How To Write Historical Horror?

Zeitgeist-defining horror books might be a thing of the past in our day of heavily commercialized crime and thriller literature. Indeed, Stephen King used to rank among the world’s best-selling authors consistently, and back in the 1990s, kids ate up Goosebumps novels like The Blob ate up everything.

Any history, best historical fiction book series or events that happened fifty years ago are generally considered to fall under the concept of historical fiction. Therefore, a story set during World War II would be considered historical fiction.

Since the beginning of time, horror stories have been ingrained in our civilizations, from ancient myths and legends to modern video games and films. So, how can you develop a horror narrative that will stand the test of time?

What Is Horror Literature?

Horror writing is any historical book series that falls under the umbrella of the horror genre, including literary works, works for film and television, works for the stage, audio works, horror anthology podcasts, audio dramas, radio plays, works for the internet subreddits, creepypastas, and literary works novels, novellas horror-related legends shared across the internet. Fortunately, many platforms are available today for horror fiction writers to get their work seen, heard, or read.

How To Begin Writing Historical Horror Fiction

Conduct Research

It’s essential to have extensive knowledge of the time and region you choose to set your novel. It will prevent you, among other things, from including historical mistakes in your story. But more significantly, the more information you can provide in a story to help the reader visualize the setting, the better.

Historical Setting

The historical book series set in an earlier period but isn’t connected to a specific actual event is far more prevalent. Numerous books fit into this category, where history serves as an anchor that the author may mention at various points but does not otherwise impose any limitations on the fiction. The story may feature one or two genuine characters, but their actions are fictional. Another way to look at it is that while history does not provide the storyline, it does provide the setting.

Start With A Fright Component

The fear factor will inevitably be the most significant aspect of any book series historical fiction. People read horror to be fascinated and terrified, not just for simple enjoyment. Here are a few components you can employ to scare the reader effectively.

Utilize Point Of View To Build Suspense

When the stakes are high, your reader should identify with your main character to the point where their own heart begins to race. Either the first person or the third person limited point of view can be used to accomplish this. However, avoid third-person omniscient when writing horror because it can make the reader feel removed and less invested in the plot.

Give Evil Characters A Reason To Exist

Simply having nasty characters and bad things in your work create tension is not good enough. Of course, you need background and, most crucially, motivation to set the stage for suspense and keep the reader engaged.

Few individuals are born evil, and even fewer dolls spontaneously become possessed. Nobody will believe the horrors they are reading, and they won’t care whether the victims live or die if your character doesn’t have a compelling enough reason to want to eat everyone in the village, if the zombies in the woods appear without warning, and if your villain has no backstory.

Have Fun Writing Horror

Finally, have fun. This might seem bizarre when writing thousands of words about people being frightened, hunted, mutilated, eaten alive, or tormented by a supernatural creature. But any horror author should remember that people read horror because they enjoy it. You must therefore enjoy writing it.

Trauma And Tragedy

A trauma trigger is unlike any other trigger. And it is frequently the turning point where any main character goes from being a good guy to realizing that he was the real culprit. That is the most horrific thing that can happen to the protagonist, the victim, his wife who had to kill him, and the readers. Very true. None of that would have occurred had the scientist been more cautious or less eager to show himself right. But in books where everyone makes the right choice, nothing spectacular occurs

Historical horror fiction will never stop creeping readers out with the fantastic plot, character building, and scary action. However, the book, Running From Her Feet by Margaret Mitchell Faiver is an exciting historical fiction you do not want to miss.