What to Expect Before Going off the Trail with Me

A Frank Discussion About the Kind of Horror I Create and Content Warnings

The horror genre is a writhing hydra, with many different heads attacking you from every direction. Horror means something unique to everyone. In the present era, the term horror, in regards to entertainment, encompasses film, literature, visual arts, video games, and music. Horror, and its cousin, comedy, are two sides of the same coin. They’re both forms of recreational distraction that rely on pacing and building structure, combined with intentional misdirections, to lead the audience into states of anticipatory tension, followed by a sudden break from the tension. The punchline and the jump scare are essentially the same destination—pleasant and satisfying releases from the build-up. Laughter and screams are different flavors of the same physical reactions. Fans of both genres indulge to temporarily escape their predictable, every day lives.

As a creator, I like to make people laugh as much as I love to scare them. For some people, however, it’s never enough. There always seems to be a subset of both, other creators, and fans, who strive to push the envelope into more extreme territories. Comedy can range from very conventional, family-friendly humor to extremely crude and profane tirades. Horror is similar, and perhaps much more multi-faceted in that there are now sub-genres of sub-genres, with loyal fans who are ready to defend their version of the genre against all others. From dark fantasy and gothic, to paranormal romance, cosmic, slasher, and splatterpunk, and all bloody points in between, horror continues to expand across an ever-widening, yet highly-compartmentalized spectrum.

I write and also illustrate horror stories. I would classify my horror content as “American Folk Horror” 🇺🇸 👹. My stories and art will incorporate instances of creature and monster horror, supernatural horror, and biological horror. I suppose that my work might walk a path parallel to “Cozy Horror”, but I wouldn’t categorize it that way. There will be scenes leading to periods of “slow-burn” atmosphere-building, and there will also be intense sequences of supernatural or creature violence. There will be instances of human violence, some of which may seem all too familiar to readers who’ve suffered real-life injury and trauma at the hands of fellow humans. I won’t linger on these episodes as they will only be necessary to drive the story. Acts of violence are part of the human experience and they can be horrific with enduring psychological scarring, but I can write the scenes involving such acts in creatively suggestive ways that won’t feel gratuitous. I’m not sadistic—I want to entertain my readers, not punish them. We’re here to escape the suffering of our real lives, not languish in fictional versions of it.

Content Warnings

I have author friends who are both traditionally-published and self-published, as well as some professional editor friends. Over the last ten-to-fifteen years, or so, I’ve seen them discuss the potential pros and cons of “trigger warnings”. I’ve never weighed in because I wasn’t quite in the game since I hadn’t actually written anything. Many of the older authors felt that sharing warnings of certain scenes or types of content in their books was infringing upon their creative freedoms or potentially spoiling their work. They didn’t want to announce to the public what they felt could be key components of their intellectual properties. They also mentioned that if the public was made aware of such content, out of context, they could negative impacts of their overall sales, and perhaps, even their reputations. Some of them also believed that offering content warnings was essentially “giving in” to what they felt was an overwhelming cultural shift toward catering to unnecessarily heightened sensitivity and lingering juvenility among younger adults. To them, these were, and still are, notable hills worth dying on.

Some younger authors, and especially, younger readers, argued that content warnings were long overdue.

From my perspective, I could see both sides of the argument, but I always held my opinion to myself, until now.