Happy New Year one and all, I hope those of you who made writing resolutions are keeping them and the rest of you are writing anyway. I thought a nice way to kick off this year would be to discuss different writing genres, what makes them unique, and how we can blend them into other styles to make our own preferred style of writing. Of course I won't discuss all genres in one post, so this one will start with the category of scary stuff and how there are differences.
So, now that we are talking about writing, what are the scary genres? In general, we have the horror, suspense, and thriller categories. Don't worry about whether zombies, vampires, werewolves, and so forth should be in one category or the other - that all depends on the story you want to tell. The important part is what each one brings to the table.
Horror: This genre is sure to offer up a pile of bodies who died before their time and in terrible ways. Things like character deaths and dramatic turns are always accompanied by events the reader would not like to experience in the real world, usually explained or demonstrated in graphic detail. To write horror, one must bring out either some of the things that terrify or shock the author, then they get spilled onto the page. The author doesn't need to have experienced these things, just know that they could happen in some dark nightmare.
Suspense: As mentioned before, suspense novels carry the thread of something horrible approaching the main characters. There should be a looming threat, perhaps with unknown motive, but a force nevertheless that means harm to our focal characters and will bring it by any means necessary. In a true suspense novel, the protagonist(s) are unaware of the threat or do not know if it is real, but the reader knows without question that trouble is approaching. This is the secret of suspense writing - showing the reader the threat but keeping the characters in the dark until some big reveal leads to a dramatic confrontation or two.
Thriller: As opposed to suspense, the thriller places the protagonist in danger from square one, and they know it. Whether the threat is a vengeful killer or an approaching hurricane, the stakes start off high and keep rising. The protagonist may not know why the killer is pursuing them or understand how they can escape the hurricane, but now they need to survive. Close calls, quick escapes, and surprising turns all mark the thriller, and leaving the reader a moment to breathe is not recommended.
Blending these now just becomes the practice of finding the right temperature. Typically, the zombie apocalypse stories are horror-thrillers as the survivors flee for safety and occasionally get eaten, whereas a zombie horror-suspense blend might focus on the first hours of the outbreak where people don't even believe such a thing could happen (then they get eaten). Of course, the suspense-thriller simply means the protagonist is in danger from the first page but does not know why they are being victimized. This is a great genre to work with because everyone loves suspense and a good thriller, but if it doesn't have a high body count, it reaches a bigger audience.
In future posts I will discuss other genres, how to mix them, and what makes them special. Until Friday, keep on enjoying the New Year, and watch out for zombies (you never know).
