Writing Halloween Every Day of the Year
by Christopher Hawkins
My wife and I met at a Halloween party. We both went in costume; me in a wizard getup that I’m still embarrassed about, and her in a sari that made her especially adorable. We connected over a love of story; of books and films and all things scary. Halloween was the perfect holiday for us, since we both gravitated toward the dark and quirky. Being in costume helped to instantly put us at ease with each other, helped us to be ourselves.
Thirteen years later, we went on together to edit an anthology series called One Buck Horror. The connection is obvious, sure; the same things that drew us to Halloween also drew us to horror fiction. But the greater connection between Halloween and horror stories goes deeper than just the scares.
Halloween is a time for trying on new identities, for living in a skin that’s not your own. We allow ourselves to be someone else for a while, and it’s safe because we know that when the holiday is over, things will go back to the way they were, no harm done and few questions asked. It also allows us to confront the things we’re afraid of, to try them on and find out that they’re not so scary after all. At the end of it, if we’re lucky, we know a little more about ourselves on November 1st than we did on October 30th.
Now, consider the horror story. A good story is a costume you can put on any time you like, a horror story even more so. If it can be said that the reader leads a thousand lives through the characters on the page, then the horror fan faces a thousand fears. And he faces them in a way that is at once more vivid and less threatening than any horror movie. We put ourselves in the characters’ place, but we’re still in control, because we can lay the book down whenever we need to catch our breath.
Horror fiction is Halloween without the boundaries. The best horror fiction tells us more about ourselves than any superficial identity change ever could. It sticks with us, becomes a part of us, informing our daily lives and helping us face our worst fears because, in a sense, we have already lived through them. Those are the kinds of stories my wife and I try to publish; the ones that tell us more about who we are.
In this way, it is the horror writer’s job to create Halloween with every press of the keys, with every stroke of the pen. They do it out of love of story, out of love of things dark and quirky. The same things that brought my wife and me together bring the writer together with his audience, and the relationship, while perhaps not as personal, is still profound. And as the holiday fades away for one more year, the stories will still be there, ready to greet us whenever we dare.
One Buck Horro
r is proud to present “One Buck Zombies”, the latest volume in their critically-acclaimed anthology series. This collection features five tales of the walking dead from some of today’s most exciting new writers. It’s available in a variety of formats, and perfect for reading on the run! You can get your copy now at:
Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/pcGjAN
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/q0iVdo
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/qpwWl6
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/nAFO0x
TODAY’S GIVEAWAY:
Christopher Hawkins is giving away five four e-book sets of One Buck Horror volumes. To enter post a message in the comments section below or e-mail memoutreach@horror.org. Winners will be chosen at random. Contestants may enter once to be considered for all giveaways, but multiple entries are permitted.
Christopher Hawkins a horror writer from Chicago, IL, and the co-editor of the One Buck Horror e-book anthology series. This Halloween, he and his wife Kris are looking forward to trick-or-treating with their two sons.
I agree. I believe the macabre to be an important part of the human experience, one that has been with us since the early days of the species. We are fascinated by that which scares and threatens us and it is our attraction to these fears (the moth to the flame syndrome) that leads us to create stories of that which terrifies us as a means of cathartic release. Like anything that threatens us, some of us learn to cope with it by exploring it further and learning about its nuances. Thus, in a way, the writer is engaged in a psychological science of the macabre.
(I’d like to think so anyway… ;-))
A good horror story lets the reader deal with fear in a controlled way. In the safety of your own room you can experience the most horrific events a writer can imagine. You can face death and destruction and either triumph over them or go down in defeat — and examine what makes you human all at the same time. There’s little better, in my opinion.
I think it is very true that horror novels let us examine our fears in a safe environment. We can put the book down and walk away and think about what we just read. A movie is immeadiate and viseral and although we can pause the movie there is something about a movie and how the vision is not personal but the director’s take on the book or screenplay. We see one person’s idea of horror and respond to the environment he evokes. With novels we read the world the writer evokes but we personalize it with our own visuals.