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  1.  
    This is about writing anything scary. Not necessarily genre specific. Just scary in general.

    Probably the one of the spookiest bits I've read was from Fablehaven when the kids are in the attic and forbidden to look outside and they are hearing all sorts of terrible noises (coupled with little children outside their window calling for help). That was amazing.

    And then the author opened the window and let the little goblin prance in and my delightfully spooky experience was ruined. So, in my opinion, don't open that window. Leave it closed. Let us wonder.

    That's what scares me the most.

    How about you?
    • CommentAuthorWitrin
    • CommentTimeSep 3rd 2009
     

    Violence with eyes scares me. I know, ridiculous. In a novel, the author can blow up one of her characters hands or use a saw to hack off a leg and it won’t scare me. Eye gouging and eye-stabbing does.

    And yeah, your example with Fablehaven: “Don’t open the door!” scenes are a bit scary. Until they open the door and it gets crazy and somewhat predictable. I want a book where they don’t open the door. It could cause the characters to go insane, but at least they haven’t opened the door.

    •  
      CommentAuthorJeni
    • CommentTimeSep 3rd 2009
     

    Hah, same, eyes always freak me out.

    But yesh, I also like the unseen horrors. The idea that, out in the night, something is watching you. Like trees. Trees with green eyes.

    ._.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeSep 3rd 2009
     

    Oh man, the scariest book I’ve read recently was House, by Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti. That was creepy, mostly because it was simply so insane. The house was trying to kill them. shudder

    I’m bad with horror books/movies, actually, because I get freaked out far too easily.

  2.  

    Dolls FREAK ME OUT.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeSep 3rd 2009
     
  3.  

    whimpers I’m scared now.

  4.  

    Clowns freak me out. I blame the Joker.

    And agreed about eye violence. shudder shudder

    • CommentAuthorDeborah
    • CommentTimeNov 24th 2010
     
    Any suggestion that reality, what is around you right now, isn't real--like its just a dream. That's why the dream-sequences in The Wee Free Men freaked me out.
    I agree about eye violence. And the unknown. I read a quote somewhere that said 'the scariest thing is a closed door'
    Also, anything with guts or brains. I can stand a lot of blood, just not insides--at least insides being outside when they aren't supposed to be.
  5.  

    Any suggestion that reality, what is around you right now, isn’t real

    Yeah, that’s scary. It mostly scares me because then I start to think about it too much, and I’m like, “How can I be sure that what is happening right now is actually real?” Then I have to make myself stop thinking about it.

    So, in my opinion, don’t open that window. Leave it closed. Let us wonder.

    I think that’s because, usually, whatever you are imagining (or all the possibilities you can think of) are scarier than what the author/filmmaker/whatever can show you. Once they show you what the monster is, your expectations are usually let down because not knowing is just scarier some how. That, and a lot of the time, the monster/ghost/whatever is not very well-executed.

    •  
      CommentAuthorApep
    • CommentTimeNov 24th 2010
     

    whatever you are imagining (or all the possibilities you can think of) are scarier than what the author/filmmaker/whatever can show you.

    And, of course, there’s a trope for that.

    (Side note – I defy you to look at that pic and not be a little scared)

    • CommentAuthorDeborah
    • CommentTimeNov 24th 2010
     
    That looks almost exactly like the tunnel under the street on my college campus. Now I'll be permanently scared of it.
    Its true, though. Anything that suggests something is there but you don't know what it is, is often even more scary. Like the Dark Island in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. They never saw exactly what they were so afraid of, but that made it all the more frightening.
    The other thing that really creeps me out is when there's a setting, or a person, that seems normal at first, if a little odd or not-quite-right. Then, when you look at them closer, there's some evil in them or they're being controlled by something evil. Kind of like those mind-controlled people in A Wrinkle in Time. Or in That Hideous Strength, when one character is looking at these pictures. They look normal at first--some of them are even religious paintings. But he looks at them more closely and finds a few things that are wrong, and then it suddenly dawns on him that there's a great and subtle evil behind them--'an evil so great it seemed innocent to the uninitiate' or something like that. It scared the heck out of me.
    Also, anything dealing with millions of years or the end of the world. The Time Machine was the scariest thing ever.
  6.  

    The Time Machine was the scariest thing ever.

    I love that book. So. Much. I very much hated both movie adaptations, though.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeNov 24th 2010
     

    Any suggestion that reality, what is around you right now, isn’t real

    Have you seen Inception?

    Anyway, that sort of thing does creep me out a lot, as does Nothing is Scarier. And the idea of something being just the tiniest bit “off”... that’s very creepy to me. It’s like very lifelike animation that’s just a little bit off from looking completely real. At first, you can’t quite figure out why you’re so unsettled, but as you look closer you start to realize that things are just a tiny bit… off.

    For example, watch this video for some examples of animation that looks almost right, but just isn’t quite right. And no cheating by reading the description/comments first!

  7.  

    I thought of something else that scares me. Whenever there are “things” taking over people (like the body snatchers). They look the same, but they aren’t really your friends and family, and then you’re all alone, and they are coming for you to convert you. That scares me. Also, being all alone in general and the dark is scary a lot of the time too.

    EDIT:
    I watched that video, and the whole time I was thinking, so is she the animation. Then I read a comment, and they showed her real face at the end. That’s disturbing.

    •  
      CommentAuthorMiel
    • CommentTimeNov 24th 2010
     

    My concept of ‘scary’ is entirely shaped by two things: HP Lovecraft, and survival horror videogames. I’m big on atmospheric horror. I love it when everything is just right to make you think that scary things are coming, but they may or may not show up. When they do, all the anticipation makes you extra freaked out, or if they never show up, your imagination more than makes up for all the scares you could have had.

    My problem is that I love horror, but I’m terrible at writing it. I never feel that my own writing is scary, probably because I know what’s going to happen, and maybe because I’ve been desensitised to horror by reading too much HPL XD

    • CommentAuthorDeborah
    • CommentTimeNov 25th 2010 edited
     
    I'm also afraid of the dark. And I agree about people getting possessed by things.

    The scariest thing I ever wrote is when one of my characters is stumbling around on a (mostly) deserted battlefield. I ended up scaring myself with that.
  8.  

    Anything that suggests something is there but you don’t know what it is, is often even more scary.

    Truth.

    The Time Machine was the scariest thing ever.

    Pretty much, yeah.

    I very much hated both movie adaptations, though.

    Those weren’t worthy of being called “movie adaptations”. They were In Name Only – there’s a trope for that, I’ll see if I can find it.

    Anyway, that sort of thing does creep me out a lot, as does Nothing is Scarier. And the idea of something being just the tiniest bit “off”... that’s very creepy to me. It’s like very lifelike animation that’s just a little bit off from looking completely real. At first, you can’t quite figure out why you’re so unsettled, but as you look closer you start to realize that things are just a tiny bit… off.

    You mean the Uncanny Valley, swenson? That freaks me out intensely.

    I never feel that my own writing is scary, probably because I know what’s going to happen, and maybe because I’ve been desensitised to horror by reading too much HPL XD

    Me too, kind of. What is HPL?

  9.  

    I’m guessing it’s HP Lovecraft.

    And possession and demonic things freak me out too. I’m afraid to watch The Exorcist and other similarly themed movies.

    Those weren’t worthy of being called “movie adaptations”. They were In Name Only – there’s a trope for that, I’ll see if I can find it.

    I agree. They completely changed the point in both movies. And yes, I’ve seem that trope.

  10.  

    I’m guessing it’s HP Lovecraft.

    Must be – it makes sense.

    I haven’t watched The Exorcist yet, but I don’t think it could possibly scare me more than The Fourth Kind did. That movie made me whimper like a little girl.

    I agree. They completely changed the point in both movies.

    Glad you agree.:-) I hate it when they do that, especially to a book/old-school movie that I really liked.

    •  
      CommentAuthorClibanarius
    • CommentTimeNov 25th 2010 edited
     
    The only thing that really comes close to actually unnerving me is distortions to the human form. I also love Survival Horror (Resident Evil 1 and the First Silent Hill FTW)

    Anyone seen Constantine?
  11.  

    The Fourth Kind

    I’ve seen part of that when my dad was watching it. I was slightly comforted by it not really being a true story, but then I counteracted that by reading IMBd boards about alien abductions and sleep paralysis. When I went to bed, I kept thinking aliens were going to show up at my window. I scare very easily and things get ingrained in my memory long-term.

    Glad you agree.:-) I hate it when they do that, especially to a book/old-schoo movie that I really liked

    I could rant on those movies (and others like them), but I’ll spare you.

    Anyone seen Constantine?

    Yes but, I don’t remember it that well.

  12.  

    ^^No, but I read a bit of the comics.

  13.  

    I was slightly comforted by it not really being a true story

    Where did you find that out? I mean, it’s not that I believed it, but I thought even Wikipedia would agree with the filmmakers that “dis is da rael trughth gaiz u musst beelive me”.

    I could rant on those movies (and others like them), but I’ll spare you.

    Thanks. I’ll spare you too. Although I’ll just name two especially egregious examples:
    Dragonball Evolution.
    The Day The Earth Stood Still.

    There, now I feel better.

    Anyone seen Constantine?

    Pretty good movie.
    Fans of the comic, please don’t kill me.;-)

  14.  

    Where did you find that out? I mean, it’s not that I believed it, but I thought even Wikipedia would agree with the filmmakers that “dis is da rael trughth gaiz u musst beelive me”.

    Actually, Wikipedia I think says something about how the people who live in that town are pissed because they were making light of real disappearances that happened there, which aren’t any more common there than in any other Alaskan town. They mostly happen because people get lost/cars break down, and people freeze to death. There was also some stuff on IMDb, and I think the movie people had to pay the town reparations for screwing up their reputation and tourism or something. Oh, and the “real” doctor featured in the movie is credited as being played by an actress, and that person does not exist. They couldn’t find records of her, and anything they did find they figured out was created right before the movie came out. There may have been more, but if you just look around, it’s not hard to find stuff. Of course this was recently. I you saw it when it first came out, it may have been harder to find stuff.

    The Day The Earth Stood Still.

    Gahhh. I haven’t even seen the original, and the new one pissed me off.

  15.  

    you saw it when it first came out, it may have been harder to find stuff.

    That one.
    Thanks, I’ll look around a bit then.

    new one pissed me off

    Completely missed the point of the first one.
    Hell, not only that – it’s one of those movies that completely misses its own point.

  16.  

    Van Helsing again. Anna may be the worst kind of Faux Action Girl, but I love that movie anyway.

  17.  

    Anna may be the worst kind of Faux Action Girl

    Indeed.
    “You can’t go until I say you can go…. and I say you can go when you’re DEAD!”

    but I love that movie anyway

    Me too.
    Lighthearted entertainment, I guess.