Horror Genre Thoughts & Discussion

During this very exciting month of the blog’s Bookish Halloween Bonanza, I have encountered a lot mixed reactions to the horror fiction genre. While I can see why someone wouldn’t necessary enjoy being scared, I can’t even fathom why one would would hate the horror genre (*gasp* but it’s the best!!). So anyway, I’ve done a little research. I’m detailing why I love the horror genre, and I’ve even included some people’s reasons for hating it.

What I Love about Horror:

1. Per Wikipedia, “Horror is a genre of fiction which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten, scare, disgust, or startle their readers or viewers by inducing feelings of horror and terror.”
   I’m convinced enjoying being scared is only something people who live safe lives can experience. I mean, if I actually lived somewhere where real terror existed all around me, I can’t imagine that I’d want to experience it in fiction. I think my boring life just needs something thrilling, so I get that fix via horror novels, movies, and haunted houses.
2. “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” -HP Lovecraft.
   YES! The unknown is my absolute favorite aspect of horror. The more mystery there is, the scarier it is.
3. Wikipedia also provided me with this excellent quote: “The genre of horror has ancient origins with roots in folklore and religious traditions, focusing on death, the afterlife, evil, the demonic and the principle of the thing embodied in the person. These were manifested in stories of beings such as witches, vampires, werewolves and ghosts.”
   Do I like stories that involve folklore/religious traditions because I like horror, or do I partly like horror because these things are usually involved? WHO KNOWS! But my goodness, the more religion, ghosts, folklore, afterlife, demons, and vampires there are in a novel, the more I love it.

Twitter chimed in and told me why they didn’t like the horror genre:

1. Angelina Fable: I’m too much of a scardey cat xD I read horror and I can’t sleep so I stay away from it.
2. Pampkins Boo: I really dislike horror movies but I read the occaisonal book. My issue is when gore is described TOO much…  I love the creepy stuff. I read The Boy Who Drew Monsters by Keith Donohue &it was amazing.
3. westfall aimal: The same reason I don’t like many horror movies; they promise scares- they’re usually just laughably bad 🙁
4. Joanne: life is horror enough! I read to escape that and I enjoy reading something nice/interesting to read
5. Philippa Mary: well I’m not a fan of scaring myself… but I do love a creepy atmosphere!
6. Josephine: …I’d rather read books that balance out the negatives in life than reach for horror. The news has enough gore 🙁
7. Ashley (Nose Graze): I guess because I don’t like being scared? I prefer thrill over fear, if that makes sense. Also, topics I’m just not interested in for some inexplicable reason include ghosts and zombies (if those often fall under ‘horror’ – idk). Also, idk if it’s this way in books, but horror movies often have a big focus on unnecessary gore, which just isn’t for me.

So where do you fall? On a scale of 1-10 (1 being “HATE IT”, and 10 being “OBSESSED!”), how do you feel about the horror fiction genre?

If you like the horror genre, don’t forget to enter to win my ULTIMATE BOOKISH HALLOWEEN BOX! It’s stinking awesome, and filled with horrific, bookish goodies.

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A.S. Thornton

A.S. Thornton has evolved from book blogger to author with a particular fondness for writing forbidden love in ancient deserts. When not writing, she’s caring for dogs and cats as a veterinarian. You’ll never find animals at the center of her writing, though, because those fictional worlds don’t have veterinarians and her literal brain can’t accept that the poor critters would be without parasite prevention. Thornton’s debut, DAUGHTER OF THE SALT KING is available wherever books are sold.