TheBigBad… Book?

I’ve never been a particular fan of the horror genre. You’re free to endlessly speculate whether it has something to do with my personality type, perhaps bad experience, or just my own preference. However, one of the few interactions I have had with horror was the film ‘It’, originally written by Stephen King. I know, a good one, right? I’m not going to lie, I was peer pressured... well, long story short, it wasn’t as bad as I expected; I spent half of the film with my eyes tightly shut and the other half laughing hysterically at the awful jokes Richie, one of the characters, made. The horror genre is undoubtedly one of the most controversial genres and people tend to have strong opinions on it: you either love it or hate it. Nevertheless, it has been around for some centuries.

When you think about horror, perhaps the first things that come to mind are jump scares, strange noises, and gore. Sometimes, suspense is also added by the stupid characters, who for some reason decide to go alone into complete darkness after asking several times ‘Who’s there?’ instead of running away and calling the police. But can we still get the same fear from a horror book?

It’s no secret that in the 21st century we’re all experiencing an immense informational overload; social media notifications, horrifying news being broadcasted to you 24/7, an abundance of shows, music, blogs etc. We’re basically snowed under the endless stream of information, being so used to the rich visual and audio stimuli that it does seem like at this stage, that’s all we’re capable of perceiving and we can’t imagine any further.

In my opinion, that’s the problem which is probably going to be more prominent in the next generations. I didn’t have an iPad growing up and so quickly learned to entertain myself. I turned everything I saw into some sort of a toy, which really helped with developing my imagination. I have no problem when reading books and picturing all sorts of scenarios, which, if you ask me, is not useful when reading a horror book… Having said that, I agree that my generation, Gen Z, is experiencing a shorter attention span which can be a real problem when trying to study, let alone reading a whole book. The slower pace of written horror just can’t grip us as much as a fast-paced film. Maybe to us, horror only works when condensed into a couple of hours, not when spread over some 300 pages.

Nevertheless, apart from visual and audio stimuli, there are also writing techniques. Modern horror frequently has an underlying psychological context, playing on our feeling of anxiety, intrusive thoughts, and at the same time giving you the feeling that it could genuinely happen and it’s not as far-fetched as it seems. For example, horror often uses popular symbols like clowns, dolls, and small children that in normal life, have nothing to do with the monstrosities described. It has a desirable effect as it changes the way we look at trivial things and leaves a deep and unsettling feeling. Speaking from the point of evolution, people have always been forced to adapt to survive, that might be the reason why modern horrors are not about raw fear anymore, and more about making you feel uncomfortable. And this is where horror books must succeed. You can’t get jump scared by a book, instead, you read more psychologically unnerving material.

For some horror fans, the desire to feel fear is a manifestation of an adrenaline-seeking personality. Horror entertainment can trigger the fightor-flight response, which comes with a boost in adrenaline, endorphins, and dopamine. But to trigger such responses, the audio and visual stimuli are almost paramount. Like I said, you can’t get jump scared by a book. But it’s easier to enjoy horror when exposed to it in a controlled, safe environment and so in that sense, books are better than movies. Books provide a softer form of horror so people can practice emotional regulation and get better at managing their own fear and anxiety through engaging with recreational fear.

I would say that horror books can still be very scary if written properly, as the most terrifying things in life tend to be intangible - evoking feelings related to them and playing with the human psyche will likely do the job. However, the cognitive overload and shortened attention spans of the younger generation could be destructive to literary horror in the future.

Maybe even reading as a whole…

by Kseniia Mikushina.