Why Writing Horror Is Different from Writing Thriller or Suspense

If you’re a diehard horror fan, you know when a story is truly horror—and when it’s something else wearing a mask. Horror fiction has a distinct heartbeat, a darker pulse that separates it from thrillers and suspense stories. While all three genres might get your heart racing or keep you up at night, writing horror is a different beast entirely. Let’s pull back the curtain and explore what makes horror writing its own unique monster—and why it deserves to be treated differently than thrillers or suspense.

I have written horror, suspense and thrillers, but even for me the lines often get blurred.

The Core of Fear: Horror vs. Suspense vs. Thriller

At their core, all three genres play with fear. But they use fear differently.

• Horror is about the existential—it crawls into your psyche and tells you that the world isn’t safe, that things are worse than you imagined, and maybe even that you shouldn't have opened that door.

• Suspense is about anticipation—will the protagonist get caught? Will the killer strike again?

• Thrillers are about action—they’re fast-paced, high-stakes stories that usually involve some form of confrontation.

A horror story can have suspense. A thriller can be horrifying. But only horror fiction aims to unsettle your soul.

Writing Horror: It's an Emotional Experience

Writing horror is about evoking dread, terror, revulsion, or unease. Horror writers often deal with:

• Death

• The unknown

• Supernatural elements

• Deep psychological trauma

• Existential dread

You’re not just entertaining your reader—you’re inviting them into a nightmare. The writer’s job is to build a world where the reader questions their own reality, often in disturbing ways.

Contrast this with suspense or thrillers, where the emotional goal is often tension, excitement, or adrenaline. You want your reader turning pages quickly, yes—but in horror, you also want them pausing, rereading a line, and thinking, “Wait—what did I just read?”

Horror Doesn’t Always Need a Happy Ending

In thrillers, there’s usually some form of justice. The bad guy is caught, the system is corrected, or the hero survives and walks into the sunset.

In horror? Not so much.

Horror fiction often rejects resolution. Sometimes the monster wins. Sometimes the characters are forever broken. Sometimes we discover the monster was inside us all along.

That’s not just a plot twist—it’s a philosophy of fear that’s baked into horror’s DNA.

This open-endedness is unsettling—and that’s the point.

Horror Allows for Deeper Themes (and Darker Ones)

Horror has always been the genre where taboo subjects, societal fears, and moral ambiguities come to die—or be reborn in terrifying new forms. Think about the works of Shirley Jackson, Stephen King, Clive Barker, or contemporary voices like Paul Tremblay and Mariana Enriquez.

Horror digs deep into:

• Abuse

• Addiction

• Mental illness

• Religious extremism

• Cultural trauma

• The body (especially in body horror)

Writing horror means not shying away from the darkness. Thriller and suspense authors might touch on these, but horror authors live there.

The Horror Reader Is Looking for the Disturbing

This is key for anyone writing in the genre: the horror audience expects you to go places other writers won’t. While thriller readers might want clever twists or high-octane action, horror fans want to be disturbed.

They crave:

• Unsettling atmospheres

• Shocking imagery

• Existential threats

• The uncanny

If you're not pushing the envelope, you're probably not writing true horror. The horror fanbase is savvy—they’ve read the classics, they know the tropes, and they love being surprised in terrible ways.

Pacing Is Different

Thrillers are typically relentless in pace. They’re designed to be devoured quickly, full of chase scenes, time bombs, and escalating danger.

Horror, on the other hand, benefits from slower burns. Yes, there’s room for fast-paced horror (see: Final Destination, The Cabin at the End of the World), but much of the genre thrives in a simmer. Building dread takes time. Think of The Haunting of Hill House or House of Leaves—these stories are slow, moody, and intensely atmospheric. Writing horror means mastering the art of the long game.

Horror Is More Willing to Break the Rules

One of the joys of writing horror fiction is how flexible and experimental the genre can be. Horror is full of:

• Unreliable narrators

• Mixed media formats (diary entries, case files, transcripts)

• Non-linear timelines

• Metafictional elements

• Surrealism

While thrillers and suspense fiction often follow a more traditional structure (setup → complication → climax → resolution), horror stories are more willing to break form if it helps deliver the scare.

Setting Is a Character in Horror

In thrillers, settings can feel like backdrops. A CIA agent might be in Prague, New York, or Istanbul—it’s mostly set dressing for the plot.

In horror, setting is everything. A decrepit house, an isolated village, a cursed forest, or even a blank, empty hotel—these become characters. They carry a sense of history, menace, and malevolence that adds to the tension.

Writers of horror need to be deeply attuned to sensory detail. What does the house smell like? What do the shadows suggest? Horror thrives on atmosphere more than any other genre.

Supernatural vs. Real-World Fear

While thrillers and suspense stories tend to focus on real-world dangers (serial killers, espionage, kidnappings), horror fiction opens the door to the supernatural, the otherworldly, and the impossible.

This doesn’t mean horror is unrealistic—it just means it plays by different rules. The terror doesn’t need to be plausible; it needs to be visceral. Horror fiction can embody our fears through demons, ghosts, and monsters—but it often says something very real about us in the process.

Why This Matters: Know Your Genre, Know Your Audience

If you're a horror writer, or a fan of horror fiction thinking about writing your first story, it's crucial to understand what horror isn't. It’s not just a thriller with blood. It’s not suspense with a jump scare.

Horror writing is about pulling readers into a world where their worst fears come true—and then staying with them long after they close the book. It’s about discomfort. It’s about tension. It’s about crossing the line and asking, “What if it gets worse?”

And for readers like you—true horror fans—that's exactly why we love it.

Final Thoughts

Horror is the genre that refuses to look away. It stares into the void, dares the void to stare back, and then asks the reader to do the same. If you're writing horror, embrace the discomfort. Go deep, go dark, and remember: horror doesn’t just scare—it haunts.

Obsidian is a terrifying horror novella set in deep space and it's out now!

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