Horror Stories by Stevenson and Greene Essay -- Horror Stories Stevens

Horror Stories by Stevenson and Greene Horror stories are an excellent traditional genre. This genre has been around for almost as long as stories have been told. In this generation there is not much that can really scare us, but what does actually make a good horror story? Horror stories need to have a good and intimidating storyline, it needs to play on people's fears, it also needs to give its audience a real thrill and send chills down their spines. The horror story may be based on phobias, superstitions, murder or science fiction. Horror stories that involve science can be really scary sometimes, as this modern world is vastly developing, and we sometimes wonder what science can do. If a relatively small atom bomb can wipe out a large city than science can basically do anything, and this is what scares us. What also really scares us, is when a horror story is based on something we know little about, "the unknown," this includes aliens, monsters etc. Horror stories contain lots of tension and suspense; it has got to keep its readers on the edge of their seat, making them think what's going to happen next? A good horror story usually involves some kind of history, something that has happened in the past, this creates tension, suspense and creates and element of mystery for the reader. When humans don't know something, their hormones naturally make them want to know the thing even more; this is why the element of mystery and the suspense works really well in horror stories, luring the reader onto reading the rest of the story. In a horror story, lots of imagery is used, to create an atmosphere, this includes darkness bad weather, blood, death, also symbols of horror such as crows and the devi... ... think someone died because he was frightened of the dark, but when you think about it is kind of believable how he may have been so scared, that it just caused his body to stop working. I think horror stories have remained so popular because as humans we like getting a thrill. Horror stories are traditional and even in the times of the cavemen horror stories were told, and now these stories have advanced and can be very interesting. Although we don't like to be frightened, have nightmares and have our heart pounding really fast, the comfort comes when we realise that the horror isn't real (unless it is), and we can have a sigh of relief, and the feeling is good when we look at the horror and reflect it to our own lives, which makes us feel safe. This is the same for nightmares, the feeling comes when we wake up and realise the nightmare wasn't reality.