I'm not sure if every author of every genre gets this type of question, but I know I definitely do. Why horror?
But for those who know me, the question usually extends beyond that. It's not just why horror. It's:
Why do you write horror?
Why do you read scary books?
Why do you like scary movies?
Why do you decorate your house for Halloween?
That last question is the funniest to me, actually. If I go full-on Griswold for Christmas, well, that's normal(ish). But putting gallows in my yard with bodies hanging from them for Halloween? Sounds like there's something wrong with that guy. (Yes, I do have gallows in my yard with bodies during Halloween.)
I digress. Back to the question at hand.
Why horror?
Before I talk horror, let's talk fear. Fear is one of the primary emotions. It sits alongside sadness, happiness, anger, surprise, and disgust. For those with an urge to count, those are the six primary emotions. Some even break it down to only four. Those being Happiness, Sadness, Fear, and Anger. So, either way, Fear is one of the base emotions that we have.
If we look at the 6 primary emotions, horror can encompass a majority (if not all) of them.
Fear of course.
Disgust (or gross-out as the master himself Stephen King called it) is a common element in horror writing.
Surprise is there. If you don't believe that, watch a scary movie with a jump scare. SURPRISE!!!
Sadness? In what horror setting hasn't the protagonist or unlucky victim felt hopelessness or grief?
Anger could be a motivator for either the good guy or the bad guy. Who isn't hostile after seeing whatever werewolf-zombie-shark hybrid is ripping all the unsuspecting coeds to shreds at the once-every-twenty-year devil moon celebration?
And happiness. Yes, some in the horror genre leave off happiness or give a false sense of it before the monster gets its final revenge. Looking at you, Jeepers Creepers. But some do have that warm and fuzzy, riding off into the sunset, victorious in defeating the ghosts that inhabited the house.
So, again. Why horror?
It's complete. It's the roller coaster that takes you down the entire spectrum of basic emotions and spits you out on the other side, hopefully as a different person than who started the adventure.
Horror isn't about superheroes doing superhero things. It's normal people doing extraordinary things under the worst conditions/situations imaginable. Stephen King is the master that he is not because his books are the scariest or the goriest, but because his characters are normal people being forced to do the terrifying - and the amazing. He doesn't have Captain America fighting It, but a group of kids - the Losers Club. Hulk doesn't fight a werewolf, a boy in a wheelchair does. Paul Sheldon is helpless in a bed when Annie Wilkes takes the ax to his foot. Normal people.
That's what horror is about. That's why I write horror. That's why I love horror. When done well, the author gets to take the reader on a journey through every emotion that we are born with alongside characters that we can relate to, doing things we hope we never have to.
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