How Not To Write Horror?

[Elamimami]

Why is it that most horror in literature seem to follow the "less is more" mantra? I'm looking to start writing horror, and I think that putting a minimal amount of details in to try to get the reader to fill in the blanks on their own is... kinda lazy. In my opinion (and I don't mean to offend anyone), it's been done to death, isn't very creative, and generally isn't scary. In my opinion, the more details, the better, which brings up the question of what scares people. What scares you? Anything weird? I'm scared of the way cantaloupe looks when you cut it in half. The way it looks is unsettling at best. Just look it up, "cantaloupe cut in half." The way the seeds look like stacked and layered teeth just gets me. It just looks like something that wants to swallow your arm, using it's otherwise useless rows of teeth to crush the bone in your arm. It's just scary to me. Anything like that scary to you? Why is it scary to you?

[Alien Redrum]

Speaking for myself, I hate stuff spoon fed to me. I'm okay with mystery. I don't need to know why a killer is a killer. A perfect example on why you (general you, not specific) shouldn't give too much detail is Rob Zombie's Halloween. Part of the reason why it's universally hated is the fact he gave a background of Michael Myers, completely destroying any mystery that was once there.

A perfect example of the opposite of that is Paul Tremblay's A Head Full of Ghosts. It's an amazing book, the best I've read this year, and it is SO open to interpretation because the way he wrote it. It's absolutely brilliant. (Side note, Shiki, you would love this.)

Honestly, I have no interest in reading or watching something where every detail is explained. That does nothing for my own imagination.

"Fear of the unknown" is a timeless saying for a reason. If you explain something to death, it no longer becomes scary.

And welcome to the forum!