From now on the “what are you reading” threads will become bi-weekly to give more time to finish whatever books you're reading. To fill gaps we'll have bi-weekly “genre threads”, first genre is horror so you can discuss your favorite and least favorite authors, books and characters in horror literature as well as to post your recommendations 
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I feel like horror is hard to write. Like horror movies draw you in and I can't help being scared. But horror books are not scary in a "scary" way - more unsettling. Idk how to describe it. One of the authors at my writing workshops writes horror (and makes a living doing it surprisingly) and I got a chance to pick his brain a little bit about why he does it. He tells me he creates self insert characters and then writes his greatest fears. Usually authors tend to write on similar themes over their career. I guess horror writing is just a different type of scary than horror movies.
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Same as any story, the idea is easy. The hard part is words
to paper.
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Tbh I have been jumpscared by a book a couple times. But it requires both extremely effective writing and a lot of engagement from the reader.
I think written horror works best as flavor or texture within a story. For example, I found moments of "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" pretty scary, even though it's definitely not a horror novel. But a child protagonist navigating a dark folkloric scenario with uncertain rules creates a lot of room for fear. Whereas a gorefest is easy to just kind of glaze over.
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Recently finished
The Wide Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies and currently reading 
Corpsemouth And Other Autobiographies, both by John Langan.
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Ok thank you
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