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This book includes:
- How to make your stories different from everyone else's
- Writing the ultimate horror story
- The vital elements of a horror story
- What's in fashion and what's not
- Writing for horror magazines and ezines
- How to create an authentic atmosphere
- How to use the senses
- The most atmospheric words
- Why details matter, and how to get them right
- All about fear
- The easiest way to get started
- Ghosts and hauntings
- Why it's a good idea to keep things out of sight
- The importance of hope
- Horror in the real world versus horror in fiction
- Modern monsters
- Places that are best avoided
- Psychology and psychosis
- How to write scary movies
- How to turn crime into horror
- Plus 35 great storylines you can use or adapt as you wish
- And much more - far too many great ideas to list here!
Sample idea: History
as social comment
Many of the great horror writers of the past set their stories
in the age in which they lived. If you look beneath
the surface of their stories you'll often find deeply felt comments
on
the social conditions of that time.
Think of the Victorian era when people were
encouraged to be more civilised, yet their
behaviour (the treatment of children and employees, for example)
was often low-brow
and brutal. It comes as no surprise to learn that The Strange
Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde was written as a thinly disguised comment on the double
standards of Victorian
society.
But what about today, in our modern age? What are the prevailing
social conditions that
you might want to comment upon? There are plenty to choose from:
- the number of prisoners has never been higher
- paedophiles prowl the internet
- spam clogs our inboxes
- computer viruses and scams are rife
- public spending is forever being cut and services reduced,
yet taxes (often
indirect) constantly rise
- the planet is being polluted for future generations
- poor countries become industrialised and increase pollution
still further
- highly developed countries refuse to cut back
even though alternatives are
available
- greed and economics come first
- cheap TV shows fill our screens yet fortunes
are spent on producing movies and
video games
I could easily continue adding to this list for several hours
- and I'm sure you could too.
Think about how you could turn some of these social comments
into 'monsters' of your
own.
Once you've done that, you could reuse the basic plot
of Jekyll and Hyde or Dracula or
Frankenstein or any of the other great horror stories
of the past. How will your story end?
How is the 'monster' dealt with? If you use the
plot from one of these great stories then
you will already know the answer. And if you have any good ideas
about how the social
condition you're commenting on can be improved, that might
lead you to your answer
too.
Alternative product:
You might prefer the complete Volume
3 (Genre Fiction)
Includes: Comedy, Crime, Fantasy, Historical,
Horror,
Mystery and Suspense, Romance, Science Fiction, Thrillers
1,228 very clever
ideas, 564 pages, £27.99
 
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