Squailia as well as horror involving subversive attacks and changes on the body, like in the films Alien or Stargate.
• Cosmic horror includes horror from places like outer space, the depths of the sea, and parallel dimensions. The common feature here is an agenda indifferent to humanity. The horror isn’t out to get the protagonist; our story’s hero is merely in the way. For example, The War of the Worlds, a novel by H.G. Wells and presented as a radio play by Orson Wells.
• Splatter punk, first appearing in 1980s horror films and stories, emphasizes hyperviolence and a “countercultural frame of reference” as a reaction to “merely suggestive” horror stories. Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door is an example.
• Humorous or erotic elements work well in horror when done skillfully. All those strong emotions and visceral responses play off each other, particularly with humor, its unexpected twists and surprises have much in common with horror. Some have called the two forms “two sides of the same coin.” Examples include Huysman’s Lá-Bas (erotica) or the film, Evil Dead (humor).

Horror Tropes

Vitally important to horror is the atmosphere, the intrusion of the frightening and unknown into normal life, and hints of dissonance that build up into a satisfying whole. Examples of horror tropes include:

• Haunted house.  White is For Witching by Helen Oyeyemi is one of many stories centered on a dwelling.
• Cursed object. The cursed object is great for injecting one small change into a normal environment and then watching the horror unfold. This common trope is illustrated by the videotape from the film, The Ring.
• Changed love one. Pod people, anyone? Like in the film Night of the Living Dead.
• Intruder. An unhinged outsider with evil designs overcoming the paltry barriers protecting the protagonist is another extremely common trope. 
• A trap. Or the unhinged outsider catches/lures the protagonist to an isolated location to play out a horror scenario. Saw, et al. and Silence of the Lambs are among the many examples.

Writing and Reading Horror

Horror genre fiction is a kind of commercial, popular fiction. It must tell a satisfying story to be successful. Of particular importance is the consumer’s identification with the protagonist, so that character’s motivations and goals are supremely important. The protagonist’s needs and wants conflicting with the antagonist’s needs and wants drive the plot. The resolution must organically rise out of the story events. As in any tale, the artist must earn the ending. 

A good place for a creator of horror to start a tale is to consider what scares them. What are your nightmares and childhood fears? Horror may be a good place to work out some issues! Can you guess any of my neuroses from my fantasy/horror novella, The Resurrectionist?

What are your favorite horror subgenres tropes? Let me know in the comments section. Click the blog title and a comments box will open at the bottom of the page. 

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