The story is all about human evil, after an event in some location. The tourists find themselves stranded, left to fend for themselves and family, the location is family oriented such as resort so the tourists who would eventually become survivors will allow me to turn the tourists/survivors into villains where nobody is innocent. I want the setting to become increasingly desperate and morality eventually be thrown out of the window and become a dog eat dog situation with human evil being the main villain. This will allow me to inject some horror, but I'm considering adding some psychological/supernatural horror where the reader doesn't know what to make of it. Such ideas would be strange inhuman sounds are heard every now and then, survivors mentioning seeing some strange things or saying that the place feels "wrong". One of the scenes I've already included is that the main character has already killed by this point, she is trying to find food in the resort which is now very rare as the resort has already been looted by other survivors. Anyway, as she is following a potential person carrying food, she notices that it isn't human but something that resembles a human. I'm unsure what to think of it but considering to use it as the main characters "boogey man". A representation of what she is becoming. She will never fight it and never will see it clearly and will be a one off situation. Not only this but scenes of human evil will be prevalent later on such as bodies littering the resort. What do people think of this? Will this break the story? I'm using the disaster as a symbol of the darker side of humanity coming out to play. I'm trying to make it as if the resort is cursed.
I think your last two sentences describe the two different aims you have, and I think you need to choose one of them - is your story about a cursed resort, and how it affects guests supernaturally after a disaster, or is it about the darker side of humanity coming out all on its own? It sounds to me like you're wanting to throw in the supernatural element for its own sake, rather than to drive the story forward, but it's hard to tell from a synopsis. I would say you need to determine what are the important points of your story: is it about human evil, or supernatural evil? A combination of the two working together? Make sure you have a reason for it. Just my two cents.
I think it would be really interesting to include the super natural elements, especially if you play around with the "Am I really seeing this monster or am I just crazy?" I think that the supernatural elements would set it apart from other Lord of the Flies type situations. I would read it!
My idea? Include the supernatural element, but write it in a way that the reader could easily question the idea that it is real, but likewise could not clearly label it as delusions by insane characters either. By writing in this vague way, you give an element of mystery to the situation and the fear of the unknown is really at the core of most, or some could even say all, fears. By writing the supernatural elements in this manner you don't downplay the human evil theme. By writing the supernatural elements in this vague manner it becomes an easy and logical assumption to make that they are the products of insanity born from the horrors around the characters. This, in turn, helps to reinforce the theme of human evil in the story, rather then downplaying it. Likewise, however, by writing it in a way that doesn't clearly come out and say that it is just insanity-born delusions, you add an element of mystery to it and that serves to make the story all the more creepy.
Well both really more what I quoted. I want the setting to reflect the survivors mental well-being. At the beginning, the setting is a paradise but as the story continues, the setting degrades along with the survivors moral compass. Reflecting their behaviour. But with the setting, I am trying to make the setting"feel wrong" at the beginning despite being a family friendly environment, as if the setting was cursed.
I was thinking this yes. Make it debatable. What I put in bold is brilliant, I tried to describe it but you put it good.
