…or why I don’t say horror.
Seems I can’t pronounce this word without making it sound like whore. So, dark fiction it is.
I don’t need to be scared or freaked or grossed out. I need to be pulled to the edge of my seat. I want to feel excited to turn the next corner even knowing the axe murderer is waiting there.
Writing dark fiction takes the nerve to walk down the unlit hallway knowing it’s a trap, but also realizing this is one of many trick turns. No one jumps out of the shadows when they can grab you during the morning light. There’s no safe time, anymore.
And that sounds just corny, doesn’t it.
The joy of dark fiction, horror, reading is the complete and total concept of expect the unexpected and the expected. There are no rules. From our classic authors to the newest hit, dark fiction is all about the mind. Hitting upon every fear and phobia and human emotion which is why some don’t read this genre.
Sometimes, I believe, people need to be pushed to their scare, terror, limits and not always have everything end safe and sound. Go to the extreme and then…walk away knowing it’s fake. Knowing that you would have ended it differently.
And then there are the times, I need to have everything neat and cleaned up at the end.
I want monster horror; slasher dark fiction; mindful suspense scares, and mix it with everything and anything else. Humour works, too.
I want to flinch…expect to be startled. I want to be made nervous, unsure. I want to worry about the characters you’ve connected me with.
I expect the authors of dark fiction, horror, to dig into their fears and find mine.