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Joined: 8/28/2011
Posts: 7
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Hi everyone. I just joined this site a week ago and I'm in the military. Due to a horrible internet connection it takes me forever to navigate and get around the site. Hopefully this isn't a repost.
My favorite thing to write/read are horror stories. Although I can't remember anything ever truely creeping me out.
My question to everyone is, Have you ever been creeped out by a book and what ideas, themes, and imagery tend to keep you up all night wondering whats lurking in the darkness?
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Joined: 9/21/2011
Posts: 1
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I can honestly say that I have. If you're looking for a book like that to read, I'd suggest The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. Terrifying in all respects, but still so good that you'll want to read it again.
Or read, yes I know, Stephen King's It. It's a pretty long read, but it's definitely worth it.
Sorry if that didn't help at all. 
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Joined: 8/28/2011
Posts: 7
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@Tyler Zero. I'll have to pick up "The Exorcist" next time I'm home. As far as Stephen King, hes hit or miss with me. The last book I read by him was "Misery" which I enjoyed. Some others didn't interest me. When I was young "IT" (The movie) scared the crap out of me.
I attempt to write horror but I think I'm missing key elements to scare someone. I want to provoke nightmares or make someone glace around nervously when they turn off the lights.
@Kylie Leane, lol plants are no joke. I'd imagine a giant fly trap would be a scary sight. Oh, and I plan on reading something of yours and reviewing by the end of the day 
Heres another question for everyone. What is creepier, Something that is realistic (example: A serial killer) or something leaning more towards fantasy (Example: Being possessed by a demon)
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 222
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Oooh, this is a good question. Yes, there have been books that have scared me -- not necessarily for horror reasons, but for the intellectual aspects of the 'what ifs'. For example, the Stand, while it didn't terrify me in the sense of someone coming up behind me and going BOO!! it did frighten me. Why? It toes so closely between reality and fiction that it was easy enough to imagine that the story was feasible. (At least, the plague aspects of it.)
The books that frighten me the most are always the ones that dance on this fine line and do it well. But, most books don't really *frighten* me in the BOO! sense -- the psychological thrillers are what get me. Or the creepy stories that make me wonder if they could -- just maybe -- be real.
A lot of horror stories just tend to disgust me rather than scare me -- gore, for example, doesn't do anything for me in the fright category. I tend to be frightened of horror movies -- omg want to crawl under the seat frightened -- where the book that the movie was based on will intrigue me, interest me, and mentally stimulate. But not frighten. Not like that.
It has been a long time since I've read horror, though. But the titles that come to mind for me are The Stand (Stephen King) and Congo (Crichton) -- Congo actually freaked me out by the end of it.
Oh, definitely not horror, but some of Tom Clancy's books were really, really stimulating in the thriller category for me -- a lot of what if thinking there.
Do things make me stay up all night wondering what is in the darkness? No, not really. I think I outgrew that by age thirteen or so. By then, I wanted books that made me ask 'What if', and the more questions it made me ask, the better.
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