Is The Disallowed Horror?

Can a horror story be humorous?

I remember the day very clearly that the seed of this potential horror story was put in my head. My wife came into my office very upset. She explained that it was horrible that one of our best friends had been diagnosed with ‘thin, watery blood’, and that his life was at risk if he didn’t receive treatment very soon.

That was about 10 years ago, and I still don’t know what his problem was exactly, because Thai names for illnesses don’t translate easily into English. ‘Oil in the blood’, and ‘sugar in the blood’ are quite obvious compared with ‘air in the brain’.

Kidney Failure

Anyway, I think that our friend was anaemic and facing kidney failure. He probably had to pay for dialysis. ‘He has to give up drinking alcohol, and must eat special food ‘, she added. That would have been difficult, because he did like a few drinks after work. Most village men drink the local ‘lao khao’ or White Spirit, which, although legal is blamed for many early deaths and sudden illnesses. He drank the stuff too.

Anyway, I wondered what special food could be, and Heng’s diet in the book was born. All that I had to do then was build an interesting, believable story around the diet. My first intention was to write a horror story. I had tried to write one before, but it didn’t turn out that way. It became The Psychic Megan Series. I was hopeful that I could write horror this time.

However, it turned humorous, and there was nothing I could do about it. It is a strange feeling not to be able to write what you want – as if you are being remote controlled.

Horror

I have come to the conclusion that I cannot write traditional horror – about zombies, vampires, etc – because I don’t find it scary myself. I have been searching for something that does frighten me so I can write about that.

By the way, our friend recovered completely after a couple of years, and he has taken up his previous lifestyle again, and that book has now been translated into 22 languages.

A Dutch reader, M. Vissers, recently posted that it was ‘the best book I’ve read all year!’

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