JULY - Summer Horrors!
Horror explores the darkest, most vulnerable corners of human psychology. It exposes our primal or irrational fears, like a murderous clown in the closet or someone hiding with a knife in the shower. There might be blood, guts, and violence, or a simmering psychological terror. The antagonist in Horror could be a deranged killer, a monster from another world, or the protagonist’s own dark side. Here is an example: The sound came first – a light tapping at the window like a branch jolted by wind. Emily sat up in bed. She had almost fallen asleep. It was an overreaction, she thought, and set her head back on the pillow. But as her eyes closed, the tapping returned. This time, each tap was followed by a scratch. Emily threw herself from the bed and pulled up the shade. A hand with impossibly long fingers was scratching at the glass, its thin joints bending in the wrong direction. Emily screamed as the hand smashed the window. The fingers came straight for her throat, squeezing and lifting her with uncanny strength. Well-known books in this genre include The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, It by Stephen King, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and Dracula by Bram Stoker. PROMPT: • What is your most irrational fear? Describe that fear coming to life for a character who is like you. Let it be bad. Let it be gross. Incorporate as much gore as you can stomach. |