Horror Rules Back to Blog
Everybody always seems to be talking about rules these days. People love to say what should and shouldn’t be done.
Phooey. I say if you can make the story work, do anything!
Unless, of course, you’re writing a horror story…Then, well, then you must follow the universally understood scary movie rules–as stated by Randy in the Scream flicks.
The rules are as follows:
1. Characters who have sex won’t survive. (Whoa–good thing that rule doesn’t apply to romance novels, huh? The hero and heroine would be such goners!)
2. Characters will not survive if they drink or do drugs. (Another uh-oh for romance land–I read about tons of characters drinking wine or beer–good thing a Jason-like killer is not on their trail!)
3. A character who says, “I’ll be right back” won’t survive.
4. Everyone is a suspect.
And here are some sequel rules from Scream 2:
1. The body count is always higher.
2. The death scenes are always much more elaborate, with more blood and gore.
3. Never, ever, under any circumstances assume the killer is dead.
(Note: Randy’s character didn’t exactly get to finish this line in Scream 2, but the intent was so there.)
Yep, those are horror rules.
And, you know what? Those rules make me really glad I write romances…
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