This post is an excellent discussion of the writing of horror.
When I recently looked across the sea of my past years’ Horror purchases, I was struck by just how many Lovecraft anthologies there were. Themed anthologies are on the steady increase – collections dedicated to one author’s established universe, one established monster, or one Horror concept. And of those themes, the work of H.P. Lovecraft absolutely dominates. Yet as open-minded as I try to be in my Horror story collecting, I found an alarming amount of tentacles on my shelves.
Herein lay a truth: I am a sucker for tentacles. I enjoy reading Lovecraftian fiction…but I do not tend to write it.
So if I did not purchase more generic modern collections, what did it mean? Were they not out there? Granted, I discriminate against vampire collections and I have not yet dipped my toes into steampunk-tinted Horror… But the prolific dominance of Lovecraft struck me as more than coincidence.
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Great article, thanks for re-posting.
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You are welcome.
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In my first novel, a middle grade book for 12-year-old-people, I created, drew, illustrated this gigantic octopus monster under the sea that was inhabited by an alien, its tentacles were huge and it was evil. I happen to be terrified of octopus tentacles. Do you think, perhaps, we write scary stories about things we deeply fear? I really hadn’t thought about that possible prior to your post and thank you. K. D. 🙂
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Karen, you raise a very interesting question, and I certainly cannot answer for K.D., but I will say that I write both about personal fears and fears for the world.
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Fears for the world is no doubt what we all fear from time to time and I never put that concept together, but I think it is on point! Thank you! K. D. 😉
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You are very welcome!
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Thank you for the re-blog, Professor! Now that our lights are finally back on in Colorado, I am just catching up….heckuva windstorm! (Thanks for sharing, California…)
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You are very welcome!
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