You’re Not Alone In The Dark: Article 2 By Eugene M. Johnson As I talked about in my last article, my whole life, one of my primary coping mechanism has been storytelling and the horror genre. So much so, I found myself creating fiction in the horror genre as a form of therapy and escape whenever I was faced with a difficult situation or traumatic event. Without these creative outlets as escapes, I’m pretty positive I would not be here today because horror was a coping mechanism with my abuse as a child. Where most kids grow up scared of the imaginary monsters hidden in the dark, I grew up with two real life monsters in the form of my very abusive parents who had addiction issues, as well as mental illness. It seems to me, that horror and storytelling had so much more positive qualities to offer compared to other genres. Horror is more than a genre, it’s part of our emotional make up tied to our primal fight or flight response that is wired into our brains. It’s part of us. Like everything else in the world it has its benefits. From my experience, horror offers much more benefits. I think there are so many other lessons that we can learn from the genre. I know I learned many. From the importance of teamwork, family, coping skills, problem solving skills, courage, responsibility, having hope, never giving up and so much more. Though I don’t think people really ever recognized it until recently. I’ve been thinking about this idea lately. Especially since I decided to write this series. I will be honest with you. I’ve had the concept for this series for almost 20 years. I had wanted to write it as a book. I had the fear of being judged about my past, telling myself I’m not important who would want to read a book about what I went through and my opinion on horror. I also told myself I would be judged by if I let people see that side of me. After all, there had been many times that I’ve tried to be honest with people, tried to keep them from abusing me or taking advantage of my kind, broken heart. It never went well. I could go on with other examples, but the simple point is I went no where with such a wonderful idea because of fear. Fast forward to recently. My PTSD, depression, anxiety and other disabilities have worsened to the point that I’ve been given a diagnosis of agoraphobia. I’m afraid all the time of everything. So my therapist and close friends recommended I try writing the articles as a way to confront my past and most importantly my fears. Which brings me to the point of this month’s article. I think one of the most important benefits of storytelling and the horror genre is that it helps us to take a deeper look at fear. One of the most common question a writer in the horror genre gets asked is “why do you write horror?” When I hear this question, I often think about the whole concept of being afraid of the dark. Fear is one of our primal emotions. One of the most common stories we hear in society and see in horror is that children are afraid of the dark. As a child, we believe the dark conceals some hidden danger or monster lurking, waiting to strike. On a psychological level, the dark triggers a response of what danger could happen in the dark deep of our brain, possibly linked to our fight or flight response. It’s considered a universal fear. The fear of the dark is a very common thing for children and adults. As children, it’s part of our development as human beings. A right of passage so to speak. Learning to confront our fear of the dark helps us grow as children. It helps us to graduate on to confronting other fears in our lives. Confronting ones fear is a very important skill we must learn to develop and help our brain regulate. Creating in the horror genre or partaking in the genre as a fan, is very much like the process of being afraid of the dark. In a sense, it’s an outlet to allow us a safe outlet to not only confront our fears but to take some ownership over them, much like we do as children when facing the dark or the “monster under the bed.” Writing these horrible things is, in a way, can be a therapeutic tool allowing you to face something you would have difficulty doing otherwise. Creating stories in the horror genre can be an outlet for you to confront your deepest darkest fear, helping you to free yourself of it. If there’s something eating at your soul, holding you back due to fear. Try watching or reading a good piece of horror fiction. Or better yet create one yourself. Until next time my friends! Sincerely, Eugene Johnson EUGENE JOHNSON Bio: Bram Stoker Award®-winner Eugene Johnson is an author, editor, and columnist. He has written as well as edited in various genres, and created anthologies such as the Fantastic Tales Of Terror, Drive In Creature Feature with Charles Day, the Bram Stoker Award®-nominated non-fiction anthology Where Nightmares Come From: The Art Of Storytelling In The Horror Genre Tales of the Lost series, Attack From The ‘80s and many more. Links / More info Facebook: Eugene Johnson Tales Of The Lost Volume Anthology series Facebook page Amazon Author page: Eugene Johnson Tales Of The Lost Volume Two- A charity anthology for Covid- 19 Relief: Tales To Get Lost In A CHARITY ANTHOLOGY FOR COVID-19 RELIEF Edited by Bram Stoker Award Winner Eugene Johnson and Steve Dillon We lose many things during our time in this universe. From the moment we are born we start losing time, and loss becomes a part of our life from the beginning. We lose friends (both imaginary and real), loved ones, pets, and family. We gain stuff and lose stuff, from our socks to our money. We can lose our hope, sanity, passions, our mind, and perhaps even our soul! In the end when death finds us, we end up losing everything... Don't we? Loss is part of who we are. We can't escape it. We learn from it, grow from it, and so much more. Some of the greatest stories ever forged come from loss. Within this book is some of those stories. Featuring stories and poetry by an amazing lineup including: Tim Waggoner * Lisa Morton * Neil Gaiman * Joe Hill * Heather Graham * Christopher Golden * Tim Lebbon * Christina Sng * Vince Liaguno * John Palisano * Kaaron Warren * Chris Mason * Greg Chapman * Tracy Cross * Stephanie W. Wytovich * Alexis Kirkpatrick * Ben Monroe * Lucy A. Snyder and Matthew R. Davis. Edited by Bram Stoker Award Winner Eugene Johnson and Shirley Jackson award nominated author Steve Dillon. Coming in 2020 from Plaid Dragon Publishing in association with Things in The Well. With cover art by the brilliant Francois Vaillancourt, and interior art by the amazing Luke Spooner. Money raised by the anthology will go to benefit the Save the Children Coronavirus response. TODAY ON THE GINGER NUTS OF HORROR WEBSITE FILM GUTTER OVER YOUR DEAD BODY (KUIME) [REVIEW] THE HEART AND SOUL OF HORROR FEATURES Comments are closed.
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