In the last of our three part series on writing African horror, a leading voice on the genre Nuzo Onoh gives her seven top tips for writers’ aspiring to master scaring people for a living.
1. Love your genre
Do your eyes automatically gravitate towards the horror section in libraries or bookshops? Do you feel excitement and anticipation rather than fear or dread each time you stumble across a horror movie? What I’m trying to say is that you must have a natural affinity with some aspects of the horror genre to successfully write about it.
2. Know your horror
Horror is a broad genre encompassing numerous sub-genres such as supernatural horror (werewolves, zombies, vampires), sci-fi horror (aliens/robots merged into a horror plot), psychological horror, gothic horror (Edgar Allan Poe), slasher/gore/splatter horror, demonic/occult horror, paranormal romance horror, body-parts horror (Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein) – just to mention a few. You don’t have to love all the horror sub-genres. Identify the one that holds the most attraction and fascination for you; the one that automatically grabs your attention and draws you like a magnet. For me, it has always been ghosts and haunting and demonic and occult stories. So when I started writing, all my work inevitably reflected my interests.
3. Choose the right time and place to write
Create the right ambience and mood for your writing. Some people go as far as lighting black candles and painting their study walls blood-red. I don’t go that far, but I tend to first watch a good horror movie or read a horror book. I then ensure that I do most of my writing at night, when it’s easier for the mind to imagine terror. I can usually tell when my story is going well when I feel the need to glance over my shoulder, or I get startled by some unexpected sound while writing. That’s when I know I’m on the right track.
4. Read books by other horror writers
This goes without saying. Don’t restrict yourself to reading books by authors from your own culture or ethnicity. Be as diverse as you can. Be a veracious reader and a passionate seeker. True horror crosses all boundaries and you will find ideas, phrases, words, plots and settings that will help you craft your own horror story.
5. Make your story believable
This applies, even if you’re writing about something which, on the face of it, seems impossible. Remember, your readers have probably seen it all – and read it all. They’re die-hard cynics, waiting to be convinced otherwise. You have to make the unbelievable, believable. Don’t be predictable or contrived. Anything less, and you’ve lost your reader.
6. Make your story original, unique and different
If you are writing in any of the sub-genres of horror, remember that other people have written about it. Find something fresh and gripping to make your story different. While writing I realised there were lots of ghost stories out there. So I opted to write about a specific type of ghost – African ghosts – who are nothing like most ghosts, and who seem to manifest with no specific goal. African ghosts always have a secret agenda, for good or evil, depending on the type of death and kind of burial they received.
7. Research, research, research
You must create authenticity in your work. The internet is there for you, even if you can’t physically travel to get your facts. Nothing ruins a good story like sloppy research and inaccurate information. If I know it will take me 30 minutes to drive from Tile Hill to The University Hospital Walsgrave, without traffic, I won’t be amused if I read a book that states it takes 10 minutes, just because the author couldn’t be bothered to do their homework.
Nuzo Onoh is a British writer of African descent. She holds both a law degree and an MA in Writing from Warwick University. Onoh also runs her own publishing house, Canaan-Star Publishing. Recognised as the front-runner of African horror, her first book The Reluctant Dead is a collection of ghost stories from old Biafra in modern-day Nigeria. Her latest book, Unhallowed Graves, continues to explore the rich and unique African culture within a horror context. Unhallowed Graves is a collection of three long stories about hauntings by vengeful ghosts of people buried in accursed grounds.
Top 10 things we never knew about African Horror stories by Nuzo Onoh
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