Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Devil's Footsteps (or Books That Make Me Draw the Blinds)

Tip of the Day: Read and analyze some short horror stories for a primer in how to create creepy atmosphere in 20 pages or less. I recommend Stephen King's "The Man in the Black Suit". I was afraid to look out my window after reading that one.

Happy Halloween Week, Blog Readers! I love Halloween. Costumes are fun, candy is cheap, pumpkins are great to hack into with a sharp knife, and scary is in.

The scariest YA novel I think I've ever read is this one:

Kids are disappearing in the woods. Adults don't hear the Dark Man coming for the children, but teen Bryan knows that's who took his little brother. And the Devil's Footsteps sing-song rhyme is not just a twisted poem.

I'm not sure what makes a book scare me like this one did, but if I think of the movies and short stories that creep me out, what I can pinpoint is this: When the MC's own fear of the situation is extremely well written, then I take on his/her fear and am definitely scared by the writing. The "danger" could be anything mild or murderous, but I won't be scared unless I truly believe the fear of the MC.

Another thing that scares me is when the "danger" is not clear and the MC's not sure what exactly he/she is afraid of. Then my imagination takes over and comes up with the creepiest things possible.

Good stuff! I love being scared! Usually.

What types of scary stories scare you the most?

Deena, Miss Recently Repped

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh MY! Must read. Thanks for letting us know about this book!

One of the scariest books for me was Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn. The lake scene still gives me the chillies.

DeenaML said...

deb, yes yes yes! WAIT TIL HELEN COMES was one of my FAVORITE scary books when I was a kid! Totally creepy!

Ghost Girl (aka, Mary Ann) said...

Wow! I'm not sure I could handle this one. Anytime something hunting children...just can't handle that. Since I've had kids, fear has a whole new meaning!

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