To celebrate the launch of Writing in the Dark, we welcome Tim Waggoner to Ginger Nuts of Horror with an excellent feature looking at how to tackle the issue of pain in writing.
Writing in the Dark is a comprehensive textbook devoted to the craft of writing horror fiction, award-winning author Tim Waggoner draws on thirty years’ experience as a writer and teacher. Writing in the Dark offers advice, guidance, and insights on how to compose horror stories and novels that are original, frightening, entertaining, and well-written
Writing in the Dark is a comprehensive textbook devoted to the craft of writing horror fiction, award-winning author Tim Waggoner draws on thirty years’ experience as a writer and teacher. Writing in the Dark offers advice, guidance, and insights on how to compose horror stories and novels that are original, frightening, entertaining, and well-written
In horror, characters are often under the threat of physical violence, injury, and ultimately death. But the mental, emotional, and spiritual wounds characters suffer can be far worse than physical pain. Make sure that death isn’t the worst thing that can happen to your characters – not by a long shot.
1) ALL STORIES ARE ABOUT CHARACTERS EXPERIENCING PAIN
All stories are about people who are suffering and what they do to alleviate that suffering. How characters attempt to deal with pain and how those attempts change them is the core plot of every story, but perhaps especially in horror. Pain happens inside a character, and what’s painful for one might not be painful for another, at least not in the same way. After all, the word horror clearly indicates emotional pain. It’s the only genre whose name itself focuses on pain. Yet I’ve seen many horror stories from students in which the characters aren’t emotionally impacted by the story events. They might experience physical pain, but that’s it. These writers only told part of a story – and the least interesting part at that. They didn’t tell the story of their characters’ overall pain. Let’s talk about how to effectively combine the four different types of pain in your fiction.
2) PHYSICAL PAIN
Learn what happens to the human body when it gets injured. Find out what your characters can and can’t do after they’re wounded. Research how much a specific injury would hurt, whether a character would be able to continue to function with that level of pain, and what the longer-term effects of an injury are. Will your character eventually pass out? Die from internal bleeding? Need surgery to survive? How much an injury affects your characters depends on their personalities – their psychological makeup. How does a particular character react to getting injured, and how does the severity of the injury change their reaction? How does a character react to witnessing others getting injured or killed? Figuring out all these things will help you depict physical pain and injuries in your fiction effectively and convincingly.
3) EMOTIONAL PAIN
Fear is only one type of emotional pain. Loss, grief, despair, sorrow, anxiety, shame, rage, resentment, guilt, surprise (as in a shocking surprise, not a happy, welcome one), confusion, disgust, hatred . . . Your characters might experience any or all of these emotions in your horror story along with fear. The more impactful the event – and the more of a monstrous distortion of reality it is – the stronger the characters’ emotional reactions will be. One of the best ways to make the unreal feel real in your stories is to present realistic emotional reactions to it on the part of your characters.
4) MENTAL PAIN
Mental pain is an intellectual realization that provokes an emotional reaction. A character becomes aware that he or she must die to save others. Superman’s father Jor-El discovers that Krypton is doomed, but he can’t get anyone to believe him. Some of your characters might be more prone to this type of pain than others. Someone who has strong, immediate emotional reactions to events might not be as thoughtful or introspective enough to think through the steps to reach a conclusion that leads to mental pain. They may be too focused on themselves and the immediate threat they’re dealing with to have the luxury of taking time to think. Or they may be so intellectually focused that they have difficulty with allowing themselves to have emotional reactions. As with everything else in fiction, it all depends on the particular character.
5) SPIRITUAL PAIN
I consider this to be a soul-deep pain that relates to a character’s relationship with higher spiritual forces, whether those forces are literal gods or ethical principles such as justice, decency, fairness, generosity, etc. A great example of the moral/ethical aspect of spiritual pain comes at the end of Watchmen, when Rorschach – after Ozymandias’ plan has succeeded and he’s actually saved the world, but at a terrible cost – cannot bring himself to abandon his strict black-and-white, right-or-wrong view of the world. Rorschach demands Dr. Manhattan kill him because he knows he’ll never be able to accept what has happened. In fact, he’ll do everything he can to let people know about it. He’s also (in my interpretation) tired of living in a cruel world of moral ambiguity. Spiritual pain indeed.
If you include all types of pain – physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual – in the same story, it will be more layered and impactful. Plus, if it’s possible for your characters to experience any one of the four types of pain in your stories at any time, your fiction will be more unpredictable, and a sudden shift from one type of pain to another can catch readers off guard, thus allowing you to keep your readers off balance, never letting them feel safe with your stories – all things good horror should do.
If you include all types of pain – physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual – in the same story, it will be more layered and impactful. Plus, if it’s possible for your characters to experience any one of the four types of pain in your stories at any time, your fiction will be more unpredictable, and a sudden shift from one type of pain to another can catch readers off guard, thus allowing you to keep your readers off balance, never letting them feel safe with your stories – all things good horror should do.
BIO
Critically-acclaimed author Tim Waggoner has published over fifty novels and seven collections of short stories. He writes original dark fantasy and horror, as well as media tie-ins, and he’s the author of a book on writing horror fiction called Writing in the Dark. He’s won the Bram Stoker Award and been a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award, the Scribe Award, and the Splatterpunk Award. He’s also a full-time tenured professor who teaches creative writing and composition at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio.
Website: www.timwaggoner.com
Twitter: @timwaggoner
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tim.waggoner.9
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Twitter: @timwaggoner
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tim.waggoner.9
Instagram: tim.waggoner.scribe
Writing in the Dark
In this comprehensive textbook devoted to the craft of writing horror fiction, award-winning author Tim Waggoner draws on thirty years’ experience as a writer and teacher. Writing in the Dark offers advice, guidance, and insights on how to compose horror stories and novels that are original, frightening, entertaining, and well-written.
Waggoner covers a wide range of topics, among them why horror matters, building viable monsters, generating ideas and plotlines, how to stylize narratives in compelling ways, the physiology of fear, the art of suspense, avoiding clichés, marketing your horror writing, and much more. Each chapter includes tips from some of the best horror professionals working today, such as Joe Hill, Ellen Datlow, Joe R. Lansdale, Maurice Broaddus, Yvette Tan, Thomas Ligotti, Jonathan Maberry, Edward Lee, and John Shirley. There are also appendices with critical reflections, pointers on the writing process, ideas for characters and story arcs, and material for further research.
Writing in the Dark derives from Waggoner’s longtime blog of the same name. Suitable for classroom use, intensive study, and bedside reading, this essential manual will appeal to new authors at the beginning of their career as well as veterans of the horror genre who want to brush up on their technique.
From Raw Dog Screaming Press, it will be available September 16, 2020. It’s available in hardback and paperback for pre-order before that date, and usually mail early.
Waggoner covers a wide range of topics, among them why horror matters, building viable monsters, generating ideas and plotlines, how to stylize narratives in compelling ways, the physiology of fear, the art of suspense, avoiding clichés, marketing your horror writing, and much more. Each chapter includes tips from some of the best horror professionals working today, such as Joe Hill, Ellen Datlow, Joe R. Lansdale, Maurice Broaddus, Yvette Tan, Thomas Ligotti, Jonathan Maberry, Edward Lee, and John Shirley. There are also appendices with critical reflections, pointers on the writing process, ideas for characters and story arcs, and material for further research.
Writing in the Dark derives from Waggoner’s longtime blog of the same name. Suitable for classroom use, intensive study, and bedside reading, this essential manual will appeal to new authors at the beginning of their career as well as veterans of the horror genre who want to brush up on their technique.
From Raw Dog Screaming Press, it will be available September 16, 2020. It’s available in hardback and paperback for pre-order before that date, and usually mail early.
Praise for Writing in the Dark
“More than just a generalized survey of spooky stuff, this book addresses horror in all its many manifestations, from Quiet Horror to Extreme Horror to Country Horror. Beyond discussions of plotting and character, Waggoner also offers helpful advice on interacting with agents and publishers, as well as best practices for marketing your work.”—Booklist
“I was in the final edits of a novel that I believed to be solid. Waggoner’s advice suggested I dig deeper. I did and now the story feels so much more alive and relevant…Enroll in this fine course with Professor Waggoner. You won’t mind the homework—even if the monster does eat it.”—Dave Simms for Cemetery Dance
For more information or to order go to www.rawdogscreaming.com, purchase at usual online retailers, or order from your local bookstore.
“I was in the final edits of a novel that I believed to be solid. Waggoner’s advice suggested I dig deeper. I did and now the story feels so much more alive and relevant…Enroll in this fine course with Professor Waggoner. You won’t mind the homework—even if the monster does eat it.”—Dave Simms for Cemetery Dance
For more information or to order go to www.rawdogscreaming.com, purchase at usual online retailers, or order from your local bookstore.
