Author: Horror Tree

Terrifying Tips: 7 Ways to Master the Art of Horror

Terrifying Tips: 7 Ways to Master the Art of Horror

Seeing and reading a horror story is not everyone’s cup of tea. It’s a genre that we see is declining in demand today. Why? Mainly because the storyline of the movie or the novel is always quite the same. A haunted house or area with a ghost seeking revenge, Am I right?

I mean, we all have seen and read The Exorcist, The Conjuring (Movie), or the movie Annabelle, right? I mean, I am assuming you are a horror fan! So, the question for you today is, how do you make your horror content so horrifying that people can experience it!

This is the true art of horror, right? Make people experience what you are writing! And if you can do that, you are an exceptional writer. In this article, we have highlighted 7 ways with which you Can master the art of horror story writing, telling or production, etc.
(more…)

10 Tips and Tricks for Writing a Horror Novel

10 Tips and Tricks for Writing a Horror Novel

The thrill, the feeling of your blood rising, the sweat and anxiety as you wait for what happens next. You get the adrenaline rush as if you were the actor about to fall over a cliff. It is one thing to watch horror movies, but the experience you get from reading these books surpasses the venture of watching the film. How these writers bring out all these emotions and reactions in me as I read horror stories has always been a baffling wonder. Mastering how to pair words and create a lasting effect requires patience, research, and study. If you can dream it, then you can do it. The following are tips on how to be an immaculate horror novel writer.
(more…)

Creation of an Original Monster for a Book: Rules to Follow

How to Come Up with an Unusual Monster for Your Book that You Wouldn’t Be Ashamed of

In the context of a modern globalized society, rethinking the moral and aesthetic principles of life and values, there is a growing interest in everything “non-standard”, “veiled”, “whimsical”, and “terrible”. So, speculative fiction is now very popular among readers. Its main goal is to entertain the reader. The means of this genre is the feeling of fear. Through it, the authors manage to get the necessary response from readers.

Distinctive Features of Speculative Fiction

Like any other genre, speculative fiction has its own distinctive features that distinguish it from other literary trends. Among them are:
(more…)

Generational Trauma and Gothic Horror: a personal essay.

Generational Trauma and Gothic Horror: a personal essay.

 

I have written of my love for all things gothic time and time again. My longing for the past, for things I never knew and never experienced has been with me since I was a child. Born in New Hampshire to secretive and damaged (though still loving) parents. I always knew there were stories about their pasts that I was not told. There were things that I knew I was never allowed to ask. 

“What happened to daddy in the war?” “Why are you scared of wind?” “Why does mom cry if I leave the orange nightlight on in the hallway?”

Childhood is a mystery, my parent’s childhood’s were a mystery. Truth be told, even the names of my father’s ten brothers and sisters were a mystery. They were people I didn’t know, and only saw most of them once when they all showed up at his funeral twenty years ago.

That is all of them except one—a brother who had gone missing. Someone who was mentioned only once to me, and then never again.

Maybe I had a gothic childhood. Maybe my love for gothic didn’t stem from the gothic romances I bought at a flea market. Maybe I inherited it, like an illness passed down from generation to generation.
(more…)

Overcoming Writer’s Block: Top 10 Activities to Relax and Boost Creativity

Overcoming Writer’s Block: Top 10 Activities to Relax and Boost Creativity

When you are doing lots of writing on a daily basis, whether for work or learning purposes, it can be easy to feel like you’ve already exhausted all your ideas. Unfortunately, the muse can be pretty hard to keep. And, once it’s lost, it can be pretty hard to regain too.

On the one hand, to fight the lack of creativity, you can take a break from your writing activities. For students, this could mean finding a paper writing service or someone to help me write my essay. For professional authors, it can require taking a vacation. But, what if we tell you that you can relax and regain your creativity with the help of the right exercise? Well, that’s possible! In this article, we will tell you about the ten best activities that will inspire your writing and help you reduce stress.

(more…)

Rethinking Portrayals of Mental Illness in Horror Fiction

Rethinking Portrayals of Mental Illness in Horror Fiction

 

“We all go a little mad sometimes” is a famous line from the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock thriller Psycho, inspired by the real-life murders of serial killer Ed Gein and the novel by Robert Bloch. 

The word “psycho” is a derogatory way to describe a mentally ill person, with connotations of violence. The killer of the film, Norman Bates, is ultimately diagnosed with “split personality,” a phrase used to describe the then-misunderstood mental condition of Dissociative Identity Disorder. As our understanding of mental disorders has evolved in reality, it is hoped that fiction will reflect this.
(more…)

Literary Artifacts: What Are These and How to Use Them in Your Essays

Literary Artifacts: What Are These and How to Use Them in Your Essays

Looking for ways to evoke curiosity in your readers? Communicate a specific meaning? Express your thoughts more clearly and powerfully? All of these things are possible if you use relevant literary artifacts to support your opinion. They allow you to engage with the material on a deeper level and draw stronger conclusions. Yet, to boost the quality of your writing, artifacts should be carefully researched and selected. In this article, we’ll discuss what an author can use as a literary artifact and how to employ them in an essay. 

What Is a Literary Artifact?

(more…)

Novellas, the Bogeyman of Publishing

Novellas, the Bogeyman of Publishing

by Cassondra Windwalker

 

     Literature and publishing are forever squabbling like impassioned parents, leaving readers to look on morosely from their hiding place behind the couch. In this case, the argument is especially silly, as its conclusion has been decidedly proven on the best-seller lists already. Still, agents and publishers will claim that books must be a minimum of 70,000-80,000 words long to even be considered for publication, while authors point miserably to the insistences of successful writers from Beatrix Potter to Truman Capote to Ernest Hemingway to Charles Bukowski, each of whom loudly proclaimed the superiority of paucity.

     Brevity is especially well-suited to horror. Horror, like seduction, relies more on the imagination of the reader than the dictation of the writer. Should the writer give in to her self-indulgent desire to painstakingly explain and describe every detail of every scene, to plumb the depths of every motivation, she would remove the reader entirely and leave them outside the pages, a mere observer. Worldbuilding serves the author well, but it should never be used to bludgeon the reader into docile submission. The reader needs to feel the cobblestones under their feet and choke softly on the cold smog filling their lungs, not visit the bricklayers’ yard and measure out the particulants in the air.

  (more…)