Horror Flash Fiction

[Lord Z]

Hello all,
My girlfriend has recently been assigned the task of writing some short stories (some of them very short) in the horror genre. She's done it before and done it well, but horror is not her usual genre. Do we have any general advice for ways to develop a satisfying scary story with efficient use of word space?

[sasha]

Limit the scope of the story.
Comedy puts one off his guard, and that's why it's sometimes useful in the tension-relief cycle.
Build up, threaten, and assault the reader's emotional security.
Splatter isn't necessarily horror.

[Gallahan]

A good thing to do is to make sure the audience cares about the main character. There's not horror or terror or fear if we don't care about the person it's happening to. And, of course, have fun.

[Gallahan]

Stephen King has a great book about writing called "On Writing." It's also available on audio CD, where he reads the entire thing himself. Anyway, it's a five-star exploration of tips, pointers and experiences --as delivered in the way no one but King can do.

One of his rules is that the length of the finished story equals first draft - 10%. He recommends shortening your first draft by 10%. Or so. It's been a couple years since I've read/heard it, but the rule is something like that. The reason is, he says, that by cutting 10%, you edit-out your own extraneous verbage (or something along those lines). You really need to read/listend to his book, which is available anywhere, but I got mine USED for really cheap at amazon. So, if you don't read his book, just practice cutting your word count by 10% when you edit the rough draft into a final draft. You can use the word-count feature of Microsoft Word to make sure you stick to this, or do it the hard way and count every word.

[Lord Z]

That is interesting and useful, Galahan. Please remember, however, that certain submissions require specific word counts. Just keep that in mind while editing.

[Gallahan]

That is interesting and useful, Galahan. Please remember, however, that certain submissions require specific word counts. Just keep that in mind while editing.

Very good point. --Of course, for Stephen King, LOL, word count is borderline ad infinitum. Hahahahaha. That rule *especially* applies to himself (Stephen King) since the hardbound first edition of "The Tommyknockers" which I have here at my desk is 558 pages long, and back in 1987 when it was printed, there were 46 lines of text per page, where an average book today has much less. Plus, "The Tommyknockers" is nowhere near the length of "It," King's uber-long masterpiece of horror. So yeah, if you're very wordy, and have established the minimum word count, then the rule especially applies. However, cutting anything is hard for a writer. Everything seems to belong.

A note about the recent reprints of Stephen King and Dean Koontz: all of the ones I've seen have a short editorial (several pages) about the story, how it came to be, etc., written by the author, providing even more insight into the creation of the novel. It's worth checking out of the local library or purchasing for those essays alone.

Speaking of essays... In the REFERENCE section of most bookstores, you'll find books on writing. Some are written by a single author, and others are collections of essays by an assortment of prolific authors. Both have merits. The essay anthologies are great for a quick read, and in many bookstores, you can take the book to the cafe' section to enjoy while you're having a beverage. Bookstores have become like libraries, but better in some ways since they have the cafes. And, you don't have to buy the book. I especially LOVE the books on writing science fiction, fantasy and horror (or just plain horror).