When L. Marie Wood tells strangers she’s a psychological horror writer, they frequently recoil from her as if she’s the grim reaper. “It’s like I put a hood on, and I’m walking around with a sickle,” she says. “I can write about vampires and blood, or about Frankenstein, or a zombie apocalypse. Using psychological horror, I write murder mysteries, or add something supernatural, or write dark romance.”
As Wood points out, horror writing pairs well with other genres. Its tropes add conflict, suspense, and – in some cases – terrifying imagery to a tale, whether written for the page, stage, or screen. I caught up with three veteran writers who offered their insights into how to craft a compelling horror narrative that makes people jump back in terror…or haunts them long after the story has ended.
The psychological horror author
Wood is the author of eight novels and countless short stories, screenplays, essays, and novellas – many of which fall under the psychological horror subgenre. “People don’t consider it to be true literature because it carries with it this connotation for blood and gore. They tend to think of horror writing in the extreme, calling up screenplays and movies with some nameless, faceless killer hacking up people,” she says. “But there’s so much more.”
In psychological horror writing, she explains, there’s an emotional connection between characters, and between characters and readers. “There are relationships and a bond that people have in overdramatic situations,” she says. “If I’ve done my job, readers will feel the emotions that the characters are going through.”
Wood explains that in psychological horror stories, much of the conflict occurs internally. “The horror isn’t necessarily an outward terror like a vampire or a murderer,” she says.
