: Re: How exactly can a writer write a horror story without making it so scary to the point where it's actually hard to read or watch? I've recently started getting into horror lately and trying

@XinRu607

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I'd say, steer clear of the splatter porn as others here have said. I think the most effective direction you could go in would be to go for a "the fourth wall will not protect you" kind of vibe. Writing things that can genuinely happen - children or loved ones getting kidnapped, overly-aggressive diseases with awful consequences, that kind of thing - can have a potent psychological impact.

I know that the song Cats in the Cradle isn't a horror, but it plays on the kind of thing I'm talking about: a child growing up to be as distant towards his father as his father was to him, and the old man ending up with no son. A television ad campaign in my country once used the song to illustrate the possible personal outcome to the IRA's actions. The son signed up for the conflict, got himself killed, and left a heartbroken dad. I don't have children but I know that parents find the idea of their children putting themselves at risk horrifying. Psychological horror.

You may also want to go for body horror that doesn't fit into splatter porn. Once, I was lucky enough to go to an event where Irvine Welsh and Chuck Palahniuk did readings of short stories. Chuck's involved somebody slowly drowning and something body-horrorish happening that stopped him from reaching the water's surface, creating a terrible dilemma. I actually fainted.

Good luck, whatever you do!

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