Speaking Horror

Fully understanding a genre – its past, its present, and where it’s going – can keep you from reinventing the wheel or unwittingly recycling lifeless clichés. I advise you to read widely in the genre, to sample different authors, styles, and approaches to horror. And if you want a quick education, hop on the internet and do a search on clichés in horror. You’ll find many lists of ideas, themes, and story types that are overworked and best avoided (unless you purposely want to put a new spin on them).