I enjoy reading erotic horror because it’s something I can’t write on my own, horror isn’t a genre I’ve ever been good at. That being said, I love monster romances, but the kind I read aren’t horror. There’s usually an initial introduction of all the horrifying things the monster could do and there’s tension around the human lead meeting the big terrifying monster lead, but then the rumors prove false, the monsters are lovely, and they end up living happily ever after. From the proper horror stories with erotic elements that I’ve read, I like the thrill of uncertainty and the tension of fear that adds to the already charged emotions that come with erotic encounters. However, consent is important to me which I imagine is hard to do in horror (never really wrote horror stories so I wouldn’t know if it is actually hard). And I don’t need an HEA to like the story, but I don’t want to read something where someone has a really unpleasant end.
Thank you for your comment - it is interesting to know what people like and dislike. There's a scene in Rosemary's baby where she is impregnated by the Devil but thinks it is her husband and one in Bram Stoker's Dracula where Lucy appears to be having sex with Dracula in monster form. Both are 'under a spell', so they are doing it willingly but it couldn't really be described as consensual.
I am working on a story where some pretty horrific things happen to secondary characters (hence all the questions) but the main character and a supernatural being team up in every sense to fight off the evil monster. The main characters may not live HEA but they will (hopefully) survive. The story stretches across 400 years so there is plenty of scope for mayhem.
I think in regards to consent in horror, if there is a lack of consent and the perpetrator is portrayed as a monster for doing so, then I understand that. It’s when love interests take what they want violently and then turn out to be the hero which rubs me the wrong way. But this is all just my personal preference! I haven’t seen Rosemary’s Baby yet, though I’m well aware of the story, but I did see Bram Stoker’s Dracula and was not put off by how sex was handled.
I’m personally far less concerned about what happens to secondary characters. They’re there to move along the plot (I say this as someone who often falls madly in love with side characters). So what must be done to them must be done ;) but again, personal preference wise I just don’t read graphic descriptions of gory torture—although I think you said somewhere that’s not what you’re going for.
I’m impressed by the time span you are working with! Good luck with your story! :)
This is a tough balance!!! The horror/sex combo is truly my favorite!! Now, it need not be monster or supernatural horror, although I love that too. I think that having a good, intriguing story is most important, with the sex being just icing. Readers that are after just the sex... they'll slog through it all, just to get there anyway. But having a reader enjoy the whole thing-PLUS getting a lil excitement from the naughtier parts, well, that'd be (is) what I'd strive for. I suppose it comes down to what you want to write, and who you want your audience to be.
(In retrospect, that might be the most vague, nonspecific, generic, unhelpful comment on Substack today, sorry...🤣)
A good intriguing story is definitely important. On another post someone also said that believable characters was high on the list. I tend to write in two genres; supernatural succubus sex and fetish spanking stories with two overlapping audiences. I am wondering if they'll come with me if I dive down the horror rabbit hole.
(All comments are helpful - if anything it shows that other writers are as in the same boat 🤣)
H.P. Lovecraft agrees with you! In his essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature", he wrote:
"The true weird tale has something more than secret murder, bloody bones, or a sheeted form clanking chains according to rule. A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; and there must be a hint, expressed with a seriousness and portentousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible conception of the human brain—a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fixed laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and the daemons of unplumbed space."
Horror literature is so much more than blood, death, and visceral shocks. I love writing erotic horror stories, I try to write one once a year for Halloween. I'd been writing in an idiosyncratic style for years, before I discovered folks have a name for this subgenre - the Fantastique - one which combines elements of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. This is definitely my kind of storytelling, I've never wanted to write about murders and massacres, but the macabre.
My aim is to write dark fantasies which unsettle rather than unnerve, which are thought-provoking rather than stomach-churning. Horror may make the spine tingle, but in dark erotic fantasies the tingles are felt first in the head, and then between the legs.
I enjoy reading erotic horror because it’s something I can’t write on my own, horror isn’t a genre I’ve ever been good at. That being said, I love monster romances, but the kind I read aren’t horror. There’s usually an initial introduction of all the horrifying things the monster could do and there’s tension around the human lead meeting the big terrifying monster lead, but then the rumors prove false, the monsters are lovely, and they end up living happily ever after. From the proper horror stories with erotic elements that I’ve read, I like the thrill of uncertainty and the tension of fear that adds to the already charged emotions that come with erotic encounters. However, consent is important to me which I imagine is hard to do in horror (never really wrote horror stories so I wouldn’t know if it is actually hard). And I don’t need an HEA to like the story, but I don’t want to read something where someone has a really unpleasant end.
Thank you for your comment - it is interesting to know what people like and dislike. There's a scene in Rosemary's baby where she is impregnated by the Devil but thinks it is her husband and one in Bram Stoker's Dracula where Lucy appears to be having sex with Dracula in monster form. Both are 'under a spell', so they are doing it willingly but it couldn't really be described as consensual.
I am working on a story where some pretty horrific things happen to secondary characters (hence all the questions) but the main character and a supernatural being team up in every sense to fight off the evil monster. The main characters may not live HEA but they will (hopefully) survive. The story stretches across 400 years so there is plenty of scope for mayhem.
I think in regards to consent in horror, if there is a lack of consent and the perpetrator is portrayed as a monster for doing so, then I understand that. It’s when love interests take what they want violently and then turn out to be the hero which rubs me the wrong way. But this is all just my personal preference! I haven’t seen Rosemary’s Baby yet, though I’m well aware of the story, but I did see Bram Stoker’s Dracula and was not put off by how sex was handled.
I’m personally far less concerned about what happens to secondary characters. They’re there to move along the plot (I say this as someone who often falls madly in love with side characters). So what must be done to them must be done ;) but again, personal preference wise I just don’t read graphic descriptions of gory torture—although I think you said somewhere that’s not what you’re going for.
I’m impressed by the time span you are working with! Good luck with your story! :)
This is a tough balance!!! The horror/sex combo is truly my favorite!! Now, it need not be monster or supernatural horror, although I love that too. I think that having a good, intriguing story is most important, with the sex being just icing. Readers that are after just the sex... they'll slog through it all, just to get there anyway. But having a reader enjoy the whole thing-PLUS getting a lil excitement from the naughtier parts, well, that'd be (is) what I'd strive for. I suppose it comes down to what you want to write, and who you want your audience to be.
(In retrospect, that might be the most vague, nonspecific, generic, unhelpful comment on Substack today, sorry...🤣)
A good intriguing story is definitely important. On another post someone also said that believable characters was high on the list. I tend to write in two genres; supernatural succubus sex and fetish spanking stories with two overlapping audiences. I am wondering if they'll come with me if I dive down the horror rabbit hole.
(All comments are helpful - if anything it shows that other writers are as in the same boat 🤣)
Well, only one way to find out for sure!!
I'm pretty sure they will though. I know I'm ready to jump in after you!!👍😊
H.P. Lovecraft agrees with you! In his essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature", he wrote:
"The true weird tale has something more than secret murder, bloody bones, or a sheeted form clanking chains according to rule. A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; and there must be a hint, expressed with a seriousness and portentousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible conception of the human brain—a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fixed laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and the daemons of unplumbed space."
Horror literature is so much more than blood, death, and visceral shocks. I love writing erotic horror stories, I try to write one once a year for Halloween. I'd been writing in an idiosyncratic style for years, before I discovered folks have a name for this subgenre - the Fantastique - one which combines elements of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. This is definitely my kind of storytelling, I've never wanted to write about murders and massacres, but the macabre.
My aim is to write dark fantasies which unsettle rather than unnerve, which are thought-provoking rather than stomach-churning. Horror may make the spine tingle, but in dark erotic fantasies the tingles are felt first in the head, and then between the legs.