Horror

New moon on Octobber 14, 2023

It’s the Harvest Moon, which traditionally signals the time to harvest the primary crops for the year’s growing season in North America. Falling as it does in late October, it only made sense to choose prompts from a horror frame of mind. Fair warning, this is not our strongest suit. We don’t enjoy being frightened.

There are many horror subgenres you might explore with your art this month. A few big ones include psychological, monster, and supernatural. Fear is an important part of being alive. It’s an innate response for self-preservation. Just as our selves are multi-faceted, horror catches us in different contexts.

Perhaps what preys on us physically leads to monster myths and fears of bodily corruption. Likewise, psychological horrors may sustain themselves on fears we hold related to our emotional wellbeing. Threats to our sense of community or the health and future of our species may feed horrors evoking annihilation, the futility or personal action, and the loss of self-identity in the face of the crowd.

The origins of horror probably go back as far as human storytelling. Scholars have identified distinct moments in its evolution. In the Western world, there are traditional horror elements in surviving poems, plays, and myths from Ancient Greece. The first Gothic horror story was likely Horace Walpole’s Castle of Otranto. And Le Manoir du Diable is credited as the first horror film.

Wherever your medium of choice takes you, we hope this month’s prompts inspire you in your work!