Kyriakos
11-01-2010, 06:18 AM
As far as the actual cause of horror in a story is concerned, there are two kinds.
Cosmic is the one which is found in the cosmos, an external cause. For example one can be alone in the woods and see in the distance a pack of wolves.
Psychological is the one found in the psyche, an internal cause. An example of that is when someone sees a hallucination that frightens, hears a horrible voice that belongs to no one.
There are of course variations. A soruce of horror can be psychological, but appear as cosmic. One can be walking in an isolated part of the park at night, see a figure standing far away, inf front of the sole exit, and be afraid that it might harm him. But as he nears it he observes that it was just a weirdly-shaped tree. That is cosmic in its perceived quality, but in reality psychological.
Another variation is fear of a form in a nightmare. The form exists in a mental plane, but in the dream it is thought to be external, since there is no consciousness that one is in a dream.
And there exist many more such interconnections between the two different objects of horror.
The question to you is which one you find to be more interesting in a story. Some writers used only one, with no variation either, such as Lovecraft, where the entirety of his causation of horror is cosmic. Others were mostly using psychological causation, like De Maupassant, although in some stories- such as The Horla- the object is presented to be cosmic. Finally yet others used cosmic horror, but linked it to psychological roots, for example by presenting it as something occult. Mahen's great story "The recluse of Bayswater" is a great example of that variation :)
Cosmic is the one which is found in the cosmos, an external cause. For example one can be alone in the woods and see in the distance a pack of wolves.
Psychological is the one found in the psyche, an internal cause. An example of that is when someone sees a hallucination that frightens, hears a horrible voice that belongs to no one.
There are of course variations. A soruce of horror can be psychological, but appear as cosmic. One can be walking in an isolated part of the park at night, see a figure standing far away, inf front of the sole exit, and be afraid that it might harm him. But as he nears it he observes that it was just a weirdly-shaped tree. That is cosmic in its perceived quality, but in reality psychological.
Another variation is fear of a form in a nightmare. The form exists in a mental plane, but in the dream it is thought to be external, since there is no consciousness that one is in a dream.
And there exist many more such interconnections between the two different objects of horror.
The question to you is which one you find to be more interesting in a story. Some writers used only one, with no variation either, such as Lovecraft, where the entirety of his causation of horror is cosmic. Others were mostly using psychological causation, like De Maupassant, although in some stories- such as The Horla- the object is presented to be cosmic. Finally yet others used cosmic horror, but linked it to psychological roots, for example by presenting it as something occult. Mahen's great story "The recluse of Bayswater" is a great example of that variation :)