What is the Definition of Horror?

The word horror is used to describe movies and books, but what is horror? According to Webster’s dictionary, horror is defined as:
1. An intense fear, dread or dismay.
2. Describes the quality or character.
3. A state of being, such as a state of extreme fear or apprehension.

Readers have had a long history of love for horror stories. Nevertheless, what elements make up horror? What scares you the most? Is it the vampire, the werewolf, demons, ghosts or that strange, unusual sound that happens in the middle of the night? However, horror is not just creatures, an extreme fear of the water, of fire, of running out of air or another person may be your idea of horror.

Snakes and spiders are other animals are also high on the horror scale. Horror is anything that scares you. No matter how brave you are, something scares you on a base level. You may not even be aware of it until you face it, then it becomes something that you fight to control.

Most people read horror books because they want to be scared. The horror in books is contained in the pages of the book. It can be closed and put away when you are done and the horror is locked in the book. When I was young, my mother asked me why I read so many “monster books”. I told her that I enjoyed them and liked to see how the heroes and heroines handled the” monster”.

A good horror story has a good storyline and likeable characters. It is not enough to write about scary elementals, it has to have the elements of any good story. A good story will build your interest up and carry it until the climax of the story. A good ending is important too, no one likes to read a book and get all caught up in it to have it spoiled by a slipshod ending.

Horror is something that draws you in while making you glad that you are not the one that is being terrorized in the book. People have always been fascinated about the unknown. An adrenaline rush comes from reading a scary book. Many people are addicted to that rush and can hardly wait until the next book comes along. So, pick up a horror novel and join the thousands of other readers that are reading for that thrill.