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Normal Is Scary.



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Tue May 08, 2007 1:08 pm
Twit says...



This is my one tip that I try to keep in mind.

Normal is scary, nature is weird.

OK, so the last bit comes from a nature program, but it makes sense. It's the normal things in life that are scariest. Huge and ugly uruk-hai, werewolves, ogres and all maybe disturbing, but I've never been really freaked out by them. The one thing that scraed me stupid was a Doctor Who episode: The Empty Child. For those of you who haven't seen it, basically it's about this little kid in a gas mask who wanders around asking everyone, "Are you my mummy? Mummy...mummy...where are you mummy?"

Trust me, that was out the window scary.

So, make something normal un-normal, and it'll be scarier and freakier than hoards of fire-breathing, slime-dripping gargoyles. If you catch my threadle.

-Twit
"TV makes sense. It has logic, structure, rules, and likeable leading men. In life, we have this."


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Tue May 08, 2007 4:41 pm
Myth says...



I didn't like that episode but I know where you're going. I've not given this much thought but I'll see what I can come up with.
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Tue May 08, 2007 4:50 pm
Trident says...



Some of the most powerful writing I've read can be scary for the reasons you have stated. There was nothing grotesque about it, but the writers presented the information to the senses so well, that an eerie feeling about something totally plausible was achieved. If you can do that as a writer, you have my respect.
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Tue May 08, 2007 5:07 pm
Tyd says...



Making the natural un-natural :P I've seen this posted around here before, but it is definitely a good tip. It helps us, the reader, relate to whatever is being un-natural because we know what the natural is :P
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Tue May 08, 2007 5:42 pm
Cpt. Smurf says...



*shivers*

Yes, I remember that episode. That child really freaked me out. And yet the Daleks have never scared me - exactly for the reasons you've said.

It's like horror movies. I can watch something like, say, Jeepers Creepers and, though it may be a bit freaky and disturbing, I wasn't scared by it (at least, not when it grew wings). But then there's the Halloween series. *shivers again* That Michael Myers - otherwise would be normal, and that's what makes him so scary.
There's always been a lot of tension between Lois and me, and it's not so much that I want to kill her, it's just, I want her to not be alive anymore.

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Wed May 09, 2007 8:42 pm
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Twit says...



Michael Myers...that isn't Shrek, Cat In The Hat, Mike Myers is it?

The Daleks aren't scary so much as "Wow!" I nearly swallowed a lung at the end of "The Army Of Ghosts" and the way the Doctor reacted to them certainly helped to create the tension. Still, the last two episodes with the Cult of Skaro in weren't that great. *rambles on for several hours discussing the merits of Daleks vs. Cybermen vs. the Empty Child vs. Dalek hybrids vs. werewolves...*

-Twit
"TV makes sense. It has logic, structure, rules, and likeable leading men. In life, we have this."


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Wed May 09, 2007 8:49 pm
deleted6 says...



Well could ya say the girl in The Ring(Original) is natural? Anyway I agree my worse bad guy a human, but, god, he is not someone ya ever want to meet, he surely kill ya than let ya live. Anyway yeh the Empty Child episode really freaked me out. Fears are personal, but most fears are human shaped, so do we in turn fear ourselves. Sorry if I make this into a debate.
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Thu May 10, 2007 5:07 pm
Cpt. Smurf says...



No, Michael Myers is a character - a psychotic serial killer who was brain-washed by a cult to make him want to meaninglessly kill his entire family. Creepy.
There's always been a lot of tension between Lois and me, and it's not so much that I want to kill her, it's just, I want her to not be alive anymore.

~Stewie Griffin
  





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Thu May 10, 2007 6:35 pm
Saphira says...



I think that this is true. I can watch films and programmes which have supernatural things in but as soon as it gets to an actual psycho i get really freaked out!
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