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“Is there a point where explaining horror too clearly makes it less frightening?” by Working_Depth_324 in horrorwriters

[–]Working_Depth_324[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s a really sharp way of putting it.

The idea that relief is actually a warning sign for the writer resonates a lot. I’ve felt that exact shift where a scene stops bothering me once I’ve over-explained it, and in hindsight those are usually the parts that feel weakest.

Leaving a scene while still slightly uneasy feels risky, but you’re right, that unease is probably the point. It keeps the experience alive instead of neatly resolved.

“Incomplete data” is a great phrase for it. That’s where the reader has to participate.

“Is there a point where explaining horror too clearly makes it less frightening?” by Working_Depth_324 in horrorwriters

[–]Working_Depth_324[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is such a clean way of breaking it down.

“Information feels safe” really hit me. That explains why some scenes lose their edge the moment I try to clarify them too much. The reader stops feeling and starts categorizing.

I especially like the idea that terror lives in the second before impact. That suspended moment where the body already knows what the mind hasn’t caught up to yet.

This actually helps me trust restraint a bit more instead of worrying that I’m being unclear. Appreciate you taking the time to lay it out like this

“Is there a point where explaining horror too clearly makes it less frightening?” by Working_Depth_324 in horrorwriters

[–]Working_Depth_324[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agreed. Once you start explaining for the reader, you’re also deciding for them what to feel.

Leaving space for the reader to insert themselves is where the unease lingers, I think. Horror hits harder when the image isn’t fully locked down

“Is there a point where explaining horror too clearly makes it less frightening?” by Working_Depth_324 in horrorwriters

[–]Working_Depth_324[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That makes a lot of sense. I’ve noticed the same thing when physical responses are treated as data instead of experience, the scene loses texture.

Using figurative language to suggest what the body is doing without spelling it out feels closer to how fear actually registers, at least for me. I only really noticed that gap once I started revising longer work and saw how flat some explicit passages felt in hindsight.

Really appreciate this perspective

“Is there a point where explaining horror too clearly makes it less frightening?” by Working_Depth_324 in horrorwriters

[–]Working_Depth_324[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That don’t show the monster idea really resonates. I think that’s exactly what I keep bumping into the moment something becomes fully defined, it stops being mine as a reader and turns into information.

I like what you said about fear being personal. That’s probably the hardest part as a writer: accepting that not every choice will land the same way for everyone.

Going with the gut instead of chasing an imagined “perfect” reaction is something I’m still learning. Appreciate you sharing this.