H is for Horror

So I wrote a little book about a zombie. I love horror stories. My favorite author is Stephen King. But am I horror writer?

I never thought so, but recent reviews of my book have given me pause. Could I be a horror writer and not know it? I know my stories always seem to take a turn toward the dark side. Death always figures as a central theme or figure, even in my ‘romance’ stories.

I don’t think of myself as a straight-up horror writer, but according to the all-knowing Wikipedia, horror fiction is…

intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, scare or startle viewers/readers by inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie and frightening atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural. Often the central menace of a work of Horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for the larger fears of a society.

This definition does encapsulate just about everything I write.

Except I don’t really try to gross people out or scare them. I don’t think. In any case, my newest piece of fiction is a Gothic novel that leaves my heroine plumbing some pretty dark depths of the human mind and soul. And according to Wikipedia,

The horror genre has ancient origins which were reformulated in the eighteenth century as Gothic horror

So, holy crap, I might be a horror writer after all…..

 

I’ve realized during letters A through G of the A to Z Challenge that I’m a very green writer still defining herself. Thinking about the letter H has led me to this possible realization that I’m a horror novelist. I wonder how that would change my approach to writing? Hmmmmm.

I also wonder where the next letter will take me?