Horror Novels: What Makes Them So Damn Scary?
Hello everyone! I am back with a new post! Woo! So this week, I want to focus on the horror novel. This is one of my favorite genres, when done right, but it is also one of the most difficult to pull off. I am going to be attempting to answer why that is. What makes a horror novel truly frightening? Is there a standard to which these novels must be held to to remain scary? Is there a reason reading some older novels are more frightening than the ones written today? Is this true for the opposite as well? What kinds of societal issues are drawn from for the authors? All of these questions are valid and quite complex, so I may not be able to get to each one as fully as I would like to, but I will definitely make an attempt. (I will also be looking at other media as well, namely film, television, and possibly video games, though I do not have as much exposure to that as the other media outlets.) Okay, so why is this genre so difficult to pull off? I have attempted (and failed)...