Is it truly unspeakable horrors or is it lazy writing that just lets the mind of the reader do the imagining of unspeakable horrors for you?
Is it truly unspeakable horrors or is it lazy writing that just lets the mind of the reader do the imagining of unspeakable horrors for you?
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I think Lovecraft was pretty decent at describing the horrors in his books. It was more like "they saw something that the human mind was unable to process" or stuff like that.
Great meme though :)
Yeah that's what I thought too. The horrors are described well, they just typically don't get described through their physical form. As you say, because the human mind cannot comprehend it. There is a lot more focus on impressions, comparisons, and effects, rather than on a real physical description. Personally I thought it was quite neat!
Yeah, its more about how it twists the human mind and the reaction of those involved or influenced.
Yes and also, people's reaction to the horror of often what gives it its punch. Like how the shark in jaws or even the alien in Alien are both good designs, but the actual reason they're so scary is because of how all the characters around them react to them.
Exactly. Horror writers are tasked with making the next person who reads the page feel horrified. But what horrifies a person is very individual. But showing that the thing creates fear in whoever experiences it, actually succeeds in conveying what's intended: fear itself.