Write Great Horror

"It really comes down to characters. Crafting kill sequences, how they go down, is less difficult..."

Brock Swinson
October 15, 2024

Brock Swinson’s Prolific Newsletter

It’s 16 days till Halloween. Let’s talk horror…

In this edition:

A collaboration with AutoCrit
The best of horror screenwriting
How they wrote Goosebumps

Read time: 2 minutes | 395 words

TOGETHER WITH AUTOCRIT

The AutoCrit Academy Horror Writing Package

Treat yourself to pre-paid access to a thrilling mix of AutoCrit's live + DIY courses and workshops, at a humongous discount.

Learn more right here.

WRITING

💀 The BEST of Horror Screenwriting

Mike Flanagan on The Haunting of Hill House:

“I always looked at it as a family drama, first and foremost, that happened to be kind of wrapped in the skin of a ghost story. The horror elements are most effective when they bolster human drama, when they are born of the characters instead of something that the characters are reacting to.”

Robert Eggers on The Witch:

“Folk tales, fairy tales, mythology, the past… I’ve always been interested in that. [The line between real and unreal] should be blurry. If you believe in this stuff, then it’s true.”

Dennis Lehane on Shutter Island:

“Darkness is what I do. I've read interviews with Cormac McCarthy where he talks about the pinpoint of light and how powerful that light is because of the darkness. Everything I've ever written, it's saying we don't have to be this darkness. We can overcome this darkness.”

James Vanderbilt on Scream:

"It really comes down to characters. Crafting kill sequences, how they go down, is less difficult. The big thing is getting audiences to care. You can’t do violent kill sequences to somebody if they don’t care about the character. It’s all about character with horror.”

Edgar Wright on Last Night in Soho:

“I feel the point where it becomes a screenplay is when the story can only be told by dialogue, because there’s story in terms of plot, but even when Simon [Pegg] and I used to write, there’s a certain point where the lines dictate the plot. It’s how something hinges on something else. Dialogue makes the screenplay write itself.”

Get the full guide here. Listen on the go right here.

VIDEO

In this insightful discussion, Nicholas Stoller & Rob Letterman explore the intricacies of creating engaging character-driven stories in the realms of horror and comedy, drawing parallels to 'Freaks and Geeks.' They emphasize the importance of writing with a focus on human elements rather than heightened soap-opera tones…