1. mad_hatter

    mad_hatter Active Member

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    Extreme horror

    Discussion in 'Horror' started by mad_hatter, Oct 14, 2015.

    Hi all!

    Been away for a while, but now I’m back with a few new thoughts of where I want to go with my writing.

    Does anybody have any thoughts on the Extreme Horror/Splatterpunk genre? Is there really a market for this type of novel? Most of what little I’ve read doesn’t seem to be very good; very basic writing, little-to-no character development, amateurish descriptions of the violence and gore. But that seems to be the norm; it’s what the readers expect. It’s almost like they’re the literary version of video nasties (which I absolutely adore!).

    I’m fairly certain I could write a good (as in, exceeding the expectations of the readers) Splatterpunk novel. I’ve got a few ideas for stories that could work with plenty of gore thrown in. I also have some good ideas for marketing these novels. All Extreme Horror novels seem to be self-published, which is the route I’m expecting to go.

    But what I’m curious about is how many people actually read these novels? Is there any way to find out how many copies a certain novel has sold? Does anybody have any other thoughts on the genre?

    Anybody here a fan of the genre?

    Cheers!
     
  2. Aerisfullofwhimsy

    Aerisfullofwhimsy Member

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    I'm not a huge fan as far as the books or movies go. I do like horror movies a lot though but for some reason I don't get into the horror literary genre so much. As far as Splatterpunk, is this similar to what is known as Torture Porn (cinema wise)? I am sure it's related at least.
    I don't know for certain, but I feel that there probably is a way to find a way to see how well these type of books are selling and the a rough estimate of the amounts sold at least.
    I think you should attempt it. It would be nice for someone who is actually a good writer to write one of these with good plot and character development. I have peeked at some newer, gore type horror novels and I agree, the writing is less than adequate. I would like to see what you come up with.
     
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  3. mad_hatter

    mad_hatter Active Member

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    Yeah, Splatterpunk is pretty-much the literary equivalent of Torture Porn.

    My stories would aim to be bit more varied than that, but the core ingredient of the Splatterpunk genre is a lot of vividly described violence. I'd have to include this to meet the desires of that audience.

    To be perfectly honest, the genre doesn't particularly appeal to me, hence the reason for trying to gauge roughly what the real readership would be.

    I'll continue to ponder on this for a while...
     
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  4. Aerisfullofwhimsy

    Aerisfullofwhimsy Member

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    Well the human imagination can be a colorfully violent place, so you'll be able to pull off the scenes. Okay, so I didn't get numbers, but I became curious about the readership too for this genre, and from what I gather it is fairly well sized. Well sized enough that you can find a plethora of them for illegal download because there is a demand for it. It is also popular enough that the New York Times wrote an article about how how popular it was becoming, especially in the early 90s.
    It does not surprise that it would be sought out and well liked among modern readers. True crime novels all the back to Capote have drawn out vividly graphic scenes in their passages and people seem to love it. So I can imagine that a fictionalized gory story, where the author can make it it almost unbelievably horrorific would appeal to the horror hounds (not an insult, I read true crime sometimes). The author can make it so violent that instead of just someone getting gutted, they can take those intestines and drape them around a room like holiday lights, the imagination is an awesome thing. To be fair True Crime is more scary because it really happened, but the Spatterpunk one is less guilt inducing because t is fiction. Anyway, I'm rambling and probably being redundant as usual, so good luck on this interesting endeavor. I kind of want to see if and what you come up with.
     
  5. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    I adore this genre but agree with you that there is very little of quality out there. Jack Kilborn is the only writer I find consistently good, with characters I'm rooting for to survive rather than waiting to see in what imaginative ways they can die.... Matt Shaw seems the most popular on Amazon and he's okay - getting better - but leaves me wanting. Tim Miller is hit and miss, IMO. Bryan Smith is good for the extremeness but the writing... meh. William Malmborg is very good but not very extreme (have you read Jimmy, by the way? One of my favourites.)

    Anyway, I have no idea about sales figures. Jack Kilborn is very good at interacting with fans, so I suspect if you emailed him (and probably Matt Shaw) they would give you some indication.

    You have one guaranteed sale - I'll buy your book if you get one out. :D
     
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  6. mad_hatter

    mad_hatter Active Member

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    @Tenderiser - I've actually only ready a couple of Matt Shaw and Jack Kilborn books (based on a couple of recommendations you gave in your introduction thread!). Perhaps I will send them an e-mail, see if I can get any indication from them. Making a living writing Extreme Horror isn't something I'm looking to do (I expect it's pretty-much an impossible task), so, to that end, the sales figures aren't all that important.
     
  7. mad_hatter

    mad_hatter Active Member

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    @Tenderiser - As a reader of this genre, have you found much in the way of supernatural horror? The few examples I have read seem to focus exclusively on violent human beings, torturing and murdering their victims (very much in the vein of cinematic Torture Porn). They all seem to be set in the modern urban/suburban or post-apocalyptic environments too. Have you come across any period pieces? Or any that were set in unusual times/places?

    Is this what extreme horror readers expect? Would extreme horror readers read something that differs to the norm?

    The ideas I may like to develop into extreme horror are all across the board; psychos, demons, monsters, etc. The thing that would put my stories into the ‘extreme horror’ sub-genre would be the vivid descriptions of the violence. Would an extreme horror audience buy in to that?
     
  8. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    I can only speak for me and I'm not typically interested in the supernatural. The minute I see that a book features vampires or zombies I put it right down and look for something else. Monsters - okay, if they're actually scary and not laughable. I can't think of many examples that weren't laughable.

    Time period doesn't bother me. I'll read historical or contemporary and I'll give futuristic a try if it has a good premise, though it's not my favourite.
     
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  9. mad_hatter

    mad_hatter Active Member

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    Thanks for the reply @Tenderiser. Have you seen many extreme horror novels that involved the supernatural? It doesn't seem to be common; extreme horror seems to always be about human serial killers. To me, that's a little boring. The story I'm currently outlining would be set in the 1500's and would be about a witch-hunt. It would include plenty of torture and violence, to satisfy the blood-thirsty audience. But I'm a little concerned that the extreme horror crowd wouldn't take to the idea.

    Also, just another thought... Would my story need to be factually correct? Of course, I'd do everything to make it so. But should I miss something, or even invent a few details, due to my own lack of knowledge, would it matter to the splatterpunk crowd, so long as it fits in with the story and, at least, seems believeable? The impression I get is that this genre doesn't seem to be all to concerned with minor details like this.

    Cheers!
     

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