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.
View original post 2,671 more words
charles french words reading and writing 
Great article, thanks for re-posting.
LikeLike
You are welcome.
LikeLiked by 1 person
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. 🙂
LikeLike
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.
LikeLiked by 1 person
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. 😉
LikeLike
You are very welcome!
LikeLike
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…)
LikeLike
You are very welcome!
LikeLike