Horror Screenwriting: the nature of fear

Devin Watson’s ‘Horror Screenwriting: the nature of fear’is unequivocally the greatest book about writing horror which exists. I knew I was going to love this guy’s book when I read his disclosure about his own childhood illnesses in the first chapter of the Preface.

The shock of cruel reality and my own compromised introduction to the world is what made me go inward and start searching for stories, tales, consoling terrors that would resonate with what I discovered to be a somewhat less than hospitable planet.

Devin says a similar experience put him on the road to becoming a horror aficionado. Devin covers everything, the history of horror, the etiology of fear, horror genres, styles, etc and the basic tools of the screenwriting trade you need to write your own horror story.

From there he goes on to talk about pacing, avoiding talking heads, keeping the ’stakes’ up (particularly valuable if you’re writing about vampires), how to get the most out of dialog in horror and all of the other basic ghouls (sorry) of the trade. What I like most about the book are his personal anecdotes and tips about how to get the most out of your horror idea and optimize its potential on the page. An example is ‘Horror As Catharsis’ where he discusses the utility and effectiveness of using horror to “safely explore our darker
nature as humans.”

My college degree is in psychology so I actually understand most of what he’s talking about here (glad that four years was good for something) and he says it beautifully. This is just a great book whether your genre is horror or not. It’s someone speaking – not preaching – from experience about how to write a truly dramatic, original, commercial screenplay which, last time I checked, screenwriting is supposed to be about.

Jeffrey M. Freedman
‘Vivaldi’ Screenwriter
‘Bad Numbers’ Screenwriter
http://www.jeffreymfreedman.com/vivaldi.htm

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