Is My Script Horrible Enough?

Uberman5000

106 pages

Posted
April 6, 2008 - 8:09pm

Is My Script Horrible Enough?

I don't mean is it bad, I mean does it seem enough like a horror?

So far, the guy has turned into a werewolf, chased a lady werewolf, and gotten this drug that makes him turn into a different werewolf for each emotion. He turns into the Fear werewolf when he's walking home, then the Anger werewolf when he tries to get revenge on the guy that drugged him. He goes on a rampage and wakes up naked in a convenience store after killing six people.

Most of what's been happening has been the guy talking to certain characters; his girlfriend, a cop that found him after his rampage, and a guy that is in a secret werewolf brotherhood called the Lupine Order. The hero doesn't know much about them, but thinks they can help with his unique problem.

I'm still kind of new to the horror genre, and I'm worried what I'm writing is more conventional drama. Things might get more horrible for the main character later, but I'm not sure what that would mean.

Most of the horror conventions I'm familiar with are an offscreen threat mounting suspense and then jumping out and going "BOO!" when you don't know where it is. Psychological horror is also prominent: the movie that's my primary inspiration is An American Werewolf in London, where David Kessler is going to become a horrible monster and he's barely aware of it except through horrible nightmares and bizarre behaviour.

I think the difficulty I'm having is that many werewolf stories deal with someone eventually becoming a werewolf or avoiding werewolves (even if they are one, see Ginger Snaps II), whereas in my story, he becomes a werewolf at the beginning, and that's his character for the movie. He's actually around werewolves a lot, and has a surprisingly small number of things to frighten him. I'm worried that's a problem. One problem he has is when he turns angry, he goes completely out of his mind and rampages. He has to keep from getting angry, which is harder than it sounds. That could scare him, and maybe us.

Things might get more horrible later when, say, the Lupine Order isn't what it seems, the dealer goes on the offensive, or the hero's emotions go so nuts that he's changing into a werewolf, like, once every two minutes. Maybe this is just a form of horror that isn't "jump-out-and-go-boo", but I'm not sure where the line that separates horror and drama is.

BigEddieCalzone

71 pages

Posted
April 6, 2008 - 8:43pm

RE: Is My Script Horrible Enough?

What if the drugging was not only okay with your MC at first, but even sought out?

Werewolves are the embodiment of primal rage and chaos. So the leadership of the Order has worked on finding a way to help people "control" their werewolfiness.

Of course, the program goes awry.

Or does it? When the Order promises control, just who are they REALLY hoping to give that control?

What happens when these werewolves develop the "split personalities" like you've outlined? What happens when THOSE go wrong?

I think the horror will come from taking an out-of-control creature and giving him even LESS control, not more.

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Uberman5000

106 pages

Posted
April 7, 2008 - 6:19pm

RE: Is My Script Horrible Enough?

The MC's finding it hard to control himself as is; every time he hits an emotional height, he shifts into a different werewolf, and a lot of those forms take the emotion to its extreme. He has to prevent himself from being angry or even sexually aroused, because if those emotions are taken beyond any reasonable limits, hell will be wrought. It's hard work repressing yourself, so his control is difficult and limited.

What might be an interesting way to go about it is if the MC thinks he has control of it for a bit of the story, but that just stalls the problem, or even makes it worse, so when things REALLY go berserk, the MC was all "I thought I had this dealt with!" Of course that might create a bit of a lull in the story when it's under control and nothing's happening, but it'll make it all the more crushing when it all goes to hell.

NaNoWriMo 2007:
WHIZ-BANG FANTASTIC - 51,179 words (and counting!)

Wild_Heart

15 pages

Posted
April 8, 2008 - 6:21pm

RE: Is My Script Horrible Enough?

Being a fan of the psychological thriller myself, I think you should expand more on the idea that he's not sure that he's a werewolf, that he's doing these things. I don't think there should be anything starkly real about it, only suggestions through nightmares or drug trips that might also coincide with reality but might just be the ramblings of an incoherent mind.

Leaving doubt in the character's mind contributes to doubt in the audience's mind, and thus makes for a good thriller.

Uberman5000

106 pages

Posted
April 8, 2008 - 8:21pm

RE: Is My Script Horrible Enough?

One thing that has me particularly addled is how a horror progresses. How does it establish all the things that could be jumping out and going "BOO!" later? Alien did this well because it set up the planet expedition, gave us a weird thing that was already happening (the crashed ship and warning signal), gave us some little "BOOS!" towards the middle, then calmed us back down so that the big "BOOS!" later are all the more frightening. That seems like a classic structure.

What I picture so far are setting up a lot of things that could be helping out my MC, and then they all turn on him at the same time in the middle of the story. He has to be constantly watching over his shoulder, and also worrying about controlling his emotions, because by that point they're so out of whack, he's turning into a werewolf, like, every two minutes.

His condition escalates throughout the story, so that's one thing he worries about in particular. I'm not sure it's the best idea to dangle the "he might not be a werewolf" hook except for maybe a big twist at the end, but to wave that in the audience's face for the entire time would be kind of a contrivance. It's like Fight Club; what we find out about Tyler Durden later changes everything, rather than having us think "Gah, FINALLY we can stop guessing! >:["

Also, like Fight Club, this story is more about an idea than about a character. Fortunately, since I'm dealing with the MC's emotions, we'll find out a lot about him even if it's not a character piece.

NaNoWriMo 2007:
WHIZ-BANG FANTASTIC - 51,179 words (and counting!)