Sometimes you find yourself drifting in an ocean of blood and being totally unaffected by it. It happens to the best of us. (I think…) All-horror-all-the-time can start to fade your reaction to the medium.
So, how do you bring back you horror joy?
I suppose the easy answer is: go experience something else. Eat an ice-cream while hanging upside down, interact with actual humans, or watch a rom-com. But really, we don’t need to go to such drastic measures to revive our horror ju-ju, do we?
Nah.
I was feeling the horror fatigue this last week. So I started looking for a different kind of escape and I found them in a few books sitting on my digital bookshelf.
Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books
They were exactly where I needed to go. I needed to flee to some far-off place and bury myself in the fantastical and epic troubles of some other world. And you know what? It’s really been helping.
As of this moment I’m well into Twin Flames by Cassandra L. Shaw. It has this great version Earth it explores. It’s set in the future after humans have evolved into multiple different subspecies. And It’s kind of a blend between sci-fi and horror because these mutations are a play on the werewolf mythos. Also, I’m certainly not complaining about the romance portion of the story. lol! Sometimes a little awkward “I hate you! But you’re so damned sexy!” is fun. I’ll let you know more about that one once I’m done reading it.
I also nom nom nomed my way through the entire Rust and Relics series by Lindsay Buroker.
This series was a fun, urban fantasy novel with some elements of sci-fi and horror mixed into it. I loved the main group of characters, they were so much fun! Delia, the main protagonist is an awesome wanna-be Indiana Jones archaeologist working with the painfully awkward and exceedingly tech-brilliant Simon. They end up in the sights of some massive, violent beast and have to team up with a pair of biker not of this plane of existence.
The whole series reads really fast and I loved the adventure and danger of the books. The writing style also reminded me a lot of on of my favorite fantasy author, Tamora Pierce. So based very heavily on my need for escapism and it hitting my nostalgia right in the feels I give it 5 out of 5 half elf half alien stars.
The Short Answer:
Drifting sideways into a slightly different genre for a while. Exploring some sci-fi or fantasy with a dark edge can be exactly what you need to feel reinvigorated. That is, before you get back into the bloody rampage fiction again 😉
Another way to combat the horror fatigue is to take advantage of the last few days of the giveaway! a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Timely article! I’ve been having the hardest time advancing in my rough draft of my first horror, and I couldn’t figure out why it was so much more painful than writing other genres. I think I have this horror fatigue you speak of! I’ll go read it off. 🙂
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Yeah, the genre can get a little too in you’re head after a while. Enjoy the genre holiday!
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I don’t get horror fatigue, probably because I don’t write in that genre. But, I write philological suspense thrillers and my problem is that I’m always seeing things that aren’t there. If the door is left cracked open, I’m sure there’s someone in the house (probably under my bed) waiting to kill me. 😉 but, whenever I get writing burn out, I also try to get away from it. I’ll go to the movies, go for a run or just call up a friend and see if she wants to go to dinner or a drink … then, when I leave the restaurant, I imagine someone hiding in the parking garage waiting to kill me. 😉 Thanks for sharing Jeanette!
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Arg! And, please forgive my typo, I write “psychological” suspense, not philological, lol 😉
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lol no worries. I understood what you meant. Also, I can completely sympathize with your genre getting too into your head. Fun fact, I don’t have doors on my closet. If there are no doors, there no where for someone [or something] to hide.
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I’d never heard of “horror fatigue”. Interesting concept. Rust and Relics sounds fun I’ll have to give that a try!
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Actually I had never hear of it before either, but I was feeling it. So I figured I’d give it a name. 🙂
I’m sure you’ll enjoy the series. It’s so much fun!
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