Summary

The article discusses the decline of horror writing in online content, emphasizing the value of integrating horror elements into writing to captivate readers and make personal stories more impactful.

Abstract

The author of the article, "I’m a Demented Writer," argues that horror writing is a neglected genre in the current landscape of online writing, which is predominantly filled with self-help, business, and current events content. The article reminisces about the chilling works of classic horror writers like Edgar Allan Poe and Bram Stoker, suggesting that their ability to evoke deep emotional responses is missing from today's writing. The author makes a case for the relevance and effectiveness of horror writing by illustrating how it can be used to draw readers in with suspense and vivid imagery, and then segue into meaningful discussions about personal experiences, such as the author's own journey with therapy. The article concludes by challenging readers to incorporate horrific elements into their writing to create a more engaging and memorable narrative.

Opinions

The author believes that the best writers are those who can tap into the "exquisite horror of reality" to impress the mind, as Edgar Allan Poe once said.
There is a sentiment that the internet's vast array of articles lacks the genre of horror, with a predominant focus on self-improvement, business, and current events.
The author holds the opinion that horror writing, characterized by its ability to evoke fear and suspense, is both cool and underutilized in modern online writing.
The article suggests that the absence of horror in online writing is due to a preference for optimism and self-help content, which can become monotonous.
The author expresses admiration for classic horror writers and their works, which are seen as a source of inspiration and validation for one's own darker thoughts and writings.
The author advocates for the use of horror writing as a tool to captivate readers, using highly descriptive imagery and the power of mystery to keep them engaged.
A key opinion is that integrating horror elements into articles can serve as a compelling lead-in to serious topics, such as mental health and therapy, making the overall message more resonant.
The author encourages writers to be bold and "scare" their audience before attempting to help them, suggesting that a horrific approach can be more effective and less boring than conventional writing styles.

I’m a Demented Writer

The best writers are sick in the head.

Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality. — Edgar Allan Poe

The beauty of horror writing is going away — at least in online writing.

With billions of articles on the internet, what genre do you expect them to be?

If you said self-improvement, business, with a sprinkle of current events, I’d give you a hundred bucks. Horror still exists, but very few writers are executing it nowadays.

What happened to the writing that made your skin crawl? The writing that made you pull your turtleneck in agony? The writing that kept you going because you wanted to see what would happen when she opened the door?

Some of the top 10 horror writers of all time are Bram Stroker, Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, etc. Most of these writers were born in the 1800s.

Is horror writing still cool?

Edgar Allan Poe is one of my favorite writers. If you look at his most famous stories like The Black Cat or The Tell-Tale Heart, you might jump in your seat a bit.

I used to write super depressing poems in high school and it wasn’t cool to do back then. Reading Edgar Allan Poe made me feel like my depressing thoughts were valid.

I understand that optimism is a crucial component of online writing (props to the self-help gurus out there since it’s working). But it starts to get boring after a while.

Now that there is more optimistic writing online geared towards self-help, you don’t see anyone going depth into the about the gruesome shit. Not gruesome in a nasty explicit way, but a deep in your head madness kind of way.

No one gets into the nitty-gritty of their deepest darkest thoughts.

Here’s the charm of integrating horror writing into your articles:

Here’s an excerpt from Bram Stroker’s Dracula:

he pulled open his shirt, and with his long sharp nails opened a vein in his breast. When the blood began to spurt out, he … seized my neck and pressed my mouth to the wound, so that I must either suffocate or swallow some of the — Oh, my God!

One of the best moments in horror history is when Dracula tries to turn Mina into a vampire. He speeds up the process by making her suck his blood first, then doing it to her.

Then it gets better:

The unspeakable happened — she sucked his blood, at his breast — at which point her friends stormed into the room. Dracula vanished, and, Seward relates, Mina uttered ‘a scream so wild, so ear-piercing, so despairing … that it will ring in my ears to my dying day’.

Notice how horror writing uses the power of mystery and highly descriptive imagery to keep the reader not just on the edge of their seat, but shocked to death to the point where they need to continue reading.

How you can integrate horror into your articles:

Here’s an example:

She looked at me with a sexual desire in her eyes. My mouth watered with burning conviction as she walked towards me in a trance. I yelled at her to go away but there she was…still walking towards me. My lungs burned as she closed in each inch. So I took out my pocket knife and stabbed her with the speed of a cheetah.

Plot twist:

It turns out the girl wasn’t walking towards me because of her own sexual desires. She walked towards me because she saw me in panic. She noticed my crippling anxiety and wanted to calm me down.

That’s exactly how I felt when I first went to therapy.

Notice how you can use short, horrific soliloquies to shock the reader, then transition into a serious topic like your first time at therapy. After you give more background information, that’s the perfect time to transition to 3 Shocking Lessons I Learned from Going to Therapy.

Write a short, descriptive horror story (about a paragraph long) as a metaphor for your personal story. Then use that personal story to go into your self-improvement techniques.

Final Thoughts

I don’t know, maybe I’m demented.

I get bored easily and I just want to see more people shifting the tone in their writing and taking a more horrific approach. And I mean horrific.

I want you to scare me before you help me. So what are you waiting for?

Write on.