Horror Blends Well With Pretty Much Every Genre

Since we're coming up on the Halloween season, most people's minds are turning to spooky stories and terrifying tales. Even if you're not a proponent of the horror genre as a lifestyle like some of us are, this is the season where everyone gets in on the fun. However, I had a conversation earlier this week that bothered me because it's a sentiment I've come across several times both as an author, and as an RPG writer. That is, essentially, that horror simply can't be mixed with other genres.

So I wanted to take a moment to make a very simple statement, and then to get deeper into it. Because horror can be combined with practically any other genre you choose. And if you can't fathom how you could weave some of those dark threads into this or that genre, then I would suggest you need to dream a little bigger.

Oh my, my... how did THAT get in there?

As always, before we go any deeper, remember to sign up for my weekly newsletter! And if you want to help me keep the wheels turning consider becoming a Patreon patron. Because every little bit really does help.

Also, if you're in the mood for some short, snacky scares, don't forget to check out my 50 Two-Sentence Horror Stories. And if you like it make sure you spread the word, and leave a tip. I'm thinking about doing a follow-up, but I go where the reads lead me!

Horror Really is a Universal Spice

I know that not everyone out there is a lifelong horror fan the way I am. However, the more I've talked with people in the general populace, the more often I come across folks who have very specific ideas of what horror can be, and even more important ideas of what it cannot be. But before we get into debating this or that particular scenario, I would suggest folks take a moment to watch something from Scaredy Cats, as this channel has perhaps the most succinct definition of horror that I've ever come across.

It's those three, simple requirements that I think can solve a lot of issues when it comes to discussions of horror. While I don't necessarily agree entirely with the first (that the piece of media must be fictional, though inspiration and retellings are fictitious enough to pass the smell test), the second two standards (it must concern the macabre, and the characters in the story must be scared) are actually very useful indeed.

And if more people looked at horror from this perspective, I would get into a lot fewer fights on the Internet.

Because it is this broader definition that really showcases how flexible horror is as a genre mixer. You can take horror and mix it with comedy, and get something like The Addams Family or Krampus, for example. You can mix horror with science fiction to produce something like Alien, Event Horizon, or large swaths of the Warhammer 40K universe. You can mix it with melodrama in order to make something like Dark Shadows, you can swirl it into sword and sorcery to get adventures of characters like Conan, Kull, or Solomon Kane (or my own novel Crier's Knife). You can put it into high fantasy to create something like the Midnight RPG setting, and you can blend it into a coming of age story, a period drama, and nearly anything else you feel like.

The Thousand Faces of Horror

This might be a bit of a soapbox topic, but for fans of horror like myself, this is something that I feel folks need to stop and think about. Because so many people will either assume that horror A) has to be something that they would personally find frightening or uncomfortable, or B) that it can only concern certain topics, and that if those topics are absent or rendered moot by another element then horror cannot exist.

Rather that singling any one person out, though, I wanted to discuss some of the conversations I've run into, and why I find them so infuriating. And, hopefully, the responses I have to them will help show folks a broader perspective on my favorite genre.

I've got a lot to choose from, okay?

"Fantasy can't have horror in it because death isn't permanent."

This is a paraphrase of part of the most recent conversation that started me off on this topic, and it refers to how in traditional high fantasy RPGs players usually have the ability to be resurrected from the dead to continue the adventure should they meet an untimely end. The idea that if death isn't permanent then what do you have to be scared of exemplifies the kind of mindset that only thinks of horror in terms of a single facet. Because surely dying is something people are scared of, even if it can be undone? Especially since, in these settings, heaven and hell are very real places. If you know you weren't a good person, and you wound up in hell (even for a few moments) what would that do to your mind? Especially since (in most settings, at least) you're still going to die eventually... barring become a lich, a vampire, or some other eternal creature.

Which, in its way, makes those monsters even more frightening. Because for every power mad duke or arrogant wizard, there's going to be someone who would rather live a tortured, eternal half life than face what lies beyond the coil of their mortal flesh. And if that's not horror, I don't know what is!

"This isn't a horror game because it doesn't make me uncomfortable."

Vampire. Werewolf. Mage. Changeling. I've had this conversation about fully half of the World of Darkness RPG setting with my fellow players, and it never ceases to baffle me. Because make no mistake, these games as they're written are horror games through and through. Whether it's questions about whether you can cling to your humanity for eternity, about whether you can control the violence surging through you to keep those around you safe, about whether your hubris will be your downfall, or about not being able to fully trust your own mind and the world around you, these games all deal with a variety of different flavors of horror.

Something that I feel needs re-iterating is that horror doesn't have to scare you. Most of the time that's not what it's going to do. It doesn't have to leave an impression of lasting terror, either. It can, but that's not required for it to still be horror. And while a lot of horror will leave you asking hard questions (What does it really mean to be human? What will people do when driven to desperate measures? What makes someone a monster?), it's not required to be harrowing or to include elements you find distasteful.

"That's not a horror story, it's just dark X/Y/Z."

This might be something of a controversial opinion, but people will go to ridiculous lengths to avoid stories they like being associated with horror. Up to the point that I've seen it said several times that the film category of "psychological thriller" was invented by the Academy Awards to ensure that no movie labeled a horror film (like Silence of The Lambs would have been) won prestigious awards.

In my opinion this is where a lot of stories, books, and games will label themselves as a "dark" version of a particular genre instead of just admitting they're mixing in horror elements. Dark fantasy has questionable themes and monsters more familiar to the horror genre. Dark thrillers go further than normal thrillers do, punching up the stakes and usually including deeds that would be more common in an Argento film than a John Grisham novel. Dark romances touch on sensitive topics that can be as titillating as they are triggering, and so on, and so forth.

Horror gets around, and like a flexible wine you can pair it with practically any meal. It might go better with some than it does with others, but it's everywhere once you learn to recognize the flavor.

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my cat noir novel Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!