If you recall, a few weeks ago I shared the story behind my Rethinking Horror in Games Interview with Dr Megan Connell. This interview is now available for you to watch and/or listen to on the G33ksLikeUs Channel on YouTube! Or, click on the embedded video below. I encourage you to listen and share the video—Megan does get into some deep territory, jamming lots of information into an hour-long conversation, and it’s well worth your time.
New Guest Post on Apex: Discussing Rape, Incest and Abuse in Horror
This week, I offered the folks over at Apex Book Company a blog post entitled, “Why Do Some Horror Authors Write about Rape, Incest and Abuse?“ This was a sensitive topic to write about, and I found out after the article was published that I made a slight oversight in the post.
My goal for this article, was not to provide a definitive “answer” on this subject, but to facilitate discussion and to get people really thinking about writing for “shock” value or how they might address serious issues like rape, incest and abuse.
Let’s take a look at a quote:
Good horror stories can cause a reader to react in a number of different ways. They can jump out of their chair, groan in disgust or feel their skin crawl. Fear, however, isn’t the only emotion a reader can feel. They can also feel empathy for a character, anger because the villain got away, or sadness because a victim died. These reactions occur as a result of the story’s pacing or description; an author’s goal is to help guide the reader through a broad range of reactions so that the reader won’t put their book down.–SOURCE: “Why Do Some Horror Authors Write about Rape, Incest and Abuse?“
If this topic interests you, there’s a lot of comments and interesting discussion on the post that you might want to check out. As I mentioned earlier, I firmly believe that there aren’t definitive answers to my question. I just feel it’s a question worth exploring.