Date:         Sun, 24 Sep 2000 23:18:53 -0400
From: a firm anchor in nonsense <mbarker@MIT.EDU>
Subject:      [WRITERS] TECH: Horror Springs From...

Let's see.  The halloweenie contest is going to start accepting submissions 
on... October 1?  Plenty of time to... NEXT SUNDAY!  Better start writing 
faster and furiouser, my dear Alphonse.

Okay, here's a few words that may help with the horror of the situation.

 From Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman ISBN 0-553-09503-X, which in 
Chapter 13 talks about Trauma and Emotional Relearning.

"At the core of such trauma... is ' the intrusive memory of the central 
violent action: the final blow with a fist, the plunge of a knife, the blast 
of a shotgun.  The memories are intense perceptual experiences -- the sight, 
sound, and smell of gunfire; the screams or sudden silence of the victim; 
the splash of blood; the police sirens.'"

So we might want to make sure our horror story has a central violent action, 
with carefully crafted "intense perceptual experiences."  This is the time 
to make sure you are describing the senses (sights, sounds, smells, tactile 
feelings, tastes) in detail.

"Any traumatizing event can implant such trigger memories...: a fire or an 
auto accident, being in a natural catastrophe such as an earthquake or a 
hurricane, being raped or mugged.  Hundreds of thousands of people each year 
endure such disasters, and many or most come away with the kind of emotional 
wounding that leaves its imprint on the brain."

"Violent acts are more pernicious than natural catastrophes such as a 
hurricane because, unlike victims of a natural disaster, victims of violence 
feel themselves to have been intentionally selected as the target of 
malevolence.  That fact shatters assumptions about the trustworthiness of 
people and the safety of the interpersonal world, an assumption natural 
catastrophes leave untouched.  Within an instant, the social world becomes a 
dangerous place, one in which people are potential threats to your safety."

"The operative word is _uncontrollable_.  If people feel there is something 
they can do in a catastrophic situation, some control they can exert, no 
matter how minor, they fare far better emotionally than do those who feel 
utterly helpless.  The element of helplessness is what makes a given event 
_subjectively_ overwhelming. ... It's the feeling that your life is in 
danger _and there's nothing you can do to escape it_ ..."

So, a violent act that seems to intentionally select the victim, and leaves 
them helpless… that's the kind of act that is most likely to generate horror?

Okay, here's a little exercise.  Take your favorite character, and pick a 
number from one to six.  Got it?  So they are going to encounter:

1.      Fire
2.      Automobile accident
3.      Earthquake
4.      Hurricane (other storm at your selection)
5.      Rape
6.      Criminal Act (mugging, etc.)

Think about it.  Do you want them to directly encounter it, or are they 
helping a friend who has encountered it?  Do you want to show us the 
incident, the immediate results, or the longer-term disintegration?  Or do 
you want to show us the recovery?

How can this encounter strip the character of control, leave them dangling 
helpless in the path of the oncoming disaster?

Can you make their situation one that has been deliberately planned for 
them?  Even if the hurricane seems to be a purely natural affair, perhaps 
being locked out (chained down?) in the path of the oncoming storm could be 
more intentional evil?

Go ahead and craft that encounter with violence...

And for those who want to know, there are steps for recovery from trauma:  
"attaining a sense of safety, remembering the details of the trauma and 
mourning the loss it has brought, and finally re-establishing a normal life."

"Another step in healing involves retelling and reconstructing the story of 
the trauma in the harbor of that safety, allowing the emotional circuitry to 
acquire a new, more realistic understanding of and response to the traumatic 
memory and its triggers."

Why do people like to read horror stories?  What is it about that peculiar 
sense of fear under control that makes it deliciously attractive?

Something to think about, especially while you're preparing your entries for 
the unhallowed contest that starts so soon...

(for details, see <http://web.mit.edu/mbarker/www/hall00/>.  And watch this 
list for those little tales of terror that will soon be turning up!)


"Every poem is rooted in imaginative awe....there is only one thing that all 
poetry must do; it must praise all it can for being and for happening." W.H. 
Auden

t
ink