Do Horror Writers Give Themselves Nightmares?

horror: hor-ror (noun)

1.  An intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust.
2. A thing causing such a feeling.

Do you ever have nightmares after watching a horror flick or reading a horror novel? Maybe just a case of the heebie-jeebies? Do you find yourself making double sure all the doors are locked when you’re home alone at night? Do you check the closets and under the bed? For a split second before you turn on the light in a dark room, do you hesitate, afraid to reveal the monster that might be lurking?

Oh sure, some of you are saying “Suck it up, you big baby. Horror never gives me nightmares.”

To you I say, “You haven’t been working out your imagination enough.”

Okay, okay. So not all horror gives me the willies. Most of the time, I brush it off. Good horror, the kind that does scare the tacos out of us, is hard to come by.

Vast quantities of blood and screaming do not a scary movie make. Nor do creative deaths.

Not by themselves anyway.

When a story is good, it gets me. Often, I’m taken by surprise. I’m prepared to brush off yet another bit of horror fiction but it’s planted its seeds in my mind and my fertile imagination will give it room to grow…and grow…and grow.

That’s when I send up a big cheer.

And sleep with all the lights on.

I have to wonder, if a good horror story works on the reader, does it work on the writer? After all, we readers just visit the world. The writer lives there for as long as it takes to create the finished product. They have to live with the monsters in their head and imagine all the dark scenarios that will wind up in that finished product and many more that do not.

Does it get to them?

Working on my current novel-in-progress, I’m finding myself dreaming about zombies I’m trying to bring to life (*snort*) on the page as well as the less undead monsters. Some nights, I’m slipping into my characters skin (there’s a mental image for you) and running for my life. In short, I am starting to give myself the creeps (I can only hope it translates to my finished product) even though my horror is more dystopian dark fantasy than straight up horror.

What do you think? Do writers like Stephen King, Clive Barker and the American Horror Story scribes give themselves nightmares?

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If you do find yourself plagued with nightmares after imbibing some horror fiction, this WikiHow can give you some tips on how to sleep soundly.

Image Attribution (In Order of Appearance):
Scream by anguila40, on Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Scary Skull with No Eyes by Craig Walkowicz, on Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Possibly Probably Related articles

• Prepare For A Darker Season….American Horror Story: Asylum (adventureamigos.net)
• History of Horror RPGs (Part Six: 2006-2007) from Age of Ravens (ageofravens.blogspot.com)
• Do Horror Writers Scare Themselves (lynleystace.wordpress.com)

When is Giving Up a Good Thing?

After 312456.2 attempts, Tito finally makes it to the bird feeder…almost.

Growing up, many of us were probably told “never give up.” We were probably surrounded with stories about people who refused to quit and achieved their dreams. Thomas Edison never let failure (after failure after failure) stop him from trying again until he  finally invented the long burning light bulb. Orville and Wilbur Wright never gave up on flying. Stephen King was rejected dozens of times by publishers but kept on writing. Nemo just kept swimming.

If you’re a writer, artist, actor, ec, these exhortations to “just keep trying” often alternate with not-so-subtle suggestions to “just keep trying” at something else, anything else…but that’s another story.

By the time you reach adulthood, these “never say die” ideas are probably deeply ingrained. You know perseverance tips the odds in your favor…the question is: what kind of perseverance?

Got Apocalypse?

I have, in the past, admitted a predilection for both disaster and horror flicks. And since a good many movies from either of those genres fall into the apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic categories, it follows that I would also have a twisted obsession interest in apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic stories.

Just what is it about the apocalypse that makes (some of) our hearts go pitter patter?

I suspect it’s the same reason that disaster flicks and horror movies are so appealing. Giant odds and hope. Throw ordinary people into the worst possible situation and watch them rise to the occasion (or die trying).

And maybe we also love it because, on some level, we all worry about the end of everything. We wonder whether will survive. We wonder whether our loved ones will survive. And we hope there’s a hero inside of us instead of a monster.

The Get Tossed Mashup, Volume 1

As I sit here on this fine Tuesday, I realize it’s high time for another Tuesday Toss-Up Blog Mashup. However, since that’s a lot of “ups” in one title, I decree that the mashup will henceforth be called the Get Tossed Mashup.

So there.

Welcome to the first Get Tossed Mashup. I hope you’ll enjoy the following selections as much as I did…

Sometimes it’s “out of sight, out of mind” and sometimes it’s “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” But which is it when it’s your writing project that you’ve been away from? Natasha McNeely asks, “How Do You Return to a Project After a Break?“

Writing an ensemble can sometimes feel like a case of too many cooks in the kitchen. Jen J. Danna takes a lesson from Joss Whedon and explains How to Write an Ensemble.

The world seems to move faster everyday…maybe too fast. In another Avengers-inspired piece, Marcy Kennedy asks us “Do We Need to be a Little More Old-Fashioned?”

The mighty Bearded One, Chuck Wendig, shares another of his stellar “25 Things” with us in 25 Ways to Earn Your Audience.

Got Dark Tower? Anthony R. Schultz reviews Wizard and Glass by Stephen King.

A great teacher can inspire us to reach for incredible heights. But every once in a (hopefully) rare while, there’s a teacher that makes us want to fake a fever to get out of school. Cynthia Herron shares a difficult experience with a difficult teacher and asks “Can Great Leadership be Faked?“

What can humor do for readers? Margie Lawson guest posts at Jenny Hansen’s, telling us how Humor Hits Hook Readers.

Share the love: Do you have any favorite links or blog posts? Share them in the comments.

April-May Writing Challenge: First Impressions and Famous Last Words

Great opening lines draw us in, making it impossible for us to turn away and great last lines linger long, long after we’ve read the end. Two of my favorite first and last lines come from Stephen King’s work.

“The man in Black fled across the Desert, and the Gunslinger followed.”  The Gunslinger (1982). Ooh…I know I want to follow them both. Don’t you?

“lady fingers they taste like lady fingers.” Survivor Type (1982). That one even makes my husband shiver and he’s never read the story.

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write either the opening or closing lines of a story. Start us off with a bang or leave us begging for more. As usual, any genre will do and the word count limit is 100.

Here’s how it all works:

• Prompt: Create the first or last line of a story.
• Genre: Anything goes. Mystery, Western, romance, historical fiction, alternate history, steam punk, science fiction, horror, fantasy, slip-stream, or whatever.
• Word count: 100 words.
• How to share: You can put it up on your blog and link here or (if you don’t have a blog) you can email (sonia DOT m DOT writes AT gmail DOT com) it to me and I’ll put it in a post for you.
• Time limit: From now until the next challenge is posted in June.
• Prizes: No…no prizes. Just the reward of a story well written.

There were some fabulous stories for the March Writing Challenge. I’ll be updating this post with links to them all shortly. In the mean time, cruise on over and read them here (in the comments).

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I’ll posting over at the Life List Club tomorrow. Come on by and say hello.

Image Attribution (In Order of Appearance):
keyboard ~ blur by striatic, on Flickr CC BY 2.0