Writing, Illustrating & Publishing > Research
the "creep" factor
ecb:
For the longest time, the Goosebumps books were the *only* thing my nephew would read. Thankfully there are gads of them. Unfortunately, they were a little behind my time, reading-wise.
A couple of years ago, I was contracted to write a middle-grade ghost story for a Scholastic Book Clubs anthology called BONES (came out in Jan '10). Because it had been a while since I'd read any middle-grade horror (or any MG of any kind, really), I hit my library and had them pull every anthology for that age group they had, and I combed through my boxes of books from childhood and found my own copies of Scholastic book order ghost story anthologies. Ohmigosh, what a FUN FUN FUN research-reading project that was!! I think my page on Goodreads mentions some of the anthologies that were really wonderful (I think there was a Norton anthology or Penguin Book Of in there!).
Now. When I actually got my author copy and read the other stories... I kind of think mine was definitely the creepiest... and I'm not sure that's a good thing. ??? Maybe the stories I read as a kid were darker than what sells today, or maybe I'm just a creepier person than Margaret Mahy and David Levithan :dr, but mine had a darkness to it that seemed slightly out of synch with the other stories.
But I do remember loving ghost stories TO DEATH as a grade schooler, and didn't think mine seemed out of the realm of what I'd been reading as research. (shrug) And the editor certainly never said, "Do you think this might be too scary for an eight-year-old, Elizabeth?" Who knows.
msw:
I find the The Last Apprentice series quite creepy. Particularly the first book REVENGE OF THE WITCH (I think that's the name). It's the atmosphere, and some gore that gets me. I had to set it down with chapter one of book one to get myself ready for the rest of the book. Good stuff.
Wonky:
Gore itself isn't creepy, it's just gross.
You know what I find creepiest? A fleeting glimpse of something that appears to be not quite as it should be, seen when you are alone...for example, you're going up an elevator, and just as the door opens you notice the person standing next to you has no nose.
Or how about this. Waking up in the middle of the night and seeing bright moonlight...then realizing that it's not the moon. The light is coming from something inside your room!
valeriek:
--- Quote from: ecb on August 10, 2010, 04:25 PM ---Maybe the stories I read as a kid were darker than what sells today
--- End quote ---
I definitely think this is part of the case. I read a lot of Christopher Pike and Lois Duncan as a kid and I've picked a few of them up to re-read and they are much darker than what I'm seeing out there now. Lots of teens murdering teens and hatching elaborate murder plots and going crazy, and those are the non-paranormal ones!
Anyway, for creep factor. If you're willing to read older books, I think Lois Duncan did it really well. Locked In Time by Lois Duncan is one of those that slowly gets more and more scary. To me that's what creepy is. When you start to notice something isn't right, little by little. Each new thing builds onto the next and builds a sense of unease until suddenly you realize how bad things really are. The scary/horror literally creeps up on you.
JennaWren:
--- Quote from: valeriek on August 11, 2010, 09:09 AM --- To me that's what creepy is. When you start to notice something isn't right, little by little. Each new thing builds onto the next and builds a sense of unease until suddenly you realize how bad things really are. The scary/horror literally creeps up on you.
--- End quote ---
Oooo, so true! (shivers)
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