Is Horror Good For Us?
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I read a lot of scary books. My favorite horror novels are written by Stephen King. (Keep on reading for some book recommendations.) They're a fantastic method to discover more about who you are and how you handle fear. You can gain fresh insights into our shared humanity and how we interact with reality by reading these stories. One reason why so many people enjoy reading horror books is that they can help you get over phobias.
Horror novels are a great way to learn about yourself.
Horror books can be helpful if you've ever felt that you don't know what you're afraid of or if your fear is so ingrained in your psyche that it limits your ability to grow. A good horror book will enable its readers to get insights into themselves through the experiences of the characters. The protagonist(s) may be terrified of spiders, clowns, or anything else, and there are numerous ways in which this fear manifests itself throughout their lives. As characters travel and grow throughout stories, they are typically forced to confront various obstacles along the way: pools filled with water snakes and other creatures; rooms full of traps designed solely to destroy anyone foolish enough to enter them; mutated plants that will eat anything (including you); and more. I think about reading the Goosebumps series as a kid. Now that I’m older, I can see how some fears that initially seemed superficial were actually rooted in something else. For example, why are so many people afraid of the dark? Darkness itself won’t do anything to us. But what about the things or creatures that hide within it?
Bringing meaning to fear
You can better comprehend your own worries by reading about others' fears. The best approach to overcoming dread is to comprehend it, and reading horror literature will help you do just that.
Knowing more about yourself can enable you to get past any anxieties or issues that might be preventing you from living life to the fullest. Reading is a great method to learn more about other people, their problems, and how they deal with them differently than we do. Sometimes they serve as good examples for us to follow. Sometimes there are lessons learned.
Learning to overcome fear
How to conquer dread is among the most significant lessons to be learned from reading horror. Horror may be quite intense, and you won't be able to handle anything that comes your way if you don't understand your own fears and learn how to face them in healthy ways.
We won't know how to best defend ourselves against those feelings if we don't know what makes us uneasy or afraid. We must be conscious of our own shortcomings and vulnerabilities in order to grow personally as well as for our own survival. By doing this, we can locate these weaknesses and vulnerabilities and attempt to overcome them. Watching scary movies or reading scary books presents a safe avenue to experiment with our fears and learn potential ways to overcome them through the experiences of the author and his or her characters.
Reading horror books will help you learn how to overcome phobias.
Reading scary literature will teach you how to get over phobias.
Horror stories frequently deal with conquering fears, such as a dread of heights or a fear of passing away. Before they can move on with their lives, the characters in these stories must face and overcome their anxieties. This occurs frequently in life; in order to lead happy lives, we must confront our fears. However, there are occasions when we are forced to act in an uncomfortable manner because it is the only way to move forward. Otherwise, we face stagnation, failure, or the chance to settle for less than what is meant for us.
Reading about these situations in books enables us to see how others overcome such challenges and may provide some inspiration when faced with similar challenges ourselves.
Developing a new perspective
Reading the horror genre can help you develop a new perspective.
It's true that you can be reading about something unsettling and frightful, but if you examine it from the perspective of another person, it becomes a whole other experience. Reading a horror book can help you comprehend the motivations behind characters' actions. Since it may be difficult for us to imagine ourselves going through such suffering, reading about someone else's suffering might help us see the world in new ways and broaden our perspectives on the world.
It can help us become more empathetic toward others and their struggles. Reading horror fiction is a great way to broaden your horizons and expand your worldview. It allows you to see things from another person's perspective, which can help you better understand how people think and feel about certain situations.
When we read, we learn more about our shared humanity.
Learning about people, places, and things may be done very well via reading. Getting lost in the narrative, it's also one of the best methods to travel through time and space. Reading an adventure book set in Victorian England or ancient Greece—or even simply reading about those eras more generally—is one of the best ways to comprehend another culture.
Exposing yourself to fresh viewpoints, fears, and ideas that may even conflict with your own beliefs or values can be beneficial to your general mental health since it can help you better comprehend who you are.
Dealing with reality
The horror genre has been a staple in literature for centuries, and it's still one of the best ways to learn about human nature.
In fact, the genre is so effective at teaching us valuable lessons about life that many people believe they can't be written down or explained in any other way. The best way to deal with real-world issues in a safe manner is through fiction—and reading horror novels can help you understand your own behavior better.
Finding new ways to entertain yourself
Reading is a great way to relax, escape reality, and learn new things. It's also a great way to learn about yourself.
Reading books in the horror genre is a terrific way to discover more about who you are, especially in terms of how you handle terror. With this understanding, people can improve their daily decisions for both themselves and those around them. Reading these kinds of books has a lot of additional advantages as well. They provide entertainment value in addition to teaching us how to overcome phobias, better understand ourselves and others, and get fresh perspectives on life.
In 2020, I made a trip to Seattle and stopped by the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP). In their horror movie exhibit, they had a sign that bulleted several important reasons why the horror genre (through scary movies) is important for humans.
The horror genre can:
Serve as a rite of passage and test of courage
Reinforce the notions of good and evil
Create a rush of heightened emotions
Allow readers or viewers to safely experience taboo subjects
Reflect the landscape of our nightmares and dreams
See below for a few recommendations for horror or thriller books!
Pet Sematary by Stephen King
When Dr. Louis Creed takes a new job and moves his family to the idyllic rural town of Ludlow, Maine, this new beginning seems too good to be true. Despite Ludlow’s tranquility, an undercurrent of danger exists here. Those trucks on the road outside the Creed’s beautiful old home travel by just a little too quickly, for one thing…as is evidenced by the makeshift graveyard in the nearby woods where generations of children have buried their beloved pets. Then there are the warnings to Louis both real and from the depths of his nightmares that he should not venture beyond the borders of this little graveyard where another burial ground lures with seductive promises and ungodly temptations. A blood-chilling truth is hidden there—one more terrifying than death itself, and hideously more powerful. As Louis is about to discover for himself sometimes, dead is better…
In the House in the Dark of the Woods by Laird Hunt
In this horror story set in colonial New England, a law-abiding Puritan woman goes missing. Or perhaps she has fled or abandoned her family. Or perhaps she's been kidnapped, and set loose to wander in the dense woods of the north. Alone and possibly lost, she meets another woman in the forest. Then everything changes.
On a journey that will take her through dark woods full of almost-human wolves, through a deep well wet with the screams of men, and on a living ship made of human bones, our heroine may find that the evil she flees has been inside her all along.
In the House in the Dark of the Woods is a novel of psychological horror and suspense told in Laird Hunt's characteristically lyrical prose style. It is the story of a bewitching, a betrayal, a master huntress and her quarry. It is a story of anger, of evil, of hatred and of redemption. It is the story of a haunting, a story that makes up the bedrock of American mythology, told in a vivid way you will never forget.
The Shining by Stephen King
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Before Doctor Sleep, there was The Shining, a classic of modern American horror from the undisputed master, Stephen King.
Jack Torrance’s new job at the Overlook Hotel is the perfect chance for a fresh start. As the off-season caretaker at the atmospheric old hotel, he’ll have plenty of time to spend reconnecting with his family and working on his writing. But as the harsh winter weather sets in, the idyllic location feels ever more remote . . . and more sinister. And the only one to notice the strange and terrible forces gathering around the Overlook is Danny Torrance, a uniquely gifted five-year-old.
The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard
At West Point Academy in 1830, the calm of an October evening is shattered by the discovery of a young cadet's body swinging from a rope. The next morning, an even greater horror comes to light. Someone has removed the dead man's heart. Augustus Landor—who acquired some renown in his years as a New York City police detective—is called in to discreetly investigate. It's a baffling case Landor must pursue in secret, for the scandal could do irreparable damage to the fledgling institution. But he finds help from an unexpected ally—a moody, young cadet with a penchant for drink, two volumes of poetry to his name, and a murky past that changes from telling to telling. The strange and haunted Southern poet, for whom Landor develops a fatherly affection, is named Edgar Allan Poe.
Reading and learning are critical for living a life worth writing about.
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