What do you consider frightening?

[Arkcher]

Probably just a phase in adolescence, but I've noticed that I developed a strong interest in stories that I find frightening.

Not so much for the sake of being scared, but if the story has the right balance of credibility and novelty, then I find it interesting. At the same time, a story with the right balance of frightful thrills and comfortably familiar situations grasp my attention like nothing else.

 

For instance, one of my biggest fears is anarchy. I hate the idea of society falling apart, laws not being enforced, and as such people running uncontrollably rampant- constantly defending yourself from other people and their views on things- Nothing will stop them from running at you with an axe with the intent to kill you.

You get the idea.

[slight tangent- a few years ago when the "War of the Words" movie was released with Tom Cruise being himself in it... The omnipotent aliens didnt scare me nearly as much as the riot. If you saw it, you may remember the scene where they try driving their van through a crowd of people to escape a riot, but they end up being overrun, they have to pull out firearms to defend themselves in close-quarters, almost lose members of their family, and do end up losing their car and firearms so they could escape with their lives. That scene really spooked me. Not the scary aliens, but a mob of people.]

 

I've noticed that a Zombie Apocalypse scenario is a good balance of anarchy and order, so that its thrilling enough to keep my attention, but not to the intensity that I won't enjoy reading about it.

If they're just "undead, cant be stopped, eat your brain" classic zombies, thats terribly unrealistic and loses my attention pretty quickly. If they're still alive, maybe by way of viral infection or disease or otherwise, their judgment and rationality has been corrupted to the point where they act like mindless zombies is the right balance of realism and far-fetched fiction.

 

As such, I've been throwing together a story about a zombie apocalypse scenario, and i'm thoroughly enjoying it.

 

So my question to you is...

What do you consider frightening?

If it was balanced properly, would it grasp your attention and you would want to read about it?

Do you have a fear that could be written in to a story?

 

I don't like horror movies very much, they're never paced right, always too fast or too slow. Horror-based video games tell a story at the pace you choose, but you're seeing it the way someone else imagines it. A horror story can be paced to your comfort (or discomfort, depending on how gripping the story is) and its only limited by your own imagination, as vivid or fake as you make it.

 

Discuss.

[- Kat -]

Zombies have always been my #1 "horror movie" fear. That's why I've spent my whole life reading about how to kill them and playing games where you shoot them dead D:

 

In terms of the horror genre, I don't like most horror movies because they're cheap. Not in terms of movie budget, but in terms of creativity. Lalalala BLOOD SCARY BOO ROAR lalala pop out and scare you type stuff. D: That doesn't take any thought at all, four year olds do that. I like the kind of horror that lives in your mind. It makes you think something is happening, rather than throwing it at you suddenly.

 

The Path is a computer horror game that I love because of this. There is no point in the game where anything jumps out at you or makes a loud, sudden noise, but it still scares me because of what it makes you think is going on.

[Arkcher]

whoops, typo'd. that one movie was War of the Worlds, not words.

 

I reposted this on another forum, for the sake of a wider demographic, but i mentioned there and not here that one of the intentions of posting this is to get ideas for stories to write that have the aforementioned balance of your fear and realism so that it holds your attention (supposing that you have a train of thought similar to mine).

 

Also Kat: sounds like you might enjoy the Silent Hill series. Its not so much bloody and scary as it is a crazy psychological trip. I can only get like 30 minutes in to SH2 :c its pretty crazy.

[Jesusfreak]

The only thing I really fear is pain. You might like the Final Destination movies. Those are kinda scary, but not because some psycho is after you. If you liked Avatar, you might like a book called The Sparrow. It's about how a group of people go to another planet because they discover sentient life there. They get along with the lifeforms they discover and become an accepted part of their community, but eventually discover that the lifeforms they are interacting with aren't the dominant lifeforms, and things go on from there. I don't want to give away too much of the story. Frankenstein, the original book, might also give you some good ideas. There was a book I remember reading in 6th grade called "The Girl Who Owned the City" or something like that, which was about kids trying to survive after a disease wipes out everyone over the age of 13.

[Mushroom_king]

I'm not really big on horror movies-I'm more on books. Mostly Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft. I typically enjoy movies where the horror is less supernatural and more psychological; 'Cat People' didn't actually have any cat people, but probably wouldn't have been as scary if there were any. And for movies, I usually like movies from the first part of the 1900s, outside of that it's mainly The Shining and Poltergeist that I like.

 

 

As for what I'm scared of?...honestly, I'm terrified of slugs. That's my number one fear. I don't know why. Other than those, I'm scared of loneliness, mainly.

[Horatio]

Books I love with no blood and guts, but as - Kat - says, the psychological aspect. In books I can jump over the really scary parts, unless it jumps out at me. Such as in Red Dragon, when one of the pages took my breath away. I never expected the psychological twist and that is what made the book far, far better than Silence of the Lambs.

 

Movies don't appear on my to do list. I don't like watching any blood, guts, fighting, etc. Books are best for me.

[Arkcher]

... And for movies, I usually like movies from the first part of the 1900s, outside of that it's mainly The Shining and Poltergeist that I like.

o: duuuuude

I don't remember when it was, but that reminded me of a Hitchcock movie called The Lady Vanishes. Its not so much a horror story as it is a mystery-solving, light-hearted suspense. I enjoyed it.

[Mushroom_king]

Books I love with no blood and guts, but as - Kat - says, the psychological aspect. In books I can jump over the really scary parts, unless it jumps out at me. Such as in Red Dragon, when one of the pages took my breath away. I never expected the psychological twist and that is what made the book far, far better than Silence of the Lambs.

 

Movies don't appear on my to do list. I don't like watching any blood, guts, fighting, etc. Books are best for me.

The only 'blood n'guts' movies I like are ones like Evil Dead.

 

And Arkcher-Hitchcock's awesome. Have you seen Psycho or The Birds?

[Horatio]

Books I love with no blood and guts, but as - Kat - says, the psychological aspect. In books I can jump over the really scary parts, unless it jumps out at me. Such as in Red Dragon, when one of the pages took my breath away. I never expected the psychological twist and that is what made the book far, far better than Silence of the Lambs.

 

Movies don't appear on my to do list. I don't like watching any blood, guts, fighting, etc. Books are best for me.

The only 'blood n'guts' movies I like are ones like Evil Dead.

 

And Arkcher-Hitchcock's awesome. Have you seen Psycho or The Birds?

I have not seen Evil Dead. Psycho and The Birds are great movies!!!!!

[- Kat -]

It is pretty much impossible for a movie to be bad when Bruce Campbell is in it.

 

My dad loves Hitchcock movies O:

[Mushroom_king]

If anyone here is a fan of The Angry Video Game Nerd-the guys who does those, James Rolfe, is a HUGE horror movie buff. If you go to his site, along with reviews of The Shining, Maximum Overdrive, and a few others, every October he does a month-long review marathon of horror or monster movies. I stayed up late a few weekends ago watching them. Great stuff.

[Horatio]

If anyone here is a fan of The Angry Video Game Nerd-the guys who does those, James Rolfe, is a HUGE horror movie buff. If you go to his site, along with reviews of The Shining, Maximum Overdrive, and a few others, every October he does a month-long review marathon of horror or monster movies. I stayed up late a few weekends ago watching them. Great stuff.

I would stay up too if I watched the movies... not from watching a whole bunch of them, but from being scared to go to sleep.

[Arkcher]

So, in the speculation stage of making this super-awesome zombie apocalypse story I mentioned, I've almost been overwhelmed by the number of possibilities and options that it could go in.

 

Right now, this story has the only "good" set of characters that I've come up with- which is to say that as the story progresses, you learn more of their history and what they were like before this zombie incident, and at the same time see their personalities change as they cope with the challenges thrown at them.

So I've incorporated some actual development instead of just an attention-getting set of characters that don't change.

 

But such to the extent that this is more of a story about these four people working together, character development and long backstories, "oh by the way here's some zombies".

This apocalyptic incident is no longer the focal point. It's just an excuse to stick these four goons together and watch them adapt.

 

 

 

So. What do you think?

Should things stay the way they are, watch characters work together in the adversity of zombies?

should these characters be developed in a different setting?

should a new set of characters be stuck in a zombie apocalypse?

don't have enough information to make a decision? does this need its own thread?

[- Kat -]

I would say that it depends on what you want to write. If you really want character development and interaction and whatnot, then go for it how it is. If you just want to write some OMG ZOMBIES DIE, then yeah, you should probably throw together a few shmucks and mostly ignore them unless they're a-fightin'.

 

It mostly depends on what you're in the mood to write.

[Horatio]

 

So. What do you think?

Should things stay the way they are, watch characters work together in the adversity of zombies?

should these characters be developed in a different setting?

should a new set of characters be stuck in a zombie apocalypse?

don't have enough information to make a decision? does this need its own thread?

So. What do you think? I am excited to be able to read the story when it is written.

Should things stay the way they are, watch characters work together in the adversity of zombies? I like this thought.

should these characters be developed in a different setting? They could always move to a different setting in your sequel.

should a new set of characters be stuck in a zombie apocalypse? Not needed at the moment, but the option is always there if you want.

don't have enough information to make a decision? does this need its own thread? Enough information. Not necessary for it's own thread.

[Arkcher]

:c I stop by HD every other day and there's usually like 2 threads that ever get updated.

Best Friends of Horatio and MK's latest creation.

maaaaan. there used to be like 3 pages of new threads back in the day.

 

so I'm non-concomitantly committing to start writing some more stories and get some traffic through here by way of them search engine bots.

it'll be pretty great.

[Arkcher]

... non-concomitantly committing...

I have a pretty great keyboard. Just thought I'd let you guys know.

[Horatio]

:c I stop by HD every other day and there's usually like 2 threads that ever get updated.

Best Friends of Horatio and MK's latest creation.

maaaaan. there used to be like 3 pages of new threads back in the day.

 

so I'm non-concomitantly committing to start writing some more stories and get some traffic through here by way of them search engine bots.

it'll be pretty great.

I like that!!!

[Arkcher]

get excited, yall. I have an outline written for a super zombie-showdown with four survivors all of whom have changed from conception, as to make their travesties more interesting. Also as they interact, there will be zombie-related challenges thrown at them so its got more balance of apocalyptic nightmare that isn't especially scary, and personalities clashing with each other.

 

As the outline goes, it's divided in to three different parts or sections or chapters, and I'll probably post each of these three segments one at a time. I haven't written anything in a long time, and now I've taken some English classes so it should flow a lot better than previous attempts. :V

 

Cramming this in to an awkward schedule isn't something I'm used to. (when you grow up, people like expect you to be responsible for yourself. Silly societal protocols.) So expect the introductory first-of-three parts of this here story in a week or two.

To give you an idea of how long things might take, as of today I'm about 1/4 through the Intro, and it's 7 pages. Updates will be few and far between, but worth it (hopefully).

[Horatio]

get excited, yall. I have an outline written for a super zombie-showdown with four survivors all of whom have changed from conception, as to make their travesties more interesting. Also as they interact, there will be zombie-related challenges thrown at them so its got more balance of apocalyptic nightmare that isn't especially scary, and personalities clashing with each other.

 

As the outline goes, it's divided in to three different parts or sections or chapters, and I'll probably post each of these three segments one at a time. I haven't written anything in a long time, and now I've taken some English classes so it should flow a lot better than previous attempts. :V

 

Cramming this in to an awkward schedule isn't something I'm used to. (when you grow up, people like expect you to be responsible for yourself. Silly societal protocols.) So expect the introductory first-of-three parts of this here story in a week or two.

To give you an idea of how long things might take, as of today I'm about 1/4 through the Intro, and it's 7 pages. Updates will be few and far between, but worth it (hopefully).

OUTSTANDING!!!!!!!!!!

I look forward to your first post!!!!!!!!