I usually don't read horror, simply because it is horribly written. The thing that the writer of a horror story attempted to be scary is just stupid to me.
I'm planning on writing a story that my friend evaluated as a horror story. I was surprised, mainly because he's a big horror movie fan and I'm not. Naturally it got me thinking: what gives a horror story the horror factor? And how to do that good?
Can anyone suggest a really good horror story?
However in practice it seems bookstores and publishers tend to call almost anything "horror" when they cant find another niche for it. Especially if its in a modern setting and has supernatural elements that arent clearly "high fantasy" elements moved into a modern setting.
So its not really safe to assume (strangely) that something labled "horror" is meant to be all that scary...because often thats just the only "genre" that many things will fit into.
As far as recomendations theres Lovecraft's stuff for "horror" thats almost more like wonder at the unknown...Stephen King's stuff is good and while everything he writes is called "horror" a lot of it isnt...theres a lot of good horror anthologies out there, like Descent into Darkness.
Im on my way to work now but later tonight I'll try and provide some more recomendations.
As a somewhat divergent, but related thought, there are a lot of similarities between fantasy, science fiction, and horror stories, and that's why you see them shelved closely together at the book store. Many of the elements are the same in all three, but each have their defining focus thing--the thing that makes people place them into one genre or the other. Fantasy usually seems to focus more on characters, science fiction on a scientific element, and horror on suspense. Whatever comes to the surface the most seems to define a story, no matter what else it has.
Because of these similarities, it isn't uncommon at all for an author to write a story, thinking it fits into one genre or the other, only to find out it's one of the other two in most reader's minds. That's not to say you can't have suspense and be considered Fantasy or Science Fiction, just that the overwhelming focus on a horror story I would think would be that edge-of-the-seat kind of writing.
There are lots of good ones.
#71- Intrusion was one that stood out to me.
As for what makes good horror. I think that exploring the dark places within us all, and coupling those fears with the elements of a good story. I don't nescessarily have to be in constant suspence as long as I walk away still thinking aout it, and it stirs at least one nightmare afterwards.
He discusses the most potent tool of storytellers: fear. This can be broken into three kinds: dread, terror, and horror (let me grab the book off of the shelf).
1. Dread is the strongest type of fear; "It is that tension, that waiting that comes when you know there is something to fear but you have not yet identified what it is."
2. "Terror only comes when you see the thing you're afraid of."
3. "Horror is the weakest of all. After the fearful thing has happened, you see its remainder, its relics."
OSC says that he doesn't write "horror" stories; however, I think the genre is broad to include all types of fear. To me, Stephen King is hit or miss, but at least he understands that extreme violence is not necessary in writing for the genre. My favorites of his are probably The Stand, The Shining and Misery. I'm no expert on the craft, but I am in agreement with OSC that Horror is the weakest of all the above-mentioned. Going through the blockbuster shelves for movies is just one pointless gorefest after another.
Probably the closest thing I've read that could be considered horror would be Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series. Dresden's a wizard who investigates anything involving the supernatural in Chicago. I ran across the series in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of Border's but found it in the horror section at my favorite used bookstore. Some parts of this series is very graphic. I'm not much on blood and guts and can't watch any kind of horror movie that's along these lines (It gives me too realistic nightmares), but Butcher handles it very well. I guess I should add that it's not overly done in his books either, and I consider the Dresden series some of the best fantasy I've ever read.
I'm not much for horror in general. Rarely am I able to maintain the level of emotional stimulation that I see fans of the genre have. The Amityville Horror 1977 by Jay Anson was a bestseller. Only one story has ever intruded into my nightmares and that's Armor by John Steakley, published as science fiction, but it fits my definition of horror.
[This message has been edited by extrinsic (edited July 02, 2008).]
Horror seems to be alive in other genres...for example, vampire romance novels seem quite popular (if not very horrific)...and it thrives in low-budget movies.
(You want horror? I'm reading a non-fiction book about the end of the Pacific part of World War II, Retribution by Max Hastings, which details what happened to these soldiers (all sides so far) in combat and out of it. That's where the horror is.)
Northrop Frye has a list of kinds of stories ("modes"). First there is what I think I remember him calling "mythic" which are stories about gods. Then there's "heroic" which are stories about larger-than-life characters who can be demi-gods, or just superheroes. Next is "high-mimetic" (mimetic refers to imitating "real life") which involve royalty or other very powerful people--politically, or wealthy, and so on (still "larger-than-life" to some extent, but also believable). After that is "low-mimetic" which means ordinary people in ordinary situations. Finally there is "ironic" which means people in situations that they can't win (Kafka's work fits here for the most part).
I submit that fantasy tends to fit in the mythic or heroic categories (mimetic means real life, so it doesn't really include fantasy, though fantasy can be written in a "mimetic" mode). Science fiction tends to be heroic to some extent, though it, too, can be written in a "mimetic" mode. Horror tends to be in "ironic" mode, though. At least, that might be argued to be how it's perceived.
A couple of recommendations: Algernon Blackwood’s “The Willows” is considered classic, though I don’t remember it that well. Theres a story called “The Hospice”…I wanna say Robert Aickman? Theres Matheson’s “Born of Man and Woman
http://www.darkscribemagazine.com/dark-genre-roundtable/revealing-the-secret-minds-of-editors.html