Horror Novels - Spooky, Creepy, Scary, and Fun. But Is It Really A Horror Novel? Wanna hear a secret? I wrote a book. Yep, sure did. At first, I thought this book would be considered a horror novel. I figured the antagonist in this horror novel was a malevolent jinni, or demon. There was some demonic possession, some blood, a vampire, and a fair amount of fear and terror. So I thought I had myself a pretty good horror novel. Turns out I was wrong. I do have a good story, but I don’t really have a true horror novel. Despite all of the ingredients I listed above, I’m hard pressed to call my work a horror novel. Maybe a thriller. Science fiction? Maybe. But a horror novel? No. Not at all. Let’s look at a classic horror novel. Say for instance, some of the early Stephen King stuff like Salem’s Lot. That story had chills, and terror, and lots of blood and death. So, Salem’s Lot certainly qualifies as a horror novel. Well, my novel has chills and terror and blood and death. Does that make it a horror novel? Perhaps Salem’s Lot is not the best criteria. Let’s go a little further back. Classic Horror Novel Literature The novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson is a good place to start. It certainly has vampires. To make it even better, those vampires are actually zombies. Now that’s definitely a horror novel. Right? Well, when you read the story you kind of get the feeling that the story is more science fiction. Maybe it could be called horror, but not exclusively so. Well, let’s go further back then, shall we? Okay, Bram Stroker’s Dracula has to be the absolute, quintessential horror novel. It’s about Count Dracula for goodness sake! Not just any vampire, but THE vampire that started it all. There’s terror, and fear, and references to the occult, and dead people, and vampire hunters, and witchcraft. Most people agree this is a horror novel. But the fact is, Dracula can fit in various genres including Gothic fiction, romance, fantasy fiction, and science fiction. Let’s go back some more.

Edgar Allen Poe has always been one of my favorite writers. He wrote some of the greatest short stories ever, not to mention his poetry. I always found the Cask of Amontillado to be particularly disturbing, and if there ever was a horror story that did not involve a true monster, than this story was the one. However, I wonder if it can truly be called a horror novel or horror story. It certainly horrified and terrified me as a child, but some critics actually consider The Cask of Amontillado more of a mystery.
So onwards we go, to the beginning of the century and the infancy of this great Republic. Let us view another early work of horror, the outstanding short story The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving. I loved this story as a child and I still do. This has to be considered a horror novel, since it has a ghost. Not only does this story have a ghost, it also has a mysterious disappearance, and several references to witchcraft and the occult.

However, I am reluctant to blatantly label Sleepy Hollow a horror novel, or horror short story, because it doesn’t really start to get scary or unsettling until near the end. Most of the story is just excellent descriptive narrative and great story telling.

The Difficulty in Defining Horror Novels and Horror Fiction

And that's what makes defining horror fiction so difficult. We can go over writings and literature spanning two centuries, and find it nearly impossible to precisely define what makes a story horror fiction. According to Wikipedia, horror fiction is any fiction that intends to “scare, unsettle, or horrify the audience.” If we use that definition, we’ll find that it covers a broad spectrum of stories and genres.

The fact is, we can’t definitively say if one story is horror or not, since not every story elicits the same response in every reader. Regardless of what the author’s intention is, it’s the reader, or the audience that decides what scares and terrifies them. That is why the horror novels and stories mentioned so far can fit into several different categories.

This dilemma with categorizing horror novels is accentuated by the fact that many people associate them with horror movies. The fact is that the two are separate mediums of communication and should be treated as such. While a movie can evoke feelings of terror and dread with artful use of light and sound and fare amount of gore, we writers don’t have that luxury.

In order to build that feeling of dread, a writer has to craft not just a story, but also insert appropriate dialogue, proper characterization, use the setting and plot correctly, and do it all with tools no more elaborate than the English language. No lights. No cameras. But definitely action.

And that’s why the horror novel and horror literature cannot be defined in just a few sentences. There’s no definite structure. There’s no absolute pattern. If the story scares, horrifies, and unsettles you, then you may want to consider it a horror novel.

So back to my original question. Will my story be a horror novel? Yes there is a vampire. Yes there is demon possession. Yes there is an evil cult. Yes there’s some blood and death. But no, it’s not horror. Though my initial intention when writing the story was to scare, the story did not develop that way. If I had to put The Jinn into a specific category, I would consider it more of a thriller/mystery. You may find some parts of the story scary, but you will not be kept awake at night,

Unless, of course you find the book hard to put down (smile).

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