Luke Walker: On Writing Horror
I've had the pleasure of knowing Luke Walker for some time now, and have admired his skill in writing and the angles of horror which he tackles. His debut novel, The Red Girl, was recently published by Musa Publishing and in honour of his big release, I've invited Luke to take my blog for a day and to do with it as he wishes! Take it away, Luke…
Horror Is Horrible
Or at least it should be.
The clue is in the word, after all. It's not called 'Niceor' or 'Lovelyor'. No, it's horror and it should stand up and be proud of it. What brought this to mind is down to an old interview with Peter Cushing which I watched on Youtube a few days ago. This was in the late 80s; the interviewer asked Mr Cushing what he thought of modern horror films (so for modern in this context, think endless Elm Street and F13th sequels as opposed to endless Final Destination sequels).
The great man clearly wasn't in love with them but was too much of a gentleman to say as much. Too much gore for his taste. Too much bad language. The conversation reminded me of an issue I've often considered as a horror writer, namely horror being horrible and what that means to different people. There are plenty of tools the horror writer can use: gore, extreme violence, a creeping sense of dread, grief, unthinking anger, mystery. The list is huge but it often seems to me that the first two on that list are the default tools for a lot of people. And here's the funny thing: they're not automatically required to create a decent horror story whether that's a book or film. Remember the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre? It's a hugely effective film and yet, there isn't a hell of a lot of gore in there. Yes, there are moments which make the viewer wince, but you don't actually see a great deal. Or how about Silence of the Lambs? The scariest bit in that film is when the kidnap victims sees the scratches on the wall and realises…the obvious. No gore needed. This isn't to say gore and physical violence shouldn't be in horror at all. Of course, they should – when needed, not when the writer wants to come up with a gross out shock. Horror like that might be revolting but it doesn't stay with the reader. Horror that gets under their skin, now that's fun.
Which brings me back to my original point. Horror should be horrific. You can keep your sparkly vampires, thanks very much. I want mine to be beasts. I want to dread their appearance, not swoon when they enter the room because, you know, they're just so damn hot. I could be in the minority with this way of thinking, though. A recent trip to the lone bookshop in my town centre was a depressing experience. The horror section, next to the fantasy and SF, was tiny. I'm talking five or six shelves at the most. The paranormal romance, on the other hand, was considerably larger. And at the risk of sounding as if I'm knocking a popular genre, PR is not horror. It's romance. Horror should horrify the reader, not turn them on.
So come back, horror. Come back and be horrible.
You can find more information on Luke and his work at his website: http://getthegirlkillthebaddies.blogspot.com/
His novel, THE RED GIRL, is available now!
