Horror Romance? Back to Blog
Is it time for the horror romance? I know, I know–you might be thinking…horror isn’t sexy. Well, I’m not necessarily talking “Saw”-type horror. Something softer, with, ah, less gore.
At one point, my husband told me that he thought I was writing horror romances. I was like, no, they’re paranormals. Shifter romances. Vamp romances. He then told me, “People die, they get butchered, and you’ve got monsters.” Okay, yes, on the surface, that does *seem* like a horror tale, but, to me, my stories are more paranormal than horror.
But now I’m wondering…what is the difference between a paranormal romance and a horror romance? At my local RWA chapter meeting, one of the members asked if I knew any authors who wrote horror romances. I blanked. I know many wonderful authors who write very, very dark paranormals…but at what point do those paranormals cross over into horror land?
Because I was curious about the true definition of horror, I hopped on the Internet and did a wee bit of research. I found this definition from the Wikipedia site: “Horror fiction is a genre of fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle, or horrify the audience. Historically, the cause of the “horror” experience has often been the intrusion of a disturbing supernatural element into everyday human experience. Since the 1960s, any work of fiction with a morbid, gruesome, surreal, or exceptionally suspenseful or frightening theme has come to be called “horror”. Horror fiction often overlaps science fiction or fantasy, all three categories of which are sometimes placed under the umbrella classification speculative fiction.”
Hmmm…what do you think? Do you believe some paranormal romances cross the line and slide into horror romance? Do you think horror romance is an entirely different sub-genre? And (last question!) have you ever read a book and thought it was a horror romance (instead of a paranormal romance)?
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I do think that paranormal can slid into horror. But I do think that horror can be its own sub genre. Like, I have read Panic Snap and Topping from Below by Laura Reese. I read these about 8 years ago. I would call these BDSM horror. They are very dark and violent. It definitely unsettles, but also compels you to keep reading. Definitely darker than the BDSM I have been finding/reading lately.
Based on the definition yes! On whole I think anything that scares the logical sense right out of me is horror…I don’t think any paranormal has in a while. I have read some suspense/mystery romance that I would classify as horror and very gruesome.
I’ve seen writer contests with categories for Dark Paranormal and Light Paranormal. I writer the lighter stuff, but I think if I wrote darker, I’d prefer Dark Paranormal over Horror Romance. The two words, “horror” and “romance.” don’t go together well.
I am a SF/F/UF/H/R author (what can I say, I love cross genre, a lot) and that means I really have to learn to identify what elements are what. There is a lot of mix up because it’s no longer a rule that vampire=horror or love story=romance (Look at Natural Born Killers, love story yes, romance movie, no way. I consider this a great example of horror-romance.)
The way I see it is true horror novels are overwhelming in the horror. You literally cannot escape the fear/thriller element without putting down the book. Even when there is a slow section to allow the reader/characters to “come up for air” there is still the expectation because the book is labeled horror, that something bad will happen right then, when everyone has relaxed, and it will be something horrific.
But in books that are cross genre that plot propeller doesn’t have to be violence or some horrific revelation, it can be something that “solves the mystery” or some fantastic (as in fantasy) scene, or even something like the hero and heroine giving into their desperation by clinging to each other. This sort of thing doesn’t really move a horror book forward, but a UF/DF/DR book can be propelled forward on a certain level by characters revealing their love for each other etc.
I think that a lot of these books, especially dark UF and dark paranormal romances are very much influenced by horror, but don’t have the same overwhelming darkness to them.
One more example, some people say the difference between UF and PR is that in UF the hero and heroine don’t have to end up together. but the same logic the different between dark [whatever genre here] and true horror is that in the other genre major characters don’t have to die at the end 😉
I’ve read two books recently that were described as Paranormal. Granted they weren’t paranormal romance, just Paranormal. They were so dark and twisted with gore that I would have said they were horror. To be honest, both were DNF’s for me. I just can’t handle that type. I honestly can’t imagine popping a romance into the middle of all that.
Lol, I was there at the meeting and saw your face! Priceless. Anyhow, yes I think paranormal and horror often slip and slide into the same genre. Thinking over some of the books I’ve read and this may sound so sissy like but one of Patricia Brigg’s Mercy books scared me bad enough to put it in the fridge! The part where the vamp was under her house and all, then scracthing on her window pane***SHIVERS**** Also Charlaine Harris’s thrid book in the, Grave series, i think it was Ice Cold Grave(???), hat one treally did get put in the freezer. I’ll be the first to say it, “Yes, I’m a sissy!”
I think this is all very subjective – what one person/reader regards as horror another may not. I have yet to read a paranormal that I would consider should have been labelled as horror – but then again, I like them dark!
Is there such a sub genre as paranormal horror – I have yet to come across it but then I do live in a cave 😀
I have never read a book that I considered was paranormal horror – but a friend read the same Paranormal book as I did not so long ago and had to stop because it was just too dark for her and gave her the willies! I just thought it was fab! 😉
I think the best difference is looking at your books and Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series. Not only will you most often find them in the horror section of any Border’s store, if you look at the imagery and descriptions of what happens in the plots, you’ll see a marked difference.
From all that I’ve read over the years, paranormal romance does not routinely describe the agony of an immortal creature literally being turned inside out and not able to die other than being stabbed to death by a sacred weapon. This is the status quo for LKH books. She includes a good lot of romance and sex in her series, but her books are not formulaic romances and really delve into some gory and horrific ideas/images, which I think is a definitive line to draw between genres.