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The Horror Genre
by
Joyce Lavene & Jim Lavene
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- Today's horror novels are usually gruesome
- A good horror story should be terrifying
- Most horror novels today are psychological
Today’s horror novels are usually so gruesome that it’s hard to believe they began with Frankenstein and Dracula. The transformation is just another example of how times change, as does the taste of the reading public. What was once considered unthinkable to mention in a novel is now passé.
A good horror story should scare the socks off of the late-night reader. Mystery and suspense can be this book’s companions but ultimately, what has to come across in the author’s words is sheer throat-tightening terror. Everyone knows that awful moment when you hear a footstep in the hall when you thought that you were alone in the house. That is horror.
Psychological Novels
Most horror novels today are included in this subgenre. Authors like Dean Koontz and V. C. Andrews have been torturing readers for years, keeping them up at night and making them question their own sanity. Readers must love them for it, because they keep buying their books.
Psychological horror is the product of the mind. Or is it? That’s the basic thrust of all nightmare realities. These books cause people to wander through the dark recesses of the human soul. The pathways are torturous and never safe. It seems like the authors of these novels must be demented souls to be able to write them. The stories can be slow and creeping or pulsing and vibrating like a livewire.
Most psycho-horror is set in contemporary times to get the best effect. The books range between 85,000 and over 100,000 words. They are likely to contain graphic images, sex, and profanity.
Slasher Novels
The blood-and-guts horror novel has almost faded away from today’s bookshelves, but authors like Richard Matheson and Douglas Clegg keep it alive. These books are extremely gruesome and graphic, full of blood, sex, and violence—and many readers wouldn’t have them any other way.
From terrible creatures waiting to devour innocent travelers to knife-wielding maniacs, the slasher novel doesn’t care about what the killer is thinking so much as what he’s doing. Only a few publishers sell these books. Their word count is usually at least 100,000 words.
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